Welcome to the second instalment of the Shadow Punisher 魅影神捕discussion posts.

/u/roxylal will do tomorrows post.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We follow the VIP schedule. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost & Episode 1-6 discussion | Ep. 7-8

✒️ Generals Stuff:

With this having 30 episodes we are already one third through the whole show.

#New Characters: Chu Huan’er - Crown Princess. Lauded as the ‘virtuous Crown Princess’ by the public but not really respected by her husband.

Mr Tao - a physician working for the Divine Constable Bureau

Yin Kui - Lou Tianming’s underling of some kind.

#Episode 9

The last person who had contact with the detained Lou Tianming was Eunuch Zhao. His visit was monitored, though he got very close to the detained, nearly got his ear bitten of. Eunuch Zhao gets a beating by the Crown Prince for rushing to do an interrogation and making the Eastern Palace look suspicious and involved in his escape.

• while this happens the opera singers just power through their performance. I guess they must witness a lot of crazy stuff performing for the Shi Empire elite. Very professional.
• the Crown Princess pleads for the Eunuch, which leads to a situation where the Crown Prince tries to take his anger out on his wife.
• Eunuch Zhao took care of their child, Ye’er, for years. The child seems to have some condition or illness that doesn’t get better. The Crown Prince blames the Crown Princess for that.

So the situation in the Eastern Palace is, as so often in cdramas, highly erratic.

Hunting for Princes

Meanwhile Li Si ponders the possibility of their being a mole in the Divine Constable Bureau. He studies the entry records for the Prison.

The Chief pleads with the emperor to release the truth about the Black Chest case to the public, but the emperor is unwilling to do so without having real proof for Wen Bu’s faked death.

• The Chief argues that the real Wen Bu has to be in the Shi Empire as well. Finding him might end the impending war before it really breaks out.
• So the members of the Divine Constable Bureau gets dispatched for the search for him and Lou Tianming.
• After three days there is still not a single clue.

Li Si visits the Underworld Market. Not for clues, but to get Lou Tianming’s eagle healed. That eagle leads him, disguised as Lou Tianming, to the real Wen Bu’s hiding place.

• Lou Tianming has some connections to the Kingdom of Liluo and the demons there.
• The Wen Bu Li Si meet at the Star-Gathering-Pavilion was still the real one.

Interlude for Religous Stuy

We get an interlude of a mysterious woman talking about the six ancient god of Lilun that represent Immortality, Prophecy, Lies, Hatred, Disaster and Death.

The stone steles for

1. God of Immortality, Kelu

God of Prophecy, Rangang

connected to the first two cases have already crumbled.

It feels a bit like those six gods seal something bigger or at least some secret? She seems to be ok with them falling.

So Lies, Hatred, Disaster and Death will be the themes for the other four cases.

Dark Nights and Brotherly Treason

Li Si apprehended Wen Bu in an off-screen fight and brought him to the Bureau, where he was interrogated.

• Lou Tianming is backed by an organisation called The Dark Night (to be properly dramatic for this kind of drama).
• Their members are all described as being neither human nor ghost ans swear allegiance to Liluo.
• In the third year of Zhengwu’s reign Emperor Wuzong (the first Emperor of Shi) wiped out that place (as we already new, the exact year is an addition). So they most likely want a late revenge for that.
• Years ago Xuanyuan Shan refused a marriage arranged by the Emperor in favour of her job. She even had to swear not to marry, due to the Xuanyuan family having so much influence with her sister being the Empress and her the Chief.

Li Si has his master visit at the Star-Gathering Pavilion. He gets scolded for using the Soaring Dragon Thousand-Mechanism Formation again. (I guess that happened to arrest Wen Bu) and is not allowed to drink due to internal injuries.

• The search for Meng Rui is still on, the emperor still wants to use him as a scapegoat.
• Li Si’s investigation in his two eldest brothers revealed that the 1st Prince falsely reported a military emergency to lure the Emperor away. Then he notified the 2nd Prince and both conspired to kill Li Si at the Mulan Hunting Ground.
• After his alleged death the Emperor learned about the false report and that’s why the 1st Prince lost the Ministry of War, though he gave it up voluntarily. He also silenced all the people involved, thus the high death count of former Ministry of War personnel.
• The Emperor favours stability at the court to such a degree he didn’t really investigate.

Recovery

Li Si brings the still deeply injured Meng Rui back to the Divine Constable Bureau. So know the aforementioned Mr Tao can care for him, but he is unsure about his success. Bai Zhenzhu also treats him with acupuncture.

• He dreams of his childhood, flying a kite with his younger brother.
• Li Si paid for a lot of tonics to help him recover.
• Mr Tao declares his condition stable, but Meng Rui lost in a dream, his will to live diminished.
• Li Si tries to wake him by unsheathing Meng Rui’s sword, which leads to him dreaming about his families demise and him waking up for a moment. How dare someone touch his sword!

Meng Rui’s place has some interesting interior decoration going on. Very ‘out and about in the Jianghu’.

After two days of recovery Meng Rui wants to jump back into action again. His colleagues urge him to rest more.

Like Li Si, being carried in.

The sedan chair was brought in for Meng Rui, who is forced into using it.

Father-Daughter Problems

Grand Secretary Bai meets his daughter while trying to visit the Chief Constable. He gifts his daughter a sachet. Bai Zhenzhu isn’t impressed with that gift and doesn’t want to be put in the same category as other young noble ladies.

• She is 23 and unmarried, which her father isn’t happy about. Typical costume drama father-daughter conflict here. At least they seem to honestly care about each other (for now).
• She treats Li Si to a meal at Star-Gathering Pavilon for saving her father.
• He invites her to call him by his name going forward, while she inquires about his true background.
• She doesn’t get a straight answer, instead Li Si compares himself to a piece on a Go board. He hints at his history through go terminology and plays.
• Because the play takes place in the real world he can’t lose for the sake of the common people, also on the board.

For capturing Prince Wen Bu in the Black Chest Case Li Si is promoted to Divine Constable of the Bureau. Finally he has access to Tianshu Pavilion and promptly visits the archive.

Which has some cool set design going on.

#Episode 10

Cute little Prince before the Tragedy

Li Si works competently through the elaborate record filling system of the archive and gets several documents about the Mulan Hunting Ground incident. In one it’s noted down that he allegedly died during a hunt in a mountain fire. What follows is a flashback to that day and little Zhou Yan.

• On the hunting ground he meets another little boy dressed in very similar clothes to his own. He shares the grasshopper toy the Emperor himself made for him with that boy to calm him down.
• Dressed so similar the boy is killed instead of Zhou Yan and a fire is set.
• Zhou Yan is attacked (?) by a puppet.

He continues his search, this time for the case of missing children that took place in the same year to maybe get a clue about the boys identity. He finds a case file titles “On the Disappearance of the Shen Family of Four”.

• This case took place on the 8th day of the 2nd lunar month, so one day before the hunt.
• The scholar Shen Baoquan and his family of four went missing from a town near the capital and the case remains unsolved.
• The children of that family were Shen Jing’an, 11 years old and Shen Lan, 8 years old. The younger boy is a potential match.

Li Si enters another room of the archive which contains the (to the viewer) familiar stone steles of the ancient Lilun gods. The arriving Chief Constable explains to him what he sees on the murals:

• Qipi, the God of Lies
• Haiqu, the God of hatred
• Qiuyu, the God of Calamity
• Hanluo, the God of Death

They are kept here due to being so ominous. There is no word lost about the reason two of them are destroyed. Li Si is warned by the Chief about even the closest people around him being not who they seem to be.

I guess that plays into the Lies theme we will get next?

Welcome to the Neigbourhood

In Yeqiao town, from where the Shen family vanished, Meng Rui draws a picture of the tattoo the men attacking not only the Vanguard camp but also his family had on their neck. Li Si visits the same town, looking for the Shen families adress only to find Meng Rui there.

• turns out it’s his house and Li Si tries to play it like he went for a visit. That lie doesn’t work out because none of Meng Rui’s colleagues know this address.
• quite obviously (at this point) Shen Jing’an changed his name to Meng Rui and his younger brother died instead of Li Si.

Li Si still owns the grasshopper made by his father.

• the Emperor seemed to have seen Zhou Yan as his successor before his death, even though he was only around 8 years old when he "died".
• he also concludes that Meng Rui is very likely Shen Jing’an. That fits the Chiefs warning about people not being who they seem, even those around him.

Li Si returns to Meng Rui’s home to pester him some more while he trains to get back on his feet after his injury. And became his neighbour to have a good reason to sit on their shared wall. He gifts Meng Rui a kite to gauge his reaction, which is kind of cruel. Meng Rui flashbacks to the night his family was torn apart and destroys the kite.

• Li Si updates him on news related to the Bureau.
• On that occasion he notices that Meng Rui has the Kui Wood Wolf constellation on his back, which is kind of a magical tattoo he got when he learned the Severe-Cold Sword technique from Dao Yin. It appears when he channels his energy.
• Li Si notices the drawing of the bug and offers to help Meng Rui to investigate.

I am.

Five Wonders

They both travel to the entrance of the Underworld Market. Meng Rui remembers him going after some merchants there to become a constable and I’m quite certain he pieces that little scheme together during the visit.

• Turns out the insect is a Chiying and part of the Five Wonders of Liluo.
• There are rumours they like to gather around graves and they were seen in Mingling County, Qingzhou.
• That’s also the place were Su Wei, the one guy from the Ministry of War list who didn’t die, vanished.
• The poison of a hundred bites can turn a person into a demon and strengthen them. So that what happened to the attackers.

The Five Wonder of Liluo are:

1. Chiying bugs light the fire, eroding bones to spawn demons. (the bugs)

2. Luo flowers condense into jade, turning white hair black again. (Tianmoluo, the fruit of immortality from the first case)

3. Puppets pulled by moss threads, having neither tears nor heart. (Puppetry)

4. The moon’s reflection turns into the flower in the mirror, replacing old bones with new faces.

5. The Canglang tide boils, and the Eight Wastelands breathe together.

Going to Mingling

Li Si is certain that the Chief and the Emperor both already know about hese five wonders and the possible dangers for Great Shi through them. He suggests himself and Meng Rui teaming-up to visit Mingling County.

• Li Si tries to trick the Chief into letting them go there via a report of a green-haired demon appearing on Mount Fuyao
• Meng Rui adds his own lie of wanting to recuperate further in his alleged ancestral home to that.
• They are both terrible liars, but Meng Rui’s is actually successful.
• Li Si is ordered to help the Ministry of Justice instead.
• Bai Zhenzhu and Yan Cheng on the other hand are allowed to accompany Meng Rui for various reasons.

In a cave located in a wasteland some new half-demons are made via the Chiying bugs. One of them is Lou Tianming, who gets a make-over of the edgy kind.

#Thoughts

Long day, so just: Still loving it.

The hunting trip incidents gets even more mysterious. Obviously someone installed poor Shen Lan as a double for Li Si. But who? And what exactly was the plan here? Just having him escape? That feels a bit useless? Did that someone bring him to his master? I guess we will learn about everything in due time.

Welcome to the penultimate discussion post for The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 . /u/a_herculepoirot_fan poirot_fan will host the last episode tomorrow.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost | Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8 | Ep. 9 | Ep. 10 | Ep. 11 | Ep. 12 | Ep.13 | Ep. 14 | Ep. 15 | Ep.16

Even with the one episode a day schedule we are nearing the end of the drama. Big thanks to /u/a_herculepoirot_fan for being a lovely co-host and spontaneous enough to jump into this with me. And thank you all for discussing, gif-ing and enjoying this short adventure.

I still hope this won’t be the last we’ve seen of Li Hongyi this year. (Please youku, give Hidden Shadows! Or Blossoms of Power.).

Kong Xuer’s next appearances should be in Burning Night (Republican setting, also youku so good luck with it airing sometimes soon) and Empress Reborn, which will most likely air next year.

#Episode 17

New Characters in this Episode

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
General Yuan	General who is in charge of the troops at Shence Camp	I’m really not sure if we saw him before or only heard about him. So maybe not new, but hardly seen.

Poisonous Daughter

Princess An Le’s attempt to poison her father is averted by the emperor himself.

• She affirms that it was the Crown Prince that sent her and that the palace is full of Cui Jinzhi’s troops.
• She blames him for his own predicament while seemingly suffering a mental break-down.
• The Emperor openly acknowledges that he raised a bunch of lunatics.
• He falls unconscious and it remains a bit unclear if she actually feed him some of the poison. In the subs he accuses her oft that, but we don’t really see him swallow any of it. I guess the subs are a bit inaccurate.
• There is an announcement that the Emperor collapsed and that there might be traitors plotting in secret. So the palace gates will be guarded and the Crown Prince Li Chong temporarily rule the nation. No outsiders will be allowed inside.
• An Le flees the room, hunted by her own mental state. She was deeply hurt by her father prefering Zhao Yang.

The Glee before the Fall

Toxic Ex

The imprisoned Zhao Yang is visited by Cui Jinzhi. He tells her about the Crown Prince seizing the throne and promises to find a place for her after everything calmed down.

• Zhao Yang isn’t eating.
• He brags about killing Shen Xiao, but she won’t believe it without proof.
• She declares that he will never die in peace for plotting treason.
• After some more bragging and raging against Shen Xiao and his undeserved rise Zhao Yang seems to start believing her ex-husband.
• He puts the blame for Shen Xiao’s death on her plate: She put him in the middle of this fight for power after all.
• Cui Jinzhi is convinced that she will return to him, sooner or later, now that he is all she got.

The bad reunion for today’s episode.

Fleeing through the Night

At night Zhao Yang escapes her room and meets with her father’s attendant who gives her a military token.

• The Eunuch calls her the Emperor’s only hope.
• Her only way to flee is through the abandoned Cold Palce.
• Cui Jinzhi learns of her escape and orders his men to bring her back unharmed.
• Unharmed is a matter of interpretation: While she flees further on horseback they shot at her with arrows which ultimately makes her fall from the horse.

Look who’s here!

• She gets rescued last minute by the miraculously not-dead Shen Xiao (Aren’t you all surprised?)

The better Reunion

• Shen Xiao had a nice outfit change and brought soldiers from the Shence Camp. After his fall into the river (which seems to have been part of his plan) he took a detour there and convinced one General Yuan to protect the Emperor in the capital.
• They have a semi-romantic moment in the snow while the soldiers around them are battling it out.

This episode has some really nice looking moments

Endgame

In the Capital the Crown Prince is about to be declared his father’s successor via a fake decree. But the ceremony is disrupted by the Shence Camp soldiers who clear the hall for the Emperor’s appearance.

• The Emperor is helped into the hall by Zheng Shu, the Crown Princess, who seems to have decided to side with her in-laws. *Outside Cui Jinzhi engages in a duel with General Yuan. He wounds the General with his spear but is bested by three soldiers of which he kills one. The General commands him to surrender. Doesn’t look like someone who wants to surrender. I really appreciate the pony tail style on him though
• Inside the Crown Prince goes crazy (more crazy) over his wife’s betrayal.
• Zheng Shu colluded with Zhao Yang: For her clan’s safety and future they opened the gate to the capital they guard to let the soldier from Shence Camp enter.
• The Crown Prince, not seeing any guilt in his actions, decides to attack his father with a sword. The Emperor pulls the Crown Princess in front of himself but Li Qin prevents her being hit. Shen Xiao deals the Crown Prince a killing blow to stop him.
• Zhao Yang declares their score settled before he dies left alone before the throne.

You either sit alone on this throne or die alone before you get there.

Goodbyes

There is a short scene of Princess An Le watching the snow. She has arranged her belongings very neatly and the whole scene has a foreboding tone. I guess we might hear about her suicide in the next episode. Meanwhile Zhao Yang visits Cui Jinzhi in prison.

• He is exiled to Lingnan but decided to not take the long journey with his broken leg.
• Instead he wanted to see her one last time.
• Cui Jinzhi admits that he’s at fault and that he let her down.
• He accepts that he has lost, but he can’t accept that he lost to someone like Shen Xiao with such a humble family background. That’s why Zhao Yang deems him the same as before.
• He still hopes to meet her again in the next life, her not being a Princess and him not from an important family either. But in this life she walks away from him.
• After she leaves he kills himself.
• Hearing the commotion from the prison Zhao Yang thinks back to one of the nice moments they had at the start of their relationship.

I really like them in the flashbacks, but as Zhao Yang noted: People change.

Thoughts

I didn’t think we would put so many bows around so many of our character and narrative arcs in this episode already. Feels like the last episode will be an extended epilogue. Which I’m totally ok with, I’m ready to see some happy endings. Hopefully it won’t be shorter than the rest of the episodes.

An Le and the Crown Prince both deteriorated fast, but I can live with that. All of that was bubbling under the surface for quite some time.

The Emperor on the other hand lost me completely (ok, not a big fan anyway, but not a complete hater either) trying to shield himself with Zheng Shu. Half of me wishes the Crown Prince would have hit him before Shen Xiao got to him, but I guess that might make the whole succession more complicated with all the rumours that could spread from that.

I really liked Cui Jinzhi’s arc in this. Not everyone is able to change and one mistake in your past can cascade into so much regret that you drown in it instead of actually making amends in any way or form. Citing fate is an excuse, but it fits the character very well.

I hope Shen Xiao and Zhao Yang get to visit their lantern festival tomorrow!

Welcome to the The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 discussion posts. /u/a_hercule_poirot_an and I will alternate in hosting this.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost | Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8 | Ep. 9 | Ep. 10 | Ep. 11 | Ep. 12 | Ep.13 | Ep. 14

#Episode 15

New Characters in this Episode

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
Zhao Sheng	Magistrate of Jingren Coutny	Look at this! We suddenly get subtitled Character introductions!

Short Reprise of that whole Sequence

Fangirl

Zhao Yang flees the kiss and escapes the Linglong Chess Game. Jian Xin finds her to report that Li Qin wants to meet her. Meanwhile Shen Xiao and Jin Cheng remain in the game room.

• Shen Xiao tells Jin Cheng that the game was never about finding the right door, just to have the courage to open one of the doors together.

• Jin Cheng turns out to be quite astute, having noticed that there is something between Shen Xiao and Zhao Yang. She kind of ships them and is more amused by the display of Zhao Yang losing her cool and Shen Xiao demanding affection of her. Ah, she is all of us!

River News

Zhao Yang learns from her brother that the Yellow River levees have broken due to the heavy downpour in Jingren County.

• The new Yongton Canal also collapsed. Overall it’s a big catastrophe with many lost lives but the news about it are kept under wraps and away from the Emperor.

• Li Qin wants to use this moment to gain some momentum in court but Zhao Yang advices against acting too rashly.

I would love to learn more about their sibling relationship, we only get glimpses

Engagment

At night the Crown Prince discusses Cui Jinzhi’s marriage to Princess An Le with the unwilling groom.

• Cui Jinzhi is sent to Jingren County to keep the news about the flood further under wraps.

• Also to take charge of the Crown Prince’s 30,000 private troops along the river to secure his path to the throne. Cui Jinzhi doesn’t seem to be to happy about that either.

• Another unhappy participant is Princess An Le who has to come in for an impromptu hand grasping engagement.

Looks like a good start

Grain Again

In Jingren County Cui Jinzhi meets with Zhao Sheng, the Couty Magistrate. People have been protesting for three days and the Magistrate was unable to drive them away.

• Cui Jinzhi orders him to open the granary, distribute grain and to pretend that the court knows about the disaster.

• Zhao Sheng has to use his own families grain to make up for the grain that was tempered with a year before (only 30% remained in the granary). Otherwise Cui Jinzhi will report him for embezzling imperial founds.

Equation

Xiao Shen visits Zhao Yang’s mansion to finally gift her the hair pin. He overhears her talking about the Jingren County debacle.

• Zhao Yang plans to let the Crown Prince suppress the news, so that if the flood can’t be contained any more the damage for him will be much greater.

• He storms the room and reminds her that this is a matter of life and death.

• She has people in place that quietly help the victims, but he reminds her that there are real peoples lives and livelihoods at stake and that the won’t just wait for her great plan to bring the Crown Prince to fall eventually.

• Before he leaves he asks her how exactly she is different from the Crown Prince.

Less kisses, more arguments

Fratricide

Shen Xiao brings the secret letter he snatched from Zhao Yang to Li Qin. They are attacked by the 2nd Prince and some of his assassins.

• The 2nd Prince wants the letter to impeach the Crown Prince himself. He orders his men to kill them after Li Qin declines.

• They are able to flee but Li Qin drops the letter during the fight. The 2nd Prince lets them be chased and wants no survivors.

Such a good looking team-up

One Prince down, one to go

The 2nd Prince asks the Emperor to investigate the matters mentioned in the letter. The Crown Prince claims that everything is a set-up against him and does not admit to the crimes.

• The Crown Prince gets one more chance by his father: He will be confined to the Eastern Palace while the situation in Jingren County will be investigated.

Bad part of the family

• Zhao Yang enters, followed by the 7th Prince and accuses the 2nd Prince of trying to kill Li Qin. He openly shows off his arm injury from the assault.

Better part of the family

• The whole thing (Shen Xiao bringing the letter to Li Qin instead of directly to the Emperor) was a set-up for the 2nd Prince. While Zhao Yang suggested that to Shen Xiao he also took back his words of equating her with the Crown Prince.

• The 2nd Prince has a whole breakdown about the fact that suddenly the jinxes life seems important to people. The Emperor reprimands him for thinking it’s his place to deal with that.

• He is banished from the capital to guard the royal tombs forever.

• He accuses his father of only using him as a pawn to keep the Crown Prince in check.

• The Crown Prince uses the Emperor asking for someone to deal with the flood to propose Li Qin for that – while he will reflect in seclusion. He obviously expect him to fail in that effort.

• Zhao Yang recognises that its a trap with the Crown Prince’s private troops being kept their.

• Li Qin agrees to take on the tasked and is appointed as imperial envoy to oversee disaster relief in Jingren County and handle everything related to the flood.

Proposals

Shen Xiao is summoned to met the Emperor in private.

• The Emperor wants to reward him for saving the 7th Prince, but he tries to decline.

• He is asked what he thinks about being granted marriage to Jin Cheng.

• We have to wait for the next episode to get an answer.

Thoughts

Li Yan, the 2nd Prince’s motivation remained quite vague throughout the drama. He wants the throne because he is allegedly tempted with it by his father. Of course in the end it will be about power and beating his brother, but most likely his accusations of his father using him as a pawn will have some truth to it. Which is quite a sad life. You see, I have too much empathy for all these court schemes. Still fun to watch it!

I’m really looking forward to whichever way Shen Xiao tries to manoeuvre himself out of that marriage proposal. I still think that there is a chance the Emperor wants to gauge his sincerity towards Zhao Yang. Of course Shen Xiao isn’t really in a position to court her in any way. Is saving the 7th Prince sufficient to get an upgrade in status?

Edit: Forget to mention that I love how Jin Cheng turned out rooting for our couple.

Welcome to the The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 discussion posts. /u/a_hercule_poirot_an and I will alternate in hosting this.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost | Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8 | Ep. 9 | Ep. 10 | Ep. 11 | Ep. 12

#Episode 13

New Characters in this Episode

None

Rescue Mission

At night Shen Xiao and Li Qin sneak into Zhao Yang’s mansion that is heavily guarded by Cui Jinzhi’s man.

