NIRVANA IN FIRE: EPISODE 3

[adisgracetothescholars]

Introduction

rageprufrock: I’M BACK.

lazulisong: I'm beginning to think we were all quite clever to not rely on a Tumblr presence for this.

rageprufrock: I would like to take complete credit for that decision, by the way.

lazulisong: Also SHOUT OUT to Kit and Meg's friend Bee, who has spent the entire week angrily DMing them on Discord about how much she loves Jingyan and Jingmom :DDDDDD

kitsunec4: SO delighted, the fandom, as always, thirsts for new blood.

tactless_yet_lovable: INTRODUCING THE LITTLEST PEANUT THIS EPISODE, my lil’ cutie.

Plot

tactless_yet_lovable: Episode Three starts with Nihuang and Mei Changsu’s conversation interrupted by a palace eunuch scolding a servant boy Tingsheng for knocking over a bucket of water while scrubbing the stairs. The situation gets worse when the eunuch finds a book hidden in Tingsheng’s robes.

hollyberries: Cue a particularly cruel pass of episodes in NIF2 where I was sobbing and yelling ‘OUR TINY PEANUT’ at my computer because Tingsheng and the Chinese word for peanut share a ‘sheng’ character. It just made sense to me that child!Tingsheng would get nicknamed hua sheng okay.

rageprufrock: It’s pure evil genius how they played us with this bullshit.

kitsunec4: evil, and genius, and entirely evil genius on the part of the casting teams for this production.

tactless_yet_lovable: Palace slaves are not allowed to learn how to read or write, so this is quite a serious offence. We find out from the eunuch that this servant is favored by Prince Jing/Jingyan, but it doesn’t offer much protection because Jingyan has no power at all. Mei Changsu and Nihuang watch with an eye towards interfering as Tingsheng is beaten by the eunuch, until Jingyan arrives and orders him to stop.

The eunuch begs Jingyan’s forgiveness for his rudeness, but immediately namedrops Consort Yue as a patron (implying he shouldn’t be punished because it would upset the stronger court figure). Nihuang makes a point of stepping in by literally whipping the eunuch. As one does.

rageprufrock: This is why we love Nihuang.

moggiesandtea: I love her direct approach to problem solving.

tactless_yet_lovable: “Prince Jing may be forgiving, but I am not,” and she orders the eunuch to get out. While Jingyan and Nihuang do a highly polite “Thanks, but I had it handled”/”Accept the help, you don’t have any court power” dance, Mei Changsu goes to help Tingsheng up. He asks Tingsheng his name and age, and finds out Tingsheng is 11 years old.

ohbthr: I'm a little confused about the timeline here given….things we find out later?

tactless_yet_lovable: At this point, Jingyan’s attention turns to Mei Changsu, and the two meet on screen for the first time. Jingyan stares coldly while Mei Changsu bows.



rageprufrock: So I remember vividly that when I first watched this show, this was the part where my narratively cognizant ears perked up. I’d gone into this show knowing only it was purported to be “a different kind of palace/revenge drama,” and so far already it was looking spectacularly different to anything I’d seen before. For one, minimal concubines, for another, a commendable amount of patience and subtlety. And now we had this electric moment of potential.

tactless_yet_lovable: We transition back to the tournament of suitors, where Prince Yu and the Crown Prince are waiting for Mei Changsu to return. Losing patience, the Crown Prince orders Xie Bi to go and find out why Mei Changsu isn’t back yet, at which point Yujin states Nihuang needed to speak with him, and hints that his uncertain health may have prompted him to leave already. The two princes depart.

hollyberries: The weird thing is that Xie Bi is standing while the rest of the group, Yujin and Jingrui included, are sitting.

arrghigiveup: I am still not over Prince Yu’s fuckin robes. So gold. Much shiny. Many derg.



kitsunec4: Prince Yu’s ambitions are laid bare and spotlighted for all to see. I mean, if you were just going by screencap, who would you think is the Crown Prince, hmmm?

moggiesandtea: Ah, the ‘needs more gold’ school of decorating.

tactless_yet_lovable: His tacky bling game is so strong, but I dig it.

arrghigiveup: It’s also made all the more obvious by the fact that it’s very pointedly and sensibly not what he wears in front of his father.

tactless_yet_lovable: Cutting back to Jingyan, who asks about Mei Changsu, and Nihuang introduces him as Su Zhe, one of Jingrui’s friends. Mei Changsu humbly refers to himself as a commoner, and Jingyan responds with the equivalent of a, “Uh huh. You’re a commoner. In the palace. With Nihuang. Sure.” Jingyan states that he is frequently absent from the palace for long periods of time, so it would make complete sense why they have never met.

hollyberries: Now imagine this whole exchange with a thick layer of salt on Jingyan’s part. I never noticed until a rewatch just how sarcastic and defiant Jingyan really is from the get-go.

tactless_yet_lovable: Jingyan was so goddamn defiant from the get-go. You really get the feeling he was playing russian roulette every time he was in Jinling. What's it say that being away on battlefields so often was probably why Jingyan was still alive long enough for Mei Changsu to get there?

