It’s easy to side with Pei WenXuan (PWX) in this episode.

The Spring Banquet is Li Rong’s event, and she has an axe to grind. She hears from her maid that PWX accepted her invitation with conceit.

PWX: (smugly) Though I’m not capable, I’m blessed with good looks.

This response naturally vexes her. But I think she’s got the wrong idea about it. To me, PWX is commenting about his 18-year-old self. That is, the 40-year-old PWX is grateful that he was handsome when he was 18, because otherwise, he had nothing to offer – or to attract – the Princess Royal. Back then, his political shrewdness was yet unproven, and he had neither the money nor the connections to make him a worthy match for her. Far from exuding conceit, his comment displays a wry amusement of his good fortune. He’s mocking himself.

Important point: PWX has an inferiority complex. He’s keenly aware of his lowly status when he marries the Princess Royal, so he desires to be worthy of her. To measure up to her. If you ask me, it’s exhausting for him to LIVE UP to her royal highness, and he should have just strived to LIVE WITH her a normal life like common folks do. That’s one wish that Li Rong expressed in Episode 1 when she tearily gazed at her father, the emperor. She wished that they could have been an ordinary father and daughter living an ordinary life. Then, they wouldn’t have harbored suspicions and ill-will towards each other.

Anyways…

The damage is done, and Li Rong takes offense at PWX’s self-praise and vows to make him suffer for his good looks. She aims to put him in his place during the Spring Banquet. And that’s why it’s easy to take PWX’s side in this episode. Li Rong deliberately humiliates in public, and we feel sorry for him.

1. The first opportunity to cut PWX down to size arises during his formal greetings.

PWX overhears Li Rong flattering Su Rongqing (Su), calling him the “finest young master in Huajing.” His petty jealousy is evident when he rolls his eyes at her effusive praise. He knows that marrying Su is out of the question because the Su family is the second most prominent noble family in the land after the Shangguans. So he steps in to stop her from courting Su to be her husband. He offers his greetings to her.

PWX: Pei Wenxuan greets Your Highness.
Li Rong: (ignoring him)
PWX: (persisting with a smile) I wish you a year as bright as the moon, and an appearance as radiant as spring blossoms, Your Highness.
Li Rong: (finally glancing at him) Spare the formalities. (addressing Su) Thank you, Young Master Su, for your gracious presence. How about we have a private conversation in the inner courtyard?

My comments:

a. Compared with Su’s standard greetings, PWX ad-libs a flowery speech after she snubs him. Given their bad history, however, he sounds obsequious to her ears. She’s probably thinking, “Oh, here he goes again with his forked tongue!”

b. They both don’t see how insincere they sounded with their fulsome praises, Li Rong with her “finest young master” remark and PWX with his “appearance as radiant as spring blossoms.”

c. Her freezing PWX out is blatant. She wants it plain to see to both gentlemen that PWX’s company is most unwelcome, and that she wants to be alone with Su. But PWX follows her to snoop on them. She spots him hiding behind the greenery unfortunately and schemes to humiliate him some more during the talent show.

2. The talent show

She orders her potential husbands to display their skills in a game involving a floating hibiscus cup. She will call out when the cup stops, and the nearest man will perform a talent show.

She catches PWX’s eye and gives him THE look. PWX reads her silent look as an encouragement for him to pick up the hibiscus cup when it passes in front of him. But when he picks up the cup, she refuses to give the signal to stop. He’s left holding it to his chagrin. The other suitors snicker at his presumptuous behavior.

The point of the hibiscus cup game is to teach PWX a few lessons.

First, she makes him wait his turn. The cup is handed to Lu Yu, a shy and slow-witted nobleman who blurts out awkwardly that he’s talented at eating eggs. Next up in line is Su. He displays his prowess at archery and Li Rong rewards him with an inkstone for his effort. This extravagant gift singles him out as her favorite. The third contestant is Yang Quan, the brother of the emperor’s concubine. Though he amazes the crowd with a sword dance, Li Rong is unimpressed.

I thought one visual was funny. Her hand hovered above a bowl full of nuts before she picked one and crunched it. Nuts = manhood/testicles, lol.

