Focus on: Jiajia prevents her grandfather's ultimatum to Shen Wei from ep. 17

[trickytricky]

Location of scene: Episode 17, 37:03-39:35

Following Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan’s return from Dixing, Shen Wei is confronted by the Chancellor of Dragon City University and told that he must choose between his position as a professor or his role as a consultant with the SID; he cannot keep both. Just as Shen Wei is beginning to tender his resignation, Jiajia bursts in to interrupt, revealing her relationship as the granddaughter of the Chancellor. She convinces her grandfather to withdraw his ultimatum, who ends up leaving the decision of whether he can truly balance both roles up to Shen Wei, while Jiajia later tries to encourage Shen Wei to remain with the university.

Our scene begins with the standard DCU location/orientation sign zoom-in (I’m including this picture deliberately… someone pointed out to me today that whoever made this sign forgot to capitalize ‘city’ in it, and now I CANNOT UNSEE IT. So. Y’all can enjoy that with me, I suppose).

 The Chancellor of the university has summoned Shen Wei to a very civilized meeting over tea. He gets a delightfully ambiguous answer when he inquires about whether there have been any new developments in Shen Wei’s life recently (apparently, his teaching is ‘even more energetic’ than usual lately).


(Oh, Shen Wei. I love you very, very much. Never Stop Being a Delightful Matryoshka Doll of Mysteries.)

The Chancellor cuts to the chase pretty quickly, pulling out a folder he got from ‘above’ (presumably official government channels), and sounding pretty frustrated about learning of Shen Wei’s decision to join a ‘classified department’ through this report (Shen Wei's position as a consultant for the SID is definitely official and on the books if it’s being routed around like this).

 

Shen Wei tries to reassure him that his classified consultancy work for the government is only ‘casual’, and won’t interfere with his university responsibilities… but the Chancellor doesn’t want a half-committed professor. His going-in inflexibility here is actually pretty reasonable when one considers the context that (1) He apparently had to find out about one of his professor's moonlighting with another major employment gig via government reports rather than from the employee himself, and (2) Apparently Professor Zhou and Professor Ouyang just recently decided to entirely jump ship from the university to do the same. It must have been a pretty significant blow to the department to lose those two already, and now he’s seeing Shen Wei attempting to slide one foot out the door as well… on the face of it, not a good look at all!

 

When it comes down to it, when forced to choose, Shen Wei is beginning to speak up to respond to the Chancellor’s ultimatum of choosing only one position to commit his full effort towards, when our stalwart hero, Jiajia, charges onto the scene!


She’s so distraught and distracted by what she heard Professor Shen begin to say that she blurts out ‘Grandfather!’ when interrupting the conversation. Shen Wei’s literal double-take as he registers the unexpected revelation of a blood-relationship between the two of them is absolutely precious.


Seriously, just look at that adorable surprised face! PRECIOUS!

Jiajia metaphorically rakes her grandfather over the coals for what she overheard, pointing out what everyone apparently knows… that Professor Shen is one of the most skilled teachers on campus and is universally loved by his students. The Chancellor almost immediately relents in the face of her fervent protests. At this point, my personal take is that he’s seizing on this as an excuse to save a little face while backing down from his previous demand. When he presented the choice, he probably expected that Shen Wei would have agreed to drop the consultancy gig, but once it became clear that it was either take Shen Wei with divided attention and multiple commitments, or lose him entirely, he realized he’d rather keep him despite divided loyalties than lose him from the university entirely.


This little conversation between Jiajia and Shen Wei in the immediate wake of the office scene slays me every time.


Shen Wei can be so unbearably soft and fond with his students (even though I tend to think he’s also probably pretty firm when it comes to his expectations for academic effort and performance), and that genuine care he feels is on full display here.

I do find it interesting, and think it was probably a deliberate choice by the writers, that Jiajia frames her argument that Shen Wei should continue both consulting for the SID and teaching at the university as a ‘win-win’ for all involved. It’s a bit of a rhyme/echo to Zhao Yunlan’s common refrain of always trying to find a path that all good-faith parties can find some benefit from, rather than approaching a situation with only one’s personal benefit in mind.

At the end of this scene, and even overlapping immediately into the next…

...Shen Wei is pensive, distracted, clearly troubled by the increasingly difficult balancing act his life has become with all of the plates he’s working so hard to keep spinning at once, even after he's left the university and arrived at the SID. He shakes it off when prompted, but these interactions were clearly significant ones for Shen Wei, even if on the face of it they just resulted in him remaining in his previous status quo.

