Last episode, Ruo Ruo conducts surgery to save Fan Xian and he is now recovering. Chen Ping Ping dropped in to see him and he openly confirms that Shadow is actually the younger brother of Si GU Jian and one of the assassins at the Hanging Temple. But, the most important result from the assassinations is the Ye family being exiled as punishment for not securing the Emperor’s safety. Why is that important?
That’s where we start episode 31. The Emperor is now also visiting Fan Xian who doesn’t understand why the Emperor went through all the hoops to banish the Ye family. After all, they are connected to the all powerful grand master, Ye Liu Yun. But, as the emperor explains, that is EXACTLY why the Emperor wants to banish the Ye family. To bait Ye Liu Yun into coming forward. He apparently has ignored multiple decrees from the Emperor requesting his presence. That level of arrogance is reserved only for the Grandmaster for their power. The Emperor thus wants to test whether or not grandmasters still think of kinship or family love. He wants to know if there is Anything left on earth that these grandmasters care about. That is why the Ye family was banished. To force Ye Liu Yun to show himself. The Emperor also even kept Ye Ling’er in the capital as almost a threat to prevent Ye Liu Yun from going completely berserk because if he does, Ye Ling’er is toast. I gotta say, I am impressed with the Emperor’s scheming.
But what I DIDN’t like, is the Emperor questioning why Fan Xian jumped in to save the 3rd prince when Shadow was attacking them. If Fan Xian had just let the 3rd prince take a blow, Fan Xian wouldn’t have been so heavily injured. The Emperor also point blank asks if Fan Xian thinks the 3rd prince’s life is more valuable than his, the Emperors. This is quite a test of loyalty to Fan Xian while also revealing how little the Emperor thinks of his own son’s life. This line of questioning to me shows how self centered and focused on loyalty the Emperor truly is. And with that, the Emperor leaves.
Now there are bigger problems at hand. We all know that Fan Xian is the son of Ye Qing Me and the Emperor but that was a massive secret. However, now, suddenly, this secret has been revealed and is now gossip that is spreading all throughout the capital. Everyone is shocked to hear this. Fan Jian rushes to question Chen Ping Ping about how this information leaked and the 2nd prince is like “no wonder why i always felt like me and fan xian are similar” but the 2 people with the most magnified reactions? The princess royal and the Empress. The princess royal didn’t bat an eye when she heard he was the Emperor’s son. She went hysterical when she heard Fan Xian was Ye Qing Mei’s son. Something MUST have happened because she wants nothing more than to now KILL Fan Xian. She just wants him dead. Even the 2nd prince is like “woah – over reaction much?”
As for the Empress? She comes storming to meet her son the Crown Prince to discuss this matter. Oddly, she also wants Fan Xian dead. And just like the Princess Royal, she only cares about Fan Xian’s birth parentage because he is Ye Qing Mei’s son. She Also does not care about him being the Emperor’s son.
Turns out, it was the Empress’s clan that caused the death of Ye Qing Mei. But because of their involvement, her entire clan was brutally massacred. The Empress vividly remembers the night when the Black Knights stormed the capital and even into her palace. Even with her eyes covered, she could hear the screams of her family as they were killed and blood was splattered everywhere. Now we know why she is scared of the dark and must always have dozens of candles lit in her presence. She is traumatized by that night where even in the darkness, she saw blood of her kin. She does not want to relive that past.
But does the crown prince register his mother’s trauma at all? Not one bit. Instead, he continues to evaluate what this means in terms of how useful Fan Xian could be to him in protecting his status as crown prince. His mother is crying tears of pain but the crown prince? He only cares about himself and whether or not Fan Xian will turn on him. The Crown PRince even suggests that the Empress go apololgize to Fan Xian for her family killing his mother so that they can move on. The Empress is in utter disbelief at these words. They are disgustingly heartless becuase her son has absolutely no regard for the family she lost on that day. She sits back down, quiet tears streaming down her face and pulls out her liquor bottle. She calmly states that she is pleased to see that you, the crown prince, are actually the most similar to him.
Who is she talking about? She’s talking about the Emperor. In this moment, she saw how heartless her son is about anyone but himself. She is just a chess piece to him. The other person we saw that was also just as heartless, was the Emperor, even earlier in the episode. Now we also understand why the Empress drinks so much. She wants to drown away the trauma of that night.
The rest of the episode now sets us up for the next episode. On one hand, Fan Xian is met with 2 assassination attempts in Guang Xin palace that are easily foiled. Like way too easily that it seemed too childish as assassination attempts. The Princess Royal denied any involvement in it and opts to leave the capital as requested by the emperor. The only other person who could have done this is the Empress but it seems too simple. Why would she send these people, one who even tries to poison Fan Xian even though he is a poison master.
