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19. If /when do you think Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei get together?
I don't think they ever did, at least not physically. Don't get me wrong, I've read and loved many variants of "getting together" and "established relationship" fics for them, but my personal view is a bit different.
While my reasons are many, there's one central reason I always come back to: Zhao Yunlan. It's true that Shen Wei is holding back, reluctant because of his secrets and unsure about the timeline, but I consider Shen Wei as someone who primarily responds to Zhao Yunlan's cues regarding where their relationship should go. And the only time Yunlan seemed to be persistently pursuing Shen Wei was in the pre-and-immediate-post-Envoy-reveal episodes, where, while the attraction was genuine, the intention behind the advances was not. Whenever he flirts outrageously like that, Shen Wei immediately draws back. Some people read this as him being shy/inexperienced, but I don't buy that. The way I see it, he shuts Yunlan down because he doesn't want obfuscation and manipulation to form the foundation of their relationship from the outset.
After Zhao Yunlan becomes comfortable with Shen Wei's identities, they grow extremely close to the point where Shen Wei spends most of his time at Yunlan's place, cooks for him, cleans his room... But the sexual tension vanishes almost completely, only making appearances in scenes where they're obviously aiming for a reaction from the audience. It's like the guys went straight from the tentative courtship phase to being an old married couple without any of what typically happens in the interim, which is actually pretty adorable in its own way.
I chose to read this as Zhao Yunlan realising that their relationship had become too important to risk jeopardising by approaching it without being 100% ready. I can only guess as to why he wasn't ready, but it was probably a combination of his lack of romantic (as opposed to purely physical) experience - the conversation about Zhu Hong in episode 20 can be considered proof of that - and the awareness of Shen Wei's secrets which made him reluctant to commit completely. And Shen Wei, getting no indication from Yunlan that he wanted something else, accepted the platonic life partnership he was offered and went with it. Like I mentioned above and in my Day 6 post, I'm pretty sure he's the "I'm happy with whatever you choose to give me, as long as you're sincere" type, so I don't think he was dissatisfied at all. On the other hand, his own natural reticence and the dawning realisation that he won't have much time before things with Ye Zun came to a head likely held Shen Wei back from making a move himself.
After Zhao Yunlan's trip to the past, when he finally knew everything about his and Shen Wei's bond and could, in theory, have gotten started on taking their relationship to the next level, the plot gathered steam alarmingly quickly, everything hurtled towards the finish line, and a few episodes later neither of them were around any longer to actualise those possibilities. When I think about it like that, I feel utterly heartbroken, but it does seem to be the most plausible reading.
However! I welcome more cheerful, romantic interpretations with open arms. I love these two enough that even though my brain has decided on the above headcanon, my heart is perfectly willing to go the opposite direction. And at the end of the day, it's totally valid to blame everything on the censors and take their off-screen relationship any way we want to! (If Guardian were Japanese I doubt I'd have shipped them so seriously; Japan might censor overt sexual content but they wouldn't take out the actual romance, so if they don't show it on-screen, it isn't there at all, as far as I'm concerned. The same definitely can't be said for China, so...)
I don't think they ever did, at least not physically. Don't get me wrong, I've read and loved many variants of "getting together" and "established relationship" fics for them, but my personal view is a bit different.
While my reasons are many, there's one central reason I always come back to: Zhao Yunlan. It's true that Shen Wei is holding back, reluctant because of his secrets and unsure about the timeline, but I consider Shen Wei as someone who primarily responds to Zhao Yunlan's cues regarding where their relationship should go. And the only time Yunlan seemed to be persistently pursuing Shen Wei was in the pre-and-immediate-post-Envoy-reveal episodes, where, while the attraction was genuine, the intention behind the advances was not. Whenever he flirts outrageously like that, Shen Wei immediately draws back. Some people read this as him being shy/inexperienced, but I don't buy that. The way I see it, he shuts Yunlan down because he doesn't want obfuscation and manipulation to form the foundation of their relationship from the outset.
After Zhao Yunlan becomes comfortable with Shen Wei's identities, they grow extremely close to the point where Shen Wei spends most of his time at Yunlan's place, cooks for him, cleans his room... But the sexual tension vanishes almost completely, only making appearances in scenes where they're obviously aiming for a reaction from the audience. It's like the guys went straight from the tentative courtship phase to being an old married couple without any of what typically happens in the interim, which is actually pretty adorable in its own way.
I chose to read this as Zhao Yunlan realising that their relationship had become too important to risk jeopardising by approaching it without being 100% ready. I can only guess as to why he wasn't ready, but it was probably a combination of his lack of romantic (as opposed to purely physical) experience - the conversation about Zhu Hong in episode 20 can be considered proof of that - and the awareness of Shen Wei's secrets which made him reluctant to commit completely. And Shen Wei, getting no indication from Yunlan that he wanted something else, accepted the platonic life partnership he was offered and went with it. Like I mentioned above and in my Day 6 post, I'm pretty sure he's the "I'm happy with whatever you choose to give me, as long as you're sincere" type, so I don't think he was dissatisfied at all. On the other hand, his own natural reticence and the dawning realisation that he won't have much time before things with Ye Zun came to a head likely held Shen Wei back from making a move himself.
After Zhao Yunlan's trip to the past, when he finally knew everything about his and Shen Wei's bond and could, in theory, have gotten started on taking their relationship to the next level, the plot gathered steam alarmingly quickly, everything hurtled towards the finish line, and a few episodes later neither of them were around any longer to actualise those possibilities. When I think about it like that, I feel utterly heartbroken, but it does seem to be the most plausible reading.
However! I welcome more cheerful, romantic interpretations with open arms. I love these two enough that even though my brain has decided on the above headcanon, my heart is perfectly willing to go the opposite direction. And at the end of the day, it's totally valid to blame everything on the censors and take their off-screen relationship any way we want to! (If Guardian were Japanese I doubt I'd have shipped them so seriously; Japan might censor overt sexual content but they wouldn't take out the actual romance, so if they don't show it on-screen, it isn't there at all, as far as I'm concerned. The same definitely can't be said for China, so...)
