Season 1 – Ep 23
In episode 22, Fan Xian had taken Wan’Er and a few other friends and family out for a spring outing. On the surface it was indeed a simple outing, but in reality, it was a cover for him to sneak into Tai Ping Yard, the residence of his late mother. Fan xIan successfully snuck into the residence with the help of Wu Zhu, which was important because an extremely handsome and powerful Yan Xiao Yi, the head of the imperial guards and a 9th level archer was guarding the place.
Oddly though, once Fan Xian snuck into the yard, he met none other than the Emperor himself. The Emperor wasn’t mad and had a casual chat with Fan Xian. He almost wasn’t entirely surprised to see Fan Xian. But 2 key pieces of information we get from him is 1) the Emperor is having this yard placed under heavy military guard which means that Fan Xian will likely not be able to come in the future. And 2) Yan Xiao Yi, who was about to kill Fan Xian as a trespasser, has the ability to hear breathing through walls as a 9th ranked archer. That’s something he needs to watch out for if he ever engages with Yan Xiao Yi.
The Emperor dismisses Fan Xian but not before inviting him to the palace tomorrow. He is to see the Empress Dowager and the other concubines in the palace since they all watched Wan’Er grow up and want to see who her fiancé is.
With that, Fan Xian finds Ruo Ruo and returns to where the spring outing was held. Except, he’s met with the news from Wan’Er that the Crown Prince has been kidnapped by her dad’s men. The outing is cut short as they need to meet the Chancellor and the group takes Fan Si Zhe and Da Bao, who had been playing quite well together back.
Poor mercenaries that were hired to kidnap Fan Xian. They bring the supposed Fan Xian aka the crown prince back to the Chancellor’s home because they have no idea what to do with him. I burst out laughing at the scene where Yuan Hong Dao, the chancellor’s advisor, is telling the mercenaries to release Fan Xian only to see Da Bao bringing the actual Fan Xian to see the Chancellor and he does a double take. Hahahahaha
After settling down, Fan Xian and the Chancellor have a frank chat. Fan Xian is not upset at Wan’Er or the Chancellor for this test. He understands why the Chancellor did it. He instead passes on the message from the Crown Prince that the person who did kill Lin Gong, is a grand master. Lin Ruo Fu pauses. The person who could kill Lin Gong indeed only could be one of the 4 grand masters. The obvious candidate, is the mysterious one in the Qing palace. None of the other grand masters were even in the Qing borders and someone had to be of grand master prowess to be successful in killing Lin Gong. That means the person who wanted Lin Gong killed could be the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, the second prince, the Princess Royal…the list is quite long.
Hearing that the crown prince is now in their custody, Lin Ruo Fu takes Fan Xian to meet him. Once they have all gathered, the crown prince makes it plain why he gave Lin Ruo Fu the information about the grand master. He wants to make an alliance with Lin Ruo Fu. He IS the chancellor and the Crown prince doesn’t have a court official of that caliber in his camp. In a blunt but possibly treasonous note, the Crown Prince reiterates that he is willing to help seek revenge for Lin Gong when Lin Ruo Fu says that the kill order could have come from the Emperor. Lin Ruo fu agrees to this alliance. The Crown Prince also turns to Fan Xian to try to curry him to his side and create another alliance. Fan Xian doesn’t respond but the meeting is interrupted by noises outside. Yuan Hong Dao sneaks a look outside and it’s just strewn with dead bodies. Someone assassinated all of these mercenaries that they hired which means that the person who killed these mercenaries is an exceptionally skilled fighter.
Turns out, it’s Xie Bi An, the swordsman under the employ of the 2nd prince. The 2nd prince himself arrived. He puts on a show that he’s here to help save the Crown Prince which leaves this little meeting rather awkward and everyone leaves shortly afterwards. At least now, the Chancellor has no more suspicions about Fan Xian and is willing to throw his support behind this future son-in-law. As for those poor mercenaries that were killed? The Chancellor will give their family money, but that’s about it. The 2nd prince had not one iota of worry about killing those guys. That tells you how ruthless these people are.
This wrongful kidnapping attempt ultimately helped Fan Xian rid all suspicion around his involvement in Lin Gong’s death. That night, he is reviewing everything that happened that day with Wu Zhu and now believes that the Crown Prince most likely was not involved in the assassination attempt that ultimately killed Teng Zi Jing. Wu Zhu doesn’t care about any of that, he only cares about whether or not Fan Xian found his mother’s key. Fan Xian says it wasn’t there which means it is likely with the Empress Dowager. That’s really odd. The words he uses is “that old lady”. Not an ounce of respect for the Empress Dowager. Fan Xian doesn’t pay attention to this though and only becomes exasperated that now they have to sneak into the palace with multiple top tier fighters protecting her.
