The Gauche in the Machine (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
china_shop) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sid_guardian2025-05-11 10:25 am
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2025-05-11 10:25 am
Entry tags:
Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 1 & 2
Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong - in this post, we're starting volume three!
Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions in the schedule posts (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4), or via the !readalong tag.
This week's chapters:
Chapter 1: Guo Changcheng's uncle learns that Changcheng is working at the SID, and he calls Zhao Yunlan to invite him to dinner. Zhao Yunlan's being exhausted doesn't put a damper on his seduction attempts, but a leg cramp does. While Shen Wei massages him, Zhao Yunlan questions what he saw in the Great Divine Tree and questions Shen Wei about it. Shen Wei lets his hair down.
Chapter 2: The Magistrate and one of the Ten Yanluo Kings discuss whether Kunlun has been reawakened; if not, they might have to kill Zhao Yunlan's mortal body. Zhao Yunlan takes Shen Wei to his parents' for a meal; his dad isn't home. Zhao Yunlan tries to buy Shen Wei 5000 flowers and is flirty, then realises how much Shen Wei suffered while waiting for him. They track down Zhao Yunlan's "dad" at a teahouse, and Zhao Yunlan learns that his father is sharing his body with sentient dinnerware. Zhao Yunlan asks Shennong's mortar if it forged his memories in the Great Divine Tree. Zhao Yunlan's real dad appears and is kind of a dick, too. Zhao Yunlan fails to oust Shennong's mortar with a god-banishing talisman.
The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are chapters 79-80.
Excerpts:
1) Guo Changcheng's uncle and aunt find out where he's working
Overflowing with worry, Guo Changcheng’s aunt asked, “What does this department investigate? Surely not important high-profile cases?”
Guo Changcheng opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his second uncle rapped his chopsticks on the side of his bowl. “Keep your questions to yourself. Everything the Special Investigations Department handles is top secret. Don’t make him slip up and say something he shouldn’t. But this is truly bizarre! How did you end up there?”
Only now did Guo Changcheng finally process what he was hearing: his acceptance into the Special Investigations Department really had been a mistake all along, just as he’d suspected. Given his below-average intelligence and people skills, no relative with even a shred of self-awareness would’ve ever recommended him to such a prestigious position.
Guo Changcheng, passive introvert that he was, only ever told his family good news, leaving out the bad entirely. Every time he’d called to tell them how he was doing, it had always been the same report: “I’m doing well.” As a result, over six months had passed without them realizing that he ended up working in the wrong place.
2) Zhao Yunlan tries to be seductive
After a conversation in which he barely seemed to register who was calling or what he himself said in response, he reeled off a bunch of auspicious blessings and hung up, feeling even more drained. Burying his face back into his pillow, he whined, “My head hurts.”
Shen Wei was beside him at once, holding him close in a supportive embrace. After carefully feeling his forehead, Shen Wei said, “You’re a little warm. What brought this fever on so suddenly?”
“What do you think?” Zhao Yunlan’s voice was weak. “Get me some antibiotics and fever meds, will you?”
Shen Wei blushed and obeyed without a word.
After choking down the handful of little pills Shen Wei brought him, Zhao Yunlan rolled up his pajama sleeves and abruptly launched himself forward, pinning Shen Wei down on the bed. Expression fierce, he demanded, “Did this lowly one serve you well last night, my lord?”
Q uickly moving to support his waist, Shen Wei pulled Zhao Yunlan’s gaping pajama top tightly closed around him. “Don’t kick the blanket—you’ve let the heat out! Now you’re going to catch a cold.”
3) Shen Wei's hair
Shen Wei rubbed the sore spot gently. He answered with surprising candor, as if the absolute physical intimacy they’d shared had loosened his tongue. “It’s true. My heart was swept away the first time I laid eyes on you. I’ve never forgotten it for a single moment.”
“Love at first sight, huh?” Zhao Yunlan flashed him a smug, lascivious smile. “Hey, you’re supposed to have long hair, right? Take off your glasses and let your husband have a look.”
