In Episode 8, Fan Xian is the new boss of the 1st Bureau of the Overwatch council. It’s a very powerful position and it’s his first day at work. Luckily, everyone knows who he is as his reputation precedes himself which helps him with giving him the gravitas he needs to run the place. The 1st bureau is in charge of overseeing all of the officials in the capital. Fan Xian arrives with Wang Qi Nian and Yan Bing Yun to see what the offices are like. When they enter the premises, the group sees several other groups of men bustling about with large cases and baskets. When Fan Xian and Yan Bing Yun take a closer look, he finds that it’s Yun Meng Fish. (A made up fish). They’re a special delicacy from the south that uses ice from the north in order to bring to the capital with the fastest of transportation paths.
This already annoys Fan Xian and ooo boy, it only gets worse from there.
Fan Xian heads into the main office but no one is in the room. Instead, they head to a side room where everyone is congregated and…playing mahjong? The employees are shocked and embarrassed when they see Fan xian, evidently knowing they were in the wrong. Here is where Fan Xian learns there’s a lot more rot in the 1st bureau than initially imagined. Not only do the various bureaus receive gifts from places like the Imperial Treasury, the supervisors of the 1st Bureau all aren’t even at work because there’s nothing to do. That’s not true but they aren’t here.
The only relatively senior person actively at work is a chief clerk. Fan Xian and company pay him a visit. Guys – do you know who the actor is??? Yu Ai Lei We last saw him in the Longest Day in Chang An as the slippery and unprincipled Yuan Zai. I was racking my brain for quite some time thinking about who it is and then it’s OH. THAT GUY. Except I hated the guts out of Yuan Zai in hte Longest Day in Chang’An. Was definitely wary of seeing him here in Joy of Life.
[Cathy]
The guy in question? Deng Zi Yue. He falls to his knees in a kowtow immediately after seeing Fan Xian and is exceptionally deferential to him. He is a little hesitant at first to answer but informs Fan Xian that the fish is a gift from Jian Shu Si or the Crop Inspection Bureau and the Ministry of War. This Crop Inspection Bureau is responsible for the procurement of food for the palace. They receive this exceptionally exquisite fish and then divide them amongst the palace and various officials at court. This gift giving already implies a problem but what’s worse is that because of how valuable the fish are, some people who receive the fish may even sell these fish. Oftentimes back to the Crop Inspection Bureau. As for why the 1st bureau receives the fish? It’s not just the Crop Inspection Bureau, it’s every ministry department in the capital. They give gifts to the 1st bureau who has oversight authority over these departments. It’s not hard to see why they would give gifts. It’s a form of networking, but also a form of corruption.
Hearing all he needs to know about the 1st bureau, he returns to the game room with all the rest of the subordinates. In front of the entire group he makes an announcement. Wang Qi Nian and Deng Zi Yue will be helping Fan Xian manage the 1st bureau. The supervisors that weren’t here? They’re all fired. Or at least, they will be moved to other roles. He also motions towards Yan Bing Yun and plays up his threatening, deadly demeanor as Fan Xian explains that Yan Bing Yun is here to oversee his announcement. No one says a peep as they learn just how fast acting and decisive this new “temporary” leader of the 1st bureau is. Fan Xian also flips a table with mahjong in front of him as he roundly chastises the members of the 1st bureau for forgetting why they entered the Overwatch Council to begin with. He yells at the employees that moving forward, they are no longer allowed to accept gifts from anyone. It’ll be hard, but whose life isn’t hard?
That set the stage for how Fan Xian is going to run the 1st bureau from now on. He wants to clean house internally and stamp out the corruption from the 1st bureau.
[Karen]
His first order of business? Pick a fight with the Crop Inspection Bureau. You probably didn’t notice, but the Crop INspection Bureau was behind the death of Old Man Jin at the beginning of the drama. It was due to this bureau and a Eunuch Dai that caused Old Man Jin to fall into heavy debt which caused his daughter to sell herself into Bao Yue lou and caused the old man to die. Fan Xian definitely has a bone to pick with this Eunuch Dai of the Crop Inspection Bureau. He orders Deng Zi Yue and Yan Bing Yun seal up the Bureau while he goes to invite the 2nd prince for this spectacle. Poor 2nd prince. Had no idea what the heck was going on and gets a rather rude invite to this show.