Wu Zhu comes up with a plan for Fan Xian to steal the keys but they need to first get some kind of map of the palace. Fortunately, Fan Xian is going to visit tomorrow which will give him all the intel they need. Come to think of it, there’s a bunch of things in this conversation that Wu Zhu says that hints to something being off about him. Why he doesn’t show much emotion around anything fan xian says, and those comments about how Wu Zhu will likely never age. We will see more of that in season 2 but those comments are important.
Those comments are interrupted though by an unexpected visitor. Wan’Er arrives to visit Fan Xian and apologize for what happened today. She gifts him her favorite thing, the starry night sky, as a way to apologize and the 2 agree to never lie to each other in the future. It’s a sweet moment that we are reminded of in season 2. Both for the starry night sky, but also for the comment about never lying.
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History
There’s really not much history in these two episodes, just moving the plot along. So let’s take the time to discuss the origins of several characters’ names because they’re all pretty steeped in history or lore.
燕小乙 – the handsome archer in the drama, takes his name and many characteristics from the character 燕青 who’s also known as 燕小乙 from the Chinese classic 水浒传 or Water Margin. In that novel, he is the loyal servant of the wealthy 卢 family during the Northern Song Dynasty. He grew up a handsome, intelligent, and powerful archer who specialized in crossbows. He is listed as a hero of Liang Shan and participates in the campaigns against the Liao in the north.
Next, let’s talk about 谢必安 the loyal swordsman to the Second Prince. The second prince has another swordsman in his employ called 范无救. These two comprise of the 黑白无常 or Black and White Impermanence from the underworld in Chinese folklore. They are the two main subordinates of the Yan King, ruler of the underworld. As you hear from the name, there’s the white guard and the black guard. The white guard or 白无常 is 谢必安 – which translates to those who are thankful will be at peace. The black guard 黑无常 is 范无救 which translates to – those who commit sins will not be saved. The two are the messengers that guide the dead to the underworld. Now, it doesn’t mean that those who committed sins only get the black guard. It’s more, when a person dies, is he or she more of a yin or yang type person. There’s more of a female / male split but again this has to do with yin and yang. According to Chinese folklore, you probably were an important person or accomplished something important if you have either of these 黑白无常 show up to guide your soul to the underworld. In Chinese culture, the 白无常 typically wears white, including a tall pointy hat, and has a long red tongue hanging out from his mouth. In the book, 谢必安 is more of an assassin / swordsman so you could say sure he’s guiding you to the underworld. Haha
In episode 23, we see some maids heating up hot stones to massage the joints for the Empress Dowager. There’s plenty of records of using hot stones for massage therapy across the world. In China, it has been used in folk medicine for thousands of years. It has also been used in various different Asian cultures so seeing this shown in the drama should not be surprising.
At the end of the episode, Fan Si Zhe asks Fan Xian to ask the concubines in the palace for a scroll with their writing as this will increase name recognition for their new publishing house 澹泊书局. Fan Xian refutes this request though because as we said in an earlier episode, it’s a play on 淡泊 – or it translates to indifferent or stoic. He can’t make the request of the concubines if the goal is to make money if the whole point of the publishing house is to be more stoic or indifferent. Fan Si Zhe though makes a comment about – why didn’t why just name it 大利书局 or Big Profit Publishing House? That way, everyone will know we want to make money. This is a funny joke but in Chinese culture, people place a lot of importance on anything that could be deemed auspicious.
Book differences
We’re now in the first chapters of volume 3 in the novel. The screenwriters decided to combine a very innocent outdoor camping trip with Fan Xian’s undercover mission to explore the Tai Ping Yard. Fan Xian invites Lin Wan Er and Da Bao out for the excursion. Ye Ling Er has several chapters to herself battling it out with Fan Xian, only to lose to her before grudgingly approving Fan Xian’s courtship to Lin Wan Er. In the book, Chancellor Lin doesn’t attempt to kidnap Fan Xian so there isn’t a whole mistaken identity plot point. However, the Crown Prince DOES spend the time when Fan Xian heads to the camping trip to meet Fan Xian for the first time. This encounter though was only a quick meet and greet, with nothing really coming from it except for a first impression from both of them. For the rest of the camping trip, Fan Xian gets a little handsy with his fiancée, although nothing really happens besides making out. This is very scandalous in the context of the story and again paints book Fan Xian at being a bit of a scoundrel. In the drama, we get just a hug. Look, I’m not a prude or anything, it’s just that in the drama, Fan Xian at least knows of some boundaries to set with a proper lady, even if it’s his fiancée. In the book, he pushes those limits to breaking point.
After this trip, Wu Zhu informs Fan Xian, similar to the drama, that the missing key must be in the Palace. The one person they must be wary of is the Eunuch, Eunuch Hong.
The drama then shifts the actually palace visit a little bit earlier compared to what happens in the next episode but i think this makes more sense as we learn more secrets up front.