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Review: Mysterious Lotus Casebook (蓮花樓) (2023)
Binged the last three episodes of this show and the little five minute snippet that’s supposed to be the ‘true ending’ and I am done. This drama was a mixed bag. The overall character story lines and relationships were interesting. However, the cases were overly convoluted and there was a lot of lazy writing that dampened my enjoyment of the series significantly.
Spoilers.
Story
This show had two story lines for it. One was the crime solving story, where Li Lianhua, Fang Duobing, and Di Feisheng solved local mysteries, all related to their own motivations. However, there was a larger story line about the characters which was more fleshed out.
Li Lianhua was actually Li Xiangyi, a strong sect leader who had died in a duel with Di Feisheng. Li Xiangyi survived but he was poisoned so he’s been weak in health these ten years. However, feigning death and changing his identity didn’t rid him of his problems. Throughout the drama, he has to resolve these loose ends, including resolving his romantic feelings with Qiao Wanmian, nurturing Fang Duobing as his student, and finding where his shixiong was buried, which is the main story line as it unravelled into more mysteries as the group found out what really happened.
Fang Duobing wanted to be a student of the Baichuan school, something of a detective. He kept bumping into Li Lianhua, not knowing that he was actually Li Xiangyi, the person he decided would be his teacher. Since Li Lianhua knew, and he was mindful of Fang Duobing’s reckless behaviour, he began to mentor him. It was revealed that Fang Duobing was actually the biological son of Shan Gudao, Li Xiangyi’s shixiong, so Li Lianhua was protective of him. As the story revealed Shan Gudao to be an ambitious and tyrannical man, Fang Duobing chose to follow Li Lianhua as a teacher as opposed to his dad.
Di Feisheng was a sect leader of a somewhat ‘evil’ sect. He engaged in a battle with Li Xiangyi and won. He bumped into Li Lianhua and recognized that he was Li Xiangyi. Di Feisheng was disappointed that Li Xiangyi had been poisoned during their fight ten years ago, so it wasn’t a fair fight, and so he was convinced to get Li Lianhua back to full health so he could fight him. Li Lianhua just kind of manipulated Di Feisheng to help him on their sleuthing. Meanwhile, Di Feisheng’s sect had an ambitious follower, Jiao Liqiao who wanted to be powerful and also wanted to marry Di Feisheng. As Di Feisheng uncovered her treachery, she turned heel and seized leadership of the sect. She was working with Shan Gudao as well.
Shan Gudao was the son of a princess of the Nanyin people. I can’t remember if the Nanyin people were another ethnicity or another dynasty. Anyway, Jiao Liqiao was also a descendant of these people and that was why she helped Shan Gudao. Shan Gudao’s goal was to seize the throne. After defeating him, however, Shan Gudao and Li Xiangyi’s shiniang revealed that it was actually Li Xiangyi who was the son of the princess. Li Xiangyi’s older brother had put Li Xiangyi in Shan Gudao’s care, giving him a jade pendant that represented their people, and that was why everyone was under the impression that Shan Gudao was the descendent and not Li Xiangyi.
Throughout the series, Li Lianhua’s health was ailing. Towards the end, he became more destructive. He used his power to fight and to heal others, and he also gave the healing flower to the Emperor for his own health rather than taking it himself. He returned to his sect to set things right. He left all of his possessions and knowledge to Fang Duobing, and he also abandoned the fight that he was supposed to have with Di Feisheng. In the extra scene, it’s ambiguous as to whether Li Lianhua lived past his one month expiry date, but I think it’s safe to say that Li Lianhua wanted to die in peace, and that having tied up all his loose ends, he deserves that peace.
The character relationships and story lines in this drama are interesting and challenge the wuxia genre a bit. The wuxia genre is all about revenge and remembering your past. But Li Lianhua wanted nothing more than to leave it all behind. He had no appetite for revenge, which is a heavy wuxia theme. But he couldn’t, because he hadn’t resolved any of his issues, only running away from them. As a result of his character being fleshed out, his relationships with the other characters felt rich too. He liked to tease Fang Duobing, but it’s obvious he held a lot of fondness for him, not only as the son of his beloved shixiong and his own student, but also as a bright eyed naïve boy who had optimistic beliefs about the world. He had a sense of understanding with Di Feisheng, in which they agreed to help each other because of their own interests. He finally got closure with Wanmian. So it’s that stuff that made the show shine.
But I am sorry the actually writing was not good. First of all, the mysteries were convoluted in the sense that the criminal would be caught, but actually someone else would be the murderer. For example, there may have been several parts to a murder, and one person who stole something might have been different from the person who actually murdered the victim. Or one character might confess to the crime only because they were covering for someone else. This led to dragged out mysteries. This was the reason I couldn’t watch Young Blood.
The other more frustrating aspect of writing was the lazy writing. There was an egregious amount of telling and not showing. A character would show up and reveal the entire backstory. This was very lazy and convenient. The script was rife with this and so this show definitely lost marks with me for that.
So ultimately, a mixed bag.
Production
The production was fine. We know we’re not getting top tier quality. But we got some alright production out of this. The fighting was…alright. There were some hype fights I guess. But in general I don’t love the action direction that we see in cdramas. They don’t feel as natural as I’d like because of the CG. The costumes were okay. We had enough alternate outfits. The styling as nice as the characters became quite recognizable. The acting was alright but some characters were limited by their scripts, like Jiao Liqiao and Shan Gudao who became rather cartoonish villains towards the end. Music was aight though, I enjoyed the songs.
Characters
Li Lianhua/Li Xiangyi
Our main character. Years ago, Li Xiangyi was a proud sect leader. He was engaged in a duel with Di Feisheng and kind of disappeared afterwards. Most assumed he was dead. In reality, he had been living as Li Lianhua for ten years. Li Lianhua was a healer, but one who liked dramatics. He lived in his camper van pulled by four horses and had a dog called Fox demon (Hulijing).