rageprufrock: Jingyan is basically a gorgeously sculpted man shaped hunk of rock salt. AND I AM DOWN TO CLOWN WITH IT.

kitsunec4: Except then Mei Changsu would murder you, just saying.

tactless_yet_lovable: Nihuang deflects any more interest in Mei Changsu by asking why Jingyan visits Tingsheng so often, and he states that Tingsheng is the son of minister’s servant who was imprisoned for a crime, and that Tingsheng was a good-natured boy interested in learning. He’s also pitiful. That is Jingyan’s entire justification for repeated visits to a servant, and Nihuang and Mei Changsu clearly buy none of it. Because that’s a terrible justification.

rageprufrock: He is a profoundly, profoundly unconvincing liar.

kitsunec4: my cat’s a better liar than he is.

hollyberries: Your cat would be an Oscar-winning actress if they nominated cats, pls.

ohbthr: this will be a theme that will lead to much facepalming and yelling at the screen you GODDAMN IDIOT

moggiesandtea: And it’s yet another piece of evidence that being away on various battlefronts actually increased Jingyan’s odds of survival, because he would be toast in any and all palace intrigues.

kitsunec4: Too moral and stubborn for this court and this WORST DADPEROR.

tactless_yet_lovable: Rather than address Jingyan, Mei Changsu asks Tingsheng about his reading comprehension, if he was capable of understanding everything in the book he’d hidden. Tingsheng, the smallest of smols, shakes his head.

rageprufrock: I want you to know how many noises of tortured hurt I made here.

tactless_yet_lovable: Mei Changsu advises him to start with a simpler work to ensure that he has a good foundation for learning, like the “wisdom and teachings from the sages,” translated as the principles of life (Thanks, hollyberries). If Tingsheng is interested, Mei Changsu offers to teach him to read with one of the many books at his home.

rageprufrock: INSERT MORE TORTURED NOISES OF HURT HERE.

tactless_yet_lovable: Tingsheng turns to Jingyan for guidance, and Jingyan tells Mei Changsu that Tingsheng is from the slave prison, and even once he’s let out, he’ll be sent to other places as a servant.

rageprufrock: AUUUUGH.

tactless_yet_lovable: Ignoring the hint to drop the subject or retract his offer, Mei Changsu states that all he wants is a yes or no answer. Tingsheng nods. Mei Changsu promises to figure out a way to get Tingsheng out of the prison in the future. Nihuang notices that Jingyan is staring intensely at Mei Changsu, and quickly informs Mei Changsu that servants from the slave prison can only be let out with the Emperor’s permission. The Emperor is known to not approve of anyone helping the servants, otherwise Jingyan would have already gotten Tingsheng out.

Mei Changsu brushes this aside with the adage “You won’t know until you try.” Jingyan suspiciously asks what makes Tingsheng so special compared to all the other servants in the prison, and Nihuang defends Mei Changsu by turning the question on Jingyan.

hollyberries: This is exactly how they used to tag-team Jingyan, I bet.

rageprufrock: This is absolutely how they used to tag-team Jingyan, and it’s actually embarrassing how he -- in all of these years -- developed zero defenses against it.

ohbthr: to be fair he hasn't exactly had the chance to practice in awhile.

kitsunec4: TAT

tactless_yet_lovable: Jingyan doesn’t respond. Mei Changsu peaceably suggests that Jingyan has been away fighting, so court politics are not his strength, but Tingsheng’s release would be for the benefit of everybody. Jingyan asks what Mei Changsu’s ideas are, and Mei Changsu deflects with “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Jingyan departs after saying he will be waiting to see what Mei Changsu does, leading Tingsheng away with his hand on Tingsheng’s shoulder. Watching them leave, Nihuang says she’ll also be waiting. (So don’t fuck this up, Mei Changsu.)

hollyberries: Lol NIHUANG. YOU TROLL.

arrghigiveup: Excuse me while I have Feelings about the way Jingyan literally just tucks Tingsheng under a wing like the fiercely protective mother duck that he is



kitsunec4: If you think about it, at this point in time Jingyan has maybe one emotional anchor left in the form of his mother. Nihuang is off in the south, holding the borders, he gets to see his mother once a month if lucky. What a drought of the soul, and maybe he needs to try and care for Tingsheng somehow, trying to add more people to his circle of those he cares about…and I just made myself sad again.

arrghigiveup: WOW Kit.

tactless_yet_lovable: Having committed himself to Grand Theft Rescue Child, Mei Changsu nods his head in acknowledgement.

rageprufrock: This is such a brilliant way to introduce the third leg of this protagonist triangle to each other. It sets all the pieces of the chessboard and informs us so much on their relationships with each other and with their circumstances. Jingyan may seem emotionally dead and have zero political leverage, but he’s still the kind of unbendingly good man who cultivates a tender spot for a child -- and there is also implied there a spark of suspicious hope, if he’s willing to entertain this interloper, on Tingsheng’s behalf. And then there’s Nihuang, who smells smoke but can’t yet identify the fire, intrigued but measured. And then we have Mei Changsu -- carefully putting his game in play.