Zooming out (admittedly by a lot) from this small, almost-insignificant-in-the-larger-scheme-of-things scene, but I see Shen Wei’s hesitation here, the long, troubled pauses his character takes when considering his choices, his priorities, even this relatively early in the show, as being precursors for the audience’s understanding of one of the show’s strongest overall themes: Why bother choosing to strive to do Good things?

Why bother trying to do the right thing; why bother prioritizing kindness, compassion, respect for others despite differences; why bother striving for forgiveness and understanding over actively embracing spite and cruelty in the face of suffering and setbacks life will throw in your path; why bother risking your own comfort and safety to defend those too weak to fight back against those who use violent oppression to impose their will? 

Why bother with those things when the small differences and little amounts of progress you can make so often seem futile in the face of an indifferent universe, when your efforts are often scorned or misunderstood, when doing the right thing and taking a stand against oppression results in no tangible benefits or rewards… in fact, often results in the opposite. Why bother choosing Good, with prioritizing others over yourself, when sometimes you will get nothing out of it but pain and loss?

In this scene, Shen Wei is clearly suffering a pretty significant hurt at the thought of losing his position at the university, his place as a teacher and his connection to the students he cares so deeply about… he doesn’t want to lose those things. He wants to hold onto them, to keep pursuing this aspect of his life that has brought him a great deal of personal happiness. When it was a straight-forward choice presented to him, that almost made it easier; his priority was clear and he paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, but never hesitated in starting to resign from his position in favor of his work with the SID. 

When Jiajia interjected and put the choice back in his hands, that’s when the conflict becomes clear; can he truly do justice to all of his roles and responsibilities if his focus is divided? If yes, if there’s truly a ‘win-win’ to be found and he can keep it all exquisitely balanced… well and good. But if not… if things go off the rails, which events more and more seem careening towards even by this point in the show… he has enough self-knowledge to understand already that he’ll choose to give this part of his life up that has brought him joy in a moment, if it means he’ll be there to stand in front of someone who needs protecting from someone who intends them harm.

When push comes to shove, Shen Wei will always choose the good of others over entrenching his own interests (above everything else, I feel that it’s this aspect of his character that makes him and Zhao Yunlan true soul-matches).

This handful of scenes embody the kind of foreshadowing this show really excels at. Shen Wei knows there are going to be hard choices ahead. Unavoidable ones. Difficult choices that might not have a ‘good’ option to choose between. That will require sacrifices to be made. As much as one might hope for it, strive for it, sometimes a ‘win-win’ just isn’t possible. If he gets that call, he already knows how he’s going to answer, as painful as it might end up being.

This is why I truly, deeply love this show. Because Guardian says that making the right choice despite hardship and difficulty is still worth it.

That choosing goodness despite scorn and adversity is its own reward.

Even when it only leads to personal suffering or results in failure in what we were trying to accomplish, it still intrinsically matters how we choose to live our lives. 

The effort matters. The choice matters. And it is a choice. One that often in life, as in this show, is the harder, less rewarding one.

Shen Wei will always make the choice of selflessness over selfishness, and it wouldn’t be such a meaningful thing if we never saw him struggle over it. The fact that it’s hard, that it hurts, but that he still musters the willpower to choose the right thing over and over again, is what makes his story such a powerful one.

Related Fanworks and Recs
I’m not aware of any fanworks that really center on this scene in particular, but I will happily rec the delightful fic: The unofficial newsletter of Dragon City University (BioEng Dept) by frith_in_thorns, a series of short stories featuring Jiajia-related hijinks at the University!

A few questions to ponder and/or spark discussion… if you have alternate questions of your own or just think of something worth calling out in the scene that I glossed over, please chime in!

• Do you think the Chancellor would have followed through on his ultimatum if Jiajia hadn’t interrupted? Or would he have compromised his stance after all once Shen Wei made his determination to keep working for the SID absolutely clear and allowed him to keep on teaching?
• I know I babbled a whole diatribe up there about how I think these scenes connect to one of the show’s overall thematic messages, but what are your thoughts about what was going through Shen Wei’s mind when he’s looking troubled and lost in thought at the end of his conversation with Jiajia and later in Zhao Yunlan’s office?
• Not so much directly related to the scene directly, but does anyone have any fun conjecture/head-canons to share about how/why Shen Wei ended up affiliated with the University to begin with? His power of ‘learning’ is an obvious tie-in, but there were infinite paths he could have chosen to learn about and integrate into Haixing society when he first came up… why do you think he ended up going with this one?
  

