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.)