• love the little detail that Li Qin wears a hood to hide his white hair.
• Li Qin is not really happy about the fact that Shen Xiao obviously knows his way around the place and how to enter his sister’s rooms undetected. He’s nearly left outside because Shen Xiao closes the window too fast behind himself.
• Zhao Yang is worried about Shen Xiao’s arrow wound but also chides both her saviours for coming to her rescue.
• Li Yi (remember her?) is on a nightly joyride in her carriage with two male companions. By chance she observes her sister entering her own carriage with two guys, one of whom she recognises as Xiao Shen.

A Widow’s Life

• The situation in the escapees carriage is a bit awkward due to Li Qin discovering his brotherly urge to protect Zhao Yang from inappropriate contact with his best friend. He is a bit too late for that.
• Zhao Yang distracts from that by telling them about Cui Jinzhi destroying her proof against the Crown Prince. Still she wants to see her father.

Divorce Court

The meeting with the Emperor is not to accuse her brother without proof, which would be risky for herself. Instead she asks for a divorce.

• She brings up Cui Jinzhi keeping a mistress and that said mistress, Qing Luo, poisoned her with the aphrodisiac.
• The Emperor questions if the real reason for her wanting to make the divorce public now might not be the rift between her and the Crown Prince.
• Zhao Yang agrees that it would be for her sake, but also a good way to put the Cui family in place.
• Duke Ning is summoned, who seems to be Cui Hong, Cui Jinzhi’s elder relative.
• Both Cui men argue against the divorce. Zhao Yang mentions the wedding night divorce letter.
• Cui Jinzhi tries to twist the story about his mistress: She is just made up.
• But Zhao Yang is prepared, the obviously pregnant Qing Luo is summoned as a witness and speaks about their affair and his plans to kill her and the child.
• Cui Hong (who has the privilege not to kneel before the Emperor, which speaks of either some merit or closeness) tries to argue for Cui Jinzhi and him continuing the family line with a mistress (because Zhao Yang’s children wouldn’t be of the Cui family).
• Zhao Yang asking about her bearing children from male companions on the other hand is argued by him to be immoral (though the Emperor seems more amused by it).

Trouble Maker

Li Yi enters the study and accuses Zhao Yang and Shen Xiao of having an affair. She is very gleeful about causing chaos and problems for her sister.

With Sibling’s like these...

• This accusation makes Zhao Yang look like she argues for the divorce just to get Cui Jinzhi out of the way for Shen Xiao (which is certainly a nice side effect).
• While Cui Jinzhi tries to argue for Shen Xiao and Zhao Yang’s innocence she confesses the affair.
• The fact that she’s got involved with a commoner will shame not only the Cui family but also disgrace the royal family. It’s a whole state affair.
• Cui Jinzhi still tries to protect Zhao Yang while Cui Hong now actually asks for the divorce to save some face for his family.
• They are allowed to divorce but as a warning Zhao Yang’s fief is reduced by 3,000 households. Cui Jinzhi will be fined half a year’s salary. I guess that’s on top of the punishment from Episode 11, where it was docked for three years.
• Cui Jinzhi, a bit unhinged about their divorce, tells her that he will wait for her to return to him and that he is the only one that can destroy everything she has.
• It’s revealed that Shen Xiao set up the roadblock for Li Yi’s carriage so that her accusations in court would lead to the divorce to go through.

Final Confrontation, at least for the Time being

Brother-in-Laws

The newly freed-of-husbands couple takes refugee with Li Qin, who must feel like third wheeling. They openly confess that they are actually in a relationship to him.

• Shen Xiao is asked outside for a shovel talk. Or better a sword sparring talk.
• He admits that they were not ‘proper’ all the time.
• What makes it better in Li Qin’s eyes is the fact that Zhao Yang was the one calling the shots and keeping Shen Xiao as her male companion.
• Also, that she rewarded him with valuables shows that she actually cares about him, because she is otherwise very frugal on personal matters.
• Her visits at Xianke Bordello were only for managing the place for the Crown Prince.
• While Shen Xiao likes the indirect admission that she cares for him, Li Qin is less amused about being called brother-in-law by his friend and threatens him with some leg-breaking for visits to his sister’s room.
• Shen Xiao let his friend posture a bit because he wants to achieve some proper status with his help.
• Zhao Yang argues that only gold and silver are meaningful in this world: She wants to give him an eight courtyard mansion which shows Shen Xiao that she cares for him.
• He accepts and we get the first post-divorce kiss.

They deserve a proper Happy End

The Worst Matchmaker

There is a flashback (at least it seems to me like this takes place after the divorce talks. But maybe this scene follow their visite to Li Qin in chronological order. Not sure.) and the Emperor reminds Zhao Yang that she was the one recommending Shen Xiao to him. He questions if this was out of personal interest after all.

• She argues that he is just one of her many retainers and that he got no special attention from him.
• His essay which criticised current issues showed her his real insight into the things that matter.
• She tries to convince her father that Shen Xiao wasn’t placed by her to meddle in his politics.
• The Emperor seems to be fine with her past recommendation if they have no ulterior motives.
• He also brings up Jin Cheng from Prince Qi’s family who is still unmarried. A female cousin that Zhao Yang should help find a potential suitor.
• Shen Xiao seems like a suitable match to him.

Thoughts

Out with the ex-husband and in with the some new trouble for their relationship! I don’t see this becoming a bigger plot though. Maybe the Emperor only wants to gauge their relationship by Zhao Yang's reaction to his proposal?

The revelation that she recommended Shen Xiao to her father felt a bit flat to me. I had to re-read some recaps, because I was unsure if it even was the first time we heard about this. Maybe I'm simply to tired.

Cui Jinzhi really is deep in denial about the reality of their non-existing relationship. Despite that I hope he doesn't have to take another beating from Cui Hong. That back can't look good right now.

I wonder if we'll see more of Li Yi. I can see her bragging about her accomplishment to the Crown Prince and getting used by him next.

Have a nice rest of the weekend everyone!

Welcome to the The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 discussion posts. /u/a_hercule_poirot_an and I will alternate in hosting this.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost | Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8 | Ep. 9 | Ep. 10

#Episode 11

New Characters in this Episode

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
Cui Hong	part of the Cui family, most likely the current family head	Might be Cui Jinzhi’s uncle.
???	Eunuch in the Eastern Palace	google translate doesn’t want to help with his name

Viu titles the episodes. This one is called “Before falling of the cliff” and that describes so many episodes of so many shows…

Prison Fights

The episode starts a bit before the attack on Zhao Yang we already witnessed at the end of the last one. Shen Xiao works in her cell, while she sleeps and has a nightmare.

• Zhao Yang was the one who gave Shen Qingzhi evidence against the Crown Prince, which lead to him writing the memorial against him which got him killed. I was a bit confused with her feeling guilty for his death, because until now we only saw her witnessing the murder. But it makes so much more sense that she feels responsible with her giving him evidence.

• In her nightmare both Shen Xiao and Cui Jinzhi accuse her of being responsible for their family member’s demise.

All is well when she gets to smell his hand.

• The prison guards are not very good at their job and Shen Xiao and Zhao Yang are attacked by two assassins in the cell. Shen Xiao fights them but is nearly to late to rescue Zhao Yang from one of the attackers. Fortunately Cui Jintzhi appears.

Don’t try to kill his not-quite-wife!

• For once the guys work well together: They defeat and kill the attackers, despite having to fight in such a confined space. Kudos to Cui Jinzhi, can’t be easy with a spear.

• The clothes and weapons tell Zhao Yang that these are assassins sent from the Eastern Palace. Zhao Yang wants to see her father about the near kin-slaying but Cui Jinzhi won’t let the Eastern Palace take the blame.

• He plans to admit stealing the 500,000 bushels of grains and take the blame away from her. It won’t be too bad of a punishment for him with his family background. But he also tells Zhao Yang that she won’t have any place in the Eastern Palace any more and accusing her brother would only lead to her own death.

Decree Day

So Cui Jinzhi takes the fall for the Crown Prince, but more importantly for Zhao Yang. As punishment he is stripped of his Chief Commandant Title. He will keep his title as Prince Consort though, while his salary will be docked for three years. Shen Xiao on the other hand gets the right to submit secret memorials directly to the Emperor, for his diligent work in solving the Canal issue.

• Cui Jinzhi got a lighter sentence due to all ministers petitioning for him and his family being a long standing pillar of the Ye Dynasty.

• He also reminds them that repairing the Yongtong Canal is his order and that further interferences will be punished much harder.

• Cui Jinzhi’s punishment resulted in grain donation from the other noble families. So the repairs of the Canal can finally start in earnest.

Zhao Yang’s past and future.

Best Friends

Shen Xiao gets a visit from Li Qin who apologises for keeping his real identity a secret from him. Shen Xiao argues that his friend really wasn’t good in doing so. He is not angry and quite delighted to be best friends with the future ruler.

• Zhao Yang joins them and Li Qin instantly gets what’s happening between the two, despite them trying to put up a smoke screen.

Brother knows what’s up.

• Zhao Yang gives out the game plan: Li Qin has to build up his reputation with the nobles and officials. Shen Xiao, besides overseeing the canal repairs, has to secure his position at court. The Crown Prince may be weakened but she is sure he will strike back soon. But with both of them at court they might find a way to survive.

Family Shame

Cui Jinzhi has to kneel in the ancestral hall of his family. He gets heavily beaten by an elder family member, Cui Hong, for ruining the Cui family’s legacy for a woman.

• He gets threatened with being erased from the family records if he messes up again.

• One of the Crown Prince’s Eunuchs delivers a message to him: The Crown Prince is disappointed in his actions. Cu Jinzhi argues that he helped the Eastern Palace, because Zhao Yang’s death would have been investigates thoroughly.

• He swears on his father’s spirit that he will never defy the Crown Prince again. He also argues that as Zhao Yang’s husband her life should be in his hands only.

New Day, New Plans

The Crown Prince is angered that Cui Jinzhi endangered his family’s fate as well as his own grand plans for his sister of all people.

• His wife brings in a man that was a colleague of Shen Qingzhi at the minsitry of revenue. The man knows that Shen Qingzhi met with Zhao Yang once. So the Crown Prince learns that she always plotted against him.

• The threat must be eliminated, but Cui Jinzhi is no option anymore. So the Eunuch is ordered to kill her cleanly.

Temple Tragedy

Shen Xiao invites Zhao Yang to Qianfo Temple. She turns up with her whole entourage, which wasn’t part of his plans.. Jian Xin is a good wing-woman though and takes Xiao Que away to taste the food the monks prepared for the Princess.

• Shen Xiao wants her to draw a fortune stick with him. Zhao Yang doesn’t believe in higher powers, only in herself. The fortune stick Shen Xiao draws foretells great fortune.

• That seems to encourage him to take a chance: He calls her by her name Li Shu and wants to confess something to her. But they are disrupted because Xiao Que was poisoned by the food meant for Zhao Yang. The Eunuch acted fast.

• While Jian Xin tries to reach the Imperial Physician Xiao Que dies in Zhao Yang’s arms.

• Shen Xiao tests the food and all the dishes turn out to be poisoned, so an obvious attack on Zhao Yang’s life. He urges her to go.

Backed into a corner.

Jian Xin returns, reporting that the whole temple is surrounded. They flee through a side door but are followed by more of the Eastern Palace assassins. They split up: Shen Xiao orders Jian Xin to take Xiao Que to Li Qin, who lives nearby, and for him to call for reinforcements. He and Zhao Yang run in another direction.

Just jump, it’s a cdrama cliff.

• Surrounded by the assassins they have no way out.

• The Crown Prince and Princess appear. He is happy that he gets two kill two flies with one stone: Not only his sister, but also Shen Xiao.

• The Crown Prince reveals two things: That he knows about Zhao Yang pretending to be on his side and to Shen Xiao that his father got the proof against the Crown Prince from Zhao Yang. Thus she is involved in his death.

• The Crown Prince shots an arrow at his sister, but Shen Xiao protects her and gets hit in the back.

Not hanging on the cliff, but still not looking good

Thoughts

I’m always glad when we get a Li Qin – Shen Xiao scene. I like our main couple but aside from Zhao Yang there is really nobody else in this drama, besides Li Qin, who is not antagonistic towards him (and even Zhao Yang has her moments). Seeing him with someone he considers a friend is really a breath of fresh air from time to time.

Not sure if Xiao Que is really dead. I’ve seen too many miracle cures for characters that seemed quite dead and also got an emotional montage for a sent-off. Her being taken to Li Qin makes me suspicious.

I don’t think Shen Xiao will blame her for his father’s death at all. Until know we were spared these kind of misunderstandings. His father still acted on his own accords and knew the risks of going against the Crown Prince.

Welcome to the The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 discussion posts. /u/a_hercule_poirot_an and I will alternate in hosting this.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost | Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8

#Episode 9

New Characters in this Episode None. We are much to busy with strangling existing ones.

If you have any doubts who is the ML, it’s the guy in the middle of the flare

Demotion

The Crown Prince and the officials on his side try to turn Shen Xiao’s impeachment into an even bigger loss for the 2nd Prince’s side.

• The 2nd Prince is a coward and abandons Shen Xiao instantly, when his responsibilities for his actions are put in the table.

• Shen Xiao once again tries to take all blame, but the officials want to make an example out of him: They want a review of the whole selection process for the Imperial Examination. Ideally they would liked it rolled back so that no other scholars with a humble origin are able to climb the ladder.

• The Emperor decides that Shen Xiao is immediately stripped of his post and put into the Imperial prison to await trial. He gets stripped of his outer layers that represent his rank then and there.

• Stil Zhao Yang gets reprimanded by the Emperor for not complying with Shen Xiao’s demands and ordered to deliver another 50,000 piculs of grains in three days time.

Murder Plans

The Crown Prince is sure that his father still protects or plans to protect She Xiao through his trial. Cui Jinzhi proposes to kill him in prison: A suicide or illness there wouldn’t be unusual and worth a big investigation. He mentions that Zhao Yang obstructed him from stopping Shen Xiao taking those 30,000 piculs of grain from her granary.

• The next one to step forward is the Crown Princess. She already has a plan to dispose of Shen Xiao. Until now I wasn’t quite sure how she really felt about her husbands plans and doing, but she seems to support his plans wholeheartedly.

• Zhao Yang is supposed to visit him in prison to reprimand him as the victim of the granary incident. She is supposed to kill him and make it look like he killed himself out of shame.

• Zhao Yang agrees, she claims to be willing to eliminate this threat to the Eastern Palace. Her brother doesn’t seem to fully trust her and lets her know that she will be followed.

• Under four eyes Cui Jinzhi wonders if she can go trough with it, but she says she can, playing the ice block once more. But he isn’t fooled, he noticed the unique look she has for Shen Xiao. Zhsao Yang insist that she doesn’t want to kill him generally, but will if it’s her brother’s order. At least it will make her as dirty as the rest of them.

Death by Silk

In prison Zhao Yang does the whole play of reprimanding him for taking her grain and making her look bad in front of her father. She announces that she is there to kill him, he notices the masked goon that follows her.

• She has brought a white silk ribbon to strangle him with and he puts it on deliberately.

• He asks her quite directly: “If I die, will you morn for me, even a little?” But doesn’t get an answer.

• At the Donghua Gate a drum is beaten and the people demand Censor Shen to be released. He is lauded as the only one caring about them and their fate in face of the draught.

Your drama’s budget is measured by the crowds

• In Prison Zhao Yang questions if the voices of a few commoner are enough to sway public opinion to stand against the Crown Prince.

• The protestors get driven away by Cui Jinzhi’s guards, who does so under the Crown Prince’s order.

• She actually begins to strangle him, but at the last second an imperial decree arrives that pardons him.

Didn’t see her nearly killing him

• Zhao Yang orders the Eunuch that brings the decree to report truthfully what he saw in the cell to the Emperor.

A not so good day at your job

• Shen Xiao thanks her for saving him while she flees. She is astonished by his trust while she knows that she nearly killed him. Also, she questions if he would hate her knowing that his father’s death was connected to her.

• Li Qin appears and nods at his sister: He seems to have influenced the Emperor’s decree by appearing before his father with an injury and talking about the protesting crowd that allegedly injured him. That way the whole thing came to the Emperor’s attention in the first place. The Emperor is quite enraged that he wasn’t informed sooner about the protests.

New Players

The Crown Prince throws a fit about Shen Xiao being released so easily. Zhao Yang apologises for not killing him faster while Cui Jinzhi reminds him that Shen Xiao’s reputation is still in shambles and his spirit broken. And that the 2nd Prince pushed him out to take the blame, so he is isolated. (I wouldn’t be so sure about the broken spirit.)

He still likes to shield her.

• The Crown Princess wonders how the whole matter reached the Emperor and spread through the capital so fast.

• Cui Jinzhi knows that the 7nd Prince entered the Palace. He is afraid that he wasn’t idle as a map commissioner. The Crown Prince is enraged that his brother dares to have high ambitions without any backing.

Audience

Zhao Yang is ordered to visit the Palace via Eunuch Li. The Emperor thinks everything was orchestrated by Zhao Yang to show him how many officials in the court have turned their hearts away from him.

• Zhao Yang affirms his suspicions. She wanted to expose the festering wound before his eyes with her offences. She also urges him to heal that wound before the whole body will be lost and proposes to be the bald to cut out the infection.

• He likes what she has done and gives her a blanket approval to do everything she wants against the wound.

• The Emperor coughs. Is his illness getting worse? Is he getting poisoned? Will he see the end of the show? Will the battle for the throne escalate with his worsening health?

• He still wants her to remember that the Crown Prince is the foundation of the nation and his dignity also the Emperors dignity. She must know her limits. He still can’t bring himself to act against the Crown Prince. (I wish we would have seen some good qualities in him, so the Emperor wouldn’t look as delusional.)

• Zhao Yang plans for Shen Xiao and herself to be the ones to handle those wounds.

• The Emperor asks her to smooth things over with Shen Xiao.

Matchmaking

His throat looks healthy.

So Zhao Yang visits him with gifts to apologise, like her father ordered. He seems to be most upset that he never got an answer to his question, not that he nearly died. Priorities.

They start to have one of their moments.

• Xiao Que disrupts the scene, excited about some paintings she found which turn out to be match maker suggestions for him. I guess that came with the top scholar rank.

• Zhao Yang reacts by saying she will advise her expensive male companion to choose the best wife. He agrees to that and she starts to find flaws in all of the woman. In turn he tries to downplay those.

It really turns into flirting.

Thoughts:

I really hope next episode will bring us a much needed talk between the two (though I like the flirting, but we can continue with that afterwards). It would do them some good to actually start to cooperate. Him being willing to die for his ideals at her hands might finally be enough for her to trust him and believe in the trust he obviously has in her.

It was interesting to see the Crown Princess being so active in planing Shen Xiao’s demise. So far she has been more of a spectator during her husband’s meetings.

Welcome to the next The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 discussion posts.

/u/a_hercule_poirot_an and I will alternate in hosting this.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost; Episode 1-2; Episode 3-4

#Episode 5

New Characters in this Episode

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
Qian Xun	Minister of Justice	the guy one the left
Zhao Guangming	Minister of the Dali Temple	the guy on the right

Both are the head of one of the Three Judicial Offices. The structures changed a bit throughout Chinese history, but the shows seems to go for one that existed in the Tang and Song Dynasty, where they consisted of:

The Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate.

Despite its name the Dali Temple was a Court. BaiduWiki describes it as “equivalent to the modern Supreme Court, in charge of adjudicating criminal cases”. The Three Judicial Offices were independent of each other and held parallel status.

The Crown Prince having those two as part of his faction, as well as Xiao Jiang, the Vice Chief Censor, shows us how much power he holds over the judicial system.

Graveside Visit

Still visiting his father’s grave, Shen Xiao promises him that he will have an even wilder poem on his own gravestone when the time comes. Zhao Yang joins him, bringing flowers for the grave and reciting a fitting poem. He answers with an even more bold one.

She brought some pretty flowers

• Zhao Yang actually met Shen Qingzhi a few times three years ago, when she supervised the construction of Qianfo temple.

• She also watched him being murdered: The Crown Prince confronted him about the impeachment letter he wrote and struck him down with a shovel. I hope he was actually dead from that and not buried half alive.

• The impeachment was over the fact that he used the temple construction to seize land from the people.

• Cui Jinzhi actually advised the Crown Prince to better stip his schemes before it’s to late, because all of this are serious crimes. After he just witnessed him murder a guy.

• The Crown Prince seems to be in constant fear that his father wants to replace him with the 2nd Prince, giving him the Ministry of Revenue. He also used Zhao Yang as a pawn in the temple construction to put their father at ease. Also to use her as a fall gal should something go wrong.

• The official story about the death: Shen Qingzhi died falling of a cliff and no body was ever found. So the tomb is actually empty. Shen Xiao wonders why his father would fall off a cliff at Qianfo temple. He was and eighth-rank clerk in the Ministry of Revenue, who copied documents every day.

• Shen Xiao presumes that she knows more about what happens, but he doesn’t get an answer. Zhao Yang only praises his father’s spirit that resembles his own. He further wonders if she secretly works for the 2nd Prince and wants to use him to bring down the Crown Prince.

• Three years ago when the temple was finished a good omen could be seen in the sky: Buddha’s light shone over everything. Shen Xiao sees it as a sign of Heaven: Justice never fades.

• Shen Xiao asks her for help joining the Ministry of Revenue. Zhao Yang won’t, at least not direct and openly, but reminds him that the Crown Prince is hosting a banquet for all the Censorate officials this day.

Drinking Games

At the banquet the Crown Prince discusses that the 2nd Prince wants Shen Xiao transferred to his Ministry of Revenue. Xiao Jiang assures him that he won’t let him transfer. After all he hasn’t suffered enough at the Censorate yet.

Shen Xiao arrives and gets bullied into a drinking game: He has to toast each person with wine and something meaningful to say about them. He has to do so three times. He also has to use a bowl instead of the tiny cups the other attendees get.

Apparently, this is supposed to be a way of proving one’s strong will. (And to get alcohol poisoning.) It’s also presented as a sort of test, and if he passes it, he will be sent to the Ministry of Revenue for training

• The toast to the Crown Prince and Crown Princes is rather bland.

But Zhao Yang briefed him on the three heads of the Three Judicial Offices (though Xiao Jiang is only the vice chief). So he exposes a secret about each of them, in particular one where they deceived the crown Prince in some way.

Zhao Guangming, Minister of the Dali Temple

• loves antiques
• last year he secretly kept a famous painting “River Sails After Snow”, which was stolen from the Crown Prince’s tribute.

Qian Xun, Minister of Justice

• was meticulous when he renovated the Eastern Palace’s villa. 300 bolt of silk out of 500 bolts were left over. All of them ended up in his family’s silk shop.

Xiao Jiang: Vice Censor-in-Chief

• loves Jiangnan gardens
• There’s a rockery worth 50,000 taels in his Cuiwei Villa outside the capital.
• All the expenses for the the villa came from the public road repair funds.

He also toast the Censors Chen, Liao and Li.

Prince Consort Cui

• has been the Crown Prince’s study companion since childhood,
• is skilled in civil and military arts.
• one of the best generals of the younger generation.

There is only praise here, no secrets. At least none that Zhao Yang told him about.

For some reason nobody wants a second round of toasts. The Crown Prince ends the banquet here and Shen Xiao is the first to leave.