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.

Comments

[china_shop]

This is such a great post, and a wonderful scene choice! *appreciates all your thoughts*

Shen Wei's position as a consultant for the SID is definitely official and on the books if it’s being routed around like this

I suspect that as soon as Zhao Yunlan informed Minister Gao that he'd recruited Shen Wei, it was official. (And Minister Gao knows that Shen Wei has powers from the wedding -- would he have included that in the file?)

At this point, my personal take is that he’s seizing on this as an excuse to save a little face while backing down from his previous demand. When he presented the choice, he probably expected that Shen Wei would have agreed to drop the consultancy gig, but once it became clear that it was either take Shen Wei with divided attention and multiple commitments, or lose him entirely, he realized he’d rather keep him despite divided loyalties than lose him from the university entirely.

I agree with this. The Chancellor is obviously competing with top secret government departments for quality scientists -- and here he has one who's actually skilled at teaching too, about to walk out the door. Poor him!

I do find it interesting, and think it was probably a deliberate choice by the writers, that Jiajia frames her argument that Shen Wei should continue both consulting for the SID and teaching at the university as a ‘win-win’ for all involved.

That's such a good point! The show is so good at showing multiple angles/perspectives on choices. And maybe it's that framing by Jiajia that lets Shen Wei decide to try to do both, even though a) it will definitely put a lot of pressure on his time and attention, and b) it maybe risks an adversary finding out and revealing his Dixing identity publicly at the university, or drawing more violence there and endangering students. (That shot of Ye Zun walking through the classroom later on is chilling, in that context.)

In this scene, Shen Wei is clearly suffering a pretty significant hurt at the thought of losing his position at the university, his place as a teacher and his connection to the students he cares so deeply about… he doesn’t want to lose those things. He wants to hold onto them, to keep pursuing this aspect of his life that has brought him a great deal of personal happiness.

Yes! I love that Shen Wei has this life, this passion for his work and that he takes it so seriously and it brings him so much pleasure. It makes him much more interesting and complex than he'd be without it, and it makes this choice so meaningful. For all that Zhao Yunlan later reassures him he's not just a knife, he's spent a good decade or more building up a non-knife-y life!

I also really like how, you know, earlier on when Zhao Yunlan kept trying to recruit Shen Wei, and Shen Wei turned him down over and over, it was easy to read that as being about Shen Wei's keeping his secrets and not wanting to reveal himself to Zhao Yunlan. But this conversation with the Chancellor makes it very clear that Shen Wei knew his academic career was on the line, as soon as any formal arrangement was put in place.

[trickytricky]

Good point about Minister Gao and the official-y-ness of his involvement, and an interesting question about whether Shen Wei's powers were noted in his official hiring paperwork... thinking back, I'm now not sure exactly how much Minister Gao would have known about/observed Shen Wei's powers even at the wedding... he seemed pretty out of it, and I think Zhao Yunlan was deliberately pretty vague when giving Shen Wei credit for subduing the guests. That he used some kind of power seems like a no-brainer, but, meh...if no one was together enough to actually witness him blast out with energy, maybe there was just enough plausible deniability for them to try to get away with it. When they go to visit him at his office later, Shen Wei seems to take care to move out of range of the camera when he uses his energy... to what extent that's because he's trying to keep elements of his dual-identity under wraps (i.e., linking Black Cloaked Envoy with Professor Shen Wei) vs his ability to use dark energy at all vs his ability to use dark energy in that specific way... The fact that Zhou Xinci knew Shen Wei was the Black Cloaked Envoy (and Zhao Yunlan, current SID Chief, was definitely not read in to that knowledge) has some really fascinating threads that could be pulled about who, exactly, in the Haixing government knows about that linkage with his 'cover' identity and how restricted the compartmentalization of it is.

