[Cathy]

In episode 4, we see the highly? Anticipated reunion of Fan XIan and Fan Si Zhe at Bao Yue Lou. Fan Xian is supremely pissed off at seeing Fan Si Zhe be the head or owner of Bao Yue Lou because he saw just how ruthless the place is. Old Man Jin was killed here and no one gave a second thought which royally angered Fan Xian. Meanwhile, Fan Si Zhe is happy to see his brother alive because, like the rest of the capital, the word is, he is dead. He does say the “in joke” that how come it feels like I haven’t seen you in a couple years which of course, is a wink wink to us for how long this sequel has taken. 

There is a huge mismatch in tone between the 2 men since Fan Si Zhe is all joking about Fan Xian returning and then is rather gloaty about owning Bao Yue Lou while Fan Xian is so angry, he could murder Fan Si Zhe. After further questions where FAn Si Zhe continues to express how pleased he is with himself for running Bao Yue Lou, Fan Xian can no longer hold it in. He beats the living crap out of Fan Si Zhe. 

[Karen]

Fan Si Zhe is bruised, bloodied and utterly confused as to what the heck just happened and starts screaming at Fan XIan for this injustice. He is so angry and runs out, trying to find men to come in to beat up his brother as well. But then he pauses. Fan XIan did tell him before he ran out that if he tells anyone that he’s back in the capital, then he, Fan Xian, would be dead. Fan Si Zhe pauses short of revealing Fan Xian’s name and instead just returns to his office quietly, pretending that he was just injured by his table. 

This retreat shows us that Fan Si Zhe is actually very thoughtful of his brother. He may be angry at his brother for the random beating, but he doesn’t actually want his brother dead. Add to the fact that after his beating, Fan XIan is now starting to spit out blood because of something off with his internal chi, Fan Si Zhe is quite worried about the health and safety of his brother. Someone like that, and someone who doesn’t want to engage in the amorous activities of women, could not possibly be truly involved in the heinous crimes of Bao Yue Lou.

[Cathy]

Sure enough, Fan Si Zhe is absolutely clueless as to the true nature of his little uhh brothel. He didn’t know that someone saw Teng Zi Jing’s widow and son were kidnapped here, nor did he know that this place was indeed a brothel. He thought he was opening up a classy joint where the members joining could enjoy the premises with artistic taste. He’s over there monologuing how he knows that using the female body to earn money is not interesting or new. He is also utterly confused as to who is this old man Jin that Fan Xian keeps going on about. The fact that he died here? Oh no no no. Fan Si Zhe can’t have that. Is this some competitor that’s out here to ruin his reputation?

To confirm what’s going on, Fan Si Zhe puts on a little show. Yuan Meng, the head mistress arrives to check in on Fan Si Zhe after all the commotion. He’s over there just icing his bruised face and then awkwardly requests to have the woman with the pi pa, aka Sang Wen, come to his suite. Yuan Meng is ecstatic about this and immediately brings her forward. YUan Meng is curious as to what is going on with Fan Si Zhe but is essentially booted from the room and nudged to stop overhearing. 

When they are alone, Fan Xian and Fan Si Zhe talk with Sang Wen. She confirms to Fan Si Zhe that this place is indeed a brothel and also trafficks women into prostitution. This news shocks and upsets him greatly. But like dude, how can you not know the inner workings of your business? Part of this can be explained by the fact that he is not actually the only business owner to this place. The other business owner? The young 3rd prince.

[Karen]

We didn’t see him in season 1, only mentioned by name. He is the son of Noble Concubine Yi who is related to Mistress Liu, Fan Si Zhe’s mother. So, they are cousins. This kid arrives and it’s clear he has no idea what is going on as well. He’s quite naive and cares primarily about making money. Yuan Meng receives him when he arrives and he comes up with the most ludicrous requests for how he wants to change the ornaments in the building. For example, Yuan Meng summarizes that he wants the drapes to be multi colored black and that the candles should be both thick and skinny. No idea what that means at all so good luck to the staff. The funniest line he says is “Opening this Bao Yue Lou is not about making money….it’s about making money”.

