Ep 6: Shen Wei and the chancellor talk about Li Qian, and Zhao Yunlan shows up

[china_shop]

This post covers two small adjoining scenes: Shen Wei reproaching the university chancellor for letting Li Qian drop out, and Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan walking the hallways together directly afterwards.

Context

The last time Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan saw each other, before this scene, was when Zhao Yunlan consulted Shen Wei about the Mirror Girl case (when Shen Wei says “[This is] the first time that you think this case is not related to me and are coming to see me for an information consultation”). That consultation is cosy and warm. But since then Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing have searched Shen Wei's flat and found the SID file, and Zhao Yunlan has sent a query to the Dixing archives and the thank-you spy banner to Shen Wei. His suspicions are running high, and Shen Wei knows about the flat-searching, so he must be aware of that.

The scene with the chancellor

This is the second of three conversations between Shen Wei and the chancellor. The first is in ep 5, when the chancellor suggests Shen Wei should move out of the teachers' dorms. The third is in ep 17, when he tries to make Shen Wei choose between professoring and consulting for the SID.



This scene begins with the chancellor turned away from Shen Wei, despite their being mid-conversation. It's a far cry from the polite discussion over tea cups near the start of the previous episode.

Chancellor: Li Qian wanted to quit school. It was her own will.
休学是李茜同学她自己的意思
She completed all the papers to leave school.
休学手续也是她自己办的

Clearly the chancellor didn't notify Shen Wei before allowing the paperwork to be processed, and for some reason, Li Qian didn't discuss it with Shen Wei either.



Shen Wei: How could you let a student fill out papers to quit school?
你怎么能让学生自己办理退学呢

Shen Wei is standing formally, hands folded in front of him, presumably having barged in to protest as soon as he heard the news. (Which explains the lack of tea.) And now he's scolding the chancellor, his boss and apparent senior. The shot switches to close-up, and we see Shen Wei's frustration as he looks away to huff slightly and switches tactics, trying to appeal to the chancellor's reasonableness.

Shen Wei (cont.): Li Qian has a special family situation. We should contact her parents first, take into consideration her emotions, and then —
李茜的家里情况比较特殊 我们因该先联系一下她的家长 照顾一下她的情绪 然后我们再去



Chancellor: (adjusts his glasses while Shen Wei is speaking, avoiding his gaze, then interrupts) I know what you mean. Li Qian's situation is indeed special.
我明白 李茜这个事件 是有些情况



Shen Wei falls silent.



Zhao Yunlan arrives outside the office, but neither Shen Wei nor the chancellor seem to notice.

Chancellor (cont): But I think that with her present situation, it's not suitable for her to continue studying.
但是我感觉就她目前的状况 他不适合再继续学习
(The original subs translate this as “she is not suitable for studying.” Google translate gives me “But I don't think she's fit to continue studying in her current state.” Anyone have an opinion on this line? How much is he casting aspersions on her?)



Shen Wei: *is quiet for six seconds, reacting and adjusting to defeat*

Shen Wei: (in a politer tone of voice) Principal, I'll get going. *bows*
校长 我先走了

There are various ways you could interpret this scene. Maybe it doesn't have any deeper meaning beyond what's in the fairly innocuous dialogue. But personally, I'm inclined to read it as the chancellor implying he encouraged Li Qian to leave — or at least, didn't dissuade her — because of her being a person of interest in a SID case (“Li Qian's situation is indeed special”) and, by extension, because of her brush with dark energy and Dixingren.

We know the chancellor has form in this area. He asked Shen Wei to move out of the teachers' dorms because of his perceived association with the SID. And if I'm right, this scene would work as foreshadowing for their next meeting, after Shen Wei officially becomes a consultant for the SID.

Anyway, I feel like there's an implicit “be careful” in this conversation, and a resistance to the presence of strange/special goings on, and it's that which silences Shen Wei and causes him to retreat, first into silence, then politeness, and then by physically leaving.



I think this screencap beautifully encapsulates Shen Wei's dilemma — caught equidistant between the chancellor of the resolutely respectable university, on the one hand, and Zhao Yunlan chief of the SID, skulking outside, on the other.

The scene in the hallway

Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan walk the university hallways together, continuing the conversation. Shen Wei seems to assume Zhao Yunlan has context — or he's too upset to care that his concerns might not make any sense if Zhao Yunlan didn't overhear the meeting. This is an unusually serious scene for them, almost sombre. Zhao Yunlan makes a couple of half-hearted attempts at compliments/flirting, but neither of them are really in the mood.



Shen Wei emerges from the chancellor's office, sees Zhao Yunlan there without much apparent surprise, and they start walking together.

Shen Wei: Li Qian's family had problems a long time ago. I am her teacher, but I didn't notice any problem beforehand.
李茜的家里早就出了问题 我却没能发现自己学上的不对

Given we literally saw him sit down with Li Qian in episode 1 and ask how she was doing, I feel like there has to be more to this than he's saying. Does he mean even earlier?



