Focus on: Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan walk in the park at night

[sakana17]

Location of scene: Episode 4, 19:51-24:35
* Note: I used the English subtitles from YouTube, QCed by solo

Context: Shen Wei has joined the investigation of the face-stealer because he won't feel easy until the criminal is caught. Earlier that day he and Zhao Yunlan and Lin Yusen walked through the park where the killer hunts and they met Zhang Danni. Now it is night, and Zhu Hong has dressed up as bait and waits on a bench in the street while Chu Shuzhi and Da Qing hang back to keep watch and Lin Jing monitors the scene from the SID via a surveillance camera and listening device. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan patrol the park again.

They walk side by side. Zhao Yunlan quotes what Shen Wei told Lin Yusen earlier ("a single tree does not make a forest" 孤木不成林, 独林不成森) when they scolded Lin Yusen for trying to catch the murderer on his own.



Zhao Yunlan asks about the meaning of Wēi (巍) in Shen Wei's name. Shen Wei stops walking and looks at Zhao Yunlan for a moment.









He makes a little sound/smile and replies: "It does. Someone very important gave me that name. It has an extraordinary meaning." (确实。是一个很重要的给我取的, 有着非凡的意义。)





Zhao Yunlan compliments Shen Wei: "That's called passing the torch. If my mom knew I have an intellectual like you as a friend, she'd be bursting with joy." (这就叫做薪火相传。我妈要是知道我交了你这么一个知识分子朋友啊, 那得乐开花啊。)



They continue walking.



Shen Wei: "What is precious between friends is intimacy. If she saw you now, she would be very happy." (两个朋友之间, 贵在知心。她要是看到你现在这样也一定会很开心的。)
Zhao Yunlan: "Maybe. One day when I go up there myself, I'll ask her." (也许吧。等哪天我也上去了, 我一定问问她。)





Shen Wei: "I'm sorry." (不好意思啊。)
Zhao Yunlan: "It's fine. It was a long time ago. Hey, Professor Shen, don't do the polite thing with me." (没事儿。这事儿都过去这么久了。诶沈教授, 你可别跟我客气啊。)





Cut to Zhu Hong and Chu Shuzhi reacting to sound of a woman screaming. Zhao Yunlan reacts to someone else: Lin Yusen, lurking behind some trees. Zhao Yunlan calls at him and runs after him. Shen Wei tries to follow but is stopped by dark energy trapping his feet.

Cut to Da Qing breathing in a green gas and collapsing. Chu Shuzhi finds the source of the woman's screams: a recording. On his monitor, Lin Jing sees a man approaching Zhu Hong from behind.

Shen Wei looks around for the enemy who trapped him.





He uses dark energy to free himself and vows: "I assure you, no matter what it takes I will find you." (我告诉你啊。不管你上天入地, 我都会把你揪出来的。)





He summons more dark energy to search for the enemy, but hearing Zhao Yunlan scolding Lin Yusen, he lets the dark energy dissipate.



Watching from behind a tree, Zhu Jiu says it's getting more and more interesting.

Cut to Chu Shuzhi running and finding evidence that Zhu Hong has been drugged and taken away. In the park, Lin Yusen sheepishly stands up from behind a bush. Zhao Yunlan is pissed/frustrated. He kicks the traps Lin Yusen set out. He's angry: "Don't you know these things might accidentally hurt others? What if that wasn't me just now?" (你知不知道你安得这些东西会误伤到别人。要刚才来的不是我呢?)

Lin Yusen insists he has to stop the murderer himself. He'll take responsibility if someone gets hurt. Zhao Yunlan: "Can you handle the responsibility?" (你能负得了这个责吗?)

Shen Wei catches up to them and tries to reason with Lin Yusen. Lin Yusen defends his plan to trap the murderer. Zhao Yunlan cuts him off.



He tells him to clear the traps away and go home and wait for news because they have a lead. Lin Yusen tries to insist, but Zhao Yunlan's manner shifts from boss giving orders to more like an older brother. He pats Lin Yusen's shoulder and tells him to pack up.



Shen Wei offers to help Lin Yusen. When he crouches to pick up the traps, he remembers what Zhao Yunlan said after their talk with Zhang Danni: "This world is full of things we just can't make sense of." (这个世界上让人摸不着头脑的事情还真不是一件两件啊。)

Shen Wei deliberately pokes his finger on one of the spikes of the trap to draw a little blood. He makes a sound like he's hurt. Zhao Yunlan comes over to see what happened. Shen Wei tells him it's nothing, he pricked his hand.