hollyberries: This is the first moment you get a sense of why, despite all the things stacked against him, Mei Changsu fought to come back and start his whole plan instead of - I don’t know, taking a sabbatical in Langya indefinitely while puppet-mastering this whole mess.

kitsunec4: The latter is what I’d do, sit on a mountain top and swish around in pretty robes.

tactless_yet_lovable: Nihuang and Mei Changsu’s conversation has not gone unnoticed, and we see a Mu family retainer report to Mu Qing that Nihuang was seen conversing with a scholar in the palace. Mu Qing immediately clicks to the fact that his sister is acting uncharacteristically, and sends another Mu family general, Lao Wei, to take the scholar’s measure. If he’s not good enough, don’t hide it from Nihuang. I assume that was implicit permission to kneecap the guy, personally.

While leaving the palace on a deserted walkway, Mei Changsu is mentally chewing over the exchanges of the day. His painful trip down memory lane is interrupted by Lao Wei, who is in the center of the pathway and ready to follow Mu Qing’s orders to kick Mei Changsu’s ass under the pretence of ‘seeking knowledge from a great scholar.’ (Sure, we’ll see how far you get with Nihuang’s foot up your ass.)

rageprufrock: Honestly most people should probably know better than to do anything rash on Mu Qing’s orders, but bless him, Lao Wei is loyal and good at the heart but dumb as a sack of chest plates.

hollyberries: I think it can be inferred from the moniker of ‘lao’ that Lao Wei has been around since their father’s time and is probably one of those stupidly protective family uncles who have no boundary they won’t stomp over for their babies. Reinforced in this case by the Mu family’s military hierarchy.

kitsunec4: oh god he’s one of Mu Qing’s overprotective military “uncles,” this explains so much.

tactless_yet_lovable: The eunuch escorting Mei Changsu attempts to explain that Mei Changsu is here on the Grand Empress’s orders, but Lao Wei tells him to beat it and the eunuch backs away real quick. Understandable.

Having said that, Lao Wei takes to the wire-fu air towards Mei Changsu. He is blocked from striking Mei Changsu by Fei Liu, who quickly hoists Lao Wei up and prepares to put the hurt on him. Mei Changsu stops him, and Fei Liu tosses Lao Wei twenty feet away instead. Before he gets a chance to try again, Meng Zhi pops out from a door in the pathway’s wall, and proceeds to bitch Lao Wei out for blindly obeying Mu Qing’s troublemaking orders. He also threatens to tell Nihuang what Lao Wei and Mu Qing were up to, which is when Lao Wei begs him not to and leaves shortly after. The escorting but not terribly brave eunuch also leaves when Meng Zhi promises to see Mei Changsu to the exit with him.

hollyberries: The unspoken law of Da Liang - everyone is afraid of Nihuang.

ohbthr: and EVERYONE SHOULD BE

kitsunec4: Are we sure it’s unspoken? It seems uh, pretty blatantly there. Nihuang is amaaaaazing.

arrghigiveup: I snorted irl at Meng Zhi’s dismissal of Lao Wei: “Still not leaving? Are you waiting for me to invite you to dinner?” Everyone’s a fuckin sass master in this show.

tactless_yet_lovable: Meng Zhi and Mei Changsu are now effectively alone. Meng Zhi walks up to Mei Changsu and also stares intensely.




It’s the theme of the day. After looking his fill, Meng Zhi steps just past Mei Changsu, almost side by side, where he says “Twelve years. It’s been twelve years. You finally came back.”




hollyberries: This is one of those trick shots in Chinese/Asian tv shows that baffles most Western viewers because it gets rid of eye contact, but is a tension building device beloved by directors.

rageprufrock: I’m also a big fan. It’s just so melodramatic.

ohbthr: As a Western viewer can confirm it was super effective. It ratcheted up the need for secrecy between them, without losing a bit of intimacy.

tactless_yet_lovable: Plot twist, Meng Zhi knows who he is. They’ve been corresponding for years. And Meng Zhi has told Mei Changsu explicitly not to come back in his letters, that he won’t be safe if he does. Mei Changsu, with perfect poise, replies that nobody will think he’s the criminal from twelve years ago, not now that he’s “become like this.”

rageprufrock: I don’t know if this is explored more in the book since I Am An Illiterate, but I do wonder how this correspondence started up. I mean God love him but Meng Zhi is not the sparkiest match in the box and I assume that he was chosen by Mei Changsu to know in advance about his arrival -- but how on earth did any of this go down? Anyway, again: super melodramatic. Love it a lot, etc. etc.

hollyberries: It’s not explained in the novel either, but I assume Mei Changsu had an MVP team that he put together prior to entering the capital again. He seems to be that kind of obnoxious planner.

kitsunec4: In many ways, how straightforward Meng Zhi and how loyal he is means he probably required like, little to no convincing of the veracity of Mei Changsu’s letters and communications to him. He’s. He’s such a good bro. The bestest bro.

