'everything in the pugilist world happens for a reason'

SPOILERS AHEAD--SUMMARY--

Miss Feng, a beautiful courtesan at Blossoms House, is purchased for the entire month by a wealth customer, the young man in the wheel chair.  With this much money, she could possibly leave the Red Light District.  Incidentally, she learns that he is not interested in Miss Feng but rather in her maid, Liu Ru Gu 'Ge'er' a.k.a. our female lead.

Proving she is discreet, Miss Feng does not object to this arrangement although she is clearly baffled.  

Ge'er and wheelchair guy clearly know each other well.  He has come to check in on her and agrees to keep her plans--whatever they are--a secret.

MEANWHILE<
Assassins close in on a carriage galloping across a field.  In spite of their training and their skills, they are no match for the stranger dressed in white inside.  The stranger decimates his foes without breaking a sweat.  Here, we catch a brief glimpse of our beautiful male lead...

'Shifu' as he is referred to arrives at Blossoms House and seems amused, rather than bothered, by the fact that he was tracked down and attacked.  This is the famous Yin Xue who has brought the entire city--and Blossoms House--to its knees as everyone scurries to gain access to a ticket to this show because he is planning on selecting a lifetime partner--essentially a marriage partner is what it sounds like--from the audience.

MEANWHILE
Our female lead borrows a music pamplhet from wheelchair guy who we learn by now is actually one of the ten royal princes--Jingyuan.  Miss Feng immediately suspects this after she overhears this (and it is not at all clear, audience, if this was a deliberate manipulation or not i.e. she was set up) and begs the Prince to help her father who was exiled by the crown prince Jingxian.  She explains that her father was forced to become involved in the fight for the crown and then wrongly framed by the crown prince.  Jingyuan asks his servant to look into this.

ELSEWHERE,

Young Master Lie Jing Hong, heir to the Thunderclap Sect, arrives in the hopes of securing a ticket to tonight's show.  He is brash, arrogant, and seems the direct and stubborn type who cannot hide his feelings.  'Subtle' is not a word I would use to describe him.  But he is adaptable, and when he learns that he can't get a ticket the legal way (sold out) he attempts to do it the next best way, by cornering and blackmailing our female lead (he steals the royal family music book from her and only returns it once she promises to get him inside).

Our female lead seems more irritate than upset and has no problem giving him what he wants.  In fact, they seem to strike up some kind of friendship and he promises her a favor in return for her help (she, on a side note, presents the pamphlet to Youqin, a zither player and urges him to return it on time).  

From Ge'er's conversations with Master Lie, we learn that Yin Xue is more than a big deal.  EVERYONE has lost their stuff over this beauty's arrival (yes, female lead does not know that 'she' is a 'he').  Yin Xue is a Master Zither player and ranked the number one beauty.  But Ge'er isn't interested in any of this.  This will be revealed later as to why.

ELSEWHERE
In the midst of all the exictement and prepartions for Yin Xue, there is a rather nefarious woman in black referred to as 'Second Madame' running around giving orders to what look like the assasssins who attempted to take out Yin Xue.  

THEN
The show arrives.  Various other sects are shown and introduced.  Here we meet the members of Blade City, which include Wu Xia (the leader of this little group) who explains they were only sent to observe as Supreme master sent them to investigate.  Included in this group is the lovely ghost princess from eternal love, playing a very different character--someone who is a snappy dresser, confident, a feminist, and probably capable of holding her own in a fight.

Master Lei makes something of a scene as he storms the stage once Yin Xue appears, revealing his gender to a surprised but still disinterested Ge'er, and tries to  buy him, only to be outbid by Dao Lie Xieng (ghost princess) who seems pretty desperate to have him.  She and Master Lie get into an argument as he accuses her of being a crass woman, and she follows that up with 'why can't women bid on men' to which Master Lei illustrates his intelligence by repeating the same insult.

Alas, Yin Xue surprises everyone present by admitting that he isn't sure if the woman he wants will have him, and then proposes to Ge'er.  The people present, who know of Ge'er's identity as the daughter of the leader of the Flame sect, wonder if Yin Xue, who came seemingly from nowhere, who belongs to no sect, offended the other families who seem to want him quite badly, and who is clearly skilled as he won the Red Light District over on his zither playing alone.  In short, he is a mysterious, beautiful man.

(Yin Xue clearly planned all of this, making me wonder what plots are up his sleeve because who he is now seems to conflict with the very serious man in the beginning--he seems to be a very charismatic, skilled liar and something of a trickster/manipulative type).

Alone, Ge'er rejects Yin Xue and wants to know why he wants her. Is it because he knows who she is?  He reveals that he knows her real name, and who her father is.  But he reveals, audience, so much more, because he reveals the real reason why she came to the Blossom House.  He tells her about a young man whom she grew up with, a man who eventually proposed to her (and he knew very private details).  A man who, for the past two years, has been cheating on her with a courtesan named Yang Yi, and who, in spite of his infidelity, she still loves.

Yin Xue essentially promises to teach her the art of seduction--he says he can teach her how to win back his heart.  He explains to her that she came her hoping to understand that, and what would make a man fall for a courtesan but she has no answers.  He claims to have no interest in her specficially or her family.  He also kind of dangles a carrot in front of her and asks her 'don't you want to know how I know these secrets and scandals that your father tried very hard to bury?' and then he innocently adds that with her entire sect around her, how could he possibly pose a threat?

NOW AUDIENCE
DO I TRUST HIM?
NO
DO I LIKE HIM?
YES

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