At the Crop Inspection Bureau, the senior Eunuch Dai, is slapping members of his team for his bureau being sealed. At first, he didn’t think much of the charges and had a trick up his own sleeve. He ordered one of his servants to selectively remove some of the favored dishes from various members of the palace. When these powerful individuals ask what happened, just say that the 1st bureau exerted pressure onto the Crop inspection bureau. This is rather ingenious. If the Crop Inspection Bureau is unable to provide requested food for the Empress or favored concubines in the palace, for example, it’ll be the 1st bureau that is in trouble. Not the Crop Inspection Bureau. That is why Eunuch Dai is not worried at all.
But, a young Eunuch, Hong Zhu, arrives to inform Eunuch Dai that Fan XIan has arrived. Not only him, but the 2nd prince as well. This instantly causes panic for Eunuch Dai and he quickly gets dressed to meet these powerful guests. However, we see that this new face, Hong Zhu, is quite intelligent and skilled at understanding the different political powers in the palace. He quickly and assertively advised Eunuch Dai on how to proceed which impressed everyone in the room.
[cathy]
Wang Qi Nian escorts Eunuch Dai to the main hall while Fan Xian, Yan Bing Yun and the 2nd prince wait. The seasoned Eunuch though, knows to slip a bank note to Wang Qi Nian in order to get some color on what result he should expect from Fan Xian. This is of course a form of bribery. Wang Qi Nian doesn’t refuse the money and takes it in stride.
This is where the show starts.
Eunuch Dai immediately greets the 2nd prince. Eunuch Dai is a close ally of Consort Shu, the 2nd prince’s mother, which is why Eunuch Dai is so openly corrupt. The 2nd prince announces that he wants to eat the Yun Meng Fish which is why he’s here. Though Eunuch Dai will gift it to the 2nd prince, the 2nd prince says this is official work so he needs to buy it. Fan Xian steps forward and gives Eunuch Dai some money and orders him to record the money in accounting books.
Fan Xian nonchalantly asks Eunuch Dai about old man Jin. Problem is, Eunuch Dai has no recollection of who this man is. To make matters worse, Eunuch Dai says that if this old man jin has some connection to Fan Xian, any debt that was owed, Eunuch Dai is willing to erase. Though Fan Xian doesn’t appear fazed, we know that that was probably the worst thing Eunuch Dai could say. Oh – just because someone is connected to someone powerful, Eunuch Dai is willing to erase significant debt? How corrupt is this man?
With the accounting ledger in hand, Fan Xian initially discusses how the Crop Inspection Bureau should partake in supporting the Qing kingdom. After all, they just went to war with the Qi kingdom. Hence, funds should be provided for the kingdom. After a few rounds of back and forth, Fan Xian gets to the matter at hand. The Crop Inspection Bureau is openly embezzling funds while the rest of the country is in desparate need of money. This causes Eunuch Dai to panic. He turns around to see if the 2nd prince would help support him but the 2nd prince is just there eating grapes.
[karen]
Once again, the seasoned Eunuch pulls an envelope from his person. He tells Fan Xian that it’s additional context to the accounting books that Fan Xian should read in private. Fan Xian doesn’t hesitate and rips open the envelope to see that it is 3000 taels of silver. He openly counts the money and then very openly puts the money away. This shocks Yan Bing Yun and amuses the 2nd prince as this is open bribery. With the money in hand, Fan Xian immediately changes his tune towards Eunuch Dai. Fan Xian says there’s nothing to worry about, he was excessive before and in 30 seconds, everyone leaves. We get an extraneous shot of the 2nd prince’s bare feet before he puts shoes on as the show ends. Everyone leaves after openly seeing Fan Xian receive a bribe while Eunuch Dai exhales relief but also confusion.
