The Legendary Warrior--Episode 4
We begin this one in the capital city, Chang'an. Adviser Xu and The Real Prince Cheng are going over war plans; they recall that Yuchi was quite a hero in his day. A thousand ships must be prepared for this expedition!
While all this is going on, the Amusingly Corrupt Prince Cheng broods in his garden. His lovely wife tries to soothe him as she serves up his medication, but he's not having any.
Back in Dragon Gate County, Xue Rengui, unaware of the furor centered on him in the councils of the high and the mighty, is working on a plan to support himself and his bride, now that he's unemployed. He's making a bow and arrows so that he can go out and hunt will geese--if he can manage to shoot them through their open moths, so that the flesh of their bodies is unmarked, they'll be worth even more money! Yiny is deeply impressed. Canoodling ensues.
At court, a report has arrived from Zhang Shigui. He's recruiting troops, but no Xue Rengui has shown up. Please, would the Emperor reconsider whether or not He Zongxian might not really be the dream aide? The commander, Yuchi, passes this on. The Emperor begins to wonder, with no word of Xue Rengui, whether his dream may have been misleading. Yuchi, always ready to get in a dig at Xu, says the dream was fine, surely, but the interpretation is clearly lousy. Xu stands by his interpretation, and leaves Yuchi feeling a little ruffled. To make up for this, Xu asks him to dinner, and promises him he'll have really good wine. This cheers Yuchi up a lot, because he does love bend his heroic old elbow.
Li Jianshan and his kungfu instructor Wang Cheng are on the road in Dragon Gate County when a wild goose falls from the sky. it has been shot through the mouth, and being the perspicacious youth that he is, Jianshan realizes this means it was killed by someone who is a master of kungfu. Shortly afterward, Xue Rengui appears, in search of the goose he's shot, and Jianshan is all over him. Such impressive kungfu! Could he please (pretty please with steamed dumplings on the side) become this master's student? Our Hero is a diffident sort--all those years of being mute, poor, in disgrace with his kin, or all three at once, don't you know--and tells them they can have the goose if they'd like it, so sorry, he's really got to be somewhere else right now. Jianshan continues his pleading, but Xue Rengui has his heart set on being someplace else really fast, so, in a desperate attempt to keep this chance at higher kungfu education from slipping through his grasp, Jianshan throws his sword at Xue Rengui, like a javelin with no shaft to speak of. Of course Our Hero evades this missile, and a fight ensues, where he defends only, until he has no choice but to strike Jianshan, and fells him with a crushing blow to his chest. He's about to leave the scene for a quieter locale when a carriage suddenly appears, being driven hell-bent-for-leather, bearing straight down on Jianshan and the faithful Wang Cheng, who is looking after the boy as he lies in the middle of the road. Luckily, Our Hero is able to use his immense strength to stop the horse, and the carriage with it, much to the indignation of the driver, a local constable, and to the relief of Wang Cheng and Jianshan as well, once he comes around. The constable is inclined to be shirty about things, but once the faithful Wang pulls out his young master's official jade tablet with the seal identifying him as a member of the Imperial Family, he becomes a lot more cooperative, and offers them a ride. Before they leave, though, Jianshan fanboys a good bit more over Our Hero, who acknowledges that he was trained by the great Li Jing, who has left the Imperial Court and worldly affairs behind to become a Daoist initiate. At once the light dawns, and Jianshan realizes this is Xue Rengui, whom he has been sent to find, but before they can hold him up any longer, Our Hero makes his escape. And who can blame him? He has just beaten the snot out of a member of the Imperial Family, and even if the kid did attack him first and doesn't seem to resent being clobbered, it may lead to Difficulties.
As he heads down the road home to his cave and the lovely, dimpled Yiny, Xue Rengui meets an old friend and fellow kungfu student, Zhou Qing, who had been away, learning to be a merchant but is now home and has decided to join the army, He urges Xue Rengui to enlist at the same time--with his talents surely he'll do well! Xue Rengui demurs, explaining that he is now married. Zhou gives him some money and urges him to give it to his wife, so she'll have something to live on while Xue is in the army, and leaves before Xue can argue with him further.
Jianshan and the faithful Wang Cheng arrive at Zhang Shigui's recruiting camp, where Zhang (who is the boy's stepgrandfather, if you want to look at it that way) is quite solicitous over his injuries. However did this happen? It was an accident, yes, an accident, Jianshan assures him; a slip in a practice bout. He then sends the faithful Wang back to Chang'an to see why his father is so hot to find Xue Rengui. perhaps he's not as trusting a boy as they'd hoped.
