Focus on: Shen Wei tucks Zhao Yunlan into bed again, episode 28

[trobadora]

Location of scene: episode 28, 32:06 - 34:04

For context, Zhao Yunlan has just found out that Wang Xiangyang et al. have kidnapped his father and Minister Gao. Wang Xiangyang has left them a coded message and 24 hours to solve it/save the kidnapped people. (sakana17 covered that scene in a recent discussion post). Zhao Yunlan is frantically trying to figure out what will happen next, and gets the brilliant idea to turn to the Hallows. To be fair, he has previously had a vision of the car accident starting this kidnapping - but when he reaches for the Sundial and it activates in his hand, he immediately flinches and bends over in pain, then falls to the floor and passes out. Wang Zheng finds him there. And then ...



We start our scene with Zhao Yunlan lying in bed, Shen Wei's blurry hands visible in the foreground. He has his hands together, one thumb stroking the other hand in a nervous/self-soothing gesture.

He is watching Zhao Yunlan as Zhao Yunlan sleeps, and he's not wearing his glasses:



Shen Wei thinks to himself: 明明那么聪明的人，为什么这次偏偏那么 ... - "You're obviously such a smart person. But this time, why are you so ..."

He blinks, turns his head away from Zhao Yunlan for a moment, then turns back and says the last word out loud: 愚蠢 - "Stupid."

He continues out loud: 还好 这次的共鸣轻微 - "At least the resonance was slight this time."

Again we can see his thumb stroking over the back of his other hand.

Shen Wei: 要不然 - "Otherwise ..."

He cuts himself off, looks at Zhao Yunlan with obvious worry. He turns away again for another moment, then back at Zhao Yunlan, and is apparently overcome by the urge to do something, so he reaches for Zhao Yunlan's hand, which is sticking out from under the duvet, and tucks it in. He carefully arranges and pats down the duvet over his arm and shoulder.



Then Shen Wei puts his hands together, bows his head for a moment. When he lifts it again, he's clearly coming to a decision.

Close-up on the incense burner and Shen Wei's left hand placing an incense cone inside. Click on the image for the large version - there is an almost-healed scratch on his thumb! Which is a cool detail - later this episode he'll get another cut on the back of his hand, and ZYL will notice he's not healing instantly any more:



Shen Wei lights the incense cone, then stands straight in front of it, facing Zhao Yunlan's window. He tells the messenger: 摄政官大人钧鉴，多日不见汇报地星的情况。是否生变？本使怀疑夜尊借圣器之乱有所图谋。天下的安危系于我辈一身。还请尽快回复。
"Your Excellency the Regent, I have not seen a report on the situation in Dixing for many days. Has anything happened? I suspect Ye Zun is using the chaos caused by the Hallows to advance his plots. The safety of the world depends on our generation. Please respond quickly."

(Speaking officially, SW calls himself 本使, "this Envoy".)

Shen Wei looks very thoughtful and worried. With a gesture of his hand, he sends the message.



Now Zhao Yunlan starts waking up, making mumbling noises in bed. Shen Wei turns to him and walks to the side of his bed.



Shen Wei: 你醒了 - "You're awake."

Zhao Yunlan's first question is: 几点了？ - "What time is it?"

Because of course that's what he's immediately worried about, given that they're on a countdown.

Shen Wei tells him: 从收到黑纸信开始已经过去六个小时了 - "Since we received the black letter, six hours have passed."

(That makes it 6am now, btw - they received the letter at midnight.)

Zhao Yunlan opens his eyes and looks at Shen Wei.




Why I love this scene

The intimacy of it always gets to me. It's so lovely and tender, even/especially when Shen Wei is scolding Zhao Yunlan! (I adore Shen Wei's exasperated/frustrated/worried caretaking.) And Shen Wei especially looks so gorgeous in this scene - they both do, but I really had to stop myself from screencapping Shen Wei's every microexpression here. So much love!