Li Lianhua’s only motivation at the beginning of the drama was to find the buried body of his shixiong, Shan Gudao. He remembered him fondly, and regretted the way that they parted. They’d had an agreement, and the next thing he knew, Shan Gudao was dead. Li Lianhua repeatedly bumped into Fang Duobing and helped him out despite Fang Duobing’s proud chest thumping behaviour. Li Lianhua just wanted to stay under the radar so that he could pursue his own goal, but he was smart so he often helped Fang Duobing with the cases.
Di Feisheng was the first person to recognize him as Li Xiangyi. Di Feisheng is kind of a musclehead so he was obsessed with a rematch. However, he realized that Li Lianhua was not at full strength. So he needed Li Lianhua to be back at full health so they could have a fair fight again. Li Lianhua used Di Feisheng’s obsession to get him to help him, so that was why Di Feisheng followed them around.
I forgot who it was who revealed to Li Lianhua that Fang Duobing was Shan Gudao’s biological son. Given his love for his shixiong, he started looking at Fang Duobing a bit differently. Later on in the series he would start to impart his own martial arts knowledge to Fang Duobing.
Li Lianhua had left his sect in a bit of a mess. It was currently being overseen by the few…leaders? I’m not sure what their positions were. Yun Biqiu was one of them. He was the one who had poisoned Li Xiangyi in order to help others (I don’t remember what the deal was). And Yun Biqiu felt a lot of guilt about it. However, given that Li Lianhua wanted to die already, he didn’t care and had already forgiven Yun Biqiu, and he openly forgave him in the end.
Li Xiangyi sort of had a romantic relationship with Qiao Wanmian but it wasn’t really formal. They just had feelings for each other. Qiao Wanmian had written a letter to Li Xiangyi telling him that she wished to break things off because it was hard being with him. Afterwards, Li Xiangyi had faked his death. So Qiao Wanmian held guilt over that, though again Li Lianhua didn’t think poorly of her at all. In the present, he tried to convince Wanmian that Li Xiangyi had already died, to put her mind at ease. However, she discovered that he was Li Xiangyi. Still, Li Lianhua encouraged her to move on. I think she understood that he really didn’t want to live the life he had lived anymore. So they agreed to part ways. Nonetheless, Wanmian did care for him. More on her in her own section, but basically I think Li Lianhua did what he did so that he and Wanmian could have an amicable parting at last.
Now the big story was Li Lianhua uncovering the truth about Shan Gudao. He had found Shan Gudao’s body pretty early on. But as they solved more mysteries, more questions started to pop up relating to Shan Gudao’s death, and Li Lianhua began to follow those leads. That led to him realizing that Shan Gudao’s corpse was in fact not him, and later that Shan Gudao was still alive. What was also revealed was that while Li Lianhua loved Shan Gudao, the same could not be said for Shan Gudao. He was always jealous of Li Lianhua’s ability and the fact that their shifu seemed to favour Li Lianhua. It was a shock to Li Lianhua when he found the name Li Xiangyi all scratched up inside Shan Gudao’s box, showing that he was hated to that extent. When Shan Gudao appeared to him, his animosity towards Li Lianhua was confirmed.
At that point, Shan Gudao’s motivations were also coming to light, the fact that he wanted to usurp the throne, so Li Lianhua’s story became about stopping Shan Gudao. They did have a final showdown, in which Li Lianhua got revenge for Shan Gudao killing their shifu. However, when they used Shan Gudao’s blood, they couldn’t activate the muzhi. Shan Gudao and Li Xiangyi’s shiniang swooped in and activated it with Li Lianhua’s blood, and she revealed that it was Li Xiangyi and his older brother who were the descendants of the Nanyin people. After their people fell, they became little beggars. Xiangyi’s older brother died, and before he did, he asked Shan Gudao to take care of his younger brother, giving him his jade pendant as thank you. Some time later, Shan Gudao lost his memory, and so when the Nanyin people came by and saw him with the pendant, they believed he was the descendant. How Shiniang knew this is not super clear though, because their shifu found them when he had lost his memory. So that’s the truth. Li Xiangyi was the truth descendant of the Nanyin people. But we know him, we know he wants no business in this.
In the last few episodes, Li Lianhua tied up his loose ends. He gifted the healing flower to the Emperor. The Emperor had been poisoned by Shan Gudao, and Li Lianhua gifted the flower in return for the safety of Fang Duobing’s father. He returned to his sect and forgave Yun Biqiu. He also later sent his sect leader pendant back to the sect. He left all of his things to Fang Duobing. And on the day he was supposed to fight Di Feisheng, he instead sent Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing letters, telling them that he wasn’t going to come.
Did Li Lianhua survive in the end? I choose to believe not. He was still very sick as he was writing the letters. And most importantly, Li Lianhua wanted to rest in peace already. Death is a good ending for him, because he feels he’s lived enough. He doesn’t want to be tied to mortal issues anymore.
Li Lianhua himself as a character was fun. He liked theatrics, though I suspect it was because he didn’t want people to look at his identity too closely. He told tall tales for fun, even when he had no reason to go in such detail. That was his way of being playful though, because deep down inside he was very solemn. He regretted his past actions and it weighed so heavily that he wished to die. He did not know this as Li Xiangyi, but as Li Lianhua, he was mindful of his effect on other people. He knew he owed it to other people to tie up loose ends, to acknowledge their love for him, which was why he did what he could do for Wanmian and Duobing. His ultimate goal as Li Lianhua was that he wanted to live the true Jianghu life, away from the problems of the world, and he achieved that in the end.
Fang Duobing
Fang Duobing was the sole son of the Fang family who loved the idea of being a martial hero. Being that he grew up in poor health, was the sole son of the family, and that he was betrothed to a princess, his family opposed his interest in Jianghu, but he snuck out anyway. He was rejected by the Baichuan school because his mother had asked them to, but he stole a pendant of theirs and started to conduct cases as an agent of the Baichuan school.
At first, he was hasty and often confidently wrong. It was Li Lianhua who would gently reel him in. Soon enough, Fang Duobing realized that Li Lianhua was quite helpful and smart and agreed to keep him around. Little did he know that he was the needy one, as Li Lianhua would keep abandoning him in the middle of the night, and it would be Fang Duobing who would try to follow him.