The three accused officials try to save the situation. Suddenly they find it trouble to keep Shen Xiao in the Censorate and ask for his transfer.

Zhao Yang adds some actual reasons why it would be the best move:

• the Ministry of Revenue is understaffed and the canal project a mess.
• it’s perfect to sent him over to carry out the grain-for-money policy. He won’t be able to redeem himself when the grains run out and the canal collapses.
• Not only would the Crown Prince get rid of the Top Scholar, but also deal a heavy blow to the 2nd Prince and his Ministry of Revenue.

So the Crown Prince agrees to the transfer.

Sleep Over

Zhao Yang meets with Shen Xiao, who is affected by the wine after all and faints. Her solution is to take him to her place to rest. When he wakes she wants to go to bed, so he starts undressing. She orders him to stop and just go to bed with her.

• They seem to have a slight misunderstanding about what “sleeping together every night” means. He was expecting daily sex (kind of an WangXian “Everyday means Everyday” arrangement 😂), while she wants to sleep by his side.

• Still slightly drunk he asks her if she will protect him, if he joins the Ministry of Revenue and gets in trouble there. She denies the possibility of helping him. In his thoughts he calls her a calamity to him.

Looks like a good way to rest

At least for her

Audience

Zhao Yang has an audience with her father. The Emperors says he is not well. While she seems obedient on the surface she reached out to the Top Scholar, something he doesn’t like.

#Episode 6

New Characters in this Episode

This guy. A subordinate of Cui Jinzhi. Can’t find him on douban and google translate doesn’t want to be helpful with his name.

Li Qin gets his characters introduction as the 7th Prince. I guessed I spoiled that with my episode 1&2 character table, but if they don’t translate those introductions it’s hard to grasp what we are supposed to know. But even douban lists him only with this name, not the alias.

Rob the Rich

The next morning Shen Xiao wakes up to find some generous rewards prepared for him. He first wants to argue against being paid but then thinks of something better do with the money.

Looks like a good hourly rate for sleeping next to someone

Shen Xiao plans to let Li Qin (whom he knows as Le Sheng, but I will go with the other name) pawn it all off and set up soup kitchen for the drought refugees outside the capital. And to buy some books and writing supplies for their fellow students.

He promises that the source of the money is clean, but he won’t disclose where he got it from. He calls it taking from the rich to help the poor. And he has another plan connected to that to discuss. Li Qin scolds him for risking so much after just joining the Ministry of Revenue.

He sees the silver and gold ingots from Zhao Yang as charity, the only ones to trust with his life are his closest friends.

It’s bromance time!

I hope he won’t be too disappointed when he learns about the Li Qin - Zhao Yang connection.

Rice Plans

Shen Xiao has a proposal for the 2nd Prince: He wants to investigate the Crown Prince’s private treasury. He promises that it won’t implicate the 2nd Prince. His new boss agrees to his plan and even promises to support his efforts.

• While checking the accounts he noticed that the Crown Prince hired many refugees under the guise of disaster relief, paying them grain instead of money.
• He assumes that those are fake hires and the grain hoarded.
• He can prove that it’s grain from the Ministry of Revenues paying scheme because he mixed in special rice bran as a maker. He only has to follow Cui Jinzhi’s guards who transport it.

Father Daughter Talks

The Emperor gets some medicine and we go back to the short scene of Zhao Yang having an audience with her father from the end of episode 5. He wants new blood at the court, thus promoting scholars with humble origin. He is not amused by them possible been sent to their death by getting involved in his children’s power struggle.

• The Emperor questions what Zhao Yang is trying to do by pushing Shen Xiao to the Ministry of Revenue.
• She blames the noble families for hoarding goods and misleading the crown prince. Shen Xiao recovering the treasury would bring peace to the nation.

Flashback time:

• Zhao Yang was responsible for arranging the auspicious sign at the temple three years ago for her father (he started big construction projects the people complained about).
• She told him back then about Shen Qingzhi’s memorial and the supposed falsehoods about the Crown Prince in there. She burned the letter.
• He finds her smart to do so and even commands her to advise and support the Crown Prince more. For replacing the Crpr the Emperor has to catch him in a bigger mistake.

In the present day she is ordered to help Shen Xiao from the sidelines and keep him safe. In her opinion he will help to weaken the noble families that Wether he lives or die he will help to weaken the noble families that support and influence the Crown Prince whether he lives and dies.

Traps and Escapes

Shen Xiao followed Cui Jintzhi’s troop moving some grain. After they leave he sneaks into Wannian Granary, but it turns out that the rice there isn’t marked. It’s a trap. Cui Jinzhi and his guards haven’t left. They have a sword vs. spear fight and Shen Xiao injures Cui Jinzhi.

Fun little action scene

• What in the cdrama? Despite his actually well masked face he is recognises by Cui Jinzhi
• Shen Xiao escapes and is recued by Zhao Yang on horseback.

Cui Jinzhi follows them, but it’s actually Li Qin accompanied by a servant he confronts. Li Qin is actually around as the 7th Prince and recognised as such by Cui Jinzhi. The haven’t seen each other in a long time.

• Li Qin excuses his presence with observing the stars to map the land and denies seeing anyone suspicious around.
• Not many people know about the 7th Prince even existing. Cui Jinzhi’s subordinate has to ask about him and that guy is part of the a troop
• Li Qin was born with white hair, so seen as a bad omen. He was ordered to leave the palace seven years ago.
• Cui Jinzhi really isn’t dumb and thinks something is off about his sudden reappearance, especially connected to Shen Xiao’s break-in. He has him followed.

Past and Present Lovers

Zhao Yang brings Shen Xiao to her place again. Seems to become a habit. She reveals that the granary is actually her private treasury. Allegedly she only rescued him because it was the Emperor’s order to look after him.

• She is allergic to openly admit even one bit that she cares a little about him.
• The have a moment of tension before Cui Jinzhi is heard from outside.
• When he enters only Zhao Yang is there. But Shen Xiao’s wardrobe hiding place isn’t the best.
• Cui Jinzhi informs her that someone broke into her granary that night and he is here for his safety * She feigns concern for his injury to distract him.
• Cui Jinzhi tells her point blank that he knows she is the one who save Shen Xiao. She argues that his accusation isn’t clever.

They get into an argument about potential jealousy (he is completely jealous). He grieves that she won’t even take care of his wound like she used to do.

• Back then it gave her a chance to sit in on the Grand Tutor’s lessons and she won the Crown Prince’s favour by ghost writing for him.
• She seems to have actually cared for him in those days and tried to teach him that it wasn’t right how the Crown Prince treated him and others that served him. He wanted to protect her from being bullied again, even from the Crown Prince.
• Zhao Yang throws his words to her from their wedding day about being only the daughter of a lowly maid back in his face. He pulls her into a hug, she wants him to let her go. Shen Xiao pushes the door to the wardrobe open. Cliffhanger!

Thoughts

I must confess that I find Cui Jinzhi intriguing. Zhao Yang and him are quite sweet in the past and I don’t buy her story that she only used him back then. Of course he hurt her deeply (and she had parts of his family killed) and I don’t think there relationship is one you can repair. I wouldn’t want to see that.

But I like that our leads’ opponents aren’t all flat or overly dumb. That wouldn’t fit the positions they are in. Excluding the Crown Prince. Though he seems still good at delegating the people around him.

Edit:

In case we have some lurkers here that aren’t able to watch the show but are interested:

The SENTV Youtube Channel premieres the first episode in a few hours. I’m not sure if you have to have a channel membership to watch. It seems like they will release one episode every day.

Welcome to the first instalment of The Shadow Sovereign 昭阳公主 discussion posts.

/u/a_herculepoirot_fan and I will alternate in hosting this.

🗓️ Discussion Schedule: We decided to follow the VIP schedule instead of the SVIP one. That’s the first line on the official airing schedule, which can be found here.

📋 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost

#New Characters: Naturally all of them. I decided to do some tables for this one. I hope there are no errors, unfortunately we don’t get the character introductions translated. So this is a mix of google translate and MDL/drama-wiki infos.

Sorry, has to be at the top

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
Shen Xiao	eighth-rank Supervising Censor	can play the guzheng

Imperial Family

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
Li Shu	Princess Zhaoyang	very scheming, has good taste in men
Cui Jinzhi	Prince Consort; Chief Commandant of the Yulin Guards	has an affair, presumably with Qing Luo
Emperor Bingqian	Emperor	has too many kids
Li Chong	Crown Prince	yeah, not very likeable
Zheng Shu	Crown Princess	does she have to walk on eggshells daily?
Li Yan	Second Prince	seems to be the serious no-nonsense type
Li Qin	Seventh Prince	white-haired. Did he get poisoned?
Li Yi	Princess Anle	Sole sister to FL so far

Various other people

Name	Rank, Title or Occupation	Misc
Qing Luo	???	presumably the affair partner of Cui Jinzhi, has a nice singing voice
Jin Cheng	County Princess	I suppose her clothes hint at a specific ethnic (inspired?) background. No clue which.
Zheng Xuanming	Official	part of the Crow Prince’s faction, most likely related to the Crown Princess as well.
Xiao Jiang	Vice Chief Censor	part of the Crown Prince’s faction

#Episode 1

Burn your Efforts

We are thrown right into the usual imperial power struggle that centres around the imperial examination for the time being. The Emperor started a new round of exams to give those with humble origins a chance to become officials. The Crown Prince and his factions of ministers want to keep those candidates in check. His sister Li Shu, Princess Zhaoyang, is part of this faction and simply burns the essays.

• The essay themes are contemporary affairs and river conservancy.

• The poor examinees have to sit in the snow to write their essays.

• We get a first glance at Shen Xiao, our ML, taking the exam.

• I guess this has to be a different exam from the one landing Shen Xiao his placement. Which tells us that this is a regular occurrence to curb the ambitions of lowly born scholars. Li Shu even remarks that

For the Female Gaze

What a nice display!

While visiting Xianke Bordello Li Shu is informed that the Crown Prince and the Examiner are still meeting at Fengqi Pavillion, but that the 2nd Prince just showed up with his men to find evidence for their little conspiracy. She decides to put on a show to distract him.

• She hires all of the male courtesans in attendance and awaits her brother’s investigation in Fengqi Pavillion while the Crown Prince and the Examiners get away.

• Unfortunately the Crown Prince lost a jade pendant of his in the room.

• The Guzheng player, the only other person left in the room, breaks a string to distract the 2nd Prince from discovering the pendant. He kneels down to apologise and by doing so picks it up.

• Lin Shu destroys and takes of his hat with a knife. That gives us a first look between FL and ML. She decides he gets to be chief courtesan for the day.

A really stupid hat

Much better without it

• The 2nd Prince calls her shameless for inviting him to witness the expensive night.

• Lin Shu is married to Prince Consort Cui, but she is not bothered by him possibly finding out about her affair. According to her the Noble Ladies of the Ye Dynasty are used to seeking handsome companions for pleasure. Also, the Prince consort is from a noble family, thus accustomed to be served and doesn’t know how to please a woman.

• Before leaving the premises completely the 2nd Prince leaves some of his men behind to keep a close watch on Fengqi Pavillion.

One-Night-Stand

Lin Shu orders Shen Xiao to carry her to the bed, where she reveals she knows he is not from the Xianke Bordello. He gives her back the pendant and presents himself as a scholar from a humble family that wants his submission to be reviewed by her.

• He shows his smarts by knowing that the 2nd Prince’s search was just a pretext for a power struggle with the Crown Prince. Giving the pendant to him would have only brought Shen Xiao trouble.

• They are both affected by the wine she drank and fed to him. Oh, the good old aphrodisiac trope, long time no see. Not my favourite for a first encounter, but at least both are under the influence. Which is by no means perfect but much better than just one being influenced.

• He offers to search for the antidote, denying that this was his doing. But with her brother’s guards in the vicinity she pulls him into the bed with her. She asks him to perform well and that they will discuss her recommendation for him later.

• So they sleep together. We get quite some kissing, naked legs, clenched hands and a tasteful fade to the next scene.

• They have mastered they art of waking up almost fully clothed again. At least I hope they took of more during the night.

• Shen Xiao notices a scar on her back the next morning. Unfortunately he decides to touch it. In response she throws him out and a golden ring at him, as a reward.

• He reminds her that the drug was not his fault and she promised to recommend him (or at least talk about it). They have an argument and call each other shameless.

Wife and Husband

Li Shu talks with her maid about the last night. Meanwhile her husband Cui Jinzhi gets persuaded by his mistress Qing Luo to spent some time with his wife.

• Lin Shu has a ‘pleasure comes first’ policy. Good for her. Especially because her Prince Consort of a husband has kept a mistress for years.

• Li Shu slept very well without a dream (it’s implied she has a regular problem with nightmares) and wonders if the aphrodisiac also has a calming effect. Her Maid tells her that Love Beans don’t have that effect. Her proposal that it might have been the person next to her isn’t well liked.

• Li Shu wonders who set her up with that aphrodisiac, but only concludes that it couldn’t have been Shen Xiao and that the 2nd Prince also isn’t the type for that.

• Qing Luo tells Cui Jinzhi about the rumours that his wife spent her night with a male companion. Rumours spread fast here. But him meeting up with her might let these rumours fall apart in a similar speed. Cui Jinzhi sees through Li Shu’s ruse of letting the rumours slip on purpose and covering for the Crown Prince.

With the way these scenes transition into each other you get a bit of an implication that maybe Qing Luo or even Cui Jinzhi were responsible for the incident.

A History of Violence

Li Shu is met by her husband when she arrives at the Eastern Palace. There they attend a gathering of all the ministers and officials that are against promoting lower born scholars to their ranks. They fear a loss of power for the established clans. Li Shu gets the task to prevent that one of them gets placed in the top 3.

• Lin Shu used her marriage to Cui Jinzhi to escape the Cold Palace where she grew up.

• The 2nd Prince made another move last night, entering the palace and accusing the Crown Prince of secretly meeting the examiners. So the Crown Prince’s faction is now banned from the new exam evaluation. There usual plan of destroying the papers won’t work.

• Lin Shu returns the Jade Pendant to the Crown Prince.

• He hits her for recommending caution. There is a history of violence between them since childhood. The Crown Prince took advantage of her desperation to get out of the Cold Palace.

• Both Cui Jinzhi and the Crown Princess calm him down on her behalf.

Our Man

Li Shu conspires against the crown prince with another of her brothers, the 7th Prince, Li Qin.
She doesn’t want the Crown Prince to rule, who doesn’t care a bit for the life of the common people. But she also despises her father for only being interest in the stability of his imperial power – he uses the promotion of scholars with humble background solely to keep the nobles in check.

• Li Shu’s mother, banned to the Cold Palace by the Emperor hanged herself when Li Shu was a child. That incident made her swear to walk out of there alive. She still has a hair pin to remember her mother by.

• They plan to get their own man the position of top scholar. A man Li Qin put in place. Who could that be?

Party Time

At the banquet held in honour of the newly appointed Top Scholar a big debate about his position starts, when the Emperor announces to grant this scholar of humble origin the position of a sixth-rate Censorate Secretary.

• Li Shu can put the blame for the appointment on the 2nd Prince, who also entered the palace that day.

• The Crown Prince’s faction argues that the Top Scholar should become a magistrate of Lingan County to gather three years of experience. It’s a remote region, where he might get killed before those three years are up.

• The 2nd Prince argues against that idea and argues for the sixth-rank Censorate Secretary position, which is close to the Emperor.

• Li Shu puts the compromise of an eighth-rank Supervising Censor position forward. That way he can remain in the Capital under guidance from Chancellor Xiao. The Emperor agrees with this.

• Unsurprisingly the Top Scholar turns out to be Shen Xiao. Li Shu is not very pleased by that. And then he announces that he wants to impeach her.

Your Face when your One-Night-Stand starts working for your Father

Its’s sooo nice to have him back on screen

#Episode 2

Advanced Tactics

We had a slight time jump at the end of the last episode we can only notice now: After wishing the Emperor good health Shen Xiao actually sits down next to Li Shu and the Prince Consort. They have a bit of squabble and Cui Jizhi questions them being so close. Li Shu even tries to lave the whole situation behind going home. Only then Shen Xiao gets up and impeaches her.

• There is a sever drought in Guanzhong, lots of tragedy among the people and a lot of refugees arriving in the capital. The grain merchant drive their prizes up.

• He impeaches her for her nightly extravagant parties and ignoring the peoples suffering, going against royal virtue.

• the 2nd Prince chimes in with the accusations that someone seems to be hoarding grain. Shen Xiao suggests transporting grain from Jiangnan to the capital. But unfortunately the Yongtong canal connecting North and South is blocked.

• that fact lets the 2nd prince accuses the Crown Prince of not doing enough for repair and to profit from the nations hardship The Crown Prince argues back that repairs are costly and burden the people. They butt heads about Shen Xiao speaking up and his right to do so in this manner.

• Accusing Li Shu lead to more discord between the princes, which she also notices. Helping the people was his goal, one she agrees with.

• Finally the Crown Prince is ordered to make the Yongtong Canal navigable in three month. Cui Jinzhi, as Chief Commandant of the Yulin Guards has to sent troops to assist

• Li Shu has to hand over her fief income to the treasury. They’ll discuss restoring it after the disaster is over. That amuses her sister.

Who needs Enemies with siblings like these?

After the banquet Li Yi blocks Li Shu’s way, behaving antagonistic while also showing some interest in Shen Xiao. We get a bit of a fight between them. Shen Xiao witnesses all of that from nearby.

• Li Yi seems bitter about Cui Jinzhi becoming Li Shu’s husband, maybe liked him back then. But it’s mostly about Li Shu having something that she does not.
• According to Li Shu Li Yi wore her own unlucky husband out in three years, but we don’t get more details on that.
• Li Yi got a bit of revenge against her sister for snatching up Cui Jinzhi by telling him on his wedding day that Li Shu advised the emperor to execute his disgraced (for a military defeat) father and brother. Ouch. For a military.
• So they were already done before their wedding night. Divorced, but playing the married couple because the Emperor wanted to keep quiet about this.
• Li Yi calls her sister the Crown Prince’s lapdog, and threatens Li Shu with him at the same time.

What an awful end to a wedding day

Two-Night-Stand

After Li Yi leaves Shen Xiao leaves his hiding place and openly speaks with Li Shu about her not-marriage situation. He advices her to find someone better if Cui Jinzhi blames her for his father/brothers’ deserved deaths. She teases him about choosing him and that she thinks he can’t forget about her.

• He straightforward affirms that.
• For a second time he carries her to bed and they make out.
• A falling vase nearly kills the mood, but she doesn’t let him go.
• This time we get a bit of twin candle symbolism.

I totally get going from this to this. And this.

For real tonal whiplash we change scenes to young Li Shu kneeling in the snow in front of her mother dangling from the silk rope.

• It’s one of Li Shu’s dreams. Outside the dream Shen Xiao pats her head.
• In the dream he appears and shield her from the view and she morphs into her adult self, still getting protected

Please show, they were not playing go.

At first I thought this was another night altogether, implying more nights already, but it’s just latter the same day.

• The Crown Prince has another meeting and is furious about Shen Xiao’s placement. He also theorises that they knew each other before, Shen Xiao first toasting than accusing her and being so daring. Cui Jintzi shields his wife from the accusations. I wonder if he has some suspicions of his own? He distracts the Crown Prince with the Canal repairs.

• Shen Xiao didn’t want to get back at her, but he took the chance to use it to do something good. And he also had to make an impression on the emperor so the noble families won’t dare to touch him.

• Helping people is good, even better when it makes the Crown Prince lose power. In Shen Xiao’s eyes he is not fit to rule.

• They have a bit of banter, her telling him she wants him to be her male companion. Zhe only scholar companion among all of her other ones.

• Being Censor means working under the Crown Prince, so he will be taught a lesson, but not killed. At least in Li Shu’s opionon. She offers him help, but he declines.

• Li Shu sniffs him and asks which incense he uses, it smells really calming to her. He says he doesn’t use any, she is surprised anyone can smell naturally this good.

• She asks if he will share her bed every night from now on.

Thoughts

I’m a bit tired, but really happy to host this. And so so glad to have Li Hongyi back!

I didn’t watch much of the trailer or read any summary so I was a bit surprised they ended up in bed again so soon. I thought we would get a lot of tension between them instead. The no-release kind of tension. But I takes this as well.

I know bilibili drama exist more on the mid to low budged side of things, but I think they did good here. It looks decent.

The story got me. Yes, it’s quite typical palace scheme stuff, but I feel intrigued by what it might turn into.

My biggest question: Does he know he was placed there by the brother that is actually working with her? Does not feel like it.

👋🏻 Welcome back to the 12th post for Key to the Phoenix Heart, covering episode 24 that was released 21th of July.

📅 Discussion Schedule: We will attempt to follow iQIYI's VIP release of the episodes and post as it's convenient for us and our time zones. Next up for tomorrow's episodes is /u/

🚨 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
• Please keep these specific threads focused on the actual episodes - the plot twists, the performances, and everything happening on screen. We know there is ongoing discussion surrounding the casting and age-gap elements of the drama. While those external debates are completely valid, let's keep this particular space friendly, respectful, and centered on the on-screen story.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost; Character Flashcards;

Episodes 1-3 | Episodes 4-6 | Episodes 7-8 | Episodes 9-10 | Episodes 11-12| Episode 13-14 | Episode 15-16 | Episode 17-18 | Episode 19-20 | Episodes 21-22 | Episode 23 | Episode 24 | Episode 25 | Episodes 26-28

#For anyone wondering how we will handle the last four episodes:

/u/BasilOrdinary3617 will do a recap for episode 25, that should be available for everyone tomorrow.

/u/CdramaAddict2 will also post an express discussion thread for the VIP/Express release of episode 26-28 and edit in her recaps one after another. Of course you’ll be able to discuss, swoon or cry over everything those last three episodes have in store for us in that thread from the get go.

That way the episode 25 discussion should stay spoiler free for the people waiting for the regular relase of the last three episodes.

#Surprise encore I’ll cover this one in a more quick and dirty fashion due to time restraints and will try a bit of a different format sorting everything by character.

#Two sentence summary:

Everything turns on its head (once again) as Li Mao seizes the opportunity to imprison the whole Xiao family when Northern Qin makes a move and Xiao Jun gets implicated of killing Grand Tutor Xie. Xie Jiayu and Xiao Wuyi try to save them.

Some general things at the start of the episode

• The Emperor establishes the Spring examination as the regular system

• The Grand Tutor resigns.

• The Eagle King is making moves, so a new conflict seems on the rise

Li Mao

• visits an old sounding guy he once saved and who promised him three lives in return. The first one was the young emperor, so no wonder he is still alive (which means the Empress Dowager is also still alive, thanks for reminding me of her Basil) The second one would be Xiao Wuyi, because Li Mao wants to beat him so bad he can’t see him die first. Even at the cost of other lifes, whatever that means in this context.

Who is this that his face has to be hidden from us viewers?

• He has this big chip on his shoulder about his need to beat Xiao Wuyi. Insecure to the bone, despite all his posturing. And tells his former best friend point blank that while Xiao Wuyi has not much time left, Xie Jiayu and himself have many years. So no need to rush and I guess he’s talking about rekindling his relationship with his ex after her husband dies. With a smile on his face. Nice guy.