Our Hero has arrived home safely, and tells Yiny about his meeting with Zhou Qing. Of course, he assures her, he won't enlist--after all, he's married now! Their discussion is interrupted when Yiny has a sudden episode of nausea. Guess what! There's going to be a baby!! Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? Our Hero sure didn't. But--Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Baby!
Needless to say, while all of this has been going on in China, events have not stood still in Boliao. Meili and Shimo are back home 1 for 2, and Meili assures her husband that although they didn't manage to get the princess, she has Top Men working on this even as they speak. Tie Shiwen starts his war preparations, and then goes to console his king over the death of the Crown Prince.
Xue Rengui and his wife go fishing; that is to say, he fishes and she sits around and is impressed, which is really all a fisherman could ever ask for from a spouse. One the way home with a full string, they meet a neighbor. Will Xue Rengui be enlisting? No, of course not. But back home, he broods sleeplessly. It should be noted that Bao Jianfeng, who plays Xue Rengui, broods quite prettily, and so no one should be too surprised when Yiny tells him that he really should go and enlist, and not worry about her and the baby. Using small words, to make sure they sink in, she explains that she liked him better than the rich young men who courted her because she could tell that even though he was poor, he had a great future in front of him. Now would he please stop looking for excuses and get out there and pursue that future, plsthx? Then, in a romantic gesture the screenwriters can (and probably still are, two years after this showed on CCTV) pat themselves on the back for, she points up at the moon and tells him that it's not just the moon, it's her and their child, and wherever he can see the moon, he'll be seeing them as well. Felled by the romance of this statement, although he's well-educated enough to spot the astronomical flaws in it, he gives in and makes his preparations. Yiny sees him off in the company of Brother Wang, who has promised that he and his wife will keep an eye on Yiny and the baby. On the way to the recruiting station, Wang gives Xue Rengui plenty of sensible advice for getting along with people, and then heads back home.
Wang Cheng reports back to ACP. First of all Xue Rengui's kungfu is A-1. Second of all--well, let's just say that ACP and his lovely wife are considering their options.
Tie Shiwen meets with his king over the Crown Prince's corpse. Whoever could have killed the boy? Surely, Sire, it was done by villainous agents of the Tang Emperor. There will be blood! Your son shall be avenged! Fear not, I'll handle everything while you are bowed down under the weight of your entirely understandable grief. Poor old King Jian can hardly get in a word edgewise, not that it would make any difference. Tie Shiwen goes off to send out the appropriate insults.
Princess Zhaoyang has at last, with her maid Ling Cai Er, made it to Chang'an, where they are stalked in the market by Meili's assassins. Alas for them, the city of Chang'an, as befits the Imperial capital, is well-patrolled, and while they evade a guard officer onece, when they attack the Princess and Cai, the annoying fellow is on hand at once and dispatches them quickly. He then questions the princess. Clearly, she's not from around there. She explains she really, really needs to see the Emperor. He introduces himself as Luo Tong, and explains that he thinks he should take these young women to his mother. Because you, know, young women from far away, big city, not safe, you get the picture, right.
As far as Madame Luo is concerned, Princess Zhaoyong is a big hit. Obviously, they must help her! But Luo Tong can't get her in to see the Emperor. Whatever shall they do? When RPC gets back from Shanxi, they'll talk to him, that's what. (It took me a while to sort out where Luo Tong and his mother fit into all of this. There's another member of the Wagang Sect, the Emperor's closest cronies, a man named Luo Cheng. He died heroically during the fighting that set up the Tang Dynasty, and Luo Tong is his son--and Mme. Luo is RPC's sister. Luo Tong has been raised to look upon the rest of the Wagang Sect as uncles, and their families are all a sort of extended family of affection. This will matter later on.)
That night, Princess Zhaoyong sits in the garden courtyard of the Luo home, and wistfully watches the moon. Luo Tong appears, having switched out of his uniform into civvies (he always wears white when not in uniform. Is this his preference, as a Really Serious Kungfu Dude, or does the white stand for something else? Like perpetual mourning?) and they talk. She admits to being a little homesick, and he shares with her his General Theory of Homesickness. People get homesick because they're married, or because they want to get married. He's never homesick, and he doesn't want to get married. So there, proof! that his theory is valid! They agree that they were destined to meet, and that they'll be friends. But this is Chinese television, so we shouldn't read anything into this. Really and truly--what do you think this is, Sex and the City?
Back in Shanxi, Xue Rengui tries to enlist, but as soon as he hears the name, Zhang Shigui has him beaten and run out of camp. However will Our Hero fulfill his destiny as the Emperor's Dream Aide if he can't even get into the army?