Fang Duobing was unaware to much of the backstory of the martial world. He didn’t know that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi, and that A-fei was Di Feisheng. The two of them kept this secret from him. They also kept other secrets from him, but my impression was that they did it to protect him, as there was something pure about his optimism and it would be a pity to extinguish that sense of justice.
As the show went on and he got to know Li Lianhua, he started to question whether Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi. Li Lianhua would try to ward him off that path of thinking, but eventually Fang Duobing was adamant that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi and Li Lianhua realized there was no point in denying it. Fang Duobing also had a mini arc where he found out the truth behind his heritage. He found out that his father was actually Shan Gudao. Nonetheless, he still loved his adopted parents as his own parents <3
Fang Duobing obviously grew close with Li Lianhua, but this became the case especially after he found out Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi, and especially after he realized Li Lianhua was very sick. Fang Duobing because very mindful of his health, to the point that Li Lianhua had his shiniang lie to Fang Duobing about curing his poison because he knew Fang Duobing would be very angry. Fang Duobing also felt that Li Lianhua was a good person who had only ever looked out for him, and a person who looked at his shixiong with stars in his eyes. So when Shan Gudao showed up all evil and stuff, Fang Duobing was easily more protective of Li Lianhua.
At one point, the two split paths. Fang Duobing had approached his father, faking that he would follow him. He was trapped there, and basically had to train to be able to get out. At the same time, Li Lianhua had gone to the palace to stop Shan Gudao so he couldn’t come to save Fang Duobing. But Fang Duobing had broken out and then saved Li Lianhua.
At the end of the drama, after things were settled, Fang Duobing was relieved of his betrothal to the princess. He was descended from the traitor Shan Gudao so that wouldn’t do. However, throughout the series he had developed a good relationship with the princess and they decided to leave on the note that anything could happen in the future. Fang Duobing had probably intended to roam Jianghu with Li Lianhua, only to find his camper van completely empty, Hulijing barking, and Li Lianhua’s book of martial arts left on the table. Fang Duobing realized that Li Lianhua had left alone.
In the extra scene, Fang Duobing had gone around looking for him, but both he and Di Feisheng would have to accept that Li Lianhua wanted to be alone now. Fang Duobing had received all the love that Li Lianhua gave to him. The biggest form of his love would probably be the fact that Li Lianhua let him stay with him, given how much Li Lianhua didn’t want to be around other people. But he also left him his worldly possessions, his dog (since Li Lianhua couldn’t be with him, his dog would have to do), and all his knowledge in the world. And I think Fang Duobing realizes that Li Lianhua gave him all that he could.
Fang Duobing was a fun character. He was annoying at first, being rash and confidently wrong, but that was the meant to be the point. Over time, he grew wiser, being more observant and thoughtful when it came to cases. But he also started to develop his moral compass too. He did have a strong sense of right and wrong before, but now he was fine tuning it with his real world experience. He was a filial son, he was kind, he was righteous, and he loved his friends.
Di Feisheng
Di Feisheng was the leader of an ‘evil’ sect. He came from a tough background. If I remember correctly, he was raised by a cruel shifu who lived by ‘survival of the fittest,’ forcing his students to kill each other to come out on top. So Di Feisheng grew up in a very cutthroat environment. It didn’t surprise us that he became a sect leader who took fighting very seriously.
He came into the story because he was after a special pill. It was through that quest that he bumped into Li Lianhua and found out the truth. He continued to tag along and help Li Lianhua. Back in his home sect, Jiao Liqiao was trying to accumulate the power under his nose, as she wanted both the power and to be his loved one. It became a power struggle of his people vs. her people, with the added bonus of Jiao Liqiao actually being romantically interested in Di Feisheng.
He had lost his memory for a period of time, and Li Lianhua tried to convince him he that he was a spy in his own sect and was actually friends with Li Lianhua. Di Feisheng didn’t believe him, but he also felt that he could trust Li Lianhua about some things, which reflected their complicated relationship. They share a bond over fighting that no one else shares, and because of that, Di Feisheng could trust him in a way he couldn’t trust anyone else.
To be honest I don’t remember Di Feisheng’s story lines too clearly because I was losing track of some of the plot towards the end. He had helped Shan Gudao in retrieving the muzhi, but he seized it to use for himself. He took it to his shifu, to kill him and free his students so that they wouldn’t have to live like him. Afterwards he was captured by Jiao Liqiao who eventually usurped power of the sect. He was in captivity until Li Lianhua saved him, and they reconciled and then agreed to take down Jiao Liqiao and Shan Gudao.
In the end, Di Feisheng wanted to meet Li Lianhua for their one final showdown but he didn’t show up. Like Fang Duobing, he had to accept that Li Lianhua wanted peace and Di Feisheng would have to accept that he wouldn’t have his one last fight.
Di Feisheng was a stoic and serious man. He was a little emotionally standoffish, which made sense given his past history. Honestly I don’t think he was too involved as a leader. He was just interested in keeping everything the status quo and making sure that nobody would have to live like him. Otherwise he was just interested in fighting. Even his followers mentioned that he’d never cared about romance so at one point when he was responding to Jiao Liqiao’s flirting, his followers actually found it suspicious and wondered if he was onto Jiao Liqiao. So basically I think he prefers to be an individual than a sect leader. I mentioned that he seemed trusting of Li Lianhua, because Li Lianhua understands Di Feisheng as a (former) top fighter of wulin. Even if Li Lianhua is manipulating him to help him out, Di Feisheng can trust Li Lianhua to not hurt him. As for Fang Duobing, their butting heads was pretty amusing, but like Li Lianhua, I think he also recognized the rare naivete of Fang Duobing and agreed to keep secrets because he understood why Li Lianhua cared for him.
Shan Gudao
Shan Gudao was Li Lianhua’s shixiong, and Fang Duobing’s biological father. At the beginning, we only heard of Shan Gudao second hand through Li Lianhua. Li Lianhua wanted to find his corpse. As the drama went on, we found out that he regretted how things had played out because he knew deep down inside he loved his shixiong very much. We could also see his love for his shixiong through how he cared for Fang Duobing. More questions popped up over the circumstances of Shan Gudao’s death, so Li Lianhua pursued those leads.
Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing found out that Shan Gudao was probably a descendant of the Nanyin people through looking through his things. However, as they looked through more of his things, they realized that Shan Gudao didn’t love Li Lianhua as he had hoped and that broke Li Lianhua’s heart. Through some flashbacks, scattered through the drama, we’d see times when Li Lianhua and Shan Gudao didn’t get along. Sometimes Li Lianhua would let Shan Gudao win, which hurt Shan Gudao’s pride. I didn’t like these flashbacks as they were heavy handed. They were meant to show the cracks in their relationship, but I just found the overall ‘Shan Gudao is actually evil’ story line a bit heavy handed and sudden.
I felt that Shan Gudao as a villain was cartoonishly evil but now that I think about it, I can see how that made sense. Li Lianhua thought that their past arguments were just petty childhood arguments and that despite their arguments prior to Shan Gudao’s faked death, that their relationship as martial brothers would have outshone any bad blood. But he was very wrong. Shan Gudao had always seen Li Lianhua as a rival and not as a brother and that animosity grew. With the revelation of his lineage, it gave him motivation to become something great, and he would show the world that he was great. Shan Gudao was only slightly disappointed that his son sided with Li Lianhua, but he cared not of him.
In the end, Shan Gudao tried to usurp the throne, having poisoned the Emperor. He was stopped shortly, with Li Lianhua challenging and defeating him. Then it was revealed that his blood could not activate the muzhi. His shiniang came in and explained everything. Shan Gudao was in disbelief. But I actually thought it was kind of mean for their shiniang to laugh at Shan Gudao about him thinking he was a prince. I mean…we can’t do anything about our parents. Li Lianhua isn’t better than Shan Gudao for having been born a prince. Li Lianhua’s better because he chose to clean up after his mistakes instead of putting people into suffering. Shan Gudao died shortly after.
Shan Gudao as a villain was not very charismatic. Something about his overall look didn’t work. Or maybe it was his actor. But again it was hard to see him as a loving shixiong to Li Lianhua.
Jiao Liqiao
Jiao Liqiao was a subordinate of Di Feisheng. She was clearly very into him, acting a soft demure lady with a cutesy nickname in his presence, when behind his back she acted a female king. She wanted so badly to be his wife and to be the madame of the sect.
She had once worked with Yun Biqiu, though I don’t remember if it was her who got him to poison Li Xiangyi. She did kind of have a vendetta against Li Xiangyi. So when she heard that he might still be alive, she would send her people to retcon and possibly stamp him out if needed. She was also shocked when she heard that Di Feisheng was working with Li Xiangyi, the man she was constantly trying to eradicate. I don’t remember how Li Lianhua knew this, but he was also the one to tell Di Feisheng that Jiao Liqiao was a descendant of the Nanyin people, which made Di Feisheng suspicious of her.
At one point, Di Feisheng had returned and he seemed very receptive to her flirting when he was always very cold to it, in fact telling her outright to back off. Jiao Liqiao’s underlings had advised her to be careful that things were off because Di Feisheng had never been receptive to her flirting. In that scene, Di Feisheng had actually been listening outside, realizing that she was trying to usurp her power.
Jiao Liqiao also seemed to be working with Shan Gudao, given their shared Nanyin heritage. Though she was more focused on her personal goal. Di Feisheng had confronted her at one point about her power. I don’t remember how things played out, but eventually Di Feisheng was hurt and captured by her. Jiao Liqiao had decided that if Di Feisheng wasn’t going to make her his wife so that they could rule together, she would rule herself and have him in her harem.
Jiao Liqiao was basically the sub boss before Shan Gudao who was the main boss, as Jiao Liqiao’s story line was for more intertwined with Di Feisheng’s (compared to Shan Gudao who was directly relevant to Li Lianhua). She was defeated and died, though even at the final battle, she wanted Di Feisheng to submit and be hers.
Jiao Liqiao as a villain got old pretty early on and I want to say it was because she was cartoonish. She did a lot of muahahaha-ing and it got real old real fast for me. Her shy uwu act was also annoying though that was certainly the point because it’s an act. But she just didn’t work for me unfortunately.
Qiao Wanmian
Qiao Wanmian was a member of the Sigumen sct. She had feelings for Li Xiangyi but had written a letter breaking things off. In the present, she was engaged to Xiao Zijin. Wanmian was drawn to Li Lianhua, sensing some similarities. There were times when she was not fully lucid and she spoke to Li Lianhua as Li Xiangyi. That was how Li Lianhua knew that he needed to help her find closure. He concocted a story indicating to her that Li Xiangyi was dead, hoping that she would let herself move on. It kind of worked.
Until she figured out that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi. At first, she was frustrated that Li Lianhua was trying to put such a distance between them. At one point she’d asked him “if you’re going to lie to me, can you at least look at me while you do it?” So Li Lianhua looked at her while he spoke, telling her that they’re on their own paths now. He wants to live his wanderer life, and she’s engaged/married to Zijin now. Li Lianhua had told her that she didn’t regret that she still had feelings for Li Lianhua, but rather that she regretted that she had moved on to Zijin then. Whether or not that was true, I think Wanmian was satisfied that Li Lianhua was ready to move on and only saw her as a friend then. After all, it takes two to tango. I think he also helped her clear away the guilt that she held over writing that letter to him.
The problem for Wanmian however was Xiao Zijin. Zijin constantly worried that Wanmian still loved Li Lianhua, even though time and time again she insisted that they’re only friends now and she is devoted to him. Whenever discussing sect matters, Zijin would feel insecure that Wanmian still saw Li Lianhua as sect leader instead of him, despite Wanmian completely recognizing him. It was his insecurity that pushed Wanmian to leave him, because nothing she could do would convince him that she was over him and liked him now.
I thought Wnamian was a nice character. She was gentle but still a noble fighter. I also appreciated her emotional journey of finding closure. She took it with grace.
