Poll: Inspired by the Slo-Mo Rewatch discussion... (drama)

[china_shop]

Poll #33601 Caught out

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

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In episode 1, when Zhao Yunlan first spots Shen Wei, why does he recoil inside, grimacing? (check all that apply)

View Answers

Shen Wei is staring so intensely
4 (26.7%)

Shen Wei looks extraordinarily respectable
2 (13.3%)

Shen Wei looks like the kind of person who might judge one harshly
5 (33.3%)

Zhao Yunlan was dangling an employee out the window
11 (73.3%)

Zhao Yunlan dropped an employee out the window
12 (80.0%)

Zhao Yunlan has issues with authority figures
2 (13.3%)

the SID is supposed to be a covert organisation, and they're causing a scene
9 (60.0%)

other
2 (13.3%)

Shen Wei has a landline in his apartment. What is his policy with regard to phone phishing?

View Answers

he never answers; he has the Dixing power of call screening
2 (13.3%)

smiting the phishers through the phonelines, for the public good
0 (0.0%)

polite bewilderment
5 (33.3%)

fake polite bewilderment and amenability, to the point where *they* hang up on *him*
8 (53.3%)

gently but inexorably bringing the conversation around to the subject of bears
8 (53.3%)

other
1 (6.7%)

Comments

[facethestrange]

Eeeeeee, I didn't expect poll. :D :D :D

I voted for dropping an employee and causing a scene, lol, but also for SW staring very intensely + other - I'm putting these together as 'a really hot guy staring at him', which imo has to be a factor too. ;D

And in the second poll it's definitely BEARS, omg what a delightful option. :D :D :D Weaponizing polite bewilderment in general, but I love this way of doing it the most - we already know how good he is at it, and it adds an extra layer of trolling. :D

[china_shop]

I couldn't resist. I have a poll question based on the second half of ep 1 for next week, too. Oops! ;-D

I'm putting these together as 'a really hot guy staring at him', which imo has to be a factor too. ;D

LOL, don't you think he'd be happier about that? ;-D

Weaponizing polite bewilderment in general, but I love this way of doing it the most - we already know how good he is at it, and it adds an extra layer of trolling. :D

:D :D :D :D :D (It's early days, but BEARS is currently at 100%, yay!)

[china_shop]

My "other" for question one is that ZYL is messing around and causing a scene during a murder investigation, specifically, and that this is not the due care and seriousness that respectable people would expect.

For question two, BEARS BEARS BEARS. :D

[maggie33]

Heh, great poll. And yes, I chose bears, too, because Shen Wei would absolutely do that. :DDD

[facethestrange]

LOL AWW, yay polls!! :D :D (And bears! :D :D)

"LOL, don't you think he'd be happier about that? ;-D"

HEE, I think he's happy enough about this part, but because of all the other things the hot guy probably doesn't particularly like him right now - he needs to go downstairs and fix that. ;D

[facethestrange]

Lol, I love this especially in the later context of Shen Wei also not being concerned enough about the murder for ZYL's standards. :P

[facethestrange]

HE SO WOULD, and I now want this fic so much - a scammer deserves ALL the bear facts, and watching Shen Wei turn every single topic back to bears would be a delight. :D :D

[trobadora]

Window: Like I said in the rewatch comments, I think he winces and pulls back because he was just caught letting someone dangle and fall from the window, by someone very respectable-looking, and if Shen Wei made a fuss that wouldn't be great. Especially with the "someone" he let fall being Minister Guo's nephew. *g*

Landline: BEARS, of course. :P (Or more seriously, if he has time he trolls them until they hang up on him; if he's busy he just hangs up.)

[trobadora]

Right? BEARS are the best option. :D

[trobadora]

Yeah, that's a good point about the murder investigation!

[china_shop]

True -- the hotness might make the situation worse! ;D

[china_shop]

Oh, he totally has double standards for himself versus random civilians, lol. :D

[china_shop]

Haha, for some reason, now I'm imagining the scammer is one of his students (working their way through university in a dodgy call centre), and they recognise him by the bear motif and are equal parts charmed and mortified. ;D :D

[china_shop]

What if the scammer is a bear aficionado, too, and they learn the error of their ways through relentless bear facts?!

[china_shop]

*nodnod* (His reaction is so immediate and instinctive that I'm not sure GCC's family connections factor in at quite that moment, but I'm sure they would after a second or two.)

BEARS!! :D :D :D

[maggie33]

And then I imagine that the scammer would even thank Shen Wei for all the bear facts instead of getting angry and hanging up, because Shen Wei would be so polite and friendly, and unassuming. :DDD

[donutsweeper]

for the phone, I'm torn between polite bewilderment and using his powers but not to screen but rather to make sure the phone never rings *unless* he needs to answer or should be answering it - something along the lines of just blocking people from remembering/dialing the number if they're not someone he should be (or be bothered to be) talking to.

For the window... I like all your options but none quite explain all of his reaction to me. He's brazen enough that if it was just some kind of response to how he's treating/risking his employee I would expect him to simply smile and wave and act all 'this is just normal boss behavior!'

