Episode 24: A dramatic rescue and...war?

This show is starting to feel like reverse Titanic: two star-crossed lovers, the wealthy one is the guy, the poor one is the girl...caught up in a lot of heavy personal family drama but add to that the fact that all of this is occurring in the midst of a huge power struggle internally in Qin & Chu, and externally as Qin wants to conquer the other nations.

I am splitting this summary into two parts:

Part 1: Mo Chou, Qu Yuan, Xia'er, and the families

In the middle of the night, on his wedding, Qu Yuan visits Xia'er not to consummate their marriage but to discuss his lover. Cuiwei, the servant to Xia'er, insists that Qu Yuan swear to never see Mo Chou again as it is extremely insulting to her (it really is) and Qu Yuan is in the middle of making this promise when Xia'er stops him--meaning she doesn't want him to promise--and they go to see her father.

For reasons unknown, Lord and Lady Qu just happen to be watching this scene, unobserved by the others, and remark that their son is really lucky to have such an understanding wife (and he really is in these dramas, they are FILLED with women trying to kill women who get in the way of their relationship with the man).

Lord Zhao, meanwhile, is nursing his injured hand (this might seem like a small injury but in these times a cut really could mean death) and wondering who could have done this. His wife suggests a rival minister, but he says not even that guy is dumb enough to send an assassin in broad daylight on his child's wedding (emphasizing yet again that Mo Chou went there to die, and in a very public way, almost as if to say, I think, well you don't care about me so I will die and maybe then you might!)

Xia'er and Qu Yuan enter and they immediately beg him to intercede and spare Mo Chou. Sensing this has to do with the woman herself, he asks the ladies to leave, and asks for the truth. Qu Yuan asks him if he remembers the Shaman. Lord Zhao says he does, that many years ago she did something that greatly angered the previous king, and the king ordered that she be killed. He said he was the one who had to carry out the order, and that he killed her, and they were punished with a three year drought after.

Qu Yuan explains that Mo Chou is the child of that shaman, and that she acted recklessly for revenge but begs him to spare her. This visibly shocks Lord Zhao, who then calls him crazy and says that they can't just let people go when they attack ministers in broad daylight. He is basically calling him crazy. And he asks him why he cares so much.

Meanwhile, Xia'er is walking with her mother who is questioning about this. While Xia'er does not answer her, her mother is able to conclude that this Mo Chou is a lover of Qu Yuan, and she is offended by his behavior but she tells her mother that they never should have married and that were it not for her, he would have married her. But her mother says none of that matters because Xia'er is his current wife.

Well, Qu Yuan seems only good at insulting people in spite of his honesty. His father in law is incredibly offended that he would come to him and ask him to spare his old lover. Qu Yuan swears to never see her again, and that he will also take a cut like him, and he takes his dagger and plunges it into his chest! He is crazy!

Lord Zhao thinks so too, and calls for a doctor, alerting Xia'er and his wife. Xia'er screams when she sees Qu Yuan and kneels beside him and swears she will not get up until he saves Mo Chou (does she have feelings for him?) and Qu Yuan makes more promises: he promises to never see Mo Chou, that if she ever harms the Zhao family he will loyally protect them, but swears he will die if she is not saved.

Well.
Not much of a choice.

The following morning Mo Chou is carried towards the execution stand and the crowd all gasp at her behavior, and she is tied to a post. She is to be shot to death with arrows. General Qu (big brother) shows up to stall (and this is very cheesy) but Qu Yuan shows up in time with an edict freeing her.

Afterwards, they are by the water and she has an extremely emotionless affect as she thanks him for saving her but tell shim she will go about her revenge. He begs her not to do this, to not throw her life away and she interprets it as him siding with the Zhao family and he grabs her, she pushes him to the ground, but when he doesn't get back up, she realizes he is injured. She helps him.

He essentially is able to convince her to go home, and I think he does it by reminding her that her actions will have bad consequences for her family. She chooses to go home, and so does he. She tells him to pretend like they never met and basically fell in love, and he asks her if that is possible (she doesn't answer).

Xia'er has a conversation with her servant who continues to complain about Qu Yuan whom she believes only follows his heart. Xia'er says that they should not have married, and asks her servant to rethink right and wrong, and that maybe the wrong choices are the right ones. She also says that Qu Yuan does not always follow his heart because if he did, he would have married Mo Chou.

That night, Qu Yuan visits Xia'er (I like this scene) and asks her to keep the doors close while he talks to her (not only is Mo Chou a barrier in their relationship, but the doors are almost like his heart shut off from anything) and he explains to her that in Quan county Mo Chou was his everything: she was his best friend, she supported him and encouraged him especially when he did not believe in himself and she stayed by his side when he was dying when others fled--this is like saying this woman is my soulmate--and then he asks her for some time to let go over her and tells her he hopes that some day they can become close friends but he also points out this time could be good for her as she had someone else in her heart as well.

Qu Yuan returns to Quan county to resume his job, but he is not very happy. He tells his servant, basically, he did not want to stay with his new bride because he couldn't, but that Quan county is the last place on earth he would want to be (so basically there is no where for him to go).

Meanwhile, Mo Chou is home and her father sees her and is happy he is back. he tells her that it is good QuYuan married because now she can have a stable life. She tells him she has forgotten about him and asks permission to join Qing'er in the circus so she can get away from Quan county (and Qu Yuan). He agrees.

Part 2: The War Declaration
So we return to the state of Qi where the King is preparing to host a Holy Flame Emperor ceremony now that they have the He Shi Bi. He is preparing to send out envoys to all the 8 states. Chu Li Ji, his brother(?) and advisor thinks it is silly how everyone makes a big deal about the sacred jade.

Lord Chen, who has been examining it, discovers it is a fake--that the real one has an imperfection in it and he only knows it because his ancestors new a jade master. The Chancellor bursts out laughing. He remarks that the king of chu is so smart, and yet he gave them a reason to declare war. They have not only insulted Qi, they have insulted the flame emperor, and have lied.

So a war edict is read out in front of their ginormous army. The edict is sent to Chu, where the Ministers are all shocked and not exactly calm. The emperor is stoic. All the ministers believe this is a trap to frame them, but Lord Qu is willing to lead an army, in spite of the delicate marital alliances between the states.

They ultimately decide to verify the rumors because they have the advantage of everyone believing that Qi is a greedy state. They want to make sure that the jade they have is actually a fake.

PHEW
So this show places a lot of emphasis on emotions and feelings. I think this is why they have so many scenes just filming the main leads who are just sad and depressed. I liked the dramatic promises and the stabbing, I want to know what the chancellor will do, and I hope a theme in the show is how Qu Yuan, for all his noble aspirations, will make promises that he will keep on breaking--like he wants to regain control of the situation and fix everything but he can't.

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