Wu Jia Yi: Zhao Yu Xing
Zhao Yi Qin: Yue Zong Lin
Han Jiu Nuo: Cai Huang / Qiu Qi
Chinese Title
那江煙花那江雨
[Ep1] Zhao Yu Xing's entire family was brutally killed when she was young. She insists on entering the palace to investigate her family's death. She's raised by Cai Huang's family. She and Cai Huang are like sisters. Zhao Yu Xing becomes an expert in medicinal herbs. As she's looking for herbs, she's scared by a man who comes flying at her. He's Yue Zong Lin. He's saving her from a snake. She, however, isn't that afraid. She wants the snake in order to prepare her herbs. She also thanks him for saving her. He could care less about her gratitude and walks off. He also calls her an Auntie. Offended, Zhao Yu Xing decides to throw away his clothes when she catches him bathing in the lake. Just because the man has qingong and can fly, the man's clothes are placed on one of the highest trees. Zhao Yu Xing climbs her way up by hugging the tree but her plans go awry. She ends up being mesmerized by his back muscles. Zhao Yu Xing senses a pair of lewd eyes on him and makes her fall off the tree but still catches her before she drops into the lake.
[Ep5] Yue Zong Lin and Consort Shu are siblings. She's the reason their father wants to kill Zhao family's daughter (aka Zhao Yu Xing). Qiu Qi really wants to escape the palace to see Wang Yi Wei. Thus Zhao Yu Xing asks Yue Zong Lin for help to locate Wang Yi Wei. To repay him, she makes him food. She tells him her dish can make his pecs and abs grow bigger. Ha. He promises to help but he warns her to avoid talking about pecs and abs to other men.
[Ep11] Yue Zong Lin tests Qiu Qi who she loves. Both girls confirm she loves the Emperor and is only guilty towards Yi Wei.
[Ep13] Yi Wei has caught the infectious disease. Qiu Qi is also kidnapped into the village. Zhao Yu Xing wants to enter the village to help fight the disease but Yue Zong Lin is too worried about her. Under his orders, she's forbidden from entering. However, there's orders from above to kill Zhao Yu Xing and Qiu Qi. Thus, the guard easily lets her in. Zhao Yu Xing is reunited with Qiu Qi. Zhan Yu Xing does her best to save the villagers but the guards are planning to set fire to the quarantined village.
[Ep15] The first day Zhao Yu Xing is back in palace, she's punished for hitting another servant. This girl is so rough. Yue Zong Lin lectures her that if she was going to hit someone, at least hit them secretly. She calls him low but she likes his suggestion. He wants to tend to her injuries but she's flanked on her butt so she can't let him see that. He does help her sign up for an entrance exam to the medicine department in the palace. The next day he walks her to the exam centre – literally walks her. He lifts her with one arm around her waist so that she doesn't have to move her gluteal muscles. He drops her off below the stairs. When she borrows another eunuch's shoulder to help her up the steps, the bossy Yue Zong Lin won't let her touch another man.
[Ep20]
[Ep21]
[Ep22]
[Ep23]
[Ep24]
[Ep25]
[First Impression (Ep1-7)] There's a bit of marital arts mixed with Bu Bu Jing Xi plus a hint of Dae Jang Geum. I hate to admit it, but I like this mashup. Yu Zheng is pretty shameless to live off his plagiarism so openly and yet has the ability to make magic happen. Sigh. Although this drama has a lot of borrowed elements, I like this story. If anything, it's using the previous works to advertise itself because the real story is quite different. Our female lead, although skilled in medicine and culinary, it's just her background (for the most part). There isn't a lot Bu Bu Jing Xin in this except for the fact that she sneaks into the palace. Her personality is quite modern. She's snarky and unapologetic. No one can beat her when it comes to fighting. Her character shares more similarities to Yang Mi's "Palace: The Lock Heart Jade" than Liu Shi Shi's "Scarlet Heart" if my memories don’t betray me. That's really where most of the similarities end. Here, the main female lead is a regular servant whose anything but servant-ly. Her main purpose is to avenge her family's death. In the meantime, she's helping her best friend (a fake consort) overcome conspiracies after conspiracies. In the mean-meantime, she's finding love. But most of the time, she's hilarious. This drama teeters more towards comedy. I'm having more fun watching this than I thought I would. Zhao Yu Xing and Cai Huang/Qiu Qi are a comedic duo. Qiu Qi is a cute crybaby (not the annoying type though) and Zhao Yu Xing is kick-butt and snarky. Her go-to plan is to dress up as a ghost every time.
