Meta: the bond between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan

[china_shop]

When I was making screencaps for my Zhao Xinci and Gao Jingfeng meta, it occurred to me that while Shen Wei is having tea with Zhao Xinci, Zhao Yunlan is lurking in the doorway watching, but Shen Wei seems wholly unaware of his presence -- and when he comes outside, he's surprised to find Zhao Yunlan waiting.

But there are other times when Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan seem to be able to sense each other, or they have an unexplained or semi-explained bond.

1. Episodes 1 & 2.
   
   
   
   Of course Shen Wei recognises Zhao Yunlan on campus when they first meet, but Zhao Yunlan seems to recognise Shen Wei on some level, too. In episode 1, he says, "Every time I see you, Professor Shen, I have this feeling like we have known each other from a long time ago." That could be a line in response to Shen Wei's strange intensity, of course, except that in episode 2, Zhao Yunlan muses to himself, "Shen Wei. Where have I seen you before?"


2. Episode 15.
   
   
   
   Shen Wei appears every time Zhao Yunlan activates the Hallows (and sometimes just before he does) to either save him, scold him, or both. Of course, this might be more a reaction to the Hallows than to Zhao Yunlan -- what do you think?


3. When Kong Jing kidnaps Zhao Yunlan, Zhao Yunlan seems to have some kind of dark-energy protection(?), which he identifies with Shen Wei.


4. I think Shen Wei, chained to the pillar, senses Zhao Yunlan sometimes? But I can't remember specifics; I might have made that up.


5. Episode 40.
   
   
   
   Shen Wei manages to send his pendant through the barrier between life and death to Zhao Yunlan, and of course, they find each other in the afterlife.


6. What else am I forgetting?

Do you think their bond is objectively real? I don't just mean emotionally -- I mean how much of this is Fate, how much is explained by the Dial Exchange or the Hallows, how much is it a soul bond? Has Shen Wei put a dark-energy tracker on Zhao Yunlan, to help keep him safe? Any thoughts? Any related fanworks?

(Note: episode numbers for the screencaps are in the alt text. :-)

Comments

[autodach]

If he can put protections on people, shouldn't he have included the whole SID?

You're right. It could be too taxing at scale? Byproduct of the sundial exchange works too, though Zhao Yunlan seems to assume it was deliberate as he never asks about it iirc.
Man there really is a lot that comes down to "the hallows do weird, plot-convenient things" isn't there XD

I wonder if it's Zhao Yunlan's distress, or the fact that Zhao Yunlan is in the dream

Oh good point! I hadn't considered that but it makes sense.

I'm not so sure about things like the Kong Jing scene, because that had a dark energy effect attached. Hm, maybe there's two separate categories of things going on here...

Yes I was thinking more of unexplained emotions like "where have we met before" and such here. Repelling Kong Jing happens physically and requires some kind of explanation. Not that the show gives us that XD

[china_shop]

It could be too taxing at scale?

True, and where would he stop? Li Qian, Jiajia...

Man there really is a lot that comes down to "the hallows do weird, plot-convenient things" isn't there XD

They're the masterminds behind the timeloop, too! I go back and forth on how sentient/intentional they are, versus how much they're working to some kind of internal rule set.

Yes I was thinking more of unexplained emotions like "where have we met before" and such here.

Yeah, that makes sense. It does give us this lovely sense of "mysteriously made for each other", even before we know what's going on with the timeloop. :D