Xiao Zijin
Xiao Zijin was a member of the sect who was engaged to Qiao Wanmian. He did care for her, even Li Lianhua saw that they had potential. However, he was deeply insecure. He was very wary of Li Lianhua especially a lot of people seemed to see Li Xiangyi in him.
When he found out Li Xiangyi was alive, he confronted him for a duel, but if I remember correctly, Li Lianhua declined and also Wanmian came to basically convince Zijin to stop it. Zijin tried to claim the role as sect leader and nobody went against him. But he continued to be very insecure about whether Wanmian would stop seeing Li Lianhua as sect leader and see him as sect leader. Whenever Wanmian did anything, Zijin would suspect that she still had feelings for Li Xiangyi. It got so absolutely ridiculous and stifling that eventually Wanmian had to leave him because she could do nothing to convince him that she was completely devoted to him.
In the end, Zijin challenged Li Lianhua to a duel because only when Li Lianhua died by his sword would he feel confident that Wanmian could not run off to him, and that he was stronger than Li Lianhua. But Li Lianhua destroyed his sword and jumped off the cliff.
Zijin’s insecurity was his greatest downfall. The fact that Wanmian could do nothing to convince him of her love showed that the issue wasn’t with her, and that it was with him.
Themes
Running away from problems
Li Xiangyi thought that if he faked his death and changed his name, he could run away from his problems. But as Li Lianhua, he saw that it very much wasn’t the case. He left his sect, but his sect was kind of in a weird spot with no clear leadership. Wanmian’s feelings for him were unresolved as she was guilt-ridden over her letter. Di Feisheng couldn’t accept that he had fought an unfair fight. The lack of his corpse left Fang Duobing believing his shifu was still out there. And he had left his feelings with Shan Gudao unresolved.
As Li Lianhua, he got a second change to solve his problems because then he realized that he couldn’t run away from them. He’d be hurting all the people who ever loved and cared for him. This time around, he tries to make things right.
Revenge
Revenge is a strong wuxia theme. Most wuxia stories involve people remembering their history or their family history and being morally obligated to exact revenge. Li Lianhua wanted to leave his past behind him, both the good and the bad. However, it looks like instead of resolving his issues with revenge, he’s resolving them as peacefully as he can. He’s trying to stop the cycle of revenge in his own way.
Di Feisheng on the other hand continued his cycle of revenge, but by doing that, he kind of stopped it from continuing further. He went back to kill the shifu who had raised him in such cruelty, and by that, he hoped that all of his current students would not be subject to that treatment ever again and be free.
Lineage
Lineage is a common wuxia theme, the idea of who and what your past is and what that says about you.
Li Lianhua didn’t remember his past and because of that, he became who he chose to be. First it was the ambitious fighter, and later it became a peaceful person. So when it was revealed that he was the descendent of a princess, it changed nothing for him, because he had chosen who he was going to be instead of letting his heritage decide it. On the other hand, Shan Gudao made his (perceived) lineage his entire purpose. He was feeling unfulfilled about being a martial artist as he felt inferior to Li Lianhua, so he decided he’d be a prince, and emperor, to show the world he’s better than everyone.
Fang Duobing is a classic case of wuxia lineage. He found out that his father was an evil tyrant. Knowing that, he decided he would not live like him. He saw his adoptive parents as his true parents who had raised him with love and care. He quarreled with them, but he knew their love. Li Lianhua had noted how Fang Duobing’s father had spent time teaching him things like how to play go. Fang Duobing also chose to follow the teachings of Li Lianhua over those of Shan Gudao. Fang Duobing decided he would not let his father affect his sense of righteousness.
Overall
I can see why it appealed to people but ultimately it did not grab me as much as I’d like. The actors are nice to look at and I know this drama did numbers for the shippers. It definitely would have been the thing to draw me in. But the lazy writing made it hard for me to like this show.
Spoilers.
Story
This show had two story lines for it. One was the crime solving story, where Li Lianhua, Fang Duobing, and Di Feisheng solved local mysteries, all related to their own motivations. However, there was a larger story line about the characters which was more fleshed out.
Li Lianhua was actually Li Xiangyi, a strong sect leader who had died in a duel with Di Feisheng. Li Xiangyi survived but he was poisoned so he’s been weak in health these ten years. However, feigning death and changing his identity didn’t rid him of his problems. Throughout the drama, he has to resolve these loose ends, including resolving his romantic feelings with Qiao Wanmian, nurturing Fang Duobing as his student, and finding where his shixiong was buried, which is the main story line as it unravelled into more mysteries as the group found out what really happened.
Fang Duobing wanted to be a student of the Baichuan school, something of a detective. He kept bumping into Li Lianhua, not knowing that he was actually Li Xiangyi, the person he decided would be his teacher. Since Li Lianhua knew, and he was mindful of Fang Duobing’s reckless behaviour, he began to mentor him. It was revealed that Fang Duobing was actually the biological son of Shan Gudao, Li Xiangyi’s shixiong, so Li Lianhua was protective of him. As the story revealed Shan Gudao to be an ambitious and tyrannical man, Fang Duobing chose to follow Li Lianhua as a teacher as opposed to his dad.
Di Feisheng was a sect leader of a somewhat ‘evil’ sect. He engaged in a battle with Li Xiangyi and won. He bumped into Li Lianhua and recognized that he was Li Xiangyi. Di Feisheng was disappointed that Li Xiangyi had been poisoned during their fight ten years ago, so it wasn’t a fair fight, and so he was convinced to get Li Lianhua back to full health so he could fight him. Li Lianhua just kind of manipulated Di Feisheng to help him on their sleuthing. Meanwhile, Di Feisheng’s sect had an ambitious follower, Jiao Liqiao who wanted to be powerful and also wanted to marry Di Feisheng. As Di Feisheng uncovered her treachery, she turned heel and seized leadership of the sect. She was working with Shan Gudao as well.
Shan Gudao was the son of a princess of the Nanyin people. I can’t remember if the Nanyin people were another ethnicity or another dynasty. Anyway, Jiao Liqiao was also a descendant of these people and that was why she helped Shan Gudao. Shan Gudao’s goal was to seize the throne. After defeating him, however, Shan Gudao and Li Xiangyi’s shiniang revealed that it was actually Li Xiangyi who was the son of the princess. Li Xiangyi’s older brother had put Li Xiangyi in Shan Gudao’s care, giving him a jade pendant that represented their people, and that was why everyone was under the impression that Shan Gudao was the descendent and not Li Xiangyi.
