"Ouch! But also, I don't understand what the scolding is about. Is his dad telling him off for being gay? For just being a bad son generally? Am I forgetting something obvious?"
The reason for the scolding is literally just this imo: "His father, unsurprisingly, was uncomfortable with Shen Wei’s presence. And while the old man might’ve been able to endure some brief discomfort, it wasn’t long before it had to become someone else’s problem." The contents of the scolding? Probably everything you said plus a lot of other things. *yeets him into the sun again*
"?? Is that that he's only reacting to SW's helpfulness and not his earlier anger? Or something else."
I think it's just this, yeah. :)
"LOL, this is where his "sprawling/sitting/lying down all the time" characterisation came from, isn't it (even though here it's obviously about the effects of SW's presence)?"
Well, he also does do that in the novel (plonking down on the random rock on Kunlun mountain or on top of the ladder in the library), but this too. :D :D
"I like him/his subconscious wondering about the nature of life and death. That is a good question!"
And definitely something to pay attention to for later, as far as I remember. :)
"Also, random question, does ZYL not recognise the taste of it as blood earlier because Shen Wei's blood isn't like human blood, or is it because he's disguising it in the "concoction"? I'm wondering how vital the concoctioning is to the process, and how SW learned to do that..."
I think he's masking the taste of blood with herbs, and they're not necessary for any other reason. The very first time Zhao Yunlan drinks it, "The smell was incredibly strange—raw and visceral." Which sounds very blood-like still, but Shen Wei says it's herbal medicine, and I guess it also smells and tastes enough like herbs to make it believable.
"Omg, he's such a brat!! LOL! (Imagine going back a year and telling his younger self that one day he'd say that to the Emissary himself! LOL!)"
Ahahahah, I think he would be like 5% mortified and 95% extremely enthusiastically looking forward to finding out the context of that. :D :D
"This is so much like the Dial, I wonder if that's where the superstition came from."
*not saying anything* :D :D
"I remember back in the days, our tribe collectively mutated. But you little girl, you were stuck in the molting period and were not able to finalize the mutation. I think your fate with humans isn't over yet, so I trusted Chief Zhao to take care of you."
Oooh, thank you for the drama quote, I love the subtlety of the changes between yao cultivation and yashou biology. :D
"This raises for me the question of whether, in the drama kitchen scene, SW had been in bed with ZYL before the cutting! Sadly, I think probably not: ZYL is lying on top of the covers, in pretty much the middle of the bed, with both pillows. *shakes fist at censorship*"
Well, officially very much not, but I love that him holding the phone when he wakes up is included in the drama, because in the novel it's so directly connected to Shen Wei sleeping in the same bed with him. :D
"That's an obfuscation, right? It didn't "go missing". And ZYL knows that, too -- he just hasn't told SW he knows. (I'm sure you've all already said all this. Apologies for stating the obv.)"
Well, he knows a version of it, but yes! (I haven't read everything yet, but I think you're first. :D)
"Ooh, Zhao Yunlan is the one who leaves! So interesting how they changed that."
Yeah, another time when the censorship wins - he can't just leave his own apartment and leave behind someone who doesn't actually live there. :P
"This struck me because I feel like tiny fish usually have very soft bones that you just eat along with the fish (like sardines). It feels so delicate and fussy to pick out the fish bones. (Maybe these are tiny fish with sharp, pointy bones, though.)"
That's a really good point! Maybe Daqing actually likes picking at the fish until only the bones are left. xD
"So, does he not shift again? Did he try and it decide he didn't like it? Much better to be in cat form and make other people look after him?"
I can totally see this being the case, lol, but also since even Zhao Yunlan had no idea that DQ could shift, maybe he actually was only able to do it on Kunlun Mountain.
"I mean, the kitchen scene basically confirmed all Shen Wei's worst fears about what would happen when ZYL perceived his true nature, right? Not that ZYL was actually thinking the way SW feared, but that he seemed to be?"
Omg, I never even thought that Shen Wei could be thinking this way, but it makes so much sense! Like, it's so obvious that Zhao Yunlan is only upset that SW is harming himself for his sake, but in SW's head it may not be obvious at all. OUCH.
no subject
"Ouch! But also, I don't understand what the scolding is about. Is his dad telling him off for being gay? For just being a bad son generally? Am I forgetting something obvious?"