Yan Bing Yun is confused but angry. He tells Fan Xian he will report him. Fan Xian is like, yep and call a few more people to report me. With that he walks off. As for FAn Xian? He gives the bribery money to Wang QI Nian and instructs him to give that, plus the ledger to Chen Ping Ping. As they walk by Bao Yue Lou, Fan Xian is reminded of old man Jin. He is going to pick a fight with the likes of Eunuch Dai, who doesn’t even remember old man Jin. If Fan Xian doesn’t stand up to Eunuch Dai, who will?
That’s the episode recap! Fan Xian takes over the 1st bureau with quite the spectacle and an even bigger show is being set up. I actually quite liked this episode as it moves at a fast pace but there are strong emotional beats to it as well.
–
[cathy]
Let’s move on to history! The major topic I want to discuss is finally Mahjong!
麻将 mahjong
Mahjong is a tile-based entertainment game and can be made from bamboo, bone, jade, amber, or plastic. The tiles are small rectangles engraved with patterns or characters. A full set generally consists of 136 tiles but this differs from region to region. For the southern styles, there are eight additional “flower tiles”: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (the four seasons), and Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum (the four gentlemen of flowers), bringing the total to 144 tiles. Rules vary slightly across different regions of how to win and other nuances.
The main suits of Mahjong are “饼 (Coins)”, “条 (Sticks)”, and “万 (万贯)”. The suits themselves reflect ancient Chinese currency: Bing (circles) represent copper coins with square holes. Suo 索 条(bamboo) represents strings of 100 coins tied together. 万 (万贯) represent 10,000 coins.
Mahjong tiles were typically made with a bone face and bamboo back, making them a hybrid of playing cards and domino-like bone tiles. Now they’re made with bamboo and plastic and if you want to be really fancy, other precious minerals like Jade. It’s played with 4 people to a table and has captivated probably billions across the globe with this game. When I play, we typically use 2 dice to start the game. Karen and I played Mahjong at home with a mismash of rules of the northern style. I’ve learned to play the Hong Kong style at a few Mahjong events here in New York City. As for the Chengdu style, well that’s just absolute bonkers to me because people do gamble with money and I still haven’t figured out the rules. This is definitely a gambling game.
[karen]
I first did a quick wiki read of the history of Mahjong and the English wiki notes that Mahjong was invented in the 19th century. I would say that the game developed into the formal game of Mahjong during that time but it took thousands of years of evolution to get there. There’s also a lot of legends about the origins so bear with me as we discuss a few of them.
So we’ll go all the way back. Dating back thousands of years ago, 博戏 Bo Xi was a popular game played by the Chinese. The exact origins aren’t clear but the Records of the Grand Historian which itself is over 2000 years old estimates that the game was around by at least the era of the mythical King Zhou of Shang 殷纣王. The earliest known bo xi game was called Liubo, which used six bamboo sticks (similar to dice today) and twelve pieces.
I’m going to fast forward to the Tang Dynasty. Dice became a standalone game, sometimes played with up to six dice. From dice games, dominoes 骨牌 were invented in the Song Dynasty under Emperor Huizong. These were long ivory or bone tiles with engraved dots, representing dice combinations. There were 32 tiles in total. These are essentially the Pai Jiu that we’ve seen characters play in this drama.
Around the mid-Tang period, another game called Leaf Game (叶子戏) appeared. Historical accounts differ on its origin, but essentially “leaves” were paper slips used to record scores while playing dice games. This 叶子戏 was not an actual game itself and can be considered a proto-type of Mahjang
[cathy]
Starting from the Song Dynasty, so a thousand years ago, that’s where Mahjong gradually begins to take shape and along with it, different legends of its origins. The earliest written record of Mahjong is Yang Danian’s Classic of Mahjong 杨大年著的「麻将经」in the Song Dynasty, describing rules similar to modern Mahjong. It didn’t have the sticks though and it had tiles labeled “Duke, Marquis, General, Minister, Scholar, Warrior, Commoner”. 公」、「侯」、「将」、「相」、「文」、「武」、「百」 During the Qing Dynasty, these tiles were banned for alleged political implications. A scholar 陈实门 came up with the idea to replace 「公」、「侯」、「将」、「相」with East, South, West, North winds. He also introduced Red, Green, White tiles with 中发白.
