A butcher prays for pigs and gets a beautiful man in return. Amen.
逐玉
Pursuing Jade
Recap Grade: A
First Impression: 4.5/5
First Impression: 4.5/5
Recaps: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [Extra]
Cast
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| Zhang Ling He: Xie Zheng |
Tian Xi Wei: Fan Chang Yu |
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| Ren Hao: Li Huai An |
Yan Yi Kuan: Wei Yan |
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| Deng Kai: Qi Min Sui Yuan Huai |
Kong Xue Er: Yu Qian Qian |
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| Li Qing: Gongsun Yin |
Yu Zhong Li: Qi Shu |
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| Yue Yang: Uncle Zhao |
Liu Lin: Auntie Zhao |
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| Du Chun: Constable Wang |
Mao Lin Lin: Wei Wan |
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| Lin Mu Ran: Sui Yuan Qing |
Lin Si Yi: Shi San (13) niang |
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| Li Dian Zun: Jin Yuan Bao |
Nine Kornchid: Man Di |
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| Xiang Xia: Magistrate Cui |
Shang Qi: Cui Qian Jin |
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| Cao Yan Ning: Fan Chang Ning |
Wu Jia Jun: Yu Bao Er |
Mini Recaps
"This life be a good pig. Next life, be a good (hu)man."
That's the prayer Fan Chang Yu (Tian Xi Wei) always recites before she slaughters her pigs. The prayer must have been mistranslated up there because the very thing she picks up is a good-looking (hu)man. This prayer makes me think he must have been an exceptionally virtuous pig in his previous life. Except Zhang Ling He is a cow!! 投錯胎 xD. She literally trips over the beautiful stranger (Zhang Ling He) in the snow, mutters her pig prayer out of habit, apologizes for disturbing his beauty sleep, politely re-covers him with snow, and starts walking away. But while chanting to herself “Go home, go home. GO HOME GO HOME,” she is already sprinting back in the opposite direction yelling, "I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU." She already won me here xD. That’s when she notices her silver hairpin clutched in his hand, knocked loose when she tripped over him. Since the hairpin belonged to her late mother –and he even mumbled “mother” while unconscious– Fan Chang Yu immediately interprets this as maternal approval from beyond the grave. Clearly Mom wants this beautiful man saved. Clearly!
And so she hauls him the only way she knows how: Exactly like she carries pigs. (I kid). She does piggy-back him, though.
Auntie Zhao (Liu Lin), who is blessed with the same appreciation for handsome men as the rest of us, quickly lets the unconscious and bloodied but beautiful stranger into her own house instead of Fan Chang Yu’s because an unmarried woman keeping a man at home would be improper. Little sister Fan Chang Ning – Ning niang – takes Auntie Zhao’s instructions seriously and refuses to leave her sister alone with the patient while Auntie runs to fetch Uncle Zhao, the household doctor. The problem is the patient is actively bleeding. Fan Chang Yu is yelling for hot water to mix medicine while her sister stubbornly guards, until Fan Chang Yu finally gestures at the nearly dead man. “What man and woman? He’s basically a wandering ghost 孤魂野鬼.” xD
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| A wandering handsome ghost. |
Uncle Zhao arrives just in time to witness Fan Chang Yu pouring a heroic quantity of clotting medicine straight into the beautiful stranger’s mouth. Her reasoning is last time there was less bleeding, so she used less medicine. Uncle Zhao is horrified and shouts that last time the patient was a donkey! A DONKEY! How can she possibly think that’s the same as treating a human being. Which is how we learn Uncle Zhao is just a village vet. Not human doctor lol. But that's actually perfect for Zhang Ling He.
Piaoliang gege – 漂亮哥哥, meaning “beautiful gege” – finally wakes up and introduces himself as Yan Zheng (言正). Fan Chang Yu is delighted until she actually looks at him properly. Suddenly her knees pull together, her legs line up neatly, and her posture improves several degrees. The transformation is entirely biological, lol. Natural selection in real time. She hurriedly credits Uncle Zhao. He's a pro at saving mules and horses! And now cows, LOL. The beautiful stranger looks extremely reassured to learn he received donkey-level medical care. When Chang Yu asks about Yan Zheng family, he answers “孑然爾,” meaning he’s completely alone in the world. Unfortunately she hears it as a name, Jie Ran Er, assumes that’s his father’s name, and – since the surnames don’t match – very seriously concludes he must have a stepfather. Oops. The conversation moves to his mother, and coincidentally, he's having a coughing fit. Fan Chang Yu pats his back but probably harnessed her pig-strength qi-ness and he ends up coughing up even more blood. Uncle Zhao rushes in again to find chaos. Fan Chang Yu tearfully insists she has no idea what happened, she only mentioned his mother. Yan Zheng can’t even speak to defend himself between the coughing fits, lol. Uncle Zhao immediately scolds her for mentioning his mother… and then also mentions his mother. Uncle and FL – you mean they're not related?
Of course the clotting medicine plus Fan Chang Yu’s enthusiastic pig-back-pounding actually works. He coughs out the clot and begins recovering. Except keeping him alive is more expensive than preparing funeral. Fan Chang Yu, this sweetie, pawns her mother’s silver hairpin, promising to redeem it. With the money she buys pigs and reopens her butcher stop all to support the beautiful man with her pig income! xD
Yan Zheng sends a message with his messenger falcon, which almost ends in tragedy when Fan Chang Yu nearly knocks it out of the sky with a rock. The falcon narrowly escapes, but that rock lands squarely on a soldier’s forehead instead. The soldiers are rounding up refugees. The man's ow-ing from a mile gives Fan Chang Yu enough time to hide Yan Zheng in the pig pen.
Yan Zheng sends a message with his messenger falcon, which almost ends in tragedy when Fan Chang Yu nearly knocks it out of the sky with a rock. The falcon narrowly escapes, but that rock lands squarely on a soldier’s forehead instead. The soldiers are rounding up refugees. The man's ow-ing from a mile gives Fan Chang Yu enough time to hide Yan Zheng in the pig pen.
Epilogue: Did Ning niang turn her sister into the heroine of the story?
Ning niang – this cute little tease – pats her friends' backs, proudly announcing that her jie is cooking something delicious. And when they ask what it is: “I’m not telling you!”
Yan Zheng gets the first bite of the meal. Literally, just the bite. The food hasn't even made its way past the tongue and the sisters are slurping at full speed. Yan Zheng is stunned. Ning niang mirroring Fan Chang Yu is like a well-trained little duckling xD. Then Yan Zheng is curious about the unfamiliar texture, politely asks what meat it is.
“Large intestine.”
Yan Zheng: o_o.
LOL.
Fan Chang Yu clarifies helpfully: pig large intestine, and don’t worry, she cleaned the poop already. It’s just that Uncle Zhao prefers the kind cleaned only once because he says the leftover flavour makes it more aromatic. Yan Zheng is suddenly extremely full.
Food waste, however, is not a concept that exists in the Fan household. Their sign at home is 吃饱饭 = Eat a Full Meal. Fan Chang Yu takes the unfinished bowl back and splits the remaining noodles with her sister. This tiny cutest creature has the appetite of a full-grown adult. Looking at them, Yan Zheng feels bad. This must be their daily food. Fan Chang Yu processes that very differently and immediately exclaims: Eat this every day? Impossible. This is luxury. Yan Zheng is recalibrating his understanding of poverty.
Later Yan Zheng replays what happened earlier when the soldiers came searching the village. Fan Chang Yu didn’t hesitate for even a second. She kicked over pig waste right at the entrance, shoved Ning niang into the underground storage cellar, and turned the whole thing into a pretend game of hide-and-seek to steer the guards’ attention elsewhere. The uninterested soldiers eventually ordered someone unimportant to check the pig pen, and that soldier stopped the moment he smelled what was on the ground and backed off in disgust. Chang Yu's entire plan unfolded in seconds. Not even. It was instinct.
Yan Zheng: So she’s a butcher… or rather, he's thinking "She’s only a butcher?"
Yan Zheng's sleep is interrupted by the sound of pigs screaming. He steps outside and finds Fan Chang Yu mid-slaughter, slapping the pig silent and proudly declaring to him, “我殺豬養你啊!” – I’ll kill pigs to support you. And then Yan Zheng wakes up. Is this a nightmare or a dream? xD Because the image of a woman cheerfully promising to raise him by slaughtering pigs is… honestly kind of dreamy LOL. And I think he agrees! It’s also completely true. Fan Chang Yu pawned her mother’s silver hairpin to reopen her butcher shop to fund this frail man. I accept no other truths. Raising men, as it turns out, is expensive. Hahaha.
Uncle Fan (Fan Chang Yu's paternal uncle) shows up with a group of thugs Fan Chang Yu's steal the house. She beats all of them down – on her own! – while Ning niang stands nearby counting to ten. Turning it into a counting game is Chang Yu’s way of shielding her sister from the violence. And it’s over.
Ning niang: But Ning niang only counted to nine!
Victory is sweet, but nobody knows Fan Chang Yu is secretly crying in front of her parents’ memorial tablet that the thugs knocked over. Except Yan Zheng. She had promised never to reveal the martial arts her father taught her, but today she broke that promise to protect the house. Yan Zheng tells her her father wouldn’t blame her. (Her father’s name is Er Niu 二牛 — Two Cow — another fellow cow joining Zhang Ling He in the bovine club.) Her background is odd. Her father knew martial arts, while her mother was literate and made perfume. Somehow they ended up slaughtering pigs for a living. These parents are hiding something. Even Yan Zheng is asking if her mother's name is an alias.
Fan Chang Yu's parents were killed by bandits. Her mother fought to survive for eight hours afterward just to tell the sisters something important, but in the end she didn’t have the breath left to speak. All she could do was press her silver hairpin into Fan Chang Yu’s hand before dying. That same hairpin is the one Chang Yu pawned to pay for Yan Zheng’s medicine. Fan Chang Yu shrugs it off awkwardly, saying she’s just a pig-killing woman anyway and if he wants to laugh at her, he can. Yan Zheng replies that if he laughed after she saved him and scraped together money to keep him alive, he’d be a 白眼狼—a white-eyed wolf = an ungrateful wretch.
Unfortunately, Uncle–白眼狼–Fan, does have a legitimate legal claim to the house. The only way Chang Yu can keep it is if she marries–specifically through a 入赘 (ru zhui) arrangement, where the husband marries into the wife’s household so her Fan family line continues (instead of the groom's last name). And so that evening, Fan Chang Yu finds all sorts of way to approach the topic with Yan Zheng. Eventually, she prepares a drink that's good for replenishing blood. But when she tells him it's pig liver, she notices his repulsion. This is already the best food she can afford to give him, so she tells him to treat it like medicine that doesn't taste good. Then dejected, she leaves him alone… completely forgetting the actual reason she came in: to propose. So she was trying to propose with pig liver LOL. But awww that was her best to offer him!)
Suddenly.
Yan Zheng: I accept?!Fan Chang Yu misunderstands this is about the liver: Then drink it while it’s hot.Yan Zheng: I mean the 入贅 ruzhui. I’ll accept.(∩´͈ ᵕ `͈∩)♡Fan Chang Yu utterly delighted: And if you decide to stay I’ll kill pigs to support you!(∩´͈ ᵕ `͈∩)♡(∩´͈ ᵕ `͈∩)♡ She's so sweet! LOL
It’ll be a fake marriage. Fan Chang Yu promises that if Yan Zheng wants to stay after that, she’ll continue supporting him. Yan Zheng pauses at that and questions her.
Yan Zheng: If I were a 廢人 – a useless cripple – and you had to raise me forever, what exactly are you gaining from this?
Fan Chang Yu answers instantly: Your handsome-ness ah!
Oops. Chang Yu was not supposed to say her real desires out loud. Yan Zheng calmly notes that there are many beautiful people in the world. He does not deny that he himself is beautiful. I see. So why him? Fan Chang Yu answers simply: because the person she saved was him. Not someone else. But Yan Zheng says he will leave eventually. When that day comes, he’ll repay her for saving his life. Chang Yu is already happy with the fake marriage favour, but he says that only covers letting him stay here. If she has other dreams, she should tell him.
Alright. Big dreams! Fan Chang Yu proudly announces she wants to raise twenty to thirty pigs.
Yan Zheng tells her to dream bigger. Okay then – one hundred pigs! xD
Yan Zheng asks if she can set her sights even farther. One hundred isn’t far?! Fine. Two hundred pigs! LOL. But then the reality kicks in. If she raises two hundred pigs… she can’t slaughter them all by herself. This dream might actually be too big hahahahaha. They high-five to seal the deal – not exactly about the pigs, but about him repaying her someday. Unfortunately Chang Yu once again underestimates her own strength and nearly takes his arm off with the high five. Something like that.
Fan Chang Yu buys wedding clothes. She only has enough cloth for one set, so she only wants the groom's. This girl just keeps giving everything to the man!! The shop owner reveals the cloth had actually been ordered long ago by Chang Yu’s late mother. Her mother had bought it while happily imagining the day her daughter would get married. Aw :’(
Palace. The Emperor announces he intends to posthumously honour Xie Zheng as a national hero and declare a period of national mourning. Grand Tutor Li Jing immediately praises the Emperor’s virtue, and the Emperor beams proudly at himself for making such a wise and noble proclamation. …
Village. The newly arrived magistrate, Li Huai An (Ren Hao) is a sharp man. Based on the last location where Xie Zheng disappeared, he deduces the general must be somewhere in this village. He even briefly suspects Fan Chang Yu’s house. But then he learns the man living there agreed to become a 贅婿 — a live-in son-in-law. Ha! Impossible. Xie Zheng would refuse a princess. There’s no way he would marry a butcher. Ha. Jokes on you. Yes, he’s marrying this butcher – the same butcher who has already touched him all over and now knows every inch of his body. Literally. She was measuring him for his wedding clothes.
…Mourning.
For Xie Zheng.
Which means Yan Zheng is now helping conduct mourning rites for himself. LOL. He's both reassured and offended. Fan Chang Yu needs someone with strong yang energy beside her to ward off any wandering spirits. She also conveniently recycled the memorial tablet she had already made for Yan Zheng 言正, because it happens to match half of Xie Zheng’s name 謝征. There’s a 言 inside 謝 and a 正 inside 征. TMI on the Chinese. I did pause here to check the characters. Historical dramas normally use traditional characters, and the Zheng in Xie Zheng should technically be 徵, which doesn’t contain the 正 radical. They either forced the coincidence UNLESS they actually meant traditional 征 (expedition / campaign / to go on a military campaign) instead of 徵 (summon, recruit, levy taxes, draft troops, or evidence).
Which means Yan Zheng is now helping conduct mourning rites for himself. LOL. He's both reassured and offended. Fan Chang Yu needs someone with strong yang energy beside her to ward off any wandering spirits. She also conveniently recycled the memorial tablet she had already made for Yan Zheng 言正, because it happens to match half of Xie Zheng’s name 謝征. There’s a 言 inside 謝 and a 正 inside 征. TMI on the Chinese. I did pause here to check the characters. Historical dramas normally use traditional characters, and the Zheng in Xie Zheng should technically be 徵, which doesn’t contain the 正 radical. They either forced the coincidence UNLESS they actually meant traditional 征 (expedition / campaign / to go on a military campaign) instead of 徵 (summon, recruit, levy taxes, draft troops, or evidence).
Fan Chang Yu sincerely mourns Xie Zheng as a true hero. Her father had always praised him. The horrific massacre he carried out in a captured city, she believes, was revenge for his father’s brutal death. If enemies could slaughter their people, why couldn’t he strike back? Yan Zheng silently listens as she defends… him. She notices his expression and asks if she said something wrong. No. She said exactly what was in his heart. Chang Yu made a lot of wishes to him this ep. The pigs earlier and now to say hi to her dead parents for her. I'm not sure he wants to grant either LOL.
The next day, the hooligans locate the Fan Chang Yu's land deed. Just as they’re celebrating, Yan Zheng walks in slowly on his crutch. He calmly sits down. He doesn't gesture. He doesn't scowl. He doesn't even raise his voice. He simply states his threat: if they hand the deed over now, he’ll let them go.
Uncle Zhao and the entire squad of village shushus rush in to the – rescue? During the cat-fight dog-brawl, the shushus keep falling on top of Yan Zheng's injured body. The poor man is already half-crippled and these uncles are using him as a crash mat. Still, Yan Zheng quietly guides them – without them realizing it – into beating the hooligans senselessly. By the time Fan Chang Yu rushes in ready to fight, the battle is already over. The hooligans are back on their knees again. They desperately deny hurting even a hair on her husband. It is the truth. The shushus did that. xD Chang Yu stares at her exhausted, breathless husband and immediately reprimands the thugs even more. How dare they frighten him though! The man has clearly been terrified! I kind of want her as my wife too xD. But Chang Yu is not stupid. One look at the injuries and the way the hooligans were beaten tells her everything she needs to know. Yan Zheng fought them. And he fought them for her, returning the land deed to her hands. Her eyes immediately fill with tears. The gratitude hits all at once, and it’s all sitting right there in her eyes.
Yan Zheng preps Fan Chang Yu for her trial against Uncle Fan. Except she's dan-ing here and dan-ing there because she can’t read half the characters and circles each of them, hence the egg (dan). So Yan Zheng switches tactics and teaches her a famous poem instead, one that reflects her situation.
煮豆燃豆萁Boiling beans, using bean stalks as the firewood.豆在釜中泣The beans cry inside the pot.本是同根生We were originally born from the same root.相煎何太急Why must you burn me so fiercely?
FYI, this is the famous “Seven-Step Poem” (七步诗) attributed to Cao Zhi from the Three Kingdoms period. The metaphor is about people from the same family harming each other. The beans and the stalks come from the same plant, yet one is used to burn the other. According to the story, Cao Pi forced his brother Cao Zhi to compose a poem in seven steps or face execution. Cao Zhi created this poem to imply that brothers should not persecute each other, shaming Cao Pi into sparing him.
Fan Chang Yu reinterprets it. From refined classical poetry to full countryside bluntness. LOL.
煮豆燒豆稈Boiling beans using bean stalks.豆在鍋裡喊The beans are screaming in the pot.同是一個爹We’ve got the same dad!為啥先殺俺Why you gotta kill me first?!
Ah! Now she understands this. Yan Zheng gives up. And might I say impressed as well? Eventually, Fan Chang Yu falls asleep reciting her down-to-earth version. Her head tips forward and Yan Zheng’s hand comes up, catching her face right in his palm. He quietly watches her sleep, smiling to himself… until she murmurs in her sleep and calls for her mother. A tear rolls down her cheek as she whispers that she’s tired.
Song Yan, the ungrateful ex-fiancé, shows up to comfort Fan Chang Yu and declares that once he obtains his academic title, he can generously take her in as his concubine. Yan Zheng immediately kicks him away. Song Yan demands to know who this man is. Yan Zheng: “The Limp Refugee.” Which is the exact insult Song Yan used on him. And then Fan Chang Yu steps forward and announces: “Listen carefully. He is the 名正言順 – rightful – man of mine.” Hey. 名正言順 has Yan Zheng 言正 in there. Nothing important. Just hey-ing.
Reminiscing:
The wedding clothes finally arrive. Fan Chang Yu wipes the oil from her butcher apron before touching the fabric, shy and excited–even though the outfit is supposed to be for the groom. Then she discovers something. There is a wedding dress for her too. Aw. The shop owner carefully cut the fabric and pieced together scraps so there would be enough cloth for both outfits. She even made Chang Yu a bra, the traditional kind. Fan Chang Yu rushes upstairs to try it on, skipping up the steps in excitement and practically singing her poem on the way: Dou-zai fuzhong toutou kuchi!
Yan Zheng hears Fan Chang Yu coming and panics, scrambling to hide the hairpin under the blankets and himself nearby. Then she starts changing clothes. He immediately clears his throat loudly to announce his presence. She scrambles to hide the bra under the bedding too.
And then she sits on the bed.
He panics.
He sits on the bed.
She panics.
Eventually someone suggests they should try on the wedding clothes.
He panics.
He sits on the bed.
She panics.
Eventually someone suggests they should try on the wedding clothes.
Okay let's go.
Nobody moves. xD
So instead they awkwardly change the topic to her recitation progress. She’s flustered and completely thrown off, while he gently reminds her where she stopped memorizing: “We’ve got the same dad.” HA. He’s contaminated by her countryside version.
Wedding day arrives. And of course Song Yan shows up again, still completely delusional???. He interrupts the ceremony to generously offer Chang Yu one more chance to become his concubine. At that moment, Yan Zheng slowly walks forward on his crutch. Suddenly everyone is mesmerized. Nobody even notices the crutch. The man is simply too pretty.
Nobody moves. xD
Wedding day arrives. And of course Song Yan shows up again, still completely delusional???. He interrupts the ceremony to generously offer Chang Yu one more chance to become his concubine. At that moment, Yan Zheng slowly walks forward on his crutch. Suddenly everyone is mesmerized. Nobody even notices the crutch. The man is simply too pretty.