The reason for the scolding is literally just this imo: "His father, unsurprisingly, was uncomfortable with Shen Wei’s presence. And while the old man might’ve been able to endure some brief discomfort, it wasn’t long before it had to become someone else’s problem." The contents of the scolding? Probably everything you said plus a lot of other things. *yeets him into the sun again*
"?? Is that that he's only reacting to SW's helpfulness and not his earlier anger? Or something else."
I think it's just this, yeah. :)
"LOL, this is where his "sprawling/sitting/lying down all the time" characterisation came from, isn't it (even though here it's obviously about the effects of SW's presence)?"
Well, he also does do that in the novel (plonking down on the random rock on Kunlun mountain or on top of the ladder in the library), but this too. :D :D
"I like him/his subconscious wondering about the nature of life and death. That is a good question!"
And definitely something to pay attention to for later, as far as I remember. :)
"Also, random question, does ZYL not recognise the taste of it as blood earlier because Shen Wei's blood isn't like human blood, or is it because he's disguising it in the "concoction"? I'm wondering how vital the concoctioning is to the process, and how SW learned to do that..."
I think he's masking the taste of blood with herbs, and they're not necessary for any other reason. The very first time Zhao Yunlan drinks it, "The smell was incredibly strange—raw and visceral." Which sounds very blood-like still, but Shen Wei says it's herbal medicine, and I guess it also smells and tastes enough like herbs to make it believable.
"Omg, he's such a brat!! LOL! (Imagine going back a year and telling his younger self that one day he'd say that to the Emissary himself! LOL!)"
Ahahahah, I think he would be like 5% mortified and 95% extremely enthusiastically looking forward to finding out the context of that. :D :D
"This is so much like the Dial, I wonder if that's where the superstition came from."
*not saying anything* :D :D
"I remember back in the days, our tribe collectively mutated. But you little girl, you were stuck in the molting period and were not able to finalize the mutation. I think your fate with humans isn't over yet, so I trusted Chief Zhao to take care of you."
Oooh, thank you for the drama quote, I love the subtlety of the changes between yao cultivation and yashou biology. :D
"This raises for me the question of whether, in the drama kitchen scene, SW had been in bed with ZYL before the cutting! Sadly, I think probably not: ZYL is lying on top of the covers, in pretty much the middle of the bed, with both pillows. *shakes fist at censorship*"
Well, officially very much not, but I love that him holding the phone when he wakes up is included in the drama, because in the novel it's so directly connected to Shen Wei sleeping in the same bed with him. :D
"That's an obfuscation, right? It didn't "go missing". And ZYL knows that, too -- he just hasn't told SW he knows. (I'm sure you've all already said all this. Apologies for stating the obv.)"
Well, he knows a version of it, but yes! (I haven't read everything yet, but I think you're first. :D)
"Ooh, Zhao Yunlan is the one who leaves! So interesting how they changed that."
Yeah, another time when the censorship wins - he can't just leave his own apartment and leave behind someone who doesn't actually live there. :P
"This struck me because I feel like tiny fish usually have very soft bones that you just eat along with the fish (like sardines). It feels so delicate and fussy to pick out the fish bones. (Maybe these are tiny fish with sharp, pointy bones, though.)"
That's a really good point! Maybe Daqing actually likes picking at the fish until only the bones are left. xD
"So, does he not shift again? Did he try and it decide he didn't like it? Much better to be in cat form and make other people look after him?"
I can totally see this being the case, lol, but also since even Zhao Yunlan had no idea that DQ could shift, maybe he actually was only able to do it on Kunlun Mountain.
"I mean, the kitchen scene basically confirmed all Shen Wei's worst fears about what would happen when ZYL perceived his true nature, right? Not that ZYL was actually thinking the way SW feared, but that he seemed to be?"
Omg, I never even thought that Shen Wei could be thinking this way, but it makes so much sense! Like, it's so obvious that Zhao Yunlan is only upset that SW is harming himself for his sake, but in SW's head it may not be obvious at all. OUCH.