and b) it maybe risks an adversary finding out and revealing his Dixing identity publicly at the university, or drawing more violence there and endangering students. (That shot of Ye Zun walking through the classroom later on is chilling, in that context.)
Ummmmmmmmmmmm... 😬
Doing research for updating Jiajia's character wiki (inspired by working on this scene post!), I found a clip of a deleted scene that circles back around to this in the most heart-breaking way... that I hadn't, until this comment, fully internalized all of the angles of heart-break involved. 😭😭😭 Jiajia wiki (Warning: Do Not watch the deleted scene unless you're ready for some Sad.)

he's spent a good decade or more building up a non-knife-y life
Yes, very much this! I don't think Shen Wei needs Zhao Yunlan for anything so basic as to 'teach him how to care about people', or to make genuine connections, or to build a full, rich life for himself... the glimpses we get of Shen Wei's life outside his role as the Envoy really seems like he's got a pretty solid handle on that stuff without needing anyone else as a crutch for that. But, I do think it's beautiful how Zhao Yunlan is there to remind him of his 'humanity' (for lack of a better word) when everything is dark and hurting and his power/responsibility seems determined to swallow him whole, to break through that compartmentalization that Shen Wei cultivates so carefully and make sure he understands there's someone who loves and embraces and understands every element of him in a way that no one else ever has.

But this conversation with the Chancellor makes it very clear that Shen Wei knew his academic career was on the line, as soon as any formal arrangement was put in place.
Ahhhhh, one of the many, many, many Fics-I-Will-Probably-Never-Actually-Write involves a scene coda immediately following the bit in episode 14 where Zhao Yunlan finally corners Shen Wei into admitting (out loud) he's the Envoy and talks him into agreeing to consult for the SID... and there's this whole angsty misunderstanding where Shen Wei is just operating under the assumption that the reveal/recruitment means he's going to have to give up his position as a professor now that his BCE-identity is compromised and his Shen Wei-identity will be folded under the SID... like he just assumes those are intrinsically linked, one means losing the other, so that was part of why he was trying so hard to keep everything together. And when Zhao Yunlan realizes what Shen Wei thinks he's asking him to sacrifice by insisting he formally joins the SID, he's appalled and falls all over himself to assure Shen Wei that wasn't what he meant, as far as he's concerned of course Shen Wei should be able to keep both, etc etc etc... [and, aawwww, now that I've done this scene analysis, and remembered this ultimatum and the absolutely torn face Shen Wei makes considering all the implications in the wake of it, that lil dialogue coda would hit totally differently 😭]

[china_shop]

I don't have time to reply fully just at the moment, but I'm curious about this:

The fact that Zhou Xinci knew Shen Wei was the Black Cloaked Envoy

Is that explicitly stated in canon? I keep seeing people assuming it, but I don't see why Zhao Xinci would have known, and I definitely think if he had known, he'd have made sure the subsequent SID chiefs were aware of it. (His warning Zhao Yunlan off Shen Wei and his caginess about Shen Wei in general could easily be put down to Minister Gao telling him about the new consultant with amazing powers at the SID.)

[trickytricky]

I'm pretty sure it is.... or at least heavily suggested. I went back and found the bit in episode 27 where Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talk briefly out by the car after Zhao Yunlan caught him meeting with his father.

Shen Wei says about Zhou Xinci, "I re-contacted him after you and I first met to get information about you. [Presumably the SID dossier Shen Wei was looking at that had Zhao Yunlan's pic in episode 2 and that Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing found when they broke into his apartment?] I didn't tell you, considering your relationship. I worried you'd worry."

I guess it's possible that Shen Wei only interacted with Zhou Xinci in his BCE guise previously, even when he 're-contacted' him after meeting Zhao Yunlan and while getting the SID dossier from him, and that Zhou Xinci had then only subsequently made the 'Shen Wei' connection post the wedding events... but it reads more to me as if we're meant to understand Zhao Xinci knew from the beginning of the show that Shen Wei = Black Cloaked Envoy.

[china_shop]

I'm pretty sure it is.... or at least heavily suggested. [...] Shen Wei says about Zhou Xinci, "I re-contacted him after you and I first met to get information about you. [Presumably the SID dossier Shen Wei was looking at that had Zhao Yunlan's pic in episode 2 and that Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing found when they broke into his apartment?]