[Actors/Actresses] I just realized the actress for Cai Huang/Qiu Qi is not only the same girl from Skate into Love but also from "Meng Fei Comes Across". Now that she has long hair and she's acting silly I finally remember her again. She's Han Jiu Nuo, I loved her in Meng Fei Comes Across. She was hilarious. She's equally funny here if not more. Wu Jia Yi is new to me. I just saw her in Dance of the Sky Empire and as both her dramas are airing together. I like her here more. She's going all out with the humour in this one. I don’t know if it’ll get awkward shipping her with Xu Kai in the other drama while shipping her with Zhao Yi Qin here. As for Zhao Yi Qin, this will be my third consecutive drama of his (My Girl and Fake Princess). My like for him has been going downhill since "In Youth" so maybe this drama will do the trick. So far though, he's being outshone by the females in this drama.
[Dropped] The humour has lost its magic on me. The chemistry isn’t working at all. I’m only interested in how Qiu Qi’s identity will resolve but that’s not enough to power myself through this even if it’s only five more episodes.
I have nothing against Wu Jia Yi. The contrast between her in this drama and in Dance of the Sky Empire makes me commend her here. Very easygoing; very blunt. She doesn’t mind scrunching her face to ruin her visuals but whoever chose the dubbing voice killed her character. She sounds like an old hag, sorry voice dubber.
It’s official. I have completely fallen out of love with Zhao Yi Qin. He doesn’t have the ability to make me believe in any of his characters.
Chinese Title
那江煙花那江雨
Network: MangoTV
Recap Grade: A/B
First Impression: 3.75/5
First Impression: 3.75/5
Mini Recaps
The romance line between Cai Huang and Wang Yi Wei are super cute. He's summoned to the palace to be a soldier but promises he'll be back to wed her. She quickly shushes him but then asks him to repeat it again and then makes him shush again. Ha. They then awkwardly kiss but she says his nose is too high. Haha. Cute. Then prior to any of their funny romantic scenes we were presented with his flexing pecs and abs. I buy this couple already.
Back to the story, Cai Huang's family is brutally slaughtered. Only Cai Huang and Zhao Yu Xing survive but they get separated. Zhao Yu Xing is on the run and is captured by two masked men who realize she's Zhao Yu Xing. They attempt to kill her but Yue Zong Lin saves her. While tending to her, he remembers all their encounters and smiles. However, he realizes the two masked men were working for his father. His family is after hers but he wants to correct his family's wrong. Thus, he continues to protect her along the way.
Cai Huang is saved by a Lord. He wanted to find his daughter but ended up finding her. His daughter, Qiu Qi is supposed to be selected as one of the consorts by the Emperor. Now that she has ran off, the Lord finds himself in a pickle. Cai Huang thus pretends to be Qiu Qi to repay the Lord for saving him. Simultaneously she wants to enter the palace to find Zhao Yu Xing because that's where she thinks she went.
[Ep2] Qiu Qi is selected as a royal consort because she looks familiar to a late consort. She pretends to be dumb and stutters her words in order to not gain the Emperor's favour but he finds her cute anyways. The Emperor's earrings are bothering me.