Shen Wei obligingly removed his glasses. As he shifted back to his true appearance, a cascade of ink-black hair spilled across the bed.
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.
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.
[Help! I want to quote this whole scene!]
4) Shen Wei describes their life in the past
Softly, Zhao Yunlan said, “Tell me more about what happened after we met in the grove.”
Shen Wei paused before replying. “I didn’t really understand anything at the time,” he said, his voice low. “I only knew how good you were to me. You took me to see all the great mountains and rivers. We traveled all over, stopping here and there. But you kept saying how unfortunate it was that Nüwa hadn’t yet mended the sky. You said that the unending torrents of rain had robbed even the great mountains and rivers of their beauty. I didn’t mind, though. They were still beautiful to me—the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen.”
Zhao Yunlan’s brow furrowed. “ Was I good to you? I was the one who forcibly elevated you to godhood.”
Shen Wei laughed. “There’s no place for the likes of me between the earth and the sky. You brought me out of the Place of Great Disrespect to protect me, not to do me harm. I’m grateful to you for all of that. The time we spent together was all the life I needed; having had that, I would’ve died willingly.”
“Shut up,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Don’t talk such nonsense.”
5) Zhao Yunlan asks who "dad" is and explains why his tree-vision can't be true
“What are you, then? Don’t tell me you’re Shennong himself.”
“No, no, I’m no one so mighty.” His “dad” smiled. “I’m nothing but a stone mortar left behind by Shennong. During the Battle of the Creation of Gods, I hitched a ride. Through sheer fortune, I managed to successfully cultivate a consciousness. I’ve done many things to offend Kunlun-jun in the past, but I truly had no choice. My apologies.”
“So what are you doing in my dad’s body? Did you forge the memories I saw in the Great Divine Tree?”
The man’s brows tightened. “Oh?” he asked slowly.
“I’m not some edgelord, and I’m not the Monkey King who turned the Heavenly Palace upside down.” Zhao Yunlan drank the high-quality tea in one gulp, as if it were water. “Sure, I can be a little arrogant, but most of the time I’m pretty easygoing. If something drove me to rebel, it would have to be something as vast as the sky—something that filled me with the fury of the earth. But those things I saw in there? Those memories? I didn’t relate to them at all. There’s no way that was me. Besides, Kunlun was charged with all the mountains and rivers between the earth and the sky. He was the protector of every living spirit within those mountains. I’ve basically been an animal rights activist in all my lives. There’s no way I’d ever blind a divine dragon for no reason.”
His “dad” glanced at Shen Wei and nodded in agreement. “That makes sense.”
Questions:
Is it reasonable for Guo Changcheng's uncle and aunt to freak out at the news of his job? What's your favourite Weilan moment in these chapters? (There are so many!) Should Shen Wei wear his hair long all the time? How does the Netherworld expect to get away with killing Kunlun-jun's mortal body, given how obsessed the Emissary is with him? How do you feel about jealous!Shen Wei? What was your first reaction to finding out about Shennong's mortar? Any thoughts about how moments in these chapters affected or were remixed in the drama adaptation?
(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the readalong!)
Our schedule for this round -- please sign up to host a post if you can!
no subject
That's a really good point! If they have no idea what he's successfully dealing with, they can't even expect him to change.
"I'm not feeling most of it very much, but the hair scene is lovely!"
Yeah, same! I didn't remember what to expect from Weilan in these chapters, but now that I know which scenes they are, it's not really my fav ones at all. Other than the hair. ♡♡♡
"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?"
I love how this came up in a whole other thread, and now it came up here again. :D I thought he lived with them only because of the one scene where he talks about his family when Zhou Weiwei is missing, but now I looked at the scene again and it actually doesn't say that at all. xD I don't know if it says it somewhere else though.
"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 ..."
