LOL! Great summaries, great choice of excerpts. :D
Is it reasonable for Guo Changcheng's uncle and aunt to freak out at the news of his job?
I think yes, since they haven't witnessed all his growth since he joined the SID - he hasn't shared anything with them and so they haven't seen how he changed.
What's your favourite Weilan moment in these chapters? (There are so many!)
I'm not feeling most of it very much, but the hair scene is lovely!
Just a few random thoughts from me, I'm very scatterbrained at the moment:
His first stop was his second uncle's house.
So, in the novel Xiao-Guo doesn't live with his aunt and uncle. Also, Xiao-Guo has a cousin, his uncle apparently has a kid! Interesting differences from the drama.
(With this, it makes sense that the uncle hadn't realised he was working at the SID - whereas in the drama, where I always thought GCC lived with his uncle and aunt, I really wonder about that! Guo Ying says in episode 14 that he only found out that morning ... But maybe he doesn't live with them in the drama either?)
There were so many unspoken rules dedicated to keeping up appearances, and Shen Wei's grasp on them was shaky at best.
Huh. I'm not quite sure what exactly the novel is envisioning here, given that in chapter 2 we are told that When dealing with anyone but Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei was entirely comfortable, navigating social interactions with ease. I can't quite see how that fits together together ...
Some men had an inexplicable obsession with long hair. Whether or not that was true of Zhao Yunlan, the sight of Shen Wei's hair tumbling down around him went straight to his id-a flawless example of the kind of thing he was into.
*grumbles* I want him to be into it because it's Shen Wei's hair, because of what it means to him to see Shen Wei like that, not because he's into this sort of thing in general!
It just didn't seem like something he would do. Was there any guarantee that what the tree had revealed was true? How much of what he'd seen was real? How much was false?
LOL, I love that ZYL is basically going, this story is too OOC, I'm not buying it! :D
And he asks SW questions to clarify things, but it still manages to be very sweet while they're talking about their first meeting. ♥
The Qin'guang King hummed. "Zhao Yunlan is unspeakably cunning. He's deceived you more than once. Perhaps he simply managed to piece together enough to bluff and frighten the Chaos King of the Gui."
This guy definitely has more brains than the Magistrate!
"It seems our only choice is to sacrifice this mortal body of the Mountain God."
Uh-oh!
"Regardless, I should be the one marrying you into the family, shouldn't I? After all, just yesterday you said you'd take my last name."
Hee! I love it when SW turns the teasing around on him.
Zhao Yunlan stayed utterly still. It suddenly began to sink in that while he had known Shen Wei for less than a year, Shen Wei had been watching over him for an unimaginable amount of time. This life would last only a few dozen years, but there had been the life before, and the one before that, and the one before that-hundreds of lives, one after another. From ancient times to the present, this man had silently watched over him as he was endlessly buffeted by the cycle of reincarnation. Again and again, Shen Wei had borne witness as Zhao Yunlan had been born, aged, suffered illness, and ultimately died. He had seen every love and every hatred Zhao Yunlan had ever known-none of it to do with him whatsoever, as if he was watching it all play out on screen.
Looking at it from that perspective, Zhao Yunlan was suddenly unable to breathe.
♥ ♥ ♥
Where others put up a facade around outsiders, then relaxed and revealed their true selves with an intimate partner, Shen Wei was the polar opposite. He was accustomed to firmly locking himself down in front of Zhao Yunlan, terrified of his true nature being even slightly perceived.
That is so depressing. :(
Does the novel ever properly deal with SW's self-worth issues about his nature? I don’t remember that. :(
In fact, when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he took the time to nod at a waitress, maybe twenty years old, who was carrying some tea sets. For some reason, her hands shook at the sight of him. A teapot fell to the floor and shattered.
I have no idea what I'm supposed to make of this.
Shen Wei nodded with utmost courtesy. "Uncle."
SW calls him 伯父, bófù, which is a term of respect for an older man. And he's actually a 石钵 shíbō, stone bowl. Does the Chinese fandom ever call him 钵父? :p
/terrible pun
"Sir, I'm trying to be nice here before resorting to force, considering that you might be connected to Shennong-one of the Three Sovereigns."
I don't remember, how did he arrive at that conclusion?
"I just come out and borrow his body occasionally, and I make sure he remembers the important things afterward. I've never caused him any problems. Don't worry."
This is worse than Zhang Shi in the drama; at least Zhao Xinci knows he's there and is aware of and party to what's going on!
"I'm not some edgelord, and I'm not the Monkey King who turned the Heavenly Palace upside down."
I wanted to go and check what "edgelord" was in Chinese, but the JJWXC version instead says, 我又不是我手底下的那个中二小僵尸, which the fan translation renders as, I'm not that childish zombie who works for me" . I definitely prefer edgelord!
