Sunday, February 2, 2014

Prince of Lan Ling Episode 14

I cry foul. As Xue Wu is reunited with her grandmother in the city's busy marketplace, the subtitles have a vendor crying out, "Candied tomatoes!" Not in Ancient China, buddy. But anyway...
 
Elsewhere in the city, posters of Lan Ling and the divine sorceress are being put up to report their crimes against the emperor. The citizens are outraged at the accusations and loudly protest. Prince of An De is able to catch up to Xue Wu's carriage and warn her about what has happened. He thinks Xue Wu can save Chang Gong and wonders at her hesitation. She's torn between leaving with Granny or saving her husband. She takes out the jade pendant she found in her bag which gives An De the opportunity to tell Xue Wu that the pendant is the only thing Chang Gong had left of his mother.
 
Granny and An De battle over who can out-guilt Xue Wu. If she doesn't leave now with Granny, she'll never be able to return to White Mountain Village again. If she doesn't stay to save Chang Gong, he will surely have a slow and agonizing death.
 
Xue Wu makes her decision. An De helps sneak her into the prison to see Chang Gong. Three's a crowd, An De; make yourself scarce. Xue Wu knows Lan Ling was worried about her safety, which is why he was so willing to let her go. A flashback shows Xue Wu's tearful goodbye with her grandmother. Granny hands her a pouch, saying the contents will help with the current predicament. (Although as the show progresses I just don't see what use the mysterious pouch is.)
 
Xue Wu has An De take her to see the emperor. As usual the old fart is full of accusations without giving the defendant much of a chance to give her side of the story. Xue Wu begs for just two hours to find the real culprit. If she fails then the emperor may have her executed.
 
As ordered by the divine sorceress, An De and Xiao Dong set to grinding up lots of ginger. Xue Wu is given access to the cursed amulet and has it cut open so she can see the ingredients.
 
A chained Chang Gong is brought before the emperor and his court. Everyone is surprised when the emperor calls for Xue Wu to come in. No one knew she had come back. Empress Hu and Zu Ting look a mite green around the gills. Xue Wu makes a dramatic presentation involving the Sacred Flame of Qi. Xue Wu passes what appears to be a blank scroll over the sacred flame as she begs the gods to tell them who the real culprit is. Words begin to form on the blank scroll. (The ground up ginger was used to make invisible ink.)
 
The supposed sign from the gods point a finger at the Imperial Astrology Department. Zu Ting starts proclaiming his loyalty and innocence. Xue Wu reminds the tooth fairy that his name was never specifically brought up, so why is he so defensive? 
 
Xue Wu goes on to inform the emperor that inside the cursed amulet she found a certain kind of incense that's only used by the royal astrologers. Zu Ting laughs at this, saying that wasn't the kind of incense in the pouch, it was another kind of incense. Aha, says Xue Wu. How did you know it was the other kind of incense? She further implicates the astrologer as the man behind her recent kidnapping.
 
Zu Ting confesses a little bit, although he keeps Empress Hu's name out of it. He claims he framed the prince out of jealousy and he tricked Zheng Er (who's locked up in the basement of the astrology department) into helping him place the incriminating evidence.
 
The emperor proclaims Chang Gong and Xue Wu innocent. Chang Gong is freed from his fetters. The emperor weakly apologizes for nearly killing his son. The Queen Dowager makes her appearance. Yep, as we all guessed, it's Grandma Fu. I'm just gonna keep calling her Fu. Fu wants to official choose Xue Wu as Chang Gong's wife. After all, all the other princesses ran off when Chang Gong was arrested. Only Xue Wu stayed by his side. (Technically Zheng Er would have too but she's still locked up in the basement.)
 
And now this is made more difficult by my cat laying on my mouse.
 
Empress Hu argues that Chang Gong must marry from royalty, which Xue Wu is not. Fu goes back in history to the first divine sorceress, whom Xue Wu must be descended from. Therefore Xue Wu's surname was originally Zheng, which is a royal name. Or something like that. The emperor officially proclaims that Prince Lan Ling and Princess Consort Zheng will marry a month from now.
 
Later, the emperor tells his wife he knows she was involved somehow in all this. He strips Empress Hu of her title and banishes her from the palace. Next he orders Zu Ting to be castrated and kept in a pig sty.  Lastly, poor patsy Zheng Er is to be sold off as a slave. #harsh
 
Crown Prince Gao Wei tries to go save all the people he loves only to find everyone in his palace has been ordered to keep him under house arrest.
 
Meanwhile over in Zhou, Queen Axina's daughter has fallen deathly ill. All the doctors are useless. King Yuwen Yung believes Xue Wu is the only one who can cure the child. He orders Shen Ju to sneak into Qi and somehow bring the divine sorceress back.

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