so in the novel is it actually GCC's uncle who gets him into the SID! Or else the narrative voice is outright lying.

The narrative is lying. :-)

I have never felt such kinship with GCC before. *g*

LOL! I'm the opposite. The novel just made me appreciate drama!Guo Changcheng even more. I wonder if that will change on the re-read, though.

I love GCC's eminently reasonable (if genre-unaware) thought processes.

Yes! I always love it when characters are genre/trope/narrative-unaware. It makes them so much realer.

I love that the yelling in frustration made it into the drama later!

Yes, I noticed that too. I love that I can "hear" the yell. :D

He jumped out of bed and straight into his car, didn't he? Oh, ZYL.

He took three whole minutes to wash up! *g*

Biggest difference apart from the genre trappings so far: SW actively avoiding ZYL.

Yes! And also, Da Qing being in cat form all the time...