Notable Actors/Actresses
Bai Yu Fan: Qu San Geng
Ning Li: Song Chen
Xiang Han Zhi: Leng Gui Ren
Liu Yi Tong: Gao Shi Cong
Zhang Hao Wei: Feng Ke Zhui
Zeng Li: Lin Si Niang
Director:
Scriptwriter:
Chinese Title
Under the Bustling City
Network: Tencent Video
Ning Li: Song Chen [Song 7-9am]
Xiang Han Zhi: Leng Gui Ren
Liu Yi Tong: Gao Shi Cong [Tall Honorific Clever]
Zhang Hao Wei: Feng Ke Zhui [Wind Can Chase]
Zeng Li: Lin Si Niang (4th Lady Lin)
Case Notes
[Ep1] Victim Count: 1
Captain Leng Wu Ji: Victim; Qu San Geng’s shifu. Died by strangulation. Hung like a scarecrow with a long rod vertically through his body. Rod is made with mulberry wood, the common material for stirring litter. Engraved on the rod is a Confucius classic:
Captain Leng Wu Ji: Victim; Qu San Geng’s shifu. Died by strangulation. Hung like a scarecrow with a long rod vertically through his body. Rod is made with mulberry wood, the common material for stirring litter. Engraved on the rod is a Confucius classic:
吾道一以貫之 My principle is unified
It’s engraved, and it’s manifested through the corpse: 一以貫之 One rod through to the end.
Song Chen: An official; right hand missing three fingers. Used his only two good fingers to extinguish the candle. He’s also interested in the unresolved cases by Leng Wu Ji.
Madam Lin: A courtesan; victim's lover? On the day Leng Wu Ji died, he visited her like usual. They talked about the new county magistrate who he classifies as a “cat”. Cats can be stroked and tamed. They prefer to play and sleep, and they sleep for hours. If they’re full, they're too lazy to catch rats (thieves). Madam Lin says he left at his usual time (6pm). This is odd. Because if he had left the city (to where he was scarecrow-ed at Qijia Village), leaving that late, the city gates would be closed by the time he returns. Something sudden must have happened. Something like being strangled in the alleyway by a trotting horse! This murderer is familiar with Leng Wu Ji's patterns.
[Ep2] Victim Count: 2
San Geng’s mother: Blind, widow. She doesn’t think shifu (Leng Wu Ji) is a good person. He’s powerful. And someone powerful can’t be good. And if someone powerful like him died, then the murderer has to be more powerful than him. The mother is worried for her son. San Geng is her light in her dark (blind) world. She can’t lose him. San Geng assures her that he will be like his father (a midnight patroller) and light up the dark alleys. And that’s the meaning of his name. He will be the light at Midnight (sangeng). When midnight is safe, then the city is safe.
Song Chen. He gives San Geng a rare molar tooth. Rare, because it has four instead of three roots. Thanks for the bloody tooth, sir.
Leng Wu Ji and San Geng’s father. Captain Leng has been investigating San Geng’s father, who died saving a fire on September 7th. San Geng believes his shifu is conscientious. They had talked about conscience before. It can’t be sold for it’s worth nothing, but if you want to keep it, it’s expensive. He’s worried that San Geng in his future, won’t be able to afford it.
Teacher Wang: 2nd victim. He's in an extended child's pose with a bronze ruler in his palms. There's a message on the ruler, more analects from Confucius: 童子六七人. The full verse means “Late spring, spring clothes have been put on. I went swimming with a few adults (5 or 6) and teenage boys (6 or 7). But the cold winds blew. Later we sang songs on our way back.” (Bolded are the engraved characters)
[Ep3] Victim Count: 3
Teacher Wang: At his grave, Feng Ke Zhui (niece) planted a plum flower tree. In his mouth was a headless baby bird. It's suspected that he did an unthinkable crime to teenage boys. As Feng Ke Zhui investigates, he learns Teacher Wang is a masochist (into BDSM?)?! It’s unsettling, but I guess it’s better than I imagined….
Captain Yi: The “cat” official. San Geng played him well, but Captain Yi’s suspicions are also cleared. He has an alibi.
Chen Wang: 3rd victim, but already a skeleton. His bones hang over the water. He was a gambler related to the arson that killed San Geng’s father. His clothes have another Confucius analect: 逝者如斯夫. The full verse = “The son said on the river. It passes away like a man! Doesn’t give up day and night.” There’s two main interpretations: (1) to lament the rapid changes in life (like the river) and to cherish time, or (2) to flowingly/forwardly learn like the river is being pushed wave by wave.
[Ep4] Victim Count: 3
Lu Zhi’s: the boy who knows too many secrets.
- He found out Teacher Wang was bowing to a detached head. Being spanked was his atonement for his sins. He told this secret to Master Zhong.
- Lu Zhi also knows that Master Zhong is the mastermind who helps Master Lu. He’s mute, however, and that’s because he was abused by his mother.
- Through Chen Wang (victim #3), he learns of Madam Lin and Leng Wu Ji's affair.
- He eavesdrops on Leng Wu Ji and Madam Lin’s “affair", and hears of Master Lu's violent tendencies. A masochist and a sadist in this drama.
[Ep5]
[Ep6]
[Ep7]
[Ep8]
[Ep9]
[Ep10]
[Ep11]
[Ep12]
Remarks
[Cast & Crew] Rare that the scriptwriter and director is the same: Wang Zheng. I see nothing under his name yet though.
[Ending]
No comments:
Post a Comment