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The Mountain-River Awl Case develops in the background, while Zhao Yunlan tries to court Shen Wei with antique books, and Shen Wei takes care of Zhao Yunlan when he suffers from stomach problems. Featuring: The Taxi Scene™ and Hurt/Comfort Domesticity.
Call Me Maybe
At the SID, Zhao Yunlan receives a phone call from a girl and is very happy about it, which spurs a round of gossip (and some jealous looks from Zhu Hong).
Ignoring the gossipers, Zhao Yunlan moves to the stairs and makes a call of his own, to the biology department of Dragon City University, asking for Shen Wei.
"Tell him it's his good friend, Xiao Zhao."
Look at that smile on his face when he comes out with that nickname.
He gets ahold of Shen Wei, and immediately starts whining at him to get a cell phone. It's tough for poor Zhao Yunlan who has to jump through hoops to get in touch with Shen Wei.
Then he tells Shen Wei about how it must be fate between them, because he just happens to have some antique books that Shen Wei is looking for. Look at that mischievous expression on his face.
Meanwhile, the SID remarks on their Chief's unusual behavior. Da Qing says it's just Zhao Yunlan pulling shameless dirty tricks to get his way, while Zhu Hong thinks this is different from his usual MO. The conversation honestly seems straight up textual to me rather than subtextual at this point, because they're just gossiping about Zhao Yunlan's dating habits. File this scene under "No Heterosexual Explanation."
Gossip Boys
Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing head out to meet the girl selling them the books. Da Qing, of course, starts asking about Shen Wei.
Zhao Yunlan talks to Da Qing about how to approach someone like Shen Wei. For the purposes of "investigation" of course.
Zhao Yunlan's mind starts wandering when Da Qing starts listing evidence of Shen Wei's innocence. Like, "Yes, this is pleasing news, do go on."
And this - it's such an underrated shippy scene, but it's one of my top favourites because you really see how far gone Zhao Yunlan is for Shen Wei. He starts imagining not worrying about Shen Wei's guilt or innocence, and reminisces about how enjoyable it is to work with Shen Wei. And you can just see Zhao Yunlan is going to his happy place thinking about spending more time with Shen Wei and working with him.
LOOK.
He's head over heels.
Courtship Gone Wrong
Anyway, Zhao Yunlan spends an exorbitant amount of money buying the books off the girl, who tells him that her grandfather can rest easy knowing the books are in good hands. Then, he and Da Qing head off to meet Shen Wei.
This gif is solely here to appreciate how well those pants hug Shen Wei's legs & butt when he crouches down.
Now that they're looking through the books, Zhao Yunlan gives a dramatic, insincere speech he shamelessly copied off the girl who sold him the books.
Meanwhile, Shen Wei recognizes the books as the ones that he donated several days ago.
Now Shen Wei is on the receiving end of someone badly and obviously lying to him. HOW DOES THAT FEEL, SHEN WEI?
Anyway, Shen Wei is unimpressed and leaves. Da Qing laughs at Zhao Yunlan's failure.
It's sweet how Zhao Yunlan wants to try and connect with Shen Wei via his interests, and honestly, if this were a rom-com, it would trigger at least several sequences of Zhao Yunlan attempting to woo Shen Wei. Then in the end, he succeeds when he least expects it by being himself and being genuine instead of pretending to be someone he's not to impress Shen Wei.
Seriously! Doesn't it feel like the show is setting up some rom-com this way?
The Taxi Scene
Some fans may at this point be thinking to themselves: How will Zhao Yunlan win over Shen Wei after that mishap earlier?
Those fans underestimate Shen Wei's 10,000 years of thirst and devotion.
In this next scene, we see Shen Wei help drunk Prof. Zhou into a cab. Then, he looks out into the streets and spots Zhao Yunlan.
I zoomed in and slowed down this sequence of Shen Wei going from gazing out at the streets to spotting Zhao Yunlan in distress, because the microexpressions going on here are amazing. From the slight eyeroll at the beginning after seeing Professor Zhou off, to his expression going solemn when he spots Zhao Yunlan, and then the frown and blink and dismay.
I could stare at Shen Wei's face having emotions due to Zhao Yunlan forever.
Shen Wei approaches Zhao Yunlan and asks him what's wrong, offering to take him to the hospital. When Zhao Yunlan tells him he'd rather just go home where he has medicine, Shen Wei helps him up and calls a taxi. So much gentle concern here, it's excellent.
Zhao Yunlan naps in the taxi, his head leaning further and further towards Shen Wei.
THEN THIS SEQUENCE. Zhao Yunlan's head falls on Shen Wei's shoulder, who immediately goes "!!!!"
Shen Wei helps move him back into an upright position, and then lets out this tiny sigh of relief. Presumably because his heart rate can finally go back down to normal.