Throughout the series, Li Lianhua’s health was ailing. Towards the end, he became more destructive. He used his power to fight and to heal others, and he also gave the healing flower to the Emperor for his own health rather than taking it himself. He returned to his sect to set things right. He left all of his possessions and knowledge to Fang Duobing, and he also abandoned the fight that he was supposed to have with Di Feisheng. In the extra scene, it’s ambiguous as to whether Li Lianhua lived past his one month expiry date, but I think it’s safe to say that Li Lianhua wanted to die in peace, and that having tied up all his loose ends, he deserves that peace.
The character relationships and story lines in this drama are interesting and challenge the wuxia genre a bit. The wuxia genre is all about revenge and remembering your past. But Li Lianhua wanted nothing more than to leave it all behind. He had no appetite for revenge, which is a heavy wuxia theme. But he couldn’t, because he hadn’t resolved any of his issues, only running away from them. As a result of his character being fleshed out, his relationships with the other characters felt rich too. He liked to tease Fang Duobing, but it’s obvious he held a lot of fondness for him, not only as the son of his beloved shixiong and his own student, but also as a bright eyed naïve boy who had optimistic beliefs about the world. He had a sense of understanding with Di Feisheng, in which they agreed to help each other because of their own interests. He finally got closure with Wanmian. So it’s that stuff that made the show shine.
But I am sorry the actually writing was not good. First of all, the mysteries were convoluted in the sense that the criminal would be caught, but actually someone else would be the murderer. For example, there may have been several parts to a murder, and one person who stole something might have been different from the person who actually murdered the victim. Or one character might confess to the crime only because they were covering for someone else. This led to dragged out mysteries. This was the reason I couldn’t watch Young Blood.
The other more frustrating aspect of writing was the lazy writing. There was an egregious amount of telling and not showing. A character would show up and reveal the entire backstory. This was very lazy and convenient. The script was rife with this and so this show definitely lost marks with me for that.
So ultimately, a mixed bag.
Production
The production was fine. We know we’re not getting top tier quality. But we got some alright production out of this. The fighting was…alright. There were some hype fights I guess. But in general I don’t love the action direction that we see in cdramas. They don’t feel as natural as I’d like because of the CG. The costumes were okay. We had enough alternate outfits. The styling as nice as the characters became quite recognizable. The acting was alright but some characters were limited by their scripts, like Jiao Liqiao and Shan Gudao who became rather cartoonish villains towards the end. Music was aight though, I enjoyed the songs.
Characters
Li Lianhua/Li Xiangyi
Our main character. Years ago, Li Xiangyi was a proud sect leader. He was engaged in a duel with Di Feisheng and kind of disappeared afterwards. Most assumed he was dead. In reality, he had been living as Li Lianhua for ten years. Li Lianhua was a healer, but one who liked dramatics. He lived in his camper van pulled by four horses and had a dog called Fox demon (Hulijing).
Li Lianhua’s only motivation at the beginning of the drama was to find the buried body of his shixiong, Shan Gudao. He remembered him fondly, and regretted the way that they parted. They’d had an agreement, and the next thing he knew, Shan Gudao was dead. Li Lianhua repeatedly bumped into Fang Duobing and helped him out despite Fang Duobing’s proud chest thumping behaviour. Li Lianhua just wanted to stay under the radar so that he could pursue his own goal, but he was smart so he often helped Fang Duobing with the cases.
Di Feisheng was the first person to recognize him as Li Xiangyi. Di Feisheng is kind of a musclehead so he was obsessed with a rematch. However, he realized that Li Lianhua was not at full strength. So he needed Li Lianhua to be back at full health so they could have a fair fight again. Li Lianhua used Di Feisheng’s obsession to get him to help him, so that was why Di Feisheng followed them around.
I forgot who it was who revealed to Li Lianhua that Fang Duobing was Shan Gudao’s biological son. Given his love for his shixiong, he started looking at Fang Duobing a bit differently. Later on in the series he would start to impart his own martial arts knowledge to Fang Duobing.
Li Lianhua had left his sect in a bit of a mess. It was currently being overseen by the few…leaders? I’m not sure what their positions were. Yun Biqiu was one of them. He was the one who had poisoned Li Xiangyi in order to help others (I don’t remember what the deal was). And Yun Biqiu felt a lot of guilt about it. However, given that Li Lianhua wanted to die already, he didn’t care and had already forgiven Yun Biqiu, and he openly forgave him in the end.
Li Xiangyi sort of had a romantic relationship with Qiao Wanmian but it wasn’t really formal. They just had feelings for each other. Qiao Wanmian had written a letter to Li Xiangyi telling him that she wished to break things off because it was hard being with him. Afterwards, Li Xiangyi had faked his death. So Qiao Wanmian held guilt over that, though again Li Lianhua didn’t think poorly of her at all. In the present, he tried to convince Wanmian that Li Xiangyi had already died, to put her mind at ease. However, she discovered that he was Li Xiangyi. Still, Li Lianhua encouraged her to move on. I think she understood that he really didn’t want to live the life he had lived anymore. So they agreed to part ways. Nonetheless, Wanmian did care for him. More on her in her own section, but basically I think Li Lianhua did what he did so that he and Wanmian could have an amicable parting at last.
Now the big story was Li Lianhua uncovering the truth about Shan Gudao. He had found Shan Gudao’s body pretty early on. But as they solved more mysteries, more questions started to pop up relating to Shan Gudao’s death, and Li Lianhua began to follow those leads. That led to him realizing that Shan Gudao’s corpse was in fact not him, and later that Shan Gudao was still alive. What was also revealed was that while Li Lianhua loved Shan Gudao, the same could not be said for Shan Gudao. He was always jealous of Li Lianhua’s ability and the fact that their shifu seemed to favour Li Lianhua. It was a shock to Li Lianhua when he found the name Li Xiangyi all scratched up inside Shan Gudao’s box, showing that he was hated to that extent. When Shan Gudao appeared to him, his animosity towards Li Lianhua was confirmed.