Zhao Yu Xing finds out Qiu Qi is entering the palace so she asks Yue Zong Lin to help her enter the palace too. He manages to get her a position as a servant. She sucks at being a servant. When the head servant slaps her for being inappropriate, Zhao Yu Xing slaps her back. Although this isn't Bu Bu Jing Xin where the main girl travels back in time, Zhao Yu Xing is still equally modern and even more sassy,
[Ep3] Zhao Yu Xing and Qiu Qi meet up. When Qiu Qi was crying at their reunion, she practically goes all limp in their embrace, putting all her weight on Zhao Yu Xing, heh. Zhao Yu Xing decides to protect Qiu Qi who's bullied by other consorts and escape the palace. She dresses up like a ghost to scare away all the guards. However, that night there's an increased presence of guards (because of Yue Zong Lin). In all seriousness, Zhao Yu Xing asks Qiu Qi if she prefers being on top or on bottom. Qiu Qi looks at her and answers honestly, "on top". Ha. Thus, the two girls hide on top of a tree. Atop the tree, Zhao Yu Xing comments on how fat Qiu Qi has become. Qiu Qi is doing her best to hold back her whimpers from being called fat, haha. Either way, top or bottom, their escape plan fails. They're captured by the Consort Shu. Zhao Yu Xing is shameless as she sucks up to the consort to save both their lives.
[Ep4] Consort Shu sabotages Wen Head Servant, Zhao Yu Xing and Qiu Qi for poisoning her. Yue Zong Lin receives news of this and under the Emperor's orders, he rides his horse back to save Zhao Yu Xing. When he shows the Imperial Jade to save them everyone gets down on their knees. Zhao Yu Xing is never the one to follow rules but now that she's chained up she decides to be obedient for once and does her best to kneel except her knees can't reach the ground because her hands a chained. It's an awkward kneel. Qiu Qi follows suit and both of them look like they’re in zombie mode, ha. There's so many more funny scenes in this episode. It was particularly funny because of Zhao Yu Xing's snarky comments. It's hard to translate the humour of how she greeted the evil servants but if you understand you'll just laugh on the spot. It was also funny when Zhao Yu Xing and Qiu Qi team up to bully the stuttering guard.
Zhao Yu Xing and Qiu Qi are released from prison. Qiu Qi is back to being a consort. Zhao Yu Xing realizes Yue Zong Xin is a powerful man and thus decides to befriend him in case she needs his help in the future. She finds him training and is once again mesmerized by him, so mesmerized she becomes unable to dodge a flying spear that's aimed right at her head. He comes flying in to save her. The two remain close to each other for a while wherein her hand is on his chest but she accuses him of taking advantage of her. She teases him for his red ears. She also puts on a cute act on him. The pitch of her voice is raised 5x. Annoyed with her act, he raises his hand to (pretend to) slap her. Her voice and attitude instantly reverts back to normal.
[Ep5] Yue Zong Lin and Consort Shu are siblings. She's the reason their father wants to kill Zhao family's daughter (aka Zhao Yu Xing). Qiu Qi really wants to escape the palace to see Wang Yi Wei. Thus Zhao Yu Xing asks Yue Zong Lin for help to locate Wang Yi Wei. To repay him, she makes him food. She tells him her dish can make his pecs and abs grow bigger. Ha. He promises to help but he warns her to avoid talking about pecs and abs to other men.
Qiu Qi is accused of killing a consort (the one who thought she was pregnant and whose name I cannot remember because of how abnormally long it is). Yue Zong Lin becomes an investigator and lists out all the suspicions in the consort's death. Qiu Qi being the murderer just doesn't line up. Zhao Yu Xing teams up with Yue Zong Lin to prove Qiu Qi’s innocence. When she tells him of her plan he's impressed but wonders if it will work. They keep pointing at the sky whenever they refer to "him". Qiu Qi, who doesn't know the plan looks up at the ceiling wondering what could be there. Their plan is (rather simple, it’s) to pretend to be a ghost to scare the suspect into testifying,
[Ep6] Before the consort can reveal the real murderer, she's killed by a needle aimed right at her carotid arteries. The killer forces a maid to switch clothes with her to sneak out. Hm, so the killer is a female skilled in martial arts. As a result, an innocent maid is killed. The stuttering guard wants to close the case but Zhao Yu Xing tells the Emperor there's too many plotholes. How does Zhao Yu Xing even get a speaking right in front of the Emperor? Anyways. Even after the consort's death, Zhao Yu Xing can't even get her name right, haha. I can't either, that's why I only refer to her as a consort.