I wish they could just work together, would be such a good team

• He listens to Xie Jiayu’s very logical explanation of why the Xiao Ju who killed her father must have been an imposter, but decides to use the situation to his own advantage: On his order the whole Xiao family is imprisoned in secret and awaits sentencing. In secret to not give Xiao Wuyi a chance to flee.
• At court, while punishing He Juanyi, he gets a secret message by the Brocade Guard: A Black Cavalry squad of the Beifu Army is travelling day and night heading straight for Jiankang. That shows that Xiao Wuyi deployed troops back, which he is not allowed to do. A rule set by Wuyi himself, but breaking it shows his disregard for the imperial order. Might be a pure distraction.
• Li Mao wonders about the secret escape routes Xie Jiayu has to take to escape the guards within the city. He really hates not being in control of the situation. Not even emperor and already getting paranoid. He orders the guard to keep a close watch in Xiyue restaurant now that Xiao Wuyi is back in the city.

Grand Tutor Xie

• apologises for everything he has done to his daughter. I think he really means it, but I’m also glad Xie Jiayu is able to just step away from that situation. Some things are very hard to forgive.
• still a great performance by Peter Ho.
• “Do take care to stay warm.” are his last words to his daughter, not that they both know it yet. But it’s nice to see him going back to care for her, like the first episodes showed him to do.
• While preparing his move he decides to leave a lot of his books to the Imperial Academy.
• He really seems to embrace his daughters words of the new generation having to find their own ways.
• Unfortunately he is confronted and killed by Xiao Ju. Or some Northern Qin agent posing as Xiao Ju.

Xie Jiayu

• tells her father she looks forward to the Ye Xiao Wuyi tries to build.
• Despite all the strife between them she is deeply shocked by Xie Huaigui’s death. Even more shocked by the revelation that he was killed by her father-in-law. But she is level-headed enough to realise that the whole thing is a set-up and that someone from Northern Qin, wearing a face mask like Cui Jun, must be behind it.

She must feel so betrayed right here

• She is shackled and brought to the palace and can’t even get angry over Li Mao’s betrayal. She just doesn’t understand him: “I still can’t tell when you are acting and when you are being genuine” (same girl, same). She thinks that makes him perfect for being an emperor.
• She is determined to carry on Xiao Wuyi’s legacy if he has to leave her so early.
• On the way to the palce Ye Xing rescues her in a cool action sccene, while she attacks Li Mao with something peach-related because he is allergic to peaches.
• They find temporary shelter (and food!) with He Yuanji.

Who is supposed to eat that whole chicken?

• Highest priority goes to warning Xiao Wuyi not to return to Jiankang. Xie Jiayu sends Ye Xing out of town to achieve that.
• Liu Yu’e, Empress Wenix’s former maid steps in to keep Xie Jiayu save in his absence. She reveals to her that there are many Shadow Envoy’s like her in Jiankang.

Xiao Wuyi

• before his return to the North he will first inspect the capital’s defence for three days.
• he destroys the Phoenix Heart Token, Xie Jiayu can tell them about the whereabouts of the mineral deposits in the future, if they are needed. That also gives her a more secure position in the capital, even after his death. I like the idea of casting the remains into a hairpin for her.
• he doesn’t like war but knows it’s needed to secure peace
• While on the inspection tour Li Mao orders him to be brought back and striped of his post.
• When Ye Xing reaches him with news from Jiankang his first thought is Xie Jiayu’s safety. Sweet.
• He, accompanied by Qing Long and Yan Yue, sneaks back to Jiankang via ship. They are nearly discovered but able to escape.
• They try to pose as drunks to enter Xiyue restaurant. Luckily Wuyi notices the Ghost Lamps before the restaurant that warn him of the lurking danger, so they leave.

He Juanyi

She looks good in her official's robes

• She is sure that Li Mao won’t expose her identity in the future, since he didn’t while announcing the exam results. It’s still something he could easily blackmail her with and that’s exactly why she thinks he will be more secure in letting her work for him.
• We get this beautiful sequence of her entering the palace while Xiao Yao leaves it. Those two have a real ‘two ships passing in the night’ feeling to their relationship that is never the relationship some of us anticipated. At least it’s very beautiful to look at. I love the shots where the one closer to the camera is out of focus, they are both out of reach for each other.

> I > > really > > love > > this > > sequence!

• She submits a memorial in favour of the Xiao family to the regent and gets scolded for doing so while not being a censor.
• Her (very reasonable) argument is that the Xiao family is Southern Ye’s backbone against Northern Qin, which should led to a more thorough investigation of the whole issue. She gets 30 strikes with the cane for speaking against Li Mao.

Li Lejun & Mulian Yu

• Li Lejun tries to flee from her husband (? I assume they are married) and Northern Qin
• Mulian Yu catches her and reveals that he knew about her spying for her brother all along but never intercepted her letters.

Nanxing

• She is no longer registered as a slave, but as the manager of the Miraculous Craft. Good for her.
• She is quite indignant at the possibility of her being into Qing Long and lectures Xie Jiayu that Qing Long is totally into Yan Yue and trying to spent more time with Yan Yue through her. Nanxing also likes to be around Yan Yue. This sounds like the background comedy we didn’t get to see. Especially with Ye Xing being thrown into the mix.
• But the most important person to her is still Xie Jiayu, so she will try to earn more money for her.

We are allowed to have some positve things here.

Xiao Ju, Prince Jing’an

• The poor chap’s downfall is that he gambles behind his wife’s back: there are no witnesses to this, whereas Commandant of Justice Lu and a whole host of people were able to witness his alleged killing spree.

Him being knocked down by the cart must be the moment they exchanged the fake Xiao Ju for the real one

• The confession he wrote to Empress Wenxi at the eve of the old Capital’s fall is used as evidence against him: According to this confession he brought 200 people of the Lu and An families to the execution ground knowing all to well they were innocent. Allegedly this confession was in the Grand Tutor’s hand and Xiao Ju killed him to silence him and this evidence.
• The confession is in fact real: He acted that way back then to suppress the uprising of the other noble families. But it must have fallen in Northern Qin's hands, which lead to this whole ruse.

Xiao Yao & Yao Yunzhi

• On Li Mao’s orders they are both arrested.

Finale

Liu Yu’e and Xie Jiayu sneak into the Court of Judicial Review to set the Xiao family free. Li Mao and his guards are already waiting for them. He knows she used Xiao Wuyi's return as a distraction.

So deserved!

Xie Jiayu stabs him before Xiao Wuyi, Qing Long and Yan Yue appear on the scene. Xie Jiayu calls Li Mao for being unreasonable in all of this. He accuses them of already planning to dispose of him in the future with all their secret Shadow Envoys and passages in the city.

He also threatens Xiao Wuyi with executing his family the next day. Xiao Wuyi has no other option at that moment but to escape with Xie Jiayu, but not before saying what many of us will think after this episode: I've been tolerant enough with you.

Some Thoughts:

I’m so glad even the character’s are struggling to keep up with Li Mao’s contradictory actions and don’t know what to make of them and him. After watching the episode I especially don’t know what to make of the first scene of him trying to get Xiao Wuyi healed. Or is his family the sacrifice that has to be made? Not sure what the reason could be?

I really loved “Xiao Ju” stabbing Grand Tutor Xie. That was such a well done shock moment. Although it quickly became clear what was actually going on, for a few moments I thought we were being shown that the Xiao family isn’t perfect either. What a great way to bring those face masks back into play.

Not sure where all of this will end tomorrow. I was really hoping for them to team up against Northern Qin, but Li Mao’s self-doubts and paranoia won’t allow for that.

He Yuanji is really come far and she has some real backbone.

👋🏻 Welcome back to the tenth post for Key to the Phoenix Heart, covering episodes 21-22 that were released 19th of July.

📅 Discussion Schedule: We will attempt to follow iQIYI's VIP release of the episodes and post as it's convenient for us and our time zones. Next up for tomorrow's episodes is /u/cdramaaddict2

🚨 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
• Please keep these specific threads focused on the actual episodes - the plot twists, the performances, and everything happening on screen. We know there is ongoing discussion surrounding the casting and age-gap elements of the drama. While those external debates are completely valid, let's keep this particular space friendly, respectful, and centered on the on-screen story.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost; Character Flashcards;

Ep 1-3; Ep. 4-6; Ep. 7-8; Ep. 9-10; Ep. 11-12; Ep 13-14; Ep 15-16; Ep 17-18; Ep. 19-20

That’s my last time hosting for this show so a big thanks to my co-host for all the fun commentary, help and discussions. It was a lot of fun so far and I can’t wait for us to see the rest.

Thanks to everyone for discussing, joking, sharing theories and knowledge in the comments as well! It’s really great to be part of this community and to have place like this to find other people so interested in a hobby I can’t really share outside of this space.

#Episode 21 New Characters this episode:

Li Geng

Magistrate of Pingjiang County, Yueyang Prefecture

Feng An

Chief Eunuch of the Eastern Palace

Sinking Ship

He Yuanji prepares to move out of Prince Jing’an Mansion to full-fill her new responsibilities as head of the He family. She has a talk with Xiao Yao about where they stand with each other.

• Xiao Ziqi is a sweet and bright kid, but seems to be bothered most about the fact that she will leave him homework behind.
• Despite the divorce and her moving out Xiao Wuyi still considers her courtyard to be hers to use.
• Xiao Yao was the one bringing her to his family mansion on her wedding day and acted as the proxy for his absent brother.
• She laves him some books on river management and medical stuff as a gift
• He thinks her big problem with a relationship is him being Wuyi’s brother and that leading to rumours, but she says she only ever saw him as a brother figure. Is that my ship sinking before my eyes? Noooo!
• He wishes her all the best for her future and acts very graceful in face of the rejection.

Toxic Partnership

In Northern Qin Li Lejun is part of a group of slaves that are brought into the Eagle King’s camp.

• Mulian Yu frees her immediately after recognising her.
• But he isn’t Xiao Wuyi’s biggest opponent for nothing: He questions her motives for being there and calls her a toxic flower.
• But her very real story of killing Li Fuhua gives her a good reason to be here.
• She paints her brother as a victim of Xiao Wuyi. And offers to be a bridge between Mulian Yu and her brother, who have the same goal of defeating Wuyi. Why is Li Lejun arriving this way at Mulian Yu’s place? Didn’t Xie Jiayu order Ye Xing to bring her here? Is this a ploy of Li Lejun to look even more pitiful?

Changing Positions

He Yuanji packs more of her books and thinks back of the good times she had at the manor, especially with Ruisheng and her son. Yao Yunzhi visits her and thanks her for keeping her company over the years.

• She tries to plead for the heart of her eldest son but He Yuanji tells her she feels guilty about Pei Runheng’s death and her heart is burdened.
• Yao Yunzhi knows that He Yuanji’s way will not be easy and offers her to return anytime. They really love her here.
• She offers her to become her goddaughter instead of daughter-in-law to stay connected.

I really love the bonds in this family

Exposition Hour with Jiayu and Wuyi

Our lead couple have a talk about various matters. Some to wrap up the last storyline, some to set up the rest of the episode and the show.

• Xie Jaiyu wonders about He Yuanji not telling Liu Zhaolin about his origins. So he is actually supposed to be Pei Runheng with complete memory loss. Will we get an explanation how she saw his body? His whole family died because the thought him dead.
• Xiao Wuyi argues that the Empress Dowager killed the whole Pei family, so what good would it do to tell him? And he migh turn into an enemy of He Yuanji by family association so how could they ever face each other?
• The Cui family case has been tried and reviewed. It was found that they mined illegally and brutalised women to do so.
• Their property was confiscated and Cuo Shao’an was reduced to a commoner, because he and his sister tried to stop their father.
• Xiao Jiayu concludes from that that here is still mercy left in Li Mao.
• She also has cracked the secret of the Phoenix Heart Tokens. If you put all the tokes together, it’s form will cast a shadow on the map (how do they know the right size for that map? And the proper distance to the light source?) and the bright spots left are the mineral deposits.
• She asked Ye Xing to bring back water and soil from this places to check. They should contain the minerals needed to perfect the caltrop fireball.
• As a Shadow Envoy, who guard the royal family, Ye Xing was supposed to take his own life after Li Fuhua’s passing. Xie Jiayu didn’t approve of that so she took him in as her personal servant and bodyguard.
• She criticises the late Emperor and Empress Wenxi for using such terrifying methods. It also makes her approve even more of Xiao Wuyi’s wish to not be the crown prince.
• Later she promises him to find minerals to produce the caltrop fireballs to defeat Northern Qin fast.

A bit of domestic bliss

Hope meets Stubbornness

Qing Long and Yan Yue bring in Ruisheng, who revived a soldier from the Beifu army who had serious head trauma. It’s a similar and even more severe case of what Xiao Wuyi has. She found a way to clear the soldiers blood stasis after half a year.

• The treatment is accupuncture plus an incision into the skull. She treated three patients that way, but only one survived.
• They argue because Xiao Wuyi won’t take the risk of treatment due to his responsibilities towards Beifu Army.
• She reminds him that he will be blind in three and dead in five years. He forbids her from telling Jiayu via military order.
• Ruisheng reminds him of Jiayu’s plan to travel Ye to restore the map fully and find the right minerals. She would be away for much of the time left to him.
• Xiao Wuyi doesn’t want her to stick around for him and do her own thing.

Let’s do the time skip again!

On her travels Xie Jiayu writes home from her carriage. She constructed the structure of the caltrop fireball, but the ore for making gunpowder is making problems. Two Years later at Lake Lai. Jiayu constructed a waterwheel to help the woman of the village after all their men left to build the canal.

• She offers them other helpful devices at reasonable prices.
• One of her experiments explodes. It’s the 78th attempt to get the explosives for the caltrop fireball right.
• Cui Shao’an is there, he seems to help with restoring his (real) father’s map to redeem the Cui family a bit. He travels alone and sends messages to Xie Jiayu about his findings.
• The military grain canal (part of the Beifu reform) is build at full speed. Once it’s completed the Army will head north for battle so the caltrop fireballs should be ready by then.
• Xie Jiayu gets a letter from her husband. He defeated the bandits in the South West before heading North. They last saw each other three months ago.
• Branches of the Miraculous Craft opened nation wide.

I’m glad Cui Shao’an is doing good under the circumstances.

Corruption

A man from the village called Tian Quan should have paid a debt to Xie Jiayu three days ago but didn’t appear. Everyone said he embezzled the local funds for building the grain canal, so he hanged himself leaving behind his wife and a baby.

• The officials pressed hard so her husband urged everyone to work day and night on the canal.
• They finished but the officials said the funds for building this section hadn’t arrived, so no money for New Years. That’s why they began to accuse Tian Quan of having embezzled the funds.
• He went to the local government for justice, but not only didn’t he get a single coin but he was beaten and sent back. He came back he kept cursing Lord Li, the magistrate, for being corrupt.
• Ye Xing found out that the county magistrate Li Geng left three days ago for Jiankang for the triennial official evaluation. Most likely using the New Year festivities to bribe himself up in ranks using the money missing here. So Xie Jiayu travels to Jiankang

The one Jiankang establishing shot that does all the work

Sting Operation

Xie Jiayu and Nanxing haven’t been to Jiankang in two years, it’s more bustling than before and Prince Qi seems quite beloved by the people. They encounter Li Geng by chance and follow him.

• There is a rumour that corrupt officials buy calligraphy painting from Guanhai House to give it as a gift. Those who receive them will sell them back to Guanhai House for the money. It’s a big scheme were the one controlling post in the government sells the pictures back and so only gets bribed in an indirect way.
• Li Geng enters Xiyue Restaurant. Xie Jiayu and Nanxing pose as men (not very convincing in a room full of very bearded guys) to look what is going on there.
• They dose him with some powder to make him unconscious before his elevation.
• Xie Jiayu takes his place and discovers Xiao Wuyi taking the bribes.
• Of course that was a trap set by him (and his father).
• 47 officials came to the capital to offer a bribe. 170,000 tales were paid for paintings.
• Xiao Wuyi wants to send them all to the Ministry of Justice. His father argues having them all punished (they did some good work for him) will discourage others.
• So all will be investigated, those who sold their ancestral house (to pay the bribe) will be exempt and chased away with the money. Those who imposed exorbitant taxes or got their money by other means from the people have to pay it back and are sent to the Ministry of Justice.
• The Canal building will need the funds, so Xiao Wuyi will use these.

Surprise Husband Appearance

Team Anmin

He Yuanji is cross with Xie Jiayu because she didn’t practise her accounting and He Yuanji is worried for her running Prince Jing’an’s mansion in the future.

• With the Next year Yuanji has to return to Yuxi Prefecture with the He family. Xie Jiayu asks her to stay.
• Things in the He family have settled and Yuanji wants to see the outside world as well. Xie Jiayu asks if Liu Zhaolin is going with her, but is totally team Anmin. She wants He Yuanji to stay in the family to see her every day.

Don’t trust a Smiling Man

The Eastern Palace summons Xiao Wuyi and Xie Jiayu. The get a very friendly greeting by Li Mao, who has a bunch of impeachment for Xiao Wuyi on his desk.

• He is totally fine with the taels of the corrupt official’s sting being allocated to the canal building, because everything is going so slow and the sting also helps keeping the officials on track.
• Li Mao proposes celebrating New years together.
• He has a piece of Soft Armour hanging around which Jiayu finds fascinating.
• It’s a gift to Xie Jaiyu for her conferment to Heir’s consort. The Heir of a title needs a consort so Li Mao petitioned the Emperor himself for her to become the one. She gets a seal and certificate.
• He has taken A Chan as a concubine of his.
• There is to be a grand conferment ceremony after New Years.
• Afterwards Xiao Wuyi is surprised how big of a deal Li Mao is making out of everything with the seal and the big ceremony.
• He promised Li Fuhua not to pull her daughter into his mess, but now that she is in it he wants her to have the strongest armour with the official position as his consort.

I’m a bit unnerved by Li Mao’s overly smiley demeanour Of course it has been two years and time heals wounds, but something is off here.

Happy Family Time

Xie Jiayu has an official post in the Beifu Army as the ordinance supervisor. Poor Nanxing has to manage Miraculous Craft and the household dutys for her. Xie Juanyi calls that delegating, He Yuanji lazyness.

• Nanxing doesn’t find herself adequate for the task. Yao Yunzhii chimes in: She was just a butcher’s daughter a few years ago. Isn’t it nice that all the woman in the mansion have their own strength they can play into.
• At the family banquet Ziqi gets threatened into behaving good with a school in the mountains, the kind you can only get to leave ten years later. His mother was also away for a year, treating patients.
• Xiao Yao comes for a surprise visit. He is busy with the canal, but heard about the conferment ceremony. He brings a new neck warmer for his mother. Xiao Wuyi also had one in store, but is glad to put it away. Xie Jaiyu has some sweet wine to give on his behalf.
• The Eastern Palace bestows New Years greetings and a feast of delicacies upon the Prince Jian’an Mansion
• Nanxing, Qing Long and Yan Yue try to bully Ye Xing into partaking in their New Year’s dinner.
• Later drunken Xie Jaiyu scolds Xiao Wuyi for not giving his own neck warmer to his mom as well. She says he has to ask more for thinks. He just closes his eyes, presumably to get a kiss from her. That’s not exactly asking Wuyi!

I loved this episodes. It has big calm before the storm vibes, so I’ll just enjoy it a bit before the next.

#Episode 22

New Characters this episode:

Commandant of Justice Lu

Works at the Court of Judicial Review, has a reputation of being harsh but fair.

Firework

Li Mao greets his father and gets scolded for calling him father.

• In the last years Li Mao used the reform as a pretext to reshape the salt and iron monopoly and clear the waterways.
• He will be remembered for that, but since Xiao Wuyi was the originator of the reform more fame will got to him. The Grand Tutor urges his son to swipe away anyone standing in his way to really get recognition as a ruler. Can we please not listen to that?

No kisses, but horses

We get back to the drunken walk on New Year’s Eve. There is an interesting difference in the subtitles. In epsiode 21 Xie Jiayu tells her husband: You need to learn to ask for thing you want. Here it is: You need to learn to take what you want.

• Xiao Wuyi neither asks for the kiss he obviously wants, nor takes it. Which is the better option with Xie Jiayu being drunk.
• She has a New Years gift for him: The horse he sold so she could buy the burial mountain for her mother. With the Miraculous Craft making so much money these days she had the funds for that.
• By the way, that’s the horse he never takes to the battlefield, because it’s to precious. But she bought it back so she has the best horse for the battlefield.
• He promises that he’ll do his best to spent every New Year’s eve with her. But doesn’t tell her about his health troubles. Of course.

Investitures and Investigations

Li Mao decides to wear the white jade hair piece Jiayu gifted him for her ceremony. Meanwhile the Grand Tutor “learns” that the Xiao family embezzled funds for the canal.

• Allegedly they replaced rivers sand with mud and silt, causing it to collapse. Nearly 100 workers were killed or injured. The County Sheriff hanged himself. Outraged crowds have reached Jiankang already.
• I’m not sure what the Grand Tutor burns while receiving this news, but I’m very sure all of this is not new to him.
• Many noble families turn up for the ceremony, but neither Xiao Wuyi nor his brother or their father invites them. Someone wants witnesses. Xiao Wuyi sees the hair piece Li Mao arrives with and knows something is up.
• The Petition Drum is heard. It’s only used for grave injustice or enemy attacks. If you use it you have to bear 30 strokes, so that it’s not used lightly by anyone. They people drumming accuse Xiao Wuyi and Xiao Yao.
• Before Li Mao can proceed with Jiayu’s Heir’s consort investiture ceremony they are interrupted.
• Commandant of Justice Lu, who doesn’t want to interrupt, interrupts to take the Xiao brothers away because the grain canal in Hexi collapsed causing over 1,000 casualties. Those numbers are climbing rapidly.
• Investigation found that County Magistrate Wei Min, a man of humble origins (so Beifu reform, promoted by Weiyu) had 1,000 taels gold in his home as well as correspondece between him and the Xiao brothers. The letters reveal evidence that the Xiao’s embezzled canal repair funds.
• Prince Jing’an challenges them to arrest him as well and Li Mao commands to do so. He also orders the Three Judicial Officials to send officials to conduct a thorough investigation of the canal.
• Xie Jianyu asks Li Mao to still bestow the seal and decree. Smart move. That way she has better ways to handle things. He doesn’t read the decree, so she takes it out of his hand and bows.

Oh, we finally got that shot from the intro.

Prison Time

They all get their own comfy prison cell and Xiao Wuyi has a discussion with the guy responsible for their imprisonment.

• Xiao Wuyi already sent a list of all the people ever trying to bribe him to the Eastern Palace.
• He will give the original to Commandant of Justice Lu, but he couldn’t give it earlier for fear of looking like he didn’t care about the propwer law procedures.
• He asks to undergo torture in place of his elderly father and crippled brother, if it comes to that during interrogations. His father and brother are not amused and protest.
• Commandant of Justice Lu reassures him that if this is a frame up he will restore their good name.

Girl Power

At Prince Jing’an’s mansion the women of the family strategise. All the letters and ledgers have been sized.

• He Yuanji knows that Commandant of Justice Lu was newly promoted last year. He served in the provinces during these years of reform and punished commoners and nobles alike for their crimes.
• He is said to be a ruthless but upright official who enforces the law without favour. Since he personally came for the arrest there has to be evidence.
• Nanxing has a photographic memory for the accounts. So it turns out to be good Jiayu didn’t do her own work, I guess. She helps to reconstruct them.
• He Yuanji has a thought connected to handwriting of the letters, but doesn’t tell Xie Jiayu what it is.
• She asks where Qing Long and Yan Yue are. They have to be on some mission for Wuyi, otherwise they wouldn’t be missing.