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| Uncle, you okay? :') |
Song Yan, completely oblivious, presents the object inside his proposal box. It’s the clay dolls Fan Chang Yu gave him when they were six. Dude. You are proposing… with the gift she gifted you? W-ow. Yan Zheng calmly says one word. “Accept.” But his hand is extended. Fan Chang Yu looks up at him, smiles, and takes his hand. Yan Zheng then adds coolly: “Other than this 白眼狼 – an ungrateful wolf – you haven’t raised anything else that bites?” Chang Yu replies just as calmly that she has raised many animals, but the only one that ever bit the hand that fed him… was this one (Song Yan).
Fan Chang Yu whispers the real wedding vows to Yan Zheng that they'll discuss things together and solve problems side by side – none of that patriarchy/matriarchy stuff. But the rest of the wedding is matrilocal style, she’s the one entertaining guests, while Yan Zheng is waiting inside the…groom chamber.
The newlywed night begins! With medical care. Fan Chang Yu helps Yan Zheng apply medicine to his back – though did he switch the bottle so she wouldn’t realize he was using a different remedy? But she did anyway? She also reassures him she doesn't have any improper thoughts toward him. Even if she did, he’s all injured anyway. Girl can't stop speaking her thoughts out loud, haha. And finally, she drops the porn book.
But the porn book came in handy for Yan Zheng. He must have memorized some postures when he flipped through the porn book to fool Uncle and Aunt Fan who were snooping nearby. I trust that he's a pure boy lol.
Ning niang: My jiefu (= jie's husband) has come to stand up for my jie!
Yan Zheng calmly opens the ledger and starts reading. Item. After item. After item. Everything Fan Chang Yu ever paid for. Food expenses. Living costs. His private tutor fees. Even his mother’s four bundles of menstrual cloth. And yet these ungrateful people had the audacity to shame her.
Enter Cui Qian Jin = “Cui Precious Daughter.” Translation: wealthy girl, zero brain cells. She proudly pays Song Yan’s debt… but instead of handing the money properly, she dumps the coins onto the ground. Ning niang crouches down and starts collecting the coins for her sister. Aw. But Chang Yu stops her once enough has been picked up. What belongs to her, she will take every single penny. What doesn’t belong to her, she doesn’t want a single coin. And as for Song Yan? He’s not worthy of even one.
Fan Chang Yu sulks. Not because of Song Yan. That man is far beneath the emotional effort. She’s upset about something far more important. Her hairpin. Apparently some 狗屁东西 (dog-fart) bought it for twenty coins. TWENTY COINS. How can someone spend that much money on a hairpin?! Meanwhile Yan Zheng stands there silently, dying inside. Because that 缺心眼 idiotic dog-fart… is him. He’s too embarrassed to admit it, so he lies and says a writing client gave it to him as a gift.
Fan Chang Yu is immediately moved. Deeply moved. She reminds him very sincerely that he doesn’t need to worry about earning money at all.
Fan Chang Yu: 我殺豬也能養你 I can kill pigs to support you.” This is touching every time!!
Yan Zheng is touched too.
Ning niang drags Yan Zheng out excitedly to watch her sister at work – slaughtering pigs. And that’s when Yan Zheng hears her pig prayer for the first time… or rather, the first time consciously. This is technically the third time he’s heard it: once while unconscious, once in his dream, and now for real. Sweet Ning niang, reassures him very earnestly not to be afraid of her sister. But Yan Zheng just watches Fan Chang Yu as she works – focused at doing what she must to support her family. Is this fear?
Yan Zheng studies Fan Chang Yu's butcher knives. The material. The way she moved when she fought. All of it reminds her of General He. And someone else Yan Zheng doesn't seem too fond of: Wei Yan, his maternal uncle.
Fan Chang Yu has tamed the hooligan squad. Their leader is called Jin ye (ye = lord in this case but also means grandpa). But he obediently re-introduce himself to her. His name is Jin Yuan Bao. (Bao = baby. Lol. So he didn't like his baby and upgraded to grandpa). But Fan Chang Yu is free to call him Yuan Bao. Or Bao’r (= baby). His underlings are named Man Di, Man Cang, and Man Wu. Which literally means Full Ground, Full Granary, Full House. Who came up with these deeply poetic, definitely-not-ridiculous names? Jin Yuan Bao himself, of course. Because if he’s 金元寶 (Jin Yuan Bao), a gold ingot, then naturally his people should be 滿地滿倉滿屋 (Man Di Man Cang Man Wu). It's part of a sayin that means money everywhere, ground full, granary full, houses full. Hahaha. This makes so much sense. Better than poetry. And honestly, he really is a 寶兒 (bao'r). His grandmother storms in and smacks him for bullying Fan Chang Yu. Bao’r instantly shrinks. But Fan Chang Yu actually defends him, saying he’s been working diligently for her. At lunch she even rewards the boys. Everyone gets noodles topped with pork and a whole egg each. Look at these former delinquents moved to tears by protein! XD. They earned their first honest paycheque and it came with emotional growth.
The hooligans were originally hired by a rival pork restaurant to sabotage Fan Chang Yu’s butcher shop. She handles her rival just fine herself, but that doesn’t stop Yan Zheng from being offended on her behalf. When the rival charges out with a cleaver, Yan Zheng secretly knocks him down with a flick of a rock – wait that's money! This spendthrift lol – so he ends up kneeling before Fan Chang Yu.
A mountain of deliveries arrives at the house. It's Yan Zheng. He secretly arranged all of it using Chang Yu’s father’s name, sending it over as New Year gifts. Aunt Zhao is baffled and loudly wonders what kind of foolish person would send all this at this time of year. xD Among the gifts is a cream stored in an oyster shell. Fan Chang Yu immediately says she should return it for money. Ning niang is the first to protest. Their father must have bought it because he 心疼 (felt heartache) seeing how chapped Chang Yu’s hands are from work. Correct, my sweetie! Except the one 心疼-ing her is Yan Zheng. But Chang Yu says their father wouldn’t be such a reckless idiot. Another direct hit. LOL. Yan Zheng continues getting roasted by this family from every unassuming angle while having to stand there and absorb it, hahaha. But what really offends him isn’t the insult. It’s that she still wants to return the cream. So he opens it, uses some on the spot, and makes it impossible to return. Then he walks off. Fan Chang Yu calls after him that if he likes it, he can keep using it. And he replies, without even turning around, “I don’t like it.” Aw. Silly girl. This is Yan Zheng 心疼-ing you.
Yan Zheng is still lurking nearby just to see Fan Chang Yu's reaction. When she smiles at the little container, he smiles too. (ㅅ´ ˘ `) Later at night, Chang Yu softly mutters that she doesn’t understand why her father would buy something so useless. Yan Zheng answers: That’s exactly what he’s thinking. That Chang Yu should have the luxury of useless things. That Chang Yu should be pampered.
Court day arrives. Except the case can’t even begin. The plaintiff—Uncle Fan— is murdered.
[Ep7] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
Yan Zheng studies Fan Chang Yu's butcher knives. The material. The way she moved when she fought. All of it reminds her of General He. And someone else Yan Zheng doesn't seem too fond of: Wei Yan, his maternal uncle.
They caught the messenger falcon!! It immediately pecks Fan Chang Yu, who smacks it in return. Then Yan Zheng looks at the miserable creature and coldly pronounces it a 蠢東西 (chun dongxi, “stupid thing”). The bird really did nothing to deserve any insult and assault. LOL.
Third morning of newlywed life. Fan Chang Yu kneels before her parents’ memorial tablets to update them. She reports her husband doesn’t know how to save on the salt when making preserved meat. But he will stand up for her and protect her. So she asks her parents to bless him with recovery and to be safe for the rest of his life. As for Song Yan. She spits out a quick “呸! Pei!” and hopes he fails every exam he ever takes. Amen.
I love we're slowly seeing they're more similar than we thought.
Fan Chang Yu asks Yan Zheng if he thinks she’s 粗鄙 (cu-bi), encompassing crude, rough, uncultured, aggressive. And the answer, in every way that matters, is no. Only privileged people can afford to obsess over whether their behaviour looks refined. People who spend all their energy just trying to survive don’t have the luxury of caring whether others think they’re elegant. And nobody has the right to judge them for that. The “them” here isn’t just Fan Chang Yu. It includes Yan Zheng too. Because he, as the Marquis of Wu An, has been judged, feared, misunderstood by the world. Back at the start of the episode, Ning niang asked him not to be afraid of her sister. This moment is basically his answer. That wasn't fear. It was understanding and admiration.
Yan Zheng is still lurking nearby just to see Fan Chang Yu's reaction. When she smiles at the little container, he smiles too. (ㅅ´ ˘ `) Later at night, Chang Yu softly mutters that she doesn’t understand why her father would buy something so useless. Yan Zheng answers: That’s exactly what he’s thinking. That Chang Yu should have the luxury of useless things. That Chang Yu should be pampered.
Court day arrives. Except the case can’t even begin. The plaintiff—Uncle Fan— is murdered.
Fan Chang Yu becomes the murder suspect. The weapon that killed him is the type of blade she uses. Case closed?? It doesn't matter that she literally has the whole audience as her witness because she was here the entire morning?! While she's arrested, Ning niang and Yan Zheng are being hunted by Wei's assassins. What is happening! They're not targeting Yan Zheng, but the Fans. Yan Zheng is already injured, bleeding, and barely holding himself. Then a killer corners Ning niang, who had taken the falcon in her arms when she fled, and now that falcon swoops in and attacks the assassin to save Ning niang. Omg, bird! Who called you dumb!! Ning niang runs and blows her whistle. That signal reaches Fan Chang Yu, who has just been released by Constable Wang. When Yan Zheng sees Chang Yu, he hollers breathlessly for them to leave. Chang Yu obeys. She scoops up her sister and runs.
But obviously she comes back.
By the time Yan Zheng is on the verge of losing the fight, Fan Chang Yu charges back in. Didn’t he tell her to go? Yes. And she did. She sent Ning niang away first so she could come back and save him. Yan Zheng just stares at her, eyes full of something dangerously soft. Then she stands tall in front of him to fight the remaining assassins. I just noticed her weapon is a cleaver tied to the end of a wooden pole. Correction: their weapon. Yan Zheng grabs the other end of her "spear" and suddenly they’re fighting in perfect coordination like they’ve trained together for years. The assassins fall.
Then Yan Zheng collapses. Will our ML ever recover? Injuries stacked on injuries lol.
This is the second time Fan Chang Yu has had to carry her husband. She pants, staggering under his weight, and mutters, “別人找男人是為了支撐門戶。我找男人是為了強健身體嗎? – Other people marry men to support the household. Did I marry a man just to improve my physical strength?" She collapses too. Fortunately Ning niang comes running back with the constables. Honestly, Ning niang, we couldn’t have done this without you. :’)
Yan Zheng falls into a series of nightmares about his parents’ deaths, especially his mother (Wei Wan). After his father, Xie Ling Shan, died, she tricked young Yan Zheng into leaving the house to fetch osmanthus for her favourite snack: osmanthus cakes. While he was gone, she took her own life. That memory never left him. It's why he rejects Chang Yu's candy, assuming it's osmanthus-flavoured. But Chang Yu’s candy is actually 陳皮 (dried tangerine peel – tastes better than it sounds). He likes it.
Fan Chang Yu's hands won’t stop shaking after the fight. Aunt Zhao notices but can’t figure out why. Yan Zheng immediately understands: she’s traumatized from killing. Instead of admitting that, though, Chang Yu turns around and comforts him, assuming he must be scared after everything that happened. She tells him not to worry because her pig-slaughtering aura wards off evil spirits. As long as she’s around, he won’t have nightmares at night. She’s so sweet and sincere about it that he just thanks her softly. But if we’re talking about terrifying auras, Yan Zheng has definitely killed far more people in his life. That night Fan Chang Yu falls asleep peacefully with her head resting on his lap. No nightmares for her. He stays awake the entire night guarding that peace. :')
And then the next day Yan Zheng gets arrested for murder.
Magistrate Cui – father of Cui Qian Jin – orders Yan Zheng flogged. Fan Chang Yu throws herself over Yan Zheng’s body to shield him. Yan Zheng’s hands are already broken, but he still blocks the sticks from hitting her. These two! If the magistrate is going to abuse his authority like that, then Yan Zheng will simply go by his rules. When the constables attack him, he fights them off. Magistrate is yelling at how a mere commoner dares to resist. Yan Zheng basically radiates the opposite energy: how dare this measly magistrate.
Reinforcement arrives. Enter Gongsun Yin (Li Qing). He’s the penpal Yan Zheng has been communicating with via captured messenger falcon. He shows up holding Yan Zheng’s (fake) identity papers and enough reputation to make Magistrate Cui instantly nervous about offending the wrong people. Once everything settles down, poor Yan Zheng– who already burned through the last scraps of his strength – finally collapses again.
Before fainting, he grabs Gongsun Yin and tells him one thing: take care of Fan Chang Yu. Gongsun Yin nods immediately. “Okay!”
But.
“…Who is Fan Chang Yu?” LOL
Just Ning niang fetching water. One spoke is a bird head, and the other is the rest of the pig's body. Omg lol.
Gongsun Yin’s brain short-circuits when he learns of Yan Zheng's marital status.
Ning niang: No. It’s 入贅 (ruzhui). As in… he didn’t take a wife. He got taken into the wife's household. A live-in son-in-law, a 贅婿.Gongsun Yin: Married?! As in Yan Zheng took a wife?Gongsun Yin practically leaves his body.Gongsun Yin: Yan Zheng became a 贅婿 zhuixu?! Not even the emperor who rules the realm would dare make that man 入贅 ruzhui.
And then Gongsun Yin – whom everyone just calls Sun gongzi by the way – learns who the wife is. A butcher. Sun is learning this marriage lore one layer at a time xD. Not only are they married, they’re actually caring toward each other. Ning niang reveals that Yan Zheng’s heart aches for Chang Yu when her hands get chapped from work, and he even bought her hand cream. Hold on. Ning niang knows those gifts weren’t really from her father? My sweet little detective queen. Gongsun Yin then asks, with complete seriousness, whether perhaps Fan Chang Yu injured Yan Zheng’s head, and that’s why he agreed to all this. Uncle Zhao, without missing a beat: “Yes—” Then immediately, “…Uh, no.” LOL.
Gongsun Yin gets more answers, though this one’s not nearly as shocking. It’s just how Yan Zheng survived after being betrayed, shot with an arrow, thrown off a cliff, swept down a river, and buried in snow. Very minor inconvenience, really. Love how this doesn't deserve a play-by-play reaction lol. His soldiers, Xie One and Xie Three, also died protecting him. On a serious note, Yan Zheng suspects the mastermind is his maternal uncle, Wei Yan.
Gongsun Yin – again – has OCD. He just has to fix Ning niang's crooked pigtails. Then he starts admiring her pets. Cute little rabbits! Adorable little chicke– FALCON?! That's his Hai Dong Qing! HAI DONG QING? Hahaha. The falcon has such a human name.
We still have Gongsun Yin starting my paragraphs, but now he's asking the important questions. If Yan Zheng leaves, what about Fan Chang Yu?
Yan Zheng: Right now my situation is whoever I love, I harm. If you were me, would you let yourself develop feelings right now?Gongsun Yin says the obvious truth: Feelings aren’t something you can control [paraphrased]
And then… Yan Zheng leaves?!
Fan Chang Yu starts crying. Except – Yan Zheng didn’t leave. GO HUG HIM. Only Gongsun Yin left. He also left behind money… and immaculate cleanliness. Chang Yu lies that she just came back for strings to hang the preserved meat. Only… she accidentally grabbed a steel chain instead. So subconsciously, maybe she really does want to tie him down with steel, lol
But now Fan Chang Yu needs to leave. Because of the assassins. She plans to give her land to Uncle and Aunt Zhao, since their son died in war and the two of them are alone. She will even write Yan Zheng a divorce letter. He is visibly upset just hearing any of this. And then she looks at him with that tiny, hopeful expression and asks whether he wants to come with her… or stay here and recover. He won’t look at her. Avoids eye contact. Then mutters, like he’s saying something completely casual and not sweetly romantic: “I’ll leave with you.” ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و
Fan Chang Yu starts crying. Except – Yan Zheng didn’t leave. GO HUG HIM. Only Gongsun Yin left. He also left behind money… and immaculate cleanliness. Chang Yu lies that she just came back for strings to hang the preserved meat. Only… she accidentally grabbed a steel chain instead. So subconsciously, maybe she really does want to tie him down with steel, lol
Grandpa Fan seems like he wants to tell Fan Chang Yu the truth – likely that her father wasn’t really his son? But he's interrupted and cries that all this is retribution.
At home, Aunt Zhao cheers Fan Chang Yu to take her man tonight. She washed Fan Chang Yu’s bedding and so Yan Zheng can’t just… watch his wife sleep without one. Exactly!
Episode theme: Thieves; 賊 zéi.
Uncle Zhao accidentally eavesdrops on Aunt Zhao's advice for Fan Chang Yu. I'm subscribing!
年輕的時候有賊心沒賊膽，窮嘛。年壯時有賊膽沒賊心，忙嘛。好不容易心和膽都有了，賊沒了。When you’re young, you have the thief's heart (賊心 zei-xin = mischievous intentions).But not the thief's guts (賊膽 zei-dan ≈ courage to act on it)Because you're too poor. Interested, but too poor to commit (birds and bees)When you’re in your prime, you have the thief's guts.But not the thief's heart.Because you're too busy. Too busy making money to commitWhen you finally have the heart and the gutsThe thief is gone. LOL. No birds and bees.
And now both Uncle and Aunt Zhao are like thieves, eavesdropping outside the newlywed's bedroom. Aunt Zhao glows because it looks like the two of them are finally going to share a bed for real. Uncle Zhao, sweet man, was more worried that Fan Chang Yu might get cold tonight, aw. To Aunt Zhao – who is crouched underneath him – that is pure nonsense, and then she has to wipe off all his “spit” raining directly onto her face. It's figurative spit – 唾沫星子, literally “saliva stars,” for someone who yaps a lot without substance. So… Uncle Zhao. LOL. These two are cute.
Meanwhile inside the room, to really sell the act for the lovely audience outside, Yan Zheng suddenly flips over on top of Fan Chang Yu.
Aunt and Uncle Zhao instantly start celebrating. Uncle Zhao comments that young people these days really don’t lack either thief-heart or thief-gut. Aunt Zhao immediately turns on him and accuses him of eavesdropping. Uncle Zhao is deeply offended.
Uncle Zhao: 妳不是賊喊捉賊嗎? Aren’t you the thief crying “catch the thief”? LOL. That’s the actual thief idiom 賊喊捉賊 (zei han zhuo zei), used when the guilty accuses someone else first. And of course, after arguing about eavesdropping… they go right back to eavesdropping. Hahaha. This episode is truly full of thieves, both literal and metaphorical.
Back inside, Yan Zheng is still on top of Fan Chang Yu. They're having a tender – conversation about him leaving. He says not yet, he still has things to do first. Like? Then she notices he’s struggling because of his injuries, and so–
Fan Chang Yu: I’ll be on top. You rest a bit. LOL.Yan Zheng: That’s good too. Hmmmmmm
And then.
And THEN.
He asks if she wants to try some now.
OH???
They kiss. Just lightly at first. A small, tentative taste. The kind of first kiss where both people still seem to be checking whether this is actually happening.
And then they start to kiss again, deeper—
NO.
REAL THIEVES. ASSASSINS.
Yan Zheng captures one of them and interrogates him, and from this Wei assassin he learns they were ordered to kill the Fan daughters and retrieve a token. Fortunately, Fan Chang Yu is safe – with Li Huai An. Regardless of who she's with, the relief on Yan Zheng’s face is immediate. Now he can faint at ease. His injuries have reopened. When he comes to, Fan Chang Yu hovers over him in a panic, and he assures her the blood isn’t his. Uhhh… the blood on his face not being his is technically not a lie. But his expression here. The eyes! The soft little twinkle in them. He is melting at how worried she is.
NO.
REAL THIEVES. ASSASSINS.
Yan Zheng captures one of them and interrogates him, and from this Wei assassin he learns they were ordered to kill the Fan daughters and retrieve a token. Fortunately, Fan Chang Yu is safe – with Li Huai An. Regardless of who she's with, the relief on Yan Zheng’s face is immediate. Now he can faint at ease. His injuries have reopened. When he comes to, Fan Chang Yu hovers over him in a panic, and he assures her the blood isn’t his. Uhhh… the blood on his face not being his is technically not a lie. But his expression here. The eyes! The soft little twinkle in them. He is melting at how worried she is.
Elsewhere, General He sends a box to Prime Minister Wei Yan, and mutters to himself "When you gave this to me, you knew there would come a day when you’d want me to take care of your two daughters.” Is this box from Fan Chang Yu’s father? Then Li Huai An – whom General He calls Wen Kan, his courtesy name – secretly visits General He like a thief himself. He’s cautious because he’s a Li. But for General He there is no “Wei versus Li.” He only cares about Great Yin’s soldiers and Great Yin’s people. Li Huai An informs him that the Fan sisters are safe. But he tests the waters about Xie Zheng. Instead of telling General He, he suspects Yan Zheng is Xie Zheng, he probes first and asks whether it would be a good thing if Xie Zheng were still alive.