Qiu Qi is released from prison (again). This time she's settled on being a consort – might as well, since Wang Yi Wei is presumed dead. She assumes her role perfectly and even grows a spine as she shows the annoying maids whose boss. I love her here but I hope she doesn't turn evil! Qiu Qi is to serve the Emperor tonight and she's wrapped like a caterpillar to serve him. Although the Emperor is delayed by Consort Shu, he still visits Qiu Qi.
[Ep7] The romance between Yue Zong Lin and Zhao Yu Xing turns up a notch, at least for him. He casually tells her to not look at other men like she does to him. He also catches her before she falls into the water. She thanks him. Every time she fell into the water he's always there to save her. To him, it's fate. To her, it's ill-fated. She would have never fell in the water if not for him. He wonders out loud what she would do without him. The romantic moment is interrupted by her consecutive sneezes. But the fate doesn't stop. He has found her lost dog (Xiao Er). She's her dog's mommy. Yue Zong Lin wants to be the dog's daddy but she rejects that. It's inappropriate because that would make their relationship awkward so she decides he will be Xiao Er's great-uncle. That's because she calls him uncle (she’s getting revenge on him he calling her auntie in their first meeting).
Xiao Er, the dog, gets her in trouble. The annoying maids use Xiao Er to punish Zhao Yu Xing. However, she's not one to succumb and physically kicks them back. Yue Zong Lin is worried for her and asks Qiu Qi for help. After Zhao Yu Xing is safe, Yue Zong Lin waits for her outside. When he approaches her while staring at her lips. Zhao Yu Xing puckers her lip for the kiss but he’s only wiping something off her mouth. She’s disappointed.
So many abs this episode but poor Zhao Yi Qin has the least developed ones. It's not fair putting him in the middle. He is also purposely flexing his biceps under the water. It's kind of sad.
[Ep8] Consort Shu falls into the water because of her own dog. Because of that she's now inferile. I smell trouble coming up for Zhao Yu Xing because of her dog. It's raining outside and Zhao Yu Xing is carrying an umbrella for herself. She bumps into Yue Zong Lin who wants to share the umbrella with her. She insists that he has a hat but she does give in and shares her umbrella. True, those hats are perfect for rain, at least to keep the face dry. They find a place to dodge the rain. He gives her a present. The first one is a present for Xiao Er; it's a collar. She did seem a little disappointed the present isn't for her. The second one is hers. He bought her perfume. It's his first present for her and his first present he ever gave any girl. Initially, she refuses it but when he pretends to throw it away, she wants it. She lies that it's because she think it's too precious to be thrown away. He tells her she's more precious than any perfume.
Zhao Yu Xing’s cooking skills come in. With her masterful skills, she pleases the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. I guess Dae Jang Geum's story line comes in now. By the way, the Emperor got rid of that ugly earring of his.
[Ep9] Yue Zong Lin takes Zhao Yu Qing to see comets. She loves it so much, she gives him a peck on the cheek. Later when Yue Zong has to leave the palace for a while he gives her a kiss on the forehead.
[Ep10] Zhao Yu Qing and Qiu Qi are to be beheaded. Everything was crafted by Consort Shu. She even wanted to get rid of Xiao Er (dog) but was stopped by Yue Zong Lin. However he’s unable to save the girls from their death punishment. The Empress manages to save them from death. She has an ulterior motive though. She knows that saving Qiu Qi would be a win in the Emperor’s books because he likes Qiu Qi. Uh. Wouldn’t having less competition be better in the long run? Anyways. Zhao Yu Qing and Qiu Qi are saved but they’re still banished from the palace. By chance they reunite with Yi Wei. He’s not dead. However, it's too late. Qiu Qi is the Emperor’s consort now. He doesn’t care though.
Empress Dowager has passed away. Emperor’s earrings are back. As remembrance for Empress Dowager, the consorts all make presents for her. Tipped of by Eunuch Lin, Zhao Yu Qing and Qiu Qi make presents that are dragon themed. However, anything dragon related is banned in the palace because the Emperor has been having awful nightmares from it.
