[Karen]
Today’s discussion will be almost entirely focused on Fan Xian and Wan’er’s wedding. The Emperor ordered that Fan Xian and Wan’Er be married in 3 days time which was a shock to everyone involved. I, for one, will be ranting non-stop about how I think the drama did Wan’Er dirty for this wedding.
The MORE welcome development for this long awaited return of the Princess Royal, Wan’er’s mother. The cruel and ruthless woman who is not going to allow Fan Xian to wed quietly because when he marries Wan’Er, the Princess Royal will need to transfer ownership/control of the Royal Treasury to Fan Xian. We join her in Xin Yang, where we see that Advisor Yuan Hong Dao was actually a spy for the Princess Royal all along. More accurately, as she points out, they’re all just working for You Know Who, the Big Boss in the Capital. Interestingly, she now is dressed entirely in black vs in season one, where she was dressed in largely pale colors. She also has streaks of grey in her hair.
[Cathy]
We immediately sense the palpable aura of how absolutely insane cruel this woman is. When learning that Yuan Hong Dao can’t really eat the spicy food he’s been given, she orders all of his chefs be executed. When he warns her of the secrecy needed for the royal treasury accounting, she hints that all of the accountants, whom she is pretty much working to death anyways, are going to be the fertilizer to the flowers in her yard next year. Um. Yea…I don’t say this word lightly, but she IS CRAAAZY~~~.
She is on her way to the Capital for Wan’er’s wedding with gifts for both Fan Xian and Wan’Er. As for the wonderful gift that she gives to Fan Xian? The completed Financial Ledger for the Royal Treasury that shows it is in 20million taels in debt. Ouch.
The other person who makes their long awaited return is none other than the blind but not so blind, exceptionally strong, Wu Zhu. However, his return is not immediately a pleasant one as Chen Ping Ping gathered clues and even had Wang Qi Nian review bodies of men who were killed with the same injuries that were exhibited on Lin Gong’s body. Lin Gong, is of course, Wan’Er’s brother who was killed by none other than Wu Zhu in season one. Wang Qi Nian immediately tells Fan Xian this news and we are now left wondering what is going on with his Uncle Wu Zhi. Did he go rogue? Is he now a threat?
[Karen]
We’ll put all of that aside to turn to the wedding itself. It is a quick turnaround with several laughs as Fan Si Zhe tries to make money off of the wedding by auctioning invitations to the hughes bidder, and Fan Xian is subject to a torturous day of trying on different clothes for the event. The day of the wedding though, Fan Xian and the Princess Royal agree to a truce from their fighting because they want Wan’Er to have the perfect day. The Princess Royal Li Yun Rui also takes the opportunity to help prepare her daughter for her big day.
- Now I’m going to rant. First, Can I talk about Wan’er’s outfit? From behind the scenes clips, we learn that Wan’er’s head dress was actually 3-D printed. The idea is that the headdress is supposed to look like candy. You know the candy designs that are popular for children? It’s supposed to signal sweetness in the marriage. And this is straight from the director’s mouth. This headdress was meant to use traditional designs with modern technology. I Get what they’re doing? But to me, I think it doesn’t look good.
And 2nd, the wedding itself was made to be only a family banquet. Fan Xian didn’t want to deal with the politics of figuing out who to include or exclude on the guest list so he opted to only keep it small. This means pretty much Wan’er’s male cousins, aka the princes and Ling’er. BUT WHY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ARE THE CRICKET SOUNDS SO LOUD??? There’s literally no other background music. There’s ONLY CRICKET SOUNDS. WHY IS IT SO QUIET????
When Wan’Er show up for the ceremony? The music is also a beautiful piano forward song. It’s very lyrical and you could say romantic? But not HAPPY. Come ON.
[Cathy]
The ceremony itself is rather touching. It’s intimate with only the closest of friends and family. Wan’er’s brother Da Bao, her male cousins aka the key princes and Ling’er are there for her, which is already a good showing but still sad that both her parents couldn’t be there. Emperor, couldn’t you have kicked out the Chancellor AFTER Wan’er got married? On Fan Xian’s side, he allowed Mistress Liu to take the place as Fan Jian’s main wife to oversee the ceremony. This is his way of showing respect to her and extend his love for his Fan side of the family who has been nothing but supportive of him. Ruo Ruo takes the role of the wedding officiant to support her brother. Adding to this touching and joyous occasion, the Emperor sends over a huge plaque with the phrase Bai Nian Hao He or together for 100 years.
