Season 1 – Ep 13
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[Cathy]
This is a turning point episode for the drama as Fan Xian is now no longer wishing to return to Dan Zhou.
In the last 2 episodes, Fan Xian confirmed his relationship with Lin Wan’er and he’s decided to return to Dan Zhou with his trusty friend, Teng Zi Jing. He wants to just live out his life peacefully with his wife and friend. He didn’t have grand ambitions but rather, just hang out.
That all changed in an instant. Fan Xian and Teng Zi Jing are heading down Niu Lan street in order to meet the 2nd prince for a quick chat at the brothel Si Li Li is at. Unfortunately, the meeting doesn’t occur as an ambush was waiting for Fan Xian. In the empty street, two women who are wearing veiled caps shoot arrows at Fan Xian and Teng Zi Jing. The two were able to avoid those arrows and quickly return fire to dispatch these two assassin’s. But that wasn’t all. Traps were set on the street that when triggered, fired more arrows at Fan Xian. He avoided those arrows but was immediately attacked by a massive man. A fighter from the Northern Qi kingdom, Cheng Ju Shu. He is a formidable opponent, a killer of the 8th rank. He seems immune to the daggers Teng Zi Jing unleashed on him and puts immense pressure on both Teng Zi Jing and Fan Xian.
[Karen]
A candle falls onto oil and an explosion occurs in the courtyard the group is fighting in. Fan Xian and Teng Zi Jing try their best to attack Cheng Ju Shu but are unable to subdue him. This massive man seems impenetrable to their blows. Both of them are severely injured and try to push the other aside in the face of certain death to sacrifice themselves. Fan Xian tells Teng Zi JIng that after his death, to please take care of his sister Ruo Ruo. He needs to tell Wan’Er that tuberculosis is not an incurable disease and to find someone better. He pushes Teng Zi Jing aside to attack Cheng Ju Shu only to be thrown once again aside.
In that moment, Teng Zi Jing makes a decision. He throws himself at Cheng Ju Shu in a last attempt to attack him. This attempt was in vain as Cheng Ju Shu aggressively throws Teng Zi Jing. He falls unto his knees and crashes onto the floor, dead.
Seeing Teng Zi Jing fall sends a shockwave into Fan Xian who’s inner power is released. He turns to Cheng Ju Shu and in his anger and newfound power, unleashes hard blows onto Cheng Ju Shu. In the bloody fight that ensues, Fan Xian is finally able to subdue Cheng Ju Shu and both men fall to the ground.
Who knows how long later, Fan Xian is awaken by calls from Wang Qi Nian. Members of the overwatch council have arrived to clear the scene and protect Fan Xian. Fan Xian, injured, is unable to accept that Teng Zi Jing has sacrificed himself for Fan Xian and wants to kill Cheng Ju Shu but is held back by Wang Qi Nian. The overwatch council needs to take Cheng Ju Shu into custody to identify who was behind the ambush.
Fan Xian orders Teng Zi Jing’s body to be brought back to the Fan manor before heading out onto the crowded street. Bloodied and injured, he tells a surprised Ruo Ruo that they are no longer returning to Dan Zhou.
[Cathy]
Meanwhile, news travels fast to the 2nd prince. He is shocked to hear of this ambush and is worried that he is going to be the primary suspect because he, after all, was the one to invite Fan Xian to this meeting. Si Li Li is overhearing this conversation and shows absolutely no surprise to the news. This raises the 2nd prince’s suspicion that she already knew what would happen but Si Li Li just diverts his questions. The 2nd prince has somewhat of a knowing look but leaves immediately after.
At home, Fan Xian is still processing his grief. He fixed his own injuries and doesn’t show much emotion while wolfing down food. That night, though, he heads over to Wan’Er’s place. It is there where he finally is able to break down. She kindly asks him about Teng Zi Jing and comforts Fan Xian who cannot understand why Teng Zi Jing didn’t just leave him and save himself. It’s because Teng Zi JIng saw Fan Xian as family, someone worth sacrificing for.
Elsewhere in the palace, the Emperor is interrogating his sons, the crown prince and the 2nd prince, as to who planned the assassination today. The two immediately try to divert the blame and say it wasn’t them and is quickly admonished by the EMperor for such deeds. It’s unclear who planned it but the Emperor essentially sends a warning to not play these types of games, especially in the capital. News arrives from the Overwatch council that they plan on releasing Cheng Ju Shu. The Emperor hears this news and after pondering for a moment, instructs that Fan Xian learn of this information.
[Karen]
The next morning, Ruo Ruo arrives to tell Fan Xian the news and he immediately heads to the Overwatch Council. He angrily questions Wang Qi Nian on the sentencing for Cheng Ju Shu. Turns out, he is to be released. This infuriates Fan Xian who heads off to argue with the man who made the decision, head of the first bureau of the Overwatch Council, Zhu Ge. The First Bureau is the most powerful in overwatch council and is responsible for overseeing all officials in the capital.
Fan Xian barges over to Zhu Ge’s office to question his decision. Zhu Ge does not take kindly to Fan Xian’s rude and impulsive nature but does share that the he received intelligence from the Ministry of War that this Cheng Ju Shu could help procure military intel from a general from the Qi kingdom. Fan Xian and Zhu Ge get into a heated argument because Fan Xian thinks Zhu Ge is just making a bargain and overlooking the law while Zhu Ge retorts that he has to think of the bigger picture.
