Whether you've been with us all the way, are just catching up, or are newly joining in - welcome to this week's chapters!

Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions on the schedule posts (vol. 1 part 1, vol. 1 part 2, vol. 2), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

• Chapter 11: Zhao Yunlan goes to the SID while blind, figuring out how to properly use his Heavenly Eye along the way. He establishes some new rules for the SID and begins to research Kunlun. They hear about the Yao Market, which should have a cure for his eyesight.
• Chapter 12: Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan are domestic and soft, and Daqing takes Shen Wei's measure. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan visit the Yao Market and get their cure. Shen Wei claims not to know details about ancient times. The Crows arrive.

The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC/the fan translation are 61-63.

Excerpts:

1) Shen Wei's merits

Zhao Yunlan turned toward him. The perception granted by his Heavenly Eye just kept getting clearer and brighter, and now, through it, he gazed at Shen Wei.

What he saw was row after row of the bright red text that represented Shen Wei's merits. Those crimson characters flashed into existence repeatedly...yet none of them lasted. They appeared with the swiftness of the tide, only to be washed away by vast waves of darkness, as ephemeral as marks in the sand.

Zhao Yunlan's eyes suddenly stung as an emotion crashed over him, surging up from someplace he couldn't identify. It was as though some memory had been buried deep for hundreds of thousands of years, and a hurricane had just passed through and blown away the deep layers of dust covering it. What was revealed was some naked, inescapable truth that stabbed into the heart, setting off cascading waves of pain.


2) What Zhu Hong sees

When Zhu Hong knocked and came in, what she saw was two people who brought out the best in each other without getting in the other's way. She paused in the doorway, gripped by the feeling that if she entered, her presence would be completely extraneous.


3) Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talk about Zhu Hong and are very soft (sorry for the length of this excerpt, I couldn't bear to cut anything)

Shen Wei looked up from his ancient text. "Do you think she, ah, has feelings for..."

"Mmn." Zhao Yunlan spread out a new piece of yellow paper, measuring with his fingers as he spoke. "I hadn't noticed it before. But now that I do know, I should do something about it before it's too late."

Shen Wei sighed, and Zhao Yunlan chuckled.

"What are you sighing for? What future is there for a workplace romance? Besides, humans and yao don't belong together. What's the point in getting involved?"

Zhao Yunlan only meant exactly what he said, but Shen Wei read more into it than he'd intended. There was a brief silence before Shen Wei asked, "Then you and I...as a ghost and a human, shouldn't we stay apart?"

"What?" Zhao Yunlan reflexively reached out, getting cinnabar all over his hand. After a frozen second, he exclaimed, "We're not the same at all! I like you so much."

He said it so casually, as if there were nothing sweet and romantic about the words. It might have been the kind of idle chitchat people exchange while enjoying tea and a lovely fragrance together. As snow blanketed the world outside, such simple words seemed ordinary, yet warm with sincerity.

A hand suddenly pressed against the hand Zhao Yunlan was using to hold a talisman in place. The touch interrupted the movement of the brush, and the spiritual energy leaked out of the talisman. Just like that, it went to waste.

At some point, Shen Wei had closed the distance between them; now he placed his hands on the chair's armrests, trapping Zhao Yunlan with his arms. Almost piously, Shen Wei closed his eyes and leaned in close. He held his breath, and there was the faintest quiver to his eyelashes. Ever so carefully, he kissed the tip of Zhao Yunlan's nose. Then, even more slowly, he dared to move his mouth lower. This cautious exploration continued until his lips brushed Zhao Yunlan's.

It was incredibly gentle and warm, even as he parted Zhao Yunlan's lips, feeling their slight dryness and dipping so, so softly between them. There was no sense at all that he sought anything more than this.

He was so helplessly in love, yearning for the sweetness of a kiss, for the simple touch of skin on skin.

This man before him was like some sort of deadly poison. Shen Wei had struggled with all his might and still failed to resist. He had only fallen ever deeper.


4) Daqing questions Shen Wei

Daqing cleaned his claws. He and Shen Wei studied each other for a while, and then he asked, "Are you human?"

Shen Wei didn't know how to respond to that.

Daqing hurried to explain. "No, don't misunderstand. That's not an insult. I mean it literally-literally, you understand? As in, are you human or something else...? Something not human, you know?"

The question hit Shen Wei right where it hurt. After a bit more silence, he shook his head.

To his surprise, Daqing let out a sigh of relief. Talking more to himself than Shen Wei, he said, "It's good that you're not human. Not human... Hmm... That little brat has such a punchable face, but he's not a bad person. He really likes you, so don't betray his trust."

Shen Wei said simply, "How could I? As long as he still wants me, I will not betray him in life or death."


5) Shen Wei keeps secrets

Baffled, Zhao Yunlan persisted, "But isn't Gonggong the God of Water? Who's this 'Mountain God of the Great Wild'? God of which mountain? I've never heard of Buzhou also having a Mountain God."

This time Shen Wei took even longer to reply, and his answer was vague. "Maybe it does have one? I don't know the details of things that happened back in those times."

Something in his voice told Zhao Yunlan to stop pressing. He fell silent, idly scratching his fingernail across his palm and occasionally tapping along to the beat of the song.


Questions:

I have so many feelings about the merits just washing away from Shen Wei - how about you? What do you think about Zhao Yunlan essentially locking down the SID without explanation - and what does his team think about it? Did Zhao Yunlan really not notice Zhu Hong's feelings before? How do you like the Yao Market? (Does it remind you of scenes from historical dramas, too?) And we've got a few things in these chapters with parallels in the drama - any thoughts about those?

(As usual, these are just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like!)

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