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azdak at 06:13pm on 21/10/2025 under nirvana in fire
azdak at 06:13pm on 21/10/2025 under nirvana in fireHow far is everybody else with the episodes? I don't want to go charging ahead leaving everyone panting after, but I also don't want to drop behind if people are starting to binge-watch.
MCS is house-hunting – why is Liyang so disappointed that he wants to move out, I wonder? We all know why her husband isn’t keen, but she looks genuinely hurt by the news. Does she suspect it’s because of the Marquis?
Mu Qing barges into Snow Cottage with his usual disregard for etiquette – Mu Qing is the future, I have high hopes that Yunnan under his rule will be less in thrall to Confucianism – and literally drags MCS off to see a potential property. For some reason I had forgotten that Nihuang has set this up and thought oh, how sweet, he wants Su Zhe to have a house where Nihuang can come and visit. It’s all over Jinling now that Mu Nihuang and Su Zhe have a Thing going, so perhaps that’s the real reason why the Emperor accepts Nihuang’s apology report – the problem is in the process of sorting itself out anyway. And Prince Yu has already helpfully pointed out that there’s no reason why Nihuang’s husband has to be a military man.
But I digress. Nihuang ambushes MCS at the house and Qing-er discreetly withdraws, leaving the lovebirds alone. If Nihuang doesn’t already know MCS is Lin Shu, she gets her confirmation the moment she insists on taking the exit that leads past his old manor. MCS fails miserably to cover his emotional reaction. It was ok to freeze in front of the Grand Dowager Empress where no one but her could see his face, but it’s useless here. I originally thought that Nihuang takes him “home” so she can decide based on his reaction whether he really is Lin Shu, but this time the scales fall from my eyes and I realise that when she invites him into the Lin manor she is, metaphorically and physically, inviting him to step back into the past. She’s already figured out who he is, now she wants him to admit it to her freely (and thereby become Lin Shu again). But he refuses. This time his emotional reaction is ginormous and we can see that he knows that Nihuang knows (this show is wonderful at giving emotional scenes room to breathe – there are so many shots and counter-shots of what’s going on in their faces, all of which is at odds with the actual dialogue), but he still won’t break his cover. Instead, he declares the Lin family to be criminals and stalks off. Nihuang watches him go, her heart visibly breaking – she knows that he knows that she knows, so why won’t he tell her?
The Emperor worries about the Duke of Qing’s case. He’s really pissed at both his sons for not restricting their jostling for position to squabbling in the throne room but actually daring to interfere with his governance. Meng Zhi has CLEARLY been given instruction by MCS on how to raise Prince Jing as a possible candidate in a way that won’t make the Emperor suspicious, but the Emperor is briefly suspicious anyway. Meng Zhi plays dumb, which he is naturally really, really good at, and the danger passes.
Xia Dong visits MCS to find out his intentions towards Nihuang, and once again I grieve the lost opportunities that arise from her miscasting. If playing opposite Hu Ge, whose face betrays conflicting layers of subtext, doesn’t raise your acting game, nothing will. It’s as if they’re having two separate conversations, one scripted by Teen Romance, that have been bolted together. It’s the same thing in her conversation with Marquis Ning immediately afterwards. It’s partly that she’s far too young to be a proper counterweight to Xie Yu at the height of his powers, but she hasn’t got the acting chops, either. The conflicting strands of gratitude and suspicion that define her relationship to the Marquis are meaty stuff, but he has to carry the entire load himself; all the shifts in intent are visible in his face, not hers.
We also get to meet Gong Yu in this episode, but I don’t have anything to say about her except that she’s really, really pretty and I’m more convinced than ever that she and MCS had an affair. And everybody in the Jianghu knows it.
MCS is house-hunting – why is Liyang so disappointed that he wants to move out, I wonder? We all know why her husband isn’t keen, but she looks genuinely hurt by the news. Does she suspect it’s because of the Marquis?
Mu Qing barges into Snow Cottage with his usual disregard for etiquette – Mu Qing is the future, I have high hopes that Yunnan under his rule will be less in thrall to Confucianism – and literally drags MCS off to see a potential property. For some reason I had forgotten that Nihuang has set this up and thought oh, how sweet, he wants Su Zhe to have a house where Nihuang can come and visit. It’s all over Jinling now that Mu Nihuang and Su Zhe have a Thing going, so perhaps that’s the real reason why the Emperor accepts Nihuang’s apology report – the problem is in the process of sorting itself out anyway. And Prince Yu has already helpfully pointed out that there’s no reason why Nihuang’s husband has to be a military man.