There’s another legend that Mahjong’s original name may have been Mo Jiang (抹将) which is linked to the classic novel Water Margin 水浒传. According to legend, Wan Bingyao 万秉迢 in the Yuan-Ming period admired the 108 heroes of Water Margin and invented Mahjong to honor them. The original set had 108 tiles, symbolizing the 108 heroes.
Another theory suggests Mahjong originated in ancient grain warehouses in Taicang, Jiangsu, once a royal granary. Guards caught sparrows as entertainment. Officials issued bamboo tally sticks for counting, engraved with characters. These sticks doubled as tokens of value and evolved into sparrow tiles (麻雀). Local dialect called sparrows 麻雀牌 (麻雀, “majiang”), hence the name Mahjong. Many terms are connected to bird-catching with firearms –
另外，东、西、南、北为风向，土枪无力，发射时要考虑风向。中，即打中，故涂红色。白，即白板，打空枪之谓。发，即得赏发财。「碰」，即「砰」，枪声。成牌之「胡」，实为「鹘」，属鹰的一种，有高强的捕鸟本领，有了鹘就不愁抓不到麻雀，故每局牌胜皆曰「鹘. In Japan, Mahjong is still called 麻雀牌.
[karen]
During the Ming Dynasty, while the card game Mǎdiào (馬吊) was popular, it gave rise to a derivative entertainment set called “paper cards”. Originally, this pack had 60 cards. In play, four players would each draw ten cards, then continue to draw and discard in turn. When one player played a card, two or three others could simultaneously call it, with the winner being the one who claimed it first. The structure and gameplay of these cards also influenced modern Mahjong.
By the time of the Qing Dynasty, Mahjong became widely popular to the masses and has since been a staple in Chinese culture. Out of all the cities i’ve been to in asia, Chengdu has the highest number of players of Mahjong. It’s everywhere. There’s all these fancy automated tables that mix and restack the tiles at the push of a few buttons and people play for hours and hours. I watched a funny video a few weeks ago where the city of Chengdu flooded but a group of people chose to pick up the Mahjong table to higher ground and continue playing. #priorities.
[cathy]
Ok – enough about Mahjong, let’s move onto a poem.
When Deng Zi Yue first encounters Fan Xian, he tries his best at flattery by saying 久旱逢甘霖 他乡遇故知. Fan Xian waves him off.
These two lines originate from the Song Dynasty poet 汪洙 and his compilation of 神童诗 or Poems of the Prodigy. It’s a collection of 34 poems, with many written by Wang Zhu and some by others that discuss the importance of education, the trials and success of the imperial entrance exam, and the joys of the spring morning to new year’s eve. The full poem from which Deng Zi Yue quotes from is: “久旱逢甘雨，他乡遇故知；洞房花烛夜，金榜题名时。”
After a long drought comes sudden rain; In a distant land, I meet an old friend.
The bridal chamber on the wedding night,The joyful moment when one’s name appears on the imperial entrance list.
These 4 lines all depict events of happiness. Obviously the first 2 lines make more sense for the context of the drama.
Lastly, Fan Xian informs Yan Bing Yun that he’s off to find 大罗金仙 to assist them at the Crop Inspection Bureau. Well 大罗金仙 translates to the Great Luo Golden Immortal. He’s one of the immortals who’s reached the highest level of enlightenment in Daoism and is obviously immortal. Not quite sure why Fan Xian chose him to describe the second prince though.
[karen]
–
Lastly, let’s conclude with book differences!
This is the first time we meet Deng Zi Yue in the drama and he essentially replaces another book character Mu Tie. In the book, Deng Zi Yue is original from the 2nd bureau and picked by Wang Qi Nian to be a member of his small group who is uniquely loyal to Fan Xian. This group is created before Fan Xian heads off to the Northern Qi Kingdom. Deng Zi Yue’s specialty is in investigation. The drama definitely gives Deng Zi Yue more screen time to flesh out this character. I feel like he’s the replacement for Teng Zi Jing this season.