I don't care whose stupid bowl you are.
LOL!
Version comparison:
During Xiao-Guo's conversation with his uncle and aunt, the fan translation has this bit which isn't in the official translation:
Of course, Guo Changcheng no longer remembers how he passed out from fear on his first day.
Guo Changcheng has always been the unsociable kind. He had barely gotten used to the atmosphere at No. 4 Bright Avenue, but he has already become strongly fond of that place, especially Chu Shuzhi and others.
As for Zhao Yunlan, Guo Changcheng basically treats him like half a dad... although this "half-dad" suddenly found him a stepfather unannounced.
And yet, this stepfather is the kindest, and easiest to talk to, so Guo Changcheng very adamantly says to his uncle, "I don't want to leave."
Guo Changcheng has always been indecisive, and would jump at any chance to agree with everyone else. Uncle and aunt are both taken aback by his new-found decisiveness.
After a good while, aunt asks, "Is that place.... really that good?"
Guo Changcheng nods his head very forcefully.
"You really want to work there?" Uncle is still worried, "Is it really not dangerous?"
In order to stay, Guo Changcheng very decisively lies, "Not dangerous at all."
"Well alright then," Uncle thinks, he is an adult now after all, though he has never had any achievement or ambition. Now that he has passion for his work, it wouldn't be wise to extinguish that passion, so he hesitantly agrees, "Then give me your Chief's number, I will find the time to meet with Zhao Yunlan. He is not much older than you, you need to learn from him."
Instead, the official translation has two paragraphs about GCC fitting in at the SID, and how he thinks about everyone there.
"Great, great great great beauty. I really feel, this life is worth living."
The first part of this line is iconic ... and it's not in the official translation at all. There, instead we get: At first, he just gazed, struck speechless. Then he carefully reached out one greedy hand to caress a silken lock of hair. This life was truly worth living.
In the fan translation, ZYL's thoughts about Chiyou's descendants, and the comparison with Daqing, and wondering what of what he saw in the Tree is true, are actually said out loud to SW:
He ponders in silence, frowns, and then continues, "But I think, since I grew up with Da Qing that damn fatty, even if he ever wronged me one day, like eloping with a cat mistress, the most I would do is refuse to acknowledge him, I still wouldn't do anything to him."
Shen Wei blinks in confusion, not quite sure why the topic has now turned to eloping cats.
"If I really promised Chiyou to take care of his descendants, and I watched generations of dragons grow up from small worms to several-million-mile-long beasts, I would have never stabbed the godly dragon in its eye and crashed it into Mount Buzhou. I would have rather stabbed myself in the hand." Zhao Yunlan very adamantly announces, "I definitely didn't stab the dragon in the eye, and Mount Buzhou was definitely not my doing either."
"The judge very shamelessly spewed a bunch of bullcrap, and none of it was true. How much of the things that I saw in the holy tree is true, do you think? And who showed it to me?"
The section in the Netherworld isn't in the JJWXC version/fan translation.
When SW teases ZYL back about who's marrying into whose family, the fan translation has this (which honestly I'm glad got removed):
Zhao Yunlan has been used to one-sided abuse, other than that one time he got drunk, his teasing has never met any comeback. He is instantly left stunned.
... ...Of course, what he doesn't know is that much like Guo Changcheng, Shen Wei had to rehearse his line three times in his mind to finally be able to say it smoothly out loud.
Fan translation:
"What are you doing in my dad's body? Are you connected to the memories I saw in the holy tree?" To Zhao Yunlan, whether he is a deity or something else has no bearing, he treats people and gods the same anyway. Somehow, he has assumed the role of a cop interrogating a criminal.
Zhao Yunlan's "father" raises his eyebrows, and asks slowly, "How did Lord Kunlun find out that the memories inside the holy tree aren't your true memories?"
Official translation, much more oblique:
"So what are you doing in my dad's body? Did you forge the memories I saw in the Great Divine Tree?"
no subject
LOL! Great summaries, great choice of excerpts. :D
Is it reasonable for Guo Changcheng's uncle and aunt to freak out at the news of his job?
I think yes, since they haven't witnessed all his growth since he joined the SID - he hasn't shared anything with them and so they haven't seen how he changed.
What's your favourite Weilan moment in these chapters? (There are so many!)
I'm not feeling most of it very much, but the hair scene is lovely!
Just a few random thoughts from me, I'm very scatterbrained at the moment:
His first stop was his second uncle's house.
So, in the novel Xiao-Guo doesn't live with his aunt and uncle. Also, Xiao-Guo has a cousin, his uncle apparently has a kid! Interesting differences from the drama.
