[Cathy]
Fan Xian had an exciting first day at court in episode 10 and now we see the various parties debrief from the show. Episode 11 opens with the Emperor wheeling Chen Ping Ping to his study while also walking with Fan Jian. It’s the trio of dads and uncles. While initially, they’re more or less light hearted on Fan Xian’s behavior, the atmosphere suddenly turns icy as Chen Ping Ping makes one overstepping statement – that only the Emperor can understand Fan Xian. The Emperor coldly then states, who will understand him? He is not pleased that Chen Ping Ping and Fan Jian allowed Fan Xian to point daggers at his other son because in the end, it’s his son fighting against his son. He accuses Chen Ping Ping and Fan Jian of not considering family at all.
I mean, Chen Ping Ping is not wrong. We’ve watched enough Chinese dramas to know that in front of power, family and blood relations mean nothing. But Chen Ping Ping immediately knows he stepped on a land mine and talks in a much more deferential way as he says he thinks it’s not a bad idea for the problem to get bigger so that the 2nd prince can shake off some bad influences around him.
[Karen]
But while the Emperor is giving Fan Jian and Chen Ping Ping the warning to back off of inciting enmity amongst his sons, what he is more displeased by is the actions of another person – The Chancellor, Lin Ruo Fu. Fan Jian didn’t realize this so Chen Ping Ping had to explain to him that Lin Ruo Fu said one specific line while at court in the last episode. Instead of allowing the emperor to see an official complaint memo, the Chancellor stepped in and said that as the head of government, it is his duty to oversee the 6 different ministries as opposed to burdening the Emperor. This implies that the Chancellor has significant power within court, power that might even threaten the effectiveness of the Emperor. The fact that he was able to influence men who were allied with the Crown Prince to stand up for Fan Xian without the Crown Prince even knowing is reflective of the Chancellor’s power. Hence, Chen Ping Ping understanding that the Emperor does not like how influential and powerful the Chancellor has become.
My question is why did the Chancellor even step forward with that statement. It was almost a little out of left field. If the Chancellor had kept silent and the Emperor saw the memo, perhaps the Emperor would be less displeased with Lin Ruo Fu for his influence on the Crown Prince’s men. My theory is that the Chancellor knew exactly what he was doing. With Fan Xian back in the Capital, Lin Ruo Fu is deciding to purposefully make himself as a target in order to be “brought down” by the Emperor and clear a path for Fan Xian. I think Lin Ruo Fu could see the writing on the wall that Fan Xian is meant for many greater things in the Capital and he is willing to help the Emperor and Fan Xian, primarily because Fan Xian will be his son-in-law and he thinks Fan Xian can take care of his remaining son, Da Bao. We will see this more in the future.
[Cathy]
Let’s now leave the palace. Fan Xian is walking in an empty street and is confronted by the 2nd prince. For anyone who thinks that Fan Xian may be overly targeting the 2nd prince, this episode is chalk full of examples why we shouldn’t feel bad for him. The cleared street is a callback to season 1 where the 2nd prince clears the area simply because he is present but doesn’t want to hang around with the common folk. he didn’t recognize how disruptive clearing the street can be and certainly doesn’t now. The 2nd prince tries to intimidate Fan Xian into backing down from continuing to investigate him for corruption charges but Fan Xian is not scared whatsoever, particularly now that Fan Xian has his own men who can take on the 2nd prince’s men. When the 2nd prince sees that Fan Xian isn’t scared by the men he has, he brings up another threat – Fan Si Zhe. He is threatening to bring back Fan Xian’s younger brother who was sent north as a bargaining chip to force Fan Xian to back down. With that threat in the air, the 2nd prince leaves.
To stir the pot even further, the 2nd prince subtly orders someone be killed at Bao Yue Lou. He doesn’t care who, just that someone needs to die from Bao Yue Lou. The reason for this is to tie this to Fan Si Zhe such that Fan Xian will have to consider how to save his brother’s life and reputation since he was the owner of Bao Yue Lou, a brothel and now a place that will be under criminal investigation. In a twist of fate, and an awful turn of events, the random woman that was selected to be beaten to death from Bao Yue Lou was none other than Miss Jin, daughter of Old Man Jin. They killed the father and they killed the daughter. What is worse is that the likes of the 2nd prince doesn’t even care who was killed. These people are just pawns in their game. His goal is to bring down Fan Xian and he doesn’t mind which bodies are used to achieve his goal.
[Karen]
Fan Xian is understandably furious. This just reinforces why he is fighting against the likes of hte 2nd prince. Fan Xian firmly views that every life should be valued while the likes of the 2nd prince does not.