tactless_yet_lovable: We find out that Mei Changsu’s illness caused a physical transformation that left him unrecognizable to his loved ones, including Meng Zhi. That didn’t stop Meng Zhi from recognizing him at Marquis Xie’s though, Mei Changsu comments. Meng Zhi uses this comment as a launching point to ask why Mei Changsu is even at Marquis Xie’s home, when it’s so dangerous for him there. Instead, he should move out immediately, or even come to Meng Zhi’s home. Mei Changsu rejects this suggestion, stating that his identity is still hidden, otherwise Marquis Xie would have already killed him, and nobody can know that Mei Changsu and Meng Zhi have a connection.

rageprufrock: Meng Zhi is very invested in rendezvous.

kitsunec4: A secret rendezvous, even.

hollyberries: Lbr if Mei Changsu had taken him up on the offer, Meng Zhi would have married him off to Jingyan in about three weeks.

tactless_yet_lovable: Meng Zhi would have assembled the biggest goddamn dowry possible and climbed onto all the rooftops to throw flower petals. Mandarin ducks, mandarin ducks everywhere.

ohbthr: Are mandarin ducks the Chinese equivalent of doves?

hollyberries: They’re the symbol for eternal, devoted love? The actual birds used in marriage are wild geese, preferably caught by the groom’s own hand and kept alive for the ceremony. It’s a whole thing.

arrghigiveup: Yep, something something mates for life will pine away and die if one partner is lost etc etc. Or at least, that’s the belief. There’re a lot of Chinese songs and poetry and artwork referencing yuānyāng.

tactless_yet_lovable: Oh good, even more fitting for Jingyan then. This is fine. Mandarin duck!Jingyan is fine, with his little duckling, Tingsheng. We’re all fine and there’s no emotional devastation here.

Meng Zhi is still very concerned about Mei Changsu’s decisions, because the power-play between Prince Yu and the Crown Prince is coming to a head, and nobody will be able to help Mei Changsu when he’s caught in between. This isn’t a problem in Mei Changsu’s eyes, as he has been making his plans for years and accounted for these contingencies. They arrange to meet later.

Transition to the Mu Manor later, at night. Mu Qing is justifying his actions to Nihuang, because what if Mei Changsu turned out to be useless! Nihuang is so done. She scolds him for his rash actions, because Mu Qing did absolutely no prep work before sending a family retainer to fight him. Did he even learn the scholar’s identity or why Nihuang wanted to talk to him? She’s not impressed when Mu Qing blurts, “What is his identity? Isn’t he Xiao Jingrui’s friend?”

hollyberries: For a sense of perspective, he’s 20 and has grown up with Nihuang guiding every step he took.

ohbthr: bless this idiot bb

rageprufrock: He’s sweet and perfect and without flaw. He’s the only person in this whole fucking drama, Nihuang inclusive, who seems to be concerned about her happiness and marriage prospects, and frankly, I commend his focus.

tactless_yet_lovable: At the Xie Manor, Jingrui and Mei Changsu are discussing Mei Changsu’s decision to skip attending the rest of the tournament, as he’s already made his one necessary appearance and if anything exciting happens, Jingrui and Yujin can just tell him. Mei Changsu advises Jingrui to rest properly before his fight the next day, and Jingrui excuses himself for the night.

Meanwhile, at the Mu family manor, Mu Qing has been informed that the scholar is Mei Changsu, the chief of the Jiangzuo Alliance, and he promptly says “So? We don’t have any ties with them.” Nihuang reminds Mu Qing of a battle with Southern Chu two years ago at Qingming River, where Southern Chu had invaded with an unstoppable fleet of iron-chained war barges that could naturally only be beaten by a mysterious ally, whose messenger disappeared at the Jiangzuo border.

Nihuang explains that her interest in Mei Changsu comes from that encounter two years ago, when a random member of a Pugilist sect helped the Mu family for no obvious reason. That same person is now in Jinling during a royal fight for the crown, without having picked a side. If Nihuang had dog ears, they’d be perked up right now, because she is sensing a Situation.

rageprufrock: This little nugget is also one of the few allusions to the canonical character who is Nihuang’s romantic partner in the book, apparently. But I guess they needed to buy some more hetero-plausible breathing room in the TV adaptation.

hollyberries: They edited him out! The guy who went this time is Wei Zheng, and he’s married to the first beauty on the Langya List. (Who book!Jingrui was pining over, and who was then promptly forgotten when Jingrui met Mei Changsu. The kid is nothing if not consistent.)

kitsunec4: (book!Jingrui somehow manages to be even more embarrassing with his crushes and pining visible from the lower stratosphere)

ohbthr: okay but I actually really love MCS and Nihuang's whole deal. It's not MCS’s fault that he's a disaster demi/bi with too many people in love with him

tactless_yet_lovable: Mei Changsu is resting peacefully until Fei Liu senses an intruder and rushes to the door, where Meng Zhi is walking in. After a bit of banter about how sharp Fei Liu’s senses are, Meng Zhi sits down with Mei Changsu and proceeds to aunty like a boss. “It’s not winter but you already have a brazier, have you not recovered from your injuries? Why did you come? I wasn’t ready, but how can I help?” Meng Zhi is love.

ohbthr: Meng Zhi is the truest and best bro, always ready to throw down.

tactless_yet_lovable: While calling Meng Zhi “Meng da ge (big brother),” Mei Changsu attempts to push Meng Zhi away from assisting with all the meticulously laid plans. He only needs Meng Zhi to pretend ignorance about their acquaintance, as anything more would put Meng Zhi and his family at risk. Meng Zhi, RIGHTEOUSLY UPSET, says “Loyalty is in the heart, not in reputation.” We find out that Meng Zhi was part of the Chiyan Army for a year, and has complete faith in the innocence of the Lin family. And he’s also The Best. We knew that, but now it’s confirmed that he’s The Undisputed Best.

