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ghost_valley2021-07-16 10:37 am
shadaras) wrote in ghost_valley2021-07-16 10:37 am
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[WoH Rewatch] Episode 6
Some fun comment threads from last week!
1.sabriel pointed out in the comments last week that “For someone who's 'grieving' for their dead brother, this sort of ostentatious feast [that Zhao Jing is throwing] is really inappropriate.”, which is an absolutely wonderful point. Yet another little marker of how we’re shown that Zhao Jing isn’t what he appears to be, no matter how nice a front he puts up.
2.rosaxx50 wrote a comment that included a great summary of how ZZS spends the second half of ep5 getting more and more intrigued/willing to play along with WKX’s games.
3. A nice little discussion betweentrobadora and sabriel about wtf was up with Shen Shen pretending to be drunk and then opening his eyes real dramatic-like.
Episode 6 is one of the episodes that got a special version with a brief added scene! I am indeed watching that version. :)
This is also the episode I got my icon from! :D
List of Scenes
Fighting Long-tongued Ghost and the Drug Men
WKX carrying ZZS away
Sucking poison out of wounds
WKX wants ZZS to take off his mask
The fight at the lake
WKX sees ZZS without his mask
Xie-wang and Wuchang Gui discuss the missing Soul-Winding Box
ZZS opens the Soul-Winding Box and tosses the glazed armor inside to WKX because he doesn’t want it
Extra scene: Cleaning rabbits and splashing each other
Zhao Jing and Shen Shen talk to Chengling (and Shen Shen wants info about how the Mirror Lake Manor fight went down)
Zhao Jing and Shen Shen talk to Yu Qiufeng about their travel plans
ZZS and WKX return to the now-empty coffin home
ZZS and WKX walk through the woods and WKX asks about Drunk-Like-a-Dream
Han Ying arrives at Sanbai Manor and ZZS has Feelings about this
ZZS follows Zhao Jing’s caravan
WKX orders 30 copies of the glazed armor
Gu Xiang plays dominos with her servant-girls and helps them beg WKX to stay servants
WKX gives Gu Xiang instructions about what to do next
Timeline or Something
Most of this episode takes place over a night and a morning, but then travel happens and it’s very hard to tell how much time actually passes! At least three days, since that’s how long it took for WKX to get the fake glazed armor made, but beyond that it’s hard to say.
Recap
Last episode ended with WKX storming off after being like “Zhou Zishu, you’re mean and I’m gonna tell my mom!”, and this episode begins with WKX entering the nice coffin-filled entry courtyard (with ZZS following not far behind) as a creepy voice says “Let me out” and a coffin rattles. WKX thinks this is very funny, and ZZS is rather more concerned.
A ghost pops out of the coffin! [Later this episode, we learn this is Changshe Gui, Long-tongued Ghost.]
He’s got a bell, and we’re shown reaction shots of him seeing WKX and of WKX (still not free of Drunk-Like-a-Dream) considering him like “Should I know you?” in return. When the ghost realises that WKX isn’t immediately recognizing him, he laughs and shouts about how “This scent really is quite useful!” and then calls thezombies drug men out of the coffins to attack.
WKX calls them smelly and dirty, and ZZS protects him while slicing down a lot of drug men. He’s pushing himself, from how he coughs, and WKX isn’t helping at all. Indeed, when there’s a pause in the action, WKX drapes himself over ZZS’s shoulders and calls him “mom” (because his shoulder blades, like hers, are the prettiest). ZZS doesn’t have time to really react to this or process before he needs to fend off another wave of foes, which he does without much difficulty even with WKX all over him.
ZZS tells WKX to wake up, and then pricks him in the back with Baiyi. While WKX’s using this as impetus to wake up, more drug men come at them. This time, while ZZS mostly blocks them one gets through to bite at his shoulder before he gets rid of it. He’s clearly tired, and gets knocked to the ground and swarmed. There’s a moment where he thinks he’s gonna die like this, and then WKX knocks all their foes aside and smiles down at him very sweetly.
That turns to murder in the next second as he shifts his attention to the person controlling the drug men, who has maybe half a second to go “Oh shit” before WKX throws his fan and kills him in in a single blow (and, somehow, also gets the soul-winding box in the same motion).
ZZS, still on the ground, shouts “Wen Kexing!” and WKX responds with a smile and acknowledgement and then goes “Why did you call my name so sweetly?” because he’s having fun again. ZZS calls him a jerk. (“你个鳖孙” seems to more literally translate to “you’re a turtle’s grandson”, which is great.)
WKX laughs, and offers ZZS a hand to pull him up, which ZZS accepts. He seems to need it, too, being less than steady on his feet once he’s upright. When the drug men start coming after them again, WKX grabs ZZS and leaps away with them, bouncing off a drug man’s head on the way.
They fly out into the forest, WKX carrying both of them as he runs across the treetops, and end up at That Lake. (One of the love themes starts playing, too.) WKX helps ZZS sit down, and then takes a seat next to him.
When WKX goes to check ZZS’s pulse, ZZS slaps him aside, but WKX keeps looking at him with concern as he points out that ZZS’s poisoned. ZZS’s grouchy about having needed help, and WKX first tells him that he “wasn’t pretending to be tricked” and then to “stop pretending to be tough in front of me” and that it’s nothing embarrassing to have been carried a bit.
ZZS turns the “I’m not pretending” right back on WKX, which WKX laughs about, and even ZZS smiles for a moment before wincing in pain. WKX asks him what’s wrong, and instead of answering ZZS swallows a pill and then offers the same to WKX “just in case”, since the drug men are poisonous. WKX accepts, and asks ZZS if he came from Healer Valley (since he has so many antidotes). “Do I look like someone who practices medicine?” ZZS retorts, and—after a moment—WKX says “No. You look like a professional killer.”
When ZZS glances over at WKX, WKX turns away and sighs about how cruel and frightening ZZS was to him, a kind-hearted man who couldn’t even kill a chicken. (A clear joke, as he smiles over at ZZS as he says the last line.) When ZZS questions him about the “kind-hearted” bit, WKX doubles down on “Though it doesn’t look like it, I really am”, and ZZS accepts both of these labels and asks WKX if he’s happy about that. (WKX laughs, but that’s not really an answer.)
ZZS turns away to look at some nice gross cuts on his arm, and WKX asks him what he knows about the drug men. We’re given some information about how they’re made, which ZZS says he learned from a book. “As a result, a living person would be turned into a powerful monster that can be controlled by someone,” ZZS ends, turning to look into the distance as his words slow down and get softer, I suspect because that’s also a description of his experience under Prince Jin’s command.
ZZS asks WKX for a dagger, and WKX offers him one. He pulls it away before ZZS can take it, though, saying that he wants to help ZZS and that if ZZS’s afraid of pain he can bite WKX’s arm. ZZS doesn’t answer, just pulls out the dagger from its sheath and slices into the wounds already on his arm without any sound and barely any change in his expression. He sucks blood out of his wounds and spits the poison away as WKX looks on.
When he finishes, WKX reaches for him and ZZS automatically blocks his arm. “Stop pretending to be tough,” WKX repeats, and asks what’s wrong with his wounds. I’m not sure what he’s realised here, but he’s definitely seeing some of the side effects of the nails (things healing too slowly?). ZZS spits back, “None of your business,” and WKX finds this deeply frustrating. WKX changes tactics, sharply striking ZZS on the shoulder and stealing his knife back, and then tells ZZS to sit quietly while WKX helps him with the wound on his back.
ZZS doesn’t say anything in response, but—since he doesn’t fight about it—that’s a clear acceptance of what WKX’s going to do. Frankly, as WKX slowly unpeels the layers of ZZS’s robes, I’m amazed he doesn’t pull them down in a way that exposes any nail scar. But he doesn’t, just showing a lovely bite mark on ZZS’s shoulder. He tells ZZS not to move, then opens it up with the knife, and then goes and sucks all the poison out. We’re mostly shown ZZS’s face during this, and not the wound, and it’s far sexier than it needed to be.
ZZS’s the one who says when the wound is clean, and he doesn’t let WKX put his robes back in place. When WKX doesn’t let go of his robes, ZZS asks what he’s doing, and WKX points out the way that ZZS’s disguise only goes as far as his head/face/neck—and that it’s clear to see where it stops, now that so much shoulder has been exposed too. ZZS pulls away, and says that he’s just got a tan.
WKX follows, and asks ZZS who he’s hiding from. ZZS retorts that he wants to hide from WKX most, which is such a “shut up and go away” reaction, but WKX isn’t deterred. “You can’t hide from me,” WKX says, and then tells ZZS that he doesn’t need to worry so long as WKX is at his side; no matter who he’s hiding from, even if it’s an immortal or a monster, he’ll protect him. ZZS snipes about if WKX has the ability to kill a god, and WKX says “I care about lives in the world. Why would I kill anyone unreasonably?” and professes that he would protect ZZS by convincing his enemies not to hurt him with “classical arguments”.
After a pause, when ZZS doesn’t say anything, WKX asks, “We’re friends who’ve gone through life and death together; can you show me your real appearance?” ZZS responds with “Trust should be mutual”, and WKX points out that he’s not hiding his real appearance, which really isn’t the point. ZZS goes on to say that almost everyone who’s seen ZZS’s real appearance has died, and WKX says he fears many things, but not death.
