Season 1 – Ep 11
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[karen]
Ok! Fan Xian has gotten into a TON of trouble in the capital, getting caught in the middle between both the Crown Prince and the 2nd Prince who wan the power of the imperial treasury. Except, Fan Xian does not care. He only cares about his chicken leg girl. He’s willing to give up his engagement to a random princess, Lin Wan’Er in order to marry this random maid he’s met twice. In the entire world, as Fan Si Zhe says to Teng Zi JIng, Fan Xian might be the only person to make this trade.
Fan Xian’s plan of trying to find his chicken leg girl at the Prince of Jing’s manor fell through after he, Fan Si Zhe and Ruo RUo did a thorough search of the women on the premises. He thought she was a maid there but evinidently she wasn’t there. So instead, Fan Xian takes matters to the next level by heading to meet Lin Wan’Er herself. I died laughing when Fan Si Zhe hears this and is like uhhhh are you…kill her?
Instead, the plan is for Fan Xian to disguise himself as a renown doctor. Ruo RUo will bring him in to see Wan’Er since she is known to be sick with tuberculosis. The plan is for Fan Xian to be so rude to Wan’Er that she is disgusted with him and forcibly denounces the engagement.
They head over to her residence to seek an audience with her. News travels exceptionally fast to none other than the Princess Royal, Wan’Er’s mother who is actually pleased to see this development. She allows Fan Xian to meet Wan’Er because she also wants Wan’Er’s engagement with Fan Xian to fall through.
[Cathy]
Before Ruo Ruo and Fan Xian are allowed to see Wan’Er, her older brother, Lin Gong, bursts into the room. He is her second older brother, a legitimate son of the Chancellor Lin Ruo Fu but dotes on his younger half sister Wan’Er. He is very angry at this engagement, having heard awful things about Fan Xian. He doesn’t know who Fan Xian is and originally wasn’t going to allow this random person to diagnose his sister but Fan Xian plays some tricks and causes Lin Gong to temporarily fall sick which allows Fan Xian to swoop in to save the day, thereby proving that he is indeed a worthy doctor to care for Wan’Er.
Finally Lin Gong brings Ruo Ruo and Fan Xian into a room where Wan’Er is lying down on a bed that is veiled with a sheet to protect her propriety and her hand is laid out for him to check her pulse and medical ailment. There is a hilarious daydream Fan Xian has at this moment where he is improper to this random princess and he and Ruo Ruo cause exceptional chaos in the room. He thinks that after that, there’s no way they won’t dismiss the engagement.
He’s giggling at the thought and about to enact his plan when he hears Wan’Er speak to him. He immediately pauses, stunned. It sounds exactly like his Chicken Leg Girl! He is absolutely shocked. He tests his hypothesis of who she is by saying that in order to cure this sickness, there must be a medicinal inducer. That is a chicken leg under the table at the Qing temple. Wan’Er quickly withdraws her hand, surprised and confused. She quickly sits up, wondering if it is indeed the person she thinks it is on the other side. Slowly, she opens the veil separating her and the rest of the room and tada!!!! Fan Xian has found his chicken leg girl!!!
[Karen]
Lin Gong is over there watching these 2 stare at each other confused as to what this doctor is doing. Fan Xian lies and says he’s able to diagnose her just by looking at her face. He says a bunch about her current symptoms like she’s losing weight, coughing blood and all that while she is beaming with delight that he has appeared in front of her. He winks at her before getting up from her bedside and says a couple of coded messages to the group like how to help her sickness, she should keep the windows open for fresh air, but to be careful in case any unwanted visitors come at night.
The group is escorted out with Lin Gong evidently pleased and impressed wiht Fan Xian’s medical abilities. Though he does say he will nto allow Fan Xian to marry Wan’eR since she already seems to like someone – GUo Bao Kun. This shocks Fan Xian and he is indignant that that’s the truth. Say what you will about Lin Gong, we see that he is exceptionally protective of his younger sister even though she is the illegitimate child of his father. It’s very clear he has a strong relationship with Wan’Er and cares for her deeply.
