#and 'emperor' is his passive aggressive way of mocking him and also establishing their new roles | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

drivingsideways · 5 years

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Episodes 33 & 34

In which Chang Yuan continues to be A Worthy Foe, but the Emperor (and Xin Ziyan) have weapons of their own...

So, the polo game concludes with Ning Sheng winning it- but the Emperor’s comment “You play like a young Lord Minhai” probably turned the taste of victory to ashes in Ning Sheng’s mouth. DON’T YOU HATE IT WHEN YOUR PARENTS PULL THAT PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE SHIT? I KNOW I DO.

Anyways.

Most of episode 33 is about the Emperor and Chang Yuan facing off in the most passive-aggressive way possible. Wei Zhi has been recruited by the Emperor to help him. The Emperor officially gives Ning Qi a title (Prince of Wei), and announces that he will NOT be making an announcement about who will be Crown Prince. Instead, he has an edict stored in a Golden Box, that can only be opened after his death after he turns 100 years old (WOW).

Well, as expected, this REALLY puts the cat among the pigeons, with all factions wondering how to proceed.

Ning Yi and Xin Ziyan have yet another disagreement.

oh no, trouble in paradise!

Ziyan wants Ning Yi to marry one of the Court Officials’ daughters to expand his influence. Ning Yi, on the other hand, is more interested in figuring out how to figure out what it is the Emperor really wants right now.

When Ning Yi says that if he can take one “fake wife” then he might as well take three, Ziyan is !!!!!

ME: MMMRPPHHMMPHHHH

me: WHAT IS HAPPENING HELP ME

WELL, ANYWAYS, AFTER ZIYAN IS DONE TEASING NING YI ABOUT BEING A 27 YEAR OLD VIRGIN

I WANT TO SAY “CONTEXT WHAT CONTEXT” TO THIS SCREEN GRAB EXCEPT THAT THE CONTEXT IS CANON I DON’T MAKE THE RULES

Ok, fine, the serious stuff is that Ning Yi flatly refuses to make a marriage of convenience, and Xin Ziyan knows who’s to blame- Feng Zhiwei.

Then of course, Ziyan, being a schemer, arranges to have Wei Zhi sent to Qingming as Director of Studies- without consulting Ning Yi about it.

Feng Zhiwei tries to figure out what is going on, but Xin Ziyan, as usual, fends her off, only reassuring her that he will do whatever is in the best interests of Qingming.

I find XZ’s interactions with Zhiwei so interesting! There’s a flavour of combativeness, mistrust but also respect for each other’s intelligence and smartness. XZ enjoys that she can match wits with him, but on the other hand, she is so fucking inconvenient to his Plans. On Zhiwei’s side, she’s wary of his morals, for a better word. I think she sees that he will always perhaps, choose what is right for him and his own (i.e.Ning Yi) , rather than for the general good, and while he hasn’t done anything that she knows to be outright harmful, she can’t trust that he won’t. It is the same quandary that she has regarding Ning Yi, except that she has gotten to know Ning Yi much better, I think, and senses that he could probably be swayed to a better path, if someone took the pains to do it?

Meanwhile, Ziyan returns to the Prince of Chu’s residence, where Ning Yi is weaving (Poor baby! Again, weaving as a way of self-comfort...)

Ziyan perhaps expected Ning Yi to fight with him, but instead Ning Yi only gently teases him, saying that he’d like to be Director of Studies at Qingming, wouldn’t that be great?

It’s an indirect acknowledgement that Ning Yi knows that Ziyan was behind Wei Zhi’s transfer, and also that Ning Yi knows he’s the reason Ziyan did it. The fact that he did it without consulting Ning Yi isn’t referred to- for now.

You get the sense that he’s just quoting things that Ziyan has said to him, gently mocking him.

Ziyan retorts that if Ning Yi thinks it was a mistake, he’ll bring Feng Zhiwei back- into the dangerous Palace, where she might get caught in the cross-fire of imperial politics.

That’s such a TYPICAL Ziyan argument, it makes me laugh- OF COURSE, HIS HIGH HANDED ACTIONS ARE GOOD FOR YOU, THE VICTIM, AND EVERYONE SHOULD JUST ACKNOWLEDGE JUST HOW SMART AND GOOD HE IS.

It’s an interesting difference between Ning Yi and him- both of them are ruthless, but Ning Yi is often more honest about it than Ziyan. Ziyan wants things to go his way but also to occupy the moral high ground. Ning Yi can usually admit that he just wants things to go his way (except with Feng Zhiwei- her very strongly held and felt sense of right/wrong means that he’s constantly afraid of doing something that will be completely irredeemable in her sight. He spends most of the series fighting his feelings for her just for this reason! She’s one of the few people to whom he will offer an actual justification for his actions, ie a justification that is rooted in a moral and/or emotional argument rather than a rational one )

Meanwhile, back at Qingming, Wei Zhi attempts to establish herself among students who are not inclined to treat her respectfully/ seriously, and of course succeeds because she’s just that good.

she’s also a fucking cutie when she plays hockey, so jot that down.

Meanwhile, back at the Palace, the Emperor successfully stops things with Chang Yuan from reaching crisis point, and Chang Yuan will depart for Minhai soon.

However, the Emperor knows that he can’t let things stand as they are. Having sent off Chang Yuan, he needs to break Ning Sheng-so he enlists Ning Yi. The idea is that they will put out the news that it is Ning Yi’s name in the box...and let events take their course.

Ning Shizheng, you are piece of shit parent, so jot that down as well.

UGH.

Later, Ning Yi tells Ziyan how he feels about it: pretty awful, as you can imagine.

OH NO!

HE BREAKS THE FAN, HE’S SO UPSET.

Me: Let me stab your father for you sweetie, no charge, I swear.

Of course, Ziyan is the absolute WORST at this moment. In the face of Ning Yi’s distress, his “consolation” is to say , “Love is not fated for Emperors” .

They have the old argument again- Is their dream worth the sacrifices? Ziyan’s unequivocal answer is “Yes”. Ning Yi asks him whether, if one day, he used Ziyan as the sacrifice, would it still be worth it-

POOR NING YI

LOOK AT HIS DEVASTATED FACE

And so he decides to go along with the Emperor’s plan, and uses a conversation with Director Wei Zhi to manipulate Princess Shaoning into thinking that the “Golden Box” contains his name.

And so, once more, Feng Zhiwei is dragged back into palace intrigue: despite what Ning Yi might wish for her, the path he has set himself on- to be a weapon in his father’s hands- means that Feng Zhiwei must continue to be “useful” to him as a pawn, even if it means that she’s once more in danger.

#the phoenix pit #phoenix drama #there's a bit about literary censorship #that i didn't include here #but that was an interesting note #i'm wondering how they got that scene/dialogue past the censors

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