#where i was going with this was... shen yexi is a lot like me at work

[mejomonster]

Shen Yexi so far is the closest a priest protagonist has come to me (that ive read and not counting whatever he does later sjdjjf) dude works too hard, comes back to work still not totally healed, hears some heartbreaking stuff occured, starts speedwalking and crashed into someone with coffee, immediately apologizes

And ohhhh i think (im making wild guesses here) we have just landed on perhaps... the love interest? A major character either way. This is a *youth* profusely apologizing for running into Him, more worried about if coffee got on Shen Yexi, and not concerned as much that it got on himself. Wearing dark clothes, dark brown hair with curls, black rimmed glasses "newly transferred admin."

Look. Im hoping for a guo changcheng kind of mold. Maybe less of a goody two shoes (given the title of this being the way of evil and all that) but more guo changcheng than fei du maybe?

On the other hand. Im hoping the love interest is an actual killer and stuff because if theres gonna be a cat and mouse mutual chase i want it to be like Light and L or Hannibal and Will. I loved Guardian's mutual investigating chase with weilan but in the end they were on the same side, the tension dropped. Same with luo wenzhou and fei du, ypu realize either 1/3 or 2/3 into it that even with Fei Dus secrets 1 hes never really gonna have evil intentions, at worst just unhinged fucking decisions that might break law. And 2 luo wenzhou is so Loyal to people he chooses to care about that he'll love fei do Regardless now forever, worst case he might just have to arrest fei du himself or else look the other way. Reading modu i thought a potentially fun alternative to explore would be if fei du really had decided to cross a line (in his head sure he thouggt he had, and it was manipulative and fucked up, but at the same time he wasnt the monster he feared he was... and not the one the bad guy expected, and just as good as luo wenzhou felt he was). Had like been the bad guy himself. Now, that doesnt fit his character. But in another novel... maybe this one? I can hope.

Maybe this new admin isnt even an important character ToT maybe hes the killer of the case of the moment or some lil corrupt cop leading to a more important character. Im jumping ahead lol.

If shen yexi crushes on a younger man tho... thatll be yet another age gap relationship in a priest novel. (In modu's defence, cause im not actually fond of the trope unless like there is some useful reason in story or exploration? Well in modu their age differences do so Much to inform so much of how they act: luo wenzhou the savior, the guardian, forgiving things u forgive a child for but not a stranger - also thar way with all he sees as family like tao ran - but simply that fei du being youbg when they met made luo wenzhou want to Take Care and see a stranger as family, the way fei du wants to be yelled at, wants guidance even though he finds it hypocritical and useless, that he uses lup wenzhou in many ways to work out his own issues with his father and seek out an alternative to his utterly fucked upbringing - he also uses Tao Ran for this probably likewise cause tao ran was also older and pushed bu luo wenzhou to sorta Adopt fei du emotionally, the way all 3 of them are in this web of using each other as pedastals for their morals and proof of their own inner guilt and surrogates for family/friends/mentors/victims/saviors they want or feel they lost or are afraid to get. A LOT of fei du and luo wenzhous unique dynamic wouldnt exist without their like 10+ age gap.) So back to this novel like. 28 and new admin is like 21 to 28... its like. Guo changcheng x zhao yunlan. Its... fine? Its not really that much its just. Me lol judging a little if so, cause dating a subordinate is Not professional and Such a mess and well. I get coffeeshop aus and office aus in theory but in reality the idea of dating a coworker boss or subordinate is something i avoid. Djdjjr oh romance fiction and ur tropes. (I say this while shipping coworkers in guardian galore so yes i know djjjdjd)