Zhao Yunlan chastises Shen Wei's carelessness.





Zhao Yunlan："Look, someone as old as you..." (你说你这么大一人。)

He's agitated because he didn't bring a first-aid kit. Lin Yusen offers Shen Wei a band-aid. Shen Wei insists it's fine. It's a small wound that just needs to be rinsed with water. Zhao Yunlan is having none of that："Small, what small, huh? Don't you know you could get tetanus?" (小什么小啊。你知不知道这会引起破伤风。)





Shen Wei smiles at Zhao Yunlan's (over)reaction.



Zhao Yunlan says he'll take him to the hospital later. Shen Wei takes the band-aid from Lin Yusen and steps away. He glances back at Zhao Yunlan and sighs a little.



I chose this scene because:

1. I love them walking side by side and talking. It's more relaxed than their earlier conversations despite the fact that Shen Wei was a prime suspect not that long ago. Zhao Yunlan has been thinking about the things that don't add up about Professor Shen and tries to learn a little more about him by asking about his name. From Shen Wei's initial reaction, this question affects him profoundly and he gives an honest (but not detailed) reply. The conversation about friends, intimacy, and Zhao Yunlan's mother is so nice and close between them, and I love how Zhao Yunlan tells Shen Wei not to be formal/polite with him.

1a. Completely trivial – but I love that during most of the walking scene, the bottom of Shen Wei's tee shirt is untucked and hangs below his zipper cardigan. So casual! Almost unkempt! ^__^

2. I love Shen Wei getting to badass a little, freeing himself from the dark energy and warning Zhu Jiu he will come find him. BAMF Shen Wei is always lovely to see.

3. I love Shen Wei's cunning plan to convince Zhao Yunlan he's just an ordinary human, nothing to see here, nothing suspicious whatsoever, by pricking his finger. His performance of "ouch, I'm hurt" is delightful. And I love Zhao Yunlan's reactions. It's serious! Professor Shen could get tetanus! And it proves that what Zhao Yunlan was just lecturing Lin Yusen about – anyone could get hurt – is real. Then Shen Wei's little sigh at the end. :)

I hadn't thought much about this before, but this time when I watched them talking about Zhao Yunlan's mother, I realized that Shen Wei, as the Black-Cloaked Envoy, should know she's dead and know the circumstances of her death. That put an interesting context to his "I'm sorry" that I hadn't thought about.

What are your favorite things or favorite moments in this scene?

Thoughts, reactions, squee, fanwork recs, anything related to this scene welcome!

Comments

[china_shop]

This is such a wonderful post, and the screencaps are positively gorgeous! I love this scene with all my heart, both the walk-and-talk, and the finger-prick deception at the end with Shen Wei's adorable surprised little laugh and Zhao Yunlan's agitation that Shen Wei might get tetanus. SO MUCH LOVE!!!

I'll come back later with more. Right now, two things.

1. ZYL: If my mom knew I had an intellectual like you as a friend she'd be bursting with joy.
Shen Wei: What's precious between friends is intimacy. If she saw you now, she would definitely be happy.

I love that SO MUCH! I love how economically Shen Wei is saying "our relationship is not about status" and "status isn't important, anyway" AND "our friendship is so intimate and precious, it would make your mother happy." (And this is in EPISODE FOUR!) *flails forever*

2. Shen Wei: "I'm sorry." (不好意思啊。)

I got curious because in Korean you never say "I'm sorry" about a bereavement -- "I'm sorry" is about taking blame/responsibility -- and I wondered if Chinese was the same. Here is a (random) page about how to express condolences in Chinese, and yeah, it looks like Chinese people generally don't say "I'm sorry" like we do in English. And the expression Shen Wei uses is more like "Excuse me", I think? (The expression discussed in that link is missing one character, compared to what Shen Wei says, so I might have entirely the wrong end of the stick.) Anyway, I'd guess Shen Wei's sorry might be "Sorry for speaking so lightly/carelessly about your dead mother!" rather than "I'm sorry your mother's dead." But I'd love to know what someone who, you know, actually knows Chinese and Chinese culture makes of it!

[sakana17]

how economically Shen Wei is saying "our relationship is not about status"

Oh, that's a great point. And yes, having it in episode 4 is...wow! :D

And the expression Shen Wei uses is more like "Excuse me", I think?

Yes, that's how it seemed to me when I looked up the Chinese characters.

Anyway, I'd guess Shen Wei's sorry might be "Sorry for speaking so lightly/carelessly about your dead mother!" rather than "I'm sorry your mother's dead."

