The two puppets we see in Haixing seem to be treated as one, at least - it was the larger one we saw in Zhu Hong's dream.
Oh, good point! Thanks for noting that!
And I love that part of this is because they're both on edge because they're worrying about what's happening with Shen Wei in Dixing, and neither of them deals well with problems they can't do anything about!
Yes! Plus they both know the other is worried -- so they kind of yelling at each other as proxies for yelling at the problem itself, maybe?
Pretty sure they're both glad Da Qing interrupted them before things escalated even more.
Ha, yes. Also, love that Da Qing is not at all intimidated by the angry vibes they're emanating. <3
And Zhao Yunlan decides to go to Dixing after all, only for Da Qing to be the voice of reason and stop him because it's too dangerous.
I love that Da Qing tells him he can't go. It's like his take-charge deputy-ness is still in effect from earlier.
Subtitles: When Ye Zun says, 杀人诛心, Solo's subs just render it as "destroy"; the original subs have it as "It's better to conquer one's mind than destroy his body.", and the Viki subs have it as "Kill someone by killing the people's trust in them." I would really like an explanation of the original phrase, because this is way beyond my rudimentary Chinese, LOL.
Me too!! (The Viki subs do work well thematically, imo...)
Yes! No matter how angry he was or how he threatened to fire Chu Shuzhi, he's not going to let anyone else target him!
He didn't actually threaten to fire Chu Shuzhi, though, did he? He said, "If you don't want to work here—" which leaves the choice in Chu Shuzhi's hands? (He would never fire Chu Shuzhi outright, because on top of needing him, and Chu Shuzhi being one of ZYL's people, it was Shen Wei who put Chu Shuzhi at the SID.) I mean, I know ZYL's tone of voice was very angry and growly, and he wasn't giving Chu Shuzhi much room to move, but it's still different from, "I don't want you working here anymore." Idk. /only just thinking about it from this angle now...
Also, interestingly, what he's telling Minister Gao to do about the current crisis is block comments (there's the censorship again) and otherwise pretend nothing happened.
Ha, yeah. After all, suppressing info was Minister Gao's strategy in the first place, and now he's not even willing to go all the way with it.
But Minister Gao isn't good at doing nothing - like Zhao Yunlan, like Chu Shuzhi, except in his case it manifests in trying to further undermine the people most qualified to actually deal with the actual threat.
Great point! I wonder who he expects to deal with Ye Zun, once the SID has been shut down!
But he won't do that to begin with, in response to the leaks and rumours, where it might actually be helpful!
Yeeeah, although trying to shut down gossip could possibly lead to more, worse gossip -- including complaints of censorship that would make the DoS a target, too.
And it's not entirely clear to me what everyone else knows about Chu Shuzhi's background. Zhao Yunlan obviously knows; Da Qing knows (because he's about to tell Xiao-Guo in episode 15, but Lao-Chu glares him into shutting up), but does Zhu Hong? She seems so indignant on his behalf.
Even the ones who know probably only know half the story, I think? (Know he's a convicted murderer; probably don't know the ins and outs of what happened?) I can't imagine the Envoy or Chu Shuzhi would have gone into much detail.
I think it's because he feels he's staved off the problems with the Ministry for now - a small but significant win, when Minister Gao could easily have doubled down and tried to forcibly shut down the SID.
I don't see how ZYL would know that Minister Gao isn't in the process of doing that. ZYL basically declared war on Minister Gao, dared him to go after Chu Shuzhi, and then left before Minister Gao could respond.
Also, it's fascinating to me that Zhu Hong, who's never been to Dixing before, offers to go instead!
To rescue Shen Wei, too! A sign that she's resolved her jealousy, even if her feelings for Zhao Yunlan persist.
It sounds to me like it's more about how his backstory is presented/twisted in what's gone public, because that's what he's talking about here - what happened 100 years ago?
Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Ya Qing has slandered Nianzhi.
I wonder whether if he knew how cautious Shen Wei was about taking Zhao Yunlan to Dixing at all
Oh, good question. I'm not sure that's something either of them would have told the rest of the team? Zhao Yunlan, because he wouldn't want a fuss, and Shen Wei, because he wouldn't want to undermine Zhao Yunlan's capable persona in front of his team. What do you think?
When he first arrives, the Regent tells him to be patient since it's still a few days until his release
I assumed that Shen Wei had taken Chu Shuzhi to Haixing on the understanding that he'd work out the rest of his sentence at the SID. So if that sentence is nearly up, presumably it means afterwards Chu Shuzhi can decide for himself what to do with his future (unless he provokes the Regent into extending his punishment). The Regent wouldn't be aware that Chu Shuzhi has become a core member of the team by now, so that's what Chu Shuzhi is saying when he declares he wears the shackles voluntarily, I think? (I didn't think the shackles were literal, but I suppose they could be.)
We see some kind of grass when Chu Shuzhi digs out the box
Oh, good point.
I wonder how he got that idea, and how he knew where to find the puppet, since he presumably hasn't had the opportunity to personally get his hooks into Chu Shuzhi yet. From the Nightmare Master, who's been scoping out all their vulnerabilities? Or from the Regent?
The Regent or the Deacon, maybe? Ye Zun has had plenty of time to come up with ways to manipulate the SID, individually and as a team, after all...