Whew. So hard to condense. I just noticed in the recent episodes, these episodes have themes. The last one was thieves, and this one is parents, starting with Ning niang's comment.
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| Ning niang: jiefu and jiejie feel like die and niang. |
To Li Huai An's question, of course Xie Zheng being alive is a good thing, says General He. Xie Zheng is a "sea-calming needle." An idiom. 定海神針 = the needle that calms the sea, a weapon from Monkey King meaning a stabilizing force against turbulent chaos. Later, General He takes Li Huai An to pay respects at a blank grave. At the exact same time, Fan Chang Yu and Yan Zheng are standing before another grave too – her parents’. Coincidence? No. They are mourning the same people.
Fan Chang Yu comes home soaked because Madam Kang dumped dirty rice water all over her. As if that wasn’t enough, she barges into her house and screeches that Ning niang pushed her grandson. Ning niang nods and then shakes her head. She did try, but she couldn't because he was too big. And it was because he bullied her, splashed the same dirty water on her, and called her the sister of a cursed woman. Madam Kang, however, is committed to being the worst person in the village. She keeps pointing at Fan Chang Yu, saying she curses everyone around her, even her own parents' death. Aunt Zhao finally explodes and starts yelling back – AS SHE SHOULD – but Madam Kang is so foul she turns it on the Zhaos too. She sneers that Uncle and Aunt Zhao only took Fan Chang Yu in because their own son died in war, and now they have 沒人送終 – no children to care for them in old age, see them through their final days, or arrange their funeral rites. Then she spits out that Fan Chang Yu will curse the Zhaos one day too.
Upstairs, Yan Zheng hears it all. And oh, he is mad. You can see him pressing his tongue against the inside of his cheek. That little movement. That tight, contained rage. Moments like this, you can feel the cold edge of who he really is. Before he intercepts, Fan Chang Yu has had enough. People can insult her, but the second they drag her family into it, it’s over. She grabs a cleaver, and points it right at Madam Kang and her grandson. If Madam Kang wants to talk about curses so badly, then fine – Fan Chang Yu will curse them first. The grandson immediately panics and runs for his life. Madam Kang chases after him, trips, and instantly starts freaking out, convinced the curse has already taken effect. Except that wasn't a curse. It’s Yan Zheng. Sweetly avenging with candy.
Fan Chang Yu comforts Ning niang and tells her that if anyone bullies her outside, she has to come home and tell a jie. That’s settled. And now… time for the candy-thrower upstairs. She's more apologetic to him, though. Keeping her head lowered, she quietly says maybe… maybe he should just leave now instead of waiting until New Year. If she's not a curse, she is still a danger.
Yan Zheng (upset): Because of 旁人 (outsiders) and their words, you’re driving me away?Fan Chang Yu insists it’s for his safety.Yan Zheng: For my own good, you can cut me off like this? Then what about Ning niang?Fan Chang Yu: Ning niang is too young. I have to bring her along.Yan Zheng, my petty wounded king: So you’re just kicking me out?
Yan Zheng also knows Fan Chang Yu was splashed with rice water even without her telling him. Ning niang has a jie, and this a jie has Yan Zheng :'). Chang Yu says the whole town is gossiping and she can’t stop everyone. And then Yan Zheng asks if she knows this phrase: 殺雞儆猴 – Kill the chicken to warn the monkey. Punish one as an example to frighten the rest. Which has been Yan Zheng's philosophy since childhood. He was bullied and so he brutally took down the leader.
Then Yan Zheng tells her she can say these things to him. She can push him away, hurt him – fine. But if she distances herself from Uncle and Aunt Zhao too, they will be hurt. Every line out of his mouth is him staking his place in her heart. Certainly above the outsiders (旁人 ). Even above Uncle and Aunt Zhao. But maybe not above Ning niang, lol. Close enough that she can wound him and he’ll still stay. That kind of place. That just has him. Fan Chang Yu is finally soothed.
Fan Chang Yu. Then I was acting on impulse for a moment there. Stay please :)Yan Zheng is still wounded enough to grumble: 你想讓我走就走想讓我留就留啊，你可真敢. So if you want me gone, I should just go, and if you want me to stay, I should just stay? You really dare. I actually loooooove how stern he said You really dare. It doesn’t sound like soft husband Yan Zheng at all. That was the Marquis of Wu An peeking through. Just a flash of that colder man we’ve only gotten glimpses of so far.
But Fan Chang Yu, being Fan Chang Yu, just laughs it off. I swear that smile startled Yan Zheng who lost his commitment to being angry. Then she cutely asks if he can throw a rock the next time. Candies are expensive. Then you don't want to know he actually threw money one time.
Petty King (aka Yan Zheng) is wounded again. Always wounded lol. Fan Chang Yu says they're already 兩清. Even. Paid off. And he's like, “You want to 兩清 with me?” His tone is you want nothing between us? Fan Chang Yu immediately tugs on his robe like No no no, I didn’t mean it like that. Yan Zheng, you're the one leaving and you're the one upset she phrases things like she's emotionally untangling, lol. And he's a smiling candy-loving man again. He moves down and sits next to her to ask for her birthday wish. She simply wants her family safe and together (including Yan Zheng) and… another pig. Never hang, Chang Yu. Never change <3
We move away from the lovely little village of Lin'an. I miss here already.
To politics!
At court. Grand Tutor Li wants to pull provisions back from the army because the treasury is draining. Prime Minister Wei Yan pushes for levying grain from the peasants instead because the front lines cannot collapse. Li objects. The peasants might rebel. Wei Yan isn't backing down. And asks if they want what happened sixteen years ago to happen again? The loss of the city. The Jinzhou massacre. All because there wasn’t enough food. And that shuts Li up immediately.
At home, Prime Minister Wei’s wife tries to bring up their son, Wei Xuan, and Wei Yan dismisses it at once. Then she glances at the spear he keeps nearby – and if that spear belongs to Xie(/Yan) Zheng, then that implies Wei Yan cherished his nephew more than his own son.
The very confusing letter. Wei Yan receives a sealed box from General He Jing Yuan.
- Inside is an old bloodstained letter.
- The letter is addressed to General Sui Tuo
- The sender is Wei Yan himself.
- In it, he had sent Wei Qi Lin to request reinforcements using the Tiger Tally, in order to save Crown Prince Cheng De.
- So General He is using a bloody piece of evidence tied to that sixteen-year-old massacre – and he’s using it as leverage for Wei Yan to stop the assassination attempts on the Fan sisters. To Wei Yan, they’re the daughters of the so-called traitor Wei Qi Lin. And so Fan sisters’ parentage and the sixteen-year-old political case are completely intertwined. As well as Xie(/Yan) Zheng's father's death.
- And somewhere in all of that, someone sent Xie(/Yan) Zheng to investigate this against Wei Yan's wishes. Now even General He is pushing back against him. But Wei Yan can't just get rid of General He because he's too valuable on the military front.
Good(?) news for Fan Chang Yu: she no longer has to leave. Li Huai An arrives with a neat little cover story, claiming her father was an escort, and on their final mission, only he survived. Now the assassins supposedly believe he hid a treasure map, and that’s what they’re after. (Not all lies. Her father definitely seems to have run off with something – like a secret and a crucial piece of evidence.) And then Li Huai An casually moves in next door at Song Yan's old residence. Foreshadowing…? Please not another Song Yan. Yan Zheng finally appears before Li Huai An openly, confidently, and lets him see the truth for himself that he really is Xie Zheng.
Bye bye Hai Dong Qing! Who? The
Some power play at the end. Yan Zheng vs. Li Huai An. Yan Zheng shows up uninvited at Li Huai An’s place for tea. By “shows up,” I mean he is already seated at Li Huai An’s table like he owns the place. Then he asks the question plainly: is he a Li or a Wei? Which faction owns him? Which bloodline does he serve? Li Huai An gives the correct noble answer. He says he’s for the people. Ah. Pretty words. Anyone can say that. And Yan Zheng? He gives the most real answer: "I am for myself."
Episode theme appears to be chess and Go. People losing games they didn’t even realize they were playing. People getting moved around like pieces. People thinking they’re strategists, only to realize they’ve been part of someone else’s strategy the whole time.
Yan Zheng leaves Li Huai An with a warning so sharp it might as well be carved into his skin, because, well, it kind of is. He presses a shard of broken teacup to Li Huai An’s throat and says:
做男人不能爬牆頭，做臣子不能朝秦暮楚.As a man, you can’t climb the wall (= be unfaithful).As a minister, you can’t serve Qin in the morning and Chu by night (Qin and Chu were rival states).Basically, pick a side and commit.
And then – “Jiefu! Jiefu! Come for lunch!” Ning niang comes running in like a tiny angel, and Yan Zheng, who was just holding a jagged teacup to someone's throat, smiles at her like an angel too. The duality. I love it. After he leaves much later, the table collapses.
After that power move, our live-in-husband, Yan Zheng, is on his way to pick up his wife after work – as he should :) – but before he can go, Xie Five and Xie Seven cut in line to report. Do they all have odd-number names? They report that his cousin Wei Xuan is a tyrannical, incompetent mess while acting in Yan Zheng’s stead. And while Yan Zheng suspects his uncle, Wei Yan, in plenty of other matters, at least on military provisions they align: the army’s food supply cannot be cut. Sixteen years ago, Jinzhou fell, and that collapse led to the Xie army’s defeat there. He is not about to watch history repeat itself.
Assassins again! Are they after Fan Chang Yu? Or Yu Qian Qian? (Her Qian means money btw.) Yu Qian Qian panics that it’s been six years and they still won’t let her go, while some ominous figure rubs a ring in the shadows while quietly watching the ladies struggle for their lives. But the bandit in front of the girls is Butcher Guo, the incompetent rival. Fan Chang Yu could absolutely have handled that fool on her own, but Yu Qian Qian is there too, and this loser used a sleeping drug on her. Fortunately, Yan Zheng arrives in time and kicks him clean out of the way.
Butcher Guo is tied up outside the carriage and dragged back like a sack of disgrace. He’s gagged and mumbling to Uncle Zhao that his butt hurts. Uncle Zhao keeps leaning in like, “What hurts?” Butcher Guo mumbles again. “Butt hurts.” Uncle Zhao: “Butt what?” Hahaha. But Fan Chang Yu is unconscious inside. Uncle Zhao, our village vet, maybe we need you back there?
Inside – Yan Zheng already has it handled. He’s at Fan Chang Yu’s bedside, settling her gently onto the bed, being so careful and tender while she’s still unconscious. Soft voice. Soft hands. Soft eyes.
And then the very next second — this man grabs a knife and drives it straight into Butcher Guo’s shoulder blade. GASP. He doesn’t just stab him. He yanks the blade toward himself, dragging Butcher Guo forward with it so the man stumbles and crawls in agony or it's shoulder-bye-bye. Everyone in the room goes dead silent. And Yan Zheng starts beating the truth out of him. Every answer Butcher Guo gives earns him another punch to the face. Ruthless. He wants to know what the man planned after drugging Fan Chang Yu. What exactly was he going to do? Every possibility makes him more murderous. He is fully prepared to kill him right there, in that house, in front of everyone, as revenge for daring to lay a hand on her. And then:
“Yan Zheng.”
That’s it.
That’s the only voice that reaches him.
That’s the only voice that reaches him.
Fan Chang Yu wakes up, says his name, and the man who was seconds away from killing someone in a full berserk rage stops.
OHHHHHHHH MY GOD. Only her voice could stop him. No one else. Not reason. Not law. Not witnesses. Not consequences. He was brutal, unstoppable, terrifying, and the only thing that pulled him back was Fan Chang Yu saying his name. Yan Zheng is breathing hard, still seething, still shaking with fury, but those deep breaths appear to be him regaining his composure so when he finally turns around, he's back to the gentle Yan Zheng she knows. He reassures her he won’t kill anyone. The gentle Yan Zheng is a persona that Chang Yu brought out of him. No wonder everyone was shocked he'd be a live-in-husband.
Once Fan Chang Yu fully wakes up, Yan Zheng asks if she was in pain. And then she tells him that if he had actually gone to jail for murder because of this, that would have hurt her. And the tears hit his eyes immediately. He pulls her into a hug, and only then do the tears finally roll down, hidden behind her shoulder. She tells him she doesn’t want him in danger. He promises her he’ll be fine. And then, on the other side of that same hug, a tear slips down her face too. The timing of those tears was so beautiful :’) okay. I don’t know how to phrase it, but whatever is triggering their tears in those moments is just… pure love. And then they just stay there, wrapped up in each other.
3CP. An Xu has a crush on Gongsun Yin. Except An Xu is actually a woman disguised as a man, specifically Grand Princess Qi Shu, the Emperor’s sister. Gongsun Yin actually goes and tattles on her mother, which means Grand Consort Dowager promptly orders Qi Shu back home. And THEN it turns out Qi Shu is actually Gongsun Yin's crush too. She’s the mysterious person he’s been anonymously playing Go with, and they’ve both been admiring each other’s qi skills this whole time. Too much of their love story was dumped at once. I can't emotionally process this whatsoever. And it gets worse. Gongsun Yin literally sends Qi Shu to another man: Li Huai An. Congratulations, Gongsun Yin. You played yourself.
Li Huai An, to his credit, knows exactly what he is: a chess piece to his grandfather, Grand Tutor Li. The arranged date is Tutor Li trying to build a marriage alliance with the imperial house for more power. Li Huai An also openly admits he’s glad Xie Zheng is alive because with Xie Zheng around, the borders are safe. So despite all his fence-sitting, Li Huai An is not blind. He understands the board. (He just hasn’t realized how many hands are moving him.)
The cherry on top: Xie Five tells Yan Zheng to go home early or his marchioness (侯夫人) will suspect. His guard already sees Fan Chang Yu as Yan Zheng's legitimate wife. And Yan Zheng doesn’t really correct it. He just gets a little embarrassed/shy in front of his subordinate. And obediently goes home.
Madam Song, Song Yan's mother, gossips are beneath my time so I'm not even entertaining with it.
Yan Zheng helps out at Fan Chang Yu’s new and upgraded butcher shop, and the place is packed… with female customers. Not for the meat. But for the meat… :) 小鮮肉 = fresh meat = idol = Yan Zheng.
Ning niang meets Yu Bao Er, Yu Qian Qian’s son, and the kids are adorable together. They spend the day playing, avoiding cavities, ruining a tryst, and then very nearly getting themselves into danger. At one point Ning niang goes, “A jie, I’m tired,” and Fan Chang Yu immediately translates to jiefu, “She’s tired.” Jiefu understands his assignment. Yan Zheng scoops Ning niang right up into his arms. Aww, is this Fan Chang Yu lowkey acting cute and leaning on Yan Zheng like he’s truly her husband?
2CP. Yu Qian Qian is chilled to the bone when a customer shows up: Qi Min. He was the one in the forest/mountain rubbing his ring while watching Yu Qian Qian and Fan Chang Yu get attacked. He orders his lackey Zhao Xun to investigate Yu Qian Qian’s “business partners,” aka the men around her, and then says: "Any man who touched her, cut that off and bestow it to him." Sick. And he doesn’t stop with the men either. Madam Song gets targeted too for badmouthing Yu Qian Qian. He also starts suspecting Yu Bao Er might be his son. And he shuts down Yu Qian Qian’s restaurant business by booking the entire pavilion. By force. So now Yu Qian Qian is trapped inside.
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| The ring that was also in Ep11 |
Fan Chang Yu, our butler, to the rescue! And Yu Qian Qian has a plan to get Qi Min off her back… She wants to borrow a husband.
Yan Zheng is offended for the 823891th time. Even if it’s just borrowing him to play fake husband when he is/was already playing "fake husband" himself xD. What exactly did Yu Qian Qian give Fan Chang Yu that she sold him off so easily? Chang Yu immediately goes, “How could I sell you for a few coins? It was 30.” Aunt Zhao approves. If Uncle Zhao were worth three or five coins, she’d do it too. Uncle Zhao gives the most offended little hmph! and marches away because he’s not even worth more than a pig to his own wife. xD. As for the man worth more than a pig, Yan Zheng, asks if they can’t just borrow someone else. Like Li Huai Bro. You are the reason Li Huai An isn’t here. Your chess move lured the tiger away, remember? xD And besides, why would Chang Yu ask an outsider when her husband is right here? You can see him soften :) Not enough to actually agree yet, but then he hears the man they’re warding off is a rice merchant surnamed Qi.
Yan Zheng meets Qi Min, and he drops just one piece of information sharp enough to slice through the entire conversation: 200,000 unit of wheat. That’s it. And Qi Min immediately understands. In one line, Yan Zheng tells him: I know what’s happening, I know your side of it, and I know enough to be dangerous. And our political chessboard expands:
Yan Zheng meets Qi Min, and he drops just one piece of information sharp enough to slice through the entire conversation: 200,000 unit of wheat. That’s it. And Qi Min immediately understands. In one line, Yan Zheng tells him: I know what’s happening, I know your side of it, and I know enough to be dangerous. And our political chessboard expands:
- Firstly, Qi Min’s father is Lord Chang Xin, part of the imperial line who's revolting, and his plan is to use bandits to steal military grain (check), force Great Yin into a grain shortage, increase pressure through levies, and drive the common people into rebellion and unrest. Destabilize the country from the bottom up.
- Individually, Qi Min has been quietly buying up all the spare grain on the market to make the shortage even worse.
- Qi Min was also the one who nudged Xie Zheng into investigating Wei Yan in the first place. He wanted Wei Yan weakened. He doesn’t have a personal grudge against Xie Zheng, especially not now when there’s already discord between Xie Zheng and Wei Yan. If anything, he wants to work with him. Because at the end of the day, Qi Min and Yan Zheng share the same enemy: Wei Yan.
- Wei Yan is the man who profited most from the bloodbath sixteen years ago when 1) Crown Prince Cheng De and Xie Zheng’s father died in the Battle of Jinzhou, 2) the Emperor abdicated, and 3) the Eastern Palace burned to the ground. With all the heirs gone, Wei Yan controls the current puppet Emperor.
- Qi Min's lackey, Zhao Xun, was one of the few survivors from the Eastern Palace. Meaning he's under the ex Crown Prince's faction. And so… is Qi Min the son of Lord Chang Xin or ex Crown Prince Cheng De???
- Xie Zheng has terms to work with Qi Min. Like a 200,000 units of wheat deposit. Qi Min agrees, because joining forces with Xie Zheng doesn’t just help him against Wei Yan, it also gives him leverage over his brother Sui Yuan Qing and moves him one step closer to becoming Lord Chang Xin’s chosen successor.
New Year! Yan Zheng writes red paper blessings for the family. Like Fan Chang Yu's mother, Yan Zheng also writes unusual spring couplets, not the traditional ones. Then she gets close – too close – and our man gets flustered enough that the ink drips on the paper. 
Fan sisters write one together: Definitely will have money. Yan Zheng's review of it: "using a dog’s tail to continue sable fur." Ruining a masterpiece with an unworthy addition/sequel. Yan Zheng! xD The sisters don’t understand and assume it’s a praise. He smiles at them and says it's just right. Whatever they write is perfectly right.
The original is from the Book of Songs 詩經, specifically 風雨:風雨如晦，雞鳴不已。
既見君子，云胡不喜。
Wind and rain darken the skies;
the rooster’s cry does not cease.
Now that I have finally seen the noble one,
how could I not rejoice?
The meaning:The sky is dark, the storm is heavy, the world is all noise and unease, but in the middle of all that chaos, you look up and see that person. Just one glance, and it feels like the clouds part, the mist lifts, and warmth spills through everything.
Fan Chang Yu thought it sounded beautiful before. But now she understands it. Because when Yan Zheng glances toward her, all the noise around her falls away. It’s like there are only two people left in the world.
3CP . Qi Shu’s original fiancé was Xie(/Yan) Zheng!. And Gongsun Yin is an ineligible marriage candidate because the Gongsun family is barred from entering politics for their entire generation.
To fully appreciate why this is funny, you need the original idiom she’s mangling:
捨不得孩子套不著狼
If you can’t bear to part with the child,you can’t catch the wolf.– You have to risk something to gain something.– No bait, no catch.Chang Yu's remix:捨不得喂狼套不著娃If you don’t feed the wolf,you won’t get a baby out of him.– Also no bait, not catch, haha.LOL. I would love to go to school with her.
Uncle Zhao bought Aunt Zhao a bangle. AWWWW. And she's like having a 老伴 (lao ban) like him isn’t so bad after all. 老伴 means your lifelong companion/old partner, usually an affectionate way to refer to a spouse in later years. And then cute little Ning niang sees it and says she wants one too. Not the bangle. A 老伴. AW! She knows where the real value is.