But the quiet night isn’t over yet. When Fan Xian and Wan’Er are finally alone, Fan Xian spots a familiar figure on the rooftop of his residence. It is none other than Wu Zhu. Fan Xian rushes out immediately to meet with him to ask him about his whereabouts over the last several months since they departed when Fan Xian first left for the Northern Qi kingdom. Wu Zhu confirms that he wasn’t the one to kill all those people in Jiang Nan, or the south, which is what everyone was worried about. Fan Xian is relieved but then Wu Zhu says it has to be him. He saw the injuries on the bodies. The wounds were only from someone like him, someone without Qi and at the level of a grandmaster. The problem is that he doesn’t have memories, he can’t trust himself to not have killed all those people. He doesn’t trust himself anymore because he thinks his memories are tainted. Fan Xian confirms that Wu Zhu’s weapon doesn’t have any blood on it, which means that he isn’t the killer and reaffirms that he will always need Wu Zhu in his life. This comforts Wu Zhu and he instructs Fan Xian to stay at Cang Mountain after his wedding. With that, he disappears.
Finally, the night quiets down as Wan’Er walks out in search of Fan Xian. She doesn’t realize there’s so much going on with Fan Xian but he tries his best to give her a perfect wedding. The two of them sit in the courtyard where they first looked at the night sky in season one. He gives her a wedding ring, as his special and personalized gift for her to commemorate this night. And with that, the two are married.
[Karen]
OKAY. I’m STILL not done ranting about this wedding. Fan Xian and Wan’ER finally have their wedding night but can we talk about the fact that the 2nd prince and Ling’er had the same amount IF NOT MORE screen time than Wan’Er and Fan Xian. The 2nd prince basically cornered Ling’er into revealing that she told Fan Xian about Lin Gong’s involvement back in season 1 which means that Fan Xian’s alibi of not knowing about Lin Gong ordering Teng Zi Jing’s death is no longer valid. Then, there are many minutes spent on the back and forth between the 2nd prince and Ling’er where Ling’er wants to prevent the 2nd prince from revealing this bit of news to Wan’Er because it would mean that she would likely be so upset she would back out of the wedding and not allow Fan Xian to gain access to the royal treasury. This IS an important plot point but it did NOT need THAT MUCH SCREEN TIME.
I just totally think Wan’er was done dirty in her wedding scene where SHE is supposed to be the main character. Also, because SO MUCH OF THE MARKETING around this drama is about Fan Xian and Wan’er’s romance. When the drama was airing, Zhang Ruo Yun and Li Qin did a TON of marketing together to focus on the romance and the drama played up the OH, they’re getting married finally! But THIS IS ALL WE GET? Cricket background? Not even a musical procession?
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[Karen]
The main storyline revolves around Fan Xian and Lin Wan Er’s wedding. There’s a surprising amount of pop culture wedding references in the drama with some historical references too.
The first pop culture reference is 饥饿营销 – Hunger Marketing. Fan Xian makes this remark in response to Fan Si Zhe’s farfetched idea of auctioning the seats of his wedding to the highest bidder. Fan Si Zhe also states that the phrase Auction or 拍卖 is something Fan Xian introduced. Well, auctioning is pretty simple. As for Hunger Marketing, it’s a marketing strategy that targets people’s emotional desire to really want something. This strategy includes creating artificial scarcity to drive up demand and perceived value. In the case of Fan Xian’s wedding, Fan Si Zhe wants to sell the opportunity to attend Fan Xian’s wedding to the highest bidder and make a huge profit. Hunger Marketing is obviously not a traditional Chinese idea but most companies across the world use these tactics. Think about Pop Mart and Labubus. The price is under $30 in the US but there’s a scarcity of products so that makes Labubus a very sought after product!
[Cathy]
Next up is the concept of 随礼 / 份子钱. Fan Si Zhe is mumbling that they didn’t receive any of these because Fan Xian didn’t want to have a large wedding. The 2nd Prince and Chen Ping Ping also mention this custom in episode 25.
Wedding gift money (随礼 / 份子钱) is a traditional Chinese custom in which relatives, friends, and acquaintances collectively contribute money to express blessings to newlyweds. The practice originated in the mid-Ming dynasty so think 14th-15th centuries from the concept of “份子” or gift money, meaning pooled contributions for mutual support. The practice is recorded in Ming Dynasty texts such as The Peony Pavilion 《牡丹亭》and The Scholars 《儒林外史》. Initially, gifts often took the form of tangible items such as cured meat or homemade wine. By the late Qing and early Republican period, it had become a key social ritual for maintaining kinship and social ties. For those in high society, such as those from the Manchu 8 Banners, they were expected to send gifts of high value during these events. There are records of members of the 8 Banners fretting over how to come up with the funds to pay for these gifts. After the conclusion of the civil war in 1949, wedding customs became simpler; in the 1950s–70s, practical household goods were common gifts. With economic reform in the 1990s and with the general population amassing more wealth, cash gifts became dominant, gradually forming informal standards.
Gift money or 份子钱 is used not only for weddings but also for births, funerals, and other major life events. This practice is still very prevalent in modern China. The process has now become standardized, involving invitations, red envelopes with names written on them, and detailed record-keeping in “human-relationship ledgers.” The overall custom serves a dual nature: offering blessings while simultaneously recording social obligations.