ZZS lashes out at WKX, and they exchange blows briefly before reaching a stalemate. WKX asks again to look at ZZS’s injuries, which he calls “quite serious,” and is clear that he knows ZZS’s suppressing them with his internal strength and that it’s going to fuck up his health as he continues suppressing them. ZZS tells WKX that he knows his own illness, and it’s none of WKX’s business, and he shakes WKX off to turn and start walking away.
WKX keeps following him, asking first where they’d go alone in the woods, and then if ZZS still isn’t admitting to his disguise, and reaches for ZZS’s face. This starts the fight in earnest, as ZZS leads them over to the lake and the boats they’re going to duel on. It’s a truly lovely fight, and I am not going to try and use words to describe it. There’s plenty of meta about the choreography that I’ve seen, including some really fun stuff about how it and the epilogue fight mirror each other.
They’re evenly matched, and it’s honestly a really active choice for ZZS to jump into the water and fall instead of continuing to fight. WKX smiles at this, and calls down into the water asking if ZZS admits the disguise now. ZZS’s propelling himself further down into the water, and WKX keeps talking and asking if he’s embarrassed to have lost. But when ZZS keeps not responding (and not surfacing), WKX gets panicked and asks ZZS to stop joking and come out.
When that doesn’t work, he dives into the water himself to look for ZZS. It’s very sweet how worried he is. As he’s looking, ZZS comes up from beneath and behind him and grabs his shoulder.
WKX turns, still concerned, and then sees ZZS without his mask. He recognises him, too, I think, and smiles a little when ZZS gestures that they should surface. They swim up in sync, and then we cut to after they’re surfaced and have gotten a fire going and are drying out their outer robes.
WKX is staring at ZZS, and ZZS is kinda irritated by it, and WKX promises not to tease him anymore. WKX asks for wine, and ZZS passes it over, and WKX takes a drink before he warms up ZZS’s wine-gourd with his own qi because he’s like that. ZZS wipes off the gourd’s throat before he takes his own drink, and then ZZS asks if WKX’s surname really is Wen. WKX assures ZZS that he didn’t lie about that.
Attention then moves to the Soul-Winding Box, and WKX begins talking about its history/how the Hanged Ghost owned and used it (and now he’s dead, which WKX ~definitely didn’t expect~).
ZZS picks it up and begins examining it, and points out that the person in the coffin home wasn’t Hanged Ghost. WKX says that ZZS knows a lot about Ghost Valley, and ZZS demurs, pointing out that the person in the coffin home was too young.
WKX asks why, if the Hanged Ghost were still alive, his treasured box would be with someone else. He’s giving clues about what he knows throughout this conversation, and ZZS’s turning them back on him.
ZZS’s fiddling with the box results in some spikes emerging, which he quickly avoids. WKX reacts by saying “Be careful!” and pointing out that it needs to be opened in a particular way to avoid the box self-destructing and/or hurting ZZS. ZZS instead asks why WKX killed the fake Hanged Ghost instead of leaving him alive to answer questions, and WKX says “I made mistakes because I was worried about you”, which is a very sweet flirt, partially true, and avoids the most important reason of how that ghost clearly could’ve told ZZS who WKX was (the Valley Master) long before WKX wants that to come up.
ZZS accepts this distraction, and tells lao-Wen to go get food. When WKX tells him to do it himself, ZZS makes a production of seeming sick and weak, and WKX caves (ZZS smiles at this). When WKX walks off, ZZS goes right back to fiddling with the soul-winding box with clear focus and intent and knowledge of weird puzzle boxes. WKX, on the edge of the clearing they’re camped in, pauses and turns back and murmurs “Zhou Zishu. He’s indeed… Zhou Zishu.” with a slight smile and a sigh before the scene ends.
We now get Xie-wang’s introduction! :D He’s playing the pipa, and I am blessed by not knowing enough about how playing it is supposed to work to need to think about whether or not it looks decent on camera. Wuchang Gui approaches the coffin home where Xie-wang is playing pipa, looking at the dead man on the ground and the drug men standing in orderly rows, and enters the room where Xie-wang is sitting.
Wuchang Gui praises Xie-wang’s musical skills, then brings up Long-tongued Ghost and how he learned to control the drug men from Xie-wang. (Chángshé Guǐ [长舌鬼] seems like it could be read more as “gossiping ghost”/“chatterbox ghost” than “your tongue is long”, now that I’m looking up the characters…)
Xie-wang mostly ignores Wuchang Gui’s asskissing until he says that he envies Long-Tongued Ghost, and then Xie-wang points out that Long-Tongued Ghost is dead. Wuchang Gui acts very startled about this, which is kind of odd when he definitely had to walk through the courtyard where Long-Tongued Ghost’s dead body was. Wuchang Gui asks who killed him and where the Soul-Winding Box is, and Xie-wang (very quietly, full of veiled danger), goes “How dare you ask me?” and then asks Wuchang Gui where the glazed armor is.
Wuchang Gui is like “What? I’ve got that. I went to Sanbai Manor to get rid of Ao Laizi’s body and everything!” and then goes on to explain how he asked Long-Tongued Ghost to bring the glazed armor here, where it can be protected by the drug men and the drugged incense. Xie-wang listens to this explanation with affected boredom, examining the rings on his fingers.
When Wuchang Gui tries to say that Xie-wang arrived later than he should’ve, Xie-wang finally speaks up and very clearly has the power in this conversation, because Wuchang Gui backs down as soon as he’s challenged. Xie-wang doesn’t press, just comments on how he didn’t expect anyone to be able to break into the coffin home through all the protection, and says things are getting interesting before going back to playing his pipa.
The scene cuts back to ZZS, who’s just opened the Soul-Winding Box. He carefully takes it apart, and finds a piece of glazed armor inside. (I believe it’s Lu Taichong’s, given to Ao Laizi and then stolen by Wuchang Gui, from the conversation last scene.)
WKX, who had been out hunting, comes back with two dead rabbits in his hand, and asks why the glazed armor was in the soul-winding box.
ZZS basically shrugs, then tosses the glazed armor to WKX and says he can have it. WKX is rather surprised by this reaction.
WKX talks about how people have been fighting over it, because it opens the world’s armory, and wonders why ZZS will trade it for two dead rabbits. ZZS says that at least rabbits can fill his stomach, and are thus better. WKX is still surprised that ZZS doesn’t want it, so he questions ZZS again. ZZS quotes back the glazed armor rhyme and calls it unlucky.
WKX laughs, and comments on ZZS’s sharp tongue. ZZS says “There are many things you don’t know about me”, and then offers up “Not only do I have a sharp tongue, I’m also ruthless” in one of the more direct forms of actually opening up to WKX that he’s shown. He warns WKX to be careful of him, and WKX takes this as a flirtation, teasing ZZS about giving him such an unlucky thing as a gift. ZZS says that WKX won’t get in trouble because of the glazed armor because he’s already a trouble, so why would he be afraid.
WKX says he won’t throw away the glazed armor, because it’s the first gift ZZS gave him, so he’ll “hang it on a string and wear it at [his] side and appreciate it every day”. Which he sort of does, until his fake glazed armor plan requires him to let it be stolen. Then he asks if ZZS thinks this is “Zhao Jing’s glazed armor, or Chengling’s?” which completely ignores that it could be Lu Taichong’s (and proves that WKX, while good, doesn’t know everything going on). ZZS scoffs at the idea that someone could have Chengling’s piece, considering how much effort people go to in order to kidnap him.
WKX considers this, and then mentions how he suspected Ao Laizi and Shen Shen “this morning” but now Ao Laizi’s dead so it’s hard to suspect him, and asks if ZZS thinks there is something strange. ZZS says that Ghost Valley was instigating things, and points out how Lu Taichong handed everything over to Ao Laizi instead of his sworn brothers, and how that had to have embarrassed the Five Lakes Alliance, so the Ghost Valley provoked things further by spreading Ao Laizi’s blood on Sanbai Manor. Then ZZS decides he’s done talking about this, and tells WKX to help him clean rabbits if he’s bored. And that he can’t eat them if he doesn’t help.
We get the brief extra scene now, which is them cleaning the rabbits in the water together! WKX flicks water at ZZS, who calls him childish but promptly slashes back and then runs away back to the campfire before WKX can retaliate. WKX chases him anyway, which is very cute, but part of me wonders how long it takes them to finish getting the rabbits ready for food at this point…
At Sanbai Manor, Chengling is staring at a table of food but not eating. Which. I know Chengling wants to be like his shifu (who hasn’t accepted him yet), but this is a bad part of ZZS’s personality to mimic.
Zhao Jing comes by (with Shen Shen) to check on him, and first asks after his sleep and then comments on his lack of appetite, saying he’s worried about Chengling but they must continue on. Shen Shen then asks if Chengling was crying, and Chengling turns away and goes “No” in a very teenage way.
Zhao Jing then tells Chengling that ZZS and WKX left this morning without a word (well, they left last night but I suppose it’s possible nobody noticed until servants checked the rooms they should’ve been in this morning), and asks if they were friends of Zhang Yusen’s. Chengling says he doesn’t know, and Shen Shen wonders why he followed people without knowing who they were. Then he’s like “Well, it’s good that they’ve left. Tell me what happened at Mirror Lake Manor, now that you’ve had a chance to rest.”
