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sid_guardian2025-06-22 01:09 pm
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2025-06-22 01:09 pm
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Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 13 & 14
Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong!
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 13: Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan untangle the truth about the past. Zhao Yunlan recaps the whole saga back to Shen Wei to verify his understanding. Shen Wei recounts his promise to guard the Seal and stay away from Kunlun, and he confesses that he orchestrated all the visions and other events (including Zhao Yunlan seeing him drawing his heart blood) so that Zhao Yunlan would stay with him and they could die (ie, cease to exist) together. Back at the flat, they start making out, then stop to talk about the blood-drinking. They decide to live together like mortals for the next few decades.
Chapter 14: Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi stake out a motorway off-ramp in the freezing cold and search a number of buses to look for a ghost's missing daughter. Chu Shuzhi calls Daqing to ask about Guo Changcheng's flame-coloured merits. Chu Shuzhi slaps a talisman on Changcheng to check he's human. Changcheng finds the missing girl, and Chu Shuzhi arrests the kidnapper.
The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are chapters 92 to 94.
Excerpts:
1) Primordial Wei looked for Kunlun before they met
“Actually, the day of my birth should’ve been the first time I saw you. But you were standing too far away, unwilling to take even a single step closer to me—as though I were something filthy. My eyes hadn’t fully opened yet, so all I could see was the vague shadow of a green robe.”
Shen Wei shut his eyes. Gently, longingly, he rubbed his cheek against Zhao Yunlan’s hand. “But from birth, I was more ferocious than my brother. I had consumed more of our brethren than he had. At that point, I could already hear, and could vaguely understand, what you and Shennong were saying…so right from the beginning, I knew exactly what I was. Later, I searched the world for you, resisting the temptation of the flesh and blood of the living. I ate only the things that crawled out of the ground—other gui, which I felt were just as disgusting as I was.
“I searched for you because I desperately wanted to ask you what life is.” When he said this, Shen Wei felt Zhao Yunlan’s grip on him tighten. “But then when I finally met you at the edge of that grove, when you were about to climb up Penglai… As soon as I saw you, the words all died on my tongue.”
2) Wei's deal with Shennong
“Then I confined your primordial spirit and went down to the Reincarnation Cycle to plead with my enemy, Shennong,” Shen Wei said. “He was the only one I ever begged for anything… At that point, the Reincarnation Cycle already had its own order, and the Netherworld had just been established with its own set of rules. I begged him to let you into the Reincarnation Cycle like a mortal. That way, even though you would never remember me, you would still exist. But he wouldn’t do it. He said primordial gods could not enter the cycle because it was his own primordial spirit that was supporting it. It could accept all sorts of souls—humans, yao, gods, demons—but it would not be able to hold the true Mountain God…unless he sealed all your divine powers himself and washed your souls completely clean, turning you into a mortal. If he did that, Shennong’s own primordial spirit would fade away too…like exchanging one life for another. His life for yours.”
“What did you agree to that made him do that?”
“I swore to protect the Great Houtu Seal forever. As long as I existed, the Seal would exist too. If the Seal broke, then I would meet my death along with the rest of the gui.” Shen Wei’s fingers were ice cold. “And…for all of eternity, I could never see you again. If I couldn’t help myself, then I would drain your life force and you would die, your souls shattering into a million pieces.”
[There's an enormous chunk I desperately want to quote here, omg. *resists*]
3) Negotiating the blood drinking
“Hey, wait!” Zhao Yunlan grabbed Shen Wei’s hand. “I’m not drinking your blood.”
“It’s no worse than a mosquito bite to me.”
“That’s all well and good for you, but it’s nowhere near the same to me.” Zhao Yunlan pushed him off and tried to feel for the bedside light, but his arms were almost immediately pinned. Shen Wei’s tongue flicked over his Adam’s apple, and Zhao Yunlan panted quietly, unable to hold it in. “Stop messing around.”
“Even if I dug out my entire heart, I won’t die at once. I’d still survive longer than the Great Seal.” Shen Wei’s voice was terribly low. The scorching heat of his breath caressed Zhao Yunlan’s collarbones with each word. “I did consider it at the time—would it be more effective to cut out my heart for you? But I was afraid you’d be too badly frightened, so I only let you see my blood being drawn.”
