Season 1 – Ep 38 + ep 39pt 1
Fan Xian has firmly established himself IN the Qi Kingdom and everyone knows he’s here. He has met with the Emperor, a woman dressed as a man but people are not supposed to know that yet, and has made an alliance with the Emperor. The matter at hand though, is figuring out how to rescue Yan Bing Yun. Fan Xian thought he would just pick him up and return home, but nope. Shen Zhong is making that very difficult.
So now, the task at hand is figuring out where Shen Zhong has hidden Yan BIng Yun. That’s where we start episode 38. Fan xian and Wang Qi Nian visit Guo Bao Kun who Fan Xian had ordered to hide in an inn in the Qi kingdom when they first arrived. Fan Xian sends poor Guo Bao Kun on a task to look for the secret prison of the Imperial Guard and this dolt literally runs out and started asking questions. News traveled fast to Shen Zhong and he finds this all rather amusing.
Shen Zhong brings his men to the inn to find Fan XIan and Wang Qi Nian. They know the 2 men are there but when they go to the specific room, it is empty. The men do a cursory search but something from above clues Shen Zhong in that Fan Xian likely escaped from above. So, he calls his men to leave. Unbeknownst to him, Fan Xian knew Shen Zhong would think that way and instead just hid under the bed. A simple trick.
[Cathy]
With the coast clear, Fan Xian and Wang QI Nian are able to now go meet someone with important intel. That person? He Dao Ren. He’s the scary 9th ranked fighter that attacked Fan Xian the first day they were in the palace and Fan Xian had that flag out, challenging Qi fighters to attack him. On Fan Xian’s part, the reason why he put himself so in the open was to ensure that people who wanted to connect with him would be able to. He is there to re start the spy network in the Qi kingdom after all. And so, in that fight, He Dao Ren sent over a written message to Fan Xian. For He Dao Ren, no one will suspect him to be a spy. He apparently has a favor to return to Chen Ping Ping and is here to help Fan Xian because of the man in the wheelchair.
He Dao Ren provides the information that Chen Ping Ping also wants Fan Xian to take over the Qing Kingdom Imperial Treasury store network here. Seems like everyone knows which stores help make a lot of money in the QI kingdom and the officials just let it be. It’s a win win situation where all sides make money so why not. OK, so add one more thing to the list that Fan Xian needs to take care of. Unfortunately, He Dao Ren doesn’t have any information on Yan Bing Yun so Fan Xian will need to figure that out on his own.
[Karen]
Fan Xian and Wang QI Nian leave their meeting and the 2 split up. Wang QI Nian will go get information on the store fronts while Fan Xian will look for clues from Yan Bing Yun’s prior residence. But when Fan XIan enters Yan Bing Yun’s place, Shen Zhong is already waiting for him there. Shen Zhong is rather pleased with himself as he shows Fan XIan how empty the premises are. He had cleared all materials and clues from the residence so Fan XIan will not be able to find a single thing of use that will lead him to Yan Bing Yun. Fan Xian doesn’t take too long to dawdle in this empty space and heads out. Before he leaves, he informs Shen Zhong that he is not willing to give up on his search. ONly someone with a 9th rank will be able to stop him.
That night, Shen Zhong, heeding these words, calls for He Dao Ren to appear. Shen Zhong wants He Dao Ren, a swordsman of hte 9th rank, to keep tabs on Fan Xian. This now makes it the perfect opportunity for Fan Xian and He Dao Ren to scheme next steps. Fan Xian shares that he was able to get some information from the folks he had tea with outside of Yan Bing Yun’s residence. There, the neighbors informed Fan XIan that there was a young woman who tried to warn Yan bing Yun to leave before he was actually abducted by Shen ZHong’s men. APprarently, this woman tried to kick and hit the people from the Imperial guard but to no avail. THey still took Yan Bing Yun away. That’s odd. How can a random young women first get information that Yan Bign Yun will be abducted and then nothing happen to her when she hits the Imperial guards? SHe must be connected in some way.
[Cathy]
He Dao Ren explains that Shen Zhong has a younger sister. She is quite a bit younger than Shen Zhong and he basically raised her. With this clue, Fan Xian now knows his next steps. She will be his crucial clue in finding Yan Bing Yun.