Yan Zheng stands by the window looking outside and sighs that this is how a year should be spent. Peaceful, warm, noisy. Then he turns and just quietly gazes at sleeping Fan Chang Yu. And she is still drunkenly going on about her “娃 (wa)” – baby – from earlier LOL. Yan Zheng leans in like, “What wa?” And so she shows him what wa she means. By which I mean: She leans in so close she almost kisses him. Almost made a wa. And then promptly dozes off. He gets up to carry her back to her room, but she yanks him down hard enough that I genuinely wondered if his knees cracked on impact lol. Again: so close to kissing. Again: she dozes off. But now the wolf has been fully baited. Yan Zheng is ready to continue where she left off… except Ning niang interrupts.
Then Yan Zheng finds a red packet tucked under his pillow. It’s from Fan Chang Yu, and it instantly reminds him of what his mother used to do for him when he was little.
The next day out on the street, Yan Zheng insists on carrying Ning niang because all the husbands around them are carrying the kids. Fan Chang Yu worries about his injured arm. ? Who was the one acting cute the other day so he would carry her?
Fan Chang Yu's a busybody hero. She's erasing Song Yan's name from the water lanterns so the water-lantern gods don't grant these ladies a Song Yan. Meanwhile, Song Yan sees this and, because he is both shameless and delusional, completely misreads it as: Aha, Chang Yu wants me all to herself. LOL. I would think this too, actually. So he gives her a lantern and has them write both their names on it, which immediately becomes a problem the moment Cui Qian Jin arrives – aka the girl he’s currently trying to mooch off of. Chang Yu tries to warn Cui Qian Jin, but the girl is fully blinded by Song Yan’s AI face.
Yan Zheng, ever the supportive husband, comes up with the perfect revenge against Song Yan for upsetting Fan Chang Yu. They drag him into an alley, stuff him in a sack, and beat him. Meanwhile, Ning niang is outside the alley, covering her eyes and counting like the sweetest little accomplice. Yan Zheng and Chang Yu finish their revenge beating but Ning niang only counted to seven. Ning niang never gets to count to 10.
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| I was wondering where Ning niang went in the first two screenshot. |
Gongsun Yin's jaws continue to drop. He had come with real intel that when Fan parents died, they met with General He Jing Yuan. But Gongsun Yin is more shell-shocked by Yan Zheng’s intel. Like Sui Yuan Huai ( = Qi Min) being here. Shock #1. Then Shock #2: this Sui is also entangled with a businesswoman? Every single time Gongsun Yin comes to this village: Σ(°□°˶) !!
Yan Zheng decides to escape ASAP. But Fan Chang Yu casually stops him from leaving with the water, why waste it? Just pour it into her foot bath. He hesitates. You mean the water he just used to wash his face is now going to touch her skin too?? NOOOOO. Haha. Sorry, that's just me. And then she smiles, scoots the basin more toward the middle, and even shifts her feet to one side so he can put his in too. She is trying to kill this man. His desires are not going to be controlled at this rate. But then why is Ning niang asleep right there on the bed beside them?? Even if Yan Zheng wanted to do literally anything, there is a child in the room. Yu Qian Qian, you fail lol. So Yan Zheng makes a sensible decision: he will bathe in cold water on this winter night. And actually, you know what. He’ll just sleep in the workers’ room tonight. Away from temptation. He gets out of that room so fast. LOL. 娃走了 The baby left. Fan Chang Yu is left wondering if maybe her foot bath scared him off.
Yan Zheng is a different man. He had rejected the money Gongsun Yin bought. But ten seconds later. He's back. Thoroughly amused, Gongsun Yin teases that a wife really has changed our general. Gone is the lone wolf. The man is now a domestic husband paying bills.
The levies arrive. Fan Chang Yu is stable enough that she can cover her own household, but she immediately goes to check on her grandfather, who’s being mistreated by her widowed aunt-in-law, and definitely can’t handle the levy. But Grandfather Fan refuses her help and says this is his retribution. The truth is her father was never actually his son. Seventeen years ago, while fleeing enemies, Chang Yu’s father asked if he could assume the identity of Grandfather Fan’s missing son, Fan Er Niu. He even paid Grandfather Fan a large sum of money. The day before the parents died, they handed Grandfather Fan a will and the house deed. When he asked what was happening, they only said that if they died, that would be the only way to protect the daughters/sisters. But then Grandfather Fan’s biological son, Uncle Fan, stole the deed and burned it so he could seize the house from the girls.
Fan Chang Yu gets hit with more bad news: Yan Zheng is leaving. She instinctively asks him, almost before she can stop herself, if he can stay. And the second he looks at her, you can tell he cannot answer those earnest eyes of hers. So she rushes to patch the wound herself before it fully opens. She forces a smile and says, “What am I saying? It’s not like you’re not coming back.” But he still says nothing. So she looks at him and asks, “Am I right?” And Yan Zheng still can’t answer.Politics. The heavy levies are pushing the peasants toward rebellion, exactly as intended by Lord Chang Xin. His soldiers disguise themselves as the incompetent Wei Xuan’s army and have them kill civilians who are protesting the levy. And one victim was very likely deliberately allowed to escape and run back to the village with the story, specifically so the villagers would all rally, panic, and rise up together. Destabilization achieved.
The downfall of Yu Qian Qian's restaurant is part of the larger destabilization plan meant to inflame the people. Yan Zheng instructs Chang Yu the real priority is not to be stupid, but to tip off Constable Wang to shut the city gates before the unrest spills into the city. And before Yan Zheng leaves to do what the man needs to do, he gives Fan Chang Yu the most important instruction of all: if she can’t control the chaos, then she must protect herself first. And don't worry about little Yu Bao Er, Yan Zheng pulls a decoy move by carrying out an empty cloth bundle to mislead the guards into thinking Yu Bao Er escaped with him. Dude just walked out, lol. Now Yu Bao Er can stay hidden inside the restaurant, which is now safe.
Next on the list: Magistrate Cui and Cui Qian Jin. Why. They're held hostage by Lord Chang Xin’s other son, Sui Yuan Qing. When Cui Qian Jin sees Fan Chang Yu, grateful, she promises to give Song Yan back to her. Woman. Do you want to be saved? Why are you punishing Chang Yu. Chang Yu changes into their maid’s clothes and goes undercover to serve the man holding them hostage. He reads her as the soft, delicate, shy-shy, bashful maiden – exactly the type he likes. But the second he looks away, Fan Chang Yu whips out her knife and rope, loops it around his neck, and starts choking him down. Then when he talks too much, she smacks him. Sui Yuan Qing swears he’ll remember her.
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| Qi Min’s ring looks like some half-burnt relic of whatever it was originally supposed to be. |
Of course Sui Yuan Huai / Qi Min has his own sneaky little ways. His people have infiltrated Magistrate Cui’s guards, and one of them fires the first shot at the civilians, deliberately escalating the tension. And it almost works. But we have Yan Zheng. In a mask. He kicks the spy who fired the arrow off the wall. It was swift, public, and exactly the kind of violence needed to freeze the crowd before they ignite. Then our guys execute all the fake soldiers – the ones with red ribbons, which was their way of identifying each other. And right on cue, Yan Zheng’s men arrive with the grain. Relief!
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| It was a small scene, but director included Yan Zheng buying his mask in Ep14. Nice. |
Little brother Sui Yuan Qing came prepared too. He didn’t just bring the men already visible in the city. He also has a thousand soldiers hidden outside the outskirts, ready to rush in as backup. But then General He Jing Yuan arrives. Pak, pak, done.
Sui Yuan Qing – in the middle of being tied up, smacked around, attacked, and nearly killed – falls for Fan Chang Yu. He is very clearly not into the soft, delicate, shy-shy maiden type. What he’s into is being assaulted. He even wants to die together with her, but especially unfortunate for him because Yan Zheng is standing right there. Yan Zheng throws his dagger so that only Sui Yuan Qing falls from the city wall. Before hunting him, Yan Zheng tells Fan Chang Yu to wait for him at their usual place. She nods like she understands… and then immediately realizes she has no idea where it is.
Yan Zheng chases Sui Yuan Qing all the way to the edge of a cliff. And we all know how cliff ends. Sui Yuan Qing finally realizes that the masked man is Xie Zheng. And more importantly, he realizes Fan Chang Yu is deeply important to him. Because he is pure evil, he weaponizes that knowledge and says that when he kissed her it was deliciously sweet. Yan Zheng is already furious and now he's just murderous. And because Yan Zheng also knows about drama laws, he doesn’t leave it to Clifford. He immediately fires an arrow straight at where Sui Yuan Qing’s heart should be. Which should absolutely kill him. Right?
So this is the 老地方 (lao di fang) Yan Zheng meant – literally “the old place”, but means the familiar spot they always return to. Yan Zheng and Fan Chang Yu have finally reunited… only to separate again. He’s leaving, and she will write him a divorce letter. He just stares ahead, coldly tossing more wood into the fireplace like he’s trying to burn the whole conversation. Then he asks what her plans are. Chang Yu, being Chang Yu, talks about pigs. He clarifies he means her marriage plans. Does she plan to marry 嫁人 or marry 招婿. 1st marry is marry out in the traditional sense, bride marries out and joins the husband's household. 2nd marry is marry in a husband, in the Yan Zheng sense. Yan Zheng adds more fuel to the fire, literally tossing twigs into it, and says if she tells him what kind of man she likes, he’ll help keep an eye out. They start snapping at each other in that aggressively insincere way only two people deeply in love and deeply offended can manage.
Then Fan Chang Yu gets up to leave – and that’s when Yan Zheng yanks her back and forces a kiss on her. Then, because apparently emotional destruction wasn’t enough, he taunts her with, “Do you really love men like Song Yan that much?” She slaps him. Good. He smirks. Bad. Who are you right now! She storms off again, but he pulls her right back into another forced kiss. When she shoves him away this time, he catches the hair tie wrapped around her hand at the exact last second. That hair tie. The one she gave him. The one he once tied onto her. And now he’s secretly taking it back without her even noticing, keeping it as a memento. What is going on in his head?? Chang Yu whips out a knife and puts it to his throat.
Fan Chang Yu spits out: Why do you get to do whatever you want? Leave when you want, kiss me when you want?And this madman walks forward into the bladeYan Zheng: Do it. Then he keeps going, because clearly they haven't suffered enough. You have terrible taste in men. Rather than ending up with some ungrateful wretch later, you might as well come with me now. This man is technically asking her to go with him, but it’s so obvious he doesn’t actually want her to say yes, because that is not how anyone asks when they want the answer to be yes. This is sabotage disguised as a confession.Fan Chang Yu, furious and heartbroken, throws it right back at him: Yes, my eye for men does suck. That’s why I saved you.
And that’s when Yan Zheng finally drops some truth. He tells her he has an enemy. If it’s not the enemy who dies, then it will be him. Wait for him one year. If he dies, someone will send her a letter, and then… she can consider remarrying. Excuse me. Fan Chang Yu is stunned and livid. “憑什麼? By what right? You call Song Yan an ungrateful wretch, so what does that make you? You force a kiss, then tell me to wait? 憑什麼 Why should I?" She walks away. Mission accomplished, Yan Zheng? :(
Yan Zheng just stands there clutching the hair tie instead of holding onto her. It’s like he already knew that would be her answer the moment he asked (in that way). Then he falls backward into the snow and says, “You saved me here. You’re leaving me here too. At least it’s 有始有終.” 有始有終 means “to see something through from beginning to end” – to have both a beginning and an ending. If this was the place where she first pulled him back to life, then maybe, in his mind, it’s fitting that this is also where she leaves him behind.
Beneath all the real emotion where they're both hurting each other (him more than her), there’s something deliberate in the chaos of it. Part of it feels like Yan Zheng is provoking her on purpose – pushing her anger, needling her pride, making sure she leaves furious instead of clinging to him. If she’s mad enough, then maybe she’ll leave him alone and let him march toward danger by himself.
Fan Chang Yu finds her birthday present the next morning. A wrist guard. Happy birthday, girl T_T. Congrats, Yan Zheng. You succeeded in making her too furious to cling, but not too furious to have her heart shattered by a wrist brace T_T.
The Emperor is thrilled to learn Xie Zheng is alive. This is the same man who was happily announcing Xie Zheng’s death before. Overjoyed, he declares, "The whole realm should celebrate this for seven days!” Wei Yan and Grand Tutor Li look unenthused, so he immediately starts bargaining with himself. Five days? Three days? Grand Tutor Li smoothly seconds the motion, and the Emperor, for once showing a flicker of brain activity, mutters: What motion are you seconding? We didn’t even set a number yet. xD.
Uncle Zhao is forcibly enlisted into the army. He promises Aunt Zhao he'll be back with a bangle, but gold this time. She smacks him hard. She doesn't need jewelry. She just wants her 老伴 back. (老伴 lao ban, lifelong companion). And by sheer coincidence, Fan Chang Yu manages to make it in time to say goodbye to him too, because she was actually rushing there to meet Yan Zheng, who she misunderstood enlisted as well. This poor girl just can't catch a break.
Wei Family – if they're a family. We learn that the arrow that shot Yan Zheng was fired by Wei Xuan himself. He insists he was only doing what his father wanted but couldn’t do personally. Then he asks if Wei Yan would have been happier if he had been the one Yan Zheng killed instead. Why does his mother treat her husband like a master? Why does his father treat Xie Zheng, his cousin, more like a son than he treats his actual son like one? His mother hushes him and reminds him that the only reason he has the life he has at all is because of Wei Yan. And then after she learns Xie Zheng is alive, she starts crying (looking like genuine relief) and says that Wei Yan finally has someone to carry on the line… in Xie Zheng. Hm? What does that make Wei Xuan?
Wei Yan's suspicions for General He Jing Yuan deepens because this general knew Xie Zheng was alive and didn't report it. On top of that, General He Jing Yuan has placed his prized disciple Li Huai An into the position of general in Jizhou. Looks like the biggest winner is General He Jing Yuan, strategically placing his people everywhere. As for Wei Yan's other enemy, Grand Tutor Li, the man can clown himself. Back in the Eastern Palace days (btw, Eastern Palace refers to the Crown Prince’s residence and therefore the Crown Prince’s political faction), Li Xing was a nobody. The Civil faction had Wei Yan and Grand Tutor Tao. The Military faction had Xie Lin Shan (Xie/Yan Zheng's father) and General Meng. Wei Yan
"Marquis Wu An" is back. Xie Zheng (but I'll keep calling him Yan Zheng) makes his entrance LOUD, dressed like he robbed Monkey King’s accessories. Those headpieces are absurdly tall. As if our cow isn't tall enough. But the effect works. Morale in the camp instantly shoots up. The men are thrilled to see him alive. Gongsun Yin, however, is not focused on morale. He is focused on gossip. All he can see is that scar on Yan Zheng’s face. But first, actual business. At the war table, Yan Zheng lays it out clearly: Lord Chang Xin’s next target is Lucheng, where General He Jing Yuan is stationed. Right. “But seriously… did Fan niangzi slap you?” Gongsun Yin gossips.
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| L: Yan Zheng; R: Gongsun Yin |
Qi Min kidnaps Yu Qian Qian. The reason she didn’t recognize the father of her son is because this man got plastic surgery. Last she saw him, he was burned. Because of the Eastern Palace fire. His alias "Qi Min" might be his real name because Qi is royal (e.g. Qi Shu, 3FL).
Sui Yuan Qing is alive. Maybe his heart is on the right side???? Maybe Satan rejected him? Either way, This cockroach was saved by a group of bandits led by Shi San niang, who is extremely proud of herself, lecturing the men for underestimating women fighters… only for Sui Yuan Qing to wake up half-dead and immediately twirl her into defeat. That says a lot about the entire bandit gang's combat skills. And because she's just sick in the head, she marries him. Then the very next thing Sui Yuan Qing does is lead his brand-new wife’s bandit army to search for Fan Chang Yu.
Sui Yuan Qing almost kills Aunt Zhao and the rest of the women hiding in the underground cellar. I like that this hiding place was set up all the way back in Ep1. And I realize at this moment, the villagers weren’t just protecting Fan Chang Yu out of love for her – they were also protecting the people she was hiding. Their wives, mothers, daughters, loved ones were all down there. Fan Chang Yu was sheltering their families. But where is Fan Chang Yu? Above. She comes flying down and strikes Sui Yuan Qing. She waits until the other bandits are far enough away before making her move, but Sui Yuan Qing manages to hold her off and immediately calls for backup. The bandits turn around at once. Uh oh! But this either was her plan to begin with or instantly became her plan because Fan Chang Yu thinks on instinct: she jumps onto a horse and rides off, deliberately drawing the bandits away from the cellar. She turns herself into bait so the people she loves have a chance to survive.
But when Fan Chang Yu rides through the village… The bodies. They're everywhere. Fire. Blood. Smoke curling through the streets of the place she calls home. Then she looks up… and sees Magistrate Cui hanging above them, suspended like he was forced to watch everyone die – including his own daughter. Fan Chang Yu is experiencing what Yan Zheng did seventeen years ago. Except for him, that was his own father hanging up there. This is horrific. Fan Chang Yu breaks. She charges into the bandits. Just grief and rage. She tears through them with tears streaming down her face, cutting like the whole village is screaming through her.
But Ning niang. Oh my god, Ning niang. She couldn’t hide in the cellar for long because of her asthma, so Fan Chang Yu hid her inside a bucket instead. And now she crawls out. Crying. Loudly?! She almost gets caught too, if not for Madam KANG of all people. They hide under the bed with her grandson Xiao Hu. And even here, in the middle of a massacre, Ning niang is still Ning niang. She whispers to Xiao Hu and asks if his teeth still hurt from when he fell before. He shakes his head and grins. Teeth look good. It is the sweetest, tiniest little exchange in the middle of absolute hell. T_T. And is this Ning niang's 2ML
Madam Kang sacrifices. 1 episode ago, I could care less. But T___T. She knew instantly when the bandits got closer her time was over. She calmly starts giving instructions to her grandson. She tells him how to cook the dumplings on the table. Eat five. Don’t eat too many. Six is okay too. Just don’t eat so much that you get a stomachache. Tears are sliding down her face the entire time, but her voice stays steady. And then she steps out from under the bed. Grabs her broom. And starts yelling and swinging wildly, making herself loud and big and obvious to draw the bandits away. Bait for her loved ones. Just like Chang Yu T_T. The bandits just laugh at the ridiculous old woman shaking a broom at them until they finally strike her down. And when they insult her, the words come full circle: “活該沒有人送終 Serves you right that no one will be there to send you off at the end." It’s the exact same cruel thing she said to Aunt Zhao. And this is Madam Kang’s retribution. But she saved Ning niang. And I hate that this made me cry for a foul woman I spent episodes hating. Damn you, drama. Damn you actress for being so good.
And damn you Sui Yuan Qing still chasing Fan Chang Yu all the way to the cliff. Chang Yu would rather throw herself off a cliff than fall into his hands. These two in the two times they've met, they've only been assaulting each other and falling off high places.
Enter the hero of the episode: Yan Zheng Hai Dong Qing. This sweet bird that everybody keeps calling dumb and body-shaming? Apologize To Him Immediately. Hai Dong Qing flies straight to Yan Zheng with his feathers burned and bloodied, turning his own injured body into the message that Linan Village is under attack. Yan Zheng immediately orders his men to turn back toward the village. Although, tiny problem: Prime Minister Wei Yan’s aide is watching him, carefully assessing why Yan Zheng would react so strongly to new about a random village. Anyway! Hai Dong Qing is not done being a genius. You can also use him like a dog. With the hairband that carries Fan Chang Yu's scent, he leads Yan Zheng straight to the bottom of the cliff. And there she is – caught in the branches, frozen, injured, barely conscious. Yan Zheng pulls her into his arms and holds her tight, trying to warm her up. He’s crying. Fully crying. Terrified he’s about to lose her. And then someone suddenly crawls under the blanket between them…This random blanket intruder turns out to be a very sweet blind grandma (and the owner of the place, so not intruder). She feels for Chang Yu’s pulse. She needs guasha to stimulate her blood circulation.
[Ep19] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
Sui Yuan Qing is alive. Maybe his heart is on the right side???? Maybe Satan rejected him? Either way, This cockroach was saved by a group of bandits led by Shi San niang, who is extremely proud of herself, lecturing the men for underestimating women fighters… only for Sui Yuan Qing to wake up half-dead and immediately twirl her into defeat. That says a lot about the entire bandit gang's combat skills. And because she's just sick in the head, she marries him. Then the very next thing Sui Yuan Qing does is lead his brand-new wife’s bandit army to search for Fan Chang Yu.