Regardless, Fan Xian has set a date to see Wan’Er tonight. There was another fun meeting outside of Wan’Er’s residence. Ye Ling’Er arrived to see Wan’Er. Outside of the entrance, Fan Si Zhe and Teng Zi Jing are waiting and Fan Si Zhe is nudged by Teng Zi Jing to talk to a woman since he doesn’t see the appeal whatsoever. He thinks that talking to women is not as important as counting money #priorities. Seeing Ling’Er right there, Fan Si Zhe tests his luck. Except, she misunderstands him to be Fan Xian and promptly kicks in the chest. Hahahahaha
[karen]
Anyways, Fan Xian sneaks to Wan’Er’s residence at night. He is disguised in all black and even brought her a pair of chicken legs shaped like a heart. He heads to her room and to her bed but when opens the veil, it’s Ye Ling’Er who is there. That part I totally do not understand. Maybe it’s because Ling’Er is staying over with Wan’Er that night? But then why is Wan’Er not in bed but Ling’Er is already in bed. We’re just gonna go with it. Ling’Er thinks Fan Xian is not a good guy coming to visit Wan’Er so late and a highly entertaining fight breaks out. The two of them duke it out for a while but both end up injured in a rather hilarious way.
Fortunately, Wan’Er shows up and diffuses the situation. Ling’Er also relents after seeing that Wan’Er most likely did schedule to see this doctor. Ling’Er is quite enanored with Fan Xian’s martial arts and wants to discuss for a bit but ultimately leaves the 2 to talk.
[cathy]
Alone, Fan Xian is finally able to share just how happy he is to see Wan’Er. He pours his heart out about how he’s so relieved to see her. SHe’s also smiling but then pulls out a dagger to his neck. Some might think she’s being unreasonable but I actually think sh’es being quite smart. This guy pretended to be Guo Bao Kun’s servant which he clearly is not, and is sneaking into an unmarried woman’s room at night. Those are all not good qualities of a young man and could be seen as a seducer. I mean, yea, she likes the guy and he can see through that but she’s not going to risk her reputation for some random dude she doesn’t really know. I honestly appreciate this response from her.
She threatens self harm if he doesn’t leave and he, not wanting to cause her that much distress, agrees to leave but not before saying that he is not admitting to being someone who is disrespectful. He just doesn’t want her to harm herself. She stops him and finally asks what his name is. When he says he’s Fan Xian, this causes her more distress. She thinks he’s playing her because he knows she’s engaged to him. She’s heard so many awful stories about him lately so it makes sense that she would be upset that he says he’s Fan Xian. He begs her to believe him and asks her what he can do to prove that he’s Fan Xian.
[karen]
She decides to ask him to write down that renowned poem. He’s confused as to this request but complies. When he finishes, she looks at his work and chuckles. She lets out a huge sigh of relief because she confirms that it is him. No one on earth has such poor handwriting. She managed to get the original copy Fan Xian wrote from Li Hong Cheng and it matches with Fan Xian’s poor handwriting just now. With that, the two confirm that they ARE the one the other was looking for. Awwww. Pink hearts everywhere. Yay!
Before we close out the episode, there is another thread to point out. Out on the streets during the day, there was a mysterious large wooden box that was heavily chained being carried along on the streets by a horse drawn cart. Teng Zi Jing’s son sneaks to see where this box was laid to rest and there’s definitely something nefarious in the works. The driver of the horsedrawn cart receives payment but then is immediately killed by 2 women who seemed to have ordered his services. The boy, on the other hand, gives a pear to whatever is in the box and runs off smiling, clearly having had a good interaction with this random friend in the box. We’ll see more of that soon.
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[cathy]
This was a fun episode and yay! Fan Xian and Lin Wan Er finally meet!
