Season 1 – Ep 20
Episode 20 begins with Fan Xian at the Chancellor’s residence. The Chancellor is Fan Xian’s future father-in-law and is currently still upset with the death of Lin Gong but has decided to throw his support behind Fan Xian to ensure that Wan’Er and Da Bao are taken care of.
Lin Ruo Fu, the Chancellor, gives advice to Fan Xian to steer clear of the Crown Prince so as to avoid future conflict. What I find really interesting is that when Fan Xian asks what happens if the Crown Prince continues to see him as a threat even after ascending the throne, Lin Ruo Fu just answers that the person who is crown prince can be changed. That to me signals the immense power Lin Ruo Fu has to make such a statement. How can he believe he can just change the person who is the Crown Prince. Evidently he has that confidence.
With that, Fan Xian heads out but not before saying goodbye to Da Bao. This adorable young man is exceptionally kind even though he has an intellectual disability and now calls Fan Xian, Xiao Xian Xian, which means little xian, a nickname that Fan Xian hates, but is now stuck with him. Haha.
Shortly after, Wang Qi Nian arrives in a huff. He has gotten word that the Crown Prince received the message from the Right Chancellor and his advisor Yuan that Si Li Li did not tell Fan Xian that Lin Gong was the culprit. But, the Crown Prince is on his way now to the Overwatch Council because he does not believe Si Li Li. Fan XIan immediately knows that the Crown Prince is on his way to save Si Li Li. This is a big problem for Fan Xian because the Crown Prince was able to guess exactly the exchange Fan Xian made with Si Li Li about saving her life in return for information. The entire reason why Si Li Li has kept silent even after being tortured by Yuan Hong Dao is because she believes Fan Xian will protect her. But if someone like the Crown Prince steps in with the same offer, she has absolutely no reason to stick with Fan XIan. She will gamble her life on the Crown Prince instead who is obviously more powerful than Fan XIan.
Fan Xian and Wang Qi Nian also head to the Overwatch Council and hide out of view as the Crown Prince and his soldiers hold a standoff in front of the Overwatch Council doors. He, as a prince, is not allowed to enter the Overwatch Council by order of the Emperor. He is blocked by both Zhu Ge and Yan Ruo Hai but he doesn’t care. He shouts that he doesn’t trust the Overwatch Council and wants to find out the truth about his friend, Lin Gong. The situation looks very dire for Fan Xian as he doesn’t want to kill Si Li Li and even if he does to silence her, everyone will know he was the one that did it. He tells Wang Qi Nian in this tense moment that he will need to escape the capital and for Wang Qi Nian to pretend like he doesn’t know anything in order to protect him from being implicated.
But as Fan Xian is about to leave, panicked, Wang Qi Nian tells him to “look”. A procession of men from the black knights have arrived just in time to prevent the Crown Prince and his men from attacking Zhu Ge, Yan Ruo Hai and their men. Amongst the new group of black knights is a carriage and none other than the Director or Chief Justice of the Overwatch Council himself arrives. Chen Ping Ping, the man with the scariest reputation, is pushed forward in a wheelchair. There is no smile on his face while his eyes are exceptionally sharp.
He is rolled in front of the Crown Prince and calmly requests for the Crown Prince to retreat. The Crown Prince sneers at Chen Ping Ping for being this all powerful person. But is he powerful enough to kill a crown prince? Seems like the Crown Prince is adamant in entering the Overwatch Council premises. He grabs a sword and starts swinging, baiting Chen Ping Ping in attacking him. Chen Ping Ping doesn’t move, but who does? Wang Qi Nian from way far from the entrance. He reveals a dagger he holds in his sleeves and throws it onto the wall near where the Crown Prince is. The Crown Prince is shocked with this sudden attack and Chen Ping Ping without missing a beat, calmly orders “protect the Crown Prince”, aka, disarm him and take him away. Now there is an entirely plausible reason why they need to take the Crown Prince away from Overwatch Council premises.
Fan XIan is surprised that Wang Qi Nian threw that dagger and then both of them jumped when Ying Zi, aka Shadow Master shows up next to where they are hidden. He just gives Fan Xian the message that Chen Ping Ping wants to see him.
Inside the Overwatch Council, Fan Xian muses that he now knows why the black knight arrived so quickly when he was chasing Si Li Li. Wang Qi Nian has been Chen Ping Ping’s agent this entire time. Apparently, this man who loves money, is scared of his wife, and is quite the jokester, is actually one of Chen Ping Ping’s most trusted men, his confidant and was ordered to stick close to Fan Xian. Woaaa mind blown!
Chen Ping Ping takes Fan Xian into a dark chamber in the Overwatch council and they discuss the flowers or weeds on the floor which were actually planted nonchalantly by Fan Xian’s mother. We see instantly that Chen Ping Ping has a level of warmth towards Fan Xian especially when discussing Fan Xian’s mother that was entirely absent with the Crown Prince. Fan Xian has his guard up the entire time he is around Cheng Ping Ping, which is understandable. Fan Xian doesn’t know this man who has a powerful reputation. He’s also seen first hand of how cunning and manipulative Chen Ping Ping is. Impressively or scarily, Chen Ping Ping knows of Fan Xian’s mother, knows of Wu Zhu and knows that Wu Zhu killed Lin Gong. Fan Xian plays dumb at all of this but Chen Ping Ping offers to wrap up the story.