Meng Zhi asks “Xiao Shu” how many others survived the massacre, and Mei Changsu tells him that only one other person Meng Zhi knew survived, a man named Wei Zheng. But otherwise, nearly all of the 70,000 men in the Chiyan Army died. Reeling, Meng Zhi promises to help Mei Changsu in his schemes.

The next day, Yujin and Jingrui are preparing to leave the Xie Manor for the tournament. On the way out, they see a line of carts, full of gifts for Mei Changsu from Prince Yu.



hollyberries: It’s fun to note that at this point both the Crown Prince and Prince Yu have given up on subtlety or class and are just straight out throwing expensive gifts at Mei Changsu.

rageprufrock: It’s upsetting because none of my recruitment processes have ever gone this well.

kitsunec4: where have we gone wrong in our lives?

arrghigiveup: I mean, on the bright side, y’all aren’t at risk of falling to assassination attempts should you show signs of leaning toward rival companies.

tactless_yet_lovable: At the tournament, both Jingrui and Yujin win their matches easily, as does another unnamed martial artist. Mu Qing notes that the man is formidable but ugly. (This sounds petty to point out a man is ugly as a plot point, but it’s important, trust me.)

The next day is the last day of the tournament, and afterwards, there will be a written examination for the potential suitors. Both Yujin and Jingrui are in the top ten suitors. That evening at the palace, the Emperor is relaxing with Consort Yue, who mentions another top ten suitor, Sima Lei of the Royal Guards. He is a follower of the Crown Prince, and Consort Yue pushes for him to be considered, regardless of how he scores during the written examination. The Emperor comments how rare it is for Consort Yue and the Empress to agree on something, as the Empress is also pushing for special consideration to be given to a suitor, one named Liao Tingjie.

hollyberries: He’s mentioning the empress because he’s warning Consort Yue off from interfering from the process. The emperor is not above using his inner court against each other to level the political playing fields, because he is a dickbag father and husband. Is it necessary? Probably. Is he being a dickbag in particular about it? Yes.

tactless_yet_lovable: The Emperor is a great politician. He really does have a feel for his court. He’s also a fucking asshole. So he uses none of this awareness for the betterment of anybody but himself.

ohbthr: This is particularly upsetting when we see glimpses of the ruler he could have been, had he listened to Concubine Jing CERTAIN PEOPLE and not let his paranoia run rampant.

tactless_yet_lovable: The Emperor states he has no plans to personally look at the examination paper, and has given the task to a man Nihuang suggested, without court position and from the Pugilist world. Mei Changsu finds out the next day that he was given the task, and Xie Bi suggests he was nominated by Prince Yu.

arrghigiveup: This move in itself also seems to be more of the Emperor being a dickbag troll, because he shows no signs of realising that this is the exact Qilin scholar that the Crown Prince and Prince Yu are fighting over. As far as he’s concerned, this is just a random jianghu dude that he’s decided to throw the task to because it’ll foil both the Empress’s and Consort Yue’s attempts to sway him by making it no longer his business.

tactless_yet_lovable: At the tournament, the formidable but ugly fighter is revealed to be Northern Yan’s Baili Qi, who is fighting Da Liang’s strongest warrior. Baili Qi creams him with one move while Mu Qing, Yujin, and Jingrui watch. Yujin and Jingrui realize very quickly they are outmatched and have no chance of beating Baili Qi, even if they were working together.

The Emperor is unhappy to hear of how powerful Baili Qi is. While relations between Northern Yan and Da Liang are good, it’s due to Da Liang’s military might. A marriage between Nihuang and Northern Yan would strengthen Northern Yan, and result in increased aggression at the borders. The Emperor asks Prince Yu and the Crown Prince if they have any ideas to prevent Baili Qi from marrying Nihuang.

kitsunec4: Wouldn’t it also potentially put Da Liang in the middle, geographically speaking? My recollection was that Nihuang’s family holdings are to the south...anyways, Emperor is real paranoid about a lot of things.

hollyberries: Yep, Nihuang’s family are the southern generals in the Yunnan border… the emperor is not rational ://

arrghigiveup: As a side note, Prince Yu mentions during this discussion that the reason why the Langya list does not have Baili Qi’s name on it is because that list only ranks the names of people who have revealed their abilities at some point, whereas Baili Qi has kept his prowess hidden up until now. This, plus the fact that he’s from Northern Yan, is something worth keeping in mind for the reveal in a few episodes about Baili Qi’s background because lmao wtf.

tactless_yet_lovable: Mu Qing is equally unhappy, pacing frantically while Nihuang calmly reads. His sister might marry an ugly man from Northern Yan and that is not okay!