Sure enough, the 3 men spy this young woman heading out in a carriage carrying food. Wang Qi Nian follows the woman to a point before turning back. He informs Fan Xian that there are many spies watching the streets in the south of the city where the carriage went and he couldn’t track further. Fan Xian deduces that that is likely where Yan BIng Yun is being held. Not only that, Shen Zhong’s sister’s maid heads off to buy medicine. Wang Qi Nian was able to see what kind of prescription it was and Fan Xian now says he is 60% sure that the person Shen Zhong’s sister went to see is Yan Bing Yun. Without much time left, Fan Xian gives a message to Miss Shen’s maid to help save Yan Bing Yun.
The next day Fan Xian jumps into Miss Shen’s carriage. She is of course skeptical at first and points a dagger at Fan Xian but he is really good at playing up how much suffering Yan Bing Yun will likely endure if they don’t rescue him now. She easily wavers and agrees to take Fan Xian to Yan Bing Yun.
In order to do so, Fan Xian pretends to take Miss Shen hostage, holding a dagger to her neck in the carriage. All of the guards watching the place where Yan Bing Yun is being held has no option but to back off.
[Karen]
And now….we finally meet! Yan Bing Yun. Aka Xiao Zhan. After 38 episodes! We finally see him in person. He’s chained up and seriously injured but he’s certainly quite the stubborn person. He thinks Fan Xian is actually a Qi kingdom spy and not realy here to help him escape. Fan Xian is like, dude what the heck, while trying to save him. Fan Xian removes Yan Bing Yun’s shackles and they try to figure out how to escape.
At this point, Shen Zhong has already arrived and the safe house is completely surrounded with his men. He enters into the room to chat with the 3 inside. Shen Zhong’s sister is really quite kind, trying all kinds of ways to help Fan Xian and Yan Bing Yun escape but Shen Zhong isn’t stupid. He knows exactly what happened. His sister brought Fan Xian to come rescue Yan Bing Yun. He’s quite frustrated with her because yea, she is helping enemy spies. Honestly, I totally get it. If she were a main character, she would be seen as someone who is too head over heels in love and doesn’t know what’s right and wrong. She’s literally betraying her brother for a guy. But because she’s NOT the main character, we think she’s just a helpful person.
The situation is quite tense as Shen Zhong holds a sword to FAn Xian. He is totally ready to kil Fan Xian and Yan Bing Yun and twist the story to say that he didn’t know what happened. He’ll control the narrative so that no one would be the wiser. He’s about to strike when he is stopped by one of his soldiers who gives him a message. Shen Zhong’s face changes immediately and then heads out. Fan Xian is quite pleased with himself. His rescue plan has arrived.
[Cathy]
Hai Tang Duo Duo, the saintess, is at the entrance of this safe house. She simply just tells Shen ZHong that, because Fan Xian found Yan Bing Yun, they lost. He should just give up Yan Bing Yun. Shen ZHong initially was going to ignore this order but then Hai Tang says that both the Emperor AND the Empress Dowager had made this order. Shen ZHong has no option to but to back off. With that, Yan Bing Yun is successfully rescued.
THat doesn’t mean though that we like Yan Bing Yun. He is so confused as to why Hai Tang Duo Duo is helping them and continues to look rather skeptically at Fan Xian. Wang Qi Nian arrives and confuses Yan Bing Yun further with a whole exaggerated story about why Hai Tang is here. She gets so annoyed at him that she throws him quite far from the carriage. In any case, Yan Bing Yun is rescued.
Let’s round out this plot recap with just how little I am a fan of this iteration of Yan Bing Yun. Xiao Zhan, oof, who was like peak popularity at this point, really divided audiences because they did NOT like this interpretation of Yan Bing Yun. This guy is way too single minded and stubborn. Willing to die for the Qing kingdom without being as flexible in his thought process as he should be. I’m like, how did he become that “Mister Yun” that was well loved by everyone when he is such an annoying stubborn man? There was a LOT of debate around Yan Bing Yun which is rather warranted. This in my opinion was not Xiao Zhan’s best performance.