Fan Si Zhe insists that both he and the 3rd prince were tricked into opening this Bao YUe Lou or at least tricked into opening a business that is a brothel. Both of them just want to make money and have not told their parents where the money is coming from. Clearly, Fan Xian can see that this is a trap for the 2 of them while they are completely unaware of this trap.

At this point, the 3rd prince arrives with Yuan Meng. Fan Si Zhe pretends to not like Sang Wen’s playing in order to have an excuse to bring her out of the room. Fan Si Zhe also kicks Yuan Meng out of the room. Fan Xian, who of course was hidden, reveals himself and knocks out the 3rd prince. 

[Cathy]

Outside, the 2nd prince arrives. Wang Qi Nian has betrayed Fan XIan in order to save his wife and daughter who are missing and told the 2nd prince that he can catch Fan Xian at Bao Yue Lou. So now, the party gets started with the 2nd prince looking to catch Fan Xian red handed. The 2nd prince arrives which a slew of men and his side swept bangs. Do you also notice that his walking gait is kinda weird. Plus more shots of his feet.

He enters Fan Si Zhe’s office with the 3rd prince knocked out on the food table. Fan Xian makes no effort to hide and just sits there. The 2nd prince greets Fan Xian, commenting on the fact that it’s been too long. Technically it’s only been 6 months, but it feels like years. It is a tense standoff as the 2nd prince is quite eager to point out all the trouble that not only Fan Xian is in but also Fan SI Zhe. The fact that the 2nd prince knows that the 3rd prince and Fan Si Zhe are owners tells us that HE is the one behind it all. The point? To hold hostage the 2 owners in case news gets out. There is no denying the Fan family’s involvement in such heinous activities which will be a challenge for Fan XIan. On an equally crazy level, the 2nd prince openly shares that Wang Qi Nian betrayed Fan Xian to bring him here. That undercuts any possibility of Wang Qi Nian and Fan Xian working together again. This actually surprises me somewhat because other dramas would have Wang Qi Nian be a spy for the 2nd prince but nope here, he just straight up reveals his source.

[Karen]

The entire point of BaoYue Lou, per the 2nd prince, is to force Fan Xian to be his ally. He has absolutely no care at all for the suffering he put people through in order to set up this trap. He even blames FanXian for their plight because he was the one who forced the 2nd prince to behave this way. Ummm. CRAAAZY. He gives Fan Xian only 2 options. Either they become allies and reconcile, or he kills Fan Xian.  Dude, extreme much?

Obviously, Fan Xian refuses to reconcile and he shouts as much. But before the 2nd prince’s men can attack Fan Xian, another group of men arrive. This time? It’s the Crown Prince who has arrived with men from the Capital Magistrate. 

Now the party gets started. We have 3 princes, Fan Xian, Fan Si Zhe and Wang QI Nian all in the office. The crown prince is rather laid back as he enters the room. He checks in on his younger brother who is still passed out on the table and then is nonchalant in saying that he’s here to assist in the capital magistrate investigating Bao Yue Lou. He totally ignores Fan Xian who is right there. The 2nd prince is like, hello, can you not see the big felon in front of you that is Fan Xian who is committing a crime by faking his death and the crown prince is like, I’m blind and deaf. I cannot see or hear anything. Hahaha probably one of the funniest scenes of the drama so far. Fan Xian stares straight at the Crown Prince and he continues to say he doesn’t see anyone in front of him.

[Cathy]

Actually I take that back. The funniest part of THIS scene is when the 2 brothers have their men all up in each other’s business and the 2nd prince finally asks the crucial question of how did the crown prince know to come to Bao YUe Lou today, we see Wang Qi Nian make his way sneakily over to Fan Xian.  Turns out, he was just tricking the 2nd prince with his betrayal. It was Fan Xian’s idea all along that Wang Qi Nian go tell the 2nd prince AND the crown prince to come to Bao Yue Lou today, thereby saving Fan Xian from the 2nd prince’s attack with the only person he’s weaker to, the crown prince. 