[Ep11] Yue Zong Lin tests Qiu Qi who she loves. Both girls confirm she loves the Emperor and is only guilty towards Yi Wei.
[Ep12] Yi Wei is injured while saving Qiu Qi. Zhao Yu Xing is looking over his wounds. She also finds a shifu who teaches her more about medicine. After being separated for days, Yue Zong Lin finally pays her a visit. Overwhelmed with emotions, the two run towards each other and tightly embrace. He also kisses her. She has her eyes wide open for the first one. He tells her to close them so he could kiss her again.
There's a plague in Zhao Yu Xing's city. It is to be quarantined. Our favourite word in 2020.
[Ep14] Yue Zong Lin saves the village before they're set on fire. He has also found the herb that can save the villagers from the disease. The unsung hero is Yi Wei. He risked his life to retrieve the herb and suffers an injury all to save Qiu Qi. When she's safe though, he's cold to her. Zhao Yu Xing confronts Yi Wei and she realizes Yi Wei is doing it on purpose. He knows Qiu Qi loves the Emperor. No matter what he does, he cannot change her heart. Knowing that Qiu Qi is listening outside, he lies that he doesn't love Qiu Qi. He eggs Zhao Yu Xing to cooperate with his act. She does but she's crying too. I felt my tear ducts tinge for Yi Wei.
The Emperor misses his beloved consort, and after two months of expulsion, he sends an edict for Qiu Qi to return to the palace. By the way, there's still killers lurking around Qiu Qi.
Prior to returning the palace, Zhao Yu Xing gets off the carriage to find Yue Zong Lin. He can't get enough of her; after hugging her he still wants more hugs. They're making out in the open field with Xiao Er watching. Although, Zhao Yu Xing is in love, she doesn't forget about her family's revenge.
[Ep15] The first day Zhao Yu Xing is back in palace, she's punished for hitting another servant. This girl is so rough. Yue Zong Lin lectures her that if she was going to hit someone, at least hit them secretly. She calls him low but she likes his suggestion. He wants to tend to her injuries but she's flanked on her butt so she can't let him see that. He does help her sign up for an entrance exam to the medicine department in the palace. The next day he walks her to the exam centre – literally walks her. He lifts her with one arm around her waist so that she doesn't have to move her gluteal muscles. He drops her off below the stairs. When she borrows another eunuch's shoulder to help her up the steps, the bossy Yue Zong Lin won't let her touch another man.
Zhao Yu Xing wants to enter the medicine department to investigate her family's death. The Emperor grants her first place in the exam because of her extraordinary skills. Qiu Qi was happy to hear of her bestie's success but her expressions darkens when she realizes it's the Emperor who personally chose her. Noooooo. Is this how my favourite pair in this drama will go down?
[Ep16] Yi Wei is brought into the palace to create a sculpture for the Emperor to admire. Thus, Yi Wei gets another chance to be reunited with Qiu Qi. He notices that she's not happy and meets her at night to confront her about it. A jealous consort tries to catch Qiu Qi being unfaithful but luckily, Zhao Yu Qing and Yue Zong Lin help them out.
Zhao Yu Qing misunderstands that Yue Zong Lin is cheating on her with another man. Yes, a man. He's the artist the Emperor hired. She witness this man patting Yue Zong Lin's butt. Yue Zong Lin introduces him as "Tang Ma De" which is a translation for Thomas. Zhao Yu Qing misunderstands and thinks he's swearing at her. "Ta Ma De" is the Chinese equivalent of fcuk. It took a really long time for her to understand everything.
[Ep17] Zhao Yu Xing uses Yue Zong Lin as her acupuncture guinea pig. She pricked his dancing vein thus his robotic dancing skills take over. On a more serious note, she passed the test to be a fully fledged medicine assistant. She's approaching the doctor to get more information on her family's death.