Yeah, I assumed Shen Wei sent a smoke messenger to Zhao Xinci (ie, the Envoy's contact at the Xingdu Bureau), and ZXC sent the file via whatever method they use to send files to Dixing. (Maybe the smoke messenger has an "add attachment" function, maybe Dixing has a PO Box, maybe there's some burn-it-with-the-incense workaround. We know Shen Wei can send letters to Haixing, even when he's chained to the pillar.) I just can't imagine ZXC knowing and thinking it's a good idea to keep the SID chief in the dark, and it certainly wouldn't have benefited ten-years-ago!Shen Wei to have the SID know that he's a lowly student at a Haixing university. (Also, I wrote a fic about ZXC finding out at that meeting in the tea shop, and it's become my firm headcanon.) I think we'll have to agree to disagree about this one. :-)

[trickytricky]

Ah, yes, definitely picking up different vibes out of that coffee shop meeting for sure then! I wouldn't call their interaction friendly by any means in that scene, but their dynamic really didn't strike me as being set up to give the audience the impression that ZXC had just received the shock of seeing Shen Wei's face for the first time/learning Shen Wei's identity right then and there.

I'm more inclined to think ZXC wouldn't have known Shen Wei's true identity back when he held the position of SID Chief...that it's not necessarily deemed 'need-to-know' by the person who holds the SID Chief position at all, more that it's a classified piece of info the Supervisory Dept holds at a very high level and only divulges to people in a few specific positions within the senior leadership...so he learned it only after he got promoted there. In the flashback scene from episode 35 the Regent says he coordinated with the humans' Supervisory Department to get 'special permission' to send up the search party that eventually found Shen Wei, and later when Shen Wei says he intends to go to the surface to locate the Hallows and prevent any Dixingren from causing harm there, the Regent says "I will contact Seastar Administration to create a perfect identity as a cover for you." So, it's not like they were smuggling him up and forging his documents... to me it makes a lot of sense that it's just treated as highly sensitive info for both diplomatic and hiding-the-existence-of-Dixingren-from-the-public reasons, and therefore held at only the highest levels of the government...which it would make sense to me that ZXC would have had access to as soon as he gained his higher position. But that Zhao Yunlan/the SID Chief role is too low on the totem pole to be authorized to be briefed in on it (officially). After all, there's no particular operational reason the SID Chief would ever need that information to do their job...and if the SID Chief position isn't on the list of people authorized to know, it wouldn't really be up to ZXC of whether to share it with Zhao Yunlan or not. If it's treated as classified information, he wouldn't be allowed to share it outside of authorized Supervisory Dept channels.

BUT, of course, none of that adds up to anything totally conclusive, so end of the day we all get to gleefully headcanon away! XD

[china_shop]

This feels a little like beating a dead horse, and I'm really not trying to convince you, but since the conversation's happening anyway...

But that Zhao Yunlan/the SID Chief role is too low on the totem pole to be authorized to be briefed in on it (officially). After all, there's no particular operational reason the SID Chief would ever need that information to do their job...

Except risking a diplomatic incident by hauling the Black-Cloaked Envoy into the interrogation room, a la ep 4...

Aaanyway, I think the more interesting/salient point is whether Zhao Yunlan thinks his father knew/knows and how that ties into his betrayed reaction to the teashop meeting.

[trickytricky]

Not trying to dissuade you from the conversation, because I'm actually quite enjoying it and always really appreciate hearing the full thoughts of people who disagree with me (usually the best way to learn something new..), but if you're not having fun with it, please let me know! I certainly don't want to keep the back and forth going if it's not fun for both sides.

Having said that, a risk of possible exposure of a cover identity while out doing one's job is usually not treated as 'operational need' in terms of justifying whether or not you're going to put people on the list for having access to that kind of sensitive information or not. I could expand on that more, but you sound like you're not too interested in the details at this point.

The question of whether or not ZYL thinks his father knew/knows... yes, that is an interesting one! If he did think his father knew for longer than ZYL did, and had kept that information from him, that could certainly have bled into and intensified his betrayed reaction we saw, over and above just reacting to what he directly heard, with them discussing keeping things from him. While someone in his position would normally understand on a professional level that classified information shouldn't be shared outside of authorized channels, regardless of what personal relationships one has, both ZXC and ZYL's emotional reactions and ability to keep their personal issues separate from their professional roles do tend to be all over the map! So, I could see ZYL getting upset over his father keeping that from him if that's what he thought happened, even if that little professional voice in the back of his head would be waving its arms around and yelling that he was being irrational about the issue.