Well how does this work in practice? Let’s say my friend is planning to get married and sends me an invite. As the guest, I will prepare a certain amount of Gift money for the event. Let’s say I prepare $200. On the day, there is a person physically recording all of the gift money that has come in. I show up either with cash to give to the person or else transfer the money to the designated account. The person then records how much I gave. If I bring my whole family, so like my partner and if I have kids, then it’s 200 per person with a total of 800. Oh also avoid 4s and add in 6s and 8s as auspicious numbers.
The custom is closely tied to East Asian cultural values of collectivism and extended-family ethics, and similar practices exist in Japan and Korea. I’ve been to 2 weddings in S. Korea and there was also a person recording the gift money.
This is kind of like a wedding registry for the wedding couple in the west. However, there’s a lot more pressure to give in China because well, it’s like LITERALLY public. The original purpose of the ledger is to record who has given well wishes so that the recipient can repay in kind for a future date. So if I get married, then the person who I gave the $200 to should also give me $200. If I went with the whole family, then he or she needs to respond with about $800.
I will say that there’s a LOT of nuances in this practice and there’ve been a lot of complaints about it. Legally and customarily, wedding gift money is considered joint marital property, with disputes resolved according to the giver’s intent or local customs. Amounts are typically adjusted based on banquet costs and local economic conditions. For example, gift amounts may average around 100 yuan in parts of Guangdong, but reach 1,000 yuan or more in Zhejiang and Shanghai. In China, the price of a wedding banquet is by table. So if you pay 1000 per table of 10 and everyone gives you 100, then you essentially are net neutral for the event. Even if 1 person gives more, then you come away as the host with more money than you spent. So you get a profit. Because of this there’s like a huge industry for having these banquets for all sorts of events because well, some people just want to have an excuse to get some profit. In some rural areas, excessive or unnecessary banquets (“no-occasion feasts”) have increased financial pressure, prompting local regulations to limit gift amounts. Younger generations are increasingly adopting practices such as mutual gift exemptions to reduce economic burden.
This custom also creates a LOT of pettiness. I’ve seen plenty of people on Chinese social media who complain about how they feel snubbed in which someone gave them less money or they gave more money. It’s not a custom that I personally can change but, oof, the whole publicly writing how much you give is not something that I enjoy. Funnily enough, while gift money symbolizes goodwill, it is widely acknowledged that money should not become a measure of emotional closeness, nor should social relationships be reduced to financial calculations.
[Karen]
There’s also some fun references to modern day western wedding culture that has taken hold in China. This includes the honeymoon or 蜜月 and also wedding rings.
Oh one last piece I want to mention. The wedding takes place during the evening. This is specifically mentioned in the book that weddings in the Qing Kingdom begin at dusk. This is VERY different to Chinese weddings even now because they occur during the day.
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[Cathy]
Let’s conclude with book differences! There’s a lot that the drama squeezes into the wedding episodes.
First things first. As Karen has commented ALL throughout the episode, the wedding in the drama is very shabby. In the book, that was not the case at all. This was a huge event in the city. The Princess Royal never returns to the capital. It’s the 2nd Prince’s mother who manages the affairs of the wedding much to everyone’s surprise. It’s also not hasty like 3 days hasty. There is time to prepare and plan. To those in the palace, everyone knows that Lin Wan Er is a 郡主 or a princess. To the world though, she is the illegitimate daughter of the Chancellor. There is a whole headache on how lavish the wedding should be. As the daughter of a Chancellor, the marriage is a simple union between officials. As a princess, this is a union between the royal family and an official. Ultimately, the Empress Dowager had no choice but to choose to marry Lin Wan Er off as the daughter of the chancellor because well…Lin Wan Er is illegitimate from both her mother and father’s side so the Empress Dowager had to go with the father.
Regardless, this whole wedding was a grand affair. There were plenty of people who attended, including many at court. Mistress Liu was promoted to be the main wife. The women of the palace sent lavish gifts for the wedding. The Emperor also sent his plaque of the 4 words 百年好合 Bai Nian Hao He which sent ripples across the attendees. Noticeably, the princes did NOT attend because they believed their presence would cause a stir in the palace. The wedding also takes place before Fan Xian leaves for the Northern Qi kingdom so the drama decided to push this all the way back. There are no discussions about Ruo Ruo’s marriage with Li Cheng Hong, none about the Imperial Treasury, and Wu Zhu does not appear. It’s Fei Jie who disturbs the wedding night. All those events do happen later in the book. Oh the whole Second Prince and Ye Ling Er interlude doesn’t happen either. I feel like the screenwriters were trying to tie all the loose ends and chose the wedding as the place to do so.
Well, Fan Xian is finally married and now must figure out a way to plug the massive hole in the Internal Treasury, which is what we’ll discuss for the 2nd part of episode 26 and beyond.