The thing is, Fan Xian has been fixated on the 2nd prince but he has completely failed to recognize just how cunning the Crown Prince is. We see the Crown Prince meeting the Emperor in his study. The news of Bao Yue Lou has traveled far and wide which means that the Censors now have their wrath turned to encompass not only the 2nd prince and his men, but Fan Xian and his family as well. The Emperor asks the Crown Prince for his view and the Crown Prince exhibits a rather flustered and panic stricken demeanor to the Emperor’s pointed line questioning. The Emperor is clearly unimpressed by the Crown Prince’s lack of poise in a seemingly uncomplicated situation so he goes off and grabs a stool but then breaks a leg and hands it for the Crown Prince to sit on. The crown prince gingerly sits on the stool trying to keep his balance only for the Emperor to push him over. It’s his lesson to the Crown Prince that as a person, and a crown prince, he must learn to be steady.
Looking confused, the Emperor bluntly instructs the Crown Prince to ask his mother about what this means. But is the Crown Prince actually as confused and flustered as he seems? Not at all. He does go visit his mother but he already knows everything that the Emperor wanted to teach him. He knows that the Emperor doesn’t want him, the Crown Prince, to get mixed up in the fray in the battle between the 2nd prince and Fan Xian and he knows full well that those men that were seemingly in his camp helping Fan Xian at court, were actually Lin Ruo Fu’s men. The Crown Prince knows how to disguise himself so that he seems ignorant, unaware and incompetent. However, it’s all just an act. He knows that it is more intelligent to play dumb than to act as a competent Crown Prince. That way, he is seen as less of a threat. Even the Empress is actually quite impressed with how much the Crown Prince knows. She makes the observation that her son, the Crown Prince is very like his father. That is both a compliment and a criticism. I am impressed with how quickly the actor for the Crown Prince is able to change his gaze. In one moment, he can play the bumbling ignorant man, the next, his gaze is sharp as daggers. SIgh. If only he wasn’t embroiled in all the negative press. I would’ve liked to see him return for season 3.
[Cathy]
The last 3rd of the episode now revolves around Fan Xian skillfully fending off pending questioning from the Censors and examination from the 2nd prince. He and his father decided to claim that they were sick in order to avoid questioning but the 2nd prince doesn’t buy it so he orders an imperial doctor to examine both Fan Xian and Fan Jian. However, Fan Xian is completely prepared. He gave his father poison to ingest before the doctor arrives and indeed, it immediately works such that he is lying on the ground with a dark purple tongue and basically black eyes. Definitely out of commission for a while. As for Fan xIan, he randomly grabs the pot lid and creates a wheelchair with it while also injuring himself. That way, when the doctor arrives, he is also out of commission in a wheelchair with all the symptoms of some type of severe injury.
With that, neither Fan Xian nor Fan Jian lied about being ill and not being able to come in for questioning. The 2nd prince here’s this debrief and is not satisfied so he has to now go on another quest to hurt Fan Xian. We will see what he does in the next episode.
Overall, very plot heavy episode 11 where we see just how cunning and ruthless all of Fan Xian’s blood related family are – his father the Emperor and his 2 brothers, the 2nd prince and the Crown Prince. Meanwhile, his adoptive family, the Fan Family trusts him completely and are all in on trying to protect him. In the next episode, we FINALLY get a reunion between Wan’Er and FAn XIan as the 2nd prince tries to stir the pot again.
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[Karen]
Let’s start with history! The history in this episode mainly appears during conversations between characters.
The first is 鸟尽弓藏. The Emperor is annoyed that Fan Xian is playing with fire and investigating his sons. Chen Ping Ping responds that Fan Xian is the only one who can cleanly investigate the Princes. Fan Xian’s father Fan Jian chimes in to say hopefully it isn’t a 鸟尽弓藏 situation.
So this idiom has its roots from 《淮南子·说林训》. This is a philosophical work rooted mainly in Daoist thought that also incorporates Confucian, and Legalist schools of thought. It is a review on the relationship between nature and society. This work was written in the 2nd century BCE during the reign of Emperor Han Wu.
The text in the work is as such: 狡兔得而猎犬烹，高鸟尽而强弩藏 which translates to
When the hare is caught, the hunting dog is cooked. When the soaring birds are gone, the bow is hidden away.
This is a metaphor for a person who will exploit someone or something until it has lost all value, then he’ll discard that person. This is a rather extreme way of dealing with people. Usually people don’t go to such extremes of discarding or ridding people who are of no value. This phrase certainly has more ominous connotations than simply being something that one does. It’s often used to describe an Emperor’s actions towards his advisors, which is what happens here.
We talked about 狡兔死，走狗烹 in Empresses in the Palace. The full phrase goes like this 蜚鸟尽，良弓藏(cang)；狡兔死，走狗烹
This phrase is more commonly used in modern day, especially chinese dramas. this phrase first appears in 史记 or the Records of the Grand Historian written by the Han Dynasty historian 司马迁 in 90s BC. It appears in genealogy of 越王勾践世家 or House of King Goujian of Yue. The political advisor 范蠡 makes this remark after helping the King Goujian reclaim his throne, only to be ousted from court and forced to resign.
[Cathy]
六部九寺 – 6 ministries and 9 courts
During the standoff between the 2nd Prince and Fan Xian, the 2nd Prince is pissed that the Censorate is only investigating members of his “court”. Fan Xian plays dumb and says out of the 6 ministries and 9 courts, who is in your court?