When PWX’s turn with the cup finally comes up, she abruptly halts the game and leaves. No doubt she relishes frustrating him. She gives him no chance to showcase his talent because she isn’t interested in him whatsoever. She’s putting him in his place once again.

But despite her rebuff, he can’t allow her to choose Su.

Like the secretary of the current emperor Li Ming, PWX is cognizant of the precedents in the royal court when princesses disobeyed the emperor. One was sent far away for marriage (i.e., exiled) and the other was executed. PWX doesn’t want the same fate to befall Li Rong should she pick Su and defy her father’s arrangements to marry her off to PWX. So he quickly starts plotting and scheming, too, like Li Rong had done. One, he sends a no-nonsense warning to Li Rong of the dire consequences should she pick Su. Two, he lures the shy Lu Yu to flee the party. And three, he gets the hot-headed Yang Quan ejected from the Spring Banquet.

Do you see what’s going on?

In the same way that Li Rong frustrated PWX earlier during the talent show, he’s frustrating her plans to marry the man of her choice. Also, in the same way that PWX discerned her real motive behind the hibiscus cup game, Li Rong recognizes PWX’s handiwork to eliminate her marriage prospects behind-the-scenes.

They’re playing a virtual game of qin, but instead of playing with the black and white stones, they’re using the male guests to outwit the other and win.

To me, however, the major difference between the two is their intention. Li Rong acts vindictively while PWX tries to save her. PWX wants her to stop behaving rashly and he steers her clear of trouble. He can’t seem to walk away from her. Even after she killed him in his previous life, he’s still concerned about her future. By meddling in her affairs, he assumes responsibility for her future.

3. Humiliating PWX in front of Su

In my opinion, Li Rong’s invitation to PWX to join her and Su in the pavilion is some sort of payback for PWX calling Su a “castrated man” in their previous lifetime. She wants PWX to witness the moment when she takes Su to be her consort so it will be imprinted on his mind that he can never be as good, talented, and accomplished as Su.

Poor PWX! He couldn’t have foreseen this public humiliation. He’s confused when he sees Su in the pavilion because he assumes that he’s going to have a private audience with her.

PWX: What’s the meaning of this?
Rong: (holding up a fan to stop him from speaking) It’s rare to meet a kindred spirit. I didn’t get enough of Mr. Su’s show, so I invited him to play the qin here. Mr. Pei, why don’t you also immerse yourself in the music?

This is a barbed insult. He’ll have to be particularly dense if he doesn’t recognize it. She’s saying that he can’t appreciate the fine music played by Su because he isn’t as refined as Su. Furthermore, Su’s elegant taste matches hers.

Then, Su finishes playing and begins to take his leave. I think he senses that he shouldn’t be there with PWX and Li Rong. But she detains him and offers him a bowl of red peaches — something that she didn’t do with PWX. I’m not Chinese so I don’t know the symbolism of peaches in their culture. I’m guessing though that she’s tempting her consort-to-be with a life of beauty, wealth, and abundance with her. Note: Though she doesn’t offer PWX peaches, she does have a bowl of lemons for him prepared.

She dismisses her maids and launches her final public humiliation of PWX.

Rong: Mr. Pei I hear that you are the youngest and most favored candidate in the royal selection in our nation’s history with unparalleled wit and strategies. Today, I have truly known your capabilities.
PWX: I’m flattered, Your Highness.
Rong: Jump into the lake.

She reveals that not only does she know about PWX’s stealth maneuvers to get rid of her suitors, but she also knows of his family situation. She practically accuses him of being a gold-digger. He starts to protest that he’s only doing this to help her, but falters. I think he can’t explain his real motive without revealing his past regret in life. She then informs him that his schemes are in vain because she’s already chosen Su. He forestalls her by proposing to her

PWX: Please think twice, Your Highness.
Rong: Mr. Pei. I’m talking to Mr. Su here. It’s not your place to interrupt.
PWX: Your Highness. I just don’t want you to ruin your future due to a sudden impulse.
Rong: That’s quite audacious of you to meddle in my affairs. I’ll do whatever I like. It’s my own path and my own choice.

True. It’s ordinarily quite brazen of him to counsel a royal princess. But in his mind, he has the right to interfere because they were husband-and-wife for two decades in their previous life. He must stop this 18-year-old Rong have making a mistake.