Zhao Yunlan: (puts his hand on Shen Wei's shoulder) Your shoulders aren't broader than the ocean, so why are you trying to bear everything yourself?
你这肩也没比海还宽啊 什么都往上扛
Shen Wei: If a student is undisciplined, it's the teacher's fault.
教不严师之惰

(Does anyone have any insight into this phrase? Google isn't giving me anything, and the Yabla dictionary doesn't have it as an idiom, but the translated elements there suggest it's more like “if the teacher isn't strict, their students are lazy”? I'm not sure how this relates to Li Qian, since she was far from lazy or undisciplined! So could it perhaps be an idiom to the effect of “the buck stops here [with the teacher]”?)

Zhao Yunlan: (lets go of Shen Wei's shoulder)
Shen Wei (cont): If only I discovered it earlier, I... (breaks off) Never mind.
如果我能早一点发现的话 我 算了 不说了

I think this is the nub of it. I think Shen Wei is reproaching himself for not noticing the Longevity Dial sooner. It was right under his nose, a burden to Li Qian, quite possibly compromising her life force, and definitely putting her in danger, and he of all people never noticed! But he can't say that to Zhao Yunlan, because why would an ordinary Haixingren professor have recognised one of the Hallows?

Zhao Yunlan, meanwhile, notices that Shen Wei cuts himself off, but he doesn't push it.

Zhao Yunlan: It must be such a pleasure to be your student. How is Li Qian right now?
能做你的学生 可真的是幸福啊 李茜现在怎么样了
Shen Wei: She is resting at home. With these kinds of things happening, no one could be all right in a short period of time.
发生这样的事情 在短期之内 任谁都无法释怀吧 她现在在家休养呢



Zhao Yunlan: It is good for her to be alone for a while. I hope that she will make it through. I'll go visit her after she has calmed down.
一个人静静也挺好的 真希望他可以早日振作起来 等她心理平复一些之后呢 我再去看她



Shen Wei: (nods and turns to him) Let's hope that no one will bother her for this period of time.
希望在这段时间里不会才有人去打扰她



Zhao Yunlan: Mm. (nods)
Shen Wei: (checks his watch) I have a class. I have to go now.
我要去上课了 我先走了
Zhao Yunlan: Okay.
好



Zhao Yunlan: (watches him leave)

Thoughts and questions

1. How do you think Shen Wei found out Li Qian had dropped out? He tells Zhao Yunlan how she's doing — did he visit her? Did one of the other students tell him? Did the chancellor notify him after the fact, perhaps in writing?


2. Did Li Qian really want to quit university? Do you think the chancellor might have used Shen Wei's position and reputation as leverage, and that's why she didn't consult her professor before dropping out? (This is pure speculation on my part.)


3. What is the chancellor's agenda during this scene with Shen Wei? How much is he prejudiced against strange goings on (not wholly unreasonably, given the body count), and how much does he just object to one of his junior professors bursting in to reprimand him?


4. Why does Shen Wei stop arguing with the chancellor? Does he realise it's pointless, recognise that his own position is potentially at risk, or both? Or something else?


5. How much did Zhao Yunlan pick up of their meeting, and what did he make of it? Why is he even there? (Oh! Maybe he showed up to speak on Li Qian's behalf, but realised while listening in that the SID's support would do Li Qian more harm than good?)


6. Shen Wei talks about contacting Li Qian's parents, but the doctor at the hospital (episode 2) didn't seem to think she had other family. Thoughts?


7. When Shen Wei says, "Li Qian's family had problems a long time ago," is he referring to her grandmother's near-death experience a year ago, when Li Qian saved her with the Dial, or do you think it's something else?


8. Do you have any thoughts or feelings about the chancellor overall? (I feel like his job is to protect the reputation of the university, and there have been a lot of Unexplained Incidents involving the murders of multiple students lately. And the SID is hanging around a lot. So it's natural for his response to be to try and remove any trace of potential trouble from his campus. I don't agree with his decisions, but I can see why he's making them. It's the kind of role that invites conservatism.) (Speaking of which, I wonder if this is what Zhao Yunlan was thinking of during the conversation outside Ye Huo's house in ep 18, when he says Shen Wei's proposals for a school in Dixing were rejected because Shen Wei doesn't put himself in the shoes of the decisionmakers. Does he think in the above scene that Shen Wei could have made a better case for Li Qian, taking into account the chancellor's concerns?)


9. Shen Wei goes slightly “innocent wide-eyed professor” at the end of his conversation with Zhao Yunlan. By hoping “no one will bother her,” does he mean Dixingren, or people generally, or is this his way of saying “please be gentle with her; no interrogations!”?

Thoughts, reactions, fanwork recs (anything involving the chancellor?), or anything else related to this scene welcome!