At that point, Shan Gudao’s motivations were also coming to light, the fact that he wanted to usurp the throne, so Li Lianhua’s story became about stopping Shan Gudao. They did have a final showdown, in which Li Lianhua got revenge for Shan Gudao killing their shifu. However, when they used Shan Gudao’s blood, they couldn’t activate the muzhi. Shan Gudao and Li Xiangyi’s shiniang swooped in and activated it with Li Lianhua’s blood, and she revealed that it was Li Xiangyi and his older brother who were the descendants of the Nanyin people. After their people fell, they became little beggars. Xiangyi’s older brother died, and before he did, he asked Shan Gudao to take care of his younger brother, giving him his jade pendant as thank you. Some time later, Shan Gudao lost his memory, and so when the Nanyin people came by and saw him with the pendant, they believed he was the descendant. How Shiniang knew this is not super clear though, because their shifu found them when he had lost his memory. So that’s the truth. Li Xiangyi was the truth descendant of the Nanyin people. But we know him, we know he wants no business in this.
In the last few episodes, Li Lianhua tied up his loose ends. He gifted the healing flower to the Emperor. The Emperor had been poisoned by Shan Gudao, and Li Lianhua gifted the flower in return for the safety of Fang Duobing’s father. He returned to his sect and forgave Yun Biqiu. He also later sent his sect leader pendant back to the sect. He left all of his things to Fang Duobing. And on the day he was supposed to fight Di Feisheng, he instead sent Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing letters, telling them that he wasn’t going to come.
Did Li Lianhua survive in the end? I choose to believe not. He was still very sick as he was writing the letters. And most importantly, Li Lianhua wanted to rest in peace already. Death is a good ending for him, because he feels he’s lived enough. He doesn’t want to be tied to mortal issues anymore.
Li Lianhua himself as a character was fun. He liked theatrics, though I suspect it was because he didn’t want people to look at his identity too closely. He told tall tales for fun, even when he had no reason to go in such detail. That was his way of being playful though, because deep down inside he was very solemn. He regretted his past actions and it weighed so heavily that he wished to die. He did not know this as Li Xiangyi, but as Li Lianhua, he was mindful of his effect on other people. He knew he owed it to other people to tie up loose ends, to acknowledge their love for him, which was why he did what he could do for Wanmian and Duobing. His ultimate goal as Li Lianhua was that he wanted to live the true Jianghu life, away from the problems of the world, and he achieved that in the end.
Fang Duobing
Fang Duobing was the sole son of the Fang family who loved the idea of being a martial hero. Being that he grew up in poor health, was the sole son of the family, and that he was betrothed to a princess, his family opposed his interest in Jianghu, but he snuck out anyway. He was rejected by the Baichuan school because his mother had asked them to, but he stole a pendant of theirs and started to conduct cases as an agent of the Baichuan school.
At first, he was hasty and often confidently wrong. It was Li Lianhua who would gently reel him in. Soon enough, Fang Duobing realized that Li Lianhua was quite helpful and smart and agreed to keep him around. Little did he know that he was the needy one, as Li Lianhua would keep abandoning him in the middle of the night, and it would be Fang Duobing who would try to follow him.
Fang Duobing was unaware to much of the backstory of the martial world. He didn’t know that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi, and that A-fei was Di Feisheng. The two of them kept this secret from him. They also kept other secrets from him, but my impression was that they did it to protect him, as there was something pure about his optimism and it would be a pity to extinguish that sense of justice.
As the show went on and he got to know Li Lianhua, he started to question whether Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi. Li Lianhua would try to ward him off that path of thinking, but eventually Fang Duobing was adamant that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi and Li Lianhua realized there was no point in denying it. Fang Duobing also had a mini arc where he found out the truth behind his heritage. He found out that his father was actually Shan Gudao. Nonetheless, he still loved his adopted parents as his own parents <3
Fang Duobing obviously grew close with Li Lianhua, but this became the case especially after he found out Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi, and especially after he realized Li Lianhua was very sick. Fang Duobing because very mindful of his health, to the point that Li Lianhua had his shiniang lie to Fang Duobing about curing his poison because he knew Fang Duobing would be very angry. Fang Duobing also felt that Li Lianhua was a good person who had only ever looked out for him, and a person who looked at his shixiong with stars in his eyes. So when Shan Gudao showed up all evil and stuff, Fang Duobing was easily more protective of Li Lianhua.
At one point, the two split paths. Fang Duobing had approached his father, faking that he would follow him. He was trapped there, and basically had to train to be able to get out. At the same time, Li Lianhua had gone to the palace to stop Shan Gudao so he couldn’t come to save Fang Duobing. But Fang Duobing had broken out and then saved Li Lianhua.
At the end of the drama, after things were settled, Fang Duobing was relieved of his betrothal to the princess. He was descended from the traitor Shan Gudao so that wouldn’t do. However, throughout the series he had developed a good relationship with the princess and they decided to leave on the note that anything could happen in the future. Fang Duobing had probably intended to roam Jianghu with Li Lianhua, only to find his camper van completely empty, Hulijing barking, and Li Lianhua’s book of martial arts left on the table. Fang Duobing realized that Li Lianhua had left alone.
In the extra scene, Fang Duobing had gone around looking for him, but both he and Di Feisheng would have to accept that Li Lianhua wanted to be alone now. Fang Duobing had received all the love that Li Lianhua gave to him. The biggest form of his love would probably be the fact that Li Lianhua let him stay with him, given how much Li Lianhua didn’t want to be around other people. But he also left him his worldly possessions, his dog (since Li Lianhua couldn’t be with him, his dog would have to do), and all his knowledge in the world. And I think Fang Duobing realizes that Li Lianhua gave him all that he could.