Chengling says he doesn’t remember, and Shen Shen doesn't believe him. Shen Shen’s behavior continues to be on the more aggressive side, because that’s how his personality is, but while it comes across as anger I don’t think it actually is; it’s just Shen Shen being upset that he hasn’t been able to protect Chengling and not being great at emotional regulation.
Shen Shen also thinks that Chengling is intentionally hiding the truth from him and Zhao Jing, which he’s right about, though we don’t know that yet. Chengling demurs, saying that he was frightened, and then had a fever “for a few days” and woke up beside ZZS and WKX, and that he doesn’t remember what happened next. This is a lovely set of lies, delivered in a way that’s actually pretty convincing all things considered. The hesitation and reluctance Chengling shows is hiding things, but would also fit in with “I’m scared and still not okay” (which is also true) the way his story suggests.
Zhao Jing tells Shen Shen to stop questioning Chengling, and Shen Shen brushes him off, further encouraging the idea that Zhao Jing is the good man and Shen Shen’s an asshole. Shen Shen asks Chengling how his parents died, and asks him if he remembers “the 300 lives at Mirror Lake Manor”, which is (for once!) a reasonable number of people (especially if it includes servants and families and not just disciples!).
Chengling stares at him without saying anything, and Zhao Jing keeps trying to tell Shen Shen to stop, and Shen Shen instead throws everything off a nearby table while yelling about their duty to take revenge.
Zhao Jing attempts to comfort Chengling, saying that Shen Shen is just anxious and of course they’ll get revenge, and that “though there were some misunderstandings (between the sworn brothers), nothing can break our relationship.” He also says that Chengling is his son now, which? Honestly? Very sweet on first viewing, very bad vibes on a rewatch knowing how Zhao Jing treats Xie’er.
Shen Shen takes our minds off this by pointing out that “it’s urgent now” and discussing how two of the three pieces of glazed armor are gone, and Zhao Jing keeps defending Chengling from needing to talk about what happened at Mirror Lake Manor. Zhao Jing says that they’ll let Gao Chong figure it out once they’re at Yueyang. For a moment, Shen Shen looks like he’s upset enough to be on the verge of tears, but then he storms out and Zhao Jing goes back to trying to reassure Chengling. It’s not very effective.
The scene changes to Sanbai Manor’s hall, where Zhao Jing and Shen Shen enter and see Yu Qiufeng and another older guy, Mu Siyuan (head of Broken Sword Manor; presumably Mu Yunge’s dad or uncle). Yu Qiufeng calls them “Zhao-dage” and “Shen-daxia”, which is a fun note about relative closeness, and says he’s heard they’re leaving for Yueyang today. Zhao Jing confirms this, and asks about Yu Qiufeng’s plans.
Zhao Jing asks where Yu Tianjie is, as if he doesn’t already know, and Yu Qiufeng says that his disciple He Ruicai (not a name I recognise?) has been missing for a few days and Yu Tianjie has gone to search for him. Either Yu Qiufeng believes this or he’s a far better liar than I recall him being; hard to say right now. Zhao Jing tells Yu Qiufeng to restrain his pupils, due to all the chaos and death happening, which honestly sounds kind of like a threat.
Shen Shen complains about Zhao Jing undermining morale, and says he wants to suppress any ghosts who dare cause trouble. Zhao Jing reminds him it’s been peaceful, and wonders when people got so anxious, and hopes that Gao Chong’s heroes conference can restore peace.
ZZS and WKX return to the coffin home in the daytime with their nice new robes that appeared out of nowhere, and while I would love to know how they got them I will let it slide for now because they’re very pretty. They enter walking in perfect step with each other, and WKX looks around the cleared-up courtyard and wonders if what happened had been a dream. ZZS says it’s only been a few shichen (translated as ‘hours’ in subs but since a shichen is 2hrs that’s a fair difference in actual elapsed time…) since they’d left.
Which, since it’s full light out in this scene and was full dark before, I suppose they were here in the early morning (~2am?) and now it’s well into the morning (~8am?), which I think works out time-wise because it’s like June probably (since the Heroes Conference is supposed to be on July 15th and that’s still some ways away) and the sun’s well up by then. (I will IGNORE the fact that their shadows imply this was filmed around midday… it doesn’t actually matter…)
Anyway, ZZS says that such a perfect clean-up in such a brief period of time couldn’t be done by normal people. Presumably they investigate some more around the coffin home, but we aren’t shown that; the scene instead cuts to them walking through the woods as WKX asks about the strange scent that tossed them into hallucinations. He adds “It’s alright if you don’t want to share; I’m not forcing you,” just in case ZZS might think otherwise, which feels like him slowly learning what it means to be polite outside Ghost Valley.
ZZS doesn’t answer, instead looking up at where Yu Tianjie’s body had been tangled up in a tree. He asks WKX to confirm that this is the right spot, which WKX does, and then WKX goes right back to asking about that scent. ZZS tells him its name, and WKX asks why he had the antidote. ZZS walks away, looking at where cuts are sliced into some bamboo, and wonders to himself why Drunk-Like-a-Dream appeared in this area (Hu, according to the engsubs; Huzhou, if I look at the hanzi).
The camera slides over to bring WKX into frame as ZZS asks himself if Tian Chuang is working with Ghost Valley.
WKX asks why ZZS is ignoring him, and then wonders if ZZS could get him some Drunk-Like-a-Dream of his own. ZZS says he won’t/can’t, and WKX keeps pushing, saying he’d pay ZZS anything he wanted for it. ZZS turns to look at him, quiet and assessing, and then begins circling WKX very intently. He tells WKX that Drunk-Like-a-Dream makes people see what they desire most, and says, “Wen-xiong, you kept calling a person’s name at that time. What did you see?”
WKX is staring straight forward, finally made as uncomfortable and unwilling to talk by this conversation as ZZS has been.
There’s some silence before he forces a laugh and tells ZZS that he’s prying too much into a private matter. ZZS, unlike WKX, doesn’t keep pushing; he just thinks to himself that WKX is very mysterious and knows too much about Siji Manor and that he really wants to know what WKX’s relationship to “[his] sect” is. ZZS still claiming Siji Manor as his sect, even when he’s basically the only one alive, makes a lot of sense and is also very sad.
Then WKX laughs, and turns back to him, and says he’ll share what he saw.
I recall hearing this is one of the bits that they had to re-dub because it was pushing boundaries too much, but I don’t recall what the lip-readers said WKX was originally saying here. The dubbing we’ve been given is about WKX throwing a dead rat into his mom’s bed and her chasing him across the streets, and ZZS turns away from him in an offended huff.
More seriously, WKX says that he joked around because he didn't want to lie to ZZS. ZZS takes this as the moment of vulnerability it is, and reciprocates by telling him the main ingredient of Drunk-Like-a-Dream, a plant called nepenthes [in youtube’s subs; in netflix’s we get orange day-lily, a completely different plant], and how it works. He says the version used in the coffin home was much stronger than his version. When WKX asks if he did indeed create Drunk-Like-a-Dream, ZZS says that it came from an ancient recipe, and he just turned it into an incense and lessened the effect to make it a sleep aid; nepenthes hasn’t been in the central plain since ancient times, after all.
(As someone who really loves Qi Ye, I’m grouchy about them giving the creation of Drunk-Like-a-Dream to ZZS instead of leaving it with Wu Xi.)
WKX says he likes the name of the drug, and wonders about what’s wrong with staying in a dream, in a dangerous world with potentially-evil men. ZZS tells him he can keep dreaming, then, and turns away. WKX chases after him again, and the scene ends.
Back at Sanbai Manor, an “official from the northwest” arrives; it’s Han Ying. The manor’s guard tries to tell his guardsman that Zhao Jing isn’t in (because he and Shen Shen have already departed for Yueyang) and can’t welcome him here, but Han Ying’s already exited his carriage. ZZS and WKX watch as Han Ying gets told about this (and we learn the Heroes Conference will be at “Mount Jun”?). Han Ying asks if Zhang Chengling has also left, and ZZS thinks about how Tian Chuang really is involved in all the glazed armor stuff.
WKX thinks the heroes conference sounds interesting, but when he says so ZZS storms off. WKX follows, of course, and asks why ZZS is hiding. He accurately guesses that ZZS doesn’t want to see Han Ying (calling him ‘the guard’), and then asks if ZZS is a fugitive. ZZS says “Yes, I murdered people and set them on fire. I’ve committed many crimes.”, which is true but not really the point, and tells “Philanthropist Wen” to stay away from him. WKX, of course, just grabs him and draws him closer as he asks “Do you pluck flowers?” (as a euphemism for sexual assault, iirc?), which ZZS makes a face about.
WKX then turns the discussion to the heroes conference and how he wants to attend (and thinks ZZS should too). ZZS asks if WKX’s following him there “to kill people or set the fire?“, and WKX responds that they’re going there to enjoy the drama. ZZS doesn’t seem convinced, or interested, so WKX switches tactics to mention how the Five Lakes Alliance all want to control Chengling and how much Chengling needs protection, and ZZS grumps at him because this argument worked.
As ZZS walks away, WKX says he’s going to look for Gu Xiang “to settle something” and then he’ll catch up to ZZS.