But also, a huge reason for why I'm so fond of this little scene is because of the parallels to the scene in episode 8 (which I talked about here):



In both cases you have Shen Wei tucking Zhao Yunlan into bed, and a smoke messenger, and Zhao Yunlan waking up. But this time, Shen Wei doesn't sit next to the bed but on it, and he doesn't wear glasses, and this time, a sleeping Zhao Yunlan is turned towards him rather than away. And when he wakes, Zhao Yunlan doesn't startle to find Shen Wei there at all. (Of course, as we know from the kitchen scene/episode 23, he's used to Shen Wei being in his flat while he's sleeping!) There's a clear, measurable physical progression in their relationship, encapsulated in the contrast between these two scenes, and I love it SO MUCH.

(Even if we don't get to see the next step in that progression, which obviously would be Shen Wei in Zhao Yunlan's bed, lying down with him. *g*)


Questions:

• What's your favourite thing about this scene? Mine is the many, many times Shen Wei looks away from Zhao Yunlan while sitting on his bed, gathering his thoughts/wrangling his feelings, only to then immediately look back at Zhao Yunlan. ♥


• How do you think Zhao Yunlan got from the lab to his bed? Did Wang Zheng manage to call anyone else before Shen Wei came rushing in? *g* Did Shen Wei portal them home?


• Given the countdown, and the fact that at least Lin Jing, Cong Bo, Zhao Yunlan and Wang Zheng were all awake well after midnight, what was Shen Wei in the middle of when Zhao Yunlan passed out? (He must have felt the Hallows activating; he usually turns up very quickly when that happens.) And when this scene starts, Shen Wei has clearly already examined Zhao Yunlan and found no serious damage. But at first he must have feared the worst. What was going through his head in that moment?


• What do you think decided Shen Wei on staying by Zhao Yunlan's bedside rather than going back to whatever he was doing before? How long would he have stayed if Zhao Yunlan hadn't woken up relatively quickly after being taken home?


• Why do you think Shen Wei decided to message the Regent when he did? Did he really expect a useful answer, or was he just itching for something to do?


• How did Shen Wei get that scratch on his thumb? *g*


• After the end of this scene, does Shen Wei scold Zhao Yunlan again while he's awake, too? (Is there fic about that?)


• How do you think the Hallows visions work? Zhao Yunlan got knocked out trying to get a vision of the future out of the Sundial, but the vision of his father's car accident that he did have (in episode 21) wasn't immediately connected to touching any of the Hallows. (It happened randomly on the street, though it was shortly after overusing the Sundial to defend himself against Ye Zun left him blind.) The future-visions I remember were from touching the Mountain-River Awl - actual future visions in episode 14, and an averted-future vision in episode 19. (The visions in episode 20 are also not immediately from touching one of the Hallows.) And it's the Awl that Shen Wei tells him in episode 19 can unmoor people in time. So do you think he'd have had better luck trying the Awl?


• Because it's so prominent in some of the shots: what does Shen Wei think about that swing in Zhao Yunlan's bedroom? :D

So, let's talk about this scene! Isn't it great? And if anyone has links to fanworks involving this scene, please share! ♥

Comments

[mumblemumble]

I've had this open in a tab for a while because I wanted to leave a longer comment, but for now! Let me just say!

In both cases you have Shen Wei tucking Zhao Yunlan into bed, and a smoke messenger, and Zhao Yunlan waking up. But this time, Shen Wei doesn't sit next to the bed but on it, and he doesn't wear glasses, and this time, a sleeping Zhao Yunlan is turned towards him rather than away.

That is so beautiful and I never made that connection! I hope to be back for more, but thank you for making this post; I loved to see the insights into the original dialogue and all the little details I might not have noticed otherwise. <3

[trobadora]

Thank you so much, I'm so pleased that it gave you some joy. I really really adore the way these scenes visualise the progression in their relationship, and basically this entire post is me pointing at it and shouting: "LOOK AT THIS!!!!!" :D

(And this post will still be here if you come back with a longer comment at some point! No rush! ♥)