Three Kingdoms Episode 30

Another milestone is reached in this epic long series, and still no sign of Ruby Lin.

 

Liu Bei and his small band of warriors reach the city of Xinye where they'll be stationed. He thanks young Liu Qi for convincing his father, Liu Biao, into taking the troops in. Liu Qi warns Liu Bei to watch out for his father's general, Cai Mao. Cai ain't too happy with bringing Liu Bei into the fold. Plus he's the brother of Liu Biao's much younger second wife, Lady Cai. You can tell Lady Cai is evil because she has horns! No, not really, but she does have a couple of hair pins sticking out that sure look like horns. Still, she's evil. Liu Qi fears she and her brother are trying to oust him and make his young half brother, Liu Cong, the heir.

 

Meanwhile, the Great Omniscient Voiceover informs us that yes, Yuan Shao is dead, and Cao Cao - after mopping up the last dregs of resistance - has taken over the dead warlord's holdings. This earns Cao Cao a spiffy new hat. Sadly, Xu You has enjoyed one too many glasses of wine. His mouth runs away from him faster than Red Hare. Another one of Cao Cao's generals, Xu Chu, gets tired of hearing the drunkard's mouth and decides to separate Xu You's head from his body. So long, Xu You.

 

Cao Cao has the writer, Chen Lin, brought before him. Chen Lin is the author of the manifesto against Cao Cao, written per Yuan Shao's orders. Chen Lin is fully expecting to be executed. Cao Cao, however, was truly impressed by his writings and spares the man.

 

Next up on the agenda is a box of letters, secret correspondence with Yuan Shao from various civil servants and military officers working under Cao Cao. Young Cao Pi, Cao Cao's son, is all for hunting down the letter writers and executing every one of them. Cao Cao retorts that if Cao Pi is going to kill every person who's ever written a letter to Yuan Shao, then he'd better start off with his own father. In this case let bygones be bygones.

 

Lastly, here comes General Xu Chu with a bloody gift for Cao Cao: the head of Xu You. Cao Cao is enraged and is all for having Xu Chu dragged out and beheaded. He's barely talked out of this by Cao Pi and Xun Yu. Cao Cao is worried about what the people will think of him after this. Xun Yu plans to have Chen Lin write about how full of crap Xu You was and deserved to be beheaded. After calming down a bit, Cao Cao demotes Xu Chu.

 

Old man Liu Biao invites Liu Bei over for a dragon boat festival. Liu Bei is nothing but a wet blanket. I think he's having a mid-life crisis. He whines to Liu Biao about nearing the big 5-0 and having nothing to show for it but a spare tire. Liu Biao asks his guest his opinion of who should be the heir. Liu Qi is the eldest son, yet he's so timid and weak. Liu Cong is young and quick-witted, but under the thumb of Lady Cai and her people. Liu Bei, knowing Lady Cai is outside listening in, loudly advises his protector that putting the younger over the older always leads to disaster. Softly he adds that Liu Biao needs to chip away at the powerful Cai clan.

 

After seeing Liu Bei over to the guest house, Liu Biao returns to be confronted by his wife, who is crying crocodile tears. She puts it to her husband that Liu Bei, by using Liu Qi, has his eye on taking over for himself. Liu Biao scoffs at this but I have to wonder if he's now going to start worrying about whether his wife is right. Later that evening Lady Cai and her brother, Cai Mao, plot to assassinate Liu Bei.

 

Ah, a satisfying cliffhanger. They're few and far between. Also just as rare are female characters with more than two lines. Welcome, Lady Cai. Welcome.