Guardian Readalong: Chapters 17 and 18

[cathyw]

Welcome to this week’s installment of the Guardian novel readalong!

(If you’re just joining us or need to catch up, here are last week’s chapters and you can find all previous chapter discussions on the schedule post or via the !readalong tag.)

This week we’re looking at:

Chapter 17: Wang Zheng asks for leave. The SID and Professor Shen's students plan separate field trips.
Chapter 18: The separate field trips turn out to be the same field trip. What a coincidence! They join together and start their trip into the cold, snowy mountains.

These events correspond with Chapters 26-28 of the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation.

Excerpts:

1) Wang Zheng has a request

"Director Zhao, I want to ask for some time off," she continued, in her unique, wispy voice. "I want to be laid to rest."

Zhen Yunlan's brow creased. He took out a cigarette. "You--"

Wang Zheng leaned back. Flatly, she said, "Keep your second-hand smoke away from me."

"You're a ghost. What does it matter to you?"

"Ghosts can still smell cigarette smoke. At this rate, sooner or later you'll become a human mosquito coil."
Zhao Yunlan stuffed his lighter back into his pocket unhappily. "Your name is already in the Soul-Guarding Order. You're never going to pass on (note: the Chinese/fan translation has 'You won't be able to reincarnate' here). Even if you're lad to rest, you won't be at peace, so what's the point? And your people don't even do in-ground burials, do they?"

Wang Zheng didn't answer. She just kept her had down and eventually repeated, "I want to go home."


2) Shen Wei is in deep.

Sunlight came in, momentarily blinding him. Shen Wei's hands stilled. Looking down, he saw a golden thread of light hooking in from somewhere outside, wrapping itself around his pendant. He reached to block it, but his fingers passed right through. He couldn't help gripping the radiant little sphere, his heart a tangled mess.

The whole day, it had been as if the sight of Zhao Yunlan leaning against his headboard, eyes closed, had been seared into his retinas. Any time he shut his own eyes, the image floated to the forefront of his mind. It haunted him.

It was as if, after freezing and starving for thousands of years, he had suddenly fallen into an untouchable, tender haven - a haven where everything around him heald deathly temptation and swallowed his reason, no matter how he struggled against it. Every time the words "Zhao Yunlan" drifted into his ear, he sank an inch deeper into the bottomless quagmire. He was already in past his neck. Soon, he would drown...


3) Zhao Yunlan uses his powers for... good?

Zhao Yunlan gauged that they were adequately frightened. "See, it really is fate that we bumped into each other. You should come with us. I have some friends out there, so I'll ask them to have a few cars ready. Since we're all going to the same place, we might as well travel together. That way we can take care of each other. What do you guys think?"

The class leader hesitated. "That... Isn't that too much trouble for you?"

Zhao Yunlan waved dismissively. He slung an arm around Shen Wei's shoulder and winked at her. "Not at all! Do you know what kind of relationship we have?"

"Don't mess--" Shen Wei began.

"Neighbors!" Zhao Yunlan smirked, not letting him go. "Remember this, students. In the future, when you go out into the world, you can't count on distant relatives the way you can count on close neighbors. If you get along, neighbors can be closer than family. Right, Shen-laoshi?"

Shen Wei had nothing to say in response.


4) This was not on the itinerary

The windows had fogged up in the cold. Only the windshield was clear enough to easily see what was approaching: someone carrying a lantern, leading a large group toward the stopped cars. There were men and women among them, but they were outnumbered by children and the elderly. The people's clothing seemed to be in rags, as if they were fleeing a great famine.

How was it possible that so many people were walking along a mountain road intended for cars?

"Who are those people?" the class leader asked. Her trembling voice was very small."

"Those aren't people," Zhao Yunlan murmered. "It's a ghost army passing through."

The girl clapped a hand over her mouth.


(I did not include the big reveal of Wang Zheng's temporary body because it was just too long...)

Questions:
- Is everyone on the Guardian Order cut off from reincarnation/a peaceful afterlife?
- What factors were at play in Shen Wei's reluctance to go ahead with the trip, and his eventual decision to do it?
- Zhao Yunlan's flirtation in the airport: good? bad? ugly?
- Is Zhao Yunlan's non-accidental brother acquisition just a result of his charisma, or is he manipulative about it?
- As careful as he usually is about rationalizing the supernatural for people, why might Yunlan have been so upfront about the lantern-carrier and the people with him being ghosts?

...and of course, share your thoughts and feelings on any part of the reading.

