Focus on: the Envoy healing Wu Tian'en (episode 5)

[trobadora]

Location of scene: episode 5, 30:47 - 33:05 (with a tiny bonus at 34:24 - 34:52)

This is a pretty short scene, so I'll recap it in detail.

Scene recap

Prior to this, Wu Tian'en got shot with a dart protecting his son from one of Huang Chaoyang's men; then Wu Xiaojun went after Huang Chaoyang, and Zhao Yunlan found him there.

Zhao Yunlan: "For the crime these people committed, the law will punish them. Right now your main concern should be your dad."

(I would like to believe the law actually did something, but alas, I see no evidence here or in the Huang/Li wedding episode.)

Now our scene begins. Wu Xiaojun (not restrained, even though he is the perpetrator in the case the SID was investigating) is leaning over the back of the couch where his father is lying unconscious. Wu Xiaojun is crying and pleading with Zhao Yunlan: "I beg you, save him."



Standing around the couch are Zhao Yunlan, Zhu Hong, Lin Jing, Da Qing and Xiao-Guo. Note Lao-Chu sitting in the background, feet up on a desk, watching.

Zhao Yunlan looks at Lin Jing; Lin Jing shakes his head. Whatever that dart was loaded with, it's apparently fatal. (Not that that's much of a surprise - the Huang/Li duo were trying to get rid of Wu Xiaojun, after all.) So there's nothing to be done.

But Xiao-Guo isn't having it. He storms out, goes to the lab and grabs the Sundial. (There's a loud alarm when the cover over the Hallow is taken off! I had forgotten that.) Because the SID is made up of self-sacrificial people.

Xiao-Guo: "Chief Zhao, permission to use the Longevity Dial to save Uncle Wu's life?"

Xiao-Guo is almost crying, and Zhao Yunlan looks very emotional himself. His facial muscles are working. It doesn't take him long to make a decision - he rips the Sundial out of Xiao-Guo's hand and holds it over Wu Tian'en's head. Because, as I said, the SID is made up of self-sacrificial people. *g*



Zhao Yunlan is breathing heavily, and his hand trembles with effort. But the Sundial doesn't light up at first, giving Lin Jing a chance to hang a lantern on the Hallows' inconsistent behaviour: "That's strange; what are the principles of the Longevity Dial? Sometimes it lights up and sometimes it doesn't."

It's not until Zhao Yunlan shouts, "Someone's life is at stake here!" that the Sundial starts glowing.

Literally five seconds later, a portal opens and the Black-Cloaked Envoy steps out. Lao-Chu immediately drops his feet from the desk and gets up. The Envoy walks up to the group.

Shen Wei: "Chief Zhao. Do you know the consequences of activating a Hallow? What's more, do you know how to use the Longevity Dial to revive someone? Shortening your own life to save a Dixingren, is it worth it?"

The Sundial stops glowing somewhere in the middle of this.



Zhao Yunlan: "He's not dead yet. If we just let him die, what's the difference between us and the dead?"

The Envoy is clearly touched by this - and then it really gets going: Wu Xiaojun begs him to save his father; then Xiao-Guo, too, and Lin Jing after that. Finally, Zhao Yunlan himself speaks up as well. (The others don't speak up, but are clearly in support.)

Zhao Yunlan: "Ordinary person or Dixing person, a person is a person. Please, Hei-laoge, save him."

Shen Wei thinks: "The SID is not like it used to be."

He steps up to the couch and holds a hand with dark energy over Wu Tian'en's head. Zhao Yunlan smiles when he sees it working.



(And then we cut to Zhu Jiu, who is not happy with how things went with Wu father and son.)


Bonus scene

After we see the Envoy take Wu Tian'en and Wu Xiaojun to Dixing, there's a brief scene with Zhao Yunlan in the lab, staring at the Sundial under its cover. He remembers the Envoy saying:

"Chief Zhao, you only saw the single life in front of you, but if the Hallow is activated again, no one can predict the consequences."

Presumably this happened after the healing, so I'm counting it as part of that scene.


Thoughts

• I love this scene so much. It really shows how far everyone's come on the subject of Dixingren. It's not just Xiao-Guo; it's not just Zhao Yunlan; it's everyone. They all want the Envoy to help Wu Tian'en, and you can see how touched Shen Wei is by that.


