Season 1 – Ep 42

Let’s start off with the end of Xiao En’s story on his deathbed. We learn more about this mysterious sacred or noble temple that the Qing Emperor and Chen Ping Ping had been coveting for forever. While XIao En is divulging this information because he thinks Fan Xian is his grandson, FAn Xian is shocked at this information because Xiao En shares that not only did he meet Fan Xian’s mother, but also that his mother carried a child of the Qing Emperor. Aka, Fan Xian is the son of the Qing Emperor, a Prince. 

In episode 42, Fan Xian and Xiao En are still in the cave and when the conversation ends, Xiao En’s last request is to be moved to the entrance of the cave. Having been locked up for quite some time, he doesn’t want to die underground either. So, Fan Xian, acquiescing to Xiao En’s final request, sets him up to the cave entrance where the sun is shining down on him, and Xiao En dies there, mid-conversation. 

Meanwhile, let’s turn back to the Qing kingdom. This is a rather delicate set of conversations that I think is actually quite fascinating and really showcases the more layered meanings of Chen Ping Ping and the Qing Emperor. Plus, I think the acting of these older individuals, the actors for Fan Jian, Chen Ping Ping and the Qing Emperor really shined. 

Fan Jian has cornered Chen Ping Ping after the Emperor had stormed off. It is here in this conversation where Chen Ping Ping explains to Fan Jian that everything they’ve planned over the last few months, from creating the opening for Fan xian to come to the capital, to even sending Teng Zi Jing to assassinate Fan Xian, all of it was a plan for this exact moment. For Xiao En to meet Fan Xian and tell him about the sacred temple. Importantly, Chen Ping Ping explains to Fan Jian that Teng Zi Jing and many other parts of this plan were devised by the Emperor. This helps us understand that it’s not just Chen Ping Ping as the mastermind behind such a long game. The Emperor is involved and you could say the main orchestrator. Chen Ping Ping is just the person who is helping to execute. I am so impressed by the different inflections Chen Ping Ping’s actor places on different words to show difference in tone. His smile rarely reaches his eyes in those moments and it gives a very chilling effect.

Meanwhile, Fan Xian is finally coming to the realization of how frighteningly powerful, manipulative and cunning Chen Ping Ping is. In a daze, he heads to meet with Guo Bao Kun who is pitifully just hanging out in an inn in the capital of the Qi Kingdom. If we recall, the entire reason Teng Zi Jing and Fan Xian became fast friends and why Fan Xian was antagonistic with GUo Bao Kun when he first arrived at the capital was because of the unjust Teng Zi Jing’s family suffered at the hands of Guo Bao Kun. Or so Fan Xian thought. After Fan Xian further questions Guo Bao Kun, he realized that Guo Bao Kun had absolutely nothing to do with the mistreatment of Teng Zi Jing’s family. He didn’t even really remember what happened in the altercation. It dawns of Fan Xian that Teng Zi Jing’s entire backstory, the suffering he endured and the driver of Fan Xian going to the capital was all part of a plan. His entire life was basically planned for this one specific moment. Getting information out of Xiao En.

Fan Jian can only turn away from Chen Ping Ping, impressed but also disheartened to see how they were all part of a master game of chess. Fan Jian, though, is focused on Fan Xian’s life. He questions whether Fan Xian’s life is worth the information about the sacred temple. According to Chen Ping Ping, yes. He emphasizes all of the unique and interesting ideas that our lady came up with were all from this sacred temple. If they got access to the information in the sacred temple, the Qing kingdom will be an unparalleled and undefeated dynasty. They will become the center of all civilization.

Notice the words that Chen Ping Ping uses. The conversations he has right now are exceptionally loaded. He uses the words “Xiao Jie” which we assume refers to Ye Qing Me. Xiao Jie means our lady or miss which is a rather respectful term for someone. Why didn’t he call her Ye Qing Mei? Why did he explicitly call her XIao Jie? And he continues to emphasize that everything he’s doing is for the betterment of the Qing Kingdom. No matter what cost, he will do whatever it takes for the kingdom. 