Oh wow, I didn't catch that, it does sound like a huge contradiction! But I went back and it may not be one? The quote follows Zhao Yunlan saying, “His nephew’s worked under me for over half a year, but the guy’s never gotten in touch with me once. Now he calls out of the blue and invites me out for a meal. Do you think that’s normal?” So maybe it's not about interacting with people, maybe it's just about Shen Wei not being able to judge if other people follow the right conventions. Which would make some amount of sense - he's great at handling people in general because of his Emissary experience, which will work with humans as well as it does with everyone else, but he is still new to human-specific cultural conventions/assumptions, especially if they're unspoken? Oh, and probably also when they're family-related - it's not like he has any experience with that.
"*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!"
Oh, I saw this the opposite way - I took the "whether or not that was true of Zhao Yunlan" as 'he has no idea if he would like anyone else's long hair, but he sure loves Shen Wei's long hair'. (And even if he's always loved long hair in general, it would still be because it subconsciously reminded him of Shen Wei's original appearance, imo. :D)
"LOL, I love that ZYL is basically going, this story is too OOC, I'm not buying it! :D"
Yepppp. :D This is why when you said something to the effect of 'I don't understand why he did what he did', I was like 'he doesn't either'. ;D
"Does the novel ever properly deal with SW's self-worth issues about his nature? I don’t remember that. :("
Unfortunately I don't remember either. I hope so? And I found that line quite over-the-top - it doesn't usually sound to me like the situation is THIS bad (when it comes to Zhao Yunlan, not to Shen Wei's thoughts about himself), at least not anymore.
"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"
xD :D :D That's a fantastic terrible pun. :D
"I don't remember, how did he arrive at that conclusion?"
It's because of the life/death, right/wrong etc. speech that both his father and Shennong made. :)
"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!"
Oh, cool, thanks for checking, and yeah, I like edgelord a lot better too!
"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"
Ahhhh, this is so sweet?? ♡♡♡! (And also really fun - Weilan from SID outsider POV is my catnip. xD)
"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."
"In order to stay, Guo Changcheng very decisively lies, "Not dangerous at all.""
AW YAY, GOOD FOR HIM. ♡
I love this scene so much, thank you for sharing! But I'd definitely keep the part where he lists all of his favorite people by name in the official translation. :D ♡ (But now I want Shen Wei to also be listed 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."
They could keep both parts imo, because I really love the caressing. :D
"Shen Wei blinks in confusion, not quite sure why the topic has now turned to eloping cats."
:D I love this line. :D :D
"I would have rather stabbed myself in the hand."
Oh wow, I like this, that's a really powerful statement, and 100% true imo. And not only he says all of it to Shen Wei, he's also a lot more certain about it! I can see how it's too early for that.
"When SW teases ZYL back about who's marrying into whose family, the fan translation has this (which honestly I'm glad got removed)"
Yeah, I like it better without it too!
"Official translation, much more oblique"
Oh, cool! Definitely too early for this too, I'd say. (But I always like "he treats people and gods the same anyway". :D)
no subject
Haha, right? Everything's connected, LOL.
So maybe it's not about interacting with people, maybe it's just about Shen Wei not being able to judge if other people follow the right conventions.
I guess? I think you'd need to be able to judge that to some degree to "navigate social situations with ease", wouldn't you? Idk, maybe I'm being too literal about this.
Good poitn that he doesn't have experience with family, though.
"*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!"
Oh, I saw this the opposite way - I took the "whether or not that was true of Zhao Yunlan" as 'he has no idea if he would like anyone else's long hair, but he sure loves Shen Wei's long hair'.
I'd much prefer that reading! But "a flawless example of the kind of thing he was into" makes it sound like the opposite to me. Idk.
Yepppp. :D This is why when you said something to the effect of 'I don't understand why he did what he did', I was like 'he doesn't either'. ;D
Glad to know that, yeah! It was so confusing. (And still is, but not as much, now that the narrative has drawn attention to it and I know more is forthcoming.)
xD :D :D That's a fantastic terrible pun. :D
♥ ♥ ♥
It's because of the life/death, right/wrong etc. speech that both his father and Shennong made. :)
Oh right, duh, that wasn't exactly a subtle callback, LOL. Yet it had totally slipped my mind!
