Season 1 – Ep 43 + 44pt1
[Karen]
With Fan Xian now knowing his true parentage and finding new purpose in life, he needs to now set the stage to amass more power. The rescued Yan Bing Yun shares that there is a huge sum of funds that was embezzled away from the business dealings between the Overwatch Council and the Qi kingdom. The person that knows about where the money went and who is the embezzler is likely Shen Zhong.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity to figure out to get this information from Shen Zhong. We see how Shen Zhong’s sister once again went to see Yan Bing Yun. We have to commend her devotion to him but if it were any other drama and she was the main character, we would be saying that she is Lian Ai Nao and too focused on love. But because she’s NOT the main character and her love interest is Xiao Zhan or Yan Bing Yun, we just take it as is that yay, she’s helping them out. But also, we do see that Yan Bing Yun is purposefully being rather cold towards her as his way to protect her. He could’ve played with her feelings to get more intel but he opted not to.
Shen Zhong is super pissed at her for going to see Yan Bing Yun then pissed at Yan Bing Yun for rejecting her. I mean, I totally understand him. I would be pissed at my sister too if she was sneaking behind my back to see a handsome guy from an enemy country that is known to be a spy.
So, he heads over to see Fan Xian all in a huff. He wants Fan Xian and Yan Bing Yun to stay far away from his sister. It is here that Fan Xian asks Shen Zhong about who the embezzler of those mass funds are and where the money went. Shen Zhong refuses to say and invites Fan Xian to a duel of wits. He’ll await Fan Xian’s next moves to possibly get this information.
[Cathy]
Fan Xian immediately takes his next steps. He nonchalantly buys a number of coffins and has then brought over to Shang SHan Hu’s residence. Remember, Shang Shan Hu is extremely pissed at Fan Xian for betraying them when they agreed to go rescue Xiao En. This resulted in the deaths of many of Shang SHan Hu’s trusted men. Understandably, Shang Shan Hu is pissed at Fan Xian when he arrives and vows to kill him to avenge his fallen men. Fan Xian at first is a little jokey and is able to dodge many of Shang Shan Hu’s attacks before explaining to Shang Shan Hu that Shen Zhong is the ultimate culprit here. Shen Zhong even killed Xiao En. Notice, Fan Xian changes how he addresses Xiao En and calls him elder Xiao as a sign of respect. This does calm Shang Shan Hu down as Fan Xian then twists Xiao En’s dying words. Xiao En tells Fan Xian not to seek revenge and to live out his life. Oddly but also rather sadly, Xiao En didn’t really have any dying words for his adoptive son, only his supposed grandson. I feel a little bit bad for Shang Shan Hu there.
Fan Xian relays what Xiao En says to him over to Shang Shan Hu and in a bit of a deliberate manner, says that Xiao En told Shang Shan Hu to not seek revenge, to step back and not fight with Shen Zhong. Shang Shan Hu obviously cannot allow that but he doesn’t have much recourse. So then, Fan Xian steps in with basically his catch phrase now. The only person that can help you kill Shen Zhong is me. Thus, a new alliance was formed.
[Karen]
Next thing Shen Zhong knows is Fan Xian and Shang Shan Hu arrive as a pair over to the palace to see none other than the Empress Dowager. Here, Fan Xian presents Shang Shan Hu as a gift to the Empress Dowager. If we recall, Shang Shan Hu has refrained from pledging allegiance to either the Empress Dowager or the Emperor. Shen Zhong is the most powerful official under the Empress Dowager’s employ. Now, Shang Shan Hu has decided to openly submit to the Empress Dowager. This is important because it means that Shen Zhong’s importance with the Empress Dowager is now diminished.
At first, the Empress Dowager was skeptical of Shang Shan Hu’s pledge but he offers up all the names of people loyal to him which shows his dedication. Add into the mix that Hai Tang Duo Duo the saintess was in the room with them and used eating grapes as signals to stop Fan Xian from saying the wrong thing, the Empress Dowager ultimately accepted Shang Shan Hu’s pledge.
Shen Zhong isn’t going to be a sitting duck though. When Shang Shan Hu admits that he pledges his loyalty to seek revenge from Shen Zhong for killing Xiao En, Shen Zhong also arrives at the main hall to seek an audience with the Empress Dowager. He was not going to allow Fan Xian and Shang Shan Hu to control the entire narrative. But, it’s a little too late because now, the Empress Dowager has direct evidence that Shen Zhong disregarded her order to keep Xiao En alive. Not only that, Fan Xian also raises the point about continuing to do business between the Qi kingdom and the Qing royal treasury. He’s willing to continue to do this business and give 30% of the profits to the Empress Dowager. This news surprises the Empress Dowager who did not know about this smuggling enterprise
[Cathy]
At this point, things are not looking good for Shen Zhong. He’s definitely losing favor from the Empress Dowager for not raising many points. In order to “fight back” so to speak, Shen Zhong does pose a very important question to Fan xian. Fan Xian has a very bright future ahead of him in the Qing kingdom, why would he do so much to help the Qi kingdom? It is a pointed question because this would mean that either Fan Xian is willing to betray his kingdom or else he is lying about motivations in helping the Qi kingdom.