Identity Revelation the… I lost count

The Grand Tutor had Liu Zhaolin prepare forged correspondence. In return he asked for Prince Qi’s approval to reopen the Lantai Gathering. Not sure we heard about that before. He will also become the Grand Tutor’s student. There are also people helping him cook the books of the Xiao family.

• Unfortunately Liu Zhaloin would be a very lose end, so the Grand Tutor lets him be followed by some goon to kill him. He Yuanji helps him last minute. Yuanji finds a token of the Grand Tutor on the ground. They flee the guy attacking, but Liu Zhaolin’s hand is injured by the knife.
• She confronts him about working for the Grand Tutor: He got close to her and borrowed rare books because they had annotation by the men of the Xiao family in them, thus their handwriting could be copied by him.
• He confesses he admires her, so he didn’t dare to tell her about his connection to Grand Tutor. He knows that she also has feelings for her and felt unworthy of those the whole time.
• The Grand Tutor was the only one believing in him as a commoner and promised him that as long as Xiao Wuyi would fall and the noble clans revive the Lantai Gathering he would give him an official post.
• She reveals his identity as Pei Runheng to him: He is the third child of his family, he once studied at Luming Academy and was classmates with He Yuanji’s second brother. She often visited the academy wearing her second brother’s robes. That way they got to know each other, they shared the same interests.
• Of course he didn’t get she was a girl, her brother had to tell him. He was shocked yet delighted. What follows was her engagement to Xiao Wuyi and his tragic ending. Somebody was sent to kill him who didn’t do a good job.
• He doesn’t believe her, but she has more prove. She knows about the plum blossom-shaped scar on his left arm. He got that protecting her from wild bees while picking mulberries in the back mountain of the academy. And she would never mistake his handwriting.
• Two years after his supposed death the Empress Dowager found a pretext and convicted the Pei family. His father and brother died, his mother took her own life along with his sister. As a member of the He family they are now bound by a blood feud.
• She wanted a fresh start, so didn’t bring the past up. She asks him to turn back from working with the Grand Tutor. But his right hand is ruined, so he can’t prove he forged the letters.
• Jiayu calls him living proof, suddenly appearing in the bamboo grove.
• The Grand Tutor aims to frame the Xiao family for treason and collaboration with the enemy. Just what the Lu and An family suffered.
• Liu Zhaolin helps and points them to the house where the scholars forge the rest of the documents. Unfortunately they are to late to find anyone there.

What a tragic backstory they have

Stab you in the Back

At the prison Li Mao visits Xiao Wuyi who was interrogated under torture. He tells him the evidence has kept piling up over the last days about his brothers corruption in the grain canal building and his father’s sale of of military supplies and leaking of military intelligence. Many of the common-born officials he promoted are also implicated.

• Li Mao calls him Crown Prince Wenxi to mock him and reveal that he knows about his identity since he got he Phoenix Heart Tokens from the Emperor.
• Xiao Wuyi notes that his families downfall has the same pattern as the downfall of the An and Lu family.
• Li Mao tells him Jiayu found the one forging the letters but that his hand was ruined so he can’t testify. For the sake of their past brotherhood he can spare his whole family. But Xiao Wuyi doesn’t even want to hear the conditions.
• He would have to hand over the Beifu Army and the Phoenx Heart Token and write a divorce agreement.
• Li Mao has the gall to stab him, while Xiao Wuyi argues that Xie Jiayu is her own person who wouldn’t simply return to Li Mao just because he wishes so. Li Mao tries to sell him the divorce as the only way to save Xie Jiayu.

News from the South The Eagle King gets news about what happens in Southern Ye. He thinks all of this has to be revenge by the Grand Tutor for Xiao Ju concealing the Lu An case. That seems like a sensible assumption.

• Li Lejun says she belongs to him know when lured with the possibility of returning home when Xiao Wuyi dies. With him lost the Beifu Army will be no match for his Black Eagle Army.
• There will be an archery contest the next day. We are reminded that slaves from Southern Ye are used as targets in that.
• Li Lejun has less of a chaste marriage. She has a miscarriage and Mulin Yu accuses her of not wanting their child and provoking the miscarriage on purpose. She faints from the pain.

Medical Health Information Interlude

Ruisheng tells Xie Jiayu about Xiao Wuyi’s condition, because imprisonment and torture won’t help with that. She tells her “Xiao Wuyi didn’t keep it away from you.”. Excuse me, did we watch the same guy absolutely keeping it away from her? In enclosed spaces and in the dark of night it worsens. Good to have him in a prison cell.

Against Father and Son

Xie Jiayu confronts her ex-father with the Xie family token acquired from Liu Zhaolin.

• It’s all about Prince Jing’an knowing about the injustice in the An-Lu case. Xiao Wuyi is the son of his birth parents, so has to atone for their sins. The Grand tutor even frames it as heavenly retribution. Oh the arrogance of this man...
• Xie Jiayu’s real reason for visiting was a hidden mechanism she knew from her childhood in the Grand Tutor’s study. It hid some documents from Qizhou Qingzhou and Luzhou.
• Qing Long and Yan Yue appear. They were sent to Luzhou after Xiao Wuyi’s imprisonment to find someone: Prince Qi’s wet nurse (the subtitles say adoptive mother which doesn’t add up), Madam Wang of the Lu family.
• Ye Xing was sent to the same places by Li Fuhua before, after Prince Qi was appointed regent. Also to investigate his true identity. Xie Jiayu finally understand who Li Mao is and how this secret lead to so much tragedy around here.
• She visits him in the palace. He tells her the Xiao family’s crimes have all be confirmed. She gives him a document titled “Li Mao’s lineage investigation”. Which proves that Xiao Wuyi knew his secret all along and would have been able to take his position all the time. But he didn’t because he truly doesn’t want it.
• Li Mao gives her one last chance to disavow Xiao Wuyi and stay by his side forever. She tells him off and that she also is in possession of the letters exchanged between the Grand Tutor Xie and his wet nurse. She gives him an ultimatum of three days to let Wuyi and his family go and their names to be cleared. Otherwise she will spread this record of his lineage and the letters all over Jiankang.
• She advisees him to no longer stay trapped in the past and let it become his obsession (like his father seems to be).

Interesting combination of different fabrics on Xie Jiayu’s hanfu

Ambition

In Prison Xiao Wuyi is writing when Li Mao visits. They have a talk about when he new about his true identity as Grand Tutor Xie’s son. It was from the moment Prince Changsha mutinied and Li Mao was suddenly pushed to the position of regent.

• Xiao Wuyi didn’t say a word because they both have the same ambition. What he can’t accomplish Li Mao can from his position.

• He doesn’t need an incompetent good man there but someone with ambition and ruthless methods.

• Li Mao accuses him of wanting a helper. From his point of view he lost Jiayu for Xiao Wuyi’s ambition. He is not willing to be a puppet for Xiao Wuyi.

• Xiao Wuyi reminds him that they need to eliminate Northern Qin and reclaim their homeland. There can never be true peace without. And that these were Li Mao’s own words fleeing to Jiankang, but words he forgot.

• The person that choose Li Mao to be regent was never Xiao Wuyi but himself (by staying there).

Besides framing his family for treason and nearly killing them those two aren’t that far apart in some opinions (I'm still coping hard here).

👋🏻 Welcome back to the seventh post for Key to the Phoenix Heart, covering episodes 15-16 that were released 16th of July. Last time we survived the first time jump of the show, let’s see where this will lead us.

📅 Discussion Schedule: We will attempt to follow iQIYI's VIP release of the episodes and post as it's convenient for us and our time zones. Next up is /u/basilordinary3617

🚨 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
• Please keep these specific threads focused on the actual episodes - the plot twists, the performances, and everything happening on screen. We know there is ongoing discussion surrounding the casting and age-gap elements of the drama. While those external debates are completely valid, let's keep this particular space friendly, respectful, and centered on the on-screen story.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost; Character Flashcards; Ep 1-3; Ep. 4-6; Ep. 7-8; Ep. 9-10; Ep. 11-12; Ep. 13-14

Fun Fact: Man Jiang, who gives quite the intense performance as Cui Jun, doesn’t have that many acting credits to his name. He is mainly a pop singer and music producer.

#Episode 15 New Characters this episode:

Cui Jun

Master of the Cui family Father of Cui Lingyi and Cui Shao’an

Bingzhu

Butler of Xie Mansion

Checks and Balances

We start with a flashback of Xiao Wuyi visiting the palace. He presents his divorce agreement with Xie Jiayu which is unceremoniously burned by the Emperor.

He is asked to explain his Beifu reform, which has three steps:

• First eliminate long standing flaws, restructure the military flaws, appoint talents of humble origins (a shift to a merit based system here) and employ generals by ability alone.
• Secondly, forge stronger armour and weapons and expand the transportation of provisions to ensure steady military supplies.
• Thirdly… we don’t get to hear because suddenly the Emperor asks what Prince Qi thinks of the whole plan.
• He scolds Xiao Wuyi for thinking his bond with Li Mao is still as strong as a brotherly bond. Thanks for putting salt in that wound, your Majesty.
• The Emperor won’t let him divorce Xie Jianyu to keep both of them in check.

I know he is quite ill, but he still has some style lounging around

Mind Games at Lingfeng Fort

With the Cui family we get another environment were everyone is playing cat and mouse with each other. Nobody can be trusted and you get double crossed at every turn.

• Cui Lingyi visits her father Cui Jun. He likes pine trees because they survive cold weather.
• She speaks of her upcoming travels to the capital, which involve her getting married to Li Mao.
• She pours wine for him, but there has to be something in it the way she is behaving. Because the next moment she tells him directly what an awful human being he is for running those illegal mines and working women to death there.
• She tries to detain him by their family’s guards, but Cui Jun knows about everything going on, including his daughter trying to poison him. The Cui family lay low for 20 years and he had long running terms to revive them – including his daughter being the next empress, like Empress Wenxi. Also that:
• Xie Jiayu is ‘arrested’ by Cui Shao’an while trying to rescue her mother. He was aware his sister is a traitor and didn’t leave the fort behind. Xiao Wuyi rescues her but he know everything worked to easily before and that they were purposefully lead there.

That Escalated Quickly

Seven minutes into the episode we get an intense showdown involving everyone important currently at Lingfeng Fort. Cui Jun confronts Xie Jiayu and Xiao Wuyi who have his son, while he brings Li Fuhua and Cui Lingyi.

• Cui Shao’an pleads for his sister.
• We learn that Cui Jun played the siblings against each other growing up and Cui Lingyi has enough of that.
• Cui Jun exposes that Li Fuhua did not come here to help Cui Lingyi to destroy the mining operations but for the Phoenix Heart Token he holds.
• Cui Lingyi calls her father the lunatic of the family and he proves that to be true by killing her quickly.
• Cui Jun did something to to manipulate the letter Li Fuhua wrote to bring Xiao Wuji here to also lure Xie Jianyi to the Fort.
• He wonders for whom Li Fuhua tries to get the Phoenix Heart Token and the mines. Obviously the answer is Xiao Wuyi, but he doesn’t know that yet.
• He decoded the token in his possession.
• He gives her an ultimatum of two days to hand over her Phoenix Heart Token or Xie Liayu dies.

God, the Phoenix Heart Token has to be the most confusing MacGuffin in a long time. The subtitles certainly don’t help. Is it one? Are there many?(there are) What exactly about it has to be decoded?

The Grand Tutor doing Grand Tutor things (not teaching, that’s for sure)

The Grand Tutor speaks to the imprisoned Yang Zhang, the Guazhou County Sheriff, who gets a second introductory card because he looks so bad and nearly unrecognisable. He seems to be a former students of his and was also responsible for sending Cui Jun’s contaminated military provisions to the Northern Border.

• He offers him some fruit. How nice.
• The outbreak of the plague on the Border led to the Noble families impeaching the Beifu Reform one by one.
• All that was a set up to lure Xiao Wuyi to the Cuis so he can expose the case of the Lu and An families (unjustly) being punished for colluding with Northern Qin.
• At the Imperial Academy the Grand Tutor got the news from the Court of Judicial Review that Yang Zhang committed suicide out of fear. Sure. The fruit the Grand Tutor brought were most likely poisoned. The body is to be burned immediately.
• He also learns the his ‘daughter’ is in the Fort. And his ex-wife. He missed the family reunion.
• He interprets this as his wife trying to find an ally in Cui Jun to unite her old subordinates against Prince Qi.

Quality Time in Prison

In a prison cell in the mines Xie Jiayu wants to know from Xiao Wuyi if her mother was really seeking the Phoenix Heart Token for him, which she finds strange because her mother never meddles in court politics. She wants to know if he used her to threaten her mother. He denies that.

• She still thinks that he used her all along for her mother’s help.
• He denies some more and asks if she really doesn’t feel anything at all (for him).
• Xie Jiayu is a bit salty and reminds him that he used her once to uell Prince Changsha’s rebellion. He doesn’t want to argue and agrees that it’s all his fault.
• Before they get deeper into that Cui Shao’an brings in a man that was purposefully driven mad by the water of the underground river in the mines. Cui Jun ordered that.
• The candle in the cell took away Xiao Wuyi’s martial abilities. Cui Shao’an wants the Phoenix Heart Token from him and threatens Xie Jiayu by releasing the guy.
• Xiao Wuyi frees himself from one of his shackles to rescue her, but can defend himself quite badly. But he is the ML so he still wins the fight in the end.

Late Night Visits

The Grand Tutor visits Li Lejun late at night and asks if she knows about the Phoenix Heart Token. He tells her more about it than the rumour she already is aware of.

• Li Fuhua, PrincessYunzhao was Empress Wenxi’s closest friend and Cui Jun her older brother, so they each got one. Li Lejun counters that they only have the tokens, not the (presumed dead) Crown Prince.
• The Grand tutor reveals to her that her brother is not of the Ye bloodline at all.
• Her upcoming trip to Guazhou is for the purpose of escorting her brother’s bride back to the capital. The Grand Tutor sends her to support Xiao Wuyi to capture the Cui’s. But also to not let the Phoenix Heart token fall into Xiao Wuyi’s hand. I don’t get this scene completely. He obviously doesn’t reveal he is her brother’s father. Does he imply Li Mao to be Crown Prince Wenxi? What exactly is written here to make her believe everything. Google translate says it’s a text about grain transport, so most likely not drama related? We’ll get an answer an episode later, but right here and know I was quite confused and thought I missed something via missing subtitles for the writing or so.
• Li Lejun brings her brother his mended clothes and he gives her a sachet that their mother made for him back in the day. It has detoxifying properties and it’s to keep her safe. She counters that the effects should be long gone.
• She assures him that he will always be her brother, which is an odd thing to say out of the blue.

Xie Jiayu bandages Xiao Wuyi’s injured hand up. He knows Cuo Shao’an secretly wanted his help to kill the wild man. Cuo Shao’an promises to help them a bit, but can’t openly rebel against his father. They have to wait for Xiao Wuyi’s reinforcements

• Xiao Wuyi has a letter from Cui Lingyi for him and he leaves with that.
• In her letter Xiao Lingyi confesses to feel guilty because she gave her father they idea of women being a better fit for the work in the mines. She wants to pay with her life to atone for that if it comes to that. She also asks her brother to help those women and to be a better man.
• Xie Jiayu and Xiao Wuyi preopare to sleep. He reassures her, that he didn’t only treat her well due to her mothe having one of the Phoenix Heart Tokens. Instead both, her mother and him, want her to have a free life. They end up sleeping next to each other.

Cui Jun Things

This character really is established as being absolutely despicable in a quick and effective manner.

• Cui Jun presents Cui Shao’an with a completely new sister to marry to Li Mao. He takes away a white silk flower Shao’an wore in remembrance and puts him more or less under house arrest.
• Cui Jun tells Li Fuhua that he spent 20 years to crack the secret of the Phoenix Heart Token. He threatens to infect Xie Jiayu with the disease if she doesn’t hand over her token.
• She gives him a hairpin and sents him to the Nandun Wharf. He will get contacted if he appears with the hairpin there and get the token then.
• He orders all the mines entrances closed and with that a very cruel and slow death for Xie Jiayu anyway.

Poison – The Third

Xiao Wuyi knows the one luring him to the fort is the Grand Tutor and that he would like to give a blow to the Beifu Army via the disease and the Cui Family via Xiao Wuyi’s revenge and interference at the same time.

• He thinks the Grand Tutor and the Cui family have a blood feud. He doesn’t reveal if he knows why exactly. Xie Jiayu knows nothing about that.
• They are offered poison for a quicker way to the afterlife. How nice. So much poison in this episode.
• But they are rescued by Master Yuan. He got three meals a day during his own captivity but no human contact, so that drove him a bit crazy.
• He was freed and lead here not by Qing Long and Yan Yue but by Cui Shao’an.

Grand Finale

Cui Jun presents his ‘daughter’ to Li Lejun. The handover of the bride is disturbed by Cui Shao’an who kills the imposter bride and explains the situation. The father tries to kill the son but one of Li Lejun’s guards steps in. Cui Shao’an has his sisters letter as proof and hands it over to Li Lejun.

• Li Lejun has to step up here immensely. Is this something she was educated for? But she acts perfectly as the representative of her brother and thus the court.
• She wants her imperial guards to arrest Cui Jun, he promises his own men a big reward for killing her. The factions clash, but then Xiao Wuyo and Xie Jiayu arrive, the former with a crossbow. They are accompanied by the freed women from the mine.
• Xie Jiayu argues with the Cui guards that the freed woman are no different from their sisters and the lay down their swords. Next Li Fuhua gets threatened by Cai Jun. Then the Beifu Army’s war drums can be heard,
• It’s revealed that the Cui Guards are wearing the Eagle King’s totem, because they are actually his henchman and he is the client of the private mines. So Cui Jun colluded with Northern Qin all along.
• 20 years ago when Northern Qin attacked the (old) capital he accused the An and Lu families for the first time. Most likely to distract from his own collusion, maybe also to get rid of specific families he didn’t like.
• Cui Jun accuses the late Emperor Wenxi to have been a cruel ruler and bringing harm to his people.
• He was also the Phoenix Heart Token holder bearing the responsible to moving Ye south and assisting Crown Prince Wenxi. Did he try to actively get rid of little Wuyi back then?
• Li Fuhua reveals for everyone to her that Crown Prince Wenxi is not dead.
• She whispers to Cui Jun who it is and he tries to kill her afterwards, but Xiao Wuyi intervenes and Cui Jun gets injured and captured.

#Episode 16

New Characters this episode:

Instead of meeting new people we have to part with some characters.

Soured

Li Mao asks for sweets to be prepared for Xie Jaiyu’s possible return. He wants to have something ready she enjoys. The former head dancer of Prince Jing’an’s mansion is now working in the palace and makes Hawthorn Cake because she knows Li Mao likes that one and Xie Jaiyu made it for him. Which is a mistake because these days Hawthorn Cake only reminds Li Mao of Xiao Wuyi’s feelings for the girl he still likes.

Deep Undercover

Xie Jiayu has a talk with her mother. She already learned quite a bit about the realities of the world through her travels and her short stay at Lingfeng Fort certainly showed her some of the ugliest sides of it.

Li Fuhua reminiscence about the way her old friend, Empress Wenxi described her older brother to her, and how much Jin Cui seems to have changed from that upright person.

Yuan Xiaoliu has his own suspicions due to the small wrist-bound weapon Cui Jun used in the last confrontation. He talks to Cui Shao’an about his father and he confirms that his father’s personality changed quite a bit after returning from the Northern Regions and being injured there.

Yuan Xiaoliu finds some of his own mechanical plans in Cui Jun’s possession which confirms his suspicion:

• Cui Jun is Chu Zhu, a Northern Qin man. He took the original Cui Jun’s place under order from Shao Yang, the Empress Dowager of Norther Qin.
• He lived as Cui Jun for twenty years using a face mask. That’s some deep undercover stuff.
• He killed the original Cui Jun for his maps of mineral deposits while travelling the Northern Desert Region.
• Chu Zhu himself is a slave bought by Shao Yang and very loyal to her. He was also a friend of Yuan Xiaoliu in these days.
• So he, as Cui Jun, accused the An and Lu families (and the Mulian one by association) of collaboration with Northern Qin and led to their demise.
• Yuan Xiaoliu informs him that Shao Yang passed away shortly after returning to Northern Qin.
• Fake Cui Jun has plans to kill them all: He uses one of Yuan Xiaoliu’s invetions, a machine that can seal the Imperial Tomb with water. Just in this case he plans to use it to destroy Lingfeng Fort by flooding it with the contaminated water from the mine. It’s already activated and also securred with a lot of traps and weapons.

Heroic Sacrifice

Xie Jiyu brings Xiao Wuyi some of the honey water her mom made. They have some banter about poisoning which might be funnier if there wasn’t at least one attempted poisoning per episode. But I guess you need some black humour here.

• She thanks him for saving the girls from the mine and her mother.
• Xiao Wuyi has a hunch that something is not right. An explosion can be heard shortly afterwards.
• Yuan Xiaoliu gets killed tragically killed destroying the mechanism. In his last moments he thinks about following Shao Yang.
• How did they get his body out of there? But I’m glad they can have a proper goodbye from their mentor and friend.
• Cui Shao’an says it’s his fathers fault. Does he know that guy isn’t really his father?
• Xiao Wuyi nearly beats the fake Cui Jun to death. Xie Jiayu is the voice of reason and reminds him that they have to bring him to Jiankang to expose the Cui families crimes.
• They bury Master Yuan and support each other in their grief.

Suspicions

Li Lejun has the unpleasant task to bring the Grand Tutors message to his ex wife, who doesn’t want to hear any of it. The have a talk about the Phoenix Heart Tokens the superstition of “When the Phoenix Heart Tokens appear, Peace shall be restored in the world”

• Li Fuhua doesn’t believe in that saying: If the world would change by just a few tokens appearing, why would someone like Xiao Wuyi need to implement reforms?
• But she also deflects a lot: She portrays the Phoenix Heart Tokens as something Princess Wenxi left behind so that the people close to her would have something to remmber her by. The Crown Prince being alive is nonsense, she only used that as a ruse to stop Cui Jun. After all, if the son of her best friend where alive she would have cared for him all along.
• Li Lejun’s biggest worry about a possible Prince Wenxi re-appearance is her brother’s position. She doesn’t seem to believe Li Fuhua’s excuses.
• So she intercepts one of Li Fuhua’s messages: She orders the nanny of Prince Qi’s mansion being brought back to Jiankang.
• We get a flashback reveal of what the Grand Tutor told Li Lejun exactly: Her brother isn’t of royal blood at all. And that Li Fuhua seems to suspect his origins and will use the Phoenix Heart Token holders to bring the real Li lineage on the throne again.
• So Li Lejun thinks the nanny is brought to Jiankang because she knows her brother’s real identity and to act as a witness. Interesting how shrewd Li Lejun got in such a short amount of time. In the first episodes she seemed even more innocent than Xie Jiayu herself.

Travel Plans and Letters

Li Fuhua wants to travel with her daughter now that her teacher is gone. Xie Jiayu seems a bit hesitant, her mother tries to lure her with the best copper mines and great sights to see.

