Friday, January 24, 2014

Prince of Lan Ling Episode 5

Just as Xue Wu is mixing up another batch of her explosives, she's caught red-handed by Yuchi Jiong. He recognizes her as the bride from earlier and takes Xue Wu into custody.
 
Meanwhile, Chang Gong and his band of brothers try to figure out how to get through the guarded gate. Duan Shao remembers Xue Wu gave him some explosive powders and he hands them over. Chang Gong ties the tiny packets to a couple of arrows and aims at the wooden gate. Kapow! The gate is blown open and the guards are blown down.
 
The gang rides through and out into the forest. Yet when they reach the rendezvous site and there's no sign of Xue Wu, Chang Gong wants to go back and find her. The others counsel him not to go back as it was so hard for them to get out the first time.
 
Oh dear, they've tied our poor Xue Wu up and she's hanging head down over some water. Yuchi starts asking questions. Whenever he doesn't like the answer, Yuchi signals for Xue Wu to be dunked in the water. Hell yeah! Here comes the one man wrecking crew, Chang Gong, slaughtering everyone in his path! Soon the only one left to face him is Yuchi himself. During their sword fight, Yuchi manages to cut the rope that's holding Xue Wu up. She plunges into the water. (Technically only her feet were tied and she could easily have swum to the surface. But where's the drama in that?)
 
Chang Gong leaps gracefully over the side and into the water, swimming to the sinking Xue Wu. He presses his lips to hers and blows life-giving air back into her. Their first kiss. He brings her back to the surface where they're found by Prince of An De and Duan Shao.
 
Our group rides through the night back to the fort. Poor Xu Da, however, is doing badly. His wounds are festering.
 
Still, inevitable death doesn't mean Xue Wu and Chang Gong can't have an intimate, candle-lit dinner in a romantic setting. Xue Wu gets a little loose lipped with all the wine and starts telling Chang Gong about Granny's predictions, like how he'll marry a woman with the surname Zheng.
 
The next morning Xue Wu leaves to return to White Mountain Village.
 
At the Zhou palace, Queen Axina identifies some armor as belonging to her husband, the missing king. It was found along the border between Zhou and Qi. The queen gives Yuchi a chance to redeem himself after the Lan Ling debacle and orders her general to find the king before word gets out to the rest of the world.
 
A storm forces Xue Wu to seek shelter at the very same inn where she was kidnapped by human traffickers. No one seems to be around and Xue Wu finds a trail of blood. Naturally she has to follow it. First she finds the body of the dead henchman, then the dead body of the evil innkeeper. Xue Wu turns around and finds another body, but this guy at least is alive although he's not talking.
 
Down below soldiers enter the inn announcing they're here to search for Zhou spies. Fearing the soldiers will think she's the one who murdered the innkeeper and henchman, Xue Wu and Silent Guy climb out a window down to the courtyard. (What strange rain as neither one appears to be getting wet although it's pouring down.)
 
Aww, Xu Da has succumbed to his injuries.
 
Xue Wu stops somewhere to buy herself and Silent Guy some food. The food vendor has all sorts of lines, advising Xue Wu to dump the sickly Silent Guy who appears to have come from Beggars Village. Xue Wu refuses to ignore a sick man but she will try the village to see if this is where Silent Guy originated from.
 
Beggars Village looks like a leper colony. Xue Wu and I are grossed out at the filthy conditions the people are enduring. But wait, amongst the filth is Cute Boy/Bad Boy Xiao Dong. Xue Wu decides to dump Silent Guy off at Xiao Dong's hovel. Turns out he really does have a sick grandmother. Xiao Dong begs Xue Wu not to tell his granny about his dubious deeds.
 
Chang Gong and co. continue to search for the missing Zhou king. An De points out they haven't looked in Beggars Village yet.
 
Xiao Dong tells Xue Wu he's never seen Silent Guy before. The stranger isn't from this village. Silent Guy needs a name so they settle on Weirdo. As they're talking another guy runs up to warn them that soldiers have arrived and are threatening to burn down the village.

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