Work in progress! The aim is to recap all episodes eventually. Feel free to add yr own points in the replies!
Episode 8:
- Duke Su summoned her to the rooftop of the Tea House after witnessing the scene of her defending Ye Shijie. He recognised that Ye Shijie is her maternal cousin and called out her ploy of getting Ye Shijie to team up with her for the imperial exam.
- First time Duke Su called her A'Li. She rebuked him saying they are not close enough for him to do that!
- He told her the story of Duke Huang of the East Sea to hint that she should know the bigger enemy behind the scenes before proceeding with her revenge plan. She would later bring up the story again in Episode 29 (see that ep recap for more details)..
Repeating and adding to previous post about flirting wordplay between Duke Su and Jiang Li throughout the episodes:
Four instances of them flirting about being a couple:
1) at the bridge, playing the parts and him asking her whether the flower is "steadied." And she said, "Steadied."
2) After she was almost raped, he gave her a whistle and told her "I do not want, before the game has ended, for my Qi (chess piece/wife) to be taken."
3) When she counters his earlier story with a story of her own, about the substitute bride (indirectly telling him of her plan for SYR), he countered back with changing the ending about becoming lovebirds. She said, "Wait and see."
4) In an earlier conversation:
She said to him, "I've done the math. I can't repay you."
He replied, "Then don't pay me back (meaning, what is mine is yours)."
She responded, "Then you'll lose (meaning, I'm going to keep using what is yours)."
He said, "I can afford the loss (meaning, what is mine is yours)."
She smiled back.
This is the second time he is telling her that they are a couple, that he intends to marry her." She understood and smiled EACH time.
Adding:
5) When the Emperor had the conversation with Duke Su about pawns and, specifically, his pawn, JL, Su acknowledged that she was no longer a pawn. At the end of the convo, the emperor gave his tacit approval of the relationship: "Ni de QiZe, ni baohu hao" meaning, Take care of your WIFE. To which, Duke Su smiled softly, as if he had plans....
Besides my having fun with catching as many of their word plays, here is another hilarious thing our boy and girl did as their intimacy progressed:
1) He offered her four different tea cups. She refused to have tea with him.
2) He took her pendant.
3) He slept in front of her while she waited for him to wake up.
4) Couple clothes at the bridge!
5) He put a flower in her hair
6) She put a flower in his hair.
7) He placed his cup in her hand. She drank from it.
8) He took off his clothes and gave her his undergarment (this one cracked me up for a whole five minutes). She accepted.
9) He gave her his bloodied hanky. She accepted.
10) She slept in front of him while he waited for her to wake up.
11) He gave her a whistle (personal protection and uh...asked her to blow his whistle LOLOLOLOL) and she accepted.
12) He lifted her chin with his fan and told her she was going to be his Qi-Ze and she got the meaning (smiling).
13) She lifted his chin with his fan and told him maybe they could be lovebirds.
14) He wouldn't let her wear other men's clothing. He gave her his clothes (all of it!) and she wore it all this time LOLOL.
15) He interrupted the first marriage proposal and "kidnapped" her into his carriage. They finally freaking held hands.
16) He interrupted the second marriage proposal and "kidnapped" her into his carriage."
17) He finally confessed and a candle interrupted their kiss (just kidding, they kissed ala candlelight)
18) During the scene where she was helping her brother to walk, Duke Su threw her his fan, telling him he was going to be GENTLE (after that kiss the night before/last episode, WHAT EXACTLY did they do, hmm?!), and then when he fell with BIL, Jiang Li kissed the fan (putting it against her face). This is another personal item of Duke Su she has taken now and personally touched LOL.
19) Not shown yet--she gives him that pendant from earlier on.
I'm sure there are more of this in the episodes, but this is all I can remember for now. Hope you enjoy this little map! ETA: I forgot, he also gave her his cloak. Girl just stole his personal items one at a time!
I heard that WXY said it was love at first sight for the Duke when he saw Xue Fang Fei for the first time. If you use that lens to review all their first interactions it just 😊😊😊😊😊🤭🫣😊😊🤭
-Explains the look he has for SYR at the funeral, knowing he killed her.
-How recognises her immediately when he saw her at the Zhenny Hall temple
- How he was simply tickled she was alive and seemed to want to get back and cause havoc to those that killed her and let himself get used.
-Why he started calling her ALi so early
My reply to this post has links to the slow burn progression:
https://mydramalist.com/736749-di-jia-qian-jin#comment-17757315
kailan:can i ask which ep did this happend? i might have missed it
#12 happened right after she had almost been raped by Li and was at Duke Su's place. She slept while he watched her and when she woke up, he gave her a whistle.