Sui Yuan Qing starts slaughtering Linan Village. Anyone who refuses to reveal Fan Chang Yu’s whereabouts dies. And no one talks. Fan Chang Yu earned every bit of loyalty in this village, and these people prove it with their lives. Constable Wang stands firm. Even Cui Qian Jin stands firm. When Sui Yuan Qing demands answers, she tells him, slowly and clearly: “I. Don't. Know.” Then she dares him to kill her because he already killed her father. And he does it. He kills her. He kills Constable Wang. He kills everyone. But there is a traitor: Madam Song. She instantly leads the bandits straight to Fan Chang Yu’s home. And instantly he kills her too. He sneers that he hates traitors the most, and that killing her this way is already too merciful. For killing her, I like him for that one second, but please don't have principles because dude, you killed all the loyal ones too.
Sui Yuan Qing almost kills Aunt Zhao and the rest of the women hiding in the underground cellar. I like that this hiding place was set up all the way back in Ep1. And I realize at this moment, the villagers weren’t just protecting Fan Chang Yu out of love for her – they were also protecting the people she was hiding. Their wives, mothers, daughters, loved ones were all down there. Fan Chang Yu was sheltering their families. But where is Fan Chang Yu? Above. She comes flying down and strikes Sui Yuan Qing. She waits until the other bandits are far enough away before making her move, but Sui Yuan Qing manages to hold her off and immediately calls for backup. The bandits turn around at once. Uh oh! But this either was her plan to begin with or instantly became her plan because Fan Chang Yu thinks on instinct: she jumps onto a horse and rides off, deliberately drawing the bandits away from the cellar. She turns herself into bait so the people she loves have a chance to survive.
And damn you Sui Yuan Qing still chasing Fan Chang Yu all the way to the cliff. Chang Yu would rather throw herself off a cliff than fall into his hands. These two in the two times they've met, they've only been assaulting each other and falling off high places.
Fan Chang Yu's condition is no longer life-threatening, but she still hasn’t woken up. She’s trapped in constant nightmares while Yan Zheng stays by her side the entire night. He tells her he’s killed many people and carries heavy 殺氣 – the murderous aura of someone who has taken lives. With that kind of aura, wandering ghosts won’t dare come near her dreams. Aw, these are her words, returned to her. She once used them to comfort him, not knowing the 殺氣 he carried was far stronger than her own pig-slaughtering kind. Then Yan Zheng sits beside her bed, holds her hand, and quietly says, “I’ll marry you, alright? If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing.” (Silence.)
Yan Zheng was beside Fan Chang Yu the whole time… just not when she’s actually awake. So when she comes to, she thinks it was Sui Yuan Qing who took her. Oh dear. And the hairband! It’s tied back in her hair. Which, yes, of course it’s on her head, but what I mean is: she probably never even noticed it was gone, so now she definitely won’t realize it mysteriously reappeared. There’s basically no evidence it was Yan Zheng. Unless some tiny part of her half-conscious brain remembers. So off she goes, running away with sweet blind grandma on her back. Poor Tian Xi Wei is carrying half the cast in this show at this point. Alright, maybe 3 people. Still! Then while she’s desperately shouting down the mountain for Li Huai An to help, her wrist brace falls. And in that moment, calling for rescue becomes secondary because picking that thing up is more important. And she almost slips straight off the mountain – again.
Fan Chang Yu prepares graves for the dead. Including Madam Kang. For all the awful things Madam Kang said in life, in death she still has 有人送終 – someone to see her off at the end, someone to bury and mourn her properly. Fan Chang Yu gives her that. T_T I’m not even sure Chang Yu knows what Madam Kang actually did for Ning niang.
All hail Fan Chang Yu as the Pig-Slaughtering Goddess. It's Pig-Slaughtering Xi Shi 殺豬西施. Xi Shi is one of the "Four Great Beauties" of ancient China. Our girl made her way up by killing pigs, lol. She's become a legendary folk superhero for girls everywhere while roaming from place to place searching for Ning niang.
Transactions. 1) Back at camp, Gongsun Yin points out that Yan Zheng owes General He Jing Yuan nothing anymore. The favours have been returned. This was never some deep emotional alliance between Yan Zheng and General He. It was a transaction: you helped me, I helped you, now we’re even and cleanly separated (兩清 liang qing). 2) And right on cue, Yan Zheng receives the bag Fan Chang Yu asked Uncle Zhao to deliver. Inside: chenpi candy… and the divorce letter. Oof. He helped her. She helped him. No one owes anyone anything now. 兩清. Yan Zheng immediately develops either a headache… or a heartache. 3) And before he can even finish suffering through that, he gets a second headache-inducing letter. This one is from Sui Yuan Qing, and that lunatic claims he has his daughter. Haha. 兩清不了啊. Can't 兩清 ah~
Is Fan Chang Yu imprisoned partly so she can interact with Li Huai An and make him quietly ache for her? 大可不必. She's crying, but not because she's imprisoned but because she still can’t find Ning niang. But while she’s there, she finally asks him about her parents’ deaths. And Li Huai An realizes something is wrong with the official files. They’ve been tampered with ancient whiteout. And the case may connect all the way back to the Jinzhou massacre sixteen years ago. Li Huai An even lets her read the file herself. She opens the document, stares at it, and admits there are words she doesn’t know. “This one, this one, and this one – I know. The rest, I don’t know.” LOL. And Li Huai An, do not laugh! Except really, he’s too boring to laugh.
Yan Zheng is planning to flood Sui Yuan Qing, and omg, my nickname Sui-wage (sewage) is actually relevant. This man really is about to get flushed. Baxia, Sui Yuan Qing's turf, is the perfect place for it. The land is low, with a river running right upstream, basically begging to be flooded. And Sui Yuan Qing was so smug about Baxia earlier. He was giving the ladies a whole tour guide lecture about how special the place is, and it's named after 霸下 (Baxia), one of the Dragon King’s nine sons in Chinese legend. In the myth, Baxia could stir up rivers and seas, and only Yu the Great, the legendary flood-controller, was able to subdue it. Even Shi San niang made an offhand comment about how low the land is and asked what happens if it floods. And then Ning niang looks at the turtle statue and goes, “Isn’t that just a giant 王八 (wang ba)?” It means turtle, but also an insult: bastard / scumbag / cuckolded / Sui-wage. And Sui Yuan Qing dismisses them with 對牛彈琴 (dui niu tan qin) – playing the zither to a cow. Meaning you’re wasting refined words on someone too uncultured to appreciate them. But what’s funny is that of all idioms, it had to be the cow one. Because Zhang Ling He – Yan Zheng – is nicknamed 牛牛 (niu niu / cow(-cow)). And THIS COW is about to take just 1000 soldiers, use himself as bait, lure Sui Yuan Qing into bringing all 20,000 men into Baxia, and then drown them in the very place Sui-wage was bragging was unbreakable. Moo!
2CP nightmare chamber. Poor Yu Bao Er witnesses his father order a maid to be beaten to death for spilling water. Qi Min just stands there watching the boy tremble in fear… and smirks.
[Ep21] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
Qi Min sees Ning niang, and I’m actually relieved Qi Min's there for her???? And critically, he doesn't tell his brother, Sui Yuan Qing, the truth that our cutie isn't Yan Zheng's daughter.
Transactions. 1) Back at camp, Gongsun Yin points out that Yan Zheng owes General He Jing Yuan nothing anymore. The favours have been returned. This was never some deep emotional alliance between Yan Zheng and General He. It was a transaction: you helped me, I helped you, now we’re even and cleanly separated (兩清 liang qing). 2) And right on cue, Yan Zheng receives the bag Fan Chang Yu asked Uncle Zhao to deliver. Inside: chenpi candy… and the divorce letter. Oof. He helped her. She helped him. No one owes anyone anything now. 兩清. Yan Zheng immediately develops either a headache… or a heartache. 3) And before he can even finish suffering through that, he gets a second headache-inducing letter. This one is from Sui Yuan Qing, and that lunatic claims he has his daughter. Haha. 兩清不了啊. Can't 兩清 ah~
Is Fan Chang Yu imprisoned partly so she can interact with Li Huai An and make him quietly ache for her? 大可不必. She's crying, but not because she's imprisoned but because she still can’t find Ning niang. But while she’s there, she finally asks him about her parents’ deaths. And Li Huai An realizes something is wrong with the official files. They’ve been tampered with ancient whiteout. And the case may connect all the way back to the Jinzhou massacre sixteen years ago. Li Huai An even lets her read the file herself. She opens the document, stares at it, and admits there are words she doesn’t know. “This one, this one, and this one – I know. The rest, I don’t know.” LOL. And Li Huai An, do not laugh! Except really, he’s too boring to laugh.
General He Jing Yuan testifies Fan Chang Yu’s father committed suicide. What about the mother? She clung to life desperately, trying to tell her daughters something, only to die before she could get the words out. And then we learn that General He was the one sent there under Wei Yan’s orders, which means his arrival is what forced the father’s hand. He clearly feels guilty about it, and his defense is that if Wei Yan had sent anyone else, it likely would’ve been a full slaughter of the entire Fan family. Because it was him, the Fan sisters survived. Apparently he was also carrying a letter that was meant to be delivered to Wei Yan, with strict orders that he (General He) was never to open it. And he refuses to reveal Fan Chang Yu's father's real name, insisting that Fan Chang Yu has to hear it from him personally.
2CP nightmare chamber. Poor Yu Bao Er witnesses his father order a maid to be beaten to death for spilling water. Qi Min just stands there watching the boy tremble in fear… and smirks.
Yu Bao Er is traumatized. Nanny Lan sees how bad it is and reports to Qi Min, suggesting they bring in Ning niang to help with the poor child’s PTSD. Permitted. And then – THESE KIDS ARE SO SWEET. The second Yu Bao Er sees Ning niang, it’s like the colour returns to his world. He grabs her into a hug, and just wails and wails. This boy can cry. Meanwhile Ning niang, who has gone through her own nightmare, comforts him, patting his back and going, “Ning niang will protect you.” She gives him chenpi candy, and her whistle. And finally, Yu Bao Er starts talking. And talking. And talking. Updating her on everything, rambling away exactly like a little kid his age should act. Omg, is Ning niang going to be the future Crown Princess.
Fan Chang Yu gets captured by Tang Pei Yi’s battalion (the guy General He pulled aside for that serious talk last ep and now we see he's in charge of building the dam). The captured civilians are being used as labour to haul rocks. Fan Chang Yu gets paired with this stubborn old man, Grandpa Tao. She keeps telling him to rest because she's ageist he’s old and frail, and instead he keeps insisting on doing things himself because, in his mind, he's sexist she’s just a girl. So this “just a girl” physically lifts him aside like he’s a large elderly toddler. LOL. Turns out this old big kid was originally on his way to visit his disciple, got caught and dragged into forced labour, and is convinced this is all the doing of Wei Gui – aka Wei Turtle. Chang Yu is like, who?? And he snaps, “Prime Minister Wei Yan!” Ahhh. Okay. So as much as he’s underestimating our butcher lady, he’s also being underestimated. He’s that Tao — the original Grand Tutor, before Li the Clown took over.. Their conversations are amusing in that they’re always three beats behind or ahead of each other and yet they talk really well, lol.
THE BANDIT SQUAD IS HERE! IT’S BAO ER!! The other Bao Er! Jin Yuan Bao (Jin Ye)! And Man Di, Man Cang, and Man Wu! When Fan Chang Yu sees them, she's ugly-crying, wailing. Naturally, they assume she’s been bullied, so they beat up the bullies, and then flee when the guards run over – but wait! Don’t forget Grandpa Tao. Either that's Man Cang or Man Wu piggybacking him lol.
2CP.
But first: Nanny Lan. She advises Yu Qian Qian they can work together to save her son. And she has to start acting like a proper consort to Qi Min. Nanny Lan’s motivation is simply for the Great Yin. (Now that there’s a legitimate heir in Yu Bao Er, she no longer has to pin all hope on that psychotic maniac Qi Min.) So Yu Qian Qian and Yu Bao Er start performing happiness. They play together, smile sweetly, and act like a warm family whenever Qi Min is watching. And Yu Qian Qian even seduces Qi Min.
The backstory that explains how this nightmare started. Yu Qian Qian saved Qi Min from drowning. After the fire (in the Eastern Palace), he was left with severe PTSD. When an episode hit, he would feel like the flames were burning inside his head, so he threw himself into the water to “put out” the fire in his mind. Yu Qian Qian (a maid?) jumped in after him and gave him CPR, and at the time his face was hidden behind a mask because of his burn scar. And that’s how it began: his obsession, and her hell.
Like a true psychotic, Qi Min can flip off his unhinged side and play the role of a doting brother perfectly. Sui Yuan Qing is completely fooled.
Yu Bao Er escapes with Nanny Lan. And we learn that Zhao Xun, the lackey, is actually the nanny’s son. He helps them get out too, while Yu Qian Qian stays trapped behind – part of the plan, part of the sacrifice. But Qi Min, the psycho, is instantly onto Zhao Xun. Qi Min feigns trust, waiting for Zhao Xun to inadvertently lead him to his son.
Ominous.
THE BANDIT SQUAD!! They joined Fan Chang Yu! They switched their “Stay” ballots with “Leave”! Instantly, their bravery and loyalty are rewarded with the discovery that staying actually means dying. Finally, Fan Chang Yu opens Grandpa Tao’s pouch, and inside is a note that says: “逃 🍑.” I teared up here. Because he was afraid she might not recognize flee (逃 tao), so he drew a peach (桃 tao).
Of course Fan Chang Yu runs back to save Grandpa Tao. He immediately calls her dumb. But her eyes are full of tears. She has already lost too many people she loves. Too many. She cannot lose another one. She shouts at him that she is not letting anyone die on her watch. Stand up! Move! We are leaving! But Grandpa Tao refuses. He has to stay behind to burst the dam and drown the enemy army.
Except the situation has gotten worse. The Chongzhou enemy battalion realized something was wrong and attacked the dam site. They’ve been silenced, but General Tang is dead too. And before he dies, he tells them three enemy scouts escaped. That is catastrophic because if those scouts warn Sui Yuan Qing’s army to retreat, then the Marquis of Wu An’s entire plan to lure them into the flood trap fails, and the whole war could be lost. So now Fan Chang Yu and the Bandit Squad take off chasing the enemy scouts. Hey, we have our own Yu the Great (Chang Yu) personally making sure the Wang Ba / Turtle / Sui-wage gets flushed.
And on the actual battlefield it’s Yan Zheng vs. Sui Yuan Qing with Ning niang in his arms as a hostage. But the second our little cutie sees Yan Zheng, she lights up and yells Jiefu! When Sui Yuan Qing assumes Ning niang is useless as leverage, he nearly kills her right there. But not on jiefu’s watch! Ning niang is saved, but ow, her back, and Sui Yuan Qing is captured. So while our Yu the Great is saving Yan Zheng, Yan Zheng is saving her sister ~
[Ep23] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
Grandpa Tao is out here teaching everyone the wisdom of Confucius, and all anyone wants is chicken thighs. Fan Chang Yu swears she was listening, but first: Chang-Yu Wisdom = eat full meals. Thighs! Our girl immediately volunteers for the task, shows off ridiculous strength, and secures good protein for the whole squad. But Grandpa Tao notices she was not doing it just for the thighs. She was using the opportunity to secretly scout routes and study the dam. And this old fox is sharp enough to figure it out just from the colour of the dirt on her boots. Meanwhile the Bandit Squad? Mhhmhh. All thighs, no brain.
Fan Chang Yu is full of questions about the dam for Grandpa Tao who's like: “1) You didn’t give me tuition. 2) You didn’t serve tea. 3) You didn’t kowtow. Why should I teach you?” She drops the subject, but he clearly cannot let it go. "There's no tea here, but can’t you at least serve porridge and kowtow?" Ahhh. So that’s what this is. Chang Yu realizes he wants to be her shifu. Grandpa Tao straightens his back. (READY lol.) Our girl: No thank you. He is so offended. This man is used to people paying thousands just for a chance to study under him, and now he’s getting rejected by a butcher?? (I’m assuming Yan Zheng definitely didn’t have to pay. Probably just showed up talented. And I see that dislocated/relocated arm trick is something Yan Zheng learned from him.) The next second, Grandpa Tao is deeply moved because Chang Yu tells him that as long as she’s around, he’ll always have food on the table. That gets him right in the heart. He softens, gives her a small pouch, and tells her to open it when he’s no longer here.
Ominous.
So it turns out last night Grandpa Tao revealed his identity to General Tang Pei Yi. He is Tao Yi, the previous Grand Tutor. Once he learns the location of the dam’s weak points, which he had specifically sent Fan Chang Yu up the mountain to inspect, he urges General Tang to reconsider the design. Because if the structure is altered, at least half the soldiers and half the workers can be saved. Wait. General Tang's original design was going to kill ALL of them. ALL the soldiers too?? That includes Yan Zheng’s 1000 soldiers??? And it was General He who ordered General Tang to build the dam like this :O If so, Yan Zheng almost got himself killed by relying on General He.
Grandpa Tao wants to switch his "Leave" ballot for Fan Chang Yu's because he knows "Stay" is death. But Chang Yu doesn’t know that. To everyone there, “Leave” looks like the bad lot, being dragged off with the army to the front lines. So from her perspective, Grandpa Tao is asking her to take the worse draw, and the entire squad is enraged on her behalf. Then he plays the shifu card. Chang Yu accepts, smiles, and reassures everyone she’ll be fine. But more importantly… she acknowledges him as shifu. Later, General Tang asks Grandpa Tao if it was worth it. Yes. Before he dies, he took in a good disciple. Worth it.
THE BANDIT SQUAD!! They joined Fan Chang Yu! They switched their “Stay” ballots with “Leave”! Instantly, their bravery and loyalty are rewarded with the discovery that staying actually means dying. Finally, Fan Chang Yu opens Grandpa Tao’s pouch, and inside is a note that says: “逃 🍑.” I teared up here. Because he was afraid she might not recognize flee (逃 tao), so he drew a peach (桃 tao).
Of course Fan Chang Yu runs back to save Grandpa Tao. He immediately calls her dumb. But her eyes are full of tears. She has already lost too many people she loves. Too many. She cannot lose another one. She shouts at him that she is not letting anyone die on her watch. Stand up! Move! We are leaving! But Grandpa Tao refuses. He has to stay behind to burst the dam and drown the enemy army.
Except the situation has gotten worse. The Chongzhou enemy battalion realized something was wrong and attacked the dam site. They’ve been silenced, but General Tang is dead too. And before he dies, he tells them three enemy scouts escaped. That is catastrophic because if those scouts warn Sui Yuan Qing’s army to retreat, then the Marquis of Wu An’s entire plan to lure them into the flood trap fails, and the whole war could be lost. So now Fan Chang Yu and the Bandit Squad take off chasing the enemy scouts. Hey, we have our own Yu the Great (Chang Yu) personally making sure the Wang Ba / Turtle / Sui-wage gets flushed.
And on the actual battlefield it’s Yan Zheng vs. Sui Yuan Qing with Ning niang in his arms as a hostage. But the second our little cutie sees Yan Zheng, she lights up and yells Jiefu! When Sui Yuan Qing assumes Ning niang is useless as leverage, he nearly kills her right there. But not on jiefu’s watch! Ning niang is saved, but ow, her back, and Sui Yuan Qing is captured. So while our Yu the Great is saving Yan Zheng, Yan Zheng is saving her sister ~
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| Me trying to capture Yan Zheng whacking her poor back |
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| Jie! You're going to reunited very soon :') |
Qi Min is a busy man.
While Qi Min's brain already orchestrated the battlefield situation above, his heart is galloping home to save Yu Qian Qian from the flood. And blink – he finds Nanny Lan, whose plan was to entrust Yu Bao Er to Yan Zheng. Every time the drama cuts to Qi Min it’s like we skip to the climax of his story. He accuses Nanny Lan of forgetting the duty the late Crown Princess entrusted to her. Nanny Lan fires right back that it’s because she remembers that she has to make the right choice now. He’s the one who’s gone astray. She asks if he’s forgotten his father, Crown Prince Cheng De, and the revenge owed to him. Forgotten the brutal way his mother, the Crown Princess, died right in front of him. But Qi Min hasn’t forgotten. If anything, memory has stripped him down to something colder and more monstrous. The fire that nearly killed him didn’t just burn his body. It burned out his ability to feel pain. He still remembers exactly how his mother looked before she killed herself in the Eastern Palace, likely to cover his tracks so it would look like they died together?. Then Nanny Lan escalates and stabs him with her hairpin, but he blocks and it goes straight through his hand. He doesn't even flinch. He pulls the pin free, then turns it right back toward her neck. But Nanny isn’t done. She stabs him with words now. She tells him that Yu Qian Qian, the woman he loves so desperately, has said many times that only if Qi Min dies can her son live. She had wanted to take Yu Qian Qian with them too, but Yu Qian Qian had to stay behind to kill him. And then we flash back to the flood. To that moment when Qi Min saved Yu Qian Qian. Even underwater. Even half-drowning. She still pulled a dagger and tried to kill him. He stopped her… and still saved her anyway. Oh this man is sick sick. Nanny Lan dies here, but I am confused at her final speech. Why throw Yu Qian Qian under the bus like that? Was she trying to buy time for Yu Bao Er to escape? But they watched so closely for so long, and yet somehow they did get away. So maybe her last words really were one final shield?
