Guardian Readalong: Vol. 2, Chapters 3 & 4

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Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong! ♡

Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions on the schedule post (vol. 1 part 1, vol. 1 part 2, vol. 2), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

• Chapter 3: Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng write a report about their hospital investigation. The concept of karmic lines and merit marks is explained. It turns out that Guo Changcheng can see merit marks, unlike most people, and he has unusually many merits himself. Drunk and heartbroken Zhao Yunlan stumbles into the office and throws up in the bathroom. The SID team supports him (some more than others), and Chu Shuzhi calls Shen Wei to pick Zhao Yunlan up. Shen Wei shows up immediately.



• Chapter 4: Zhao Yunlan is embarrassed and pretends to be asleep while Shen Wei takes care of him. Shen Wei steals a kiss and gets kissed back. Zhao Yunlan tells Shen Wei about the house he bought for both of them, and offers his heart the way he already did in the past. Shen Wei accepts, is overwhelmed with emotions and bites his own writst. They do 'literal sleeping together'. In the morning Zhao Yunlan makes some truly creatively flavored noodles, and gets called to go to the hospital - there are more victims.

The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are 48, 49 and 50.


Excerpts:

1) Karmic lines and merit marks explained

His whiskers twitched disdainfully as he addressed Guo Changcheng. “The ‘karmic line’ has to do with karma, duh. Actions and consequences. Let’s say you’re walking down the street and a mugger jumps and kills you for no reason. You didn’t do anything to cause that to happen, so it’s an undeserved catastrophe. However, if you’re in a mugger’s way when he comes running out, and he stabs you because you were in his way, then you died as a result of being in his way. Now, that’s bad timing and inevitable fate, so even though it’s a reach, it can be considered a case of cause and effect. But the resulting karmic line would be so light that you could probably brush it off with your hand.”

The cat continued, “Now suppose a mugger came running down the street, recognized you as the guy his wife cheated on him with, and killed you in a rage. You wouldn’t be able to wipe away the karmic line that resulted, but it also wouldn’t be too dark. That indicates that there is a connection, but the consequence is disproportionate to the crime, so the cause and effect aren’t equal. But if a mugger comes running…”

Guo Changcheng, having now been offed by a mugger multiple times, couldn’t help asking, “And that mugger realizes I’m his greatest enemy, whom he’d been planning to kill, and he stabs me to death, the karmic line would be pretty deep, right?”
Daqing bobbed his head approvingly. “The boy can be taught.”

“Then…what’s a merit mark?” Guo Changcheng asked.

“People who’ve accrued merits or sins have a mark behind their ears,” Chu Shuzhi said. “For example, if someone secretly killed someone else, that act would leave a black mark behind their ear even if no one else ever found out and they never faced legal consequences. People used to talk about ‘damaging one’s merits,’ and that’s what they were referring to. Of course, a normal person with no cultivation won’t be able to see it.”



2) Chu Shuzhi calls Shen Wei

Speechless, Zhao Yunlan tried to grab his phone back, but Chu Shuzhi nimbly evaded him, addressing Guo Changcheng and Daqing. “Hurry and hold him down. Hold him down! Look how drunk he is.” He turned to Zhao Yunlan and said, “Listen to me. The way Shen-laoshi looks at you says it all. I don’t believe for a second that he doesn’t feel anything for you. He must just be deep in the closet. As your coworker, I’ll help you out this one time.”

Zhao Yunlan was being restrained by Guo Changcheng and Daqing, who only wanted more chaos in the world. The cat had gone so far as to sit on Zhao Yunlan’s stomach, nearly crushing the air out of him and making him keel over on the spot. “Please show some mercy!” Zhao Yunlan yelped. “I have enough trouble without your help!”

Shen Wei’s voice came from the phone. “What is it?”

Chu Shuzhi waggled his eyebrows at Zhao Yunlan. Shen Wei had picked up on the very first ring. That was a level of attentiveness one couldn’t even get from their own father. This was what Zhao Yunlan called heartbreak?



3) Shen Wei steals a kiss and gets kissed back

On the brink of losing his mind, Zhao Yunlan, through sheer force of will, managed to keep playing dead.

It was more than Shen Wei could possibly stand. Pressing his hands to the bed on either side of Zhao Yunlan, he let their lips brush together, soft as a dragonfly dipping its tail into the water. It lasted only a moment. His eyes were closed, as though he had taken immeasurable comfort from that most fleeting contact. His heart thundered inside his chest, offering the illusion of mortality. For just a second, Shen Wei almost felt human.

There in the dim light, he’d stolen a kiss from the love of his life. His heart soared with elation and sweetness. Even if he had died then and there, he wouldn’t have uttered a word of complaint.

Zhao Yunlan’s mind, however, was perfectly empty. Inside his heart, it felt as though a single strand of hair bore a weight of thousands of pounds. That strand had been stretched past endurance, and now it finally snapped without a sound.

Shen Wei had supposed that the tiniest of stolen kisses would go unnoticed, but before he could straighten back up, the apparent “corpse” on the bed animated, grabbing him with both arms.

Shocked and caught wholly off guard, Shen Wei was dragged down. Zhao Yunlan aggressively flipped them both over, pressing their bodies together.

The scent of alcohol still lingered on Zhao Yunlan’s breath, but his gaze was clear. Peering into Shen Wei’s eyes, he asked quietly, “My lord, what are you doing?”

