[Cathy]

In episode 3, the primary focus for Fan Xian and Wang Qi Nian is to investigate Bao Yue Lou or Bao Yue House to see if they can find the whereabouts of Teng Zi Jing’s wife and son that were held captive by the 2nd prince. They secretly meet with a young woman, the beautiful Sang Wen, who currently works at this brothel. She is smart enough to know exactly why these 2 men want to see her. She gives them clues that a young woman with the last name Jin may know where Teng Zi Jing’s widow and son are being held captive because this woman was beaten as well. This miss Jin’s father seems to be a vegetable vendor. 

That’s a new lead for Fan Xian. Additionally, we learn from Sang Wen that she did not come to Bao Yue Lou willingly and wishes to have the opportunity to buy herself out of there. Fan Xian agrees. So now we know that this place beats people and forces them into prostitution. Oof. That’s not a good look. 

Fan Xian sneaks into a vegetable cart in order to make his way into Bao Yue Lou. Oddly, he’s not the only one. There’s an old man in the basket next to him hoping to sneak in using the exact same method. Fan Xian finds out that this old man is sneaking in to Bao Yue Lou to find his daughter. She sold herself in order to help her father repay debt from selling vegetables.  Where did this debt come from? Not paying a tribute to Eunuch Dai who manages all of the food purchases for the palace. Because this vegetable vendor, who just so happens to be Mister Jin, the father of the woman Fan Xian is looking for, did not have money to pay off the Eunuch, the Eunuch made his life hell and added significant amounts of debt onto him. His daughter tried to help his father and sold herself to pay off this debt. 

[Karen]

Understandably, Fan Xian is angered by this blatant corruption but Mister Jin says he has no option. He’s just a vegetable vendor whereas Eunuch Dai certainly has connections. So, Fan Xian takes out all the money that he has, and Wang Qi Nian even gives him his personal money. They also help Mister Jin win the Fan Xian similarity contest in order to get a plaque to enter Bao Yue Lou. Mister Jin wins handily and is able to enter the premises to meet his daughter. When he leaves though to meet with Fan Xian, he is not happy. In his despair, he shares that the money Fan Xian helped give him only allowed him to see his daughter for a few hours. To think about paying her debt, he would need up to 10,000 liang, an astronomical amount for someone like him. He shares that his daughter didn’t see Teng Zi Jing’s widow or someone with a child and he felt awful about wasting the money Fan Xian gave him. But before Fan Xian could help him further, we see that the old man Jin had a huge gash on his back, evidently an injury he sustained while in the building.

He falls to the ground dead. Fan Xian is furious at this sight and wants to help him but is held back by Wang Qi Nian. As for Bao Yue Lou? The staff quickly collect the body and are ordered to pay off whomever they need to to make this look like an accident. The blood on the ground is quickly swept away like nothing ever happened – that a life wasn’t just taken away.  What’s more feng ci or insulting is that Yuan Meng, the madame of the brothel, knows all about what happens. She is not upset at all and even thinks this will help Miss Jin work harder to become a top courtesan. Her staff say that she’s so nice for thinking this way. Ummm…Excuse me??? You just killed an innocent man and are calling yourself nice?

[Cathy]

That night, Fan Xian and Wang QI Nian return to his home. Fan Xian is still seething about what happened but then notices that Wang Qi Nian’s home is empty. Wang Qi Nian freaks out and searches for his wife and daughter but they are gone without a trace. He cries his despair and blames the 2nd prince for their disappearance. After all, we did see the 2nd prince earlier talk about how he wanted to invite Wang QI Nian’s wife and daughter over to take them hostage. 

The next day, Wang Qi Nian and Fan Xian head out on their different paths. Oddly, the 2nd prince asks Fan Wu Jiu where Wang Qi Nian’s wife and daughter could have gone. That means that they weren’t the ones to kidnap them. Could it be that Fan XIan and Wang Qi Nian moved them somewhere safe? As the 2 ponder the question, Wang Qi Nian arrives to meet the 2nd prince. This confuses him and agrees to see Wang Qi Nian. 