After a silence, Zhao Yunlan said dryly, “Thanks so much for remembering that I’m a scaredy-cat.”
4) Chu Shuzhi and Daqing on the phone
Lowering his voice, Chu Shuzhi quickly asked, “And you’re sure xiao-Guo is human?”
“Mmph. Of course he’s human,” Daqing said. “Wang Zheng even has a copy of his ID.”
“I want to find his proof of birth, the kind that says, ‘x year x month x day, a live male infant was born’—the kind you get from a hospital,” said Chu Shuzhi.
“Huh?” Daqing exclaimed. “Holy shit. Humans are such weirdos. They have something like that?!”
5) Changcheng takes being 'killed' surprisingly calmly
Guo Changcheng’s reaction time was always a little slow, but by this point he understood that his soul had just left his body. According to his understanding, “soul leaving body” was no different from “death”—which to him meant that Chu Shuzhi had nearly killed him with a talisman. He cowered back against the car door. “Ch-Chu-ge… W-what’s this about…?”
“Are you human?” Chu Shuzhi asked.
Guo Changcheng gaped at him, not at all sure if Chu Shuzhi was being literal or insulting.
Questions:
Do you understand the primordial past backstory now? Who comes off worst in this real version of events? How do you feel about Shen Wei going to these lengths to deceive Zhao Yunlan and guilt-trip him into staying with him? What does it mean that Zhao Yunlan called Shen Wei his husband, rather than wife? Would you prefer to be on a stakeout with Guo Changcheng or Chu Shuzhi? Do you have 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
He’s fucking insane, and damn lucky that so is Zhao Yunlan. I’m loving these two❤
What does it mean that Zhao Yunlan called Shen Wei his husband, rather than wife?
In Chinese, I’m pretty sure he refers to himself when he says husband here. The line is
但是我得振振夫綱 – "But I have to be a good husband", according to google translate.
He calls Shen Wei his wife several times, using both 內人/neiren (in chapter 53) and 老婆/laopo (every other time).
He calls him husband only once, in chapter 80, using 老公/laogong.
Unless I missed somethingI think he just says whatever feels right in the moment. A good approach!
no subject
:D :D TRUE FACTS. ♡
"In Chinese, I’m pretty sure he refers to himself when he says husband here. The line is
但是我得振振夫綱 – "But I have to be a good husband", according to google translate."
Oh, that's so interesting, thanks! I like that the official translation just randomly called Shen Wei a husband one extra time. xD ("Spending our lives together is a nice thought, but I need to lay down some rules for my husband.")
"內人/neiren (in chapter 53)"
This was such an A++ pun, one time I actively liked the wife thing. :D (And the official translation just said "partner" here because you can't make a pun like that in English. :P Vol 2, chapter 6 ftr.)
"He calls him husband only once, in chapter 80, using 老公/laogong."
And I totally didn't pay attention to that (vol 3, chapter 2), probably because I was distracted by Zhao Yunlan being wonderfully inappropriate while he does it, lol - thanks for pointing that out! :D
no subject
I'm not caught up, so no further comments, but this is so weird - when I plug the Chinese into google translate, I get "But I have to reassure my husband", with alternate suggestions "But I need to assert my authority as a wife" and "But I need to keep my husband in line".
no subject
For traditional, it gives me "I have to be a good husband". For simplified it gives me "I have to reassure my husband".
My version is traditional characters, so that's what I plugged in initially. But they really shouldn't be different, right???
Other translators give results along the lines of "I need to assert authority/take control of the household". I thought that was vaguely the same direction as "be a good husband", considering gender roles and all that.
no subject
I thought that was vaguely the same direction as "be a good husband", considering gender roles and all that.
Huh, I thought the "take control of the household" was more in line with "I have to keep my husband in line" - i.e. taking the POV of the wife. But I now we're in very esoteric territory, talking about the nuances of already-dubious translations, LOL.
no subject
We are way above my pay grade tbh.
For what it's worth, I checked the fan tl, which rendered this passage as "I need to reclaim my position as the man of the household”.
no subject
Thanks for checking the fan translation, I'm so behind on everything and still haven't managed to read these chapters ...
no subject
He’s fucking insane, and damn lucky that so is Zhao Yunlan.
Haha, so true! :D
Thanks so much for all the wife/husband references. <3