Rong: Mr Su –
PWX: If Your Highness doesn’t mind, I would like to request to marry you.
Rong: Guards! (addressing PWX) I’m astonished at how scheming you are at such a young age. Throw him into the lake.

Side note: I like these sketches from the previous episode because they tell me the significant scenes to focus on next.

Rong: (mockingly) So you were picking the spot in the lake to fall into? How about we talk like this? I quite enjoy the position where you’re lower than me.

Note the context here. In this present timeline, she’s always been higher than him, given her royal status. However, by the way he challenged her throughout the Spring Banquet, she feels like they are parrying on equal footing. He doesn’t look at her with subservience or meekness. In the former timeline, they had been on equal level. She might have been the Princess Royal, but he was the Prime Minister/Great Chancelor/Righthand man of the emperor. That’s why she says she’s enjoying seeing him in the lake. It reinforces the image of him finally at her mercy.

Rong: (standing up) You’d better know your place. Right now, I can throw you into the lake, and later, if I wish, I can make you drown here. From now on, whether you get to live or not depends entirely on my mood. So think carefully about what you say and do. Do you understand?

This is ironic coming from her. I feel for PWX. I don’t think he’s forgotten that she ordered him killed in the previous timeline. Of course, in her mind, PWX poisoned her FIRST, but her biggest fault was her lack of trust in him. She didn’t even give him a chance.

PWX: (not answering)
Rong: (thinking to herself) The Pei Wenxuan now is just a young kid, who’s just 20 years old. There’s no difference between bullying him and bullying a child. (aloud) Enough of this. (to the guards) Fish him out.

Though her attack of conscience comes rather late, it’s still welcome. It bodes well that she can feel remorse, too.

While PWX is being assisted out of the water, Li Rong turns her attention to Su. To me, what happens next is karmic. She publicly humiliated PWX in front of Su, now it’s her turn to be privately humiliated by Su. He rejects her proposal.

I like the way they speak in metaphors, though.

Rong: What is it? You don’t those books?
Su: Your Highness, please forgive me. Before leaving my father repeatedly instructed me to only attend the Spring Banquet and not get involved in anything else.
Rong: If you don’t want those books, they will become someone else’s tomorrow.
Su: Your Highness. Those books are too precious. I am but a humble man with little influence. I’m unworthy of possessing them just yet.

“Humble man with little influence”? Who is he kidding?

Since the beginning of this episode, much ado was made of Su’s horse and carriage, clothes, looks and demeanor. He wowed everybody when he descended from his carriage, that even PWX’s manservant salivated and said, “He looks good in anything. Look at his appearance, temperament, and that carriage. He truly is the finest gentleman in the world.” PWX got justifiably annoyed with his manservant.

Note, too, that Su wore a different neckline from the rest of the gentlemen. PWX and the others wore layers of garments forming a v-line on the neck. Su was the only suitor wearing a cowl neck. AND the only other man who wore a cowl neck just like Su’s was PWX’s manservant. Now, THAT manservant is truly a humble man with little influence.

To me, Su made a pathetic excuse because he’s half the man that PWX is. He cares too much about his family and the rules imposed on him. He literally was a castrated man in the previous timeline, but he’s figuratively — and mentally — castrated too in this new timeline. He’s deprived of resolve, courage, and determination. He’s unlike PWX who doesn’t let his humble roots get in the way of his goal.

After Su exits, Li Rong has no other choice but to accept PWX. But she acts as if she’s giving him a favor. PWX is sopping wet and hasn’t said a word since she threw him into the lake.

Rong: Mr. Pei, don’t think I’m throwing my weight around. I’m teaching you how to behave properly. You’re lucky it’s me who you’re facing. If it were anyone else from the Royal family, with your behavior today, you would have been fed to the dogs.

I think PWX realizes that he can’t expect an apology soon from this proud woman so he yields.

PWX: (bowing) Thank you, Your Highness.
Rong: You’ve achieved your goal. You’re the only candidate left for the Prince Consort.
PWX: (not saying a word)
Rong: Get Mr. Pei a change of clothes and have him cleaned up.

I’ll continue with the qin game in my post for the next episode. Work calls.