• Li Fuhua writes a letter to her ex husband about the Cui Jun’s true identity and the Lu and An family case being connected to that.
• She asks Xie Jiayu about Xiao Wuyi. She calls him a gentleman.
• Xie Jaiyu finally promises her mom to travel with her.
• Xiao Wuyi departs, travelling with the capture Cui Jun to Jiankang.
• Mother and daughter plan to bring Li Lejun to Jiankang and then depart for the south.
• The Grand Tutor gets a letter from Li Lejun, telling him Li Fuhua and Cui Jun bold hold a token. And that Xiao Wuyi’s and Xie Jiayu’s relationship changed. (everyone talks openly about that except them) She suspects that Li Fuhua is joining forces with Xiao Wuyi. Also, that she is willing to go all out to prevent that. → I really didn’t expect her to go faster than her brother, but I guess she is motivated to protect him.
• The Grand Tutor urges her to not act rashly.

Acting Rashly

The three ladies, accompanied by Qing Long and Yan Yue, leave the Fort for the capital.

• Xie Jiayu feels a bit sick and so she rides alone in Li Lejun’s big carriage to rest.
• The horse from the other carriage bolts suddenly and the carriage with Li Fuhua and Li Lejun falls down a cliff.
• Xie Jiayu almost jumps after the carriage, but Xiao Wuyi gets there in time to stop that. Her lightness skills definitely improved though.
• In a rare case in cdramaland the cliff is actually life ending: They find Li Fuhua dead.
• The coachman is also dead. Li Lejun isn’t easily found.
• The Phoenix Heart Token is missing form Li Fuhua’s belongings and Xie Jiayu knows she always had it close.
• Li Lejun is found unconscious in a dead tree branch at the side of the cliff.

Grief

Yan Yue and Xiao Wuyi reconstruct the incident: The horse went wild due to the contaminated grains (from the water in the mines), but those provisions were already sealed by Xiao Wuyi. The incident makes him the suspect because he also prepared the carriage.

• He can’t show care for Xie Jiayu because it would look like him taking advantage of a situation he might have created.
• But he still is the one to call for Ruisheng being brought from the capital when Xie Jiayu gets a fever. He takes care of her.
• She asks if her mother was threatened by anyone. A flashback shows that Xie Jiayu actually witnessed an argument between her mother and Xiao Wuyi. Mostly about the military being controlled by the noble families. So the throne brings constraints to him.
• He tells her nobody threatened her mother before the accident.
• Ruisheng arrives and assess the situation: Jiayu has toxins from the water in her, not enough rest and then her mother’s death hit. The remaining toxins must be purged. Bear gall is lacking as an ingredient. Xiao Wuyi himself rides to find it.

Drastic Measures

Xie Jiayu wakes after two days only to get fed bear gall. I would go back to sleep. There is some discussions about where to bring Li Fuhua’s coffin. They can’t put the coffin into the Princess’ manor because Yun County was conquered long ago. And she is divorced.

• Li Mao and the Grand Tutor met the travel group that turned into a funeral procession outside of the capital.
• Xie Jiayu’s father plays the grieved husband (does anyone buy that?) and hits her in the face after she tells him about switching the carriage. The second hit is intercepted by Xiao Wuyi.
• The Grand Tutor exposes that Xie Jiayu was adopted and casts her out of the family. He forbids her from ever setting a food into the Xie mansion again and then takes the coffin with her mother’s remain with him. They are still husband and wife on the genealogical records, so not divorced.
• Xie Jiayu lets Xiao Wuyi travel back to the capital alone, she stays back to talk to Li Mao. She reveals to him that her mother’s death can’t be an accident because the Phoenix Heart Token is missing. She finds Xiao Wuyi suspicious exactly for the reasons Xiao Wuyi feared.
• She will only returns to Xiao Wuyi’s mansion to find clues and the missing Phoenix Heart Token. She is very determined to find the murderer.

Back in the Capital

Xiao Wuyi has some bear-induced wounds, which gives us shirtless Hou Minghao once more. Thanks, bears.

• Cui Jun and Cui Shao’an whereabouts are properly arranged. Because a second Phoenix Heart Token appearing might make the person taking the one for Li Fuhua greedy and going after it as well.
• Xie Jiayu returns to the mansion. She masks her talk with Li Mao as being about Li Lejun’s care. She wants to set up a memorial tablet for her mother in her courtyard.
• Li Lejun hit her head falling down, so she is still unconscious. But her brother sees through that being an act (the imperial physicians taking care of her didn’t?). Li Lejun tempered with the forage.
• Her reasons for acting so rashly and killing Li Fuhua in the process: She had one Phoenix Heart Token. Because Crown Prince Wenxi is still alive. And she knows (and reveals) that Li Mao is the Grand Tutors son.

So much happens.

Xiao Wuyi and Xie Jiayu lose two people that are important to them in different ways.

Li Mao gets the shock of his life.

Xie Jiayu seems to suspect her own husband of killing her mom while her best friend actually did it.

So Basil had this thought that she actually knows it was Li Lejun’s doing. She cares surprisingly little for her unconscious, maybe dying friend when she is found. So suspecting Xiao Wuyi could be a complete ruse. I’m looking forward to see where this is going!

👋🏻 Welcome to the fourth post for Key to the Phoenix Heart, covering episodes 9-10 that were released today (13th of July). Still excited to co-host this show. Can’t believe we already covered over one third of the episodes.

📅 Discussion Schedule: We will attempt to follow iQIYI's VIP release of the episodes and post as it's convenient for us and our time zones. Next up for tomorrow's episodes /u/CdramaAddict2 . She has more on the tabke than me, so the discussion post for 11-12 will be posted on Wednesday, at 9 pm PDT.

🚨 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
• Please keep these specific threads focused on the actual episodes - the plot twists, the performances, and everything happening on screen. We know there is ongoing discussion surrounding the casting and age-gap elements of the drama. While those external debates are completely valid, let's keep this particular space friendly, respectful, and centered on the on-screen story.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost; Character Flashcards; Ep 1-3; Ep. 4-6; Ep.7-8

As someone with some vision impairments of his own (and very glad to live in a time and place where that can be helped) this scared me more than some other things in costume dramas.

#Episode 9 New Characters this episode:

No new big players. We mostly stay confined in the Xiao Manor for this episode.

Saving Face

Xie Jiayu comes to Xiao Wuyi’s rescue and helps him leave the archery range without looking weak in front of his soldiers and them learning about his blindness. She brings him home where Ruisheng checks him over but can’t tell him if or when he will get his sight back. She gives him a medicine that will be painful and shorten his lifetime but might help with restoring his vision. After that it’s acupuncture time.

• Xiao Jiayu calls him a lunatic for doing all his work while being so ill.
• Tasked with talking to distract him she decides to tell him about Li Mao and her. She really has no clue.
• Xiao Jiayu disliked Li Mao first for stealing her father’s time as his student, but changed her view when he came back from his travels as an elegant young man. Xiao Wuyi calls her superficial for that.
• He also reminds her that without him she would have been married to Prince Changsha.

Poor guy, still hot though

Nurse Jiayu

Xie Jiayu gets tasked by Ruisheng to take care of their husband for the night. He has a nightmare about Xiao Yao and his escape and also calls out for his mother. Xie Jiayu confronts Yao Yunzhi, who left medicine at the door but didn’t come in to look for her son. She asks to be taught to cook for him.

• Xiao Wuyi wakes to her doing her leather work. He has fantastic hearing.
• He is obviously touched she baked the Hawthorn cake for him. He also recognises his mother’s chicken soup. Xie Jaiyu advices him to talk to her.
• That triggers him. Because without her being in love with him (which she isn’t, he asks) she has no right to meddle in his familiar affairs. So are his friends not allowed to care for him at all? But I guess Li Mao might be his only real friend.
• She leaves, but he obviously treasures the cake. Qing Long and Yan Yue also have to punish themselves with ten strokes from the military cane. I guess that’s for being around and listening in.

Good vs. Strange

Xie Jiayu meets up with Ruisheng to vent about their husband. She tells her that he has a good temper, because his little moodiness in front of those he is close to doesn’t count. To explain her view Xie Jiayu gets told how she ended up married to Xiao Wuyi.

• Her husband Xiao Wuyi’s Lieutenant General. He died defending their city. When the city fell Ruisheng was serving as a military doctor. She was captured and held by the enemy for over a month.
• Xiao Wuyi retook the city and rescued her. Shortly afterwards she noticed she was pregnant and her chastity was questioned and the child’s paternity daubted. Both her and her husband’s family forced her to die with her husband.
• Xiao Wuyi found her half-submerged in a freezing river. Then he basically told everyone he raped her to avoid any further actions against her and took her in as a consort.
• After the birth of her son he offered her to give her a new identity for a new start or to stay and make Ziqi a part of the Xiao family. She wanted to stay closer to her husbands grave and help more soldiers so she choose the second option.
• Ruisheng thinks Xiao Wuyi is a good person.
• Xie Jiayu classifies him as strange instead after she also realises that it’s the mother that doesn’t want to let Xiao Yao return to the battlefield and that Xiao Wuyi would rather play the villain than explain himself. Strange indeed.

Night Time Vignettes

Xie Jiayu returns to her night watch and explains to her husband that she would have helped his brother for his own ambitions and his mother, because he called out for her and she brought medicine. She tries to teach him that doing good deeds doesn’t need a reason.

She thinks of him as a friend due to him helping her. But she ends that friendship here and there because it’s a one-way-street with him.

Meanwhile something strange is going on at Honglu Temple. A fruit seller is asked to enter the building despite not having the melon they want. Most likely that was a coded exchange and he is a spy, also frequenting the Xiao families manor.

That’s almost the same bed

Insults and Mind Games

Mu Lianyu and Li Mao visit them due to them hearing about Xiao Wuyi’s fake injury that covers up his blindness. Li Mao is there to inquire about it for the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, while Mu Lianyu wants to check out his competitor.

• Li Mao is not amused about the news that his friend is recuperating in his secondary consort courtyard.
• Mu Lianyu brought gifts for the family, two hounds for Xiao Yao whom he never encountered on the battlefield despite hearing about him having talent in his youths. At least one of the dogs is lame, an obvious insult. Xiao Ju nearly kills the Eagle King right there.
• Xiao Wuyi is waiting for them in the garden, playing blindfolded catch with Xie Jiayu and the dancers. They cover up his ailment very well. Still doesn’t look amused, even being found
• The have a meal in the garden. Mu Lianyu wants to discuss political marriage obviously aiming to bring um Li Lejun. Xiao Wuyi thinks Northern Qin should sent a princess instead and find this discussion useless, because one of them could die in the competition anyway.
• Mu Lianyu further tries to provoke them by talking about captured slaves from Southern Ye becoming live targets. Also about sending the surviving ones to the front row of the battlefield to die by their Southern Ye kin.
• He wants to get taught the pitch pot game, where you throw an arrow into a vessel. He obviously aims at the dancers instead. Xiao Wuyi splits his arrow with his own, impressive task.

Secrets and Spies Rattled by the story about the slaves Xie Jiayu tells Xiao Wuyi that she isn’t Li Fuhua’s biological daughter and that she was adopted from an orphanage. She remembers that a guy from Nothern Qin killed her biological parents.

• She even has a rather good description of him: Full beard, braided hair, longy eyebrows reachhin his temples and a mole on his cheek. Who wants to bet he will appear in a future episode?
• She really wants Xiao Wuyi to beat Mu Lianyu again. But he must be safe as well and return to the battlefield. He calls her his friend.
• He unintentionally reveals that he can see again, but doesn’t answer when he was able to do so. Was it before his arrow throw?
• While Xiao Wuyi wants to know how Mu Lainyu got the news about his injury so fast and where the spy in their manor is Xie Jiayu meets up with Li Mao. Li Mao wants to leave with her as soon as the peace talks are over, most likely also because he recognises that something is shifting between Xiao Wuyi and Xie Jiayu. She tells him that she respects him now and will protect him.

Nobody is related to anyone or they don’t know whom they are related to

Learning Truths

On her way back she encounters her brother-in-law and he gives her his usual medicine against pain for Xiao Wuyi. She shows him her the improved blueprint inspired by Master Yuan. He declines due to Xiao Wuyi not allowing it anyway, so she reveals that Master Yuan spoke of Xiao Wuyi commision similar stirrups before.

Late that night Xiao Yao gets drunk and halfway into a fight because he learned that its indeed his mother that didn’t allow his return to the battlefield. Luckily. He Yuanji is there to pick him up.

Looks like Friendship...

Xiao Wuyi meets with master Yuan, whom he called back from the Northern Border. He wants Cangfeng Forge and all the alcohol as a reward for teaching Xie Jiayu. We don’t learn what is special about that forge, but it sounds special.

Xiao Wuyi calls Xie Jiayu talented and describes her as having the power to change the world, but not knowing it yet herself in front of master Yuan. He wants to be her friend and give her the choices to decide her life for herself. He doesn’t see himself as a choice.

During the stormy night he shelters her from a falling shelve when she tries to rescue the leather for Xiao Yao’s saddle from the rain.

#Episode 10 New Characters this episode:

No new big players here either. Too much action going on to bother with that.

Secret Mission – Part 1

Qing Long and Yan Yue checked out Honglu Temple and what the Northern Qin delegation is up to They report there being a mysterious person in the temple but they can’t get near them. Security will be most lax during the tournament. But Xiao Wuyi needs a pawn for that endeavour.

Rain Scene – Extended Cut

We get back to the scene of him rescuing her from the rain. She twists her ankle and he proves that he can also princess carry her.. Afterwards he puts her ankle back in place. And promises her to have a competition with his brother if she finishes the new gear in time.

Friendly Competition

Xiao Yao does brilliant on the horse and Xiao Wuyi competes with him. Xiao Yao promises Xie Liayu a favour for her help.

• He Yuanji invited their mother to the sparring.
• She lectures Xie Jiayu that men and women can also be friends and she totally isn’t into Xiao Yao. I don’t know who believes that.
• Her philosophy on relationships: While friends can share joy and sorrows, couples have to become each others joy and sorrows.
• Xiao Wuyi loses on purpose to his brother. Seems like Xiao Yao will be the pawn.

That’s a proud brother smile, glad to see something like that on his face once in a while.

/r/relationship_advice

Encouraged by Xie Jianyu He Yuanji asks Xiao Wuyi about his involvement in her husbands death. He wanted to tell him that their engagement was only for the provisions and that he would let He Yuanji go later. Unfortunately that letter was to late but he know presents it to He Yuanji.

She tells him that Xie Jianyu might seem far apart from him, but that they are fellow travellers. Nearly everyone seems to ship them by now.

Xiao Yao seeks out He Yuanji, but doesn’t speak when asked for the reason for his visit. There is something between them and something keeping them apart. Subtle visual representation.

Inspired by the advise to not let things fester unspoken Xiao Wuyi confronts his mother about his brother competing. He doesn’t want to let him suffer a half-existence any longer.

He kowtows slamming his head on the ground… Ouch.

I really love some of the shot composition in the show

Tournament Day

Be Evil, but do it with Style

It gets reported to the Empress Dowager (remember her?) that the other Xiao brother will compete. A pity, because a poisoned arrow was prepared for Xiao Wuyi. Li Lejun overhears that.

Xiao Yao tells the Beifu Army soldiers his brother’s arrow wound relapsed and he will lead them. He has a command token and threatens them with execution if they don’t obey him.

Mu Lianyu accuses the absent Xiao Wuyi of using his brother as a diversion for spying on Honglu Temple. He reveals there is a trap set for that.

The Empress boasts about the poison acting contact with blood when Xiao Yao gets hit by a grazing shot.

But via flashback it’s revealed the Li siblings pulled through and Li Lejun replaced the arrows. For that she disguised herself as a maid sneaked into Mu Lianyus tent and broke the poisoned arrows. He nearly strangles her when he finds her there. But he likes her courage. I fear she just made him interested in her.

• Da, Li Mao’s former guard, gets hit by an arrow.

• Xiao Yao is able to divert one of Mu Lianyu’s arrows with his own.

• There are much more arrows than the three per person talked about in the previous episode in use, I guess we play by different rules?

• Xiao Yao’s right stirrup, the one for his non crippled leg, gets destroyed. He also gets hit in the torso but still makes his last shot.

• He and Mu Lianyu tie with one arrow each, but Xiao Yao’s injury is serious, he falls from the horse.

The Empress Dowager is pissed over Xiao Wuyi missing and nobody being able to find him. And of course of him not dying through her joint plan with the Eagle King. She wants to cancel his reconstruction plans.

Secret Mission – Part 2

Meanwhile Xiao Wuji busts a group of secret Northern Qin agents, that are prepared to spread propaganda via storytellers after the Eagle King wins. Not a very flattering drawing of our ML..

Yun Yao reports to him about the competition and the public sentiment of not wanting to reconcile.

Outplayed

Li Mao offers to compete with the Eagle King to break the tie in the competition, when Xiao Wuyi makes his entrance.

He brings three cages with the 36 secret agents.

He also brings the news that five days ago the Hexi General of Northern Qin, Zhai Shang, rebelled. Instigated by Xiao Wuyi. Mu Lianyu would very likely soon find himself in a two front war, if he doesn’t reconcile with Southern Ye.

They agree to do a tie breaker for the three provinces.

Xiao Wuyi’s vision suddenly worsens again when on horseback. Xie Jiayu notices. So she proposes that Xiao Wuyi compets blind, due to the Eagle King having gone through one round already.

She binds Xiao Wuyi’s eyes and we get a flashback of him training riding blind with drum signals from her. They planned for the possibility of this happening.

Welcome to the Equestrian Vaulting World Championship!

The first two arrows cancel each other out. Xiao Wuji dodges arrows easily and makes one point while standing blind on his horse. That whole sequence is very wild, you need quite some suspension of disbelief. But it’s also fun to watch.

Southern Ye wins, but the Eagle King is a sore loser and attacks Xiao Wuyi. Our male lead wins that fight and doses his oponent with something that will make him suffer for a few days according to Xie Jiayu.

The Grand Tutor notices Li Mao’s slight dissatisfaction with Xiao Wuyi embracing Xie Jiayu and being celebrated. Oh no.

Xiao Wuyi keeps her hair ribbon.

Life Goes On

We get a short status update on everyone’s life in the Xiao mansion:

• Ruisheng mourns her husband Duan Ying.
• He Yuanyi is happy to know her now-husband didn’t kill her lover.
• Li Fuhua reads unopened letters from Xiao Wuyi.
• Xiao Wuyi cares for his brother and tells him that the emperor considers him a hero of Southern Ye and that he can have everything he wants to have. Even the imperial doctor makes an appearance, lead by He Yuanyi, Xiao Yao needs to rest for a while, all his internal organs are injured.
• Xiao Wuyi also reconciles a bit with his mother, she looks after for his palm injury.

Li Mao cares for Xie Jiayu and learns that she is learning lightness techniques from Yan Yue. He notices how she changes around Xiao Wuyi. She doesn’t want to rely on Li Mao on their travels.

The soundtrack brings in some tension. Xie Jiayu designed a sword for Xiao Wuyi. A man like him deserves the best sword in the world. Li Mao concludes that Xie Jiayu desires a strong man and wants to fight too.

That’s one unhappy guy

So… who is the mysterious person in the temple? Was it just one of the 36 spies hiding out there? Is it someone else? I really wanted an answer to that.

👋🏻 Welcome to the third post for Key to the Phoenix Heart, covering episodes 7-8 that were released today (12th of July). I’m excited to co-host this show, enjoying it so far, so let’s see what these episodes bring.

📅 Discussion Schedule: We will attempt to follow iQIYI's VIP release of the episodes and post as it's convenient for us and our time zones. Next up for tomorrow's episodes is me again.

🚨 Some Notes:

• Please use spoiler tags for anything beyond the episodes discussed. Text goes between the greater-than (>) + exclamation (!) symbols (>!) and the exclamation (!) + lesser-than (<) symbols.
• Please keep these specific threads focused on the actual episodes - the plot twists, the performances, and everything happening on screen.  We know there is ongoing discussion surrounding the casting and age-gap elements of the drama. While those external debates are completely valid, let's keep this particular space friendly, respectful, and centered on the on-screen story.

🔗 Helpful Links: Masterpost; Character Flashcards; Ep 1-3; Ep. 4-6

Random Fun Fact: The Chinese title 雀骨translates to “Sparrow Bone”, making this the second Hou Minghao show this year to have a 骨in its title. The other drama is “玉茗茶骨 | Jade Tea Bone” or “Glory” (on paper a 2025 drama, but most of it aired 2026).

#Episode 7 New Characters this episode:

Hong Qi

The fake Xiao Sheng, who requested the automated crossbow from Xie Jiayue. Actually a Eunuch from the palace.

Fun at the Festival

Li Lejun has her own insights on the current situation around their group. She questions if Xiao Wuyi’s friendship with Li Mo can survive the formers ambitions. During their talk Xiao Wuyi notices Liu Yu’e, the maid of Empress Wenxi of the former dynasty in the crowd. Following her he encounters Li Fuhua.

• She greets him as Crown Prince Wenxi, which he doesn’t deny. So we get another secret identity reveal. *She owns one part or one version of the Phoenix Heart Token. *She promises him her loyalty if he divorces Xie Jiayu. At the same time she doesn’t think her daughter should end up with Li Mo either. *She also tries to bet that Prince Qi will not leave the capital with Xie Jaiyu. She tries to bet the Phoenix heart token, but Xiao Wuyi says there is no need for a bet. He doesn’t believe in the power of such tokens.
• The Empress Wenxi seems to have been her former sister in law. So she is Xiao Wuyi’s aunt?

Monumental Rescue

Meanwhile Li Mo tries to save Xie Jiayu from the Empress trap which involves the fake Xiao Sheng making an appearance and luring her to the memorial for the 30,000 dead Beifu Army soldiers. There she, the Young Master of Miraculous Craft, is suspected of destroying the offerings for the dead.

• The Beifu Army soldiers that Xiao Wuyi punished last episode were bought of by the Empress. They start harming civilians, Xiao Aming tries to stop them.
• Xie Jaiyu saves him from the falling monument (it was build susceptible to the heat from the lanterns) via Soul-Chasing-Bomb
• She is accused of blowing up the monument. Which honestly she did, at least the remains. But only because it was already falling and going to harm her brother-in-law.
• Xiao Wuyi arrives and flees with her. The couple that gets confronted together stays together.
• Hong Qi, the fake Xiao Sheng, gets thanked by the Empress for his services but is destined to die. He is a lose end that knows to much. Luckily he gets saved by Qing Long.

Some Understanding

After the rescue Xiao Wuyi and Xie Jaiyu have a heart to heart talk. Or argument. Those two would like some popcorn.

• She accuses him of using her as much as her father and the Empress Dowager do. She sees through him playing along with latter’s plans to get to his own goals.
• She explains to him why her alias as the Young Master of Miraculous Craft is so important to her: It’s something she build herself. Xiao Wuyi promises to clear that title.
• She reveals that she sprinkled some scented powder on the fake Xiao Sheng. That’s also how Qing Long is able to find and rescue him.

Palace Woes

Li Mao and the Grand Tutor play go. The latter tries to awake the appetite for power in Li Mao: Only the player can avoid harm.

In a talk between the siblings Li Lejun questions what fate has against them that the Li siblings are always controlled by outside forces.