The 2 brothers stand off. The 2nd prince wants to implicate Fan Xian and company while the Crown prince wants him to drop this and return the Teng family widow and son. The Crown Prince puts pressure on the 2nd prince by revealing that Yuan Meng is a mistress to Li Hong Cheng, the prince of Jing’s son and staunch ally of the 2nd prince. If this level of connection is revealed, then the 2nd prince’s connection to Bao Yue Lou will also be part of the rumor mills. That is something the 2nd prince would not want. 

[Karen]

Initially, the 2nd prince wanted to push back on this, but understanding that the Crown Prince is the Crown Prince, he backs off and agrees to release the Teng family. With that, he retreats.

Fan Xian thinks this retreat was too quick and Yuan Meng too obvious of a target. It’s easy to see the connection between Yuan Meng and the 2nd prince. Why would he use such a woman to run Bao Yue Lou in order to set a trap for Fan SI Zhe? This all seems too easy. 

From the 2nd prince’s conversation with Fan Wu Jiu as he’s leaving, there definitely is more to the story but we wont find out until maybe next season. For now, seems like dealings with BaoYue Lou is at a close. Fan Xian orders the premises be locked down and Fan Si Zhe is to take care of the women. He will see what he can do when he returns to the capital in his full capacity.

–

[Cathy]

So that was the episode recap, let’s now move onto the pop culture and history found in this episode and there is a LOT. Funny thing for the pop culture in this episode, almost all of these actually come from Fan Si Zhe.

The first phrase is 催更. Fan Si Zhe says this as he blames Fan Xian for not updating the manuscript for Dream of the Red Chamber. 催更 means “push for an update”. This is extremely common for fans and readers of web fiction novels to push the author into providing the next chapter. In China, the most popular books these days are all published via different platforms as web series. This means that the author will start publishing a few chapters of his or her book and then gradually publish a chapter at a time over a period of time. This not only gives the author time to write the book, but also get feedback from the readers, make edits to previous chapters, and then finally charge the reader for each upcoming chapter. It’s an interesting business model but that’s what the Chinese market has gravitated towards. Most of the dramas that are transferred onto the big / small screen in the past 10 years all come from books that were published in this model. 

[Karen]

Next are two pretty common slang phrases from Northern China. The first is 老铁 and the second is 说道 说道 and are both spoken by Fan Si Zhe.

When Fan Si Zhe is getting punched around by Fan Xian, Fan Xian asks do you know about Lao Jin or Old Man Jin? Fan Si Zhe responds with I don’t know any Old Man Jin. I don’t even know an Old Man Tie. In Chinese – he used 老铁. 老铁 means good friend or good buddy. This phrase became more popular in the last decade as many Northeastern Chinese livestreamers began calling their fans or viewers 老铁 as a way to address them. In the drama, Fan Si Zhe doesn’t use it as such but it’s interesting that the screenwriters had him use the phrase 老铁 because to me, that’s a meta wink to the audience. Jin means gold and Tie means iron. The screenwriters could have used Old Man Silver but deliberately chose Tie so i’m just gonna assume it was a wink. 

As for the next phrase 说道 说道. 说道 means for someone to inform another person verbally. Someone has to be speaking to another person. Once you add two of these together 说道说道, this phrase immediately turns into a very northern style of speaking. It now essentially means – “hey, let me give you a whole backstory”, which is what Fan Si Zhe starts with when he wants to tell Fan Xian about his grand ambitions for Bao Yue Lou. Haha – I get such a whiplash reaction when anyone says 说道说道 because it’s pretty standard in Beijing, Tianjin,and northern China comic dialog. I start thinking – phew who’s about to start their gig now!

[Cathy]

红袖添香

Next is the idiom 红袖添香. The manager 袁梦 tells Fan Si Zhe that it finally clicked for him to have a young woman serve him and for him to enjoy 红袖添香. The phrase directly translates to a red-sleeved lady adding incense and comes from a Song Dynasty poem written by 赵彦端.

