Season 1 – Ep 6
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[Karen]
In episode 5, Fan Xian made his debut in the capital. Guo Bao Kun, who is aligned with the the Crown Prince and also involved in Teng Zi Jing’s family’s disappearance, made an appearance near the restaurant Fan Xian and his siblings were dining at. Not only was he present, but son of a prince, Li Hong Cheng, was also there. He invited the whole group, Fan Xian, included to a literary poetry meeting the next day to show off their skills. Li Hong Cheng is aligned with the Second Prince.
After this little interaction, Fan Xian heads to Jian Cha Yuan or the Overwatch Council. It’s a pretty grim place and initially he was ignored but when he flashed his badge that signals he’s the judge or Ti Si of the Overwatch council, did people finally pay him some attention. I will probably say this the entire series. I am not a fan of this judge translation. The title of Ti Si is more or less made up for this book. However, if we think of the Overwatch Council as a part of the judicial branch, this Ti Si is more like a deputy director. He has power above all of the division leads but obviously below the director of the overwatch council.
[Cathy]
Fan Xian is directed to the records department to pull information for Teng Zi Jing. There’s beheaded heads, torture chambers and screaming felons in the area that surprise Fan Xian. But in the records department, he meets a familiar face. Wang Qi Nian who works at the overwatch council watching over the records in the place. He is shocked to see Fan Xian and even more shocked when Fan Xian shows his badge.
He goes on about a sob story about the death of his wife and why he needs to sell stuff on the side to make money only for that to be immediately refuted by his colleagues who talk about his wife and daughter. Fan Xian is bemused by all of this and not overly upset. How can you be when Wang Qi Nianis so comical. The only warning Fan Xian gives to Wang Qi Nian is to stop selling undocumented copies of Hong Lou or Dream of the Red Chamber because he and Fan Si Zhe want to sell it.
[Karen]
After that, it’s down to business. Fan Xian wants to grab the records for Teng Zi Jing. Wang Qi Nian pushes back to say that it’ll take some time to get the information so he’ll send it over to Fan Xian the next day. He also does share that the fake order to assassinate Fan Xian came from a scout named Xu Yun Zhang. There are 2 pieces of information here that already reveal greater threads later on. First is that Wang Qi Niang did not want to give Fan Xian the record of Teng Zi Jing in that moment. He must have reported it up the chain because the Emperor hears about it shortly after. And we learn that this case was wholly owned by Director Chen Ping Ping. That means, he is involved with all decisions regarding this fake order. Something that makes more sense when the true plot is revealed later in this drama.
Before leaving, Fan Xian asks Wang Qi Nian to take him to a tablet at the Overwatch council that his teacher Fei Jie told him to see. Once there, Fan Xian sees that the tablet is covered in dust as people have not looked at it in quite some time. But when he reads it, the message surprises him. The tablet’s message came from his late mother and promotes equality, justice and human rights, among many other qualities. These are primarily modern day values that he resonates with but he recognizes how hard it is to make that kind of change in this feudalistic society. He ponders the message on the plaque as he walks through the streets of the capital and recognizes that this strive for change is probably what got her killed.
Interestingly, we se that Fan Xian is touched by the words on the tablet but he is not driven to action. Instead, he is unapologetic in owning the fact that he just wants to live out his life comfortably.
[Cathy]
News of Fan Xian’s trip to the Overwatch Council travels fast and immediately is presented to the Emperor. The Emperor is quick to state that he knows Teng Zi Jing is not dead and doesn’t mind that Fan Xian lied, as long as Fan Xian is productive. As the Emperor is shooting arrows with his bow, he is pleased to hear that Fan Xian is heading to the poetry meeting the next day where both the Crown Prince and the 2nd prince are fighting behind the scenes. The primary goal right now is to ruin Fan Xian’s reputation in the capital so that the Chancellor Lin will have no choice but to request that the betrothal between his daughter Lin Wan’Er and Fan Xian be cancelled. The reason there is so that Fan Xian cannot gain control of the treasury.
Speaking of the chancellor, the Emperor actually calls him an old fox after their little interaction. The Chancellor Lin arrives in the palace and requests a cup of tea in the presence of the Emperor. The Emperor allows this but makes his stay extremely uncomfortable by turning up the heat in the room such that the Chancellor is sweating profusely. A rather ingenious way of putting Chancellor Lin in his place. In the stifling heat, the Emperor questions Chancellor Lin on his views of Fan Xian to which Chancellor Lin actually has rather complementary things to say. The reason for his words, and also why the Emperor calls him a fox after he leaves, is because Chancellor Lin knows that this marriage was set by the Emperor. The Emperor must have some view of Fan xIan and therefore if this betrothal was to be cancelled, it shoudn’t come from him the Chancellor. Instead, it ought to come from the Emperor. The Chancellor can see that the Emperor is enjoying watching the games happening around Fan Xian and instead of partaking in them, he’s opting to align himself with the Emperor in more of a watch and see mode.
[Karen]
Everyone is preparing for the poetry meeting the next day. Guo bao kun and the Crown Prince want to humiliate Fan Xian. Does Fan Xian care? Nope. He only cares that there will be women at the event tomorrow so it’ll be the perfect opportunity to find his ji tui gu niang or his chicken leg girl. It was love at first sight for him and his one primary drive for going to this event. Fan Ruo Ruo is all in on helping Fan Xian find his Ji Tui Guo niang and funnily enough, Fan Xian even suggests whether it is an act of fate that ji tui gu niang IS lin wan’er. Um which it is. But Ruo Ruo refutes that quite easily so there’s more misunderstanding along the way.