It's still interesting to me in the context of Shen Wei (presumably) knowing about Zhao Yunlan's mother's death already, and Zhao Yunlan not knowing that he knows. At least, that's how I interpret the way Zhao Yunlan mentions it -- like that's his way of telling Professor Shen. But yeah, I would love to know what someone fluent in Chinese & the culture makes of it.

[china_shop]

It's still interesting to me in the context of Shen Wei (presumably) knowing about Zhao Yunlan's mother's death already

Yeeeah.

I wonder if he does know. You make an excellent point that he could, but I guess I would prefer it if he didn't because it's such personal information to secretly have about Zhao Yunlan, given Shen Wei's feelings about him. Hm, I can imagine Zhao Xinci speaking gruffly about a civilian casualty and never telling him the truth (possibly not wanting to open himself up to criticism)... and Shen Wei wouldn't have any unofficial way of hearing the news, since it long pre-dated Chu Shuzhi's presence at the SID.

(Or... oh no, now I'm trying to construct a conspiracy theory that Shen Wei doesn't know at this stage that Zhao Yunlan is Zhao Xinci's son, given Zhao is a very common name and why would his parentage be included in his personnel record? I should probably stop, though. *g*)

[nnozomi]

This is a terrific discussion, with your usual gorgeous screencaps! Oh dear, the two immediately above He makes a little sound/smile and replies: "It does. ! Shen Wei is bracing himself to talk about a precious gift, to the person who, unknowingly, gave it to him--you can see in his throat and temples how tense he is. And Zhao Yunlan is so easily, warmly receptive, invested in him, listening without judging.

Zhao Yunlan compliments Shen Wei: "That's called passing the torch.
OW, this is one place where the English exceeds the Chinese in painful resonance. (I had to look up the Chinese phrase, which does have to do with "burning" but not specifically with "torches/lanterns.")

jumping in with my $0.02 (￥2?) on china_shop's comment below:
the expression Shen Wei uses is more like "Excuse me", I think? (The expression discussed in that link is missing one character, compared to what Shen Wei says, so I might have entirely the wrong end of the stick.) Anyway, I'd guess Shen Wei's sorry might be "Sorry for speaking so lightly/carelessly about your dead mother!" rather than "I'm sorry your mother's dead." But I'd love to know what someone who, you know, actually knows Chinese and Chinese culture makes of it!
Agree with you both that Shen Wei is saying "I'm sorry I misspoke" rather than "I'm sorry for your loss" (the 啊 at the end is just a kind of softening sentence-ending particle here, I think). And that I'd like to hear from someone fluent in the language and culture on it!

Zhao Yunlan: "Can you handle the responsibility?"
This is such a Zhao Yunlan thing to say--for all his air of carelessness and sloppiness he is deeply serious about taking responsibility. (Except in surface things like, you know, writing confessions of his wrongdoing for the Ministry, for which he has Shen Wei and his brushwork handy. ;) )

Shen Wei and his pricked finger and his big "who me suspicious?" innocent eyes, omigod.

talking about Zhao Yunlan's mother, I realized that Shen Wei, as the Black-Cloaked Envoy, should know she's dead and know the circumstances of her death. That put an interesting context to his "I'm sorry" that I hadn't thought about.
Oh, I never thought about this either! My instinct is to say that it's not a thing he does in fact know about offhand--it was, what, twenty years ago? and he wasn't on the spot, I think? and if her death was reported to him just as "Shen Xi, Haixingren" then there's no reason for him to connect her with Zhao Yunlan. I guess the question is, as discussed below, whether Zhao Xinci informed the Black-Cloaked Envoy at the time that the woman who died in the incident was his wife.
(There never seems to be any question that Zhao Yunlan will hold ongoing resentment against Dixingren for having killed his mother, does there? Her death seems to be more significant for screwing up the father-son relationship beyond repair. Poor Shen Xi.)

[china_shop]

This is such a Zhao Yunlan thing to say--for all his air of carelessness and sloppiness he is deeply serious about taking responsibility.

Yes! I love that about him so much!!

and if her death was reported to him just as "Shen Xi, Haixingren" then there's no reason for him to connect her with Zhao Yunlan. I guess the question is, as discussed below, whether Zhao Xinci informed the Black-Cloaked Envoy at the time that the woman who died in the incident was his wife.

Ahh, good point! Thanks for that. I don't expect that Zhao Xinci would feel moved to share that information, do you? Unless he wanted to throw it in the Envoy's face.