Fan Chang Yu finally reunites with Uncle Zhao!!! He's in the middle of teaching someone blacksmithing when he spots her and just launches himself toward her. The poor apprentice gets a spearhead dropped directly onto his toe. I was getting so emotional but the tears got vacuumed right back into my face hahaha.. And here comes the pettiness: Grandpa Tao. He gets all sulky because Fan Chang Yu would rather learn blacksmithing than study with him. He uses phlegm to get her attention, and Fan Chang Yu turns while carrying these long steel spear rods. She swings around, one end goes straight for Grandpa Tao, who ducks just in time, but the other end keeps going and nearly takes Uncle Zhao’s head off too. Then the rods drop – directly onto both of their feet.
Grandpa Tao: “OHHH!↗”Uncle Zhao: “OOOOOO!↗”Grandpa Tao: “OHUUU!↗”Uncle Zhao: “OOOEE!↗”
Other than the two adoring old men in camp, we’ve also got here a Li Huai An who's into Fan Chang Yu. Jin ye disapproves. His verdict: Li Huai An isn't a good 餅 (bing), which means “biscuit” but it's used as a slang here to mean he's not a good catch.
And here comes the good biscuit: Yan Zheng Hai Dong Qing! Fan Chang Yu's first compliment for the falcon is his fatness. Well, His Fatness brought a message from Yan Zheng saying Ning niang is safe, and he is safe too. Relief. Chang Yu tears up. Thank you for letting this girl breathe for five minutes.
The medicine is ready. Grandpa Tao gets served first, exactly as he demanded. But the second he drinks it, he burns his tongue because it’s boiling hot. He freezes, glaring across the daycare room at Uncle Zhao. Then he points accusingly: why didn’t you drink? Uncle Zhao, with innocent eyes, simply sets his bowl down, and smoothly changes the subject by asking Li Huai An about Marquis Wu An’s battle tactics. LOL. Uncle Zhao is not petty. Uncle Zhao is evolved.
And here we’re back to the military update. We learn that Yan Zheng is trapped holding Mount Gu. But he’s not entirely at a disadvantage. He chose his camp position brilliantly: there’s only one hidden path up, which means if the Shi army tries to climb, Yan Zheng’s men can strike first from above. That leaves only a frontal assault. But because Sui Yuan Qing is still in Yan Zheng’s hands, Shi Yue can’t move recklessly. The problem is that Yan Zheng still needs provisions delivered up there. Someone has to transport food and supplies to Mount Gu. And Fan Chang Yu immediately volunteers.
Mount Gu is matching today! Only after trolling everyone first:
Xie 5 warns Yan Zheng not to be too shocked. Tada! It’s Fan Chang Yu! I wish. It’s his ex-fiancée, Qi Shu, arriving as the imperial doctor. Yan Zheng stares at her for a solid few seconds. Then he finally reboots and starts scolding her because this is a battlefield. But Grand Princess snaps right back that good people like her are blessed, and she had the protection of the Northwest Pig Slaughter Squad. Flashback: Fan Chang Yu literally swung her up the mountain while arrows were flying, and Qi Shu barely understood how she ended up belly-flopping onto safe ground.
All the injured soldiers in the tent are just sitting there with those uncle-smiles. Which is where Xie 5, the relationship manager, saves the day. He whispers that there’s a military order outside to every single uncle specifically so nobody disturbs the couple. And for once, Gongsun Yin gets the full VIP backstage package. No more learning the juicy parts after the fact. No more jaw-dropping, aw. But there is butt-dropping.
Qi Shu Qi Ben Gong, is supposed to check on “Xie Zheng” first. But because she’s worried about her new bestie, she decides to check on Fan Chang Yu's husband instead. Except… it’s the same man. The disbelief on Qi Shu’s face. The shame on Yan Zheng’s face. Chang Yu remains blissfully unaware. Qi Shu, being an excellent new bestie, asks Chang Yu if she’s been scammed. These days there are so many swindlers around, especially the type who 靠臉吃軟飯 depend on their face to eat soft rice. In other words: men who coast through life by being handsome and mooch off women. For example, Song Yan if his face was pretty. Yan Zheng is right there listening and cannot defend himself.
Fan Chang Yu helps tend to Yan Zheng’s injuries, and the moment she really sees them, her eyes fill with tears. Quietly, she says she should have signed the divorce papers sooner. And Yan Zheng coughs up blood. The blood-spitting scenes is always because of Chang Yu just talking or patting, haha. He's offended. But listen! She doesn’t mean she wants to leave him. She has internalized the idea that she is the curse. She thinks that because he married her, he got dragged into forced conscription. If they had signed the papers earlier, he wouldn’t have been taken by the army. He wouldn’t be here. He wouldn’t be wounded like this. No. You listen, girl. He is the army. She also tells him she doesn't want to leave behind a “muddled account” – the kind of unresolved emotional debt and tangled regret that follows you into old age. So she made up her mind. If she finds him alive, she’ll take him home. If she finds him dead, she’ll bury him. That is her vow. Life or death, she has chosen him. Yan Zheng smiles, eyes crinkle and hugs her tightly. "I knew it." And then he apologizes for that night (Ep17).
[Ep25] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
Let's start at the beginning.
Gongsun Yin runs into his Qi Shu. No. Of course not. He runs into Fan Chang Yu instead. But at least Chang Yu is reunited with Ning niang!
And then Fan Chang Yu runs into Yan Zheng Also no. She runs into Qi Shu again. Because our Chang Yu has never had the pleasure of hearing palace people speak with their deluxe grammar, she hears her name as Qi Ben Gong. LOL, ben gong 本宮 is the royal first-pronoun and in her case means "I, this princess." These two become instant kindred spirits because both are here “for the people,” but both are also very much here for a certain man.
Enter: the hairband! This same blue hairband once led Yan Zheng to Fan Chang Yu, and now it leads Chang Yu straight back to him. The tears! It has been far too long. Chang Yu tears up, he tears up, and then our sweet butcher does what she does best: propose!
Enter: the hairband! This same blue hairband once led Yan Zheng to Fan Chang Yu, and now it leads Chang Yu straight back to him. The tears! It has been far too long. Chang Yu tears up, he tears up, and then our sweet butcher does what she does best: propose!
Fan Chang Yu: Don’t join the army anymore. I can slaughter pigs to support you.(∩´͈ ᵕ `͈∩)♡
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Qi Shu finally gets her scene with Gongsun Yin. And he just straight-up asks if she came here for him. How can she say yes? Obviously she can't. So she gathers her dignity and declares that she came for the people, to prove she isn’t just some princess locked away in the palace. Which is also true!
Fan Chang Yu helps tend to Yan Zheng’s injuries, and the moment she really sees them, her eyes fill with tears. Quietly, she says she should have signed the divorce papers sooner. And Yan Zheng coughs up blood. The blood-spitting scenes is always because of Chang Yu just talking or patting, haha. He's offended. But listen! She doesn’t mean she wants to leave him. She has internalized the idea that she is the curse. She thinks that because he married her, he got dragged into forced conscription. If they had signed the papers earlier, he wouldn’t have been taken by the army. He wouldn’t be here. He wouldn’t be wounded like this. No. You listen, girl. He is the army. She also tells him she doesn't want to leave behind a “muddled account” – the kind of unresolved emotional debt and tangled regret that follows you into old age. So she made up her mind. If she finds him alive, she’ll take him home. If she finds him dead, she’ll bury him. That is her vow. Life or death, she has chosen him. Yan Zheng smiles, eyes crinkle and hugs her tightly. "I knew it." And then he apologizes for that night (Ep17).
Chang Yu starts to tell him about what happened after they parted, how she nearly died, how a blind old grandmother saved her. Yan Zheng smiles to himself because he knows exactly the truth. Chang Yu says she wasn’t afraid of dying. What she was afraid of was Ning niang losing her a jie, and never being able to see him again. And then she breaks. She clings to him, hugs him tight, and cries that she missed him. “Don’t die. Come home with me.” And Yan Zheng, who has been yearning to hear something like that, hugs her back just as tightly and gives the softest little “Okay.”
He tries to hold himself together. He really does. He fails instantly. He leans in and kisses her. Both of them freeze on impact though.
Jin ye watches Fan Chang Yu run out of Yan Zheng’s tent, and his face has heartbreak written all over. Aw. Bao Bao!
Fan Chang Yu isn't just a heartbreaker. She's a blanket thief. She tosses and turns all night, worried about Yan Zheng's health, and accidentally rolls the entire blanket to her side. Oops. Sorry, Ning niang. She wakes up, sweetly tucks Ning niang back in… and then, in her sleep, steals the whole thing again. Ning niang wakes up looking like a tiny old woman and sighs that sleeping with jiefu was better. xD. You were sleeping with jiefu, though!
Chang Yu absolutely wants revenge once she learns that Sui Yuan Qing is held here as a hostage. But she also understands that he is strategically valuable. So instead of killing him in rage, she weaponizes him (after they all take turns slapping him). She demands that the enemy camp trade food and salt in exchange for his safety. The enemy camp is frazzled but still trying to hold it together… until the bandit squad is reminded they used to be bandits and starts brainstorming like the little demons they are. And so they strip Sui Yuan Qing’s pants. Public humiliation. Then Fan Chang Yu raises her knife and points it dangerously close to the family line, threatening that if they don’t hand over the supplies, their heir won’t have an heir. The enemy folds immediately. Food and salt are delivered. Sui Yuan Qing gets to keep his little guy.
Yan Zheng watches this entire operation with the sternest face. This was not the plan. Yet it has somehow become a better plan. But it also could have gone catastrophically, spectacularly wrong. So no, he is not pleased. As the Marquis, he summons Fan Chang Yu and the rest of the Northwest Pig Slaughter Squad for punishment. Except. The “Marquis” is actually Xie 9 hiding behind a divider and pretending to be the marquis because Xie Zheng is still maintaining his Yan Zheng identity. This is a staged disciplinary hearing. But the charge is serious. Chang Yu immediately steps forward and takes all the blame herself. Then Yan Zheng walks in, kneels before the “Marquis,” and offers to take the punishment in his wife’s place. Behind the divider, poor Xie 9 is having a nervous breakdown because this is not part of the script. POOR Fan Chang Yu crying like a fool, begging the “Marquis” to be lenient while Yan Zheng – the actual marquis – is kneeling there and ordering Xie 9 – the fake marquis – to be strict. This is too much fraud… Yan Zheng is not wrong for trying to teach her the consequences of disobeying military orders. This time she got lucky because her madness worked. But if it hadn’t, she could have blown the whole operation. He needs her to understand that battlefield improvisation is not the same as village brawling. The problem is… BOY, you are playing with fire. Because once Fan Chang Yu finds out you manipulated her this hard while still hiding your identity, she is going to be so furious.
Fan Chang Yu: You kissed me.
Yan Zheng: I…I…Fan Chang Yu kisses him right back!Fan Chang Yu: We're even now.
Fan Chang Yu isn't just a heartbreaker. She's a blanket thief. She tosses and turns all night, worried about Yan Zheng's health, and accidentally rolls the entire blanket to her side. Oops. Sorry, Ning niang. She wakes up, sweetly tucks Ning niang back in… and then, in her sleep, steals the whole thing again. Ning niang wakes up looking like a tiny old woman and sighs that sleeping with jiefu was better. xD. You were sleeping with jiefu, though!
Saved by the Grand Princess! For now. First, she’s radiating disappointment at the men. But instead of blowing up the ridiculous situation, she decides to save it, and admit fault too for knowing and failing to report. And then she starts to kneel. 謝九受不起啊! Xie 9 absolutely cannot bear this, haha. You royals are trying to kill him with bows and punishments, haha. And then – rescued! Xie 9’s hero: Gongsun Yin. He reports that Shi Yue’s talented hole-digger specialists had nearly dug through the freaking mountain where Sui Yuan Qing was originally being held. Which means Fan Chang Yu actually did do one (more) massively correct thing: by moving the hostage, she accidentally kept him secure. Xie 9 grabs this lifeline and declares that therefore… merits and faults may offset each other… right? Right, Marquis Yan Zheng? So all eyes slide toward Yan Zheng, who is still kneeling there, still stone-faced, and then finally… he thanks the “Marquis.”
Fan Chang Yu becomes a legend again. The rumours spread through the camp at warp speed. She slapped a pig, and the story now is that she slapped a bear. She beat ten men? The rumour mill says a hundred+. Somewhere in all this mythmaking, people are also spreading that her husband is basically on death’s door, lol.
Random Chinese. Fan Chang Yu says 本宮來得真巧 Ben Gong arrived at just the right time. But 本宮 (ben gong) is also the royal first-person pronoun. So what we hear is basically Chang Yu saying, “I, this princess, have arrived at the perfect moment.”
Qi Ben Gong – "having arrived at just the right time" – asks Fan Chang Yu whether she resents the marquis for wanting to punish her. No. She understands she disobeyed orders. If reinforcements hadn’t arrived, she and Sui Yuan Qing might both have died. That would have been a meaningless death. Qi Shu quietly laughs to herself and thinks that for Yan Zheng to marry a woman like this, he must have accumulated blessings over many lifetimes. Yes. My cow man must have been an exceptionally virtuous pig for many generations to have earned this beautiful butcher LOL
Fan Chang Yu secretly measures Yan Zheng’s armour. Later, she tells him the same thing: she doesn’t blame the marquis either. He thinks she’s changed. Back in Lin’an, she would never have admitted she was wrong. Really? That was Chang Yu? Chang Yu has been through too much to be the simple butcher girl she was. Then she tells him about a teacher – the one who saved her. Yan Zheng, very calmly, suggests in the future, just promote him a little. Oops. Fan Chang Yu laughs it off because what exactly can he promote? Right, Yan Zheng, it's not like you're Xie Zheng or anything. But you know what. Yan Zheng actually cannot promote the teacher. He is the most senior and revered scholar in the land. LOL. Also… his very own teacher.
Fan Chang Yu feeds Yan Zheng chenpi and tells him to save some because she doesn’t have much left. I’m only including this because I forgot to mention how much I liked that earlier scene where he was preserving the candy by smelling the wrapper.
Enemy. Shi army is panicking. They’re in a terrible position. They're certain they’ve already offended Sui Yuan Qing and his little guy. But if they fail to save him, Lord Chang Xin will never forgive them. And if they do save him, Sui Yuan Qing and his noble rice grain will still hold a grudge forever. These Shi men are perfectly positioned to defect to Qi Min at this point. Shi Yue’s plan: charge. Frontal attack. Best case, save Sui Yuan Qing. Worst case, if he can’t be saved, then at least they’ll take Xie Zheng’s head with them.
Enemy. Shi army is panicking. They’re in a terrible position. They're certain they’ve already offended Sui Yuan Qing and his little guy. But if they fail to save him, Lord Chang Xin will never forgive them. And if they do save him, Sui Yuan Qing and his noble rice grain will still hold a grudge forever. These Shi men are perfectly positioned to defect to Qi Min at this point. Shi Yue’s plan: charge. Frontal attack. Best case, save Sui Yuan Qing. Worst case, if he can’t be saved, then at least they’ll take Xie Zheng’s head with them.
And then.
Fan Chang Yu drugs Yan Zheng before the battle. The piggyback that went viral last year was Chang Yu audaciously drugging her own husband! 😱😱😱😱 Clearly I'm typing with my spirit because my hands are stuck on my face. 😱 I am so scared for all of them now. Chang Yu piggybacks Yan Zheng all the way back to Ning niang. The plan: Ning niang is supposed to count to a thousand, then wake jiefu with a needle. But Ning niang doesn’t know how to count to a thousand yet, aw, so Chang Yu gives her a bag of rocks to help her keep count.
As for the battlefield, thankfully Xie 5 is still there to command in his place, so this is not entirely catastrophic. Back in the tent, Yan Zheng wakes up on his own ahead of schedule. He cuts himself to stay awake. Then rides straight for the battlefield.
Then comes Shi Hu vs. Xie 5, and oh no. Xie 5 is not a match for this monster. Shi Hu is huge, brutal, and wielding spiked maces. Then he targets Fan Chang Yu because he recognizes her as the woman who humiliated Sui Yuan Qing.
And WOW. Although Fan Chang Yu is outmatched in reach and force, she answers with speed, angles, and close-range instinct. She darts inside his reach, twists around his strikes, and cuts where it matters: ligaments, joints, tendons. Then she snatches his mace and crushes it on him. She kills Shi Hu with his own weapon.
The battle is won!
But the romance is lost? Fan Chang Yu finally knows Yan Zheng is Xie Zheng.
The battle is won!
But the romance is lost? Fan Chang Yu finally knows Yan Zheng is Xie Zheng.
Yan Zheng yells at Fan Chang Yu, asking if she’s already forgotten the lesson from going against orders, which only reminds her how much he lied to her. She went into that battlefield because she thought this gravely injured “random soldier” was about to die. And she being the uninjured one was the better fighter. But no, he was the actual commander. Fan Chang Yu turns to leave in anger, and Yan Zheng grabs her, swings her back, and pins her against a tree.
Yan Zheng explodes: I CAN DIE, BUT YOU MUST SURVIVE.
I'm such a sucker for the both of them crying. This director, stop it!
And if he does die, she can take Ning niang, open a butcher shop, and if she wants, she can even marry her favourite “delicate scholarly gentleman.” Fan Chang Yu just breaks. Her knees give out and she sinks to the ground crying, helpless and furious all at once. Yan Zheng drops down with her, cups her face. He kisses her forehead. She’s crying. He's crying.
Yan Zheng: But as long as I live, you are mine.
Fan Chang Yu smacks him. Deeply deserved. I think part of why she just collapsed like that is because they’ve already had a version of this conversation back in Ep17 when he was talking about her future marriage like it wasn’t his business. They already know that outcome. They also already know how much they love each other at this point. More than their own lives. And now he's also consistent with his words – he cannot bear the thought of being without her as long as he's alive. Which is an improvement. A small improvement. A teeny tiny improvement. The timing and delivery remain deeply questionable…^^".
Enemy. Shi Yue rescues Sui Yuan Qing and wants to avenge Shi Hu, his brother, but Sui Yuan Qing orders a retreat instead. They’re pulling back to Lucheng. (But I thought the plan was still to cut through the mountain and merge with Lord Chang Xin?)
Back on Yan Zheng and Gongsun Yin’s side, they don’t actually seem all that panicked about losing Sui Yuan Qing as a hostage. If anything, Yan Zheng is more irritated that Gongsun Yin refuses to wear armour and is prancing around with only a fan like a Zhuge Liang copycat. Haha! He got called out for this. And not just armed with a fan. This man also brought a qin. There's no food on this mountain, but they got a qin. Now our Zhuge Liang copycat is using his injuries to bait Qi Shu. Yan Zheng originally wanted to summon another doctor, but Gongsun Yin dismisses it with 殺雞不用牛刀 – you don’t use an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken, meaning don’t waste a grand solution on a small problem. Are they purposely finding cow idioms for Zhang Ling He? Lol.
Bless Grandpa Tao for arriving right on cue to visit Gongsun Yin before he (fake) dies."唵嘛呢叭咪吽 OM MANI PADME HUM. OM MANI PADME HUM" Gongsun Yin begs him to stop because at this rate Grandpa Tao is actually going to chant him all the way to full death. xD You deserve this, Gongsun Yin.
Romance is stuck. Fan Chang Yu, after cooling down enough to think, realizes she doesn’t actually blame Yan Zheng for lying. Which actually makes Yan Zheng more panicked. Is it because she's emotionally done with him? Chang Yu's reply hurts. She says they were never together to begin with. Because the man she loves is Yan Zheng, not Xie Zheng. And beyond that, how could they ever be equal? He is the Marquis of Wu An. She is a butcher.
Politic is moving. Grandpa Tao advises Yan Zheng to step back and let Li and Wei tear each other apart for a while. Li, who used to fear going directly against Wei, may have found a new source of leverage – and it’s not Lord Chang Xin, but his son: Sui Yuan Huai (Qi Min). Right… that’s why Qi Min led Yan Zheng to investigate his father’s old case from 16/17 years ago: to make him doubt Wei Yan and weaken Wei Yan’s military power. Gongsun Yin also recalls that when the ex Crown Princess died in the Eastern Palace, Lord Chang Xin’s wife brought her child, Sui Yuan Huai, to visit… and that child’s face had been burned beyond recognition. The perfect condition for Qi Min to replace Sui Yuan Huai.
Grandpa Tao gets gossipy now. So what is this about Yan Zheng’s marriage situation. Was it 娶妻 or 納妾? Basically, which form of bride taking was it – taking a wife or taking a concubine? Neither LOL. It was ruzhui 入贅. He was the one taken in as live-in husband. Anyway, marriage situation is awful. Our Marquis of Wu An married into a butcher family, and now his wife doesn’t want him anymore. So Yan Zheng asks Grandpa Tao to take his wife as his goddaughter as a protection from the social cruelty that's attached to being his wife. And now they bring up the wife's name, and finally realize the woman they’re both referring to – wife and prized disciple – is the same person.