Speaking of Lin Wan’Er and misunderstanding, today’s episode was all about misunderstanding. Lin Wan Er and Ye Ling Er try to meet Fan Xian but he went off to the Overwatch council. Except Ruo Ruo needed to conceal the fact that Fan Xian wasn’t on the carriage so she tries to stop it. Fan Si Zhe covers for Fan XIan by pretending that a woman is with him as Fan Xian. This royally pisses off Wan’Er and Ling’Er who leave promptly. When they return home, they hear that Fan Xian was beating up people on the streets leaving a further bad impression. Sigh. noooo.
While there’s misunderstanding between this ji tui gu niang and fan xian, Fan Xian is able to eliminate misunderstanding in his own home. When he returns back to the Fan manor, he hears that Fan Si Zhe has been punished to kneeling outside their father’s room. Fan Jian thinks Fan Si Zhe is involved with court factions and purposefully brought Fan Xian in the cross fire between The crown prince and the 2nd prince. However, Fan Xian quickly refutes this all by highlighting that Fan Si Zhe doesn’t have the brain power for this and that instead, Fan Si Zhe really cares about making money to make Fan Jian proud. . At the end of the episode, Fan Jian actually comes out to make amends to his younger son.
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[Cathy]
Let’s now move onto some culture and history!
In the episode, Fan Xian is wandering around the Capital to find the Overwatch Council. He’s holding in his hand a Bing Tang Hu Lu, or in english a ice sugar calabash which is the literal translation. Fan Xian walking around with a bing tang hu lu is explicitly written in the book so I’m glad they kept this here.
This dish is a traditional chinese treat that originated during the Southern Song dynasty, so 12th-13th century AD in which the recipe called for wild berries skewers with a malt sugar glaze. Legend has it, Emperor Song Guang Zong had a beloved concubine who fell sick. Despite all of the expensive herbs and medicines, she wasn’t recovering. A traveling doctor recommended that she eat a boiled mixture of 5-10 hawthorn and rock candy before each meal. Miraculously, she recovered and the recipe became known throughout the land, turning into this bing tang hulu.
You would think that since there’s calabash or 葫芦 in its name, that the treat would be made with actual calabash or 葫芦, but no! The traditional fruit used is actually Chinese Hawthorn or 山楂. It’s essentially a glazed fruit skewer. You take the Chinese hawthorn, clean and if you so choose, remove the pit, and create a skewer with them. Then you make the sugar glaze by simply adding rock sugar into water to a boil until it becomes a glaze. Then you can add some sesame. Then you roll the skewer in the glaze and cool it down and voila! Some fruits or ingredients include grapes, walnuts, Chinese hawthorn etc.
This treat is extremely popular in northern China because it’ll keep really well during the winter time since the glaze will stay solidified. When you have it in the summer, it kind of melts into a goop. This was a beijing staple and was very popular as a treat for kids. Nowadays, you’ll typically see them sold all throughout northern China, but they’re also a novelty in Southern China. I remember when I was young begging to have one because a local vendor was selling them. It’s uh – VERY sweet and VERY sour. I can literally only have one at a time because it’s all I can handle. It’s kind of like eating sweet and sour ice in the winter.
When I was young, I also never understood why it was called bing tang hu lu or the calabash when there’s clearly no calabash in it but hey, it’s just accepted that it’s the name. When the two hawthorns are skewered together, they sort of look like a calabash.
I’m surprised we haven’t talked about this treat before because it is still very popular today and seen in many period dramas. I mean timing does make sense because The Longest Day in Chang An is set during the Tang Dynasty and The Story of Ming Lan is set in the Northern Song Dynasty so it was historically accurate that we didn’t see this treat because it wasn’t invented yet! This was also seen more as a lower class or common so they wouldn’t show up in the palace. Maybe I’m just blanking on it. Let us know if you recall seeing this dessert in any of the dramas we’ve discussed!
[Karen]
Ok – we now have two more Chinese lessons
浪漫 Lang Man – Fan Ruo Ruo fully supports her brother in finding true love and tells him this must be what Lang Man means. She doesn’t have Lang Man in her traditional vocabulary. What’s interesting is the phrase Lang Man has appeared in poems dating all the way back to the Song Dynasty with poems written by 苏轼 Su Shi – so 11th Century AD, but the meaning of Lang Man was something different. It meant to travel around or wander. But now it means romantic and that came from the 19th and 20th century romantic eras. In chinese people typically also say 罗曼蒂克 which basically is the Chinese version of Romantic. 罗曼 sounds similar enough to 浪漫 – so the current widely used definition of 浪漫 is Romance or Romantic.
The other phrase that I want to discuss is 智商盆地 Zhi Shang Pen Di. This translates to intellectual depression or basin. It essentially means that your intelligence was lowered by this basin or basically that you’re stupid. I was doing some digging and apparently the most widely used example of 智商盆地 is actually this drama! I don’t believe it appeared in the book. Anyways – it’s a more subtle insult but we don’t REALLY see this used.
[Cathy]
Let’s conclude with book differences! The whole scene of Fan Xian heading to the overwatch council happens right when he enters the capital, before he meets Lin Wan Er and his whole encounter with Guo Bao Kun. Fan Xian though DOES talk to Fan Ruo Ruo to ponder whether the Chicken Leg Maiden could be Lin Wan Er. As for all of the appearances from the Crown Prince and the Emperor, those don’t happen in the book. I want to touch briefly though on what will be a constant motif in the DRAMA in which we see the Emperor practicing with a bow and arrow to hit something. This is never discussed in the book and there is a very pointed reason in the drama that we’ll discuss in subsequent episodes.