These are all purposeful words because after Fan Jian leaves, tears in his eyes over how his “son” is freely used as a chess piece, guess who storms out? The Emperor himself. He obviously was hiding from sight just to hear this conversation and evidently was displeased to hear Fan Jian’s words of disapproval. However, he is heartened by Fan Jian’s love for Fan Xian which appeases the Emperor’s anger. Chen Ping Ping tries to protect Fan Jian from the Emperor by appealing to this strong protective feeling Fan Jian has for Fan Xian while still claiming loyalty to the Emperor. But the Emperor turns to ask the pointed questions now to Chen Ping Ping. You also see Fan XIan as a son or nephew. But you didn’t hesitate to act when I ordered you to remove the black knights and put his life at risk. 

He smiles nervously and says he knows who he is. Just an old dog next to the Emperor. He says he knows that with his disabled state, the only reason he’s still able to lead the overwatch council is because of the Emperor. Therefore, he knows who is the most important person to him. The Emperor. Chen Ping Ping insists that he is loyal to the Emperor above all else. Once again, it’s such a pleasure to see Chen Ping Ping’s reactions here. The Emperor walks away quite pleased with such a response while we see Chen Ping Ping’s eyes twitch. In an instant, his gaze hardens and he sits up, no longer smiling as he was towards the emperor. He lets out a long sigh before collecting himself. This, in my view, betrays his true feelings towards the feeling. That everything he said just now was an act, purposeful to ensure that the Emperor believes he is still 100% loyal to him.

The conversations don’t end there though. After the Emperor leaves, Chen Ping Ping is by himself where he is stopped one more time by Fan Jian. He asks a very dangerous question. In both Chen Ping Ping and the Emperor’s mind, if it comes down to choosing FAn XIan or the Qing Kingdom, who would they pick. Chen Ping Ping tries to dance around a direct answer. Why can’t we have both? Fan Jian, though, is very adamant in saying that he chooses his son. He chooses Fan Xian. Here we already have a very clear delineation of priorities. FAn Jian Choose Fan Xian. Chen Ping Ping waffles while leaning towards the Qing Kingdom. The Emperor obviously chooses the Qing kingdom. 

Chen Ping Ping’s words though are chosen very carefully and for good reason. Gong Dian, head of the Emperor’s security and the imperial guard was ordered by the Emperor to spy on CHen Ping Ping. The Emperor kenw that Fan Jian would seek another audience with Chen Ping Ping and wanted to know if Chen Ping Ping would change his tune. Evidently that didn’t happen because Chen Ping Ping knew he was being watched. This is a masterful game of chess where both Chen Ping Ping and the Emperor do not trust each other. Why else would the Emperor send Gong Dian to eavesdrop on the Emperor. Not only that, when Gong Dian returns ot the palace, the Emperor tests Gong Dian one more time to ensure that he was telling the truth by shooting an arrow at him. If Gong Dian was lying he would likely have tried to dodge the arrow or change his tune. He did neither. The Emperor is only then appeased with hte loyalty of both Gong Dian and seemingly CHen Ping Ping. But…we see CHen Ping Ping chuckle dangerously back at the overwatch council. There is definitely something else afoot. 

Elsewhere, Fan Xian is just putting together the pieces of just how masterful Chen Ping Ping is. His world is already shattered once by knowing his true parentage and is in a daze when he returns to his rooms. Yan BIng Yun is there to ask about what happened. After further conversation, Fan Xian realizes another secret. Yan Bing Yun is likely Xiao En’s son. The person that Chen Ping Ping said he raised to be a Qing kingdom person that hates the QI kingdom? Yup, Yan Bing Yun fits all those boxes and more. This realization is another blow to Fan Xian who now realizes just how long CHen Ping Ping has been planning his steps and because angry that every notion of kindness that he received from CHen Ping Ping was likely calculated.