[china_shop]

Well, I mean, I could make a whole wall-of-crazy conspiracy board about why I think the way I do, but it seems a bit off-topic vis-a-vis this post (and I don't have time right now). ;-)

So, I could see ZYL getting upset over his father keeping that from him if that's what he thought happened, even if that little professional voice in the back of his head would be waving its arms around and yelling that he was being irrational about the issue.

Oh, I didn't mean that ZYL feels betrayed by his father. I don't think there's enough trust there that he could. (Or, well, it's more complicated than that, obviously. But that's not what I meant.) I was thinking more, "You [Shen Wei] didn't trust me enough to tell me your identity outright, while all along he knew??!!"

Because even if the information was above ZYL's paygrade, Shen Wei could have chosen to tell him anyway, and he didn't until it could no longer be avoided. So yeah, irrational wrt classified info and all that (assuming that applies, which he wouldn't know, would he?), but still a feeling like Shen Wei kept ZYL in the dark when even his terrible father knew. Almost like Shen Wei and Zhao Xinci conspired to keep it from him! If that makes sense?

[trickytricky]

Ah, yes, it does! And yeah, that is a totally different dynamic than what immediately sprung into my mind!

A betrayed reaction from that angle would make much more sense from ZYL's perspective... his reaction to finding out his father knew (or he thinks his father knew) somewhen prior to episode one and leading all the way through the events of 'present', but that Shen Wei 'chose' not to divulge his identity to him until forced, when he claimed that they were friends... yeah, it might not make a difference where ZYL's emotions are concerned whether or not Shen Wei makes the argument: 'but I didn't tell him...it's not like I chose to confide this in him and not in you... it's not a matter of trusting your father more than you or conspiring with him behind your back on a personal level... he knows because of purely positional/professional reasons and nothing else...' ZYL values personal loyalty really highly, so he wouldn't necessarily let that go easily.

[china_shop]

Yes, exactly. And I mean, ZYL does let it go pretty quickly, because Envoy business is what it is, but it can still sting in the moment. *pets him*

[trobadora]

I guess it's possible that Shen Wei only interacted with Zhou Xinci in his BCE guise previously

That's what I always assumed! I do think it's possible Zhao Xinci might know anyway through his Xingdu Bureau job, or might have realised once he met Professor Shen the first time (maybe through Zhang Shi?), but I don't think Shen Wei would have deliberately exposed his identity to him pre-canon ...

[trickytricky]

I don't think Shen Wei would have deliberately exposed his identity to him pre-canon ...
Oh, 100% agree with this! I definitely don't see Shen Wei volunteering that information on his own to ZXC... he absolutely would have been just as guarded around him as he was around most others. I do think the level of familiarity we're shown them having with one another while they were drinking tea together (tinged with animosity, of course, because...them) strongly implies ZXC had already known Shen Wei was the Black Cloaked Envoy well before that conversation, and given that Shen Wei's identity was set up for him by the Supervisory Dept, it makes more sense to me than not that ZXC would have learned of it through their channels once he was promoted up high into their ranks.

[trobadora]

The thing is, though, when the Regent talks about getting the Haixing authorities to set up an identity, that was just after he woke up from his dirt nap, so it must have been over twenty years ago. It can't be the current Professor Shen identity.

[trickytricky]

Yep! 'Current' Professor Shen identity is established as 32 years old, so there would have undoubtedly needed to be adjustments/re-establishment over the span of time he's established to have been there. But routing it within 'proper' Haixing government channels (through the Supervisory Dept) is the established method for him getting/having a Haixing ID, so I guess I just don't see anything in canon indicating Shen Wei (and/or Dixing governing leadership coordinating on his behalf) would have suddenly decided to change tack and take a different, less lawful/more covert approach to the Envoy having a Haixing persona that allows him to reside on the surface, especially given his official role there. I think it's far more likely that whatever higher-ups in the Supervisory Dept are in the know about Dixing and responsible for related policy/decision-making continue to be aware of and do the bureaucratic work necessary for Shen Wei's ID/residence.

[trobadora]

Honestly, I could go either way on this. I could completely buy Shen Wei, after having actually encountered modern Haixing and the early SID under Zhao Xinci, deciding he doesn't want his private information to be available to them, and finding alternative methods.

[trickytricky]

Yeah, I'm not saying an argument couldn't be made, and if someone wants to construct a particular headcanon around it, I'm certainly not trying to dissuade them! Headcanons are hella fun, and transformative fandom works can take as little or as much as canon tells/suggests as they'd like. :) I just think given what canon presents us with, that it's less likely that's the narrative intention of what they were going with there.

