Today is the morning after Wan’er and Fan Xian’s wedding. They wake up and are immediately met with jovial but tired members of the Overwatch Council who wanted to greet them and pay their respects. Wang Qi Nian said they’re tired because they stayed up all night to calm the ruckus on the streets outside to which i’m like…uhhh what ruckus.
This isn’t a particularly important scene I would say but it gives Wan’Er the opportunity to showcase why she is the perfect candidate for Fan Xian’s wife. She says in front of the crowd of Wang Qi Nian, Deng Zi Yue and the employees of the Overwatch councils first Bureau that Wang qi nian is not only a subordinate not only a retainer to Fan Xian but they are very very close friends. She thanks Wang Qi Nian for everything that he has done in supporting her husband’s Fan Xian. This is not something Fan Xian explicitly told Wan’Er but is what she deduced herself. Everyone is touched and impressed with how understanding Wan’Er is and this reaffirms her abilities as Fan Xian’s wife.
But now, there are more important matters at hand.
The Princess Royal arrived with a fabulous gift for Fan Xian. Tens of millions in debt from the royal treasury because he, after marrying Wan’er, now runs the Imperial treasury. He must figure out what to do with it.
Rather than go beat up a bunch of corrupt officials and try to confiscate their holdings to plug the gap, he has other ideas. But first, he opens up the gift that Chen Ping Ping gives him as a wedding gift. An envelope with a note that contains the words, Qing Yu Tang or the Hall of Joy. 王启年explains that this is actually the business that Ye Qing Mei built or created this brand back in the day. Even though the money is now moved to the Imperial Treasury. These shopkeepers, or more accurately, they are almost consultant managers, don’t open shops themselves but will open or run shop for other people for hire.
And so, with this clue, Wang Qi Nian and Fan Xian head over to Qing Yu Tang to check it out. The door is opened by an old man who doesn’t seem fully surprised to see Fan Xian. As he brings Fan Xian and Wang Qi Nian inside, a horde of men appear, all respectfully bowing and calling out Lord Fan. The old man brings Fan Xian into the inner hall and has Fan Xian remove the curtains to a shelf. When he removes it, there is only one mourning tablet or plaque, made for Ye Qing Mei, Fan Xian’s birth mother.
Immediately, all the managers fall to their knees and kowtow to pay their respects to Ye Qing Mei. They say that the young master or shao dong jia, which means the young heir or young owner is back. The old man also refers to Ye Qing Mei as Xiao Jie or Miss or My Lady. This means they must’ve had a very close relationship back when she was alive.
The old man sends back the rest of the managers and now has a solo conversation with Fan Xian and Wang Qi Nian. This is where things get funny and odd. The old man says that Ye Qing Mei told him her son would be called Fan Xian. That’s strange. Fan Xian doesn’t know how she would know his name or that he would have the last name Fan. After all, his birth father is the Emperor and she died very shortly after giving birth so how did she know he would end up in the Fan Family? The old man said that Ye Qing Mei told him that if she died, her son would definitely be called Fan Xian. IF she survived, he may have a different last name. Weird.
Beyond the oddness of Fan Xian’s naming, the old man also explains that they are all being closely watched by the Palace. They were not allowed to get close to Fan Xian because of their ties to the Imperial Treasury. But, that doesn’t mean they don’t know all about Fan Xian’s exploits since he arrived at the capital.
This group of managers are very kind in offering to help put together the funds needed to help plug the 20mm gap for Fan Xian. The old manager says they know all the secrets of the shops they manage. They should be able to collectively get the money via their knowledge, aka coerce and blackmail. Fan Xian adamantly refuses.The only thing he asks for is the name of all the shop owners, not shop managers in the Capital. He has his own ideas.
We’ll leave the episode recap here as now it’s all about fixing this debt problem for Fan XIan.
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This episode had one pretty funny pop culture reference with a little bit of history sprinkled in. So let’s dive into it!