As for Fan Xian’s engagement with the second prince in this episode, in the book, he does not give this whole show to the second prince. He doesn’t even meet with him. Instead, he goes and finds Ye Ling Er to inform her of his intentions to investigate the Crop Inspection Bureau. The reasoning is, she’s the future wife of the second prince, and her words probably have weight. At this point in the book, he hasn’t interacted with the second prince much.
Episode 6
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[Karen]
Episode 6 is all about Fan Xian “officially” returning to the Capital and with the Princess of Bei Qi in tow. The princess, played by the lovely Mao Xiao Tong, is set to marry the First Prince of the Qing Kingdom. We heard about the First Prince back in season 1. He has spent most of his time on the border leading troops but even though he is the 1st prince, he is technically of no threat to the Crown prince for the throne. The reason being the 1st prince’s mother is not a Qing native and therefore, would not have rights to the throne.
By design of the 2nd prince who cannot help but create chaos, the 2 parties, one led by FAn Xian and one led by the 1st prince, are going to run into each other at the city gates. Fan Xian is warned by funny man Xin Qi Wu about this possible conflict before they enter the city, but there’s no way Fan XIan will take this lying down. So he basically nudges the Princess to not stand back who, as the representative of the Qi kingdom.
Next thing we see is a grand set piece to depict the clash between 2 parties. Inside the Capital, many people are gathered together to receive both groups. All of the princes, the Crown Prince, the 2nd prince and the 3rd prince, are all waiting alongside many court officials and a whole procession. Meanwhile, Fan XIan and company make their way towards the entrance of the gate while the 1st prince and his troops arrive as well.
This is the first time we meet the 1st prince and my is he handsome. The actor is pushing 40 but he looks GREAT! I can appreciate a handsome man riding horseback. 🙂
[Cathy]
The 1st prince is on horseback and circles Fan XIan who is on foot. Without knowing much of the 1st prince, we see that he is actually quite forthright in owning his authority. He calls out Fan Xian for his audacity in blocking a Prince, though Fan XIan just deflects to the Princess. It’s a smart play. The princess is going to be the 1st prince’s wife so what is Fan Xian to do?
The standoff becomes rather tense as Fan Xian refuses on his life to back down and the 1st prince also tries to call Fan Xian’s bluff. But as the 2 sides bring men forward to defend themselves, an extremely random but strong gust of wind whips up and blinds everyone, both inside the city and out. People are unable to see and the 1st Prince’s horses are also startled. One of them charges directly at Fan Xian who stands his ground but Gao Da I guess jumps on to the horse. When the dust settles, a soldier calls out that the horse is dead.
The 1st prince is impressed by the skills of Gao Da but, given that he did kill one of his horses, orders that Gao Da be given to his side. Presumably for punishment. Fan Xian adamantly refuses to give him up and takes full responsibility while the Princess also emerges from her carriage to take responsibility. The 1st prince has an unreadable face to these declarations but does reach for his sword, seemingly ready to start a fight.
[Karen]
At this point, the Crown Prince arrives and immediately helps lower the temperature of the situation. He speaks in a joking tone to his older brother and even requests a hug while also greeting Fan Xian with familiarity and respect.
After a bit of back and forth that includes some jokes, the Crown Prince brings both Fan Xian and Li Cheng Ru into the city at the same time. Thereby avoiding any additional conflict of who was disrespecting whom.
Let’s take a moment to talk about the 1st prince. I do appreciate that in this scene, while the 1st prince was an imposing figure, he did not give off a nefarious aura. He seems to have been putting up a show to humble Fan Xian a bit. As he states, the 1st prince is close to Wan’Er as they are cousins and is worried Fan Xian wants to marry her for impure reasons. This to some extent is to test Fan Xian’s character. I could see the 1st prince potentially harming Fan XIan but some of Fan Xian’s actions already revealed some of his character. For 1, the Princess was evidently scared but willing to stand up for Fan Xian, so that must mean the Princess relies on him. If anything, that’s a vote of confidence for teh guy. And secondly, Fan XIan was not willing to give up Gao Da to the 1st prince, which shows that Fan Xian is protective of his staff. Qualities of a good leader. Awww what a great big brother! He also did immediately take a liking to the Princess. IN all the fan comments, he is depicted as the tough and powerful wolf while she is adorable cute bunny.