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Oh, good point! Thanks for noting that!
And I love that part of this is because they're both on edge because they're worrying about what's happening with Shen Wei in Dixing, and neither of them deals well with problems they can't do anything about!
Yes! Plus they both know the other is worried -- so they kind of yelling at each other as proxies for yelling at the problem itself, maybe?
Pretty sure they're both glad Da Qing interrupted them before things escalated even more.
Ha, yes. Also, love that Da Qing is not at all intimidated by the angry vibes they're emanating. <3
And Zhao Yunlan decides to go to Dixing after all, only for Da Qing to be the voice of reason and stop him because it's too dangerous.
I love that Da Qing tells him he can't go. It's like his take-charge deputy-ness is still in effect from earlier.
Subtitles: When Ye Zun says, 杀人诛心, Solo's subs just render it as "destroy"; the original subs have it as "It's better to conquer one's mind than destroy his body.", and the Viki subs have it as "Kill someone by killing the people's trust in them." I would really like an explanation of the original phrase, because this is way beyond my rudimentary Chinese, LOL.
Me too!! (The Viki subs do work well thematically, imo...)
Yes! No matter how angry he was or how he threatened to fire Chu Shuzhi, he's not going to let anyone else target him!
He didn't actually threaten to fire Chu Shuzhi, though, did he? He said, "If you don't want to work here—" which leaves the choice in Chu Shuzhi's hands? (He would never fire Chu Shuzhi outright, because on top of needing him, and Chu Shuzhi being one of ZYL's people, it was Shen Wei who put Chu Shuzhi at the SID.) I mean, I know ZYL's tone of voice was very angry and growly, and he wasn't giving Chu Shuzhi much room to move, but it's still different from, "I don't want you working here anymore." Idk. /only just thinking about it from this angle now...
Also, interestingly, what he's telling Minister Gao to do about the current crisis is block comments (there's the censorship again) and otherwise pretend nothing happened.
Ha, yeah. After all, suppressing info was Minister Gao's strategy in the first place, and now he's not even willing to go all the way with it.
But Minister Gao isn't good at doing nothing - like Zhao Yunlan, like Chu Shuzhi, except in his case it manifests in trying to further undermine the people most qualified to actually deal with the actual threat.
Great point! I wonder who he expects to deal with Ye Zun, once the SID has been shut down!
But he won't do that to begin with, in response to the leaks and rumours, where it might actually be helpful!
Yeeeah, although trying to shut down gossip could possibly lead to more, worse gossip -- including complaints of censorship that would make the DoS a target, too.
And it's not entirely clear to me what everyone else knows about Chu Shuzhi's background. Zhao Yunlan obviously knows; Da Qing knows (because he's about to tell Xiao-Guo in episode 15, but Lao-Chu glares him into shutting up), but does Zhu Hong? She seems so indignant on his behalf.
Even the ones who know probably only know half the story, I think? (Know he's a convicted murderer; probably don't know the ins and outs of what happened?) I can't imagine the Envoy or Chu Shuzhi would have gone into much detail.
I think it's because he feels he's staved off the problems with the Ministry for now - a small but significant win, when Minister Gao could easily have doubled down and tried to forcibly shut down the SID.
I don't see how ZYL would know that Minister Gao isn't in the process of doing that. ZYL basically declared war on Minister Gao, dared him to go after Chu Shuzhi, and then left before Minister Gao could respond.
Also, it's fascinating to me that Zhu Hong, who's never been to Dixing before, offers to go instead!
To rescue Shen Wei, too! A sign that she's resolved her jealousy, even if her feelings for Zhao Yunlan persist.
It sounds to me like it's more about how his backstory is presented/twisted in what's gone public, because that's what he's talking about here - what happened 100 years ago?
Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Ya Qing has slandered Nianzhi.
I wonder whether if he knew how cautious Shen Wei was about taking Zhao Yunlan to Dixing at all
Oh, good question. I'm not sure that's something either of them would have told the rest of the team? Zhao Yunlan, because he wouldn't want a fuss, and Shen Wei, because he wouldn't want to undermine Zhao Yunlan's capable persona in front of his team. What do you think?
When he first arrives, the Regent tells him to be patient since it's still a few days until his release
I assumed that Shen Wei had taken Chu Shuzhi to Haixing on the understanding that he'd work out the rest of his sentence at the SID. So if that sentence is nearly up, presumably it means afterwards Chu Shuzhi can decide for himself what to do with his future (unless he provokes the Regent into extending his punishment). The Regent wouldn't be aware that Chu Shuzhi has become a core member of the team by now, so that's what Chu Shuzhi is saying when he declares he wears the shackles voluntarily, I think? (I didn't think the shackles were literal, but I suppose they could be.)
We see some kind of grass when Chu Shuzhi digs out the box
Oh, good point.
I wonder how he got that idea, and how he knew where to find the puppet, since he presumably hasn't had the opportunity to personally get his hooks into Chu Shuzhi yet. From the Nightmare Master, who's been scoping out all their vulnerabilities? Or from the Regent?
The Regent or the Deacon, maybe? Ye Zun has had plenty of time to come up with ways to manipulate the SID, individually and as a team, after all...