His words were: "I do no wish, before the game has ended, to have my Qi Ze taken." It's a word play of Qi (chess piece) and yes, they were talking about pawns. But he meant something else and she smiled pretty happily at that.
The Emperor later used the same word play when he gave his blessing of Su's romance with JL: "Ni de QiZe, ni bao hu hao" -- Take care of your wife. He didn't just mean pawn (Qi) here. Duke Su also smiled at this.
#14 is when Shen YuRong placed a cloak over her shoulders in the school when it was raining and our Duke recognized it and used his fan to push the cloak off her. It was hilarious and sexy at the same time, LOL.
Episode 2 Dialogue after she confronted him for her pendant:
Jiang Li's LI is written as pear. That's why you see the flowers. Coincidentally Fang Fei's nickname is A'Li, written like a civet, which resembles a Raccoon-like creature with spots like a leopard (go look with search engine of choice). Both words/names sound alike.
SO IN EPISODE TWO,
our Duke Su had in his possession, Fang Fei's pendant. It has the face of the civet and her nickname is written on it. That's how he knew to call her A'Li. BUT THEN HE INSINUATED MORE. He called her a civet and it's in reference to a famous story (and you know our Duke loves a good story) in which an evil empress exchanged a concubine's baby with a civet. XFF was startled because he was implying that he knew she was a replacement, a fake; she hadn't been prepared for this man to be that smart.
So the civet nickname fit the whole story--her fate, his suspicion and her personality (because she IS like that civet!)
Hope this helps.
I was asked to add my comment here (about character ending).
Side note about "Li" as per translation of the novel.
In Jiang Li it is using character for pear (hence planting of pear tree, pear blossoms everywhere and pear soup).
Xue Fang Fei's nickname also has "Li" but the character in her nickname means raccoon (hence the jade pedant she got from the pawn shop has racoon on it).
For those interested in spoiler (how it all ended for most of the major characters) ⬇️
- Xiao Heng (Duke Su) - he was able to clear his father's name and after rebellion was sent to Dai country to make sure they are not going to attack them and if they did to "pacify" them but before leaving he married JL/XFF; was shown as last 3 standing in the battle with Dai country; was in the 1-on-1 with opposing general (?) who cut off his raccoon pedant but ultimately got killed by XH but then rest of the Dai army arrived, so XH bit on the string of the pedant and stood his ground; later rider with the pedant is shown coming to JL/XFF standing next to he tree; in special EP it is shown that they have daughter and are happily married [somehow alive 😱]
- Jiang Li/Xue Fang Fei - beloved in fake message from XH, so she got kidnapped by princess WN; SYR kind of rescued her (she saw the death of princess WN) but at he same time drugged her; was ultimately saved by general Xiao senior; went to XH to help him defeat SYR and she shot the arrow that made SYR loose the fish talisman (for Longwu Army); got married to XH and gave him the racoon jade pedant; they plant trea and XH is to return before it bloosoms; in the special EP she is teaching poetry at the School of Integrity (then presides over exam to it); is happily married and has daughter [alive]
- Ye Shi Jie - he knows that it's XFF and not JL but is still on her side (in the end seems to be ok with her not choosing him as her romantic partner); wrote report after the rebellion to show who prince Cheng and princes WN really were, so that the rebellion of his troops can be squashed; later presides over entrance exam [alive]
- Shen You Rong - after unsuccessful attempt to kill XH and getting arrow in the hand (palm), he played flute and then jumped of the city wall [suicide, dead]
- Princess Wan Ning - she was supposed to eat fake poison (plan she was not aware of) but thought it was real and since the soup was from SYR, she thought that he poisoned her; she found SYR, gave him back the hair accessory (to his palm) and grabbed his hand holding the accessory, to stab herself [suicide, dead]
- Ji Shu Ran - after her failed attempts to get rid of JL all her bad deeds came to light and she got crazy (confined to rural estate with maids to help her) [alive]
- Jiang Yuan Bai - was on the emperor's HX side but after rebellion resigned from his post in the court and went (with his mother) to Yongzhou; apparently he knew (not clear how long) that JL dead and XFF was pretending to be her (XFF lied and told him that JL died peacefully) but asked XFF not to tell anybody else about it [alive]
- Jiang Ruo Yao - got free from her mother's and ZYB's (she herd him badmouthing her and the illusion got broken + JL talked some sense into her) influence and left the estate to live in Yongzhou (from the letter she seems to be happy) [alive]
- Jiang Jing Rui - ended up with LX in Yongzhou [alive]
- Tong Er - stabbed during conflict to protect JL/XFF [dead]
- Liu Xu - ended up with JJR in Yongzhou [alive]