The other conflict is that the 2nd prince jumps into Wan’er’s carriage as she is returning to the palace to see Fan Xian. He quickly informs her that Fan Xian knew of and was involved with her brother Lin Gong’s death. This is a secret he decided to withhold on her wedding but now? All bets are off and he has no obligation to hold back. She is in shock with this reveal and now is set up to have a confrontation with her husband.
Let’s move onto the very minimal history and pop culture in this episode as these two episodes are very plot heavy.
The first is 战略性武器 or strategic weapons. These refer to weapons capable of striking targets within an enemy’s area operations and causing large-scale destruction. Basically nuclear weapons and the like. Definitely a modern term for modern warfare.
The next one is 绿帽子 or green hat. Fan Jian is wearing a green crown while wandering around. With the news that Fan Xian is the Emperor’s son, Mistress Liu immediately says, “darling, you should probably change your hair crown”. Here’s why!
“Green Hat” (绿帽): It is commonly used to describe a situation in which, wife has a sexual relationship with a man other than her husband. Note that it is typically referred to giving a MAN a green hat and not the other way around. Expressions such as “wearing a green hat” or “green headscarf” carry a strong sense of humiliation, particularly directed at men. In modern society, the term can refer to any situation in a monogamous relationship where one partner is unfaithful.
Historically, green was often considered a color associated with low social status in China. This dates back to antiquity and is even mentioned in the book of songs compiled over 2500 years ago. Well – wearing green, especially on the head represents low status. Wearing green elsewhere on the body was generally better. The Book of Han written in the 1st century AD records that Dong Yan 董偃, the lover of Princess Guantao, wore a green headwrap, annotated as “the attire of a lowly person.” The famous Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai even wrote about the color green and its association with low status. During the Tang dynasty, officials sometimes forced criminals to wear green headscarves as a form of humiliation. During the Sony Dynasty, officials wearing green meant that they surrendered to the Song. This was another form of humiliation.
However, the association of a man being cuckolded most likely began during or shortly after the Yuan dynasty, over 700-800 years ago. According to texts written in the 14th century, during the Yuan Dynasty, Male relatives of prostitutes were required to wear blue-green headscarves. This practice continued through to the Ming Dynasty. Performers and households connected to entertainment professions were required to wear similar headgear; their wives sometimes engaged in relationships with elites. So basically these women were cheating on their green headscarf wearing husbands.
This all combined to develop that a woman cheating on her husband meant to “戴绿帽子” or make the husband wear a green hat. This was clearly spelled out in a Ming Dynasty text written in the 16th century.
Today, “wearing a green hat” remains a widely understood colloquial expression meaning to be cheated on by one’s partner.
Lastly, let’s conclude with book differences! I’ll first discuss the similarities. The main one being that the Emperor does grill Fan Xian on whether or not Fan Xian knows anything about the assassin, acknowledging that the Emperor himself planned much of the events of the Hanging Temple with the goal of exiling the Ye family, and that he is impressed that the Fan Xian saved the 3rd Prince first. Meanwhile, the 3rd prince and his mother do come to give thanks to Fan Xian. The 3rd Prince formally requests for Fan Xian to be his teacher, which Fan Xian has no choice but to accept.
Now onto the differences, which there are a lot, namely that many events are moved up and made obvious to many characters in the drama and the audience.
The first is the reveal that Fan Xian is the son of Ye Qing Mei and the Emperor. In the book, rumors begin flying, with Hai Tang Duo Duo being the one to tell Fan Xian in a letter that people have guessed his lineage. However, Fan Jian firmly informs Fan Xian that this must stay a rumor. Fan Xian does not address anything. Unlike in the drama, it is NOT the Emperor who orders these rumors to spread. Fan Jian and Fan Xian ponder on the Royal family’s reaction but there’s also no formal reaction from the Princess Royal or the Empress as we see in the drama. Chen Ping Ping’s goal in the book is to corroborate the fact that Ye Qing Me is Fan Xian’s mother BUT not to confirm that Fan Xian is the Emperor’s son. Being Ye Qing Mei’s son to Chen Ping Ping is much more valuable, especially when it comes to taking over all of the Ye family’s assets.
The Princess Royal reacts with a resigned smile upon hearing the news. She’s still in exile at Xin Yang and jokes that she never won against Ye Qing Mei when she was alive and now is easily beaten by her son. With the reveal of Fan Xian’s parentage, the Empress’s backstory is brought to the forefront. This does not happen at this point in the book. All that happens is that the Empress informs her son that they need the Emperor’s favor. That’s the most important piece of the puzzle. They must bide their time and ignore Fan Xian. The Crown Prince doesn’t show his ruthlessness here as he does in the drama.