Fan Xian is a little lost for words when he quickly comes up with a random response that dumbfounds everyone. He’s doing this all because he is quite enamored and infatuated with the saintess Hai Tang duo duo. That leaves everyone stunned and next thing we know, Fan Xian is escorted by Hai Tang Duo Duo to see the Emperor. I will say, I kind of understand why Fan Xian used this excuse but still, as a huge Wan’er and Fan Xian shipper, I do think he kind of was disrespecting their relationship to use Hai Tang as an excuse. What do you guys think. Plenty of people ship Hai Tang and Fan Xian over Wan’er. I mean, I really like Hai Tang as a person, but yea, idk. Not a total fan of how this played out.
[Karen]
At this point, we see just the difference between how Shen Zhong and Shang shan hu treat the Empress Dowager. The latter shows significantly more deference than the former which is exactly what Fan Xian wanted. This will undoubtedly reduce Shen Zhong’s power in front of the Empress Dowager’s eyes.
And indeed, this is the beginning of the end for Shen Zhong. Fan Xian swaps out the singular contact for the spy network in the Qi kingdom from the chap who was there for several years for none other than Guo Bao Kun. Fan Xian also spreads the news that the Qing kingdom is open to doing business with the Qi kingdom but then this was stopped by Shen ZHong. SHen Zhong thinks that he is able to quash these rumors because he is the head of the imperial guard but Fan Xian knows better. When there’s money to be made, folks will want to share the riches and turn against the guy who is cutting off that path to riches. We’ll end the podcast episode recap there with FAn Xian and Hai Tang going out for a grocery excursion as they recap what just happened with Shen Zhong’s insistence on preventing folks from earning money. Shen Zhong is slowly losing power in front of the Emperor.
–
[Cathy]
These two episodes are extremely plot heavy but there is some cool history that I want to share.
Fan Xian professes his “undying” love to Hai Tang Duo Duo, stunning everyone, including her. He says the lines 问世间情为何物，直教生死相许 or – Ask the world, what is love? What is feeling that compels people through life and death?
This is one of the most famous lines about love in the Chinese cannon and I’m honestly shocked that we haven’t talked about these two lines. We DID talk about the specific overall poem or song that this line originated from during our discussion of episode 64 of Empresses in the Palace. We just focused on different parts of the poem.
So let’s talk about this poem. The main poem is as such
问世间，情为何物？直教生死相许。天南地北双飞客，老翅几回寒暑。欢乐趣，离别苦，就中更有痴儿女。君应有语，渺万里层云，千山暮雪，只影向谁去？
The whole poem or song describes the love and faithfulness of a pair of geese. Here’s my translation:
Ask the world, what is love? What is feeling that compels people through life and death?
From the skies of the south to earth of the north are a pair of flying geese,
Their old wings braved cold and heat of many years
In union there’s joy and delight, in parting there’s sorrow
Yet men and women still fall for love
Tell Me!
Across ten thousand miles of clouds,
Over a thousand mountains cloaked in twilight snow,
Where does the solo shadow go from here?
The poem tells of a pair of geese where one in the pair has already passed away. In the long road ahead, during the summer and winter travels, across clouds and snow covered mountains, what’s the point of going alone?
The author 元好问 was a late jin 金 and yuan dynasty scholar and historian. He was born in 1190 and died in 1257. It is rumored that he wrote this poem in 1205 when he was only 16. He learned about the story of swan geese on his way to a civil entrance exam but there’s no definitive historical record.
Legend goes that on his way to take the civil entrance exam, he met a hunter. The hunter shot a swan goose from the sky. The goose’s partner, seeing it’s death, commits suicide too. This scene had a deep impact on 元好问, which prompted him to write this poem.
These lines are extremely famous and often used to describe tragic love. So think about the not so happy endings. As we mentioned during our discussion in Empresses in the Palace, these two lines 问世间，情为何物？直教生死相许 are crucial to the plot of the Jin Yong Wu Xia novel – Return of the Condor Heroes. That makes it period appropriate because the book is set right at the end of the Jin Dynasty and before the Yuan Dynasty begins.
[Karen]
The next topic that i want to discuss is 打油.
Please notice the storefront that Fan Xian enters when he is off to meet his contact from the Qing spy network. This is an oil store. Throughout Chinese history, people went to specific stores to buy oil for cooking and lighting candles. The earliest forms of oil were derived from animals, think lard. Then, all the way back during the Han Dynasty, records of vegetable oil appeared. The explorer Zhang Qian returned from the west with sesame and that was one way to create oil from cooking. Throughout the centuries though, flax seeds was the more popular way of making oil because sesame was expensive. Well, as in every economy, there’s specialization, and so there were specific industries to create oil. So you have dedicated stores and people selling oil. Typically one person would head over to the store, inform them how much oil he or she wanted and then pay according to that amount.
–
[Cathy]
Lastly, let’s conclude with book differences! The book does not go into much detail at all about the political machinations that Fan Xian sets in motion to seize power and remove Shen Zhong from power. Shen Zhong in the book is a pretty minor character who is barely mentioned. That means we also don’t see much of the Empress Dowager or Shang Shan Hu in the book.The drama places a lot of emphasis on Shen Zhong in order to give Fan Xian a formidable foe and showcase his ability to navigate through the complexities of the Qi Court.
Now as for Fan Xian’s “fake” relationship with Hai Tang Duo Duo, book Fan Xian does a little more towards Hai Tang Duo Duo and self deprecation of himself but he never makes this public declaration of love. Drama Hai Tang Duo Duo has much more agency in teasing Fan Xian. For now though, in the book, Fan Xian and Hai Tang Duo Duo’s relationship isn’t as easy.