- Jiang Yu'e - married ZYB, was not treated well there but was confident that once she births son she would be fine; she stayed with ZYB after his head got smacked by JRY to get pregnant [alive]
- Zhou Yan Bang - after his marriage to JY'e tried to force himself on JL but got stopped by JRY (piece of wood to the head style) and after that seems to be paralysed (it looked like he understood what was happening but could not speak or move his body) [alive]
- Wen Ji - was shown as last 3 standing in the battle with Dai country; got shot full of arrows in the chest [dead]
- Lu Ji - was shown as last 3 standing in the battle with Dai country; pushed WJ out of spears path and got stabbed by it but continued to fight for a bit [dead]
- Lu Jin - was forced to marry princess WN and once she was murdered he accused emperor HX of doing it; got sentenced to death by emperor [executed, dead]
- Li Lian - after loosing bet to JL he became a monk [most likely alive, as he was not shown in prison with his brother and father]
- Li Zhong Nan - helped Prince Cheng with the rebellion; got sentenced to death by emperor [executed, dead]
- Situ Jiu Yue - helped to quash Prince Cheng's rebellion; ended up with XZ [alive]
- Concubine Li - Prince Cheng wanted to use her to make emperor HX surrender but she used the sword at her throat to kill herself and only asked XH not to let the emperor HX know about the made who knew that the possessions she used to kill another concubine were faked by her (emperor HX already knew about it, it seems) [suicide, dead]
- Emperor Hong Xiao - was able to survive rebellion scot-free (physically) [alive]
- Prince Cheng - in final showdown with XH he got stabbed by XH [dead]
- Xue Zhao - was hidden at princesses WN estate, got exchanged by deal with XFF, is crippled; ended up with SJY [alive]
- Xue Huai Yuan - got tortured to madness but thanks to SJY is got better and ultimately remembers everything [alive]
- Mrs. Shen + Shen Ru Yun - before rebellion SYR sent them to their countryside but after the rebellion SYR assets got confiscated and they were arrested [alive]
- Jiang Yuan Xing - was forced to help princess WN kidnap JL/XFF; after rebellion got expelled from family registry with his wife and children by madam Jiang [alive]
- Mrs. Yang - princess WN kidnapped her to force JYX to help her grab JL/XFF; got expelled from family registry (with her husband and children) [alive]
- Madam Jiang - went with her son to Yongzhou [alive]
- General Xiao senior - helped free XFF/JL and reconciled with his grandson (+makes XH serve him tea and drinks because he "was injured while saving his granddaughter-in-law" 😈) [alive]
TaliaToo:Episode 2 Dialogue after she confronted him for her pendant:
Jiang Li's LI is written as pear. That's why you see the flowers. Coincidentally Fang Fei's nickname is A'Li, written like a civet, which resembles a Raccoon-like creature with spots like a leopard (go look with search engine of choice). Both words/names sound alike.
SO IN EPISODE TWO,
our Duke Su had in his possession, Fang Fei's pendant. It has the face of the civet and her nickname is written on it. That's how he knew to call her A'Li. BUT THEN HE INSINUATED MORE. He called her a civet and it's in reference to a famous story (and you know our Duke loves a good story) in which an evil empress exchanged a concubine's baby with a civet. XFF was startled because he was implying that he knew she was a replacement, a fake; she hadn't been prepared for this man to be that smart.
So the civet nickname fit the whole story--her fate, his suspicion and her personality (because she IS like that civet!)
Hope this helps.
I really love the many layers to the A'Li name!
Ep 20
By the river, after they fought off the assassins sent by magistrate Feng
XFF: My life is yours now - meaning I’m yours
XH: yeah means very little, you still got things to do, can’t take it now- meaning I know you you need to do and I’m willing to wait for you
XFF: You can use this me as a pawn as much as you need, I’m at your service - meaning I’m yours, I’ll do anything for you
XH: here fix my hanky - I’m giving you my most treasured hanky from my mom, it’s my token of love and I trust you with it
Totoro888:Ep 20
By the river, after they fought off the assassins sent by magistrate Feng
XFF: My life is yours now - meaning I’m yours
XH: yeah means very little, you still got things to do, can’t take it now- meaning I know you you need to do and I’m willing to wait for you
XFF: You can use this me as a pawn as much as you need, I’m at your service - meaning I’m yours, I’ll do anything for you
XH: here fix my hanky - I’m giving you my most treasured hanky from my mom, it’s my token of love and I trust you with it
Yes! The second "I'm yours" (by the river) was also her confession. She demanded, "Did you hear what I said? My life is yours!"
He replied, "So what? Even if I take it, you have other more important things to do at the moment." (Meaning, I'm willing to wait for you before taking you)
She smiled at that.
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