This is an important turning point because Fan XIan now wants to rise up against Chen Ping Ping. He speaks with Yan Bing Yun on trying to push him to take over the head of the 1st bureau now that ZHu Ge is dead, thereby reducing Chen Ping Ping’s power. Not only that, he has found his purpose in life. His mother can not have died in some random accident or power struggle. The truth about her death must have been covered up. His goal now is to figure out what happened to her. Not only that, he wants to take over the Overwatch Council and become the Qing Kingdom’s most important minister. He now has anger, vengeance and direction in his heart. 

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That was the podcast episode recap and it was a VERY plot heavy episode with reveals coming left right and center. As such there really is no history in this episode. What I want to do then is dive into book differences and discuss the choices the screenwriters made for this episode, especially the characterization of Chen Ping Ping and the Emperor. I’ll point out when we get into heavy story spoilers. If you want to skip the content you’re welcome to.

To that end, let’s start with the book differences. The biggest change from the book is that Fan Xian doesn’t discover his true parentage until much later in the book. He pieces the information from letters from his mother and he gets confirmation from the Emperor. In the book, Fan Xian doesn’t learn this information from Xiao En because as I said in the last episode, Xiao En only met Ye Qing Mei when she was a young child and didn’t know who she would grow up to be. So Xiao En did not have the information to know that Ye Qing Mei married into the Qing Royal Family. The drama decides to push this plot point early to give that big reveal in season 1, which then is an explanation to motivate Fan Xian to uncover the true nature of his mother’s death. In the book, Fan Xian is basically motivated by money and power so he doesn’t really need this much prompting.

The other change is having Yan Bing Yun become the grandson of Xiao En. This plot point is completely created for the drama. In the book, Yan Bing Yun is Yan Ruo Hai’s biological son. This does make for really good drama though because this entire episode is just on step in the grand chess game that Chen Ping Ping is playing.

This is where I’ll get into overall story spoilers. If you do not want to become spoiled by the rest of the book that brings you to the end of the episode. 

The book doesn’t have these pointed conversations between Chen Ping Ping and other characters until much later but everything about the conversations between Chen Ping Ping, Fan Jian, AND the Emperor in this drama episode is informed by their motivations that are revealed later in the book.

For Chen Ping Ping, the person he is truly loyal to is Ye Qing Mei. He is a eunuch and has always been self conscious of that fact and viewed himself as lesser than other people. Ye Qing Mei never treated him differently. Because of this, Chen Ping Ping swore his loyalty to her, NOT the Emperor. In Chinese culture, eunuchs were viewed with disgust and oftentimes referred to as dogs and not the fluffy lovable kind. They were almost always servants in service of the royal household and imperial harem. In the conversation between Chen Ping Ping and the Emperor, Chen Ping Ping constantly refers to himself as a dog and puts himself as a servant of the Emperor. The Emperor, who knows the truth about Chen Ping Ping, barely sees him as more than a loyal dog and tests him as if Chen Ping Ping is nothing but a dog that can be discarded. 

There’s that discrimination that the actor for the Emperor plays beautifully towards Chen Ping Ping. I feel like the Emperor treats the other men at his court differently – look at how he treats Fan Jian. He can be openly dismissive of Fan Jian but Fan Jian doesn’t openly belittle himself in front of the Emperor and the Emperor doesn’t push him like he does toward Chen Ping Ping.

Speaking of Fan Jian – here’s another case where Fan Jian at one time admired and loved Ye Qing Mei but never got the girl. So for him, his loyalty is to Fan Xian because he’s Ye Qing Mei’s son. He doesn’t care much about the Emperor, it’s all about protecting Fan Xian.

Then lastly, let’s talk about the Emperor. In this episode, he claims that his armor is complete when he takes a shot towards Gong Dian. This just continues the underlying fear that the Emperor has at SOMETHING. He’s afraid of what’s in the mysterious box because he believes it can kill him. I mean he’s not wrong – a bullet from a sniper rifle pierces through a lot. So at this point the drama continues to push this imagery of him trying to find ways to protect himself but at this point in the drama, what he’s doing this for. Keep paying attention to this a great way that the drama visualizes this fear that we really don’t get in the book.