In front of the 2nd prince, Wang Qi Nian reveals all of Fan Xian’s plans to the 2nd prince – that Fan Xian faked his death, that he is currently en route to Bao Yue Lou to meet the owner of the property. If the 2nd prince were to surround Fan Xian at Bao Yue Lou, Fan Xian would essentially be destroyed. Why would Wang Qi Nian betray Fan XIan and come to the 2nd prince? To save his wife and daughter. Disgustingly, the 2nd prince doesn’t reveal that he doesn’t have those 2 in his custody but agrees to go to Bao Yue Lou. You can tell the 2nd prince is pleased with this sudden betrayal and wants to add insult to injury by bringing Wang QI Nian to the confrontation with Fan Xian. 

[Karen]

As for Bao Yue Lou and who the mystery owner is? Why, it’s Fan Si Zhe, Fan XIan’s younger brother, complete with a giant gold necklace. 

Fan Xian is shocked to find that the person behind all of this evil is none other than his brother. Fan XIan had hidden himself in the rafters of the room. Yuan Meng had ordered Sang Wen and some other women to perform for the owner when he arrived but Fan Si Zhe is absolutely not interested in women at all. He has his accounting books in front of him and he is primarily focused on going through those books to see how much money they earned. The episode ends with Fan Si Zhe kicking Yuan Meng out of his room as well as he focuses on his accounting. At this point, Fan Xian reveals himself. If looks could kill, Fan Si Zhe would probably be within an inch away from death.  

–

[Cathy]

There’s a couple of interesting pieces of history hidden in this episode as the plot continues. 

The first two are poems that are recited by men around 宝月楼 as the Fan Xian remembrance party continues. 

We hear one man recite these lines 故垒西边⑸，人道是：三国周郎赤壁⑹。乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆雪⑺

These lines come from a larger poem called Recalling the Red Cliffs – Tune: Nian Nu Jiao. 念奴娇·赤壁怀古. 

Let me recite the whole first part of the poem 大江东去⑵，浪淘尽⑶，千古风流人物⑷。故垒西边⑸，人道是：三国周郎赤壁⑹。乱石穿空，惊涛拍岸，卷起千堆雪⑺。江山如画，一时多少豪杰。

Here’s my translation:

The great river flows endlessly eastward,

Its waves have washed away the famous men and women of ages past.

In the West, there’s an ancient fortress,

People say, here lies the site of Red Cliff,

Where Zhou Yu commanded his mighty fleet and defeated the Cao Army

Rugged mountains and sheer cliffs tower on both banks

The raging waves crash violently against the opposite shore,

Churning sprays of water like thousands of heaps of snow in winter.

The landscape is as if drawn by a brush

What an age with so many heroes to have emerged in such a time and place!

This ci poem was written by Su Shi in 1082 during the Song Dynasty. At the time, Su Shi was 45 years old and had been exiled to Huangzhou. He was demoted for composing poetry that satirized the new policies he disapproved of. Su Shi turned to traveling and enjoying natural scenery to ease his emotions. On one such outing, he happened to visit Chibi (Red Cliff) Rock just outside Huangzhou. The grandeur of the landscape deeply moved him and the stories of the battle during the Three Kingdoms era inspired him to write this poem. This is an example of the unrestrained style of poetry that was developed by Su Shi. There is a second half to the poem that I won’t recite here. The battle of Chi Bi is one of the most famous from the Three Kingdoms Era. The river mentioned is Chang Jiang or the Yangtze River which doesn’t exist in the drama. Red Cliff is located in modern day Hubei province and there’s a decent 2008 war epic movie starring Tony Leung on this battle. I checked my notes and do not recall Fan Xian reciting this poem in Season 1 but that’s alright. 

Next, the first line of this poem is recited when Fan Xian and Wang Qi Nian are encouraging Old Man Jin to head on stage. Here’s the poem. 

