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sid_guardian2025-05-11 10:25 am
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2025-05-11 10:25 am
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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!
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YES! ♡♡♡ 'No matter how long ago and how different the circumstances, I would never do THIS.' It's wonderful. ♡
"That he almost interfered and went after or chased off whoever past!ZYL was with? (He wouldn't - he didn't - but that's the sort of thing he always thinks he's closer to doing than he actually is ...)"
Yeah, that's definitely how I'd interpret his words too, if there was nothing else. But then it throws me off that the next line is "The rest of what he’d started to say was likely unfit for polite company." - it feels like it has to imply something indecent? If it was more in the vein of 'something Shen Wei would never admit' then it would be more clear to me that it's just him hiding his violent/posessive urges (that he indeed never acts on), as usual.
"I think it's true insofar as he cares deeply about not showing evidence of his monstrous nature in front of ZYL, in a way he doesn't about other people. He's still hiding it, it still matters to him, but he doesn't care about other people's judgment or good opinion the way he does ZYL's, so the stakes aren't the same, and he's a lot more tightly wound around ZYL as a consequence."
Yeah, I see how it's all more figurative and relative than literal, and it does make a lot of sense - 'slightly less tense' will automatically feel like 'more relaxed'. (The part that doesn't ring true to me in the literal sense is "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." Because it would mean that he does reveal his true self around outsiders, which he doesn't.)
"LOL! Mostly I'm wondering what supernatural shenanigans are keeping this phone working for so long!"
Hahah, yes, this too! :D :D (My first reaction was 'I have phones from 20+ years ago that still work', but they were only in use for a couple of years and then left alone. A late 90s phone that still works after 15 years of daily use, yeah, must be enchanted. xD)
"So glad I'm not the only one who was confused by that!"
Yep, same, I saw that you commented on it too! :) There is some vital detail clearly missing from the waitress scene.
"No matter what he's up to, he's such a troll - humming, flipping through a magazine, OMG, SW! I love that for him. :D"
It's beautiful, I'm reveling in the mood he's projecting. :D :D :D
"Not really seeing the connection? Gulping down alcohol is a pretty different vibe."
True, and higher stakes too, but I do see the more general vibe of 'I am not doing bullshit ceremonies with someone who doesn't deserve it'.
no subject
Oh yeah, good point, I completely see what you mean!
A late 90s phone that still works after 15 years of daily use, yeah, must be enchanted. xD
Maybe Shennong's bowl doesn't want to get used to a new phone? *g*
There is some vital detail clearly missing from the waitress scene.
Unfortunately the Chinese offers no clarificaton. Maybe we'll come back to this? It definitely sounds like there should be an explanation!
no subject
Ahahah, okay, I love this, NOW it starts making sense! :D :D Shen Wei doesn't have a smart phone either, maybe it's just a thing that a lot of immortals are confused about, and they have the powers to make the old phone work indefinitely. :D
"Unfortunately the Chinese offers no clarificaton. Maybe we'll come back to this? It definitely sounds like there should be an explanation!"
Oh, thanks for checking! As far as I remember it doesn't directly come back (though I may be wrong about it), but maybe there are some indirect hints we're going to find with our collective effort. :D (I would say it's just a case of 'the author knows what is happening but it needs like two more words to be clear to everyone else too', but it really doesn't sound like that if it's the same across versions and after multiple rounds of editing.)
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no subject
+100.
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