Grandpa Tao gets gossipy now. So what is this about Yan Zheng’s marriage situation. Was it 娶妻 or 納妾? Basically, which form of bride taking was it – taking a wife or taking a concubine? Neither LOL. It was ruzhui 入贅. He was the one taken in as live-in husband. Anyway, marriage situation is awful. Our Marquis of Wu An married into a butcher family, and now his wife doesn’t want him anymore. So Yan Zheng asks Grandpa Tao to take his wife as his goddaughter as a protection from the social cruelty that's attached to being his wife. And now they bring up the wife's name, and finally realize the woman they’re both referring to – wife and prized disciple – is the same person.
Hot fisherman, please don't kill your wife with a rock now. Yan Zheng thought Fan Chang Yu was a suspicious figure, lurking around while he's fishing. It turns out neither of them can sleep that night. For her, it's because of the battle. She killed so many people. Yan Zheng tells her he was the same after his first battle – nightmares all night. So he’d come out to fish, stay awake, tire himself out, and only then could he finally rest. Chang Yu, being sweet Chang Yu, comforts him that that’s all in the past. And then he looks at her. Clearly, it's not in the past for her. And so he asks to spar. Oh. So fighting on the battlefield and fighting emotionally wasn’t enough. LOL. But this is so them! In Yan Zheng language, this is care. He wants to burn the fear out of her body, and tire her out enough to sleep. He goes easy on her. She absolutely does not return the favour. In fact, she lets him think she needs pointers, and he starts explaining that because her blades are short, her fighting style should rely more on speed and finesse – less brute force, more precision. Her current moves are too heavy, too forceful. And then, mid-fight, he realizes she actually does have finesse. And speed. She was baiting him into talking, testing his skill, and then pushing back. Naughty little butcher. And Yan Zheng? A delighted husband.
Yan Zheng finally uses that very pretty mouth of his for proper communication. He assumed he was destined to die on a battlefield, and he refused to marry and have some woman spend her life waiting as a widow. But after meeting Chang Yu… he became afraid of death. Which is exactly what she told him too. Afraid of death because of him. He carefully asks again what she wants for the future. And thankfully he does not toss another man into the conversation. He asks her about pigs. There we go! But Chang Yu can’t think that far ahead right now. She made promises to find Yu Bao Er and Yu Qian Qian, and rebuild Lin’an. Yan Zheng understands. He says that once this is all over, he’ll petition to be assigned to Lin’an. Because the time he spent there was the happiest period of his life. Chang Yu just cries listening to him talk about a life she thought maybe only she treasured that much. He wipes her tears. He takes her hand. And this time, she doesn’t pull away. Her only complaint is whether he’s holding her hand too tightly. Isn't he worried about reopening his wound? He's less worried about his hand bleeding than he is about her hitting him again. She pouts that it’s because he recklessly kissed her. And he gives her this sheepish, cute smile, gently pulls her over so her head can rest on his shoulder, and jokes that if she doesn’t hit him, he won’t recklessly kiss her. Ha-ha, not funny. But seeing you two being sweet (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ
Our mighty marquis and clever strategist are doing arts and crafts for their furious and/or fierce FLs, lol.
Grandpa Tao finally visits Fan Chang Yu and meets Ning niang for the first time. One look at that little face and he’s spiritually overwhelmed. He says she has an auspicious fate in her — too blessed, too noble, too rich in fate — the kind of face that looks exactly like a Crown Princess. Actually Chang Ning is a very princess name. He almost seems alarmed by how powerful her fortune is, but then reassures that with an older sister like Chang Yu (fierce) supporting her, Ning niang can carry that destiny just fine. But Grandpa Tao is not here to read baby fate. He’s here on Yan Zheng’s behalf, hoping to take Chang Yu as his goddaughter. And Chang Yu refuses. Grandpa Tao makes it clear that Yan Zheng isn't looking down on her. He simply wanted one more person in a position to protect her. But Chang Yu doesn’t want borrowed protection. If someone wants to harm her, should she have to rely on titles and men? Maybe they can shield her for a while, but can they shield her forever? She understands why Yan Zheng couldn’t stay in Lin’an. She understands why he lied. She understands him. But understanding him does not mean she wants to survive under someone else’s name.
But Grandpa Tao really wants Fan Chang Yu as his goddaughter because she’s Fan Chang Yu not because she's Yan Zheng's wife. He wants to treat her like a real daughter and make sure she’s safe, cared for, and happy. And that’s what finally gets her. Because on the day he handed her that “Leave / Life” ballot, she had already made up her mind that she would care for him until the end. She had already made that promise in her heart. “But if you insist on giving this relationship a proper name…” she kneels with, “Honoured godfather, please accept your daughter’s bow.” AWWWW. :’) That hit so much harder than I expected. To complete the rite, Grandpa Tao gives her two handwritten characters as a name: 山君 (Shan Jun). Chang Yu assumes it means a gentleman of the mountains (山中君子). That is an interpretation, but what he had in mind was more a fierce tiger of the mountains (山中猛虎也). But Chang Yu hears it as a tigress of the mountains (山中猛虎也). LOL. Which is not only significantly less elegant. “Tigress 母老虎" is also slang for the terrifying bossy wife, lol.
Despite being a goddaughter, Fan Chang Yu is still leaving. She won’t be joining Yan Zheng. Now that she knows he’s the Marquis, there are plenty of other people who can worry about him. And she has her own promises to keep. Also, she clearly cannot keep carrying war like this, not emotionally. Understandably. This love has too many weights pressing down on it for her right now. She’s still bright, but not in the same carefree way anymore, and that makes me sad. But that is not the way to leave Yan Zheng. Just a letter!! So of course we get a full "Pursuit of Jade (Yu)." He catches up to her to demand Why won’t you stay with me? Why can’t you love me? What did Xie Zheng do wrong? Fan Chang Yu should have had this conversation first if this was her answer: "How could I not love you? If I didn’t love you, would I have come to find you? Would I have been so worried about you and took your place on the battlefield?"
Yan Zheng (soft and stunned): But the one you love is… Yan Zheng.Fan Chang Yu: I've thought it through. Whether you're Yan Zheng or Xie Zheng, I still love you.Yan Zheng: You’re… just coaxing me (so you can leave me).
Fan Chang Yu finally puts the contradiction into words, but she still feels conflicted to me. When he was her Yan Zheng, they could face everything together. But now that he’s Xie Zheng, she suddenly can’t help him with anything. She doesn’t know what burdens him, what pressures him, what kind of world he has to carry. She had wanted to end things there, with him. But when he told her about Lin’an – the highs and lows, the memories, how much it meant to him – that was when all her thoughts of being “done” with this stopped. She isn’t made of stone. She can be moved too. She is moved. There are just still things she has to do. She has to go save Yu Qian Qian. And finally, Yan Zheng agrees. I still think she's not completely open to this love. That said, agreeing does not mean he's letting her go right away. Absolutely not. These two stay by the bonfire together until nearly sunrise. But eventually Chang Yu really does have to leave. Yan Zheng gives her that look – openly, hopelessly, tenderly. He wants her to say she loves him one more time. Instead, she kisses him. It lands in that awkward little zone that is technically the cheek but close to the eye and nose. And she also made his lips touch her cheek. It's like a 2-in-1.
I’m also pretty sure he gave her the swords too. When he rides after her, he’s carrying a bundle that looks extremely sword-shaped. When he comes back, the bundle is gone. But it also looks like he kept one blade himself?
Lord Chang Xin is Sui Tuo. So that’s who the letter in Episode 10 was addressed to. 17 years ago, Wei Yan sent Wei Qi Lin (Fan Chang Yu’s father) with the tally to request help from General Sui Tuo. And neither Sui Tuo nor Sui Yuan Qing seems to have any idea that the current Sui Yuan Huai is not merely using an alias, but is literally Qi Min pretending to be the real Sui Yuan Huai. Sui Yuan Qing is far too innocent (would you believe that) and far too devoted to his older brother to suspect otherwise, while the father just blames all the changes on the fire.
And speaking of auspiciously fated children, little Yu Bao Er – face and brain of a future Crown Prince – manages to find his way to Xie Army. Smart baby!Tiny chosen one! Xie Zheng comes to the rescue after hearing the whistle Ning niang gave Yu Bao Er.
Zhao Xun, Qi Min’s flunkey – now good lackey to Yu Bao Er – reveals Qi Min's scheme back in Ep13. The very first time Qi Min saw Yan Zheng, he had already decided to use him. He wanted Yan Zheng to kill his younger "brother", Sui Yuan Qing, which is why he was in Lin’an in the first place. We can now trace this whole revenge chain to Qi Min. Sui-wage was never a player. He was just a ping-pong ball getting smacked back and forth between Qi Min and Yan Zheng.
to romance – I wish!
[Ep30] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
2CP.
Yu Qian Qian slaps Qi Min across the face when he tries to kill her maid for the crime of… interrupting. Qian Qian sees straight through him: he kills to cover his own weakness. And she pities him. Which only makes him love her more because he hears "I understand your deepest rot.” In the middle of all this, he starts spilling everything. His mother, the former Crown Princess, was the one who burned his face so he could steal Sui Yuan Huai's identity. And he has the tiger tally that Sui Tuo dismissed as fake when it was real.
Lucheng.
Hey, it's Men Kan! Who? Exactly. Fan Chang Yu, our butcher, butchers Chinese again and mangles Li Huai An’s courtesy name Wen Kan into Men Kan (門檻), which means doorstep or figuratively a trick to get something cheaper (e.g. he's the discount ML version?). Lol, I totally missed when she messed up so badly, but I have been hearing it for a while now. General He Jing Yuan has inherited Gongsun Yin’s role as the designated jaw-dropper of the episode. First: since when did his disciple Wen Kan become Men Kan. Second: since when did Tao Yi become Fan Chang Yu’s godfather. Third: and now she has another name, 山君 (Shan Jun), but she dumbs it down foreveryone herself and tells them they can call her Fan Lao Hu = Fan Tigress.
Then Fan Chang Yu pulls out the dual blades. Yan Zheng did give them to her that night! And when he admits he used his own blood to baptize the blades, our girl's reaction is immediate: ARE YOU INSANE. If he thought she’d tear up and be touched, he miscalculated badly. Fan Chang Yu does not melt. She gets mad. Immediately yanks out her first-aid kit, patches him up, and threatens that if he ever does this again, she’ll buy a hundred blades herself. If the arm isn’t enough, use his butt too. Yan Zheng smiles. His tigress indeed.
General He sends Men Kan Li Huai An to support Yan Zheng’s strike at the centre to take down Sui Tuo. He’s taking 3000 soldiers to merge with Yan Zheng’s. But what about General He, who’s left behind with just 2000 against Sui Huo’s 50,000? General He explains that even if he had the full 5,000, what difference would it really make against 50,000? He promises he will defend Lucheng. Then on the day of the battle, as he sends Fan Chang Yu away, General He flashes back to his days with Chang Yu’s father. They were friends. Their fighting styles complement each other, which is why Yan Zheng and Chang Yu's complement. She learned it from her father; he learned it from General He. And Fan Chang Yu’s father had asked General He to name Chang Yu. HE named Chang Yu!! I doubted you, General He. I’m so sorry. And now he says he feels uneasy about the Battle of Lucheng just like he did seventeen years ago during the Battle of Jinzhou. 
Fan Chang Yu feels that same uneasiness too. She was supposed to leave with Yu Qian Qian and head somewhere safe. But she can’t stop worrying about the battle. So instead of leaving, Chang Yu puts on her armour and joins the fight – where Yan Zheng is. Charge Yu Qian Qian escapes on her own! Just like that. She runs into Fan Chang Yu. Yan Zheng himself isn’t here, but he already had Xie 7 go request reinforcements from General He Jing Yuan, who arrives at just the right moment to hold off Qi Min.
Lucheng.
Hey, it's Men Kan! Who? Exactly. Fan Chang Yu, our butcher, butchers Chinese again and mangles Li Huai An’s courtesy name Wen Kan into Men Kan (門檻), which means doorstep or figuratively a trick to get something cheaper (e.g. he's the discount ML version?). Lol, I totally missed when she messed up so badly, but I have been hearing it for a while now. General He Jing Yuan has inherited Gongsun Yin’s role as the designated jaw-dropper of the episode. First: since when did his disciple Wen Kan become Men Kan. Second: since when did Tao Yi become Fan Chang Yu’s godfather. Third: and now she has another name, 山君 (Shan Jun), but she dumbs it down for
Grandpa Tao – geniuses must walk more efficient than us commoners because he's everywhere – gives Fan Chang Yu the battlefield therapy session that lands. She’s still struggling with the difference between killing in battle and murder, especially because so many of the soldiers she cuts down are just ordinary men dragged into war through forced conscription. But Grandpa Tao reframes it for her. She is fighting to protect her people – the ordinary lives that will be crushed if the enemy advances. And he reminds her plainly that if she had spared certain enemies, they would have gone on to kill more of her people. Like the dam messengers, the boy who injured Man Di.
Then Fan Chang Yu pulls out the dual blades. Yan Zheng did give them to her that night! And when he admits he used his own blood to baptize the blades, our girl's reaction is immediate: ARE YOU INSANE. If he thought she’d tear up and be touched, he miscalculated badly. Fan Chang Yu does not melt. She gets mad. Immediately yanks out her first-aid kit, patches him up, and threatens that if he ever does this again, she’ll buy a hundred blades herself. If the arm isn’t enough, use his butt too. Yan Zheng smiles. His tigress indeed.
Gongsun Yin, resident gossip guy, goes to visit Yu Qian Qian under the very legitimate excuse of investigating Qi Min, and totally not for gossiping. From her, he learns about the tiger tally and the full scale of Qi Min’s plan: manipulate Sui Tuo, Lord Chang Xin, into rebelling so he can reclaim the throne. That’s also why Yu Bao Er can’t be allowed to live. The child is a legitimate heir, a tiny but powerful walking threat. And then Gongsun Yin also learns the thing Yu Qian Qian used to save Qi Min – the thing that made him fall for her – is this miraculous method called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Just a folk remedy from her hometown. OH. Is her hometown OUR hometown? Is she a transmigrator??? She even knows pepper spray and is all about feminism.
Kang Xiao Dan! It's Madam Kang’s older grandson. Aw.
Man Di DIES. Sui Yuan Qing kills him before riding off for Lucheng. Man Wu/Cang was the one protecting Man Di, but at the last second Man Di switches places to shield him instead and takes the fatal blow.
While Fan Chang Yu is still reeling from that loss, the next disaster arrives immediately: Sui Tuo’s army has already broken into Lucheng. Yan Zheng heads there at once, leaving Xie 5 behind to watch over Chang Yu as she continues the fight with Sui Tuo, who nearly takes advantage of her fall and kills her right there – except Xie 5 throws himself in and takes the blow for her. And this is where Yan Zheng’s earlier advice locks in for Chang Yu. Instead of meeting brute force with brute force, she remembers what he taught her: less raw power, more finesse. So she starts reading Sui Tuo. Matching his rhythm. Following his strikes. Answering every one. And then, in Fan Chang Yu fashion, she starts cutting exactly where it matters. Tendons. Ligaments. And she’s so good at it because… she's a butcher!! This is her professional expertise: expertly carving up bad pigs, a.k.a. Swine Tuo and Swine Yuan Qing.
Sui Tuo dies by Fan Chang Yu's hand. In his final moments, he seems to see Wei Qi Lin, Fan Chang Yu’s father, as though the one killing him is the man he betrayed back then. So Chang Yu avenges her father… before she even realizes that’s what she’s doing.
General He Jing Yuan dies too.
Li Huai An wakes up and the battle is over. He’s so scary right now I can’t even call him Men Kan. He’s furious that Fan Chang Yu knocked him out and he only learned everything after it was over. From Chang Yu’s perspective, she saved his life. From Li Huai An’s perspective, she robbed him of the chance to fight, to avenge General He Jing Yuan himself. He would rather have died. And he’s only here to fulfill his teacher’s final wish: deliver a letter. After that, he doesn’t want to see her again.
The letter is from Fan Chang Yu's father to General He. His suicide letter. In it, Wei Qi Lin writes that he already considers himself fortunate to have lived sixteen extra years. He intends to restore the truth owed to over 100,000 soldiers. Fan Chang Yu reads it in tears. Is her father really the “traitor” Wei Qi Lin?
Terrible timing. Yan Zheng returns and Chang Yu struggles to tell him about the letter and her father…possibly the man blamed for the fall of Jinzhou, the death of Yan Zheng’s father. He doesn't bring good news either. Sui Yuan Qing escaped because that little roach gets saved again by Shi Yue, who dies in his place. Xie 5, who was injured protecting her, survived, but his shoulder is badly damaged, and he may never be able to wield a sword again.
Men Kan can’t even grieve in peace for General He Jing Yuan because politics comes barging in, rude as hell. Grand Tutor Li and Prime Minister Wei Yan have both sent mourning couplets, and Li Huai An is expected to choose which one to hang. In a fit of anger, he throws Wei Yan’s into the fire – which means he picked Grand Tutor Li’s as his alliance? Nope. He burns that one too. Instead of choosing them, Li Huai An has chosen General He Jing Yuan, and his loyalty – Great Yin. The state itself. Now please let Men Kan grieve in peace.
Liu Wan Er – Sui Yuan Qing’s cousin – secretly warns him that her parents poisoned the soup in order to hand him over to Yan Zheng. He thanks her for the warning and then immediately slaughters her parents. He explains he's doing her a favour. If she had truly mattered to the parents, they wouldn't have sent her to deliver the poison. …He's got a point. And she is an illegitimate/concubine's daughter. According to him, she’s free now. Except now the girl has no parents, no support, and the man who just killed them is somehow the closest thing she has left. ??? So she starts crying, and begs him to take her with him. ?????? And when he refuses, he does it by belittling her for wanting to depend on someone – contrasting her with some other girl he knows who would never cling like this (aka Fan Chang Yu). And SO… Liu Wan Er grabs a sword to kill him. ??????? But she can’t do it. ?????????????? In the end, she kills herself instead with the poisoned soup. ????????????????????? And Shi San niang just stands there silently watching the whole thing unfold. Ok.
Sui Yuan Qing actually wants to give up on the rebellion. He has finally run out of madness in his system. But not on Qi Min's mad-watch. He slaps Sui Yan Qing and tells him the one who killed their father is Fan Chang Yu – not Yan Zheng. Because a man can kill his father, but a woman cannot. ??????? My head is in the sewage trying to understand Sui Yuan Qing and the random cousin plot. But just like that, Sui Yuan Qing is furious again. Revenge back on. Exactly the way Qi Min likes it.
What a confusing opening. I swear she was supposed to wake up from the dream. Fan Chang Yu is just dealing with way too much. Her father being a traitor. Her husband being a marquis. Her father "killing" his father. THE WAR. The deaths. Give her a break????
And the drama does give her a break: a half-dressed Li Huai An with a whip? Give us a break too lol. Fan Chang Yu is not here to indulge his weird atonement ritual for snapping at her the other day. She snaps the whip instead and admits she was wrong too for knocking him out. This is suspicious though especially when he grieved like that for General He Jing Yuan and burned Li and Wei's mourning couplets.
Aw… Looks like Kang Xiao Dan is filling Man Di’s place in the bandit quartet now. He fits right in, which is cute, but also… :’(. But ou. Aunt Zhao! Uncle Zhao! Ning niang! Yu Bao Er! And Yu Qian Qian!! They're back together too!
War Merits & Politics.
Yan Zheng is not jealous of Li Huai An.Probably. Maybe a microscopic amount. What he definitely is, is suspicious. He confronts Li Huai An over whether he’s unhappy that only half of the military authority went to him while the other half went to Fan Chang Yu. Li Huai An shoots back with his own question: why would Yan Zheng hand military command to someone as inexperienced as Chang Yu? And Yan Zheng, without missing a beat, goes: “Weren’t you the one who reported her merits to the imperial court?” Ah. That apology from earlier does feel a lot less clean. Li Huai An says he reported her merits to protect her. Which Yan Zheng immediately counters with, “My wife does not need an outsider’s protection.” But Li Huai An is not letting that pass either. He reminds Yan Zheng that the man Chang Yu married was Yan Zheng, not Xie Zheng. And even then, they’re divorced – she signed the papers. But Li Huai An, you seem to have forgotten you're engaged to the Grand Princess.
Chinese. Lovely Aunt Zhao does what she does best: bulldozing proverbs. She wants Fan Chang Yu to know that even though she’s been promoted to Commander, she must not cast aside the hardship husband. "Hardship wife." Uncle Zhao immediately corrects her. But Aunt Zhao is not wrong and continues to warn Chang Yu not to become a 負心女 heartless woman. "負心漢 Heartless man." Uncle Zhao corrects that too. Aunt Zhao refuses the edits. She's not wrong! But Uncle Zhao is also correct, which he is, because these terms apply to Yan Zheng too. He also shouldn't cast aside the hardship wife and be a heartless man too lol. Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao are both right. But they also have nothing to worry about :)
3CP. Qi Shu uses Li Huai An as a prop to make Gongsun Yin jealous. She even calls him byMen Kan Wen Kan to sound extra intimate. Works like a charm because Gongsun Yin, in his desperation, literally gets caught by a men kan – a doorstep / threshold. Qi Shu won’t let him in, he wedges his foot there. His yelp of pain finally gets her attention. But no. Instead of confessing what she actually wants to hear, he asks if she likes Li Huai An.