Shen Wei’s mouth opened, but he was too panicked to speak.

Zhao Yunlan stared at him for a while, complex feelings passing through his eyes. Then he suddenly took hold of Shen Wei’s chin. “And here I always thought my lord was a gentleman. I never imagined you were the type to go around stealing kisses in the dead of night. Such an unprofessional kiss, at that.”

Shen Wei was at a loss for words. “I…”

Even when Zhao Yunlan’s kiss landed on his lips, Shen Wei was still stupefied. He was certain that he was having an absurd but beautiful dream. Helplessly, he reached out and hugged Zhao Yunlan close. The kiss was both exquisitely skilled and playful, threatening to effortlessly peel back Shen Wei’s defenses and leave him at Zhao Yunlan’s mercy.

Nose to nose, Zhao Yunlan said lightly, “Now that is what an expert kiss should be like.”



4) Zhao Yunlan bought a house for Shen Wei

He smoked the entire cigarette before speaking again. Voice low, he said, “I bought it before we went to the mountains. The SID office is going to be relocating, so I’ve been looking all over for a new place. I passed by this neighborhood and decided to check this one out, and it just felt…right, somehow. I got carried away and bought it, even though it wiped out my savings.

“Then I started thinking about how good the transportation options are in that area and how close it is to DCU. I thought, if you were willing to be with me, you wouldn’t need to drive to work anymore and you could sleep a little later in the mornings. I know it’s pretty big—definitely more than two people need, but that means you can have a large study…and I want to get a dog, one that’s not too bright. Once in a while we could stage a Great Battle of the Cat and Dog or something, like some special New Year’s entertainment…”

An uncontrollable tremor overtook Shen Wei’s hands. The file folder crinkled as he trembled.

“But then, surprise! Coming back from the great northwest, it turned out that you can just teleport from one side of the city to the other. Driving? Getting up early?” Zhao Yunlan chuckled. “Mm… But obviously none of that was the point. I was mostly out looking because we need a new office, not because of you. I just…thought about that stuff while I was at it.”

Shen Wei slowly met Zhao Yunlan’s gaze. It seemed much the same as always, but with the teasing stripped away, what remained was the gentleness Zhao Yunlan ordinarily kept deeply hidden. Catching just a glimpse of that rare sight was enough to compel one to drown in it.



5) Zhao Yunlan offers his heart, Shen Wei bites his own wrist

Zhao Yunlan massaged his temples lightly. In a barely audible voice, he said, “I have plenty of assets, but I doubt they’d appeal to you. All I really have to offer is my heart. But if you won’t accept it, then just forget about this.”

The words smashed into Shen Wei’s heart like a stone, unearthing an ancient memory of a voice right by his ear, speaking in the exact same offhand way. “I hold all the world’s famous mountains and rivers in my hand, but what of it? They’re nothing but a bunch of rocks and wild waters. Of all that I am, the only part worth anything may be my heart. If you want it, it’s yours.”

The man before him was the same as always, as if the past had come back to life.

Shen Wei abruptly wrapped his arms around Zhao Yunlan, holding on with what seemed like every ounce of his strength. He squeezed until the man’s bones cracked from the force as he buried his face against Zhao Yunlan’s neck. Then he leaned past Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder and bit into his own wrist, tearing into it so brutally that the bone was nearly exposed.



6) Zhao Yunlan's noodles!

The marvel in Zhao Yunlan’s hands held more wonders: five bowls of cup noodles in a neat row, all still steaming. The combined aroma verged on indescribable.

Shen Wei could only stare.

Zhao Yunlan boldly plopped himself onto his sofa. With the confidence of a leader addressing a country, he said, “From left to right, we have braised beef noodles made with water; aged, pickled cabbage noodles made with milk; mushroom and chicken noodles made in the microwave with some water and butter; seafood noodles—though I thought they were a little bland, so I added a spoonful of sweet bean sauce; and finally, bacon cream noodles made with hot coffee. That one should be quite good. Pick whichever one you’d like to have.”

A touch of embarrassment set in after he reached the end of the list. “Um… I don’t really know how to make anything else. But since you finally visited, I thought only two cup noodles wouldn’t be enough.”

So he’d made five. How…generous?

Shen Wei’s gaze swept across the five steaming cup noodles. He was at an utter loss as to how Zhao Yunlan hadn’t died of food poisoning yet.

But if it was something Zhao Yunlan had made, even if it were a bowl of rat poison, Shen Wei was still willing to eat it all without the tiniest change in expression—though he made sure to choose the most normal cup noodles offered. He also allowed himself a subtle comment. “Processed foods like these aren’t good for the body. You shouldn’t eat too much of them.”




Questions:

How do you like everyone's different ways of supporting Zhao Yunlan in his heartbreak? What do you think about Guo Changcheng's merits and view of his own life? And what are all your Weilan feelings? (Or some of them - all is a lot when it comes to these chapters!) And most importantly, would you eat Zhao Yunlan's noodles, and which flavor would be your favorite? :D

You can answer as many or as few questions as you like, or just comment without answering any of them at all! And if you see this post and you're not actually reading the novel: Hi there, I voraciously want to know what you think about any of this with limited context!

And here is the schedule, and that's where you can sign up to host a post! (This was my first time hosting and it's really fun, FWIW! :))