(With this, it makes sense that the uncle hadn't realised he was working at the SID - whereas in the drama, where I always thought GCC lived with his uncle and aunt, I really wonder about that! Guo Ying says in episode 14 that he only found out that morning ... But maybe he doesn't live with them in the drama either?)
There were so many unspoken rules dedicated to keeping up appearances, and Shen Wei's grasp on them was shaky at best.
Huh. I'm not quite sure what exactly the novel is envisioning here, given that in chapter 2 we are told that When dealing with anyone but Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei was entirely comfortable, navigating social interactions with ease. I can't quite see how that fits together together ...
Some men had an inexplicable obsession with long hair. Whether or not that was true of Zhao Yunlan, the sight of Shen Wei's hair tumbling down around him went straight to his id-a flawless example of the kind of thing he was into.
*grumbles* I want him to be into it because it's Shen Wei's hair, because of what it means to him to see Shen Wei like that, not because he's into this sort of thing in general!
It just didn't seem like something he would do. Was there any guarantee that what the tree had revealed was true? How much of what he'd seen was real? How much was false?
LOL, I love that ZYL is basically going, this story is too OOC, I'm not buying it! :D
And he asks SW questions to clarify things, but it still manages to be very sweet while they're talking about their first meeting. ♥
The Qin'guang King hummed. "Zhao Yunlan is unspeakably cunning. He's deceived you more than once. Perhaps he simply managed to piece together enough to bluff and frighten the Chaos King of the Gui."
This guy definitely has more brains than the Magistrate!
"It seems our only choice is to sacrifice this mortal body of the Mountain God."
Uh-oh!
"Regardless, I should be the one marrying you into the family, shouldn't I? After all, just yesterday you said you'd take my last name."
Hee! I love it when SW turns the teasing around on him.
Zhao Yunlan stayed utterly still. It suddenly began to sink in that while he had known Shen Wei for less than a year, Shen Wei had been watching over him for an unimaginable amount of time. This life would last only a few dozen years, but there had been the life before, and the one before that, and the one before that-hundreds of lives, one after another. From ancient times to the present, this man had silently watched over him as he was endlessly buffeted by the cycle of reincarnation. Again and again, Shen Wei had borne witness as Zhao Yunlan had been born, aged, suffered illness, and ultimately died. He had seen every love and every hatred Zhao Yunlan had ever known-none of it to do with him whatsoever, as if he was watching it all play out on screen.
Looking at it from that perspective, Zhao Yunlan was suddenly unable to breathe.
♥ ♥ ♥
Where others put up a facade around outsiders, then relaxed and revealed their true selves with an intimate partner, Shen Wei was the polar opposite. He was accustomed to firmly locking himself down in front of Zhao Yunlan, terrified of his true nature being even slightly perceived.
That is so depressing. :(
Does the novel ever properly deal with SW's self-worth issues about his nature? I don’t remember that. :(
In fact, when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he took the time to nod at a waitress, maybe twenty years old, who was carrying some tea sets. For some reason, her hands shook at the sight of him. A teapot fell to the floor and shattered.
I have no idea what I'm supposed to make of this.
Shen Wei nodded with utmost courtesy. "Uncle."
SW calls him 伯父, bófù, which is a term of respect for an older man. And he's actually a 石钵 shíbō, stone bowl. Does the Chinese fandom ever call him 钵父? :p
/terrible pun
"Sir, I'm trying to be nice here before resorting to force, considering that you might be connected to Shennong-one of the Three Sovereigns."
I don't remember, how did he arrive at that conclusion?
"I just come out and borrow his body occasionally, and I make sure he remembers the important things afterward. I've never caused him any problems. Don't worry."
This is worse than Zhang Shi in the drama; at least Zhao Xinci knows he's there and is aware of and party to what's going on!
"I'm not some edgelord, and I'm not the Monkey King who turned the Heavenly Palace upside down."
I wanted to go and check what "edgelord" was in Chinese, but the JJWXC version instead says, 我又不是我手底下的那个中二小僵尸, which the fan translation renders as, I'm not that childish zombie who works for me" . I definitely prefer edgelord!
I don't care whose stupid bowl you are.
LOL!
Version comparison:
Instead, the official translation has two paragraphs about GCC fitting in at the SID, and how he thinks about everyone there.
The first part of this line is iconic ... and it's not in the official translation at all. There, instead we get: At first, he just gazed, struck speechless. Then he carefully reached out one greedy hand to caress a silken lock of hair. This life was truly worth living.
Zhao Yunlan has been used to one-sided abuse, other than that one time he got drunk, his teasing has never met any comeback. He is instantly left stunned.
... ...Of course, what he doesn't know is that much like Guo Changcheng, Shen Wei had to rehearse his line three times in his mind to finally be able to say it smoothly out loud.