Nobody in Jinling is happy, with the exception of the representative from Northern Yan. He’s feeling fine. At Xie Manor, Yujin asks Mei Changsu if he has any ideas to defeat Baili Qi. Mei Changsu says he’ll wait until the banquet for the ten suitors before making any plans. Jingrui observes that it’s a feast in name only, and is more likely to be a strategy to allow Jingrui and Baili Qi to fight. If Jingrui can wound Baili Qi, that will make it easier for Nihuang to defeat him later.

hollyberries: Sidebar, how great is Jingrui? He’s going all out to help Nihuang dodge an undesirable marriage, not because he’s in love with her, but because it’s the right thing to do, and Jingrui doesn’t hesitate to wade into the fray for his jie.

ohbthr: Jingrui is SO GREAT. He always just wants to do what’s right and honorable and ugh, FEELINGS.

tactless_yet_lovable: Yujin suggests that part of this strategy relies on Northern Yan assuming Jingrui is a prince of Da Liang and subsequently fighting less intensely than they might otherwise. Jingrui’s family name is Xiao, which is the Royal Family’s.

Smiling and shaking his head, Mei Changsu provides a counterpoint, that the names of the top ten are public and Northern Yan might research the backgrounds of all participants.

We cut to the Northern Yan representative bribing a eunuch to find out if Xiao Jingrui is a prince.

Mei Changsu himself asks about the details of Jingrui’s birth, and before Jingrui can answer, Yujin interjects and declares he knows the story best. (Jingrui: Uh, you’re a year younger than me, how does that work out?)

rageprufrock: This is a great spot to point out what a lived-in and intimate friendship these two have. It’s one of the unalloyed delights of this series, watching them play off of one another and serve as each other’s unwavering rock.

tactless_yet_lovable: Watching Yujin shove his teacup in Jingrui’s face while regaling Mei Changsu with Jingrui’s Extra AF backstory was beautiful.






Yujin states that when the Princess Liyang was pregnant with Jingrui, there was outbreak of plague in the city, and she went to a nunnery on Rui Mountain. Another pregnant woman, Madame Zhuo from the Tianquan Manor Pugilist Sect, also came to the mountain for sanctuary - the residences were full at the time, and Princess Liyang’s opening up her own quarters to Madame Zhuo cemented their friendship.

One night, during a terrible storm, both women went into labor and delivered during it. While recovering in the same room with their newborns, the storm blew open the doors. While the nursemaids put the babies down for a moment, the candles were all blown out. Nobody was sure which baby was which, and to make matters worse, one of the babies died the next day. The Emperor decreed the surviving child take the imperial family name of Xiao instead of Xie or Zhuo, and would be treated as a child of both houses. Relations between both families became very close, and the Zhuos’ eldest son, Zhuo Qingyao, married the Xie daughter, Xie Qi, two years ago.

ohbthr: back when I was still making Count of Monte Cristo comparisons (and there are a lot) I was struck/tickled that NiF ALSO had a mysterious switched at birth baby. Jingrui is much nicer than Andrea Cavalcanti though.

rageprufrock: Now I’m also forced to think about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in the annals of switched babies.

ohbthr: oh god WHY WOULD YOU BRING THAT UP #cursed

hollyberries: Wait what. Isn’t there *already* a plethora of bullshit overused plot tropes in that lumbering zombie of a movie? WHY THIS ONE TOO.

kitsunec4: shhhh shhhh, let's get back on track.

tactless_yet_lovable: The next morning, Mu Qing rides up to the Xie Manor and barges in without waiting to be announced. He makes his way to where Jingrui and Mei Changsu are talking about Jingrui’s upcoming fight. Mu Qing, in true Mu Qing fashion, skips all pleasantries and asks how Mei Changsu is going to defeat Baili Qi, and if Mu Qing can help.

Mei Changsu asks, “Is that my responsibility?” Mu Qing very unashamedly replies, “Of course! You speak with my sister and are responsible for the written exam!” After Mei Changsu begins to bow in agreement, Mu Qing literally drags him away while stating if Mei Changsu can’t handle it, Mu Qing will hire somebody to beat Baili Qi up.

arrghigiveup: It’s hilarious, even Mei Changsu is taken aback; just look at his face:



rageprufrock: Again: I love Mu Qing. He’s perfect. parksandrec_ivenevermadeamistake_iknow.gif

hollyberries: Fei Liu is about two seconds away from punching this guy out, how dare he manhandle Su-gege.

ohbthr: Mu Qing’s complete disregard for formality, especially when it comes to his sister, is honestly so refreshing? He’s so direct and cute.

kitsunec4: it’s cute but I bet it’s also another reason Nihuang has probably kept him in Yunnan because wow this would not go over real well in the viper’s den that is the imperial court.

tactless_yet_lovable: In the imperial throne room, Mei Changsu as Su Zhe is announced, and he walks up to bow to the Emperor. Su Zhe is granted the title of an honored guest, as he is working for the Imperial Court by helping with the examination for Nihuang’s suitors.

arrghigiveup: A little bit of language/culture nerdery: this moment reminds me of a tweet we received fairly recently asking why it was that sometimes the subtitles don’t seem to match the spoken dialogue. The lines here are a good example of why. When Mei-Changsu-as-Su-Zhe gives his affirmation to the question of whether he was the Su Zhe recommended by the Princess, he says “that is indeed me”, but the pronoun he uses there is 在下(zài xià), which is made up of the characters for, hm, “to be”, and “under/below”, as in, he is one who is below others. It’s a very humble pronoun.