• When Wu Xiaojun pleads for his father, Shen Wei isn't particularly affected - it's clearly nothing new to him. But when Xiao-Guo and Lin Jing speak up, when Zhao Yunlan does, it's a world of difference. Have a comparison:
  
  Wu Xiaoyun pleading with the Envoy, and the Envoy's reaction:
  
  
  Xiao-Guo/the SID pleading with the Envoy, and the Envoy's reaction:
  
  
  Zhao Yunlan pleading with the Envoy, and the Envoy's reaction:
  


• Zhao Yunlan has come very far from "I will arrest every Dixingren I find". He's not just sympathetic towards Wu Xiaojun (a kidnapper, nearly a murderer) and Wu Tian'en (an illegal Dixingren, if nothing else); he's willing to sacrifice part of his own life. And when he talks to the Envoy about Dixingren, this time there are no qualifications, no "most are evil, few are kind" - this time, it's just "people are people". ♥


• Considering this scene, it's not at all surprising that no one thought about anything possibly going wrong when Shen Wei healed Zhao Yunlan's blindness with the Sundial. Two of them were willing to use it here, for a total stranger, without any misgivings!


• When I watch this scene and Shen Wei says, "Shortening your own life to save a Dixingren, is it worth it?", every time I immediately flash back (or, well, forward) to Zhao Yunlan in episode 34, telling Ye Zun-masquerading-as-Shen Wei: "You are not Shen Wei. The things you say would never cross his lips. 'Is it worth it?' We never do things based on whether it's worth it or not."
  
  Yes, those words - or almost those words; it's 值得吗 here and 值不值 in episode 34, but same meaning - have in fact crossed Shen Wei's lips! But Zhao Yunlan is completely correct nevertheless that Shen Wei would never mean them. He obviously doesn't want Zhao Yunlan to risk himself, but he is completely on board with the sentiment underlying the attempt, he is incredibly touched, and his question here isn't suggesting it's not worth it, but instead pushing Zhao Yunlan on the issue of Dixingren. Which he's done before - but this time, Zhao Yunlan doesn't sidestep the question or qualify his answer. Shen Wei gets exactly what he wants to hear. (What Kunlun would have said.)


• Actually, another thing I love is that ambivalence of Shen Wei's, both wanting Zhao Yunlan to be safe and wanting Zhao Yunlan to share his values (which means he won't be safe because he will risk himself). And I think it matters that while Shen Wei does occasionally get frustrated with Zhao Yunlan taking risks Shen Wei considers needless, he never actually tries to stop him. He warns him - as he does here - but Zhao Yunlan wouldn't be the man Shen Wei loves if he weren't willing to take those risks for others' sake.


• Seriously, I adore this little scene so much. ♥

Questions

• Why didn't the SID get medical attention for Wu Tian'en? It's not like he was shot with some dark energy weapon; the Huang/Li duo didn't even seem to know about Dixingren. Lin Jing is not a medic by any stretch! (I know, I know, narrative convenience, but in-story, any ideas?)


• Why does the Sundial fail to activate at first? Did Zhao Yunlan not mean it enough, or is it just playing coy?


• Shen Wei appears at the SID literally five seconds after the Sundial activates. Two questions in relation to that: a) Can he sense the Hallows activating, or does he have a tracker on Zhao Yunlan? and b) Was it just lucky timing that he could appear on the spot (and wasn't, say, in the middle of a lecture) or does he use time-bending abilities for that? We do see him freeze time when he first appears on the rooftop in episode 1, after all.


• What's going through Zhao Yunlan's head when Xiao-Guo asks to be allowed to use the Sundial? What does he think the Sundial will do to him?


• When Zhao Yunlan says, "If we just let him die, what's the difference between us and the dead?", what exactly does he mean?


• It's no surprise that Xiao-Guo speaks up in front of the Envoy; even the first time they met, when Xiao-Guo was a hell of a lot more scared, he still didn't keep quiet when he felt something was wrong. But why do you think that out of all the others, it's Lin Jing who also speaks up out loud?


• What must Chu Shuzhi be thinking, seeing this evidence of changed SID attitudes? What is he thinking, seeing Xiao-Guo and Zhao Yunlan both willing to sacrifice for a random Dixingren?


• What would Shen Wei have done if they hadn't begged him to save Wu Tian'en? My own take is that he wouldn't have saved him in front of them; he'd have done it behind the SID's back, like all his more merciful acts in the early episodes.


• What do you think happened during the part of this scene we didn't see? Has anyone ever written a fic that features it?

So, come and have your say! Share links to meta, picspams, and related fanworks, new or old! Self-recs are wholeheartedly encouraged. Basically, this is the place for anything you want to say or link to about this scene.