To me, it seems like it's partially a response to Shen Wei himself which made me wonder if they hadn't quite figured out the logistics of the whole "how to do YOH days" bit yet and wanted to hedge their bets about it someway but didn't really manage something that'd work (in the sense of how his reaction at the window lined up with their meeting on the ground a few minutes later).

[facethestrange]

AWWW, this is such a wholesome enemies-to-friends scenario! :D :D ♡

[facethestrange]

AWWW lol, I adore this concept, give Shen Wei more people to talk with about bears. :D :D ♡

[facethestrange]

*BEARS HIGH FIVE* :D

[facethestrange]

"using his powers but not to screen but rather to make sure the phone never rings *unless* he needs to answer or should be answering it - something along the lines of just blocking people from remembering/dialing the number if they're not someone he should be (or be bothered to be) talking to."

This is such a COOL power idea, with a lot of potential implications, I'm intrigued! :D

"To me, it seems like it's partially a response to Shen Wei himself which made me wonder if they hadn't quite figured out the logistics of the whole "how to do YOH days" bit yet and wanted to hedge their bets about it someway but didn't really manage something that'd work (in the sense of how his reaction at the window lined up with their meeting on the ground a few minutes later)."

I also find his reaction not particularly understandable, but I don't think this is the reason - afaik everything was filmed in a really short time and largely out of order, so it's unlikely that they still had unwritten episodes while they were filming this one. Maybe the reaction is a novel leftover? (There's no specific 'looking at Shen Wei' moment in the novel until ZYL is downstairs, but he technically could recognize SW, and there are a few other novel leftovers, like SW thinking about his 'promise' or executing the youchu.)

I went to check the novel rn, and ZYL swears and runs downstairs because GCC fell, and then his reaction to SW is to stare because he's hot (literally: "Their gazes met, and they both froze. / Out of nowhere, Is he an instructor or the school hottie? flashed across Zhao Yunlan’s mind."), so maybe the drama just put both of these things together to save time. ;D

[donutsweeper]

Considering the hair style change, I don't know how completely out of order things were filmed but it would make sense if it was a reaction from the novel that snuck in somehow

[trobadora]

Huh, to me his reaction makes perfect sense. If he'd been caught just dangling Xiao-Guo out the window, he'd absolutely brazen it out, but Xiao-Guo has fallen, and it's his fault. At this point he can't even be sure Xiao-Guo is okay. And he's caught at that. Of course he has a moment of "FUCK" and instinctively flinches back before he rallies and goes down to try and wrangle the situation.

[facethestrange]

Fwiw, on the last day on set Bai Yu's hair was early-episodes-style, but idk if it means that things were filmed this out of order, or if it only means that the hair was character-only and not bts. :) (But everyone else is also in costume on the last day, from episode 9 specifically, so it sounds like it was this out of order.)

[veetvoojagig]

I really like the bears, but I honestly think it would be polite bewilderment because he generally wouldn't understand what they wanted from him.

[facethestrange]

LOL AW, I didn't even think of a scenario where they're trying to get him to do something technologically complicated and he genuinely doesn't understand. :D And he'd definitely never let anyone make him do things he finds suspicious, so it would be like trying to scam an elderly person but one who never actually ends up following the instructions. I can totally see the scammer defeated by polite bewilderment. :D

[facethestrange]

Lololol, POOR KID, I feel like they would die of mortification on the spot!

[facethestrange]

"At this point he can't even be sure Xiao-Guo is okay. And he's caught at that."

Oh, this is a really good point I didn't think of!

[china_shop]

and using his powers but not to screen but rather to make sure the phone never rings *unless* he needs to answer or should be answering it - something along the lines of just blocking people from remembering/dialing the number if they're not someone he should be (or be bothered to be) talking to.

Hee! Like an invisibility field? That would be such a cool (and frighteningly powerful) power! :D

He's brazen enough that if it was just some kind of response to how he's treating/risking his employee I would expect him to simply smile and wave and act all 'this is just normal boss behavior!'

I'm with Trobadora -- his behaviour makes sense to me for a variety of reasons (like, all the options in the poll ;-). There are some things he'll totally brazen out, but I can well imagine this not being one of them. (But you know, it's totally fine if mileage varies! ;D)

[china_shop]

Ha, you don't think he's had to deal with a lot of this kind of thing in the course of his time in Haixing? (I think the "baffled by human society" stuff is more novel characterisation -- but obviously MMV! Or is that not what you meant? :-)

[veetvoojagig]

LOL, well, I binged the show then immediately read the novel, then started the show again, so I might have them all mixed up in my head a bit. It just seems like he'd have paid more attention to other things and not really be aware of what scammers do. Or the tech, since he doesn't use that either. He still writes with ink, too.

[veetvoojagig]

He would probably also ask a lot of questions that'd throw them off, I feel. But genuinely, not like he's trying to trap them.

[facethestrange]

Depending on the topic of the conversation, I can totally see that! :D

[veetvoojagig]

And he'd ask them to repeat each step like a dozen times.