EPISODE 16 – 20 RECAPS
Over at Xin Ziyan’s school, Zhiwei and Nanyi go around and pretty much do what everyone in this drama does: snooping.
While doing so, they find that inside this very school, the Bloody Pagoda Gang (Xuefutu)is operating under the Crown Prince’s order.
Unfortunately for our amateur sleuths, when the leader of this group, an old stableman, catches them — because to be honest, they’re not really being smart about their snooping — he tricks them and locks them both up.
At the palace, the Crown Prince discovers that Zhao Yan is wearing the ring with poison which he meant to give Ning Yi. This means the poison has been dripping down from the ring whenever Zhao Yuan brews tea for the emperor — because of the heat — and drips into the emperor’s cup.
So… the emperor has been ingesting poison all this time. His health has been declining and they’re actually looking for the cause.
The Crown Prince, being only a part-time villain with a conscience, freaks out and tries to buy the ring from Zhao Yuan.
Not too long afterwards, Zhao Yuan figures it out. But he’s not completely sure whether Ning Yi or the Crown Prince is behind it. So, he decides to confront them both and tells them in very soft and respectful language to back off, quit messing around and making the emperor suffer as a result. As if the emperor doesn’t make these kids suffer.
Ning Yi is confused at first, but he gets the hint.
Back to the school. The son of the stableman helps Zhiwei escape, but he himself dies in the process. And as if that’s not bad enough, when Zhiwwei gets to the capital city, Zhuyin also sacrifices herself to protect Zhiwei from the Crown Prince’s pursuit.
Due to a misunderstanding, Ning Yi thinks Zhiwei is dead. When she suddenly shows up at his place later on, he loses it, jumps at her and gives her a big “I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M FEELING” embrace. Progress.
How does Ning Yi get his eyebrows to do that, btw?
Leaving all that behind, everyone gets ready for an imperial test at Xi Ziyan’s school. The point of this test is to select an Ultimate Scholar who will then be given some reward and a job in the palace.
The Crown Prince plans to take this opportunity to pin another crime on Ning Yi. Cuz it worked out so well last time.
He asks the old stableman to pretend to attack him (Crown Prince) during the test to make it look like Bloody Pagoda is operating under Ning Yi’s sponsorship.
Ning Yi and Xin Ziyan find out about this, of course. So they ask Commander Gu Yan to go persuade the stableman to attack Ning Yi so they can turn the table on the Crown Prince.
Conflicted, the old stableman does the stupidest thing anyone can do in this drama: go ask for Zong Chen’s advice.
Zong Chen then tells the stableman all about Zhiwei, and tells him that the best thing to do is probably to attack the emperor to frame both Ning Yi and the Crown Prince.
Back to the test. Just as they’ve planned ahead of time, Ning Yi sends Zhiwei to participate in the imperial test with a veil over her face so that the Crown Prince won’t recognize her.
She goes in and gets all the questions right.
Prince Ning Ji is like: who is this exquisite creature?
Princess Shaoning is like: my dream man!
Ning Yi is like: my dream girl! (I think?)
The Crown Prince is like: @#$%&>,>!(*0
At the same time, while the guys outside are getting bored out of their heads from having to wait for students to go in and out, the Bloody Pagoda Gang attacks.
And of course, the stableman aims for the emperor.
When things get out of control, Ning Yi picks up a sword and runs the stableman through despite having promised Zhiwei that he wouldn’t kill anyone innocent today. So then… I guess technically he’s not breaking his promise because this stableman has menace written all over his face. But Zhiwei is mad at Ning Yi nonetheless.
After the crisis passes, the emperor interrogates the Crown Prince and then puts him under intense watch.
Next, because of Zhiwei’s achievements, the emperor gives her a title and lets her work as his scribe/advisor. Realistically, no matter how good you are, you shouldn’t be able to get a job that enables you to be that close to the emperor when you’re just a scholar with no contributions to the country yet. But in this case, a goofy performance and an innocent face are all you need. The emperor likes Zhiwei as a daughter and sees her clumsiness as proof of trustworthiness.
During a brief conversation afterwards, Xin Ziyan advises Zhiwei to think carefully before staying mad at Ning Yi, and before jumping to conclusions about him.
Ning Yi, who is standing five feet away, pretends he doesn’t care.
COMMENTS
When I first watched these episodes, I was pretty much like most characters in this drama: in awe of Feng Zhiwei. After all, she is such a step up from other C-drama female leads, and Ni Ni’s acting only makes her shine more, which is why I didn’t recognize the flaws in her character right away.
And by flaws, I don’t mean weaknesses, which are things a character is supposed to have. I mean her internal conflicts aren’t very well written. Her prejudice against Ning Yi is too easily formed while the people she takes pity on are clearly causing a lot more damage than Ning Yi. And it all starts with the little instances like these. Why would she even care about some random stableman who is obviously shady and crazy enough to jump at the emperor with a sword? Instead of looking at things on a larger scope — which is something her character is completely capable of doing — she picks on the small things. This results in her unjustified attitude towards Ning Yi while the real threat lies somewhere else.
Understandably, they want this “stableman” incident to be a moment where Zhiwei finds out how ruthless Ning Yi can be, but if that’s the case, they should’ve done something to make us sympathize with the stableman too, because all we — the audience — see from our POV is an annoying old man who takes tips from Zong Chen.
There’s nothing wrong with a protagonist making mistakes as long as the mistakes are consistent with their character, which, in this case, they aren’t.
Anyway, things aren’t so ridiculous at this stage yet and Zhiwei is still in general likable.
Looking back at how the emperor’s relationship with Zhiwei starts, I also wish the drama had taken a different route with the emperor later on. So many other plotlines could be developed from their interactions instead of the one they gave us in the end.
Another note here: Zhu Yin’s death is a waste. She is a smart woman and an interesting character who could have contributed a lot more to the plot. If they have to kill her off this earlier on, at least make it a dignified death instead of being run through by a brute. And not even a smart brute.
Lastly, just so we’re clear: I’m actually enjoying these episodes. All that ranting doesn’t mean I dislike the drama. It only means that I evaluate it with higher standards.