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sid_guardian2025-03-30 03:07 am
trobadora) wrote in sid_guardian2025-03-30 03:07 am
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Guardian Readalong: Vol. 2, Chapters 11 & 12
Whether you've been with us all the way, are just catching up, or are newly joining in - welcome to this week's chapters!
Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions on the schedule posts (vol. 1 part 1, vol. 1 part 2, vol. 2), or via the !readalong tag.
This week's chapters:
- Chapter 11: Zhao Yunlan goes to the SID while blind, figuring out how to properly use his Heavenly Eye along the way. He establishes some new rules for the SID and begins to research Kunlun. They hear about the Yao Market, which should have a cure for his eyesight.
- Chapter 12: Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan are domestic and soft, and Daqing takes Shen Wei's measure. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan visit the Yao Market and get their cure. Shen Wei claims not to know details about ancient times. The Crows arrive.
Excerpts:
1) Shen Wei's merits
Zhao Yunlan turned toward him. The perception granted by his Heavenly Eye just kept getting clearer and brighter, and now, through it, he gazed at Shen Wei.
What he saw was row after row of the bright red text that represented Shen Wei's merits. Those crimson characters flashed into existence repeatedly...yet none of them lasted. They appeared with the swiftness of the tide, only to be washed away by vast waves of darkness, as ephemeral as marks in the sand.
Zhao Yunlan's eyes suddenly stung as an emotion crashed over him, surging up from someplace he couldn't identify. It was as though some memory had been buried deep for hundreds of thousands of years, and a hurricane had just passed through and blown away the deep layers of dust covering it. What was revealed was some naked, inescapable truth that stabbed into the heart, setting off cascading waves of pain.
2) What Zhu Hong sees
When Zhu Hong knocked and came in, what she saw was two people who brought out the best in each other without getting in the other's way. She paused in the doorway, gripped by the feeling that if she entered, her presence would be completely extraneous.
3) Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talk about Zhu Hong and are very soft (sorry for the length of this excerpt, I couldn't bear to cut anything)
Shen Wei looked up from his ancient text. "Do you think she, ah, has feelings for..."
"Mmn." Zhao Yunlan spread out a new piece of yellow paper, measuring with his fingers as he spoke. "I hadn't noticed it before. But now that I do know, I should do something about it before it's too late."
Shen Wei sighed, and Zhao Yunlan chuckled.
"What are you sighing for? What future is there for a workplace romance? Besides, humans and yao don't belong together. What's the point in getting involved?"
Zhao Yunlan only meant exactly what he said, but Shen Wei read more into it than he'd intended. There was a brief silence before Shen Wei asked, "Then you and I...as a ghost and a human, shouldn't we stay apart?"
"What?" Zhao Yunlan reflexively reached out, getting cinnabar all over his hand. After a frozen second, he exclaimed, "We're not the same at all! I like you so much."
He said it so casually, as if there were nothing sweet and romantic about the words. It might have been the kind of idle chitchat people exchange while enjoying tea and a lovely fragrance together. As snow blanketed the world outside, such simple words seemed ordinary, yet warm with sincerity.
A hand suddenly pressed against the hand Zhao Yunlan was using to hold a talisman in place. The touch interrupted the movement of the brush, and the spiritual energy leaked out of the talisman. Just like that, it went to waste.
At some point, Shen Wei had closed the distance between them; now he placed his hands on the chair's armrests, trapping Zhao Yunlan with his arms. Almost piously, Shen Wei closed his eyes and leaned in close. He held his breath, and there was the faintest quiver to his eyelashes. Ever so carefully, he kissed the tip of Zhao Yunlan's nose. Then, even more slowly, he dared to move his mouth lower. This cautious exploration continued until his lips brushed Zhao Yunlan's.
It was incredibly gentle and warm, even as he parted Zhao Yunlan's lips, feeling their slight dryness and dipping so, so softly between them. There was no sense at all that he sought anything more than this.
He was so helplessly in love, yearning for the sweetness of a kiss, for the simple touch of skin on skin.
This man before him was like some sort of deadly poison. Shen Wei had struggled with all his might and still failed to resist. He had only fallen ever deeper.
4) Daqing questions Shen Wei
Daqing cleaned his claws. He and Shen Wei studied each other for a while, and then he asked, "Are you human?"
Shen Wei didn't know how to respond to that.
Daqing hurried to explain. "No, don't misunderstand. That's not an insult. I mean it literally-literally, you understand? As in, are you human or something else...? Something not human, you know?"
The question hit Shen Wei right where it hurt. After a bit more silence, he shook his head.
To his surprise, Daqing let out a sigh of relief. Talking more to himself than Shen Wei, he said, "It's good that you're not human. Not human... Hmm... That little brat has such a punchable face, but he's not a bad person. He really likes you, so don't betray his trust."
Shen Wei said simply, "How could I? As long as he still wants me, I will not betray him in life or death."
5) Shen Wei keeps secrets
Baffled, Zhao Yunlan persisted, "But isn't Gonggong the God of Water? Who's this 'Mountain God of the Great Wild'? God of which mountain? I've never heard of Buzhou also having a Mountain God."
This time Shen Wei took even longer to reply, and his answer was vague. "Maybe it does have one? I don't know the details of things that happened back in those times."
Something in his voice told Zhao Yunlan to stop pressing. He fell silent, idly scratching his fingernail across his palm and occasionally tapping along to the beat of the song.
Questions:
I have so many feelings about the merits just washing away from Shen Wei - how about you? What do you think about Zhao Yunlan essentially locking down the SID without explanation - and what does his team think about it? Did Zhao Yunlan really not notice Zhu Hong's feelings before? How do you like the Yao Market? (Does it remind you of scenes from historical dramas, too?) And we've got a few things in these chapters with parallels in the drama - any thoughts about those?