Fan Chang Yu becomes another legend: the legend that no one wants to teach. Everyone who tries ends up with internal breakdowns, including Li Huai An. Why is he everywhere in this ep. Only Yan Zheng (and Grandpa Tao!) has(/have) survived teaching her.
War Merits & Politics.
Fan Chang Yu and Li Huai An are promoted together (which means they’ll now be working together?) and Yan Zheng is not thrilled about it. She's accelerated through the ranks and is now 5th. To celebrate with their jie, Jin ye upgrades everyone’s names. He is now Jin Chang Sheng (Jin Long Victory). Please, you're always Jin Yuan Bao, lol. And he took Chang Yu's Chang. And now we have the rest: Man Shi (滿師), Man Jun (滿軍), Man Dan (滿膽). Full of masters, full of army, full of guts.
Yan Zheng is not jealous of Li Huai An.
The military power got split because the Emperor is a fence-sitter. The Li and the Wei faction are both eyeing that power, so giving all of it to Li Huai An would strengthen one side too much, giving it to Yan Zheng would never be approved by either faction. But Fan Chang Yu – she is politically neutral.
Chinese. Lovely Aunt Zhao does what she does best: bulldozing proverbs. She wants Fan Chang Yu to know that even though she’s been promoted to Commander, she must not cast aside the hardship husband. "Hardship wife." Uncle Zhao immediately corrects her. But Aunt Zhao is not wrong and continues to warn Chang Yu not to become a 負心女 heartless woman. "負心漢 Heartless man." Uncle Zhao corrects that too. Aunt Zhao refuses the edits. She's not wrong! But Uncle Zhao is also correct, which he is, because these terms apply to Yan Zheng too. He also shouldn't cast aside the hardship wife and be a heartless man too lol. Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao are both right. But they also have nothing to worry about :)
3CP. Qi Shu uses Li Huai An as a prop to make Gongsun Yin jealous. She even calls him by
Fan Chang Yu becomes another legend: the legend that no one wants to teach. Everyone who tries ends up with internal breakdowns, including Li Huai An. Why is he everywhere in this ep. Only Yan Zheng (and Grandpa Tao!) has(/have) survived teaching her.
=͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇)
But also
৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)
But we have far more pressing matters than dethroning the Emperor. Li Huai An is visiting Fan Chang Yu every couple of days!! Priorities! Unfortunately, some other annoying little matter interrupts.
It’s Sui Yuan Qing, who shows up with just a handful of men and launches a frontal attack on Yan Zheng’s fully loaded camp. This is suicidal. And then we finally get a scene with Sui Yuan Qing’s mother. About time. Thought you were dead. She slaps Qi Min for sending Sui Yuan Qing to his death. And it turns out she always knew he wasn’t her real son. Why did she keep quiet? Because she pitied him. Because she thought if this child was going to replace her son and continue living in his place, then at least he should live well. That softness has curdled into full regret now. Qi Min, being the demon he is, kills her. Now she's dead.
Word reaches Fan Chang Yu that her matrilocal husband is about to become the ultimate matrilocal husband. Her zhuixu 贅婿 will be a fuma 駙馬, a princess’s husband. But she has more pressing matters
Qi Min is dead?! No way. And no way indeed. That corpse is a substitute. Qi Min is very much alive, and he seems to know Yan Zheng’s movements a little too well. Like he has an ear inside Yan Zheng’s camp. The way Gongsun Yin describes the suspicious figure, it sounds very much like
Yan Zheng: In this world, anyone can be a fu-ma. Only I, Xie Zheng, will never be one. Because I already ru-zhui to you. For my entire lifetime, the only one my heart will ever love is you. I’m keeping 入贅 (ru zhui) in the quote because it contrasts well with 駙馬 (fu ma). Both mean marrying into the woman’s family, but fuma is royal, while ruzhui is the commoner version. And to Yan Zheng, the princess’s title means nothing. In his heart, being Fan Chang Yu’s man outranks being the Grand Princess’s husband. Also, 心悅 (xin yue) is not just “I like you” or even a plain “I love you.” It has that old-fashioned ache to it – my heart delights in you, my heart belongs to you.
Fan Chang Yu lets Yan Zheng in! But she also asks him not to be this nice to her. The nicer he is, the more uneasy she feels. And then Yan Zheng asks the question that eases everything: is it because of her background? HE KNOWS. He read the letter. He knows Wei Qi Lin is her father. He tells her he will keep walking this road to find the truth – and on that road, he wants to walk beside her.
Yan Zheng has Zhao Xun deliver Sui Yuan Qing the truth that the “brother” he loves and follows so blindly has been manipulating him his entire life. Zhao Xun makes it look like he’s “freeing” Sui Yuan Qing. And poor Sui Yuan Qing has just transferred ownership from being Qi Min’s mad dog to Yan Zheng's mad dog.
*Face-palm*. Sui Yuan Qing continues to be suicidal. It’s another frontal attack, this time on Qi Min, and this time Qi Min actually kills him. (And Li Huai An… Was he really backing Qi Min as the next man in line? It looks like he’s realizing just how cruel Qi Min actually is and might be trying to backtrack, but wow, what an dumb place to have wandered into first.)
Sui Yuan Qing's actor, Lin Mu Ran, is impressive! Where has he been
3CP.
There we go. Yan Zheng is finally out here pushing his bro Gongsun Yin to say something to Qi Shu before she leaves for the palace. And we get the Gongsun family backstory. A century ago, the Gongsun clan was at its peak. Their women kept becoming empresses. But then the Crown Prince was found with a dragon robe, which is treason. After that, the Gongsun empresses both (Empress + either Empress Dowager or Crown Princess) committed suicide, and the Gongsun family was raided and exiled. But later the truth came out: another prince had framed the Crown Prince. Except even that wasn’t the full story. The real issue was that the Emperor had already grown intolerant of the Gongsun family’s power and wanted them gone. Which means Gongsun Yin knew the moment Qi Shu played Go with him that she was the girl he had loved all along… and instead of being happy, he was miserable, because she was the Grand Princess. So what does Gongsun Yin want now? Are they star-crossed lovers? No!
Gongsun Yin: Yin wants to ask Your Highness for your hand. I have admired Your Highness for a very long time.
If one day he helps Yan Zheng take down Li and Wei, he asks if she can live as a carefree couple with him. Of course! And she wants all his books as betrothal gift. But Gongsun Yin has twelve libraries, which book is the one she wants. Gongsun Blockhead <– this blook.
Main CP.
Drunk Fan Chang Yu calls Yan Zheng hou ye (侯爺 Marquis). And he hates it. That title puts distance between them. She can call him anything, just not that. So she leans in, cups his face, and says, “You’re Yan Zheng. Then can I call you Yan Zheng from now on?” And then, because she is drunk and distractible, she notices the hand – he just used to crush a cup into pieces to show how upset he was that she was drinking past her limit. Yan Zheng is not distracted. His mind is in all the right places as he pulls her in and kisses her off my feet! A deep one. Fan Chang Yu is lost in the kiss until she comes to her senses and pushes him away.
Yan Zheng: Chang Yu… kiss me.KISSSS HIIIIMMMM(∩´͈ ᵕ `͈∩)♡
And she does. щ（ﾟДﾟщ） YASSS. And Yan Zheng's smiling in that kiss :D
They kiss and kiss. Fan Chang Yu’s hands reach back against the window, all that emotion pouring straight into her fingers, and when she clutches down, her hands go right through the paper. And as they keep kissing, Yan Zheng reaches back, finds her hands through the torn paper, and squeezes them there. I love this detail!!! This is what paper windows are for!
Easter egg: the scene behind the window xD
And I’m so glad Jin ye didn’t witness the kiss. But where did our couple go after that??????
This ep we learn a whole lot more about the Emperor. I hope he doesn't disappoint!
The two-faced Emperor secretly asks Wei Yan for help. Huh. Because Yan Zheng wants to remove him from the throne. Wei Yan points him toward Fan Chang Yu, who now holds half the military power, and she’s also the person the Li family wants to pull into their camp. Wei Yan's lackey, however, warns his master that the Qis (Emperor) are slippery and can't be trusted. Lackey, you better be right that the Emperor's a slippery fence-sitter.
Fan Chang Yu rides into the capital in full parade glory, with the city women cheering for the first female general. I just noticed that of all the female general dramas in the two years where all actresses suddenly want to be generals, Tian Xi Wei is the most convincing. The bar wasn't high, though LOL. Ignoring Men Kan over there giving her sad little love-eyes, Fan Chang Yu spots Yan Zheng upstairs watching her with the loveliest eyes, and she sends back the loveliest smile, keeping her gaze on him for as long as she can.
Tangent: the opening theme.
It's their victory accoutrements: Yan Zheng's antenna and Chang Yu's flower crown.
The blurry, but full antennas at the back; the flowers zoomed in at the front
Fan Chang Yu already dreads the capital. She slips out of the celebration early. And waiting for her outside is Yan Zheng, standing there with his arms open. OPEN. She runs straight into him. So why's he here? Because he misses her. D'aw!
Poor Jin ye. At least he still doesn't see the kiss.
2CP. Qi Min has found his way to Yu Qian Qian. Thankfully, Yan Zheng had Xie 7 there with a whole lot of soldiers, so at least Aunt Zhao and Uncle Zhao are safe. I was actually surprised by how well prepared Xie 7 was, but for whatever crappy reason, Qi Min’s men are ridiculously skilled despite being so few. Yu Qian Qian gets injured because she shields Yu Bao Er, which is how Yu Bao Er manages to escape. Now she’s drifting in and out of consciousness under Qi Min’s care. When she recovers, all the physicians are sprawled on the ground. Dead?! No. Just fainted. Because Qi Min, in his own diseased little way, remembered exactly what she said and didn’t kill them… he just had them collapse so the rest would understand the consequences of failing him. See? He’s sick, but he totally listened! ._. I also do not know what that blank look on Kong Xue Er’s face is supposed to mean. Is she touched that he “listened”?
Song Yan, hahahaha. It’s humiliation after humiliation when he (rank 9) gets assigned to teach Fan Chang Yu palace etiquette. She – ranked 4th btw – sends him right back. Cleanly. With zero interest. Then there’s a brief interlude with the bandit crew taunting him before we get to the main event: Yan Zheng. 太帥了! Too shuai! I also love the BGM here. Song Yan is so offended that Chang Yu kept this married-in husband because how on earth is he not better than Yan Zheng? SLAP. His superior smacks him across the face for insulting the marquis. LOL. And when Yan Zheng forces him to look up and meet that glorious downward side-eye, Song Yan hallucinates Yan Zheng’s prophecy: 北雁南飛，遍地鳳凰難下足 The northern geese fly south, but the ground is so full of phoenixes that even a phoenix can barely find a place to land. Song YAN is the yan (goose) flying south thinking he’s something special… only to find the south is already packed with phoenixes. And he faints.
Are they in a real moving carriage? Because those heads are bouncing.
Speaking of Chinese names, we also cover Yu. Yan Zheng is grateful of Song Yan for one thing: "he had eyes but failed to recognize 'Fan Chang Yu.'” Yan Zheng also remembers she once told him that he was an unpolished jade, the kind of rare stone that even if it had her name engraved on it, still wouldn’t belong to her. But now Yan Zheng knows the true Jade/Yu is her.
 |
| This does not help her case, but she does have a physical halo on her head. |
The royal siblings have somehow both targeted our couple now, lol. Rumours start buzzing that the Emperor wants Fan Chang Yu as his consort. Yan Zheng’s eyes narrow at his wife. Chang Yu very quickly swears she did say she was married. Then he tilts his head and asks, "Do you fancy this (rumour)?" Fan Chang Yu's response is immediate. "I pei!"
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| I fancy this tilt though! |
Emperor feeds Fan Chang Yu this grand speech about how this marriage is all for the good of the realm, and he’s already being tolerant of her butcher background by being willing to marry her. I pei! She nods along like she understands, and then goes, great, she'll head out right now and divorce Xie Zheng. HOLD UP. Never mind! Never mind!! Emperor still wants both ears attached.
The Emperor’s latest revelation is that he absolutely cannot let Fan Chang Yu and Yan Zheng stay together. One of them commands the Jizhou Army, the other is tied to the Yanzhou Army. That's basically raising another Lord Chang Xin just waiting to rebel. On top of that, he’s also got a nephew out there eligible for the throne. Poor Emperor. So now he turns to Grand Tutor Li for help. This slippery little fence-sitter. And Li (like Wei Yan) points him to another woman, lol. These parallels. She's in the forbidden palace and knows what happened seventeen years ago during the palace upheaval. Which ties into Qi Shu, who also tells her mother about this same witness because she wants to investigate, prove whether Wei Yan was involved, and finally remove him as a threat. But her mother panics and refuses to investigate…
It's Yan Zheng’s glorious return to the capital – even though he secretly came back with Fan Chang Yu. The man rides in like a full peacock war god xD. Everyone’s cheering him in, ladies' handkerchiefs flying… and then he suddenly stops. He is not stopping for the crowd. He is waiting for Chang Yu to throw him something. I love this cocky antenna general, hahaha. She doesn’t have a handkerchief, but she does have her/his hair tie that comes with built-in GPS because it flies with perfect accuracy straight to Yan Zheng. He wraps it tightly around his hand <3
The crowd is so meta LOL. Yan Zheng’s fangirls are out here saying FL is unworthy, while Chang Yu’s defenders are like, please, our girl is powerful enough that she doesn’t need to marry down. Blah blah blah And while these two factions are arguing, there’s a third party yelling that they just want to watch a good show and can everyone please stop fighting. I RELATE. That third party is me LMAO. This is essentially real-life Tian Xi Wei and Zhang Ling He fans cameo-ing in the show. Director should have included their managers LOL.
Song Yan is beneath my time, but he just had to be crying in misery and lamenting that heaven is unfair after he's fried, disgraced and wandering the streets. The heavens did not do this to you. You did this to you.
And just as Yan Zheng is half-conscious from pain, hallucinating his late mother, Fan Chang Yu is at his side. Wei Yan objects that she’s not allowed in the ancestral hall, general or not. Chang Yu answers with the correct title: she is the Marchioness, Marquis’s wife. The one time Yan Zheng loves hearing "marquis" from her :') Wei Yan refuses to acknowledge the marriage because it didn’t have guardian approval, blah blah blah. But excuse you. Yan Zheng just took 108 lashes to sever that guardian relationship. So as long as Yan Zheng accepts the marriage, Chang Yu is his wife. Now she wants to take him home, but Yan Zheng tells her to wait. He wants her to kneel – oh. Right. His mother is here. He’s introducing her to his real family.
Yan Zheng: Father, Mother, please hear me. Her name is Fan Chang Yu of the Fan family, from Lin An. When my life hung by a thread, she saved me. When my heart had gone still like dead water, I received her love. I spent more than ten years on the battlefield and never once felt I was truly alive – only after meeting her did I feel this world was worth living in. I dare tell your spirits in heaven: this woman is my partner for life. I will never fail her, and my devotion will not change until death.
Fan Chang Yu cries. This is the moment it really hits her: what she means to him, what her existence did for him, how deeply she has become the reason this man still wants to live. That whole sequence is genuinely poignant with the flashbacks. They're framed through Yan Zheng’s eyes. These aren’t just pretty flashbacks. These are his memories of Fan Chang Yu as he sees her.
When my life hung by a thread, she saved me
When my heart had gone still like dead water, I received her love
I spent more than ten years on the battlefield and never once felt I was truly alive–
– only after meeting her did I feel this world was worth living in.
I will never fail her, and my devotion will not change until death.
Wei Yan’s wife seems like a genuinely good person who even Yan Zheng respects.
Recovering, Yan Zheng murmurs that he took the 108 lashes so he could marry Fan Chang Yu. "Properly and honourably, with the full formal rites, with matchmakers and betrothal gifts, bringing her through the front door as his legitimate bride." But is he awake? Is he dreaming? Is he spiritually proposing from the brink? Yes! He's proposing in his unconsciousness. This man. And then he sleep-talks again, "Chang Yu, would it be alright if I marry you?" This is a callback to Ep19, when she was unconscious and he sat by her bedside, held her hand, and quietly told her, “I’ll marry you, alright? If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing.” Seventeen episodes later, Fan Chang Yu finally answers Yan Zheng's proposal! He doesn't need to marry her again. He already belongs to her.
Ep19:
Now Yan Zheng is awake. And it’s more confessions, heartbreaking ones, the child in him, the past that devours him :(. He tells Fan Chang Yu that he has always hated himself for leaving to pick osmanthus flowers because that gave his mother the chance to commit suicide. Even after getting revenge, even after becoming the Marquis, he still dreams of her. He is still that same child crying for his mother. He says it while shaking his head and crying, like none of the titles and victories ever changed that grief. And Fan Chang Yu just pulls him into her arms. Now he has her. “I can protect you.” She didn't say it, but I can hear the pigs squealing 🐷🥹 Yan Zheng also admits that when Fan Chang Yu found him again, there was a moment when he wanted to give up revenge. But then he thought of his father. He barely even remembers his father’s face. “But I still remember his chest, split open and only barely stitched back together with needle and thread. I still remember the 67 arrow-shaped wounds on his body.” Chang Yu stops him from reliving it. She never blamed him for carrying this revenge, and she tells him not to let other people’s sins keep tormenting him like this.
Wei Yan, like Yan Zheng, has a buried romance that runs just as deep – with Wei Ke Yin, Consort Shu. Wei… and she calls him third bro… Uh. I think they're cousins? She had written to him like a fiancée: their families had approved the marriage, and she vowed: "never betray, never change until death.” The exact vow Yan Zheng used. But then an imperial decree summoned her into the palace to marry the Emperor instead.
2CP. Yu Qian Qian teaches Qi Min a modern drinking game. Confirmed. She is a transmigrator. There is no doubt in my mind anymore. But what is the point??? The games are over fast when Qi Min’s surprise is ready: empress robe and crown. Yu Qian Qian refuses to be his queen. Qi Min, somehow both terrifying and pathetic at the same time – but mostly pathetic – pleads with her that he already listened to everything she asked for so what more does he have to do? She tells him to beg. And he does. On his knees. I do not have the degree required to understand this “romance” or this man. Then she lifts his chin with one finger and tells him she’ll wait for the day she becomes Empress.
And then we get the bed, the blindfold, the kissing, trailing down his neck, the petal drop, him on top. But when she was on top, I’m sorry, it looked so un-sensual to me because it just looked like she was nibbling and eating his lips. Om, om, om.
After the hot night, Yu Qian Qian is ready to kill. Is anyone surprised? But then Qi Min starts calling for his mother in his sleep, and she pities him. However, she still cuts the necklace off him instead. Wait. That’s the Tiger Tally on Qi Min? Did I give Sui Yuan Qing credit for brains he absolutely did not have? HA. Yu Qian Qian doesn't escape because who else can keep this psycho in check. She sends her maid to Fan Chang Yu instead. Also that knife was way too close to Deng Kai’s neck for my comfort. I hope he wasn’t actually there for that exact cut lol.
Men Kan ah.
Grand Tutor Li pretends to be ill, and with the help of his disabled grandson Li Huai Qin, he captures Li Huai An. Men Kan ah. One is old, one is injured, and they still managed to catch you. What are you doing.
[Ep38] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
[Ep39] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
[Ep40] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
[Extra] [Jump to: Top | Cast | Comments]
Remarks
[First Impression]
I am beyond the point of making a first impression — I just really love this drama. There’s a good dose of everything: comedy, a mysterious background, and romance. It’s also shaping up to have multiple CPs, so expect several pairings throughout the watch.
[Cast&Crew]
Starring two 🐮s. Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei are both 97s.
The screenplay is written by Zou Yue, known for Love Like the Galaxy. The Rise of the Phoenix, and most recently Coroner's Diary.
The novel is adapted from the novel of the same name by Tuan Zi Lai Xi 團子來襲. Interestingly, Zhang Ling He will star in her second drama adaption, The Road to Glory. He's currently filming this with Lin Yun.
🍉 Other than the boring billing disputes, it's said that the managers of Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei are long-time rivals in the industry, and that some of their tension spills over into how the actors interact. That's the extent of the melon though – nothing especially dramatic. Sorry to disappoint ;P
🍉 He Chang Xi is AI'd with Zhu Zan Jin's face. I don't even know hot to objectively summarize this so you can read the gossips here and here.
Wrapped on April 21, 2025.
Recommendations
Preliminary recs are random / a peek at the list. These may be updated if drama is completed
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