We cut to Zhao Jing’s travelling caravan, and are shown that Chengling is riding in the same carriage as Zhao Jing, and then it cuts to everyone taking a break to eat. It’s emphasized that Zhao Jing’s travelling in style and comfort, and then we’re shown that ZZS is lurking in the woods nearby, watching them.
The next cut is to WKX in a town, going to a jeweler’s shop, and asking if the shopkeeper can make glass. He asks them to make 30 copies of the glazed armor by tomorrow. When the shopkeeper says that’s ridiculous (such a project should take at least 10-15 days, and he can’t match the quality of the glazed armor), WKX tosses a bag full of gold at him. The shopkeeper says he can do it in three days. WKX accepts this, and says that if they aren’t ready in time he’ll burn the shop down.
Another cut, to nighttime and Gu Xiang eating nuts and playing dominoes with those girls she rescued. Gu Xiang has apparently been losing a lot, and the girls think it’s unfortunate that Gu Xiang keeps giving up when she loses. Gu Xiang grumbles, and says that if they were playing a game she knew she’d win the clothes off them. The girls wonder when WKX will be back, and say they feel guilty about only playing around and not serving GX and WKX well in repayment for their lives.
WKX appears just then, of course, and everyone’s very excited. Gu Xiang wants him to join in playing games, but WKX just wants to compare the girls to Gu Xiang to say that she doesn’t know restraint. But then he’s like “give them 100 taels of silver later” and says they can return to their homes, setting them free and giving them their lives back. They don’t seem to want to go, because they’re good servants, but he doesn’t want servants like this; he’s back to “the rest of your lives is a dangerous thing”.
There’s some blatant Wolong Nuts product placement interrupting this, which is honestly very funny. (Especially since WKX outright asks “Did you get paid? You’re praising them so blatantly.” and Gu Xiang denies it.)
Gu Xiang argues for keeping the girls around (“They’re orphans, they don’t have anyone to rely on, the worlds a mess and money alone isn’t enough to survive”) as the Found Family Theme (or Siji Manor theme, depending on your POV) plays. The girls join in, saying that “Only Xiang-jiejie treats us like humans” instead of property to be sold at will. He sighs, and relents, saying they can beGu Xiang’s servants and telling her to treat them well and take care of them. I don’t really remember seeing them through the rest of this show, though.
The girls are dismissed, and WKX calls Gu Xiang to sit so he can give her instructions. Three days have passed, apparently, because he dumps out a bag of fake glazed armor on the table between them, and then tells Gu Xiang that she has two tasks.
We aren’t told what they are, just that the first one must happen as soon as possible and they need to prepare carefully for the second.
The episode ends as WKX leans over to tell Gu Xiang what to do.
General Commentary
“Trust should be mutual” Zhou Zishu says, which is kind of the narrative’s way of acknowledging something Dora and I had an extended conversation about a while ago: Right now, Wen Kexing knows a lot more about Zhou Zishu than Zhou Zishu knows about Wen Kexing.
While Zhou Zishu can be fairly certain of Wen Kexing’s connection to Ghost Valley at this point, he doesn’t know what rank he holds, and he isn’t even sure Wen Kexing’s surname is really Wen. On the other hand, Wen Kexing knows that Zhou Zishu trained at Siji Manor, and he knows Zhou Zishu’s name (which Zhou Zishu hasn’t given him), and he's aware of Zhou Zishu's internal injuries (even if he doesn't know their source). And now Wen Kexing’s asking to see his real face, too? What is the trust being handed over in return? What information is Wen Kexing willing to give to keep their relationship (fragile as it is) equal?
(I’m still not sure what he gives/what Zhou Zishu realises over the course of their fight that leads Zhou Zishu to take off his mask. Maybe it’s just not worth it anymore. Maybe he’s tired of it, since Wen Kexing sees through it anyway. Maybe it’s an attempt at making Wen Kexing open up more in return. It’s hard to say.)
Thinking about it that way also brings Zhou Zishu’s later line “You don’t know a lot of things about me” into sharper contrast; he’s aware of all that Wen Kexing knows that he shouldn’t, but there’s still a lot about Zhou Zishu (his personality, his likes/dislikes, etc.) that Wen Kexing isn’t aware of. The kind of things which, in many ways, Wen Kexing is freer about sharing; Wen Kexing has never hidden what he likes/doesn’t like, or made any effort to hide how he wants to be treated (which isn’t the same as who he is, but it’s reflective of who he wants to be).
And yet: “You don’t know a lot of things about me,” Zhou Zishu says, and then follows it right up with “I’m not only sharp-tongued, but also ruthless,” which… he is, yes, but that says more about his job than about him. Wen Kexing laughs, because Zhou Zishu has been so gentle and soft-hearted so much of the time that the ruthlessness he’s capable of doesn’t show. It might be part of him, but it’s not the part Zhou Zishu prefers to focus on when he’s given a choice about who to be.
Something that’s annoyed me since the special scene dropped is how they portray “cleaning” an animal. I am going to hide this commentary under the details box; I’m not going into gory detail, but I know not everyone wants to read about animal carcasses like this.
I love Xie’er and the air of quiet threat he projects in this scene. Wuchang Gui has already been established as the de-facto leader of the Ten Devils in ep1, when he’s the one mostly speaking and urging them to do what WKX says, so when he’s deferring to Xie’er in much the same way (though with more attempts to complain), it sets up Xie’er’s power very nicely.
Zhou Zishu talking about how he diluted Drunk-Like-a-Dream to make it basically a sleep aid is very sad. I wonder how much time he spent taking it for exactly that purpose back in Tian Chuang, and if the nightmares actually went away when he left or if he’s just too busy with nail problems now for them to be an issue anymore.
The way Shen Shen and Zhao Jing are presented in this episode continues to be fascinating! Shen Shen is worried about the right things, and he’s noticing the right things, and nobody’s listening to him because Zhao Jing has his own schemes and also Shen Shen’s just coming across as angry and off-putting.
Chengling lies to Shen Shen and Zhao Jing very well. This, really, is the first hint that things might not be as they seem; it’s great seeing this in context of knowing about the letter Zhang Yusen wrote and Chengling hid away. Shen Shen might still be able to tell he’s hiding something, but he doesn’t have anything to actively question beyond “you have to know something!” so it doesn’t matter. Zhao Jing, on the other hand, could easily know there’s more under the surface, depending on what reports his men have made, but it’s hard to tell since he doesn’t want Chengling to get questioned right now.
Zhao Jing during these early episodes is incredibly hard to read. He’s got that one expression, of mild concern, and he uses it in almost every single situation he’s put in. It’s very versatile, because there are many concerning things happening!
I had completely forgotten that Han Ying shows up in this episode. The last time Prince Jin or Tian Chuang was actively on screen was back in Episode 2, when Duan Pengju and Jin-wang discussed the glazed armor and Duan Pengju was ordered to send men to investigate.
I’m going to C&P something I wrote in a conversation with Dora a bit over a month ago about why Han Ying, specifically, was sent on this mission, since I still agree with myself:
“There had to already have been factions within Tian Chuang, but the change of leadership probably made it splinter more. Which might be part of why Han Ying got tossed off to the jianghu to find Chengling—he'd easily be the leader of the faction who opposed Duan Pengju, either as figurehead or active force, because he's so strongly associated with ZZS; having him elsewhere gives Duan Pengju a chance to solidify his standing (though, like, how that plays out with the whole Scorpion connection is... still mildly baffling to me tbh, but that's okay, I'll figure that out more with more rewatching I guess). Probably nobody expected Han Ying to run into ZZS out there, and therefore for it to become a problem again.”
I’m still curious about the Scorpion connection! I assume it’s why Han Ying shows up at Sanbai Manor specifically instead of going to Yueyang first, since Duan Pengju had connections there. If so, it implies that either Duan Pengju had dealings with both Xie-wang and Zhao Jing separately, or that Duan Pengju knows that Xie-wang and Zhao Jing are connected themselves. So that’s interesting!
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. Do you have more thoughts about why Zhou Zishu removes his mask here?
2. How long do you think Wuchang Gui and Xie-wang have been working together? I haven’t been able to figure out even a solid guess, so any thoughts or potential things to look out for would be awesome to hear!
3. Keeping track of the pieces of glazed armor is hard! It’s about to get a lot harder, as we start trying to guess where the real instance of Lu Taichong’s piece is in the midst of the fakes. How’re you feeling about knowing who has what pieces, right now?
4. Any thoughts/feelings about Tian Chuang showing up? Or about the ways Zhou Zishu accepts Wen Kexing calling himself a good person but constantly brings up how he’s a murderer and a terrible person? (These are related in my head! They might not be, in yours, and that’s okay.)
Next Time: Meeting Luo Fumeng | Xisang Gui at the staged death-wedding for Mu Yunge! Han Ying talks to Gao Chong about the Glazed Armor! ZZS tries to convince himself that he doesn’t need to guard Chengling anymore! WKX meets back up with ZZS! We’re introduced to Cao Weining!
