Season 1 – Ep 24

Let’s first talk about Fan Xian’s visit to Noble Consort Shu. The word Shu means graceful or elegant but it also sounds exactly like Shu or Book. So that’s a fun little play on words. Noble consort Shu shows her disdain towards Fan Xian when she hears that he’s been reading financial statements. She says that the way of merchants is not the path of gentlemen. We’ve talked about this a few times for this drama and especially in The Story of Ming Lan but at a high level, in China there were four occupations for men 士农工商 or the gentry scholars, the peasant farmers, the artisans, and finally the merchants. Now, these aren’t necessarily castes per se as people could move between the four occupations in China.

But there’s a reason why the Merchant class is at the end of the 4 occupations. Merchants were often viewed with suspicion because they viewed merchants as profiteering from other’s labor. Agriculture was the bedrock of chinese civilization and the Chinese didn’t take too kindly to slimy merchants who only sought profit. I always thought this was quite hypocritical because I mean, how was society supposed to function without merchants and there were often close ties between bureaucrats and merchants. It just looks like this same world view still exists in the world of Joy of Life.

[Karen]
The first cultural piece is the little tune that Fan Xian whistles during the episodes. The tune is 小冤家 or Little Foe which originates from the Qiong Yao drama 情深深雨蒙蒙 or Romance in the Rain. This was one of Zhao Wei’s songs that her character 依萍 sings while performing on stage in Shanghai. That drama was EXTREMELY popular in the early 2000s with all of the songs also becoming huge hits. I mean – I sang that song all the time so even though Fan Xian only whistled like 1 quick bar, I immediately picked it up.

I’m gonna hold the discussion on 辛其物 and the introduction of 鸿胪寺 till a later episode because there’s some fun shenanigans in the next few episodes.

[Cathy]
So let’s move onto lore by diving into the women of the Emperor’s harem

I’m going to start with a woman who we didn’t meet in the drama but is quite important to the overall plot and that’s the Empress. She is the wife of the Emperor and calls the Empress Dowager “aunt”. This means that those two are connected by blood and had powerful support from their families to be able to rise to the position of Empress Dowager and subsequently marry a daughter of the family to the Emperor. The Empress is the mother to the Crown Prince but he is the Emperor’s 3rd son. The Empress and Empress Dowager play a huge role in Ye Qing Mei’s demise

Then there’s Attendant Ning or 宁才人. The Emperor met her during a military campaign. As he was practicing his martial arts, he became temporarily paralyzed. They captured a woman from the city of Dong Yi and had her take care of the then prince back towards the capital. Ning Cai Ren actually fell in love with Chen Ping Ping, who was leading the troops at the time, but alas, she became pregnant by the Emperor.When the troops returned home, the Empress Dowager actually wanted to kill Ning Cai Ren but it was Ye Qing Mei who stepped in. They had a mysterious conversation in the palace. Ye Qing Mei left the palace and from then on, the Empress Dowager called Ye Qing Mei a Devil Woman. Ning Cai Ren survived, gave birth to the First Prince, and has since resided in the palace. As was mentioned in the drama, because she is from a hostile city, her son cannot inherit.

Noble Consort Shu and Noble Concubine Yi all entered the palace once the Emperor had some more stable footing in the capital. Noble Consort Shu, mother of the second prince, represents the gentry class or 士. She loves books and represents the elegance and decorum that a proper young woman should have. The Emperor needed to have women like her in his harem to gather favor from the gentry class. They, historically, are the officials and bureaucrats that run the government and hold a lot of sway in the Qing Kingdom. As for Noble Consort Yi, she perhaps gets the most favor right now from the Emperor, but she, sadly, is really just there to provide the Emperor with another son. Despite being a strong military leader and a popular Emperor, the Emperor currently has only 3 known adult sons. That’s not enough to discern who would be the best man to take over the Kingdom. So what does he do? Have more sons.

In looking at the women of his harem, we get the picture that the Emperor isn’t focused on love or earthly pleasures, but power and how to maintain his legacy

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[Cathy]
Book differences

In the book, Fan Xian shows much more respect and internally is at awe at the grandeur of the palace. In the drama, Fan Xian is rather personable and clearly doesn’t care about decorum. The visit to the palace to Noble Consort Yi and Noble Consort Shu is surprisingly similar in the book. The 3rd prince is noted to be only 8 years old in the book. The visit to Attendant Ning is much more comedic in the drama and I died laughing at the mountain of rice he had to eat. In the book, Fan Xian also meets the Empress, but it’s only a quick visit. Fan Xian does not encounter Eunuch Hong or gets punished by the Empress Dowager. When Fan Xian meets the Princess Royal, he doesn’t have a face off with the archer Yan Xiao Yi but notices all the weapons on the Princess Royal’s maids. The Princess Royal admits to the other assassination attempts. He is legitimately scared that she is able to kill him in broad daylight but holds his ground. We just don’t get the rage from Book Fan Xian compared to Drama Fan Xian because Teng Zi JIng didn’t die. In the book, Ruo Ruo also isn’t aware of Fan Xian’s plan to draw a map of the palace until after they return home.

And lastly – the whole meet and greet between 辛其物 happens before visiting the palace.