There’s two pop culture references and 1 historical reference that I’d like to discuss. The first is狗血. It directly translates to Dog Blood. But what does it actually mean? This phrase actually transformed from an english word “shit”. 够 in Chinese means really or truly. So when you put these two together it’s 够shit or truly shit. So then in Chinese it turns to be 狗血. Hear the similarity? 够shit and 狗血. The term 狗血 can mean nonsense, exaggeration, or incredulous. In pop culture, 狗血 is usually referred to dramas who repeat the same tropes, poorly mimic other dramas, or have exaggerated performances. Nowadays, “excessive and deliberate” sensational performances and plots are usually called “狗血”. If you’re talking to someone about a hypocritical person or an incredulous event, you would also say – 狗血. In this drama, Fan Xian exclaims 狗血 when he hears that Lin Wan Er likes 郭保坤 because he’s incredulous at this turn of events.
我去
Or 哎哟我去 – this is a pretty new term that has quite a lot of uses. It can be used as an exclamation, kind of like DAMN! Or DANG and is used to express admiration ! Sometimes though, it can be used in a dismissive way like – ugh, damn. Or else, there’s nothing that I can do about this. Oftentimes, it’s also used as a form of regret and primarily used by gamers in that context. For example, the player died, and then he / she would exclaim 我去. 我勒个去 is also a new phrase that popped up mainly in the north and used to jokingly tease at something. These aren’t considered dirty words so this is used quite frequently. It’s used much more in verbal speech than in written text.
[karen]
Lastly – let’s talk about history. At night, when Fan Xian is about to sneak into Lin Wan Er’s residence, there’s a man walking around hitting a small gong to declare the time. He says 天地人和 君子勿劳 夜半子时
天地人和 comes from Zhuang Zi, the noted Daoist who lived from 369 BCE to 286BCE. He was a philosopher, poet, and representative of daoism.
The full sentence is 礼之用，和为贵，王之道，斯之美 and is recorded in Zhuang Zi, a text about daoist ideals. What’s noted is that 天地人和 isn’t actually recorded in Zhuang Zi, but means Heaven, Earth, and Human, all exist in harmony. The rest of the phrase essentially means harmony is rare and the way of kings.
Then there’s the phrase 君子勿劳 or the gentleman must not work. There’s a similar phrase that originates from the Book of Songs or Shi Jing. We’ll get to that in the next episode.
And lastly 夜半子时 – this is middle of the night between 11pm-1am at night. So put that all together, heaven, earth, and man is at harmony. The gentleman must not work. The time is now between 11-1. This is just a fancy way to say – it’s late!
[cathy]
Book Differences
In the book, Fan Xian put on a disguise as a sickly older man when he went to meet Lin Wan Er. Ye Ling Er was there the entire time BUT Lin Wan Er’s second older brother was not there. Fan Xian and Lin Wan Er hadn’t met a second time already so this is technically only the second time that these two meet so Lin Wan Er doesn’t believe the man he met was Guo Bao Kun’s assistant. Fan Xian in the book is such a scumbag. He enters into Lin Wan Er’s room as a doctor and immediately starts fantasizing on whether or not he can marry both women. Book Fan Xian has a harder time recognizing Lin Wan Er because she doesn’t talk until the very very end and that’s when he finally realizes that it’s her. Because of his disguise though, Lin Wan Er doesn’t recognize him, only recognizing his voice. Fan Xian still gives the hint that he’ll visit that evening. When he does, the book does a better job portraying just how difficult it is for Fan Xian to sneak into her bedroom, because you know Lin Wan Er is the daughter of a princess. In the drama, he basically just waltzes in. Fan Xian doesn’t have a whole battle with Ye Ling Er, instead, goes straight into the conversation with Lin Wan Er where she does threaten him with a dagger. In the book, Lin Wan Er was much more ready to believe in Fan Xian in the book. They just had a conversation and she was like Yay! You’re him! As I’m re-reading it, I was like…noo…what if he was truly a scumbag!
One interesting aside is that in the book, the author clearly gives Lin Wan Er a nickname of 依晨. That’s written in the book. 林依晨 – that’s the same name as the Taiwanese actress. The joke is that the author probably had a huge crush on 林依晨 or else viewed her as his idol for years and decided to write her name into this book. We rarely see 依晨 used but this became a trending hashtag during the second season.