1.
sabriel pointed out in the comments last week that “For someone who's 'grieving' for their dead brother, this sort of ostentatious feast [that Zhao Jing is throwing] is really inappropriate.”, which is an absolutely wonderful point. Yet another little marker of how we’re shown that Zhao Jing isn’t what he appears to be, no matter how nice a front he puts up.2.
rosaxx50 wrote a comment that included a great summary of how ZZS spends the second half of ep5 getting more and more intrigued/willing to play along with WKX’s games.3. A nice little discussion between
trobadora and sabriel about wtf was up with Shen Shen pretending to be drunk and then opening his eyes real dramatic-like.Episode 6 is one of the episodes that got a special version with a brief added scene! I am indeed watching that version. :)
This is also the episode I got my icon from! :D
List of Scenes
Fighting Long-tongued Ghost and the Drug Men
WKX carrying ZZS away
Sucking poison out of wounds
WKX wants ZZS to take off his mask
The fight at the lake
WKX sees ZZS without his mask
Xie-wang and Wuchang Gui discuss the missing Soul-Winding Box
ZZS opens the Soul-Winding Box and tosses the glazed armor inside to WKX because he doesn’t want it
Extra scene: Cleaning rabbits and splashing each other
Zhao Jing and Shen Shen talk to Chengling (and Shen Shen wants info about how the Mirror Lake Manor fight went down)
Zhao Jing and Shen Shen talk to Yu Qiufeng about their travel plans
ZZS and WKX return to the now-empty coffin home
ZZS and WKX walk through the woods and WKX asks about Drunk-Like-a-Dream
Han Ying arrives at Sanbai Manor and ZZS has Feelings about this
ZZS follows Zhao Jing’s caravan
WKX orders 30 copies of the glazed armor
Gu Xiang plays dominos with her servant-girls and helps them beg WKX to stay servants
WKX gives Gu Xiang instructions about what to do next
Timeline or Something
Most of this episode takes place over a night and a morning, but then travel happens and it’s very hard to tell how much time actually passes! At least three days, since that’s how long it took for WKX to get the fake glazed armor made, but beyond that it’s hard to say.
Recap
Last episode ended with WKX storming off after being like “Zhou Zishu, you’re mean and I’m gonna tell my mom!”, and this episode begins with WKX entering the nice coffin-filled entry courtyard (with ZZS following not far behind) as a creepy voice says “Let me out” and a coffin rattles. WKX thinks this is very funny, and ZZS is rather more concerned.
A ghost pops out of the coffin! [Later this episode, we learn this is Changshe Gui, Long-tongued Ghost.]
He’s got a bell, and we’re shown reaction shots of him seeing WKX and of WKX (still not free of Drunk-Like-a-Dream) considering him like “Should I know you?” in return. When the ghost realises that WKX isn’t immediately recognizing him, he laughs and shouts about how “This scent really is quite useful!” and then calls the
WKX calls them smelly and dirty, and ZZS protects him while slicing down a lot of drug men. He’s pushing himself, from how he coughs, and WKX isn’t helping at all. Indeed, when there’s a pause in the action, WKX drapes himself over ZZS’s shoulders and calls him “mom” (because his shoulder blades, like hers, are the prettiest). ZZS doesn’t have time to really react to this or process before he needs to fend off another wave of foes, which he does without much difficulty even with WKX all over him.
ZZS tells WKX to wake up, and then pricks him in the back with Baiyi. While WKX’s using this as impetus to wake up, more drug men come at them. This time, while ZZS mostly blocks them one gets through to bite at his shoulder before he gets rid of it. He’s clearly tired, and gets knocked to the ground and swarmed. There’s a moment where he thinks he’s gonna die like this, and then WKX knocks all their foes aside and smiles down at him very sweetly.
That turns to murder in the next second as he shifts his attention to the person controlling the drug men, who has maybe half a second to go “Oh shit” before WKX throws his fan and kills him in in a single blow (and, somehow, also gets the soul-winding box in the same motion).
ZZS, still on the ground, shouts “Wen Kexing!” and WKX responds with a smile and acknowledgement and then goes “Why did you call my name so sweetly?” because he’s having fun again. ZZS calls him a jerk. (“你个鳖孙” seems to more literally translate to “you’re a turtle’s grandson”, which is great.)
WKX laughs, and offers ZZS a hand to pull him up, which ZZS accepts. He seems to need it, too, being less than steady on his feet once he’s upright. When the drug men start coming after them again, WKX grabs ZZS and leaps away with them, bouncing off a drug man’s head on the way.
They fly out into the forest, WKX carrying both of them as he runs across the treetops, and end up at That Lake. (One of the love themes starts playing, too.) WKX helps ZZS sit down, and then takes a seat next to him.
When WKX goes to check ZZS’s pulse, ZZS slaps him aside, but WKX keeps looking at him with concern as he points out that ZZS’s poisoned. ZZS’s grouchy about having needed help, and WKX first tells him that he “wasn’t pretending to be tricked” and then to “stop pretending to be tough in front of me” and that it’s nothing embarrassing to have been carried a bit.
ZZS turns the “I’m not pretending” right back on WKX, which WKX laughs about, and even ZZS smiles for a moment before wincing in pain. WKX asks him what’s wrong, and instead of answering ZZS swallows a pill and then offers the same to WKX “just in case”, since the drug men are poisonous. WKX accepts, and asks ZZS if he came from Healer Valley (since he has so many antidotes). “Do I look like someone who practices medicine?” ZZS retorts, and—after a moment—WKX says “No. You look like a professional killer.”
When ZZS glances over at WKX, WKX turns away and sighs about how cruel and frightening ZZS was to him, a kind-hearted man who couldn’t even kill a chicken. (A clear joke, as he smiles over at ZZS as he says the last line.) When ZZS questions him about the “kind-hearted” bit, WKX doubles down on “Though it doesn’t look like it, I really am”, and ZZS accepts both of these labels and asks WKX if he’s happy about that. (WKX laughs, but that’s not really an answer.)
ZZS turns away to look at some nice gross cuts on his arm, and WKX asks him what he knows about the drug men. We’re given some information about how they’re made, which ZZS says he learned from a book. “As a result, a living person would be turned into a powerful monster that can be controlled by someone,” ZZS ends, turning to look into the distance as his words slow down and get softer, I suspect because that’s also a description of his experience under Prince Jin’s command.
ZZS asks WKX for a dagger, and WKX offers him one. He pulls it away before ZZS can take it, though, saying that he wants to help ZZS and that if ZZS’s afraid of pain he can bite WKX’s arm. ZZS doesn’t answer, just pulls out the dagger from its sheath and slices into the wounds already on his arm without any sound and barely any change in his expression. He sucks blood out of his wounds and spits the poison away as WKX looks on.
When he finishes, WKX reaches for him and ZZS automatically blocks his arm. “Stop pretending to be tough,” WKX repeats, and asks what’s wrong with his wounds. I’m not sure what he’s realised here, but he’s definitely seeing some of the side effects of the nails (things healing too slowly?). ZZS spits back, “None of your business,” and WKX finds this deeply frustrating. WKX changes tactics, sharply striking ZZS on the shoulder and stealing his knife back, and then tells ZZS to sit quietly while WKX helps him with the wound on his back.
ZZS doesn’t say anything in response, but—since he doesn’t fight about it—that’s a clear acceptance of what WKX’s going to do. Frankly, as WKX slowly unpeels the layers of ZZS’s robes, I’m amazed he doesn’t pull them down in a way that exposes any nail scar. But he doesn’t, just showing a lovely bite mark on ZZS’s shoulder. He tells ZZS not to move, then opens it up with the knife, and then goes and sucks all the poison out. We’re mostly shown ZZS’s face during this, and not the wound, and it’s far sexier than it needed to be.
ZZS’s the one who says when the wound is clean, and he doesn’t let WKX put his robes back in place. When WKX doesn’t let go of his robes, ZZS asks what he’s doing, and WKX points out the way that ZZS’s disguise only goes as far as his head/face/neck—and that it’s clear to see where it stops, now that so much shoulder has been exposed too. ZZS pulls away, and says that he’s just got a tan.
WKX follows, and asks ZZS who he’s hiding from. ZZS retorts that he wants to hide from WKX most, which is such a “shut up and go away” reaction, but WKX isn’t deterred. “You can’t hide from me,” WKX says, and then tells ZZS that he doesn’t need to worry so long as WKX is at his side; no matter who he’s hiding from, even if it’s an immortal or a monster, he’ll protect him. ZZS snipes about if WKX has the ability to kill a god, and WKX says “I care about lives in the world. Why would I kill anyone unreasonably?” and professes that he would protect ZZS by convincing his enemies not to hurt him with “classical arguments”.
After a pause, when ZZS doesn’t say anything, WKX asks, “We’re friends who’ve gone through life and death together; can you show me your real appearance?” ZZS responds with “Trust should be mutual”, and WKX points out that he’s not hiding his real appearance, which really isn’t the point. ZZS goes on to say that almost everyone who’s seen ZZS’s real appearance has died, and WKX says he fears many things, but not death.
ZZS lashes out at WKX, and they exchange blows briefly before reaching a stalemate. WKX asks again to look at ZZS’s injuries, which he calls “quite serious,” and is clear that he knows ZZS’s suppressing them with his internal strength and that it’s going to fuck up his health as he continues suppressing them. ZZS tells WKX that he knows his own illness, and it’s none of WKX’s business, and he shakes WKX off to turn and start walking away.
