This statement undoubtedly violated a major taboo for the ambitious and decisive emperor, which is why the emperor was furious!
It was this very sentence that sent the entire imperial son-in-law's family to their deaths. Under the guise of defying imperial authority, the emperor used the son-in-law's family as a target, making an example of them to warn others.
Disrespecting imperial authority is a very flexible charge. If the emperor wants to forgive you, he can just laugh it off. If the emperor wants to kill you, his entire family register wouldn't be enough to hold you accountable.
Did the prince consort's family know why they were dying? They did, but they couldn't say. They could only watch helplessly as the emperor used the princess as a raft to send the whole family to their deaths.
Did the powerful families know why the imperial son-in-law's family died? They did, but they couldn't say; not only could they not say, they had to celebrate and applaud, rejoicing that the He family had died a good death!
With just this one line of poetry, Princess Pingzhao sent hundreds of noble families to their deaths.
What's even more ingenious is that, both on and off screen, onlookers were completely oblivious, failing to grasp the brilliance of this move, and instead all assumed she was a delicate, innocent flower...
Chunliu's view of the princess is based on the first half of the story, and the audience, limited by Chunliu's perspective, is thus deceived.
This is a very cunning tactic.
This also explains why the princess seemed like a completely different person in the latter half of the story. From the moment the princess revealed her face, she was no longer the "princess" in Chunliu's eyes, but truly—herself!
The emperor used her to make an example of someone who stood out, but didn't she also use the emperor to regain her freedom?
I even suspect that Princess Pingzhao, like the emperor, secretly hoped to promote the imperial examination system, weaken powerful families, and consolidate imperial power. That's why she gave it a gentle push—as for why a princess who wasn't involved in politics would want the imperial examination system to be promoted and imperial power consolidated, that's a subtle question, and we'll discuss it later.
Finally, let's return to the question about the overall message of this episode.
Was this episode funny?
It doesn't seem funny.
So I'll say it like this:
A maidservant—a powerless person from the lower class—could not comprehend the power struggle and cooperation between the two political figures, nor could she understand Princess Pingzhao's impatience with her husband, her disdain for the aristocratic families, and her thirst for consolidating imperial power. She could only crudely interpret it all as—the princess was not favored by her husband!
Based on this concept, she distorted all the actions of those in power, adding a layer of resentful woman's filter to the powerless, resulting in a melodramatic and heart-wrenching love story that was both hilarious and absurd in half an episode.
Isn't that funny?
Isn't that funny?
Is this the most exquisite, absurd, inverted, cruel, ironic, and ruthless black humor in the world?
Does it fit the core of "Yun Qing Ji"?
The review is coming to an end, but there's still one thing I want to say.
To govern the country and stabilize the nation is called "peace"; to be upright and righteous is called "brightness".
The character of Princess Pingzhao is far more complex than it appears on the surface. We hope that viewers of "The Tale of Yun Qing" will use their hearts to feel and reflect upon her story.
This review is just my personal opinion, and I welcome discussions with friends both inside and outside the group.
Pingping, a drama enthusiast, posted this in the early morning of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.
This review was three thousand words long, and by the time Shang Yechu finished reading it, there were already hundreds of comments in the comment section.
Holy crap! That's quite the talker...
【!!! That said exactly what I was thinking! How could that old scumbag possibly have a gentle, kind, respectful, frugal, and modest daughter?!】
So the scumbag emperor and the white-flower princess are actually on the same side... I'm totally shipping them!
[Those two old fogies, Zheng Bohan and Jing Fengnian, could fool the maids, but they even fooled the audience!]
Following someone with a brain to watch a drama is definitely a good idea. I watched episode four again and found many plot holes in the earlier episodes. For example, when the princess was looking at the amulet, it wasn't actually visible... it was all the maid's imagination.
[Yes, yes, yes! Chunliu claims to be the prince consort's favorite maid, and even says he will marry her. But if the prince consort truly dotes on Chunliu so much, and the princess is truly so weak, why would Chunliu be so subservient to the princess, never even seeing her face?]
Furthermore, the驸马 (imperial son-in-law) had no concubines or secondary wives in his harem. Only princes could marry concubines; for a驸马 to do this was incredibly audacious...
So the whole episode is just a crazy woman's fantasy?
[No, no, no, it's a memory heavily filtered through the lens of a resentful woman. It's reasonable to suspect that the maid blamed the princess for her resentment at the prince consort's refusal to marry her.]
The term "disenfranchisee filter" is quite interesting.
The insects chirped, the dog fled from the fence; a crow perched on a phoenix branch… This gave me goosebumps.
[If that's the case, everything makes sense... Why was Princess Pingzhao still leisurely practicing calligraphy when her husband died, as if she had become a different person? Why did this timid princess dare to trespass into the emperor's palace... Why is there such a disconnect between the character development in the first and second halves of the story...?]
【Ah ...
I really want to crawl into Zheng Bohan's hard drive and take a look...
[I really want to crawl into Zheng Bohan's hard drive and take a look +1...]
[Who plays Princess Pingzhao? Her acting is amazing... I just went through the original poster's review frame by frame, and there are so many subtle expressions and movements...]
[Replying to the comment above from Sister Ju, her name is Ye Chu, and she's already followed Meimei...]
I even messaged her privately, but she didn't reply!!!
[I knew it! I really saw Princess Pingzhao sneer! My parents didn't believe me!]
[That moment when she locked eyes with the scumbag emperor was also quite satisfying; it was the only moment in the entire episode when she wavered...]
[She pointed at her sister... For that half-second, Princess Pingzhao was like an ordinary egg that had cracked open in fright, revealing a dragon scale... and then quickly covered it up again.]
[It all matches up! I even compared the tones of the first and second halves using color charts, and they are indeed somewhat different! The first half is warm-toned, with a subtle, hazy feel; the second half is a clear, cool tone, like iron! So the first half is the palace maid's memories, and the second half is the reality of that time!!!]
[Excuse me, experts, if the emperor wanted to kill the powerful families who were obstructing the imperial examinations, why didn't he just take direct action? Why did he have to use Princess Pingzhao as a pretext to punish them for defying imperial authority?]
Reply: [There's a type of non-cooperation called "passive cooperation." It's roughly like this: not openly obstructing, but secretly tripping you up and deliberately making a good thing go wrong, preventing you from getting it done.]
Let's make a hypothetical scenario: the emperor wanted to open a library for all the scholars in the country to read, breaking the monopoly on knowledge, so he asked the noble families to donate their own collections of books to copy them.
As a result, the family casually donated two books: "The Complete Collection of German Jokes" and "Postpartum Care of Boars".
Can you say he's uncooperative? He's too cooperative! But is it useful? No, it just takes up space in the library.
This tactic is disgusting. They don't convict you, they just sabotage you and do dirty tricks behind your back. Convict them? Convict them of what? If someone says a few words about those poor scholars behind their backs, are you going to chop up their whole family?
Even the scumbag emperor had no good way to punish these scoundrels. That's when Princess Pingzhao stepped in and offered a pretext called "disrespect for imperial authority," which the scumbag emperor readily used!
The powerful families knew this was an excuse, but they couldn't disobey. The blood of these centuries-old clans was enough to keep them in check for a while. This served the purpose of making an example of them while also thoroughly disgusting the powerful families. A highly efficient way of passing the buck…
[Oh my god, can you please repost this? So many people on Weibo are criticizing Ye Chu, it's driving me crazy...]
Reply: [Of course! Feel free to repost, just indicate the source. I personally admire Princess Pingzhao and hope to clear her name!]
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