Mutiny

The Empress Dowager instructs the Imperial Guard to seize the Beifu Army’s seal. Meanwhile some of the officials work on a proper impeachment for Xiao Wuyi.

• Xiao Wuyi awaits the Imperial Guard and arrests them and the part of Beifu Army that rebel against him.
• Fang Shiba. one of the instigators belonging to Beifu Army, gets executed. The rest only get flogged, not executed.
• Xie Jaiyu presents the 18 weapons she forged as offering for the fallen 18 generals of the Beifu Army. She demonstrates that she could have made an army worthy crossbow, if she had known the crossbow was for the army in the first place.
• The real problem is with the Household Department that took her ‘toy’ crossbow and produced it in quantities for the Beifu Army.
• Xiao Wuyi wants to start a revolution, starting with Beifu Army: Titles based on military merit. Dismissal of hereditary nobles in the Army.

Turning the Tide

Xiao Wuyi is brought to court session all tied up. Everything looks like he will be impeached, but that’s more a dramatic act. Behind the scenes he already presented the Empress Dowager with Imperial Guard Commander Yue Qingyang’s severed head and also brought an alive Hong Qi as leverage to that meeting.

• One of the accusations against him is that he “seized his subordinates widow”. Is this about Ruisheng? He might have married her for protection after her husband died.
• The Empress Dowager is unusual lenient with him, due to him blackmailing her before. So he turns the supposed impeachment in a presentation of his own memorial for an army reform.
• He wants to: Abolish hereditary soldiers, implement recruitment, formalise the garrison system, value humble talent, reduce private troops and unify commands to clarify rewards and punishment.
• Xiao Wuyi also announces that Emperor of Northern Qin wants to send a delegation for peace talks. He and Li Mao are both responsible for the negotiations.

Business Pleasure

Xie Opens a shop in Xiyue restaurant to sell her inventions. With Xiao Wuyi as a backer she can also work on improvements for the army.

• She calls the shop ‘Miraculous Craft’, dropping the Young Master bit. Hiding behind a male alias is over.
• Drunkenly she tells Xiao Wuyi on the way that she was taken in by her mother and father. Is anyone here actually blood related to their parents? We already knew the Grand Tutor isn’t her father by blood but it seems her mother isn’t either.
• She also tries to gently reveal to him that his other wives are into other people. In return he tells her that the prayer tablets are actually something that speaks of either parting in life or separation by death. Her adding Li Mo and herself to that is of course some big foreshadowing. Not really getting that she shares her plans to travel the world with Li Mo when they escape the capital in the future.

#Episode 8 New Characters this episode:

Mu Lianyu

Styled “Eagle King”, important leader of the armed forces of Northern Qin. Also part of the faction that doesn’t want peace.

Liu Zhaolin

Student, likes to protest.

Yuan Xiaoliu

Inventor that takes an instant liking to Xie Jiayu.

That’s a good looking welcoming committee

Northern Troubles

Mu Lianyu and the delegation from Northern Qin arrive. His ‘thoughtful gift’ to his hosts consists of members of the former royal family that were captured 23 years ago. All of them seem to have mentally broken down in their captivity.

That ignites protest from the people of Southern Ye against the peace talks, they feel slighted by the Northerners. Later students protest at Honglu Temple, because the delegation has their quarters there. The ultimately get punished for that by getting 20 strokes each, after Li Mao can’t calm them down.

• Mu Lanyu was the direct opponent of Xiao Wuyi on the battlefield and is obviously salty about being beaten by him. He doesn’t respect Li Mao one bit.

• one of the people igniting the protest is Liu Zhaolin. He Yuanji believes to recognise her dead lover Pei Runheng in him.

• The young emperor of Norhern Qin wants peace, while Mu Lianyu, the Eagle King, doesn’t.

• Xie Jiayu accuses Xiao Wuyi of acting cowardly for not retaliating against the slight. Her youth shows here.

• Li Mao really isn’t happy about Xiao Wuyi’s punishment of the students. Or frustrated he couldn’t persuade them himself despite studying alongside these men for a long time.

That should happen in more cdramas

Wargames

Mu Lianyu suggest a competition to determine the fate of the three Northern Prefectures whose ownership he deems the most main subject in the negotiations. Xiao Wuyi agrees to 'Shoot the Willow on horseback'.

Each country has three people (and horses) with three arrows each When all arrows are shot the country with the most arrows on the target will be the winner. But in the completion they are also allowed to shot people and horses as well.

• Mu Lianyu puts their loss to Southern Ye on the weather, he thinks Northern Qin’s horsemanship and archery are far superior.
• Li Mao reminds the court that these three prefectures were originally territory of Southern Ye. It’s not a sure thing they will win them back this way, but Xiao Wuyi argues that nothing about war and fighting is ever sure.

True Friends...

Xiao Wuyi apologises to Li Mao about the incident at the temple. What he wants most from the peace talks is an actual time of peace, he thinks with three year peace he can pull through the Beifu Army reforms and make the 80% stronger that way. Future wars will be won that way and he wants to beat Northern Qin after that.

Li Mao gets a bit sentimental: The prefectures can be lost, but not Xiao Wuyi. He envies his friend for building his career with his own hands. He asks him if he is worthy to be the Crown Prince of Southern Ye in Xiao Wuyi’s eyes and gets no answer. Ouch.

That’s some compliment.

Who needs enemies with a father like this?

Xie Jiayu and He Yuanji visit the punished students. Xie Jiayu has a bad reunion with her father there. He asks about her mother, but she can’t tell him anything and openly admits she wouldn’t if she knew. He reveals that a northern Qin official proposed to send a member of the royal family to marry into northern Qin,.

He remind her that Li Lejun is the most likely candidate and that Xiao Wuyi would do everything to get the peace he wants. Woah, he is vicious in his manipulation. To help them, he wants Xiao Wuyi to lose. Qing Long overhears most of that.

He Yuanji finds the guy she believed go be Pei Runheng, but he doesn’t recognise her.

Bad Romance

He Yuanji tells Xie Jiayu about her relationship to Pei Runheng. He was the son of the Academy’s headmaster. But she was thrown into a marriage alliance between the Xiao and He family when the Emperor first ascended the throne. He died shortly after she plead for their relationship and love.

• She doesn’t know if the Empress Dowager or Xiao Wuyi is responsible for his death.
• She can’t hate Xiao Wuyi, even if he did it, because shortly afterwards he recaptured her home town which did so much good for so many people that were able to return.
• But she also believes that he only cares about his goals, not about other people.

Big Drama

Xiao Wuyi gets a report that Xie Jiayu replaced all stirrups of his families horse against very loose ones that will make you fall. So they suspect she works for the Grand Tutor, like Qing Long overheard. That collides with Xiao Yao trying to prove his worth as an archer on horseback, where his bad leg matters less.

• Xiao Yao got new stirrups made by Xie Jiayu, but one specially made to help with his injured leg. He also asked for them.

• The underlying conflicts between the brothers come to light and that in full force: Xiao Yao hits his younger brother, because Xiao Wuyi wants to forbid him competing or even trying.

• In the argument Xiao Wuyi reveals he doesn’t trust his brother to win and he trusts Xie Jiayu even less. He reveals that he knows about her talk with her father and carries her home after ordering all her modified saddles and stirrups to be burned.

• They have a big argument where he threatens her quite forcefully. Her arguments that she would never sacrifice three provinces even for her best friend and that there are other ways to sabotage a marriage fall on deaf ears. He on the other hand implies that she is mostly safe because he doesn’t want to lose his best friend over her.

• He forbids her from setting one foot out of her courtyard before the competition.

• Meanwhile Xiao Yao feels left out of everything, he was never told about the reform plans. He wants to compete so bad to prove his worth.

Bad argument, but lovely garden

Guilt and Responsibility

Xiao Wuyi goes to shoot some arrows. And looks very cool doing so.. He feels immensely guilty that Xiao Yao was injured saving him as a child. His adoptive mother was enraged about that (and very cruel, look at the poor boy). She even accused him that his family, the Li, were trying to kill another of her son. He lives under the identity of the one she already lost.

• So Li Fuhua has to be his aunt on his father’s (the former Emperors site) with them sharing a surname. So is he also related to Li Mao and his sister in some way?
• No wonder he is never called Xiao Sheng, that is the name of the lost son, while Wuyi is the courtesy name that only belongs to him.
• He learned about his heritage back then and the Shadow Envoys of the old dynasty visited him as well. They ultimately want to beat Northern Qin and return to the old capital. His foster father Xiao Ju is part of that group. Does everyone of them posses a Phoenix Heart Token? Seems like he was burdened with a lot of expectations as a small boy. That explains part of his world-view quite well.
• His foster mother is still closer to everyone else in the family than to him, even the newly arrived Xie Jiayu.
• She is also the reason Xiao Yao is not allowed to return to the border. Most likely out of fear of losing him as well.
• Xiao Yao tries to ride again, but its hard with normal stirrups. He Yuanji wants to stop him, he gets angry with her.

Home Alone

Two days into her house arrest Xie Jiayu is bored as hell. She tries to break out of her courtyard, succeeds but encounters Yuan Xiaoliu who takes her as an apprentice immediately. She isn’t very impressed by him until he improves the stirrup design she did for Xiao Yao and points out some fatal weaknesses.

• He seems to have been sent by Xiao Wuyi. Or at least talked with him about Xie Jiayu.
• He knows her mother.
• He designed the Fire Thunderstone, which she finds useless. Didn't open the gate.
• He also presents as a fortune teller. According to him her mother has not much time left on this world and Xiao Wuyi will marry three times, because her husband will die young.

They already look like master and student

Cliffhanger

The fatal flaw in her stirrup design leads to Xiao Wuyi getting injured after he decides to actual test them for his brother. He falls, hits his head and his vision gets very blurry once more.

#Endnotes

So much happens.

This is me after watching and taking notes

I’m quite interested to see who is also not the actual child of their parents. Or who is actually related to each other at the end of the show. That would make for an interesting betting pool.

What’s your favourite plot twist or identity revelation in the story so far?

Welcome to the last instalment of The Ingenious One hosted drama rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

Masterpost | All episodes | Character flashcards

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He learned from the Best

#Episode 35: Turn the Tide

• Madame Kou is a badass and averts the assassination attempt. Until her son acts like her saviour, only to stab her. She dies and Kou Yuanjie is devastated, not about killing his own mother, but because he fears his sisters wrath.

• Shu Yanan took an antidote and only played to be under the influence of the Heart Devouring Powder. She also poisoned Nangong Fang with Hidden Cold Scale, which stops breathing for three days. She also emasculated him, at least partly via stabbing the right parts.

• Questioned by Prince Fu Yun Xiang admits that Nangong Fang was responsible for the massacre of his family. That lowers the prince's suspicions. Prince Fu orders Yun Xiang back to Nandu to prepare for the upcoming rebellion. Shu Yanan is to go with him.

• Ming Zhu’s is not happy with the situation. She is to be left behind at Yuntai sect, but insist on going to Yangzhou. Later she asks Yun Xiang for a way to stop her father but also get him out of this alive. Yun Xiang answers vaguely.

• Meanwhile Su Mingyu purchased military supplies, deceiving the officials Prince Fu had placed in Nandu by selling of his family’s assets to purchase even more. That makes him the sole soure of the supplies and then he burns down the warehouse holding them.

• Ke Menglan brings money to Jishan Hall, so that Tian Hu is able to run the orphanage for a while.

• Kou Yuanjie learns about the breath stopping poison left behind in Shu Yanan’s room, concludes her using it on Nangong Fang and thus falls into her trap, chasing after her.

• During the pursuit Kou Yuanjie attacks Shu Yanan's group but Liu Gongquan arrives in time to rescue Yun Xiang. Shu Yanan kills Kou Yuanjie in front of their mother's coffin.

• Liu Gongquan tells them that there is an edict to make Lingyuan Sect disciples into non-rebels if they stay out of the current conflict. So Shu Yanan has to leave to bring the branches under her control.

• Shu Yanan is tired of all the intrigues and will dismiss the Lingyuan secret soldiers as a last act to help Yun Xiang. Afterwards she wants to stay apart from him, thinking that he will have many proposals by the court to join after quelling the rebellion. He gives her a silk pouch as a parting gift, which certainly has some neat instructions.

A very somber Goodbye

#Episode 36: As If We Meet Again

• Su Mingyu destroyed several warehouses and is now a wanted man, on the run with his wife.

• Prince Fu learns about Yun Xiang’s treachery.

• Nangong Fang wakes up. Yun Xiang, Empress Guo and Liu Gongquan stage a play of divided opinions to make a deal with him so he will convince the pirate leader to stop helping Prince Fu. Yun Xiang gives up his personal revenge for that.

• Princess Mingzhu asks Liu Gongquan to spare her father, but he refuses because he must protect the country. He wants to protect her by forcing her to stay, but she chooses to return to her father and even threatens her own life to do so.

• Su Mingyu and Ke Menglan aren’t able to escape Nandu because the city gates are closed. While Su Mingyu puts up a good fight they are ultimately rescued by a not so dead Jin Biao (Yeah! He was saved by Shu Yanan). They are also aided by Liu Gongquan and the surprise arrival of Qian Rong.

• Nangong Fang convinces the pirate leader Master Guo to withdraw his forces, leaving Prince Fu without the support he needs. He does that because he believes Yun Xiang wanted them to attack.

• Yun Xiang meets Prince Fu for a last confrontation and explains how he planned everything. Prince Fu realises he has lost and admits that Yun Xiang has outsmarted him. Later he sets his mansion on fire and dies. Before his death, he asks Yun Xiang to keep Princess Ming Zhu safe. Yun Xiang has her rescued by Jin Biao.

• One Month later: The Empress prepares to return to the capital and her newly enthroned son. Liu Gongquan refuses a title and wants to serve his country by guarding the coast. Yun Xiang volunteers to help him, especially against Nangong Fang at Master Guo’s side. But that turns out to be a ruse to get the Empress from bestowing other positions on him. Lou Gongquan reminds him that he still owes him some help in the future.

• Jin Biao, Su Mingyu and Yun Xiang become sworn brothers, before Jin Biao reunites with Tian Hu (did they wait one month for that?). Su Mingyu has a short reunion and a meal with his sister. Yun Xiang leaves Nandu with Ming Zhu and brings her to Lou Gongquan.

• The last scene has Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan reuniting.

#New characters in these episodes: None

#Various Developments and Thoughts:

Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan

Theirs is certainly not an easy breezy romance. Both come with a lot of baggage and trauma, which doesn’t disappear magically for a Happy Ending. They lose a lot before and during the drama. But in the end both decide to try a new start with each other instead of on their own. Not that we see much of that, their reunion is nearly as vague as The Untamed’s. Still very fitting for them.

Of course this is not a romance focused drama. But outside of that they also have to do a restart. Shu Yanan more due to outside circumstances (her family’s tragedy), while Yun Xiang has some real character growth in stepping away from his revenge that is not completely fulfilled by the end of the show. Maybe they are even perfect to help each other heal further.

A Pirate’s Life for Me

I must admit the whole plan around Nangong Fang and the Pirates made my brain hurt. I get what they were doing, but it has so many layers of ‘He will think that, when we tell him this, so he will do this, but actually we wanted him to do this so he will do it differently because he thinks we wanted him do that other thing’ that I sometimes thought I was missing something.

Family vs. State

This is not well thought out, but it’s interesting how Ming Zhu and Liu Gongquan embody diametrical positions on loyalty. For her family stands above everything else, she would even die with her father. Liu Gongquan on the other hand is the showcase of the good official that puts his duty to the people above everything else.

Not an unusual thing to show. What makes it more interesting to me is how Ming Zhu is introduced as this very carefree person, that wants to do the whole detective thing to help. Or is it after all more out of boredom? Not sure about that, but reality catches up fast with her. That mirrors Su Mingyu’s trying out the full Jianghu experience a bit.

I would really like to know if and how she recovers from how things end up.

Season 2

So I read barely anything about the upcoming season story wise. But our characters from season 1 (who may not all return as main players or at all) certainly have some points to work with.

• Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan are either roaming the Jianghu or settle down somewhere quietly. Their respective sects are gone, they seem to be free. Yun Xiang has an obligation to Liu Gongquan though. That would be an easy way to bring them back into action.

• Jin Biao and Tian Hu most likely take care of the kids together, but I’m not sure about Jin Biao really settling down completely. He could easily be written back to have things to do outside of that.

• Su Mingyu and Ke Menglan have to really rebuild their businesses in Nandu. Maybe they will start a family of their own. I doubt that Nandu will be the setting of season 2 so they might be out for it.

• Liu Gongquan has a clear cut task. Not sure about what’s going on with him and the Princess.

• Master Guo, aided by Nangong Fang might stir up trouble in the future. Yun Xiang said he let got of his vendetta, but I doubt it’s the same from the other side.

• The Empress Dowager and her young son on the throne might have some problems in the future. There are always problems at court.

• I wonder how big of a time skip we will see from season 1 to 2.

#The End Thanks everyone for reading and commenting. I hope you (or future readers) enjoyed our rewatch project a little bit. Thanks also to /u/Lotus_swimmer for being such an excellent co-host and planner of schedules. I really enjoyed going through everything for a second time and might appreciate the drama even more.

Hope to see you for Season 2!

Welcome to the next instalment of The Ingenious One hosted drama rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

Masterpost | All episodes | Character flashcards

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#Episode 31: The Devilish Trick

• Prince Fu, following Yun Xiang’s instructions, wants Nangong Fang to sort out all his businesses in Yangzhou instead of relying on the Prince’s money. That way he has to create an account book with all of them, which will be Yun Xiang’s target. For this help against Nangong Fang Prince Fu will help the Su Family. Later the Princess delivers them some money.
• Yun Xiang allies himself with Kou Yuanjie to get this list of businesses, which will benefit both of them.
• Mo Bufan and Kang Qiao are summoned back by their master. Turn out that most Yuntai Sect members are returning. There is a rumour that their master will reveal his face to them.
• Jin Biao learns about Yun Xiang’s past, a prerequisite from him for him travelling to Yangzhou with Yun Xiang.
• Liu Gongquan returns from his investigation and Li Bo brings him up to speed about everything that happened after he left. *Nangong Fang concludes that Yun Xiang is after a list of his businesses. He sends Shu Yanan to Yangzhou to destroy the accounts but secretly plans to leave Nandu anyway.
• After Yun Xiang memorises and writes down the list of businesses Kou Yuanjie double crosses them: Jin Biao under control of the Heart Devouring Powder gets instructed to kill Yun Xiang and then himself.
• Yun Xiang is fast enough to partly de-poison but it doesn’t work well. It just clears his minds. He tries to take him to get the real antidote, but they are attacked by Nangong Fang’s men. He gets back with the antidote, but Jin Biao nearly kills him under the growing influence of the poison.

She looks so good in green

#Episode 32: Forever Farewell to Old Friends

• After Jin Biao regains a bit of his senses in the last minute Yun Xiang tries to take them both to the waiting boat. But Nangong Fang’s men attack again which leads to a situation where Yun Xiang has to flee alone. Jin Biao has a dramatic last stand fight on the pier, remembering Tian Hu and the kids he cared so much about before getting killed.
• Shu Yanan only arrives to see the aftermath of all that happened in Yangzhou. Nangong Fang’s underlings try to hold her there under pretence but she leaves.
• Yun Xiang, back in Nandu, gets handed Jin Biao’s sword sheath, the only thing left on the riverside besides blood. He brings it back to the gambling house, shares a drink with it and also swears brotherhood to a hallucination of his lost friend.
• Yun Xiang tries to meet Prince Fu but gets told by Li Bo that the Prince left Nandu the day before (without getting the list of businesses). Turns out Prince Fu played him with that.
• Liu Gongquan tells him while Nangong Fang was part of the land grab, the person behind him is the real culprit. Prince Fu was taking out eight censors of the Censorate that opposed him, one of them Yun Xiang’s granduncle. That’s the real reason his whole family died. The Prince also plans to rebel against his brother and Liu Gongquan wants to ally with Yun Xiang to prevent that.
• The Kou family discusses the Nangong Fang’s business list. Shu Yanan things this is a trap. Madame Kou sides with her son to make a fast move in light of Yun Xiang not being dead and also having the information in his head. She doesn’t let her son got to deal with this personally though.
• Yun Xiang reminiscence about Liansheng House being his favourite place in Nandu before giving Su Mingyu and Ke Menglan all his assets to it and also to the Tang gambling houses. He also gives them a playbook to keep the Su family safe from being accused of association with him in the future, putting all the blame on himself. They say their goodbyes.
• Yun Xiang arrives at the Yuntai Sect headquarters. The atmosphere there is very weird, he also was summoned back later than the rest. Speaking with Mo Bufan and Kang Qiao he questions their masters identity.
• The Kou family learns that all of the 2,000 elite fighters that were sent out against Nangong Fang were decimated. Also, a secret letter from Yuntai Sect arrives.
• Prince Fu is not happy with Nangong Fang giving Yun Xiang a hard time. His daughter witnesses some of their discussions and learns that her father was the one who once ordered Nagong Fang to join Lingyuan Sect. He confronts her with the idea of an uprising and tries to paint it as the only option left to assure her safety.

#New characters in these episodes: Gu Yuechen

Another member of Yuntai Sect. Is she also the first female one we encounter? At least the first named one.

Zhong Beidou

Yuntai Sect's Yanwu Master. Kang Qiao trained under him.

#Various Developments and Thoughts:

I found this two episodes much harder to discuss without slipping into spoilers. I guess that is only natural with the drama nearing the climax and resolution.

Acknowledging

I know the first time watching I liked Jin Biao before this episode. He is a very likeable character. The slightly jolly Jianghu uncle/big brother that also kills people for money. But his confrontation with Yun Xiang in episode 31 about his past and all that Jin Biao was not told through the course of the drama made him special to me. He might not be able to follow Yun Xiang along on all of his brainy schemes but he gets him emotionally. Very fitting that Yun Xiang has this whole “I’m Luo Wenjia” confession (though confession isn’t the right word here, the viewer and some other characters already know. Acknowledgment by speaking it aloud?) in front of him.

Yun Xiang does a lot of admitting in these two episodes. And he judges himself the hardest for all he has done and tries to make this at least into an asset: Giving Su Mingyu and Ke Minglan plausible deniability in case they should get accused in the future. No that our grown up Jianghu wannabe is very happy about that.

Yuntai Sect

For all the discussion about the sect we never spent much time there. We see Yun Xiang leave in the first episode and as far as I can remember we never get long flashbacks that are set there despite having three members of the sect around for long stretches of the show. I like how that makes the whole place strange to the viewer, as strange as our Nandu trio of sect disciples have to feel, because something is really of about the organisation they dedicated quite a bit of their life too.

And it’s such a nice looking place too

Random screenshots

Dishevelled Yun Xiang returns

(Tragic situation, but that look does something for me. Maybe it activates the protection/I-can-fix-him-mode?)

At least he really looks like he’s been through an ordeal

I’m glad he didn’t try to touch the hallucination like he did with Shu Yanan

That would have been painful.

What’s the most memorable moment from these two episodes for you? Though maybe not the best question with all the trauma we get here.