Comments

[trobadora]

Great choice of excerpts! :)

Is everyone on the Guardian Order cut off from reincarnation/a peaceful afterlife?

Oh, good question! It sure sounds that way, doesn't it? But maybe it only applies to those who are already dead. (ZYL does reincarnate, at least, but heÄs presumably a special case ...)

What factors were at play in Shen Wei's reluctance to go ahead with the trip, and his eventual decision to do it?

I think his reluctance is mainly in dragging the students into this.

Zhao Yunlan's flirtation in the airport: good? bad? ugly?

Not as bad as some! *g*

Is Zhao Yunlan's non-accidental brother acquisition just a result of his charisma, or is he manipulative about it?

Both, I'd say. It's a part of his skillset that's probably pretty important for his job.

As careful as he usually is about rationalizing the supernatural for people, why might Yunlan have been so upfront about the lantern-carrier and the people with him being ghosts?

I wonder if he's decided they're going to see stuff during this trip anyway, so he doesn't need to bother with rationalisations, since he'll have to wipe their memories at the end anyway?

Some more notes from me:

• Daqing’s filling-stealing manoeuvre! Perfect. And Zhu Hong is right, Zhao Yunlan did deserve that.
  
  (I'm not sure what he’s trying to say about Xiao-Guo being afraid of humans. He's clearly more afraid of ghosts, or was at the hospital. Is ZYL just being a jerk to Zhu Hong for no reason?)


• And ooh, very cool about the earthquake that was too far away to be felt, yet clearly was in ZYL's vicinity. Not just subjectively for him and SW, but knocking something off a shelf, too.


• Also, it being an "ancient customs field research trip" with a specific aim of interviewing the people who live there makes a lot of sense! The drama really had trouble coming up with a reason for the trip since Shen Wei is in bioengineering there, and ended up just leaving it vague.


• Daqing lay sound asleep behind a computer’s cooling vents. Chu Shuzhi, expression stiff as a coffin, was playing Minesweeper and ignoring everything else.
  
  Hee! :D


• Guo Changcheng made an affirmative sound and was about to click Buy when his eyes fell on the shop name. It was a sex toy store.
  The pure little nerd turned crimson, stammering into the phone. “D-Director Zhao… This… This is a little…”
  
  And then ZYL just hangs up on him. YYYYeah, so this is on ZYL, then. Listen to people! And for sure don't shout at them after you didn't listen!


• Zhu Hong turned to Guo Changcheng. “Congratulations! You’ve infuriated the public nuisance so badly that he’s lost the power of speech.”
  Lin Jing patted him on the shoulder. “Xiao-Guo, I’ve just noticed what a warrior you are!”
  
  LOLOLOL!
  
  And poor Wang Zheng, seriously.


• Daqing, who turned into a finger-sized kitty phone charm and hung obediently on Zhu Hong’s phone
  
  That is so cool!


• Zhao Yunlan’s expression had been as dark as the bottom of a pot. Right before everyone’s eyes, it cleared up in an instant. His icy gaze thawed, and the black aura that had been swirling around him moments before vanished as if it had never existed.
  
  Aw! I do think the mood switch is genuine and performative/manipulative at the same time? Which seems to encompass a lot of ZYL's behaviour around SW, LOL. He's definitely actively manipulating the students, though, with no real mitigating factors – he's making them tools in his pursuit of Shen Wei.


• His fingers curled tightly against his knees.
  
  That immediately evoked visuals from the drama! Great stuff.


• Lin Jing chanted a ritual apology to a piece of fried chicken. “Amitabha, apologies for my transgression.” Formalities observed, this sad excuse for a monk—a man who both drank alcohol and ate meat—eagerly stuffed the chicken leg into his mouth and reached for a bottle of Coke.
  
  I love him, LOL.


• I don't like the way Zhao Yunlan bulldozers Shen Wei and his students into coming along and accepting everything he pushes on them – looks to me like he's learned nothing from the book con and is still on that same strategy. /o\


• Shen Wei focused his attention out the window. He seemed embarrassed, but what Zhao Yunlan didn’t see, with Shen Wei’s back to him, was how his blush faded and he turned pale. His brows seemed constantly furrowed, as if the deep crease between them might become permanent. An indescribably cold harshness marred that gentle, scholarly face and gave him a lonely, distant air.
  
  Oh, Shen Wei. He's trying so hard, and Zhao Yunlan really isn’t making it easy for him. *g*


• Zhao Yunlan grabbed his hand and was shocked by how cold it was. That one touch gave him the feeling that Shen Wei was desperately drinking in his body heat. His heart ached faintly in response.
  