It is to this that the emperor is referring when he tells Mei Changsu that despite not having an official post, he is due the respect of a--I’m not even sure how to translate 客卿--guest minister? because of the service that he is doing for the court, and that as such, he no longer needs to use the pronouns of a commoner (further sidenote: the term for commoner used here is 草民 (cǎo mín), which is literally “grass citizen”).

And absolutely none of that can be effectively conveyed in subtitles without little starred footnotes littering the screen a la 90s-era anime fansubs =P

kitsunec4: While I entirely understand the subtitle decisions, part of me does mourn the loss of an additional layer of relationship complexity in terms of who is allowed to address whom as what.

tactless_yet_lovable: In the inner palace, the Empress, several of the Emperor’s higher-ranked consorts, and Princess Liyang are talking about Nihuang’s upcoming marriage. Consort Yue subtly snipes at the Empress about the various suitors, including Baili Qi and Liao Tingji, while Liyang plays peacekeeper and suggests they focus on planning Nihuang’s dowry.

hollyberries: While Consort Yue’s actress plays her role with aplomb and in the best traditions of the beautiful, wily consort who has the emperor twisted around her little finger, there’s actually very little inner court machination in this drama as a whole. The Empress is largely disinterested in daily sniping, and later, we’ll see that there are far smarter players who win by not playing the game at all.

rageprufrock: It’s one of the elements of this show that really distinguishes it from the rest of the pack in terms of Chinese historical dramas, and which I love. Don’t get me wrong, I love some insane harem politics, but there’s only so many times I can see consorts trying to kill one another and one another’s children. I mean at least in one calendar year.

arrghigiveup: So true.

hollyberries: I mean, you get a drama like Zhen Huan once maybe a decade, it seems foolish to keep trying when the majority of harem dramas are clearly working with inferior scripts anyway.

tactless_yet_lovable: I assumed that the inner palace’s status quo was established years ago, and nobody wanted to expend the effort to try and dislodge Consort Yue when the Emperor clearly favored her. Either because they knew they wouldn’t win, or because they didn’t care at all. Instead, the Empress and Consort Yue’s machinations are more outward-facing, involving their sons, not themselves.

kitsunec4: Either that, or everyone sees that royal favor is a double-edged sword and no one wants that next to their necks. Which. Understandable. Worst Dadperor is the worst.

tactless_yet_lovable: The guests in the throne room have just finished a round of toasts, and Prince Yu suggests livening up the drinking with a friendly tournament between the suitors. The Crown Prince begins to disagree with him, until he sees Mei Changsu subtly shake his head, at which point he backtracks and weakly agrees that a friendly contest would be interesting. The Emperor agrees, and tells the suitors to pair off, but to keep the matches friendly.

Jingrui challenge Baili Qi. The match begins hand-to-hand, but when Jingrui starts to lose, Yujin states that Jingrui normally fights with a sword. Meng Zhi throws his to Jingrui, and they begin to fight again. Mei Changsu is snacking throughout and not really paying attention.

arrghigiveup: I love him; he’s just so obnoxiously unconcerned

tactless_yet_lovable: Aaaaaand boats from the ending credits.

Character Beats

rageprufrock: So this is the episode that, as I mentioned above, closes the loop of our three key protagonists, and establishes the relationships as they are in the beginning of the series. I find this episode particularly pleasing from a narrative construction point of view, even if nothing particularly advances or gets settled, because in the storytelling sense, it’s very much that slow, click-click-click up the spine of the rollercoaster, near the peak, and by the end of it you can feel how you’re about to hit speed.

tactless_yet_lovable: This episode is a gift to me for two main reasons. One, Jingyan and Mei Changsu meet face-to-face for the first time and Jingyan continues to be the saltiest bitch about everything. Two, Tingsheng is introduced, and he is instantly a soft spot for Jingyan (that Mei Changsu can exploit, but that’s palace politic life). I’d murder for some sort of elaboration on how Jingyan started visiting Tingsheng, what Jingyan favoring him looks like, and how Tingsheng felt the first time.

hollyberries: What guts me about this episode, aside from the flashbacks to Great-Granny and Meng (GENERAL MENG BEST MENG), is that now all three of them are back together again, you see just how much things have changed and yet they haven’t changed at all in essentials. Jingyan has turned himself into a sort of living shrine to the people who have gone before him, and refuses to give even an inch to the outside forces determined to push him onto his knees.

tactless_yet_lovable: The softest of crooning right now.

hollyberries: Nihuang grew up too fast and left too many things on the wayside, raising her brother and caring for her people - and she didn’t get the luxury of shutting herself away from the treachery and machinations at court. Mei Changsu - it would be spoilers to go into it now and this drama is in many ways one long exploration of the changes wrought upon him.