I wonder if Zhao Yunlan ever told Shen Wei how his mother died... maybe in ep 17, when/after they visited her grave?

[elenothar]

Gorgeous screencaps as usual - I particularly love that wide-eyed innocent look when Zhao Yunlan scolds him. That whole bit with the tetanus never fails to make me smile because a) what even is that plan Shen Wei and b) Zhao Yunlan's overreaction. In general, I really like how calm this whole scene feels, their casual stroll, just getting to know each other better.

Rewatching this ep, I kept wondering how exactly Zhi Jiu is glueing Shen Wei's feet to the ground - it's nothing to do with his main power, so is this something every Dixingren can do?

[marycrawford]

My instinct is to say that it's not a thing he does in fact know about offhand

Same here. I read Shen Wei's reaction as genuine surprise - for him to be faking that response in this moment, in this conversation that is already so layered with secrets, would be awful, and I can't see it. He had no one to arrest or take back to Dixing, since the murderer and victim both died, and he clearly wasn't there when it happened, so I could see him not knowing about it.

And oh, the moment where ZYL asks who gave him the name - that pause where you can SEE Shen Wei think that maybe he knows, maybe he remembers is just agonizing. This is one of the moments that gain so much significance on rewatching...

[sakana17]

He had no one to arrest or take back to Dixing, since the murderer and victim both died, and he clearly wasn't there when it happened, so I could see him not knowing about it.

Ah, yeah, without the murderer to hand over, Zhao Xinci could've not told him about it. Or reported it very minimally, leaving out who the victim was and her relationship to Zhao Xinci. It's something I can believe of Zhao Xinci.

Like I said, I'd never thought about it before and had always assumed Shen Wei had no idea Zhao Yunlan's mother was dead until the conversation in the park. But rewatching the scene closely, Shen Wei's reaction was more lowkey than I'd remembered, so I started wondering. (I'm always wondering about post-wake-up, pre-episode-1 Black Cloaked Envoy, because we know next to nothing.) But yeah, Shen Wei already knowing about Zhao Yunlan's mom is not my preferred interpretation, either.

[sakana17]

how exactly Zhi Jiu is glueing Shen Wei's feet to the ground - it's nothing to do with his main power, so is this something every Dixingren can do?

That's a really good question. At the end of episode 3, when Shen Wei finds Zhang Danni against the brick wall, he also gets trapped by dark energy. But we don't know if Zhu Jiu is there at the scene or not. We don't see him there, but if the dark energy ankle grab power is his, then maybe Shen Wei getting stopped there is a clue that Zhu Jiu is lurking around. Otherwise, as far as we know, Zhang Danni is the only other Dixingren there. Or possibly the face-stealer guy is close by, though we don't see him, either.

[elenothar]

I seem to remember we got a shot of Zhu Jiu lurking behind a tree at some point while they're in the park, but I might be wrong. But it hadn't occurred to me that it might be Zhang Danni's power - I don't think hers is defined in the show? Though it did have an interesting green colour.

[trobadora]

This scene is such a delight, and your screencaps are so gorgeous! ❤

Zhao Yunlan asks about the meaning of Wēi (巍) in Shen Wei's name. Shen Wei stops walking and looks at Zhao Yunlan for a moment.

No matter how many times I watch this scene, I always feel like there's a flashback that should fit into that moment of pause. I know there is no flashback! But I have that thought every single time.

Shen Wei: "What is precious between friends is intimacy.

The word he uses here is 知心. A quote from arrghigiveup in this post:

The subtitles use “intimacy” as a pretty close approximation of 知心 (zhī xīn). 知=know, 心=heart. It’s a term that can be applied to family, friends, and lovers, but if you call someone your 知心 you are saying they are your confidant, someone who gets you so well they know your heart. This is the term Shen Wei uses in reference to his and Zhao Yunlan’s friendship. A friendship that, from Zhao Yunlan’s point of view, has only existed for how many days now?! If I knew someone for only that length of time, I’d hesitate to call them much more than an acquaintance, let alone 知心.

(I also came across this Word of Honor tumblr post, which says 知心 is specifically romantic. Interesting for context and related terms!)

Shen Wei deliberately pokes his finger on one of the spikes of the trap to draw a little blood. He makes a sound like he's hurt.

I love the little pause in between – he pokes his finger, looks at it, and then makes a "surprised", "hurt" sound! You're right, his performance is delightful. ♥

BAMF Shen Wei is always lovely to see.

