Nirvana in Fire 2, eps 13-16

[extrapenguin]

We got some more stuff on Prince Laiyang – apparently Tingsheng found the crime, the current Emperor was assigned to investigate, and Jingyan convicted him. The crime was punishable by death. Laiyang and the Emperor are both the Empress Liu's children, and they have two brothers. Pingjing, Pingzhan, and Feizhan have been kind to Yuanqi, but Puyang and Mozi cruelly manipulated his grief. Mozi's final conversation with Yuanqi – "remember, Puyang is not like us; he's only out for one thing – revenge" – was rather sweet, considering. Given that Puyang Ying's been pretenting to be omniscient, having him be surprised by Duan Tongzhou's death/Tuoba Yu coming to challenge DTZ at Pingjing's egging was welcome. Apparently Duan Tongzhou was a true believer of the sect, but the Sect Tattoo gave Pingjing and Feizhan a clue. Yuanqi seemed perhaps conflicted about Duan Tongzhou's death? I do wonder what it read in the portion of the letter he burned. I read zero almost zero Chinese, but it was shown, so perhaps someone could translate.

Pingzhang's remarks to Yuanqi vaguely hint that his bioparents did some shit. This was also perhaps what he asked Langya Hall about. Meng Qianxue doesn't know Pingzhang is adopted. Instead, she ships Pingjing/Lin Xi very much. Apparently, shipper-ness is hereditary. :P Lin Xi seems to be Pingjing's only real friend. They keep having lots of nice moments of friendship together, even if Pingjing is a bit annoying with his running tongue occasionally.

Yuanshi is adorable. The Emperor also coddles him a bit too much; together with some of his other fuzzyfeels-decisions, this means that it looks like he's favoring Changlin House above the Crown Prince. The Emperor and Tingsheng's weiqi match was also funny. This show's really delivering on the family feels. <3

The Northern Yan delegation is interesting. Tuoba Yu is quite sassy, Prince Hui has his head in the right place – "saving a person is more important [than figuring out who's missing from my delegation]" – and Princess Chonghua is perhaps my favorite minor character so far. She's very relateable in her desperation in the role of woman, and she wants to do the best for her country. She's a good martial artist and seemed to be trading a lot of significant looks at Pingjing, so she'll probably be important for the plot. I hope she gets a visually impressive fight scene. Northern Yan sounds like a better place to be a (noble)woman than Da Liang, even if it seems poorer.

Minister Xun keeps digging himself deeper. Feizhan's pretty upset with him, but Uncle Xun knows all the buttons to press to tug at his heartstrings and guilt trip. Puyang's plot with the horse traders to lure out Pingjing was decent enough. The fight scene choreography with Pingjing in teal amidst the sea of black was A+. The Tuoba Yu-Duan Tongzhou fight as well. Capes make everything more spectacular. Feizhan's urge to duel Tuoba Yu was cute.

An offhand remark reveals that Jingting/Prince Ning is still alive as an Imperial Uncle! \o/ One of the Emperor's brothers also got a name; Prince Tingshan's heir is marrying Princess Chonghua. Also, there seems to be only one Official Party Music that dancers dance to.

Who's the sick guy that's Puyang Ying's guest/"guest"?

Comments

[schneefink]

It was bad timing that Pingjing found out Pingzhang was adopted right after Madam Laiyang was killed, but if I understood the timeline correctly it was a week and a half before he went to see Yuanqui again, I was not impressed. Yuanqui doesn't really seem to have any (other) friends. (Pingjing doesn't seem to have (m)any close friends in the capital either.)

I also wondered which part of his mother's letter Yuanqui burned, have you found anything about that, or does it come up again later?

My favorite part about the trap for Pingjing was that when his dad scolded him, he didn't look sorry about the danger to his life, but he looked sorry when he was reminded that his brother would have found his corpse. I love how close they are.

It becomes more and more obvious that the Emperor is favoring Changlin manor more than he should, but he doesn't seem to think anything about it or consider how it looks to outsiders. Not smart.

I hope we do get a Feizhan vs. Tuoba Yu fight! And that we'll see Princess Zhonghua (?) fight as well.

I'm also curious about the sick guy Puyang Ying talked about - DD said she thought it was Duan Tongzhou and he isn't really dead, but I don't quite believe that. I hope we'll see more soon.

(DD thought "Prince Tingshan" was a mistranslation, and I'm still not sure who exactly the Princess is marrying. Ah well, I'll find out soon.)

[extrapenguin]

Yeah, that delay did have a valid reason, but came at an unfortunate time. Yuanqi does seem to have some drinking buddies, and Pingjing's best friend seems to be Lin Xi, but other than that, nothing.

It's mentioned that someone found it obviousish that part of it was cut off; Yuanqi says it contained family matters he didn't want to remember.

The Changlin family is adorbs indeed. The Emperor seems to be under the impression that their adorbs family dynamic and Tingsheng's Tingsheng-gege-ness are giant flashing neon signs that make everyone else coo, too.

You'll get both your wishes! :D

Sick guy should get like one scene more, but no, it's not Duan Tongzhou, Duan Tongzhou's lying in the morgue.

Original plan for the marriage was apparently Yuanqi, but now it's one of the Emperor's brothers' heirs.

[schneefink]

I did! But I did not expect it to end like that!

[Episode 17 spoilers]

Did NOT see Prince Hui dying coming. And Pingjing gets blamed for it! He and his family are very lucky to know that the Emperor cares for them so much he won't execute and likely not exile Pingjing, but it still sucks a lot. Pingjing doesn't do much other than hang out at the manor at the moment, but while he isn't thinking about it right now, he does want to actually have a position with some responsibility one day and he can't do that with his reputation destroyed. Luckily at least he wasn't the one to ask for the fight, so it would be hard to accuse him of planning it beforehand.
I wanted to like Chonghua :( Poor Tuoba Yu.

I'm glad Minister Xun is at least doubting Priest Puyang, but he seemed to buy his latest excuses for what his aims are, so we'll see.

Someone with the sect tattoo being basically the Crown Prince's nanny is also concerning... Might explain how Puyang "heals" the Crown Prince so quickly each time.

[extrapenguin]

MTE with the "yay Chonghua does a thing – wait wait I didn't mean it like that!" The foreshadowing was there, but very easy to see as her just being bitter about Da Liang's restrictions on women. It's definitely a tricky situation for Pingjing and Changlin House. Poor Tuoba Yu, indeed.

Might explain how Puyang "heals" the Crown Prince so quickly each time.
You know, I hadn't even thought of that! Yeah, that would explain how Puyang heals him so quickly. So much fridge horror. I feel even more like giving poor Yuanshi a hug, now.