But Shen Wei isn't getting out of it that easily. Zhao Yunlan continues to snooze, and his head falls forward again. This time, not on Shen Wei's shoulder because he's been moved.
Is it just me or is Shen Wei breathing a bit more heavily here? And blinking some more too.
Finally, weighing Zhao Yunlan's discomfort against his own sexual frustration, he moves Zhao Yunlan's head back onto his shoulder and makes sure he's comfortable.
And we end this iconic taxi scene with a shot of Shen Wei lovingly staring at a sleeping Zhao Yunlan. He is so soft and gone for Zhao Yunlan and it's beautiful to watch.
Domestic Hurt/Comfort
Now that this fanfic, I mean, this episode has built up the sexual tension between the two, we move onto Shen Wei helping Zhao Yunlan into his apartment to take care of him.
Zhao Yunlan hobbles into the apartment and falls onto his bed.
Zhao Yunlan's apartment is a mess. With his fridge being the worst offender. Here, we have Shen Wei scolding Zhao Yunlan for not taking better care of himself, all the while braving the fridge that has probably grown its own ecosystem by now. This is how you know it's true love.
Zhao Yunlan is groaning pitifully.
Shen Wei hands Zhao Yunlan his medicine, telling him to wait until Shen Wei can get some warm water for him. Zhao Yunlan tells him he's fine just swallowing the pills down, but Shen Wei disagrees vehemently, probably having visions of Zhao Yunlan choking.
I can't tell if Shen Wei is being overprotective here or if he just has a good handle of how much of a disaster Zhao Yunlan is when it comes to taking care of himself.
Shen Wei heads to the kitchen, and looks on in despair at the mess around him. All the dirty dishes...
By the time he's back, Zhao Yunlan has fallen asleep. So Shen Wei helps him take off his shoes...
And tucks him into bed.
And folds his clothes for him. There are no words to describe the noises I made while watching this sequence.
Finally, I guess because there has to be something called a plot somewhere, Shen Wei erases the information Dixing sends to Zhao Yunlan about his identity, and then stares at Zhao Yunlan's peaceful sleeping form.
The Morning After
Zhao Yunlan wakes up from his beauty sleep to see Shen Wei sitting next to his bed.
Shen Wei's Edward Cullen act startles the hell out of Zhao Yunlan, who asks if Shen Wei watched over him all night.
Zhao Yunlan then looks around his apartment, and realizes that this goes a lot further than just creepy staring at night. Shen Wei has managed to clean up the disaster that is Zhao Yunlan's apartment. The sheer effort required boggles my mind just as much as it did Zhao Yunlan. We can only hope Shen Wei had some handy house-cleaning powers to help him.
Zhao Yunlan tries again to recruit Shen Wei to the SID, but he refuses, handing Zhao Yunlan some porridge instead.
Some people took a look at the last part of that scene, and said that Shen Wei used his powers to warm the porridge up. I don't see any dark energy being used there though, and the opening scene showed the porridge with smoky aroma coming out of it. It's up to personal interpretation, I guess! I do like the idea of Shen Wei being very Extra about using his powers just to make even the slightest thing more comfortable for Zhao Yunlan.
Zhao Yunlan: Shen Wei, ah, Shen Wei. You're so good to me, how can I bear to let you go?
Very impressed with how well Shen Wei held it together in that scene. It's a very jokey (but intense) statement from Zhao Yunlan, and they both seem to have decided to back off from the potential intensity of it for now.
Shen Wei tries to convince Zhao Yunlan to take better care of himself and actually eat his damned meals. Zhao Yunlan uses that as an excuse to try recruiting Shen Wei to the SID again.
Shen Wei puts off the consultant issue, and starts telling Zhao Yunlan about his upcoming field trip. He wants Zhao Yunlan to stay in Dragon City and stay out of trouble.
Meanwhile, this is the sprawling posture Zhao Yunlan has decided to adopt while listening to Shen Wei. The angle is... very flirty.
Zhao Yunlan can't guarantee that he'll listen to Shen Wei. He still has to do his job!
They end their conversation and Shen Wei prepares to leave, except...
Da Qing enters the apartment. "Professor Shen? It's so early, what are you doing here?"
(Da Qing has very likely drawn his own conclusions already.)
Shen Wei tells Da Qing that he was just here to take care of Zhao Yunlan because of his stomach problems. And he wants the SID to take better care of Zhao Yunlan.
And we end the episode with Shen Wei, the one-man army trying to put Zhao Yunlan's home life in some semblance of order, while at the same time trying to recruit everyone he can into taking care of Zhao Yunlan.
This is definitely one of the top shippiest episodes for me in this show.
[ Episode Seven ] [ Masterpost ] [ Episode Nine ]
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