  Oh, ouch! Foreshadowing!
  
  (And speaking of, is anyone else feeling ZYL is being insufficiently suspicious about Shen Wei? I mean, maybe he's just hiding it well, but he does give me the impression that he's thinking so thoroughly with his dick, he's ignoring things he really shouldn't. But then I really like the suspicion and tension between them in the drama. *g*)

[china_shop]

But maybe it only applies to those who are already dead.

I wonder if it's a way of stopping them from reincarnating so they can work at the office. Like, if that's the sole purpose of adding dead people to the Guardian Order. Whereas ZYL, Lin Jing, etc, being mortal, don't need that kind of tether?

> Zhao Yunlan's flirtation in the airport: good? bad? ugly?
> > Not as bad as some! *g*

Hee!

I wonder if he's decided they're going to see stuff during this trip anyway, so he doesn't need to bother with rationalisations, since he'll have to wipe their memories at the end anyway?

Ooh, that's an interesting theory. I hadn't thought of that. I was wondering if he was trying to scare them into following his instructions (like "stay in the car")...

Daqing’s filling-stealing manoeuvre! Perfect. And Zhu Hong is right, Zhao Yunlan did deserve that.

Ha, yes, 100% agreed. (Did ZYL witness GCC being scared of the ghosts at the SID? I thought that when both of them were in the office, GCC's nerves about ZYL had overshadowed his fear of the ghosts, but I might be misremembering. Oh, wait, Wang Zheng told ZYL over the phone that GCC had passed out from terror because of Lao Wang, so I guess he knew...)

Also, it being an "ancient customs field research trip" with a specific aim of interviewing the people who live there makes a lot of sense!

Yes, agreed! Much better rationalisation for the trip in the novel.

And then ZYL just hangs up on him. YYYYeah, so this is on ZYL, then. Listen to people! And for sure don't shout at them after you didn't listen!

Idk, Xiao Guo could have checked with CSZ -- he was right there. I think he and ZYL can share the blame pretty equally. (So amused to know this part of the drama came straight from the novel, lol.)

He's definitely actively manipulating the students, though, with no real mitigating factors – he's making them tools in his pursuit of Shen Wei.

Also true in the drama with Jiajia.

And speaking of, is anyone else feeling ZYL is being insufficiently suspicious about Shen Wei? I mean, maybe he's just hiding it well, but he does give me the impression that he's thinking so thoroughly with his dick, he's ignoring things he really shouldn't.

What things exactly? (Genuine question! I've kind of lost track of everything over the last couple of weeks. Does he have a specific reason to be suspicious at this stage, other than Shen Wei being surprisingly strong and having cold hands?)

[trobadora]

I wonder if it's a way of stopping them from reincarnating so they can work at the office. Like, if that's the sole purpose of adding dead people to the Guardian Order. Whereas ZYL, Lin Jing, etc, being mortal, don't need that kind of tether?

That makes sense to me, yeah!

Also true in the drama with Jiajia.

Yeah, I'm not fond of it there either, but he still has better justification in the drama.

What things exactly? (Genuine question! I've kind of lost track of everything over the last couple of weeks. Does he have a specific reason to be suspicious at this stage, other than Shen Wei being surprisingly strong and having cold hands?)

His original suspicions, which revolved around Shen Wei being weird around him and strangely unfazed by the supernatnural, were allayed by Shen Wei's explanation about having seen him before - but then he (thought he) wiped Shen Wei's memories of both events, and Shen Wei is still being VERY weird about Zhao Yunlan. In fact, since then Zhao Yunlan has found out Shen Wei has been stalking him, and now that he's been the only other person present during the earthquake incident - an earthquake that in Dragon City was apparently only felt by the two of them. Not sure I remember everything, but I think that's enough grounds for suspecting there's something going on.

[china_shop]

*nodnod* Good point. Maybe all his suspicions are just lurking around unspoken by now...

[circumference_pie]

I wasn’t paying a super lot of attention to this, but I feel like the version of the book I have doesn’t have most those reasons to be suspicious. So maybe when SW’s sus behavior was added, the author didn’t bother to restructure Zhao Yunlan’s reactions as well.

[china_shop]

Oh interesting! Maybe that's it. (It's so strange having the different versions be so different.)

[circumference_pie]

Yeah, the published version seems to have added a lot.

[trobadora]

That's a VERY excellent point, even with seeing all the differences mentioned in the discussions here I hadn't put things together that way! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. Thank you! ♥