Zhu Ge also utters the line, The person who died is just a guard. This is a line that will be reiterated throughout the season as it belittles Teng Zi Jing’s value just based on his role or career. This infuriates Fan Xian even more and shouts about this injustice. Unfortunately, Zhu Ge isn’t moved by Fan Xian’s admonishment and further reiterates that the case is closed. Cheng Ju Shu is to be released.
Fan Xian tears off from the Overwatch council. From Wang Qi Nian, he learns that no other faction within the Capital dares contradict an order from the Overwatch council. Furious, he decides to take matters into his own hands. He pays Wang Qi Nian to gather all the information he can about Cheng Ju Shu’s release. When Cheng Ju Shu is escorted out to leave the city, Fan Xian is waiting for him out in a busy street.
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[Cathy]
This was an intense episode for everyone and we sadly have the on screen death of Teng Zi Jing. I mean, we knew the bromance was too good to be true.
For the drama, they renamed Teng Zi Jing, spelling wise, to a different set of Chinese characters, even though it sounds the same. In the book, the author chose 滕子京, which was the courtesy name of a Northern Song Dynasty politician and poet who lived from 991年—1047年. 滕宗谅 was his name and his courtesy name was 子京, hence why we also know him in history as 滕子京.
His life can be summarized as one of ups and downs when it came to positions at court, but he was known to be honest and upright and was diligent in serving the people. In 1015, he became a Jinshi, after passing the imperial exams and was appointed to positions outside of the capital. In 1027, he became a judge in the Court of Judicature back in the capital. In 1031, he was demoted to become a local magistrate but was loved by the local population for his contributions. He then was re-promoted in 1032 back to the capital, but after making pointed comments to the Emperor to focus more on governing and less on the pleasures of his harem, he was demoted again in 1034. In the next decade, he held several posts outside of the capital but most importantly, he became an official in the ministry of justice when the Tangut Empire or Xi Xia invaded the western borders. 滕子京 was in charge of defensive actions and supplies to great success. Unfortunately in 1043, he was accused of funneling funds from one of his posts, and in his haste 滕子京 burned the financial records, which seemingly corroborated the accusations. It was only later was he acquitted of this accusation. He was then demoted again to Yue Zhou where he became the local magistrate. One of his great achievements was the repair of the famous 岳阳楼 or Yue Yang Tower. He died in 1047 while serving his post in Su Zhou.
[Karen]
滕子京 had several very famous friends of the era including poets and politicians such as 范仲淹 and 欧阳修. Fan Zhong Yan wrote a famous poem in 1046 praising his good friend Teng Zi Jing and the repairs to Yue Yang Tower. The tower, which was originally built in 215 during the Eastern Han Dynasty, had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times during the intervening 800 years. It was the subject of many poems including one by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. 滕子京 repaired it in 1045 but in the subsequent thousand years, it suffered more damage and underwent more repairs. The list of documented destruction and repairs of this tower is LONG and has continued up until this day. It is now a popular tourist destination.
[Cathy]
Back to Joy of Life – I believe the author chose this name of 滕子京 for this character to reflect his standup character. ALTHOUGH, this is MUCH more evident in the drama than in the book. In the book Teng Zi Jing is just a very minor character.
Which leads me to book differences.
This episode is widely regarded as superior in every way compared to the book so let me talk about why. I’ve hinted at this in several episodes already but book Fan Xian is much more selfish, has more lustful thoughts towards women, and doesn’t develop many bromances. In the drama, we see this beautiful platonic relationship blossom between Fan Xian and Teng Zi Jing, which makes his death extremely impactful to Fan Xian. It’s established that Fan Xian values this friendship and views Teng Zi Jing as a brother, which then explains Fan Xian’s reactions and subsequent actions in the next episodes. In the drama, Fan Xian and Teng Zi Jing face off with Cheng Ju Shu and the two women by themselves. In the book, Fan Xian has several more guards with him who protect him and all perish in the fight.
Crucially, Teng Zi Jing does not perish in the fight! His leg gets severely injured but he survives the attack. The focus was on the assassination attempt was on Fan Xian’s match up with Cheng Ju Shu. This was Fan Xian’s first time fighting a really power person – his level was of the 8th rank or Ba Pin and the book spends more time describing Fan Xian’s battle. In the book, Fan Xian uses his powers or Ba Dao Zhen Qi to kill, yes kill, Cheng Ju Shu on the spot. Fan Xian also gets severely injured in the arm and has to spend a while recovering. In the book, Fan Xian laments the deaths of his guard, noting that he actually didn’t know their name, but there’s nothing more to it. Because Teng Zi JIng didn’t die, we don’t get another reaction from Fan Xian on these events.
The episode, on the other hand, focuses on Fan Xian’s relationship with Teng Zi Jing and why he is so upset when multiple people respond with – He was just a guard – when talking about Teng Zi Jing’s death. Fan Xian, with his 21st century mindset and the fact that he is simply a good person, dismisses the notion that “he was just a guard”. Teng Zi Jing was a living, breathing human who had a family and chose to sacrifice himself for Fan Xian. This event becomes a crucial catalyst for events in the future that might endanger his relationship with a certain someone.