This is perfect timing as shortly after, Fan Xian is summoned to the palace. I’m skipping over the comedic part of Wang Qi Nian apologizing to Fan Xian with the cheapest meal ever and Fan Si Zhe’s little interlude which is quite funny but doesn’t add much to the plot.
After the Crown Prince was denied entry to the Overwatch Council, he immediately pelted over to the palace, requesting an audience with the Emperor. He announces that he knows who killed Lin Gong – the 2nd prince. Do you see the Emperor’s chuckle? I am absolutely certain he knows that the culprit is Wu Zhu. He was worried the Crown Prince might know more than necesary but clearly, he had nothing to worry about.
With that, he summoned Fan Xian, the Chancellor, and the 2nd prince to his study for the group to come up with a verdict. Notice how Fan Xian remains rather nonchalant and does NOT kneel or kowtow to the Emperor. He also just allows this. The Crown Prince engages in his verbal attach and he and 2nd Prince start a verbal sparring match. The Crown Prince accuses the 2nd prince’s swordsman, Xie Bi An, with being Lin Gong’s murderer because he is the only person in the capital with such fast sword skills. The 2nd prince points to Fan Xian as witness to his alibi. The 2 were talking in the streets of the capital around the time of Lin Gong’s death. There would be no way for Xie Bi An to rush out of the capital at that time. The Crown Prince doesn’t let down. Fan Xian and The 2nd prince could be colluding together to come up with a defense. The Crown Prince and 2nd prince continue to argue while Fan Xian occasionally gets dragged in. The Chancellor Lin is just calmly drinking tea while the Emperor finally interjects and halts the argument. The Emperor turns to the Chancellor and asks who he thinks is the murderer. His response? Chen Ping Ping is the one to blame. He has purview over the safety of the Capital. The fact that there is nothing on Lin Gong’s death means a dereliction of duty
The Emperor summons Chen Ping Ping. He arrives and very seriously and righteously presents his investigation to the group. The person that killed Lin Gong is none other than Si Gu Jian, of Dong Yi, one of the most powerful fighters in the land. A grand master. The Crown Prince doesn’t believe this. Why would a grand master come kill Lin Gong. The episode ends with Chen Ping Ping presenting the information that his disciples were killed during Fan Xian’s assassination attempt. But instead of retaliating on Fan Xian, this grand master wanted to retaliate on the people responsible for the attack. Lin Gong and the northern Qi kingdom.
That was a fun episode! Wu Gang’s appearance as Chen Ping Ping really adds another level of complexity and gravitas. It feels like we’ve upped the ante now but it does still feel like everything is within the Emperor and Chen Ping Ping’s grasp. You can feel the Emperor is watching a play unfold and he’s the silent hand in the background, moving pieces on a chess board.
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We only have one piece of history today and that in regards to the storyteller that makes a show in front of Fan Si Zhe.
I’m surprised we haven’t talked about a storyteller or a 说书先生 before because they’re quite ubiquitous in Chinese dramas. Anyways, the profession of storytelling is an old one with records dating back over 2000 years ago with a male sitting in a location, can be an inn, can be on the streets, telling stories. The audience would pay money to listen to the stories or even pay to request stories. These storytellers oftentimes had an education, meaning they could read or write. The storyteller typically has one table, one chair, a fan, a handkerchief, and a gavel to tell the story.
The gavel or 醒木 is what we see the storyteller in the drama use. It’s a rectangular block rather than the gavel that we see in the western courtrooms. 醒木 waken wood. It’s also called 惊堂木 or Suprise the Room Wood. For storytellers, it can also be called 止语 or pause talking. There’s no real standard for it as it can be made from rosewood, ebony, sandalwood etc. The 惊堂木 can be customized for the user with intricate designs and size.
Typically, the storyteller would bang the 惊堂木 at the beginning of his session and at the beginning of each story to inform that the session is about to start. Then at the end of the session, he would also bang the 惊堂木 to inform the conclusion of the story or session. I did some research and even in recent times, it was pretty standard to have a storyteller have a 2 hour session, telling multiple stories at 10 or so minutes. That means the 惊堂木 is used at basically 2 dozen times during a session. When the storyteller bangs the 惊堂木 at the end, it’s also to remind the audience that it’s time to pay up!
The Jing Tang Mu is also used in courtrooms by officials. Even the Emperor and Empress have their own versions of the Jing Tang Mu, it’s just called different things. For the emperor, it’s 镇山河, translates to forcefully command the mountains and water, and for the Empress, it’s 凤霞, phoenix glow. The purpose in the courtroom or at court, is more similar to what we have in the West, it’s to establish order and to also place more gravitas on the person calling order. There are records of the Jing Tang Mu dating back over thousands of years but there were no drawings of this tool until the Tang dynasty in the 7th century BC. That’s when people began inscribing different details onto the piece of wood. China still has these storytellers today but it has evolved in various ways to the modern Xiang Sheng, which is a form of comedy, or still just have one person sit and tell stories.
Lastly, let’s discuss book differences. The whole confrontation between the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, and Fan Xian did not occur in the book. Instead, it was an act orchestrated by the Emperor and Chen Ping Ping that was played out at court in front of all of the different ministers. Fan Xian was rather removed from the whole process. Chen Ping Ping also doesn’t meet Fan Xian until much later in the book even though he isn’t present in all of the events of the past few episodes. He interacts directly with the Emperor.