But I digress. Nihuang ambushes MCS at the house and Qing-er discreetly withdraws, leaving the lovebirds alone. If Nihuang doesn’t already know MCS is Lin Shu, she gets her confirmation the moment she insists on taking the exit that leads past his old manor. MCS fails miserably to cover his emotional reaction. It was ok to freeze in front of the Grand Dowager Empress where no one but her could see his face, but it’s useless here. I originally thought that Nihuang takes him “home” so she can decide based on his reaction whether he really is Lin Shu, but this time the scales fall from my eyes and I realise that when she invites him into the Lin manor she is, metaphorically and physically, inviting him to step back into the past. She’s already figured out who he is, now she wants him to admit it to her freely (and thereby become Lin Shu again). But he refuses. This time his emotional reaction is ginormous and we can see that he knows that Nihuang knows (this show is wonderful at giving emotional scenes room to breathe – there are so many shots and counter-shots of what’s going on in their faces, all of which is at odds with the actual dialogue), but he still won’t break his cover. Instead, he declares the Lin family to be criminals and stalks off. Nihuang watches him go, her heart visibly breaking – she knows that he knows that she knows, so why won’t he tell her?
The Emperor worries about the Duke of Qing’s case. He’s really pissed at both his sons for not restricting their jostling for position to squabbling in the throne room but actually daring to interfere with his governance. Meng Zhi has CLEARLY been given instruction by MCS on how to raise Prince Jing as a possible candidate in a way that won’t make the Emperor suspicious, but the Emperor is briefly suspicious anyway. Meng Zhi plays dumb, which he is naturally really, really good at, and the danger passes.
Xia Dong visits MCS to find out his intentions towards Nihuang, and once again I grieve the lost opportunities that arise from her miscasting. If playing opposite Hu Ge, whose face betrays conflicting layers of subtext, doesn’t raise your acting game, nothing will. It’s as if they’re having two separate conversations, one scripted by Teen Romance, that have been bolted together. It’s the same thing in her conversation with Marquis Ning immediately afterwards. It’s partly that she’s far too young to be a proper counterweight to Xie Yu at the height of his powers, but she hasn’t got the acting chops, either. The conflicting strands of gratitude and suspicion that define her relationship to the Marquis are meaty stuff, but he has to carry the entire load himself; all the shifts in intent are visible in his face, not hers.
We also get to meet Gong Yu in this episode, but I don’t have anything to say about her except that she’s really, really pretty and I’m more convinced than ever that she and MCS had an affair. And everybody in the Jianghu knows it.
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The Lin Shu confrontation with the house is so painful. From seeing which way out he will walk (which yes, surely only is relevant if she thinks he is Lin Shu), to the confrontation in front of the Lin manor, where he is so obviously denying the whole subject as much as he can. We see how shaken MCS is by the extent to which he fails to control the exchange at all, real MCS would have managed it in a more strategic way. Whereas in the conversation with Xia Dong, he gives a perfect MCS answer that deflects with truth.
I do find Marquis Xie hiding behind the wall in his own garden and then popping out to be hilarious.
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He looks up to her so much, and you can tell they really love each other. I hope Mu Qing has squads of daughters, he'll be the best dad any girl in this universe can hope for.
We see how shaken MCS is by the extent to which he fails to control the exchange at all, real MCS would have managed it in a more strategic way.
Yes! It must confuse Nihuang no end because she has no idea why he's so upset when all he has to do is admit he's Lin Shu. MCS knows everyone's stories, but Nihuang knows nothing about his.
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Re Liyang, I think a combination of it being yet more proof about how awful her husband is, but perhaps also worry for Jingrui?
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He looks so abashed when Xia Dong calls him out, it's brilliant. My sister was saying how much she appreciates the way NIF is really funny but all the comedy arises naturally from the characters, it isn't being played for comedy as such. I mean, it is, obviously - the whole cast have a great instinct for a funny line - but it isn't "here's a funny bit", the comedy happens while the characters are busy doing serious stuff.
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