I'm less convinced Shen Wei would try to go that route. Sure, he's shown to be willing to work around the system in (really) significant ways before, but those actions/choices are pretty much all examples of times when standing aside/complying with the system would have been a direct violation of his conscience and/or would have been a direct failure to protect someone who needed protecting then and there. I think something like this would be more akin to undermining the system for his own personal benefit/convenience in his eyes, and from what we see of his choices for when to act/when to show restraint, I don't see him being inclined to bend rules on his own behalf. 'Keeping his own conscience clean' is a driving motivation for him, and I think little compromises like this would be things he'd tend to avoid. In the absence of an urgent, immediate need to save lives/preserve peace, Shen Wei seems pretty determined to keep himself within the bounds of set rules/structures.

And on a practical level, I just don't think it would work very well. Twenty years ago Haixing's Supervisory Dept established an identity for a 'Shen Wei' to live on the surface, and would have obviously used Shen Wei's real face to do so. I think it's a bit of a stretch to believe (both us as the audience and Shen Wei deciding to make the attempt) that they're so incompetent that Shen Wei could have evaded their notice by forging himself new documents when his initial ones would have started to go out of date, using the exact same name and the exact same appearance, and gotten away with it.

[trobadora]

I absolutely agree that he wouldn't do it just for his own benefit, but if he thinks (with reason) the Haixing authorities can't be trusted when it comes to Dixingren, he might decide they can't be trusted with any kind of leverage over the Envoy's life.

Good point that by all right it shouldn't work very well though.

[china_shop]

using the exact same name and the exact same appearance

Maybe that's why the glasses. ;-)

[satsuma]

It seems pretty plausible to me that the Supervisory Dept is making Shen Wei's documents (I have a hard time imagining Dixing has the kind of printers you'd need to forge those for one hahaha) though of course that doesn't necessarily mean Zhao Xinci specifically is aware

I don't remember the exact wording but in ep 8 when Shen Wei edits the message to Zhao Yunlan from Dixing, doesn't it say (pre-edit) that Shen Wei is 'an identity associated with a dixing official' or something like that? I could imagine Zhao Xinci having access to a similar level of information even if he doesn't officially know its the specifically Envoy

[trobadora]

Oh, that's a great point about the message!

From episode 8: "In Dixing Register's 900,000 records, there is no one by the name of Shen Wei. (...) However, after consulting the ancient records, a senior official has already used the name of Shen Wei."

That doesn't even say the name is still in use, just that it's been used before (用过)! And of course the message might have continued to explain in more detail, but then again it might not. The Regent is good at playing games - now that I look at this again, maybe he only explicitly exposed Shen Wei's previous Haixing identity! That never occurred to me before ...

(Maybe they don't have printers, but they may have someone with the Dixing power of forgery! *g*)

[trickytricky]

Wow, I hadn't entirely keyed in to just how slick that wording was before... I remembered it being a bit dodgy, but that is an artful level of wiggly plausible deniability on both sides there...Nice.

[trickytricky]

Not necessarily, no, but once it's established that Shen Wei's Haixing identity is created/maintained by the Supervisory Dept (which seems pretty solid), it becomes far more likely than not to me that ZXC has specifically known at least since he got promoted to his current role there, even if one discounts how casually the audience is shown him interacting with Shen Wei face-to-face over tea in the shop. I'd say less so, if ZXC was just a mid/high-mid level bureaucrat like Minister Gao, but he's above even him in the pecking order; he's the Supervisory Dept's Director-General, he runs that Department, which means he'd be expected to have access to all the relevant compartmented info and would have been briefed up when he took on that position... or maybe if the work he was focusing on was unrelated to Dixing, but that's not the case; we're shown that ZXC is clearly the high level official who speaks for day-to-day policy during peacetime where Dixing matters are concerned.

[elenothar]

... ok, what do I need to bribe you with to write that scene coda, because YES PLEASE

[trickytricky]

I'm trying to work myself up to having some regular Writing Mojo again, and my energy level for fandom/creative efforts has definitely been higher lately, so maybe I'll be able to actually get some writing progress in on some stories soon (rather than just endlessly coming up with delightful ideas and jamming out fantastical outlines that don't ever actually see the light of day)... either way, I appreciate that you like the idea!