杜甫 – 闻官军收河南河北 Hearing That the Imperial Troops Have Recovered Henan and Hebei

剑外忽传收 北，初闻涕泪满衣裳。

却看妻子愁何在，漫卷诗书喜欲狂。

白日放歌须纵酒，青春作伴好还乡。

即从巴峡穿巫峡，便下襄阳向洛阳。

Here’s my translation

Beyond the Sword Gate came sudden news: Tang troops have retaken Jibei in the north!

At first hearing, tears soaked my clothes from joy

I turn around to look at my wife and children with sorrow gone

I gather my books and poems in overcome with joy and mad with delight.

In broad daylight Let us sing and let the wine flow freely,

The bright spring light follows me as I return home 

We’ll head from Ba Gorge through Wu Gorge then down past Xiangyang, on to Luoyang!

This poem was written in 763 by the poet Du Fu. During the winter of 762, Tang forces won a major victory near Hengshui, close to Luoyang. They recaptured many prefectures in the He Nan and He Bei. Rebel leaders such as Xue Song 薛嵩 and Zhang Zhongzhi 、张忠志 surrendered one after another. The following year, Shi Chaoyi 史朝义, son of the rebel leader Shi Siming 史朝义, was defeated and committed suicide. These series of events finally brought the eight-year-long An Lushan Rebellion to an end.

Du Fu, who had written many poems during the An Lu Shan rebellion, was living in exile in Zizhou 梓州 (in present-day Santai, Sichuan) at the time. Upon hearing this uplifting and long-awaited news, he was overwhelmed with emotion and penned this passionate poem in response.

So the first line 剑外忽传收蓟北 and 青春作伴好还乡 were featured in this episode of the drama. The hidden man reciting also intersperses lines from Overlooking Spring or 春晚 also written by Du Fu about the destruction of Chang An. These lines include 城春草木深⑵ 感时花溅泪⑶ 烽火连三月. Both poems are discussed by Fan Xian in season 1 BUT I only discussed the poem Overlooking Spring so I won’t discuss it here. 

五弦琵琶

[Karen]

Lastly, let’s focus on Sang Wen’s instrument when the ladies are preparing for the mysterious owner. I looked at it and thought hm…this is odd. This doesn’t look like the Pi Pa’s I’m used to. So I did a little digging. If we look at the instrument Sang Wen holds, it has five strings, is pear shaped, and has only 3 or 4 rivets on the instrument itself. 

This is a replica of a Five String Pi Pa. 琵琶 Pi Pa as an instrument has been around in China for thousands of years. There are variations of the instrument and most likely came to China via the silk road through Persia. The five-string pipa is a plucked string instrument used by ancient northern ethnic minorities in China. It was widely popular during the Tang period across the Central Plains of China, and later spread eastward to Japan. The five-string pipa remained popular up until the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, it had disappeared from court music ensembles and was eventually replaced by the four-string pipa. The 4 stringed 琵琶 is the one we commonly see today and has many more rivets on the body of the instrument. I actually don’t think I’ve ever heard the 5 string 琵琶 before as an instrument so I kind of wished Sang Wen played something this episode. 

Just a note there’s another round looking instrument one of the other courtesans is holding. It’s called a 阮. It’s a 4 string instrument that is like a lute and also has thousands of years of history. I personally am not familiar with this instrument and I’m glad it got at least some screen time as this is not commonly shown in dramas. 

–

[Cathy]

Let’s conclude with book differences!

As I said in the previous podcast episode, Fan Xian goes undercover to Bao Yue Lou of his own volition and only meets Sang Wen at Bao Yue Lou. He, with his own men, discovered that there’s something fishy with this establishment. There’s no Old Man Jin to become the catalyst for Fan Xian. Sang Wen immediately begs to be rescued and Fan Xian agrees. The venue itself is much more nefarious with people testing him in various ways, with peeping holes, and skilled fighters to beat. Everyone knows that Bao Yue Lou is a brothel and with its strong backing, has already beat out the competition. Fan Xian pointedly asks to buy Sang Wen’s freedom from the brothel and the asking price is 10,000 taels of silver. Here’s where that number comes from. Fan Xian does not see Fan Si Zhe enter the building. 

This all comes to a head in the next episode which includes some interesting players.