The idiom refers to an idealized scene where a woman wearing red, accompanied a scholar while he studied is adding incense. The scene is meant to evoke a graceful and elegant lifestyle. Well, my interpretation is that it’s the male fantasy to have a woman stand next to him perform this graceful act while the man studies or writes.

This continues the theme of using 红袖 from last season. In season 1, episode 33, we discussed how the Emperor informs the “operation” for the swap of Yan Bing Yun for Xiao En as 红袖招, or beckon with the red sleeves. The Red Sleeves in that context meant courtesans, while in 红袖添香, it does not necessarily mean courtesans.

Next – when Fan Si Zhe is desperately trying to inform Fan Xian that he operates a respectable establishment, he also says that he doesn’t enjoy 唱跳 or singing and dancing. Nothing wrong with the translation. The use of 唱跳 though is VERY modern. 唱跳 is more used to reference pop or modern dancing and singing. Like I would say Blackpink is great at 唱跳 or singing and dancing. In period dramas, we would never hear the phrase 唱跳. Instead it would be 歌舞 or singing and dancing. Again, the english translation is more or less the same, but used in a completely different context. 

[Karen]

Next is when people come and see Fan Si Zhe’s face, everyone asks, uh what happened to you? He responds with 驴踢的 or a donkey kicked me. No one reacted in the drama to this statement but I sure had a fun little chuckle. This is another meta wink to the audience. 脑袋被驴踢 or Getting kicked in the head by a Donkey has been around more as a colloquial term. It’s an insult. In the countryside, everyone knows that donkeys are prone to kicking with their hind legs, so no one would ever pull a donkey’s tail or slap its backside. Therefore, someone who has been “kicked in the head by a donkey” is considered a person lacking common sense. Because the person did something no normal person would do, this phrase implies that the person has a problem with his or her intelligence. I remember watching Chinese sketch comedies from the Spring Gala when I was young and there was a bit where one of the characters was mocking another for getting kicked in the head by a donkey. In the context of the drama, Fan Si Zhe is over here admitting that he was an idiot for being swindled into believing Bao Yue Lou was not a brothel

Lastly, 挖坑 – or dig a hole. The second prince says this as he’s seething about the turn of events at Bao Yue Lou. He recognizes that Fan Xian created a trap or hole and he jumped right into it, thanks to Wang Qi Nian’s excellent performance. Now the phrase 挖坑 is also used elsewhere in online communities but for the purposes of this event here, 挖坑 is more applicable as a trap. 挖坑 is most definitely a modern phrase so you wouldn’t see this in any proper period dramas.

–

[Cathy]

Lastly let’s conclude with book differences. When Fan Xian first enters Bao Yue Lou, he makes a whole scene and agrees to buy Sang Wen’s freedom. After leaving the establishment, he is stopped by many young men, all haughty members of the aristocracy, who believe that they can teach Fan Xian a lesson. Of course, Fan Xian teaches them a lesson and it was extremely satisfying to read this chapter. After some investigation, Fan Xian’s men quickly uncover that the two main owners of Bao Yue Lou are the 8 year old 3rd Prince and the 14 year old Fan Si Zhe. Fan Xian quickly recognizes that Bao Yue Lou was a trap that was set for these two young boys by the second prince BECAUSE Yuan Meng is Li Hong Cheng’s lover. Fan Xian confronts the Second Prince who admits as such and he did this mainly to force Fan Xian’s hand. He doesn’t believe Fan Xian would investigate his own brother and punish the Fan family. Fan Si Zhe comes out extremely poorly in the book. Not only does he know exactly what type of establishment he is running, but when he hears that Fan Xian’s men have uncovered evidence of the atrocities that the establishment has committed, his first reaction is to kill Fan Xian’s men. He doesn’t believe he did anything wrong because to him, all the young men in the aristocracy have gotten their hands dirty in these types of investments. Fan Xian gives Fan Si Zhe a good beating at home in front of Ruo Ruo and Wan Er to teach him a lesson. The drama takes a different direction and essentially resolves the Bao Yue Lou plot in a few short episodes while making Fan Si Zhe be more of a clueless owner. I understand why, it would be tough for viewers to root for this character if the screenwriters followed the book plot.