Bu Bu Jing Xing: Ep 16 review
Apologies all for the long hiatus, but here’s a little commentary/review of episode 16 to help with those already suffering withdrawal symptoms! 
I’m actually only up to Ep 25 and had to stop- knowing how it ends actually made it harder for me to keep going, but I will take it up again. I feel like I owe it to Ruoxi to silent cheer on her on through the bitter end.
But enough sad stories, as of Ep 16, there is still a lot of gaiety and joy to celebrate! (A gloomy voice in me insists “All the better to appreciate what is lost!” Gah!)
Ep 16
I have to say that Yuan Hong as 13th Prince is glorious. A flirt yes, but such a glorious flirt! It is hard not to love his dashing self-confidence as he tells Ruoxi “Don’t worry and just race with Princess Minmin…. even if you lose, there’s always me. You’ll see how well the ‘gorgeous man’ tactic works.” Witty and vain, and yet just _knowing_ that Minmin wouldn’t be able to resist his charms (and he’s right!)
It’s sad though to see the relationship between the princes slowly unravel. Watching 13th teasing 14th and Ruoxi about their fights and yet knowing that they are doomed in the future to fight to their deaths (nearly literally), you see the waste and the tragedy that is the struggle for power between the princes.
I thought it touching how Minmin accepts that she and 13th are not meant to be, and Minmin gifts 13th with a dance, while 13th gifts her with a song. As the song plays we see flash backs of the happier times that Minmin recalls riding or drinking with 13th.
It’s she and 13th’s might-have-beens that makes Minmin cry, but us viewers are reminded of other “things that were never meant to be”- like Ruoxi’s relationship with 8th, like the happiness and love between the various princes, like peace and quiet and the life Ruoxi left behind in the future.
Ruoxi becomes poetic in her musings on meetings, partings and the nature of happiness. (And here is where I wish I were a better mandarin translator because the thoughts Tong Hua pens for her are really pretty.)
This episode is also when Ruoxi and 4th have a pivotal conversation that is a big reason why I love their relationship:- Like 13th, 4th is great at pulling apart Ruoxi’s disguises and getting to the ‘real’ Ruoxi, the one who doesn’t like the subservience that is euphemistically called obedience and the ensnarement known as betrothed marriage. Unlike 13th, 4th is a realist and grounds both 13th and Ruoxi in the political realities of the court.
It starts with Ruoxi and 4th talking about Minmin and her marriage prospects, and 4th points out that it’s none of her business, and she had better busy herself minding her own affairs.
Ruoxi says she’s tired of all her years of thinking and rethinking every word and every gesture for fear of political repercussions. She’d like to go somewhere she can laugh loudly when she wants and cry heartily when she wants. Getting married for her would be going from the big cage of the Forbidden City, to a small cage of a courtyard in some Prince or Noble’s home. She would rather be a nun.
4th harshly points out that her plans to be single always are an empty dream. She is far too powerful now- not only because the Emperor thinks well of her, but also because Minmin is so fond of her and she has even been gifted with a jade from the Mongolian King (Minmin’s father) that is nearly an adoption gesture.
She is now a powerful pawn, and even Kangxi must consider the implications when he assigns her a husband. He advises her to give up her foolish dreams and just try to figure out how to persuade Kangxi to assign her a marriage that she can live with.
Ruoxi haughtily repeats that no one can force her to marry another if she will not (the implication is that she can commit suicide, which is the only way one can get around an imperial edict).
He coldly, straightly tells her that she should prepare her hanging noose to commit suicide then, and,
“Oh yes, prepare to harden your heart in case your whole clan is also punished because of you.”
“The Palace is not a place to endure dreams. Wake up fast or else you’ll be crushed.”
Ruoxi is distraught, “Why must I marry? How does me not marrying offend or get in the way of anyone?”
“Did you not understand a word I said? Or do you refuse to understand? The Emperor is the only one who can make decisions, you can only endure.”
And in an uncharacteristically soft note he adds “Is there really no one you can endure marrying? No one for whom being with is like being in a cage?”
He sighs at Ruoxi’s silence. But his message is clear, all Ruoxi’s cleverness and power doesn’t fundamentally change how precarious her position is.
We get a bout of political turmoil. At court, 4th is for severe crushing of discovered corruption, while the Crown Prince and 8th advise leniency. 4th appears to lose the round as Kangxi sides with the Crown Prince, and yet immediately after he summons 4th and 13th and tells them to work with the Crown Prince to severely punish the perpetrators.
The truth is that the Crown Prince’s own people are embroiled in the scandal and even as Kangxi wants to give the Crown Prince ‘face’ in court, still he wants to make sure the Crown Prince knows he is going to be under scrutiny. 4th realizes he’s walking a fine line between the Crown Prince and Kangxi. In addition 4th has found evidence that 9th has been directly taking huge bribes.
To resolve the issue he gives the evidence to 8th prince. 8th understands that this is so that 9th will be warned and know he needs to hold back- which will in turn hamper the Crown Prince’s people from being outrageous. 14th is impressed and mentions a key point to 8th-
“If only we weren’t princes- you and 4th are so brilliant, there would be nothing you two couldn’t do together.”
14th then asks 8th that if he were to ascend the throne whether he’ll allow 4th to retire to the hills. 8th asks if 14th thinks 4th would be similarly merciful in that position to them?
9th continues to be blatantly corrupt and is discovered by 4th’s investigations. 4th invites 8th to a meeting to warn 8th (and by extension 9th).
Kangxi is heart-sick and asks rhetorically of the court if this is the example they’re setting for the country. Kangxi doesn’t pursue the matter, but the harm is done not only in 9th’s relationship with Kangxi, but 9th now holds a personal grudge against 4th. (This grudge will grow and play a pivotal role later in the story.)
Back to more light-hearted scenes as 13th (in 4th’s presence) asks Ruoxi what she would do if it were up to her and Ruoxi is all for ruthless cutting down of corruption. She doesn’t even flinch at the suggestion that you’d do the same to a prince- her sense of “no man above the law” is strongly ingrained in her. She cheekily suggests taking back the money, giving the prince a beating so he limps for a month and then making him taste the life of a beggar for a few weeks to teach him humility. 4th and 14th are half admiring and half aghast at her “crazy ideas”.
We learn that Kangxi has choosen the lenient way and is only demanding the money back from all the officials involved.
13th leaves and 4th gives Ruoxi a gift. Ruoxi refuses to take it, until 4th cleverly, lightly calls “Ah, 14th brother, here you are.” and Ruoxi takes the gift to hide it behind her in fright.
(This is in reference to prior episodes where 14th is furious that Ruoxi turned down 8th and gives her a shaking for it, which is witnessed by 4th and 13th- since then 4th is under the mistaken impression that Ruoxi is afraid of 14th because she had rejected 14th.)
End episode
I’m in love with each and every prince (except Crown and 9th- yuk!) They’re all brave and loyal in their own way, and when I think about how it all ends I want to weep for every one of them.
We see it everywhere- if only things were a little different- the princes could have been such a wonderful group together. Powerful, intelligent, loyal, generous… they could be a force of good for the world.
We cannot help but fall in love with each of them- because the author has cleverly allowed us to see them in both the peak of their majesty, and in the depths of their faults.
The tragedy follows from a combination of who they cannot help being, and powers like like time and social structure and love and hate, that they cannot refuse- for in the end, they are still dust-made.
“What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties… the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”
Wow. Beautifully written. I am glad I chanced upon this article. Do you understand Mandarin? If not, I admire your ability in capturing every little nuance that was really the crown jewel of this grand tragedy.