Jan 26, 20195 min read

Guardian Recap: Episode 14 "The Case of the Terrible Espionage"

Picking right back up from the previous episode, Shen Wei confirms that Zhao Yunlan was never really under Zheng Yi’s control. Now that he’s no longer burdened with trying to hide who he is, he wastes no time taking matters into his own hands and summons his blade as he charges right at Zhuijiu (Purple Wig). The coward ditches Zheng Yi and bolts out of the nearest window.

Zhao Yunlan, being his usual foolish self when it comes to the Hallows, goes to pick up the Mountain River Awl and is immediately beset by a series of visions. He passes out seconds later.

As he lays recovering on the couch in SID, the team is gathered around him. Shen Wei has donned his cloak again and just barely manages to stop Zhao Yunlan from exposing his other identity to the team. He informs them that he will take Zheng Yi to face judgement. Everyone seems distressed by this, but Black Cloak is resolute that the rules must be followed in order to maintain peace. He gently takes Zheng Yi by the hand and disappears through a portal. However, on his ride home a short time later, Zhao Yunlan spots Zheng Yi free and reunited with Tan Xiao to live their lives together. Shen Wei, you old softie.

As Zhao Yunlan joins Shen Wei in his apartment for tea, the chief wastes no time trying to smooth things over with the Professor after his recent lack of respect toward the Black Cloak. Shen Wei assures him they have “always been friends”, and the exceptionally perceptive Chief is quick to latch onto that exact phrasing and ask questions that send Shen Wei into reflections on a very old memory. For the first time, we are given a small glimpse into Shen Wei’s mysterious past, but it gives us more questions than answers. It’s obvious the memory is of a conversation between himself and someone who looks an awful lot like Zhao Yunlan, but, considering their appearances, how is that possible?

Shen Wei refuses to answer any more of the Chief’s questions, for now, but Zhao Yunlan doesn’t hesitate to point out how Shen Wei has deceived him all this time and uses the Professor’s guilty conscious to secure a promise from him as compensation.

Back in his lair, Purple Wig unsuccessfully attempts to heal the gunshot wound in his forearm. Ya Qiang shows up just in time to rub it in his face and remind him of his failure. She almost seems a little disappointed that he’s survived this long.

The following morning, Xiao Guo is waylaid by the vegetable store owner who asks for his assistance creating a new sign for his shop. He hands Xiao Guo a suspiciously fancy looking brush to write with claiming it’s a very old family heirloom. The not-so-subtle ominous background music, and the quick glimpse of the reaction from the other Hallows, implies we will definitely be seeing this brush again. Too bad Lin Jing chose this moment to be too lazy to pay attention to such an obvious clue.

As Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan make their way to the ministry to report on the case, the Chief is in such a good mood that he cannot contain himself and sings the whole way there. Shen Wei straightforwardly asks Zhao Yunlan to help him keep his secret from everyone. At the ministry, they are greeted by Xiao Guo’s uncle (the man they believe assigned Xiao Guo to work with them), Guo Ying, as he’s the Deputy Minister, who ushers them to the Minister’s office.

Alarms go off in a secret lab inside the ministry as yet another experiment fails. One of the men in charge complains that if his gifted student Shen Wei was helping, they would not fail, but he’s quickly hushed by the other man in charge who forbids him from talking about his student who has no desire to join their lab.

Minister Gao praises Chief Zhao for the quality of his self-criticism (which Shen Wei wrote), and acknowledges how proud his father would be of him. This segway obviously makes Zhao Yunlan uncomfortable. As the conversation progresses, it becomes clear how strained the relationship between the two is as he wasn’t even aware his father had been promoted as the head of Xingdu Bureau (essentially, overseeing the entirety of Long City). No wonder Chief Zhao walks around like he own the city. Who knew his father is this powerful. Shen Wei quickly picks up on his discomfort and successfully steers the conversation to safer topics.

Minister Gao warns them of Cong Bo, a man notorious for exposing high profile secrets, and says the man sent him an email warning that threatened to reveal the SID to the public. Who hides his head and showing his tail?Why warn them ahead of time? Cong Bo has sent a listening device inside a package full of snacks to the team back at headquarters, but their suspicious natures, and a well-timed text from the Chief, ensures that they are easily able to foil such a ridiculous attempt at espionage.

Old Chu is trying to train Xiao Guo when they are interrupted by a phone call from Guo’s uncle who wants to have dinner with him. Once he leaves, Cong Bo makes another sad attempt to gain evidence against the SID team with a drone, but Old Chu is quick to take it down before he even gets his first photo.

Deputy Guo also invited Chief Zhao (who then invited Professor Shen) to dinner and, much to the Chief’s surprise, reveals he was not in fact the person who transferred Xiao Guo to their department. Interesting. Hmmm….does this mean they could fire the liable intern now? He goes on to suggest he would like to remove Xiao Guo from the danger their team faces despite his nephew’s obvious protestations. The Chief excuses himself from dinner to allow the two time to discuss things.

On the ride home, Zhao Yunlan reveals his concern to Shen Wei about this little tidbit of information. If it really wasn’t Deputy Guo who transferred his nephew to the SID, who did? And why?Cong Bo (who is shaping up to be the absolute worst spy ever), gets caught in the act, yet again, by Old Chu who promptly deletes the photos he took and warns him to stay away. The crafty man of course has a backup copy of the photos but realizes he just doesn’t have evidence of anything big enough to make headlines.

The team settles in around a small meal of fried street foods as Chief Zhao dramatically reveals his big news; Professor Shen has agreed to join the team as a counsellor. Notice he left out the bit about him guilt tripping the poor man into it. Cong Bo, meanwhile, follows the two men home that night and finally recognizes Shen Wei from the wedding. Looks like he’s latched on to a possible story.