What’s interesting is that the world of Joy of Life is mixing court systems throughout Chinese history. I mean, it is fiction so i’ll give it a pass. The 6 ministries and 9 courts are inspired from the Tang Dynasty, which had 三省、六部、五监、九寺. 3 Departments, 6 ministries, 5 Directories, and 9 Courts. We talked about the Commission of Military Affairs or 枢密院 last week which originated during the Tang Dynasty and continued through the early Ming Dynasty. By the time of the Ming dynasty, it did away with the 9 courts.
For the sake of history, here’s the 6 ministries and 9 courts.
吏部 (Ministry of Personnel) – appointments, promotions, civil service exams.
户部 (Ministry of Revenue) – census, taxation, state finance.
礼部 (Ministry of Rites) – rituals, ceremonies, foreign tribute, exams.
兵部 (Ministry of War) – military appointments, defense planning.
刑部 (Ministry of Justice) – laws, judicial review, prisons.
工部 (Ministry of Works) – public works, infrastructure, state manufacturing.
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光禄寺 – managed imperial banquets and supplies.
太常寺 – oversaw state rituals and ancestral temples.
鸿胪寺 – handled foreign envoys and protocol.
卫尉寺 – palace guards and security.
太仆pú寺 – imperial stables and transport.
宗正寺 – affairs of the imperial clan.
大理寺 – high court of justice.
司农寺 – state granaries and agriculture.
少府寺 – imperial workshops and treasury (sometimes counted with others depending on era).
[Karen]
The next idiom that I’ll discuss is 提纲挈领[tí gāng qiè lǐng]. The 2nd Prince is seething at Fan Xian for accurately investigating officials in his “court”. He grinds his teeth and says to Fan Xian that he sure knows how to 提纲挈领[tí gāng qiè lǐng]. This means – grab the main rope of the net. This is a metaphor for grasping the main point or key idea and being concise and to the point.
This idiom traces its roots back to the warring states period in China around the 3rd century BCE. It comes from 2 scholars –
In the legalist work, Han Fei Zi, it has – 善张网者引其纲，不一一摄万目而后得。 “Those skilled at setting a net will pull the main rope, instead of pulling each individual mesh and win the rewards later.”
The confucius scholar Xun Zi’s collected work has 若挈裘领，诎qū五指而顿之，顺者不可胜数也. Or – “As if lifting a fur coat by the collar: bend five fingers to give it a shake, and countless hairs fall neatly into place.”
For Xun Zi, the story goes that one of his students was puzzled by his lack of progress through his studies. Xun Zi responds that learning is about grasping the essence of the work, all the study is wasted. It’s as if one grabs the collar of a fur coat and gives it a shake. Then all the hairs will fall in place. For Xun Zi – his message was more about proper learning.
These two joined together comprise the idiom“提纲挈领”。
Fan Xian makes this comment of 老活着不死，可都长了壳 as another threat to the 2nd Prince to stop meddling in his affairs. The translation is – If you keep staying alive without dying, you’ll grow a shell. In China, the oldest beings are turtles and tortoises. It’s very auspicious to grow that old and people do view tortoises as lucky omens. HOWEVER, turtles, especially Wang Ba are also a way to insult someone. So, in this instance, I think Fan Xian is definitely insulting the 2nd Prince instead.
[Cathy]
In the conversation between the Crown Prince and the Empress, the Crown Prince laments of 物伤其类[wù shāng qí lèi] to his situation.
This idiom translated directly means a species that injures its own but the meaning of the idiom is different. It means a being that feels sorrow for the misfortunes of another.
The origins can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty through to the Yuan Dynasty over a thousand years ago but it was formally written in Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guan Zhong during the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century.
In Chapter 89, it states – “‘兔死狐悲，物伤其类。’吾与汝皆是各洞之主，往日无冤，何故害我？” “When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves. Creatures mourn the misfortune of others. You and I are both lords of our respective caves; we have had no quarrel in the past, so why harm me?”
The story goes that a rabbit and a fox had a common enemy, the hunter. They vowed to ally together through life and death. One day in the fields, a group of hunters suddenly appear and shoot the rabbit. The fox barely survives. After the hunters leave, the fox heads to the body of the rabbit crying. An elder walks by and asks why the fox is crying, to which the fox responds that we both are but small animals, hunted by the hunters. We swore to face hardships together through life and death. With the death of the rabbit, I must be next. We were true friends, why can’t I cry? The elder is moved by this and agrees that the fox is right to mourn his friend.
This is the origin of the story 兔死狐悲，物伤其类. When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves. Creatures mourn the misfortune of others
As it pertains to the drama, I don’t think it QUITE fits the scene because well, I doubt the Crown Prince and the Emperor can feel emotion. Right now, it’s all about scheming, especially for the Crown Prince.
Lastly, as for book differences – this whole episode is made just for the drama to heighten tensions between the 2nd Prince and Fan Xian. The political machinations led by the Chancellor do come into play in the book, but those happen much later.
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