彩头 – to start. It’s the day after the wedding, Fan Xian’s men report that they’ve been on duty all night. They aren’t looking for a Cai Tou from Fan Xian and joke that they want one from Wang Qi Nian. The Cai Tou is essentially a good omen. The first record of a Cai Tou appeared during the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century-14th century in the prologue of the play <灰阑记》The Chalk Circle by Li Xing Dao
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the term evolved to have multiple meanings: it could denote face, honor, or prestige, and also refer to money or goods won in games, performances, or wagers. There’s plenty of instances in dramas where an emperor will say that the winner will win a Cai Tou which could be a valuable object. In traditional Chinese opera, Cai Tou specifically referred to stage props and scenery.
Over time, the meaning expanded from signaling good or bad fortune to encompassing both material rewards and social recognition. Small amounts of Cai Tou exchanged among relatives or friends may be regarded as recreational activity, whereas profit-oriented or high-value Cai Tou can be classified as gambling.
In modern usage, Cai Tou retains its role in wedding and festive customs as a symbol of good fortune. This includes gifts from the bride and groom to the guests or gifts from the guests to the bride and groom or other objects that symbolize a happy marriage. Outside of weddings, the most common usage of Cai Tou is in gambling as a form of house cut or profit-taking mechanism.
Ok! That’s our last bit of pop culture / history on the wedding, let’s turn to the rest of the episode which has more focus on a surprising mix of pop culture and history.
When Wang Qi Nian informs Fan Xian that the the members of Qing Yu Tang don’t own the money of the financial institutions but merely work for them, Fan Xian responds with, oh, so they’re professional managers or 职业经理人. Professional managers in modern times are quite straightforward. Basically employees for a bank. 经理人 or managers as a phrase is quite modern, hence why Wang Qi Nian doesn’t understand the phrase.
Speaking of these managers, I had the biggest laugh when the old manager proudly informs Fan Xian of the “poem” that his late mother 叶轻眉 gifted him all those years ago.
Here is the poem!
眼睛瞪得像铜铃
射出闪电般的精明
耳朵竖得像天线
听的一切可疑的声音
Here’s my translation.
Eyes looking intensely like bronze bells
Shooting lightning like intelligence
Ears perked upright like antennas
Listening to every suspicious sound
This poem is actually a song! It is the theme song to the 1984 animated series 黑猫警长 or Black Cat Detective. The series is only 5 episodes long but features well – a Black Cat Detective. That’s literally his name. The detective, along with his righteous friends, get to the bottom of the cases troubling the forest. They capture the scheming rats, snare a ferocious monkey-eating eagle, and expose the elephant, hippopotamus, and wild boar that had been stealing red clay. It’s a dangerous job, but through his wit and tenacity, the Black Cat Detective is victorious.
Growing up in the US, I don’t know where my parents got a VHS of this series but Karen and I watched the show so many times! It was very popular with young children in China in the 80s and 90s so peak millennial childhood. If I think back on it, the drama was surprisingly violent for a children’s show. There’s murder and blood sooo yea.
Let’s get back to the poem though. These 4 lines are the first 4 lines of the song. The theme song is an ear worm. The drama cleverly infuses each line with the original theme song. The tune is popular and it’s one of those even if you haven’t heard it in decades, you can hum the tune. I definitely did. This wasn’t in the book and I wonder how expensive it was to buy the rights for the theme song to add into this drama, haha.
You might have guessed it, the 4 lines are describing the cartoon character of 黑猫警长. The first line – Eyes looking intensely like bronze bells – is about how Black Cat Detective is animated. His eyes are literally big bronze round balls on his face. The 2nd line – Shooting lightning like intelligence. There are several scenes where there’s a flash of light to show his intelligence or when he comes up with an idea. This animation is also present in Japanese anime. The last two lines Ears perked upright like antennas Listening to every suspicious sound. Black Cat Detective, being a cat, perks up his ears to listen to sound!
Haha, the old manager is explaining what 天线 means and gives an outlandish answer of a beam of light coming down from the heavens. Antenna are obviously a modern invention but hey that works in the context of the show. The manager then tells Fan Xian that his mother gifted him the poem after apprehending a few petty thieves. To which Fan Xian responds with OHHH, now I understand. His mother was having fun, thinking of her and the manager as the Black Cat Detective and so, she “gifted” it to the old man.
This is such a fun little pop culture reference. I’m honestly itching to go and watch the show again.