WKX keeps following him, asking first where they’d go alone in the woods, and then if ZZS still isn’t admitting to his disguise, and reaches for ZZS’s face. This starts the fight in earnest, as ZZS leads them over to the lake and the boats they’re going to duel on. It’s a truly lovely fight, and I am not going to try and use words to describe it. There’s plenty of meta about the choreography that I’ve seen, including some really fun stuff about how it and the epilogue fight mirror each other.
They’re evenly matched, and it’s honestly a really active choice for ZZS to jump into the water and fall instead of continuing to fight. WKX smiles at this, and calls down into the water asking if ZZS admits the disguise now. ZZS’s propelling himself further down into the water, and WKX keeps talking and asking if he’s embarrassed to have lost. But when ZZS keeps not responding (and not surfacing), WKX gets panicked and asks ZZS to stop joking and come out.
When that doesn’t work, he dives into the water himself to look for ZZS. It’s very sweet how worried he is. As he’s looking, ZZS comes up from beneath and behind him and grabs his shoulder.
WKX turns, still concerned, and then sees ZZS without his mask. He recognises him, too, I think, and smiles a little when ZZS gestures that they should surface. They swim up in sync, and then we cut to after they’re surfaced and have gotten a fire going and are drying out their outer robes.
WKX is staring at ZZS, and ZZS is kinda irritated by it, and WKX promises not to tease him anymore. WKX asks for wine, and ZZS passes it over, and WKX takes a drink before he warms up ZZS’s wine-gourd with his own qi because he’s like that. ZZS wipes off the gourd’s throat before he takes his own drink, and then ZZS asks if WKX’s surname really is Wen. WKX assures ZZS that he didn’t lie about that.
Attention then moves to the Soul-Winding Box, and WKX begins talking about its history/how the Hanged Ghost owned and used it (and now he’s dead, which WKX ~definitely didn’t expect~).
ZZS picks it up and begins examining it, and points out that the person in the coffin home wasn’t Hanged Ghost. WKX says that ZZS knows a lot about Ghost Valley, and ZZS demurs, pointing out that the person in the coffin home was too young.
WKX asks why, if the Hanged Ghost were still alive, his treasured box would be with someone else. He’s giving clues about what he knows throughout this conversation, and ZZS’s turning them back on him.
ZZS’s fiddling with the box results in some spikes emerging, which he quickly avoids. WKX reacts by saying “Be careful!” and pointing out that it needs to be opened in a particular way to avoid the box self-destructing and/or hurting ZZS. ZZS instead asks why WKX killed the fake Hanged Ghost instead of leaving him alive to answer questions, and WKX says “I made mistakes because I was worried about you”, which is a very sweet flirt, partially true, and avoids the most important reason of how that ghost clearly could’ve told ZZS who WKX was (the Valley Master) long before WKX wants that to come up.
ZZS accepts this distraction, and tells lao-Wen to go get food. When WKX tells him to do it himself, ZZS makes a production of seeming sick and weak, and WKX caves (ZZS smiles at this). When WKX walks off, ZZS goes right back to fiddling with the soul-winding box with clear focus and intent and knowledge of weird puzzle boxes. WKX, on the edge of the clearing they’re camped in, pauses and turns back and murmurs “Zhou Zishu. He’s indeed… Zhou Zishu.” with a slight smile and a sigh before the scene ends.
We now get Xie-wang’s introduction! :D He’s playing the pipa, and I am blessed by not knowing enough about how playing it is supposed to work to need to think about whether or not it looks decent on camera. Wuchang Gui approaches the coffin home where Xie-wang is playing pipa, looking at the dead man on the ground and the drug men standing in orderly rows, and enters the room where Xie-wang is sitting.
Wuchang Gui praises Xie-wang’s musical skills, then brings up Long-tongued Ghost and how he learned to control the drug men from Xie-wang. (Chángshé Guǐ [长舌鬼] seems like it could be read more as “gossiping ghost”/“chatterbox ghost” than “your tongue is long”, now that I’m looking up the characters…)
Xie-wang mostly ignores Wuchang Gui’s asskissing until he says that he envies Long-Tongued Ghost, and then Xie-wang points out that Long-Tongued Ghost is dead. Wuchang Gui acts very startled about this, which is kind of odd when he definitely had to walk through the courtyard where Long-Tongued Ghost’s dead body was. Wuchang Gui asks who killed him and where the Soul-Winding Box is, and Xie-wang (very quietly, full of veiled danger), goes “How dare you ask me?” and then asks Wuchang Gui where the glazed armor is.
Wuchang Gui is like “What? I’ve got that. I went to Sanbai Manor to get rid of Ao Laizi’s body and everything!” and then goes on to explain how he asked Long-Tongued Ghost to bring the glazed armor here, where it can be protected by the drug men and the drugged incense. Xie-wang listens to this explanation with affected boredom, examining the rings on his fingers.
When Wuchang Gui tries to say that Xie-wang arrived later than he should’ve, Xie-wang finally speaks up and very clearly has the power in this conversation, because Wuchang Gui backs down as soon as he’s challenged. Xie-wang doesn’t press, just comments on how he didn’t expect anyone to be able to break into the coffin home through all the protection, and says things are getting interesting before going back to playing his pipa.
The scene cuts back to ZZS, who’s just opened the Soul-Winding Box. He carefully takes it apart, and finds a piece of glazed armor inside. (I believe it’s Lu Taichong’s, given to Ao Laizi and then stolen by Wuchang Gui, from the conversation last scene.)
WKX, who had been out hunting, comes back with two dead rabbits in his hand, and asks why the glazed armor was in the soul-winding box.
ZZS basically shrugs, then tosses the glazed armor to WKX and says he can have it. WKX is rather surprised by this reaction.
WKX talks about how people have been fighting over it, because it opens the world’s armory, and wonders why ZZS will trade it for two dead rabbits. ZZS says that at least rabbits can fill his stomach, and are thus better. WKX is still surprised that ZZS doesn’t want it, so he questions ZZS again. ZZS quotes back the glazed armor rhyme and calls it unlucky.
WKX laughs, and comments on ZZS’s sharp tongue. ZZS says “There are many things you don’t know about me”, and then offers up “Not only do I have a sharp tongue, I’m also ruthless” in one of the more direct forms of actually opening up to WKX that he’s shown. He warns WKX to be careful of him, and WKX takes this as a flirtation, teasing ZZS about giving him such an unlucky thing as a gift. ZZS says that WKX won’t get in trouble because of the glazed armor because he’s already a trouble, so why would he be afraid.
WKX says he won’t throw away the glazed armor, because it’s the first gift ZZS gave him, so he’ll “hang it on a string and wear it at [his] side and appreciate it every day”. Which he sort of does, until his fake glazed armor plan requires him to let it be stolen. Then he asks if ZZS thinks this is “Zhao Jing’s glazed armor, or Chengling’s?” which completely ignores that it could be Lu Taichong’s (and proves that WKX, while good, doesn’t know everything going on). ZZS scoffs at the idea that someone could have Chengling’s piece, considering how much effort people go to in order to kidnap him.
WKX considers this, and then mentions how he suspected Ao Laizi and Shen Shen “this morning” but now Ao Laizi’s dead so it’s hard to suspect him, and asks if ZZS thinks there is something strange. ZZS says that Ghost Valley was instigating things, and points out how Lu Taichong handed everything over to Ao Laizi instead of his sworn brothers, and how that had to have embarrassed the Five Lakes Alliance, so the Ghost Valley provoked things further by spreading Ao Laizi’s blood on Sanbai Manor. Then ZZS decides he’s done talking about this, and tells WKX to help him clean rabbits if he’s bored. And that he can’t eat them if he doesn’t help.
We get the brief extra scene now, which is them cleaning the rabbits in the water together! WKX flicks water at ZZS, who calls him childish but promptly slashes back and then runs away back to the campfire before WKX can retaliate. WKX chases him anyway, which is very cute, but part of me wonders how long it takes them to finish getting the rabbits ready for food at this point…
At Sanbai Manor, Chengling is staring at a table of food but not eating. Which. I know Chengling wants to be like his shifu (who hasn’t accepted him yet), but this is a bad part of ZZS’s personality to mimic.
Zhao Jing comes by (with Shen Shen) to check on him, and first asks after his sleep and then comments on his lack of appetite, saying he’s worried about Chengling but they must continue on. Shen Shen then asks if Chengling was crying, and Chengling turns away and goes “No” in a very teenage way.
Zhao Jing then tells Chengling that ZZS and WKX left this morning without a word (well, they left last night but I suppose it’s possible nobody noticed until servants checked the rooms they should’ve been in this morning), and asks if they were friends of Zhang Yusen’s. Chengling says he doesn’t know, and Shen Shen wonders why he followed people without knowing who they were. Then he’s like “Well, it’s good that they’ve left. Tell me what happened at Mirror Lake Manor, now that you’ve had a chance to rest.”
Chengling says he doesn’t remember, and Shen Shen doesn't believe him. Shen Shen’s behavior continues to be on the more aggressive side, because that’s how his personality is, but while it comes across as anger I don’t think it actually is; it’s just Shen Shen being upset that he hasn’t been able to protect Chengling and not being great at emotional regulation.