[Cathy]
Inside the city walls, a grand procession with horns, drums and dancing awaits the 2 groups. The 2 other princes, the 2nd prince and 3rd prince also arrive to greet the group. Obviously Fan Xian is not pleased to see the 2nd prince who puts on a show of caring about Fan Xian. The 3rd prince is like HEY I SAW YOU but then realized oh wait. I shouldn’t let anyone know that I opened up Bao Yue Lou so he just glossed over it. But, with all the brothers seemingly in one place, the natural next step is for the Emperor to issue an edict where all of them, including Fan Xian, come see the Emperor in the Palace.
The 1st prince definitely picks up on some oddities. It’s a family meal with the Emperor and the rest of the brothers but Fan Xian is allowed to be there? We know it’s because Fan XIan is the Emperor’s son but no one else knows that.
The Emperor and Fan Xian show up shortly after to join the group to start the meal. Fan Xian is supported out of the Emperor’s study while thanking the Emperor for the beating as the Emperor sits because, after all, Fan Xian did deceive the Emperor. They, and the rest of the princes also sit at the table and this scene is rather reminiscent of episode 31 I believe in season 1 where the Emperor has a similar meal with 3 of the brothers.
Surprisingly, the Emperor straight up asks Fan Xian about his trip, and in particular, about the sacred temple. This should be a really secret piece of information but the Emperor is willing to discuss this with all of his sons. I feel like this was meant to put Fan Xian on the spot but he doesn’t flinch and answers truthfully. He DOES piss the Emperor off though by proactively reporting the collusion and corrupt actions between the Princess Royal and the 2nd prince. This displeases the Emperor greatly and he slams his food on the table.
[Karen]
Clearly, the EMperor doesn’t think there’s enough evidence to investigate further or perhaps he doesn’t want to investigate. He even takes Fan Xian’s plaque that indicates Fan Xian is the Imperial Inspectorate of the Overwatch Council and throws it in the water, thereby removing all power Fan XIan may have at investigating the 2nd prince. That is certainly a slap in the face to Fan Xian.
To add insult to injury, the 2nd prince comes forward with a diabolical request, supposedly to celebrate Fan Xian. He requests for Fan Ruo Ruo, Fan Xian’s sister, to be betrothed to Li Hong Cheng. He is the son of the Prince of Jing and close ally of the 2nd prince. NOt only that, Yuan Meng, of Bao Yue Lou, was his mistress. This is definitely to twist a knife into Fan Xian.
I don’t know how much of Bao Yue Lou does the Emperor know about. He agrees to this marriage but even acknowledges how this is a great move. But, he undermines the 2nd prince by ordering a betrothal onto him. The Emperor orders that the 2nd prince be married to Ye Ling Er.
With that, the Emperor walks away. Fan Xian continues to push for an investigation but his cries are roundly ignored. Fan XIan also storms off, perfectly fine and not injured. Evidnetly, the Emperor didn’t actually beat Fan Xian. It was all just a show. But while the Emperor showed mercy to Fan Xian, someone else did not.
The Crown Prince. The Crown Prince has put on quite the show this episode. Mediating the conflict between Fan Xian and the 1st prince and showing a boyish side to him when he meets his mother, the Empress. This is the first time we see her and there is a lot of peculiarities around her. We will discuss more next episode as well as what I mean about the cruelty with the Crown Prince. BOth the Empress and the Crown Prince are as ruthless as they come.
—
[Cathy]
That was the episode recap! Let’s now move onto the history found in this episode.
First, this it the first time we meet the 1st Prince 李承儒 Li Cheng Ru and this is the first time in the drama that all of the Emperor’s adult or at least older children congregate in one location. The 1st Prince is called 李承儒 Li Cheng Ru and the 3rd Prince, the youngest of the group is called 李承平 Li Cheng Ping.