(As usual, these are just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like!)
Our schedule (which is also where you can sign up to host a post - please do if you can!)
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Yeah, agreed, I'm glad the drama didn't! And even in the novel it sits weirdly, IMO - it's a bit of a fantasy-blindness aesthetic; there's always blind people with bandaged eyes in wuxia and xianxia, but this isn't that.
What are the three treasures? It can't be the soul fires, because there's only two of those, and they're on the shoulders, right?
I thought it might mean the soul fires anyway, even though only one of them is on the head and the others are on the shoulders, because otherwise I have no clue.
Also, ooh, this makes me wonder if ZYL wandered off to the SID alone in the show, that first morning, and Shen Wei caught up in time for them to arrive at the SID together. (But why would ZYL, when he only wants to be at SW's side?? I don't think it makes as much sense in the drama context.)
Well, drama!ZYL does leave the hospital rather than waiting for SW there - his father picks him up, but he gave the impression he wasn't going to wait anyway. So the wanting-to-be-at-SW's-side can be overridden by wanting-to-prove-he's-not-helpless. *g* So you could make it work for the drama, IMO!
Shen Wei is his Ritalin! *hearts and hearts*
LOLOLOL!
Once more (cf the drama), Shen Wei initiates the "ZH likes you" conversation. *pets him* I feel like his motives here are a bit more insecure? Or oblique, anyway. In the drama, it feels to me like he's sorry for ZH and thinks ZYL should set her straight for her sake, so she can move on. (Maybe an impulse honed from SW having students crushing on him?)
Yeah, novel!SW is insecure in a way drama!SW isn't, because drama!SW doesn't have the self-hate, which makes a huge difference. (I am not fond of the self-hate. But in the universe novel!SW lives in, it's no surprise.) I do wonder how novel!SW dealt with students crushing on him ...
This makes me wonder how he feels in the drama about ZYL's issues with Zhao Xinci. They must emphasise ZYL's youth / mortality / modernity -- this is not the Kunlun he thought Kunlun was! <3
That's a very good point, yes! I'd never thought about it from quite that angle before.
Omg, was the whole personality switch case in the drama just so they could include (an approximation of) these lines?? Ahhhh! :D :D :D
LOL! They definitely did what they could to get something like that into the drama!
The fact that ZYL has to listen carefully to identify Fourth Uncle makes me wonder what he sees with his heavenly eye when he looks at Yao. Do they look like ordinary humans? (I don't think he's using his heavenly eye at this stage -- but why not?)
Huh, I thought he was using it. But it's often hard to tell in the novel(deliberately, of course) what is from which POV.
That said, having her call ZYL "Guardian-gege" is almost worth the price of novel admission, lol. :D
Haha, right? :D
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Hahah, now that you said it, maybe that's exactly what he was going for, on purpose. xD Because of the line that says that the ghost army only looked so majestic because ZYL imagined it this way, otherwise it would just look like youchu. So maybe he just likes dramatic fantasy aesthetic and was excited to try it out here too. xD And then he takes the bandage off and goes with sunglasses anyway, so I guess it was more inconvenience than it's worth, lol.
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And then he takes the bandage off and goes with sunglasses anyway, so I guess it was more inconvenience than it's worth, lol.
LOLOLOL! :D
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Hahaha, omg. Too many comics as a kid. :D :D :D
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Ahh, okay. That makes sense -- less enlightened times. ;-p
Well, drama!ZYL does leave the hospital rather than waiting for SW there - his father picks him up, but he gave the impression he wasn't going to wait anyway. So the wanting-to-be-at-SW's-side can be overridden by wanting-to-prove-he's-not-helpless. *g* So you could make it work for the drama, IMO!
But that's after Shen Wei has already left him there. He might well be going to find Shen Wei, before he runs into his dad. I don't know if I can see him leaving if Shen Wei is right there or imminently returning... but maybe! Depends how much he's into the wrist-grabbing kind of thing, vs proving his independence. (Though I guess the latter is one way to provoke the former... hm, perverse incentives. :D :D :D)
I do wonder how novel!SW dealt with students crushing on him ...
I imagine he maintained such a cool air of distance and otherworldliness that he didn't need to deal with it. He probably interacted with them as little as possible, don't you think?
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LOL AW, provoking Shen Wei into aggressively taking care of him, yep, sounds like Zhao Yunlan. :D :D
"I imagine he maintained such a cool air of distance and otherworldliness that he didn't need to deal with it. He probably interacted with them as little as possible, don't you think?"
On the field trip they seem pretty close? But tbh I may be stealing vibes from the drama. :D I also think he wouldn't necessarily want to come across as distant and otherworldly in his human life. Which doesn't mean that he doesn't (it's not like he can control how other people see him), but he may also come across as just shy. Which is a crush magnet if I've ever seen one. xD
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How is he supposed to resist when it pays off so beautifully?? ;-D
On the field trip they seem pretty close?
Oh, that's true. Hm. Maybe he gives off very strong ace vibes to his students, so they pine away quietly without bothering him? (I can see him appearing ace when ZYL isn't around, you know?)
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He kinda actively tries to appear more ace when ZYL is around, hahah. :D :D
But, as
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LOLOL!
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I LOVE THAT AND I WANT IT IN A FIC, OMG. :D :D :D
I imagine he maintained such a cool air of distance and otherworldliness that he didn't need to deal with it. He probably interacted with them as little as possible, don't you think?
Even if he did, I don't think that's ever stopped anyone from crushing on a teacher before. *g*
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:D :D :D :D :D
Even if he did, I don't think that's ever stopped anyone from crushing on a teacher before. *g*
Haha, true.