Yes! And I love the searching-with-black-energy visuals. That looks so cool!

I realized that Shen Wei, as the Black-Cloaked Envoy, should know she's dead and know the circumstances of her death.

I know this has been brought up in the comments already, but my impression was definitely that he didn't know. And thinking about it, yeah, Zhao Xinci probably didn't report on that case in any detail. He probably only told Dixing that the Dixingren he'd been after was killed while killing a Haixingren, and so the case was closed.

[trobadora]

I love how economically Shen Wei is saying "our relationship is not about status" and "status isn't important, anyway" AND "our friendship is so intimate and precious, it would make your mother happy." (And this is in EPISODE FOUR!)

YES THIS! ♥ ♥ ♥

(I always took him as apologising for inadvertently making light of ZYL's dead mother, not as expressing his condolences. And I do think 不好意思 would be out of place for condolences, but obviously I don't know enough Chinese to be sure.)

[trobadora]

At least, that's how I interpret the way Zhao Yunlan mentions it -- like that's his way of telling Professor Shen.

Oh, yeah, that's a good point, it's also ZYL sharing something personal about himself!

[china_shop]

Ohhh, thanks so much for that quote!! ♥ ♥ ♥

[trobadora]

(There never seems to be any question that Zhao Yunlan will hold ongoing resentment against Dixingren for having killed his mother, does there? Her death seems to be more significant for screwing up the father-son relationship beyond repair. Poor Shen Xi.)

Yeah, and I find that fascinating, because ZYL is definitely less sympathetic towards Dixingren to begin with, and then warms up to them, culminating in that speech of his *points to icon*, but none of that is ever tied to his mother's death. It's such an unusual choice, or at least would be in a Western show ...

[trobadora]

I wonder if Zhao Yunlan ever told Shen Wei how his mother died... maybe in ep 17, when/after they visited her grave?

Oh, what a fantastic idea! Now I really want that missing scene!

[china_shop]

I vaguely remember some speculation a few years ago that Ye Zun was amping up and supplementing Zhu Jiu's powers. I can't remember the details, but it's seems possible as a handwavy explanation. :-)

[trobadora]

My impression is that in addition to having a specifc black energy power, Dixingren can also use black energy directly - like Zhu Jiu does here, to hold Shen Wei to the ground, or in that one scene with Zheng Yi, to shield himself from her power. I figure it depends on how strong someone's black energy is, so the stronger they are the more they can do with it.

[china_shop]

*ponders slotting it into my Taking It Slow series* (I need to get back to that!!)

[trobadora]

Yes, we do know Zhu Jiu is there at the end of episode 3 - we hear his voice, and his laughter!

[trobadora]

Zhang Danni's power is the green mist. We see her using it in a flashback too.

[trobadora]

I saved that back in 2018, and it left enough of an impression that I immediately remembered it when commenting on this scene! *g*

[trobadora]

YES PLEASE

[elenothar]

Oh, that'd certainly be neat. Just let Zhu Jiu do more or less whatever he needs to make the plot work xD

[elenothar]

That would certainly make some sense (though it might've been nice to have that an explicit bit of worldbuilding, show) and I think it's pretty supported by what we see - there're definitely several Dixingren who do things outside of their stated power (aside from Shen Wei, who's weird re: powers anyway 😂).

[trobadora]

Yeah, I wish it was explicit, but they definitely say every Dixingren only has one power (other than Shen Wei, who learns more powers, and Ye Zun, who devours them) so that's what makes the most sense to me to explain things.

[sakana17]

We hear (and see him (blurrily in the background)) a bit earlier than when Shen Wei gets trapped by the dark energy, but yeah, reasonable to assume he's still lurking around.

[sakana17]

Yes, Zhu Jiu is behind a tree during the scene in the park. I summarized it in the post as: Watching from behind a tree, Zhu Jiu says it's getting more and more interesting. There's no doubt Zhu Jiu trapped Shen Wei in the park, until Shen Wei freed himself.

In the above comment, I meant the scene at the end of episode 3, when Shen Wei finds Zhang Danni against a wall, and he gets trapped there by dark energy so that Lin Jing and Zhao Yunlan find him. As trobadora points out below, Zhu Jiu can be heard slightly before that scene. So he's probably still around when Shen Wei finds Zhang Danni, although we don't see/hear him at that point. Sorry I wasn't being very clear earlier!

[elenothar]

Oh yeah, sorry, I clearly didn't understand what you were saying *sheepish look* Thanks for clarifying (and putting up with my probably very confusing comment xD)