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[Karen]
Let’s move on to some pop culture and history!
The first one is the 999 Pharmacy. It’s not that obvious in the english translations but in Chinese, the Pharmacy that serves as the underground spy network for the Overwatch Council is called the 999 Pharmacy. That sounds pretty normal right? Yes and no, this is another way for companies to promote themselves in period Chinese dramas, by finding clever ways to insert themselves in the world of the drama. In episode 12, we already saw Wan Er giving Ling Er some medicine with the brand 999, the 999 Pharmacy just extends that product placement. The 999 感冒灵 or 999 Bupleurum Root Tea consistently markets itself or makes product placements in all types of dramas and on network tv. It’s not surprising to see the brand in Chinese dramas, you just have to chuckle at how ingenious the product placement is.
Next, let’s discuss 锦衣卫, the organization that Shen Zhong leads. The english translation in the drama says it’s the Imperial Guards but that’s not quite right. This 锦衣卫 directly translates to Embroidered Uniform Guard and takes direct inspiration from the historical Embroidered Uniform Guard that was established during Ming Dynasty in 1382 CE by the first Ming Dynasty Emperor 朱元璋. We talked about the Embroidered Uniform Guard when discussing the movie Piercing Heart Sword. The Embroidered Uniform guard first served first as the Emperor’s personal police before becoming a more powerful military entity.
[Cathy]
The Embroidered Uniform Guards were extremely powerful as they reported directly to the Emperor, and as his not so secret police, had essentially carte blanche to do whatever they pleased. Under their remit was investigation, arresting, interrogating and throwing in jail pretty much anyone. No noble, court official or member of the imperial family was above the power of the Embroidered Uniform Guards. The selection process to be chosen into the Embroidered Uniform Guards, as you can imagine, was also extremely stringent and they underwent intense training in order to serve.
Historically, there was the leader of the Embroidered Uniform Guards 锦衣卫掌卫事 which was at a 1st or 2nd Rank. Then there’s the 指挥使, who was at the 3rd rank. Then, there’s 镇抚司 title which was split into north and south 镇抚司, which were only at the 4th rank. In Joy of Life, 沈重 is the leader of his 锦衣卫, with the title of 镇抚司. I don’t believe they told us his title or rank yet, but he is the head honcho. So the title / level is slightly different in this world. We also see that Shen Zhong’s Embroidered Uniform Guards don’t actually wear any embroidery, they just look like regular guards wearing black. If you see photos of the Embroidered Uniform Guards outfits, you’ll see that they’re quite colorful.
[Karen]
海晏河清
唐·薛逢《九日曲池游眺》：“陌上秋风动酒旗，江头丝竹竞相追。正当海晏河清日，便是修文偃武时。绣毂尽为行乐伴，艳歌皆属太平诗。微臣幸忝颁尧历，一望郊原惬所思。”
脑回路
Lastly, when Fan Xian talks to Hai Tang Duo Duo, he talks about following his Nao Hui Lu, which Hai Tang Duo Duo has no idea what this means. 脑回路 is a new online phrase that essentially means train of thought and whether or not someone can follow it. It’s typically used in a negative way when belittling someone that you can’t follow my train of thought. However, it can be used neutrally or even in praise – like, my train of thought is different from yours or wow your train of thought is pretty unique!
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[Cathy]
Book differences
There’s a whole subplot of Fan Xian taking over the business empire in the Northern Qi kingdom. These are the ones that were originally under his mother’s name, so Fan Xian has grand plans to take over those stores while in the Northern Qi kingdom. Fan Xian also meets a ton of other people that the drama cuts out, rightfully so because there’s too many to keep up. As for the rescue of Yan Bing Yun, Fan Xian didn’t follow Shen Zhong’s sister. In the book, she’s his daughter. Fan Xian simply just had officials of the Qi Kingdom show him the way and finds her weeping at Yan Bing Yun’s side. At this point, Fan Xian hasn’t even met Shen Zhong. It’s only after the rescue does Fan Xian meet Shen Zhong for a different reason. We also don’t get the whole faction battle between Shen Zhong and Shang Shan Hu for now. The drama is condensing a TON of material to really focus on the politics vs business