Welcome to the next instalment of The Ingenious One hosted drama rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

Masterpost | All episodes | Character flashcards

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Heartbreak Video Montage to start the episode

#Episode 27: Lianyi Is the Swordswoman

• Liu Gongquan seems to have a hidden purpose for his trip to Nandu and would really like the Princess gone so that she doesn’t get involved.
• The moved-up attack on Kou Yuanjie’s hideout leads to Bi Yuewu getting wounded by crossbow bolt. One of the Shadowmen cleverly gets his revenge on her by constantly letting Liu Gongquan know about her whereabouts. Kou Yuanjie escapes.
• Yun Xiang is in big moping and drinking mode about Shu Yanan vanishing without saying goodbye.
• Su Mingyu and Mo Bofan visit the person that has the stolen tributary clothes. Turns out to be Guan Haizhu, Leader of the river pirates, last seen in the confrontation of Qi Tianfeng. The escaping soldiers from the boat used the cloths as a pledge to become pirates under him. Su Mingyu negotiates himself out of his impending kidnapping with some lies that would make Yun Xiang proud.
• Mo Bufan learns that Shu Yanan is from Lingyuan Sect and is not happy that Kang Qiao and Yun Xiang never told him. Yun Xiang gets drunk some more while visiting and
• The Kou siblings meet up and Shu Yanan gets a whole new outfit and a new introduction under her birth name Kou Lianyi.
• The boat that arrives to get them out of Nandu instead brings their mother for a visit and also as a surprise guest: Nangong Fang.
• They have a very tense dinner. Kou Yuanjie gets his right to use the young master seal revoked, has to return to Jiangbei (everything north of the Yangtze river)) and is not allowed to cross the river without her order.
• Shu Yanan has a heart to heart with her mother about the Lingyuan Sect power dynamics. Her mother wants her to follow Nangong Fang back to Nandu to see how he deals with the Yuntai Sect.

Another guy who never got a hug growing up

#Episode 28: The Man in the Fog of Yuntai

• Liu Gongquan arrests the 32 missing soldiers from the towboat after Yun Xiang tips him of about their location. On the night of the incident they were poisoned on the boat and when they woke up the silver was gone. The detective concludes that this was done by Lingyuan Sect’s Dragon Scale Fragrance.
• During a Chamber of Commerce meeting Su Mingyu announces that Mo Bufan wants to take over the Tang gambling houses. The other members are cautious to invest (due to the governments involvement), but donate small sums. Su Mingyu plays coy about being chairman and how investing would look like taking advantage of his position. Overall he manipulates the Chamber’s members more than they realise, a true pupil on Yun Xiang.
• Mo Bufan and a drunk Yun Xiang have a talk about their sect. Uncle Mo asks Yun Xiang to think about the fact that their master is so secretive while the relationship with the court has cooled down. And what if Lingyuan Sect having Yuntai Sect skills is due to someone actively trying to blur the boundaries between the two?
• Madame Kou tries to correct her sons ways and sends him on an errand mission. That ends with Kou Yuanjie killing a long time confidant of hers just to bring his mother heartache.
• Nangong Fang and Shu Yanan have an awkward carriage ride back to Nandu. He wants to deal with everyone there she secretly cares about.
• Liu Gongquan’s and Yun Xiang’s final deal: Liu Gongquan investigates the Luo family village massacre. For that Yun Xiang will owe him a favour.
• They visit Bi Yuewu in the dungeon, who has freshly bitten her own tongue off.
• Yun Xiang wants to know why Jin Biao is still there despite his debt being cleared and him being known as a lone wolf. After finding his new friends in Nandu Jin Biao doesn’t want to go back to living life like it has no tomorrow. He can live his life differently now, not just hope for that in the next life.
• Shu Yanan visits a once again indulging in alcohol Yun Xiang in his rooms.

#New characters in these episodes: None this time around.

#Various Developments and Thoughts: It’s rather hot here and my brain is melting. Forgive me the shorter part here.

Generally we are still in the set-up phase for the last arc/confrontations:

• Liu Gongquan goes investigating the Luo family village massacre, while there also seems to be something up with Prince Fu, Princess Ming Zhu’s father.
• Mo Bufan and Yun Xiang really set themselves up for a confrontation with their sect master and Mo Bufan
• The Kou family’s problems destabilise Lingyuan Sect quite a bit, especially Kou Yuanjie’s hot headed actions.
• Nangong Fang comes to Nandu to challenge not only Yun Xiang, but also to deal with the Su family and Mo Bufan and his bank.
• Shu Yanan/Kou Lianyi also returns to Nandu and seeks out Yun Xiang
• Su Mingyu grows into his role as head of the Su family and the Chamber of Commerce
• Jin Biao has set-up his orphanage and reflects on his changed life. Much to early for a happy ending though in terms of episodes left.

Picture Party

She actually packed some more princess-y clothes (I also love that dark blue outfit Liu Gongquan wears)

Happy Couple Number 1

Not yet a Couple, but happy (so far)

Yun Xiang looks like he needs some popcorn with that alcohol

Snack Time is Tanghulu with Uncle Mo instead

Dishevelled hangover Yun Xiang needs a small picture gallery:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

First time watching I never expected him to be the one so emotionally wounded.

What situation are you waiting for the most to be resolved at the moment?

Welcome to the next instalment of The Ingenious One drama hosted rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

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Weather as Gloomy as the Mood of these Episodes

#Episode 23: The Detective Cracks the Mysterious Case

• Magistrate Shao has no interest in investigating the Water Ghost Case. In fact all the officials in Nandu blame each other over the missing tributary silver but no one is willing to do something.
• The case is a strange one with 30 missing soldiers and no single clue where the heavy load of silver and cloths went.
• Kou Yuanjie seems to be behind everything, he asks Ye Xiao for help handling the silver but more so to get him in trouble through that. The silver is reforged on a boat.
• Kou Yuanjie and Shu Yanan collude on that, she drops hints about Ye Xiao hiring silver smith in front of Yun Xiang. He assumes that they will use the Tang gambling houses to launder the money in its smaller reforged form.
• Shu Yanan left the sect and her mother (the Lingyuan Sect Master) and brother behind three years ago because she was engaged to Nangong Fang. As an attempt of her mother to control him. Shu Yanan promised to find another way to eliminate Nangong Fang’s faction in the sect.
• The imperial security office group visit Magistrate Shao, who doesn’t want to let them investigate. Fortunately the Princess has some indiscretion of his in the backhand which gives them free reign (and Magistrate Shao’s house).

#Episode 24: When I Heartbreakingly Miss You

• Mo Bufan and Yun Xiang met. The government opened the market again to lure out the silver thieves.
• Kang Qiao finds it suspicious that Shu Yanan was the first with the clue about the silversmiths, not the Nandu born Shadowmen that are all over the city. His suspicion of her seems also increased by his anger of losing four of his men.
• Kou Yuanjie let the men be killed because Yun Xiang’s group was investigating too fast and he doesn’t wants the silver to be lost with Ye Xiao’s capture or death.
• Yun Xiang’s suspicion against Shu Yanan grows, after he discovers her securing her abandoned room by putting a bit of hair on the top of her door. Late she discovers that way that someone was in her room. Nobody speaks about it openly.
• The only trailleft to the silver is the charcoal that is needed for melting it down. Yun Xiang and his group follow that clue but are shadowed by Liu Gongquan and the government troops.
• Yun Xiang learns about the governments, especially Liu Gongquan’s involvement and lets them start their attack on the silver producing boat.

#New characters in these episodes: Kou Yan

Lingyuan Sect Master, Mother of Shu Yanan (>!Kou Lianyi!<) and Kou Yuanjie

#Various Developments and Thoughts:

You get a faction and you get a faction…

I really like the internal strife in the Lingyuan Sect that nobody outside really knows about but that affects quite a bit of the happenings around Yun Xiang. After all the whole relationship between him and Shu Yanan seems to have started because she wanted to use him (or someone from Yuntai Sect) against Nangong Fang. Who is also a fiance she doesn’t want. Perfect to let the guy you are actual into handle the one you aren’t.

But while we see more divides between groups it’s interesting that Kou Yuanjie ponders about Lingyuan and Yuntai Sect begin to use tactics of the other groups. Of course that seems a bit like retreating to the point before both sects split in the first place.

New Protagonist

Liu Gongquan feels a bit like the protagonist that is too late to his own show. He seems like quite the archetypal leading man in one of those procedural court dramas that has to travel to the countryside to tackle a case that also interferes with the Imperial families politics.

Him arriving with Li Bo (the trusty sidekick, that is not as brilliant as the protagonist, but more hands-on and martial artist-y) and Princess Ming Zhu (quirky member of the Imperial family that doesn’t have much practical experience of the world outside of the palace walls, but brings her name/position and some insider knowledge to the table) reinforces this impression even further.

At this time in the show it’s still open if this group will clash with our true protagonists or if there will be reluctant cooperation.

Playing Cat and Mouse

Shu Yanan and Yun Xiang play a game of cat and mouse with each other. At the end of episode 24 both know that there are (new) suspicions between them, but of course all of that it not spoken aloud. Yun Xiang seems to still want to trust her, otherwise he wouldn’t test her like with gifting her a new hair pin, while the situation feels like he might also pull out a knife on her.

The ambivalence is strong. Shu Yanan seems to care a lot about him, but we as the viewer also know that their first meeting most likely wasn’t very coincidental and she seems to use him as her personal weapon against Nangong Fang since day one. Or is that just how she presents this to her brother? It’s all a bit murky, which makes it interesting to follow along for me.

Yun Xiang seems to go by ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ by letting her take part in their operation. Though it would also be instantly telling to exclude her.

I’m quite sure they are both truthful in their wish to have all that manoeuvring end and to be with each other under different circumstances.

Great moment to showcase who is under suspicion at the moment

Less screenshots this time. But anyone else fascinated by how tangled (even more) everything gets with each episode?

Welcome to the next instalment of The Ingenious One drama hosted rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

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Not a tribunal I would want to face

#Episode 19: The Die is Cast

• Yun Xiang loses the last bet, but he wins so much money against Tang Xiao that he gets three things for waiving half of his winnings: 1. He doesn’t have to become a servant to the Tang family 2. Jin Biao gets freed 3. He gets the document that elevates Ke Menglan to freed status
• Shu Yanan also demands (and gets) an antidote for Tian Hu, who gets rescued this way
• Jin Biao and Shu Yanan fight against Zhong and Meizhu and kill them. Shu Yanan’s hair pin is broken in that fight.
• Mo Bufan and Yun Xiang meet with Tang Xiao. Yun Xiang learns more about his villages destruction and that Su Linghe, Su Mingyu’s father was involved in the scheme that lead to the destruction.

Hair pin broken, free flowing hair Shu Yanan unlocked!

#Episode 20: Huairou, the Murderer?

• After reassuring himself that Jin Biao and Shu Yanan lived through their fight Yun Xiang dives into the Nandu’s Chamber of Commerce archives.
• He finds documents that link Su Linghe to the land grabbing scheme and confronts Su Huairou about it. She denies her father’s ultimate responsibility.
• Tang Xiao dies appropriately gruesome after being confronted by the Kou Yuanjie, the young master of Lingyuan Sect about his failure to deal with Yun Xiang and embezzling money from Lingyuan Sect.
• Liansheng House gets delivered the missing money from the bets won by ‘Tang Xiao’ but Shu Yanan refuses to accept it from a disguised Kou Yuanjie, whom she recognises
• He turns out to be her younger brother

#New characters in these episodes:

Kou Yuanjie

Young Master of the Lingyuan Sect. Seems to have a bit of a conflict with the Chief of the sect. >!Also Yun Xiang’s potential future brother in law, which might not look good to Yuntai Sect.!<

Bi Yuewu

Another member of Lingyuan sect. The stabby and throat slicing kind. Answers directly to Kou Yuanjie.

Nangong Fang

The Chief of Yuntai Sect. Only has a short appearance in a beautiful room. Gets news about everything though.

#Various Developments and Thoughts:

The Luo Family’s Village So the story so far is: Ten years ago a rumour was started by Su Linghe the court would lift the sea ban. Businessmen from Nandu hurried to the east coast to buy land. Some land was acquired by force. Guanghui bank got big by giving loans for this land purchases. Tang Xiao collaborated with Wen Cong to buy land. The Luo family wouldn’t budge due to their ancestors grave being there.

A guy called Sheriff Liu spread the rumours about the Luo village being pirates so that soldiers where sent to attack it. He got a promotion for killing the ‘pirates’, sent to the front line in Fujian, where he got killed by real pirates. That is karma I guess. But Tang Xiao’s involvement and the troupes being sent seem to be Su Linghe’s doing.

Love and Servitude

Ke Menglan destroys the document that could set her free from her lowly status after Su Mingyu assures her that he doesn’t care for her status at all. While one could see this as a big romantic gesture (she more or less binds her fate to his love for her) I don’t really get it. Wouldn’t it be much easier for them to be together from a societal standpoint with her being freed? Even with her father’s background?

Am I missing something about the system? Especially after we get that heart breaking flashback of a young Ke Menglan being separated from her mother who wanted her to do anything to free herself. Maybe I just don’t get Ke Menglan’s point of view on all of this. So instead of a big official wedding Su Mingyu and her do the whole elopment/marry each other alone thing.

(Found) Family

We had a lot of clues along the way that Shu Yanan’s family background might not be true. So it’s not really that surprising that she has a connection to Lingyuan Sect, with her brother being an important member of that organisation.

At the same time we get a nice moment that shows off her and Ke Menglan’s friendship. Or Jin Biao and her bantering. And her and Yun Xiang flirting. Most likely the better family.

Endnotes:

We obviously are starting the next arc with Tang Xiao being discarded and a bunch of Lingyuan Sect members introduced to the playing field. Anything you are looking forward to? Or something from the earlier arcs you still need closure on?

Welcome to the next instalment of The Ingenious One drama hosted rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

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Surprise Proposal

#Episode 15: Heart Devouring Poison

• Mo Bufan gets task by Yuntai Sect’s master to report on Yun Xiang.
• Su Mingyu confronts Yun Xiang over the silk incident and is painfully sincere about everything. He also asks to be Yun Xiang’s disciple, which he can’t become officially due to sect rules.
• Tian Hu gets drugged by one of the new workers with Heart Devouring Power that makes her think Tang Xiao is her master. She becomes a mole at Liansheng House for him.
• At the same time he blackmails Ke Menglan with her elevation certificate. She exchanges the normal dice sets of Liansheng House with rigged dices. Yun Xiang knows about her being blackmailed. It’s unclear if he also knows about Tian Hu’s condition.
• Jin Biao gets trapped, drugged by Meizhu and Zhong and brought to Tang Xiao. He gets questioned, but has not many useful information. Unsurprisingly he is also too principled to work for Tang Xiao even for double the wage.
• Tang Xiao’s backers turn out to be Lingyuan Sect, who don’t want any further contact with him unless he beats Yun Xiang. Mysterious Mystery Man Appearance

#Episode 16: A Life-and-Death Battle

• The big Liansheng House opening brings many guests with gifts. One of them is Tang Xiao with Jin Biao’s sword. That gives him an instance meet-and-greet with Yun Xiang and they agree to gamble over who will be the future gambling king of the region.
• The stakes are: If Yun Xiang loses he’ll become Tang Xiao’s servant. Tang Xiao bets half of the 17 gambling houses his family owns. They agree on three rounds of different games.
• Shu Yanan leaves to look for Jin Biao. She finds him in a cellar of one of Tang Xiao’s places but can’t free him for the time being. He is looked up in an extra secure cage. She escapes drugged by the Drunken Dragon Poison.
• The first round Tang Xiao plays dirty by more or less betting the life of one of his servant girls. Yun Xiang rescues her by losing the round.
• The 2nd round the do an easy level word guessing game: Tang Xiao writes down one of the season and Yun Xiang guesses the right one.
• Yun Xiang proposes for the third round to be bigger: If Liansheng House can make more revenue in the next three days than Tang gambling houses he wins.

#New characters in these episodes: Ye Xiao

A member of Linguyan Sect, that seems to be the usual contact for Tang Xiao.

#Various Developments and Thoughts: (Sorry, a bit lighter on this part today. It’s a very busy week.)

Empathy

I really like Yun Xiang’s empathy for Ke Menglan. He knows how important the elevation certificate has to be for her and acknowledges that. And he gets that she would have to make a decision between friendship and freedom, if they would confront her about it.

At the same time he recognises how fragile this moment is for her and Su Mingyu’s relationship. He knows keeping Su Mingyu out of it is for the best, because he would act much to impulsive about all of this. Of course he would still use her to feed Tang Xiao false informations. It’s Yun Xiang after all.

Poor Ke Menglan, the joy about becoming manager was very short lived.

Qi Tianfeng vs. Tang Xiao

While Qi Tianfeng certainly wasn’t an angel and destroyed lives, we also learn that he genuinely cared about his men and their families.

Tang Xiao doesn’t. Especially not for the women in his employ. Compared to Yun Xiang’s first opponent he is portrayed as much more unhinged and despicable: One woman kills herself after unsuccessfully trying to escape three times from him. He tests his drugs freely on them and nearly kills one girl for the first bet.

Clearly there is only one sane person in the picture.

And I guess Tang Xiao really likes to crouch down. The character has a very distinctive physicality that makes him seem even more unpredictable, well played by Liu Di.

New Sect

First on-screen appearance of someone from Lingyuan Sect. If you can’t remember what they are all about, the first discussion post has you covered.

More Poison

Mo Bufan recognises Shu Yanan was poisoned by Drunken Dragon and asks how she escaped. She explains it by taking medicine to delay the effect before she went for Jin Biao.

So another Dragon Poison, after we got Swimming Dragon and Red Dragon during the Jishan Hall fight. Shu Yanan sure seems very well versed in those.

Misc

• They lined up so well by height.

• Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan continue being very cute with each other. Though he doesn’t get a goodbye kiss.

• I need more snarky men with hats commentary. I enjoyed this short Mo Bufan and Qian Rong team-up immensly.

• I totally didn’t recognise Liu Guanlin while watching No Pain No Gain and just very recently put together (like last night) that our favourite swordsman also plays this guy.

How do you think Yun Xiang won the word guessing game? Has it something to do with Su Mingyu and that shoulder squeeze?

Welcome to the next instalment of The Ingenious One drama hosted rewatch. There will be discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. /u/Lotus_swimmer and I will alternate in hosting these.

Please be mindful of spoilers and about tagging them in the discussions as well.

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This is not the face of a woman who knew she was acting as a diversion

#Episode 11: Sentiments Blooming in Moonlight

• The situation in Nandu gets tense when rumours about the destroyed silk caravan reach the town. Some merchants try to get their bond money back prematurely. Qi Tianfeng thinks he has won.
• Yun Xiang gets a threatening visit by Qian Rong, who takes protecting his love Su Huairou very seriously. He gives a little demonstration how good of a martial artist he is by countering the ‘Ten Breaths’ technique effortlessly.
• The silk arrives via river and in a nightly cloak-and-dagger operation. The caravan was only a diversion.
• Su Mingyu, Jin Biao and Shu Yanan return. They captured Xie Guang, a member of the Cao Sect, that set fire to the silk.
• Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan have confrontation that leads to them giving in to their feelings. They kiss. There is some steam to imply all the off screen events

#Episode 12: The Mastermind

• Qi Tianfeng tries to resolve his debt with Mo Bufan via gifting him rare items/treasures he can sell. Mo Bufan refuses and remind him that he now owns Qi Tianfeng and Cao Sect completely.
• Kang Qiao gets injured during the ensuing fight with Qi Tianfeng. Ouch, that arm break was nasty. But the fight was cool and those reflection shots looked good. Qi Tianfeng, also injured, flees and goes into hiding.
• Su Mingyu suffers flashbacks and reacts very badly to the robes Ke Menglan gifted him being permanently stained by blood. He destroys them by washing them to harshly.
• Mo Bufan inspects the Cao Sects headquarters. Tang Xiao visits and unsuccesfully tries to get the money he lent Qi Tianfeng back.
• Liansheng house renovations continue. In the future they’ll concentrate on people gambling with smaller sums instead of directly competing with the Tang gambling houses for rich gamblers.
• Su Huairou confronts Yun Xiang about everything that happened and implies harshly that she and the Su family won’t be pawns in his games going forward.
• Shu Yanan has a bit of a breakdown due to her guilt over the dead escort agency fighters: Her setting the fire to the warehouse started all this.

He needs some popcorn to go with his tea

New characters in this episodes:

None. With all the twist and turns it’s quite nice to focus on a core cast of characters for this arc.

#Various Developments and Thoughts

(Steamy) Relationships

I remember watching the drama the first time about a year or two ago. Back then this episode flabbergasted me. It still does. It’s not like I dislike Yun Xiang’s and Shu Yanan’s relationship (though I personally would also have been fine with a close friendship). They are cute together.

I just thought we would get a lot more ‘will they – won’t they’ and a much slower slow burn. I kind of wish we did. It feels very abrupt in a way. Not that I need some dramatic confession scene in the last episode, that wouldn’t fit the show either. I just feel like I’m missing something. Maybe it’s lost in translation?

Su Mingyu and Ke Menglan reunite. She seems to instinctively grasp that he lived through things he can’t talk about at the moment. ‘Tell me about your trip someday’ seems like a good compromise: She is willing to listen, but knows it isn’t the right moment for that. She also calls him a hero. I don’t think he appreciated that much, his picture of what heroism is changed quite drastically.

Jin Biao and Tian Hu, Ke Menglan’s servant girl, also go on a little date, taking a stroll through town.. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed anything between the two before we get told in episode 11 that they are a bit infatuated with each other.

Parallels

We get a bit more backstory on Kang Qiao, which I greatly enjoy. He has the most ‘I’m annoyed with everything’ face and I love him for that.

The technique he mastered is called ‘Transforming Palms’. It transforms the power your opponent uses against you to act against themself.

He learned that from the ‘old weirdo’ (Mo Bufan’s words) Zhong Beidou of Yuntai Sect and was this master’s last student. With that connection Kang Qiao could have stayed at the sect headquarters but after five years of learning he returned to Mo Bufan who rescued him from the streets and took the orphaned boy in.

Clearly a bit of a parallel to Yun Xiang’s life, though Mo Bufan sees Kang Qiao as his son, a connection Yu Xiang didn’t have with his own saviour.

Of course that is not really Yuntai Sect style, with their whole detachment from emotions and forming bonds with others. But how can you save the world if you can’t care for it? Mo Bufan sees a kindred spirit in Yun Xiang in regards to disregarding the rule set of the sect.

Yun Xiang opens up about his own past. Wen Cong once told him nobody can know about his tragic backstory, so allegedly not even his master knows what Mo Bufan learns about him.

Suspicion

Su Huairou confronts Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan about the plot with the warehouse. Of course not openly, but all the implications are there. It’s nice to see that the characters we are told are intelligent are not completely duped by Yun Xiang’s plots. Especially the power couple that is Su Huairou and Qian Rong.

The Lesser Evil

Poor Shu Yanan feels very guilty about her involvement in all of this. She questions the Yuntai Sects way of battling the greater evil with the lesser one. While you could start whole philosophical debates about responsibility, cause and effect or her only being a tool in someone else machinations that doesn’t change anything about the grief she is feeling the death of those men to get closer to the revenge she always craved.

Yun Xiang’s promise to kill Qi Tianfeng without a single drop of blood being shed feels more like a little band-aid on a bigger wound in this moment.

Misc

I don’t think I mentioned it before but I love that the episode aren’t just numbered but have full on episode titles. Kind of rare in cdramas.

Having a martial artist or two around is the most practical thing imaginable