Shen Shen also thinks that Chengling is intentionally hiding the truth from him and Zhao Jing, which he’s right about, though we don’t know that yet. Chengling demurs, saying that he was frightened, and then had a fever “for a few days” and woke up beside ZZS and WKX, and that he doesn’t remember what happened next. This is a lovely set of lies, delivered in a way that’s actually pretty convincing all things considered. The hesitation and reluctance Chengling shows is hiding things, but would also fit in with “I’m scared and still not okay” (which is also true) the way his story suggests.
Zhao Jing tells Shen Shen to stop questioning Chengling, and Shen Shen brushes him off, further encouraging the idea that Zhao Jing is the good man and Shen Shen’s an asshole. Shen Shen asks Chengling how his parents died, and asks him if he remembers “the 300 lives at Mirror Lake Manor”, which is (for once!) a reasonable number of people (especially if it includes servants and families and not just disciples!).
Chengling stares at him without saying anything, and Zhao Jing keeps trying to tell Shen Shen to stop, and Shen Shen instead throws everything off a nearby table while yelling about their duty to take revenge.
Zhao Jing attempts to comfort Chengling, saying that Shen Shen is just anxious and of course they’ll get revenge, and that “though there were some misunderstandings (between the sworn brothers), nothing can break our relationship.” He also says that Chengling is his son now, which? Honestly? Very sweet on first viewing, very bad vibes on a rewatch knowing how Zhao Jing treats Xie’er.
Shen Shen takes our minds off this by pointing out that “it’s urgent now” and discussing how two of the three pieces of glazed armor are gone, and Zhao Jing keeps defending Chengling from needing to talk about what happened at Mirror Lake Manor. Zhao Jing says that they’ll let Gao Chong figure it out once they’re at Yueyang. For a moment, Shen Shen looks like he’s upset enough to be on the verge of tears, but then he storms out and Zhao Jing goes back to trying to reassure Chengling. It’s not very effective.
The scene changes to Sanbai Manor’s hall, where Zhao Jing and Shen Shen enter and see Yu Qiufeng and another older guy, Mu Siyuan (head of Broken Sword Manor; presumably Mu Yunge’s dad or uncle). Yu Qiufeng calls them “Zhao-dage” and “Shen-daxia”, which is a fun note about relative closeness, and says he’s heard they’re leaving for Yueyang today. Zhao Jing confirms this, and asks about Yu Qiufeng’s plans.
Zhao Jing asks where Yu Tianjie is, as if he doesn’t already know, and Yu Qiufeng says that his disciple He Ruicai (not a name I recognise?) has been missing for a few days and Yu Tianjie has gone to search for him. Either Yu Qiufeng believes this or he’s a far better liar than I recall him being; hard to say right now. Zhao Jing tells Yu Qiufeng to restrain his pupils, due to all the chaos and death happening, which honestly sounds kind of like a threat.
Shen Shen complains about Zhao Jing undermining morale, and says he wants to suppress any ghosts who dare cause trouble. Zhao Jing reminds him it’s been peaceful, and wonders when people got so anxious, and hopes that Gao Chong’s heroes conference can restore peace.
ZZS and WKX return to the coffin home in the daytime with their nice new robes that appeared out of nowhere, and while I would love to know how they got them I will let it slide for now because they’re very pretty. They enter walking in perfect step with each other, and WKX looks around the cleared-up courtyard and wonders if what happened had been a dream. ZZS says it’s only been a few shichen (translated as ‘hours’ in subs but since a shichen is 2hrs that’s a fair difference in actual elapsed time…) since they’d left.
Which, since it’s full light out in this scene and was full dark before, I suppose they were here in the early morning (~2am?) and now it’s well into the morning (~8am?), which I think works out time-wise because it’s like June probably (since the Heroes Conference is supposed to be on July 15th and that’s still some ways away) and the sun’s well up by then. (I will IGNORE the fact that their shadows imply this was filmed around midday… it doesn’t actually matter…)
Anyway, ZZS says that such a perfect clean-up in such a brief period of time couldn’t be done by normal people. Presumably they investigate some more around the coffin home, but we aren’t shown that; the scene instead cuts to them walking through the woods as WKX asks about the strange scent that tossed them into hallucinations. He adds “It’s alright if you don’t want to share; I’m not forcing you,” just in case ZZS might think otherwise, which feels like him slowly learning what it means to be polite outside Ghost Valley.
ZZS doesn’t answer, instead looking up at where Yu Tianjie’s body had been tangled up in a tree. He asks WKX to confirm that this is the right spot, which WKX does, and then WKX goes right back to asking about that scent. ZZS tells him its name, and WKX asks why he had the antidote. ZZS walks away, looking at where cuts are sliced into some bamboo, and wonders to himself why Drunk-Like-a-Dream appeared in this area (Hu, according to the engsubs; Huzhou, if I look at the hanzi).
The camera slides over to bring WKX into frame as ZZS asks himself if Tian Chuang is working with Ghost Valley.
WKX asks why ZZS is ignoring him, and then wonders if ZZS could get him some Drunk-Like-a-Dream of his own. ZZS says he won’t/can’t, and WKX keeps pushing, saying he’d pay ZZS anything he wanted for it. ZZS turns to look at him, quiet and assessing, and then begins circling WKX very intently. He tells WKX that Drunk-Like-a-Dream makes people see what they desire most, and says, “Wen-xiong, you kept calling a person’s name at that time. What did you see?”
WKX is staring straight forward, finally made as uncomfortable and unwilling to talk by this conversation as ZZS has been.
There’s some silence before he forces a laugh and tells ZZS that he’s prying too much into a private matter. ZZS, unlike WKX, doesn’t keep pushing; he just thinks to himself that WKX is very mysterious and knows too much about Siji Manor and that he really wants to know what WKX’s relationship to “[his] sect” is. ZZS still claiming Siji Manor as his sect, even when he’s basically the only one alive, makes a lot of sense and is also very sad.
Then WKX laughs, and turns back to him, and says he’ll share what he saw.
I recall hearing this is one of the bits that they had to re-dub because it was pushing boundaries too much, but I don’t recall what the lip-readers said WKX was originally saying here. The dubbing we’ve been given is about WKX throwing a dead rat into his mom’s bed and her chasing him across the streets, and ZZS turns away from him in an offended huff.
More seriously, WKX says that he joked around because he didn't want to lie to ZZS. ZZS takes this as the moment of vulnerability it is, and reciprocates by telling him the main ingredient of Drunk-Like-a-Dream, a plant called nepenthes [in youtube’s subs; in netflix’s we get orange day-lily, a completely different plant], and how it works. He says the version used in the coffin home was much stronger than his version. When WKX asks if he did indeed create Drunk-Like-a-Dream, ZZS says that it came from an ancient recipe, and he just turned it into an incense and lessened the effect to make it a sleep aid; nepenthes hasn’t been in the central plain since ancient times, after all.
(As someone who really loves Qi Ye, I’m grouchy about them giving the creation of Drunk-Like-a-Dream to ZZS instead of leaving it with Wu Xi.)
WKX says he likes the name of the drug, and wonders about what’s wrong with staying in a dream, in a dangerous world with potentially-evil men. ZZS tells him he can keep dreaming, then, and turns away. WKX chases after him again, and the scene ends.
Back at Sanbai Manor, an “official from the northwest” arrives; it’s Han Ying. The manor’s guard tries to tell his guardsman that Zhao Jing isn’t in (because he and Shen Shen have already departed for Yueyang) and can’t welcome him here, but Han Ying’s already exited his carriage. ZZS and WKX watch as Han Ying gets told about this (and we learn the Heroes Conference will be at “Mount Jun”?). Han Ying asks if Zhang Chengling has also left, and ZZS thinks about how Tian Chuang really is involved in all the glazed armor stuff.
WKX thinks the heroes conference sounds interesting, but when he says so ZZS storms off. WKX follows, of course, and asks why ZZS is hiding. He accurately guesses that ZZS doesn’t want to see Han Ying (calling him ‘the guard’), and then asks if ZZS is a fugitive. ZZS says “Yes, I murdered people and set them on fire. I’ve committed many crimes.”, which is true but not really the point, and tells “Philanthropist Wen” to stay away from him. WKX, of course, just grabs him and draws him closer as he asks “Do you pluck flowers?” (as a euphemism for sexual assault, iirc?), which ZZS makes a face about.
WKX then turns the discussion to the heroes conference and how he wants to attend (and thinks ZZS should too). ZZS asks if WKX’s following him there “to kill people or set the fire?“, and WKX responds that they’re going there to enjoy the drama. ZZS doesn’t seem convinced, or interested, so WKX switches tactics to mention how the Five Lakes Alliance all want to control Chengling and how much Chengling needs protection, and ZZS grumps at him because this argument worked.
As ZZS walks away, WKX says he’s going to look for Gu Xiang “to settle something” and then he’ll catch up to ZZS.
We cut to Zhao Jing’s travelling caravan, and are shown that Chengling is riding in the same carriage as Zhao Jing, and then it cuts to everyone taking a break to eat. It’s emphasized that Zhao Jing’s travelling in style and comfort, and then we’re shown that ZZS is lurking in the woods nearby, watching them.
The next cut is to WKX in a town, going to a jeweler’s shop, and asking if the shopkeeper can make glass. He asks them to make 30 copies of the glazed armor by tomorrow. When the shopkeeper says that’s ridiculous (such a project should take at least 10-15 days, and he can’t match the quality of the glazed armor), WKX tosses a bag full of gold at him. The shopkeeper says he can do it in three days. WKX accepts this, and says that if they aren’t ready in time he’ll burn the shop down.