And yet.

Yet - when the three of them are first reunited, ten years later, they immediately fall into familiar rhythms, patterns of interacting with each other - without even recognizing their third participant for who he is. MY HEART.

Production Choices

moggiesandtea: This is the episode that sent me off to do some research while muttering about the spread of Buddhism in pre-Northern Wei China, because of course the nunnery on Rui Mountain is Buddhist, and I was having Opinions on the Buddha statue in the courtyard.

Anyway, long story short, apparently the first emperor of the Liang was real big into Buddhism and had the nickname “The Bodhisattva Emperor.” Yes, I know actual history only maps onto Nirvana in Fire so far, BUT STILL.

kitsunec4: This show is vaguely historical, don’t think too hard about it. Unless you’re Moggies and Holly, who are determined to give us all a grounding in history and art history.

Guns and Ships

hollyberries: … kit. I had a vague writeup in my head but now I HAVE to do it.

Nihuang mentioning the battle at Qingming River, and especially the chained war barges, immediately reminded me of another famous literary river battle. Like the battle at Qingming, the battle of Chibi in the Three Kingdoms also involved fording a river using a long line of war barges linked together with iron chains. The battle of Chibi was the decisive pivot in the course of the Three Kingdoms, and its outcome directly affected the development of civil unrest and rise of warlords following the dissolution of the Han dynasty into a stalemate between three kingdoms.

Let’s set the scene: Cao Cao, later self-crowned King of Wei, at the time a chancellor for the dying Han Dynasty and his puppet emperor, controlled the northern territories of a fractured empire, and had the definite upper hand in terms of manpower and resources. He was located north of the river Yangtze, which would prove to be a lasting division line across the territories acquired in his lifetime. The other two parties to this battle were Liu Bei’s Shu forces, supported by the inimitable strategist Zhuge Liang, and Sun Quan’s Wu forces, led by Zhou Yu, himself both strategist and general.

Liu Bei occupied land comprising largely the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan, and the battle of Chibi gave him access to what is now modern-day Sichuan. He called his own reign Han, as a continuation of the Liu family’s mandate over China (he himself was a distant relative to the throne, however thinly diluted the claim had been - had he succeeded, he would have followed in the footsteps of Liu Xiu, the founder of Eastern Han after a long period of civil war sparked by a usurpation attempt by Wang Mang).

Sun Quan, meanwhile, occupied the southeastern portions of China, in what is now modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang (and a small portion of Hubei). He inherited the kingdom after his father and elder brother passed away, and his sister would eventually go on to marry Liu Bei in a failed bid for strategic ties. His army was the second best-trained, and also the most familiar with the Yangtze-area battlefield and water warfare.

According to the novel (which embellished the story somewhat), on the eve of battle, Zhuge Liang’s forces ran out of arrows, so he tied decoy strawmen to the prow and rigging, sailing the boats closer to Cao Cao’s anchored boats, resulting in a hail of arrows that replenished the supply. On the subsequent days, Cao Cao’s exhausted, land-trained soldiers had to overcome the hardships of a long march south during repeated smaller sallies, and their greater enemy: seasickness. It’s theorised that Cao Cao had the war barges chained together because he wanted to minimize the degree of seasickness among his men, but this became the clearest source of his defeat at Chibi.

Zhuge Liang was able to divine, through his grasp of meteorology, that the wind’s direction would change at a certain time, which would allow them to attack the fleet with fire, and themselves remain unscathed. Sun Quan’s experienced naval generals faked a surrender to Cao Cao, sailing ships full of flammable materials near Cao Cao’s fleet, and then set it ablaze. General panic set in, and many of the soldiers drowned or burned to death. The remains of Cao Cao’s army then fled northwards, harried by an alliance of Sun Quan and Liu Bei’s forces.

In terms of strategy, I believe what Mei Changsu offered to Nihuang by way of Wei Zheng, was the same one used at Chibi - fire. It fits both strategically and symbolically, as an attack by fire was the most effective way of preventing a large group of war barges from fording a river all at once, especially if they were chained together and could not maneuver easily. In a symbolic sense, Mei Changsu’s association with fire is also clear - the Chiyan army, literally the army of scarlet flames, his own death and transformative rebirth after the fire, and his childhood nickname - tiny flame. And what better way to save his childhood beloved than with his own personal element?

kitsunec4: ...right, I don’t know what I expected and yet this was clearly exactly your wheelhouse and I should have expected it.

arrghigiveup: ...I’m a bit in awe. Holy shit Holly.

Final Thoughts

tactless_yet_lovable: How does so much continue to happen. I watched this episode two weeks ago, and then I rewatched it while writing up the episode summary, and I had multiple occasions where I had to pause and sob, “Why is this event also in this episode?” I was also eating peanut candies and drowning in my Little Peanut and Mandarin Mother Duck Jingyan feels. So. Yeah. Goddamn this show and all the feels.