Ahhhh, this is so sweet?? ♡♡♡! (And also really fun - Weilan from SID outsider POV is my catnip. xD)
Yeah, agreed, I'm sorry that's not in the official version!
I love this scene so much, thank you for sharing! But I'd definitely keep the part where he lists all of his favorite people by name in the official translation. :D ♡ (But now I want Shen Wei to also be listed there!)
100% agreed on all of this!
They could keep both parts imo, because I really love the caressing. :D
Yeah, good point, just slip the iconic line back in and we're good! *g*
Oh wow, I like this, that's a really powerful statement, and 100% true imo. And not only he says all of it to Shen Wei, he's also a lot more certain about it! I can see how it's too early for that.
Yeah, and like you say, in the conversation with Shennong's bowl, too - too much, too clearly, too certain, too soon. Some of these edits definitely make sense to me, even when others don't. *g*
no subject
I think you're right and there's definitely a contradiction there! Just maybe a smaller one than what it sounds like at first.
"I'd much prefer that reading! But "a flawless example of the kind of thing he was into" makes it sound like the opposite to me. Idk."
I see this part more like it hit him right in the id and he went 'woah, definitely one of my favorite things'. (Happens to me all the time with things I've never thought of before, so maybe I just relate. :D :D) But I can totally see how it can sound like more general statement too. Still, at least in the other sentence the narrative (and possibly ZYL himself) isn't sure if he is one of the men who are obsessed with long hair. :)
no subject
Yeah, good point! I reacted to the second part and overlooked this. Looks like the passage is trying to do both things at once, LOL.
no subject
Oh, and probably also when they're family-related - it's not like he has any experience with that.
Oh, that's a really good point. Even though he's been living in human society long enough to get a job and everything, all his interactions have been professional or impersonal up till now. The SID must have been SUCH a shock to the system. ;-D
But I'd definitely keep the part where he lists all of his favorite people by name in the official translation. :D ♡ (But now I want Shen Wei to also be listed there!)
Oh, yes! Why isn't SW there? tiny momentary sadface
no subject
Hahah, it must be like a whole new world indeed. :D And then there are the ~proper~ families that definitely don't operate like the SID either, lol, which he still has zero experience with. He can impress them with his job and character (like Zhao Yunlan's mother), but I can see him not actually knowing how they do things and what the unspoken family-related conventions are.
"Oh, yes! Why isn't SW there? tiny momentary sadface"
Exactly my reaction when I realized that, lol.
no subject
but I can see him not actually knowing how they do things and what the unspoken family-related conventions are.
I am suddenly wondering if the Emissary ever watches TV. :D
no subject
Well, it's Zhao Yunlan's TV, and I think it's likely that he's never had one before. But that kinda makes it even more fun if he only just discovered the possibilities. :D
"It was barely past noon when he and Daqing returned to Zhao Yunlan’s little apartment. All the TV stations were covering the morning’s strange phenomenon, and since the mainstream media appeared to have nothing better to talk about, they were inviting all sorts of quack experts to come on air and expound on their wild theories.
Shen Wei waited for a full three or four hours."
ETA: Our icons are like complementary puzzle pieces of his face. xD :D
no subject
Aww! Though, did SW zone out in that scene? I thought he was kind of on stand-by. (Which, I guess, is how a lot of people watch TV anyway, lol.)
ETA: Our icons are like complementary puzzle pieces of his face. xD :D
\o/!! We just need a right eye, and we can make an identikit. :D
no subject
Lol yeah, he did, but the TV was only saying pointless nonsense, so that's very understandable. Still at least at some point he watched it, and maybe even chose to turn it on (though that may have been Daqing). :D
"\o/!! We just need a right eye, and we can make an identikit. :D"
:D :D :D!