Another cut, to nighttime and Gu Xiang eating nuts and playing dominoes with those girls she rescued. Gu Xiang has apparently been losing a lot, and the girls think it’s unfortunate that Gu Xiang keeps giving up when she loses. Gu Xiang grumbles, and says that if they were playing a game she knew she’d win the clothes off them. The girls wonder when WKX will be back, and say they feel guilty about only playing around and not serving GX and WKX well in repayment for their lives.
WKX appears just then, of course, and everyone’s very excited. Gu Xiang wants him to join in playing games, but WKX just wants to compare the girls to Gu Xiang to say that she doesn’t know restraint. But then he’s like “give them 100 taels of silver later” and says they can return to their homes, setting them free and giving them their lives back. They don’t seem to want to go, because they’re good servants, but he doesn’t want servants like this; he’s back to “the rest of your lives is a dangerous thing”.
There’s some blatant Wolong Nuts product placement interrupting this, which is honestly very funny. (Especially since WKX outright asks “Did you get paid? You’re praising them so blatantly.” and Gu Xiang denies it.)
Gu Xiang argues for keeping the girls around (“They’re orphans, they don’t have anyone to rely on, the worlds a mess and money alone isn’t enough to survive”) as the Found Family Theme (or Siji Manor theme, depending on your POV) plays. The girls join in, saying that “Only Xiang-jiejie treats us like humans” instead of property to be sold at will. He sighs, and relents, saying they can beGu Xiang’s servants and telling her to treat them well and take care of them. I don’t really remember seeing them through the rest of this show, though.
The girls are dismissed, and WKX calls Gu Xiang to sit so he can give her instructions. Three days have passed, apparently, because he dumps out a bag of fake glazed armor on the table between them, and then tells Gu Xiang that she has two tasks.
We aren’t told what they are, just that the first one must happen as soon as possible and they need to prepare carefully for the second.
The episode ends as WKX leans over to tell Gu Xiang what to do.
General Commentary
“Trust should be mutual” Zhou Zishu says, which is kind of the narrative’s way of acknowledging something Dora and I had an extended conversation about a while ago: Right now, Wen Kexing knows a lot more about Zhou Zishu than Zhou Zishu knows about Wen Kexing.
While Zhou Zishu can be fairly certain of Wen Kexing’s connection to Ghost Valley at this point, he doesn’t know what rank he holds, and he isn’t even sure Wen Kexing’s surname is really Wen. On the other hand, Wen Kexing knows that Zhou Zishu trained at Siji Manor, and he knows Zhou Zishu’s name (which Zhou Zishu hasn’t given him), and he's aware of Zhou Zishu's internal injuries (even if he doesn't know their source). And now Wen Kexing’s asking to see his real face, too? What is the trust being handed over in return? What information is Wen Kexing willing to give to keep their relationship (fragile as it is) equal?
(I’m still not sure what he gives/what Zhou Zishu realises over the course of their fight that leads Zhou Zishu to take off his mask. Maybe it’s just not worth it anymore. Maybe he’s tired of it, since Wen Kexing sees through it anyway. Maybe it’s an attempt at making Wen Kexing open up more in return. It’s hard to say.)
Thinking about it that way also brings Zhou Zishu’s later line “You don’t know a lot of things about me” into sharper contrast; he’s aware of all that Wen Kexing knows that he shouldn’t, but there’s still a lot about Zhou Zishu (his personality, his likes/dislikes, etc.) that Wen Kexing isn’t aware of. The kind of things which, in many ways, Wen Kexing is freer about sharing; Wen Kexing has never hidden what he likes/doesn’t like, or made any effort to hide how he wants to be treated (which isn’t the same as who he is, but it’s reflective of who he wants to be).
And yet: “You don’t know a lot of things about me,” Zhou Zishu says, and then follows it right up with “I’m not only sharp-tongued, but also ruthless,” which… he is, yes, but that says more about his job than about him. Wen Kexing laughs, because Zhou Zishu has been so gentle and soft-hearted so much of the time that the ruthlessness he’s capable of doesn’t show. It might be part of him, but it’s not the part Zhou Zishu prefers to focus on when he’s given a choice about who to be.
Something that’s annoyed me since the special scene dropped is how they portray “cleaning” an animal. I am going to hide this commentary under the details box; I’m not going into gory detail, but I know not everyone wants to read about animal carcasses like this.
“Cleaning” a carcass for eating generally means skinning, gutting, and otherwise removing the inedible bits of an animal carcass! It doesn’t involve dipping a carcass in water and splashing it like you’re washing clothes or vegetables or something! They aren’t even washing the fur, if that’s what they’re going for! (Which wouldn’t make sense; if you wanted a clean fur you’d need to clean it again after removing it from the carcass, since that tends to involve blood!)
If they were being realistic and still wanted the splashing, have them clean rabbit blood/guts off their hands after setting the meat to roast over the fire or something. You wouldn’t even need to show the actual dealing-with-meat bits if you didn’t want to.
If they were being realistic and still wanted the splashing, have them clean rabbit blood/guts off their hands after setting the meat to roast over the fire or something. You wouldn’t even need to show the actual dealing-with-meat bits if you didn’t want to.
I love Xie’er and the air of quiet threat he projects in this scene. Wuchang Gui has already been established as the de-facto leader of the Ten Devils in ep1, when he’s the one mostly speaking and urging them to do what WKX says, so when he’s deferring to Xie’er in much the same way (though with more attempts to complain), it sets up Xie’er’s power very nicely.
Zhou Zishu talking about how he diluted Drunk-Like-a-Dream to make it basically a sleep aid is very sad. I wonder how much time he spent taking it for exactly that purpose back in Tian Chuang, and if the nightmares actually went away when he left or if he’s just too busy with nail problems now for them to be an issue anymore.
The way Shen Shen and Zhao Jing are presented in this episode continues to be fascinating! Shen Shen is worried about the right things, and he’s noticing the right things, and nobody’s listening to him because Zhao Jing has his own schemes and also Shen Shen’s just coming across as angry and off-putting.
Chengling lies to Shen Shen and Zhao Jing very well. This, really, is the first hint that things might not be as they seem; it’s great seeing this in context of knowing about the letter Zhang Yusen wrote and Chengling hid away. Shen Shen might still be able to tell he’s hiding something, but he doesn’t have anything to actively question beyond “you have to know something!” so it doesn’t matter. Zhao Jing, on the other hand, could easily know there’s more under the surface, depending on what reports his men have made, but it’s hard to tell since he doesn’t want Chengling to get questioned right now.
Zhao Jing during these early episodes is incredibly hard to read. He’s got that one expression, of mild concern, and he uses it in almost every single situation he’s put in. It’s very versatile, because there are many concerning things happening!
I had completely forgotten that Han Ying shows up in this episode. The last time Prince Jin or Tian Chuang was actively on screen was back in Episode 2, when Duan Pengju and Jin-wang discussed the glazed armor and Duan Pengju was ordered to send men to investigate.
I’m going to C&P something I wrote in a conversation with Dora a bit over a month ago about why Han Ying, specifically, was sent on this mission, since I still agree with myself:
“There had to already have been factions within Tian Chuang, but the change of leadership probably made it splinter more. Which might be part of why Han Ying got tossed off to the jianghu to find Chengling—he'd easily be the leader of the faction who opposed Duan Pengju, either as figurehead or active force, because he's so strongly associated with ZZS; having him elsewhere gives Duan Pengju a chance to solidify his standing (though, like, how that plays out with the whole Scorpion connection is... still mildly baffling to me tbh, but that's okay, I'll figure that out more with more rewatching I guess). Probably nobody expected Han Ying to run into ZZS out there, and therefore for it to become a problem again.”
I’m still curious about the Scorpion connection! I assume it’s why Han Ying shows up at Sanbai Manor specifically instead of going to Yueyang first, since Duan Pengju had connections there. If so, it implies that either Duan Pengju had dealings with both Xie-wang and Zhao Jing separately, or that Duan Pengju knows that Xie-wang and Zhao Jing are connected themselves. So that’s interesting!
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. Do you have more thoughts about why Zhou Zishu removes his mask here?
2. How long do you think Wuchang Gui and Xie-wang have been working together? I haven’t been able to figure out even a solid guess, so any thoughts or potential things to look out for would be awesome to hear!
3. Keeping track of the pieces of glazed armor is hard! It’s about to get a lot harder, as we start trying to guess where the real instance of Lu Taichong’s piece is in the midst of the fakes. How’re you feeling about knowing who has what pieces, right now?
4. Any thoughts/feelings about Tian Chuang showing up? Or about the ways Zhou Zishu accepts Wen Kexing calling himself a good person but constantly brings up how he’s a murderer and a terrible person? (These are related in my head! They might not be, in yours, and that’s okay.)
Next Time: Meeting Luo Fumeng | Xisang Gui at the staged death-wedding for Mu Yunge! Han Ying talks to Gao Chong about the Glazed Armor! ZZS tries to convince himself that he doesn’t need to guard Chengling anymore! WKX meets back up with ZZS! We’re introduced to Cao Weining!
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