[Ep18] Yue Zong Lin is trapped into marrying Yan Huan Yue (the maid who's crushing on him all the time). Zhao Yu Xing and Yue Zong Lin beg the Emperor on separate occasions to revoke his edict. The Emperor won't.
The masked female assassin appears again. She's trying to kill Zhao Yu Xing. Yue Zong Lin uses his life to protect her and how he's fainted after surfing a near fatal injury.
[Ep19] Yue Zong Lin pretends to be unconscious to make Zhao Yu Xing tell him she truly loves him. He had already planned a romantic event for her. She’s so unenthusiastic, it’s funny. She actually pukes at anything romantic. But when it came to the actual proposal, she smirks. Thus, they’re engaged. However, he still has an engagement with that maid.
The real Qiu Qi makes an appearance. Shu Consort also knows about the real Qiu Qi.
[Ep21]
[Ep22]
[Ep23]
[Ep24]
[Ep25]
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-7)] There's a bit of marital arts mixed with Bu Bu Jing Xi plus a hint of Dae Jang Geum. I hate to admit it, but I like this mashup. Yu Zheng is pretty shameless to live off his plagiarism so openly and yet has the ability to make magic happen. Sigh. Although this drama has a lot of borrowed elements, I like this story. If anything, it's using the previous works to advertise itself because the real story is quite different. Our female lead, although skilled in medicine and culinary, it's just her background (for the most part). There isn't a lot Bu Bu Jing Xin in this except for the fact that she sneaks into the palace. Her personality is quite modern. She's snarky and unapologetic. No one can beat her when it comes to fighting. Her character shares more similarities to Yang Mi's "Palace: The Lock Heart Jade" than Liu Shi Shi's "Scarlet Heart" if my memories don’t betray me. That's really where most of the similarities end. Here, the main female lead is a regular servant whose anything but servant-ly. Her main purpose is to avenge her family's death. In the meantime, she's helping her best friend (a fake consort) overcome conspiracies after conspiracies. In the mean-meantime, she's finding love. But most of the time, she's hilarious. This drama teeters more towards comedy. I'm having more fun watching this than I thought I would. Zhao Yu Xing and Cai Huang/Qiu Qi are a comedic duo. Qiu Qi is a cute crybaby (not the annoying type though) and Zhao Yu Xing is kick-butt and snarky. Her go-to plan is to dress up as a ghost every time.
Off topic: These ab scenes are getting ridiculous. So far, every male actor (other than the Emperor) has been given a scene to show off their muscles. I don't mind it but it's getting a little too obvious and in-your-face. I'm literally starring at muscles without the face for an extra few seconds. At one point I was like why are nipples taking over my screen?
[Actors/Actresses] I just realized the actress for Cai Huang/Qiu Qi is not only the same girl from Skate into Love but also from "Meng Fei Comes Across". Now that she has long hair and she's acting silly I finally remember her again. She's Han Jiu Nuo, I loved her in Meng Fei Comes Across. She was hilarious. She's equally funny here if not more. Wu Jia Yi is new to me. I just saw her in Dance of the Sky Empire and as both her dramas are airing together. I like her here more. She's going all out with the humour in this one. I don’t know if it’ll get awkward shipping her with Xu Kai in the other drama while shipping her with Zhao Yi Qin here. As for Zhao Yi Qin, this will be my third consecutive drama of his (My Girl and Fake Princess). My like for him has been going downhill since "In Youth" so maybe this drama will do the trick. So far though, he's being outshone by the females in this drama.
[Dropped] The humour has lost its magic on me. The chemistry isn’t working at all. I’m only interested in how Qiu Qi’s identity will resolve but that’s not enough to power myself through this even if it’s only five more episodes.
I have nothing against Wu Jia Yi. The contrast between her in this drama and in Dance of the Sky Empire makes me commend her here. Very easygoing; very blunt. She doesn’t mind scrunching her face to ruin her visuals but whoever chose the dubbing voice killed her character. She sounds like an old hag, sorry voice dubber.
It’s official. I have completely fallen out of love with Zhao Yi Qin. He doesn’t have the ability to make me believe in any of his characters.
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