As a reminder, the 2nd Prince is called 李承泽 Li Cheng Ze and the Crown Prince is called 李承乾 Li Cheng Qian. We discussed the names of the Crown Prince and the 2nd Prince in the last season, so let’s focus on the 2 new Princes.
The 1st Prince or 李承儒 Li Cheng Ru, isn’t formally given a name in the book. The screenwriters give him the name 李承儒. 儒 means scholar or pupil and is mostly associated with Confuscianism. If you hear the phrase 儒家, of the family of ru, then this means teachings of Confucius. This name is ironic given that the 1st Prince is a military man, who while intelligent adamantly does not go the scholarly route.
As for the 3rd Prince, 李承平 Li Cheng Ping, this name is written in the book. 平 can mean flat or peaceful. This is a hint to how the 3rd Prince will develop as a character because he will see the fierce battles waged between his older brothers for the throne and will take a flat and peaceful route.
[Karen]
Next, let’s talk about the procession that greets Fan Xian and the 1st Prince when they enter the city. I mainly want to highlight the eunuchs that are dancing. From the movements and makeup, it looks like the eunuchs are possibly dancing the Hu Xuan Wu 胡旋舞. There’s an article that documents how the dance movement in the drama is very similar to a set of Tang dynasty terracotta figures found in the Xi An Museum, which I actually went and visited about a decade ago! Historically, the Hu Xuan Wu was a foreign import from the cultures out west in the middle east and present day xin jiang and xi zang. There’s an emphasis on stomping and spinning. There’s actually a better representation of that in The Litchi Road.
Lastly, at the very intense “family” meal, the Emperor grants Fan Xian the title of 一等男爵 or a baron of the 1st rank. At court, this means he now has a position at the 2nd rank as mentioned in the book, which is a big leap from his previous role as 太常寺协律郎 or assistant minister in the Ministry of Rites. That role was only of the 8th rank. As a reminder, Fan Xian’s father has the title of 司南伯 or Count of Si Nan. Fan Xian still has a way to go before obtaining the same title but he’s on a speedrun right now by getting this nobility title at such a young age.
–
[Cathy]
Let’s conclude with book differences. In the book, Fan Xian does indeed get into an argument with the 1st Prince on who enters the capital first. At this point, the Princess doesn’t make a direct appearance but Fan Xian states that she is the one who insists on arriving first in the capital. The book does reintroduce Xin Qi Wu and he’s sweating buckets as to what to do with this future couple of the 1st prince and the Northern Qi Princess. In a conversation with Yan Bing Yun, Fan Xian reveals that he is also extremely aware that by allowing this power struggle to occur between the 1st Prince and his diplomatic envoy, he will anger the 1st Prince and gain a new enemy. At this point in the book, Fan Xian has not yet run afoul with the 2nd Prince so on paper, it looks like he’s cozy with both the 2nd Prince AND the Crown Prince. If Fan Xian were to also become friendly with the 1st Prince, he would be arousing too much suspicion from the Emperor of his loyalty and motives. Fan Xian can’t be too friendly with everyone. So that’s why he’s fine taking some heat from the 1st Prince.
Fan Xian and the 1st Prince get into a competition with some rogue horses and Fan Xian’s men surprise the 1st Prince with just how disciplined they are. When the whole mass of people finally make it to the city gates, the Crown Prince joins them and the 1st Prince starts teasing and belittling Fan Xian for leaving his new bride to head to the Northern Qi Kingdom. This is when Fan Xian realizes that these men are just looking out for Wan Er. Fan Xian is not summoned to dine with the Emperor and his sons so the rest of the events that happen in the episode are just for the drama. At this point in the book, Fan Xian doesn’t have much beef with the 2nd Prince so he doesn’t have an agenda against him. The Emperor does send a decree that grants him the rank of baron. As for the betrothal between the 2nd Prince and Ye Ling Er and li hong cheng and fan ruo ruo, that decree was written back when Fan Xian was at the Northern Qi capital. There’s a lot of interesting political implications with this alliance and we’ll discuss that in future episodes.