Fang Duobing was a fun character. He was annoying at first, being rash and confidently wrong, but that was the meant to be the point. Over time, he grew wiser, being more observant and thoughtful when it came to cases. But he also started to develop his moral compass too. He did have a strong sense of right and wrong before, but now he was fine tuning it with his real world experience. He was a filial son, he was kind, he was righteous, and he loved his friends.
Di Feisheng
Di Feisheng was the leader of an ‘evil’ sect. He came from a tough background. If I remember correctly, he was raised by a cruel shifu who lived by ‘survival of the fittest,’ forcing his students to kill each other to come out on top. So Di Feisheng grew up in a very cutthroat environment. It didn’t surprise us that he became a sect leader who took fighting very seriously.
He came into the story because he was after a special pill. It was through that quest that he bumped into Li Lianhua and found out the truth. He continued to tag along and help Li Lianhua. Back in his home sect, Jiao Liqiao was trying to accumulate the power under his nose, as she wanted both the power and to be his loved one. It became a power struggle of his people vs. her people, with the added bonus of Jiao Liqiao actually being romantically interested in Di Feisheng.
He had lost his memory for a period of time, and Li Lianhua tried to convince him he that he was a spy in his own sect and was actually friends with Li Lianhua. Di Feisheng didn’t believe him, but he also felt that he could trust Li Lianhua about some things, which reflected their complicated relationship. They share a bond over fighting that no one else shares, and because of that, Di Feisheng could trust him in a way he couldn’t trust anyone else.
To be honest I don’t remember Di Feisheng’s story lines too clearly because I was losing track of some of the plot towards the end. He had helped Shan Gudao in retrieving the muzhi, but he seized it to use for himself. He took it to his shifu, to kill him and free his students so that they wouldn’t have to live like him. Afterwards he was captured by Jiao Liqiao who eventually usurped power of the sect. He was in captivity until Li Lianhua saved him, and they reconciled and then agreed to take down Jiao Liqiao and Shan Gudao.
In the end, Di Feisheng wanted to meet Li Lianhua for their one final showdown but he didn’t show up. Like Fang Duobing, he had to accept that Li Lianhua wanted peace and Di Feisheng would have to accept that he wouldn’t have his one last fight.
Di Feisheng was a stoic and serious man. He was a little emotionally standoffish, which made sense given his past history. Honestly I don’t think he was too involved as a leader. He was just interested in keeping everything the status quo and making sure that nobody would have to live like him. Otherwise he was just interested in fighting. Even his followers mentioned that he’d never cared about romance so at one point when he was responding to Jiao Liqiao’s flirting, his followers actually found it suspicious and wondered if he was onto Jiao Liqiao. So basically I think he prefers to be an individual than a sect leader. I mentioned that he seemed trusting of Li Lianhua, because Li Lianhua understands Di Feisheng as a (former) top fighter of wulin. Even if Li Lianhua is manipulating him to help him out, Di Feisheng can trust Li Lianhua to not hurt him. As for Fang Duobing, their butting heads was pretty amusing, but like Li Lianhua, I think he also recognized the rare naivete of Fang Duobing and agreed to keep secrets because he understood why Li Lianhua cared for him.
Shan Gudao
Shan Gudao was Li Lianhua’s shixiong, and Fang Duobing’s biological father. At the beginning, we only heard of Shan Gudao second hand through Li Lianhua. Li Lianhua wanted to find his corpse. As the drama went on, we found out that he regretted how things had played out because he knew deep down inside he loved his shixiong very much. We could also see his love for his shixiong through how he cared for Fang Duobing. More questions popped up over the circumstances of Shan Gudao’s death, so Li Lianhua pursued those leads.
Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing found out that Shan Gudao was probably a descendant of the Nanyin people through looking through his things. However, as they looked through more of his things, they realized that Shan Gudao didn’t love Li Lianhua as he had hoped and that broke Li Lianhua’s heart. Through some flashbacks, scattered through the drama, we’d see times when Li Lianhua and Shan Gudao didn’t get along. Sometimes Li Lianhua would let Shan Gudao win, which hurt Shan Gudao’s pride. I didn’t like these flashbacks as they were heavy handed. They were meant to show the cracks in their relationship, but I just found the overall ‘Shan Gudao is actually evil’ story line a bit heavy handed and sudden.
I felt that Shan Gudao as a villain was cartoonishly evil but now that I think about it, I can see how that made sense. Li Lianhua thought that their past arguments were just petty childhood arguments and that despite their arguments prior to Shan Gudao’s faked death, that their relationship as martial brothers would have outshone any bad blood. But he was very wrong. Shan Gudao had always seen Li Lianhua as a rival and not as a brother and that animosity grew. With the revelation of his lineage, it gave him motivation to become something great, and he would show the world that he was great. Shan Gudao was only slightly disappointed that his son sided with Li Lianhua, but he cared not of him.
In the end, Shan Gudao tried to usurp the throne, having poisoned the Emperor. He was stopped shortly, with Li Lianhua challenging and defeating him. Then it was revealed that his blood could not activate the muzhi. His shiniang came in and explained everything. Shan Gudao was in disbelief. But I actually thought it was kind of mean for their shiniang to laugh at Shan Gudao about him thinking he was a prince. I mean…we can’t do anything about our parents. Li Lianhua isn’t better than Shan Gudao for having been born a prince. Li Lianhua’s better because he chose to clean up after his mistakes instead of putting people into suffering. Shan Gudao died shortly after.
Shan Gudao as a villain was not very charismatic. Something about his overall look didn’t work. Or maybe it was his actor. But again it was hard to see him as a loving shixiong to Li Lianhua.
Jiao Liqiao
Jiao Liqiao was a subordinate of Di Feisheng. She was clearly very into him, acting a soft demure lady with a cutesy nickname in his presence, when behind his back she acted a female king. She wanted so badly to be his wife and to be the madame of the sect.
She had once worked with Yun Biqiu, though I don’t remember if it was her who got him to poison Li Xiangyi. She did kind of have a vendetta against Li Xiangyi. So when she heard that he might still be alive, she would send her people to retcon and possibly stamp him out if needed. She was also shocked when she heard that Di Feisheng was working with Li Xiangyi, the man she was constantly trying to eradicate. I don’t remember how Li Lianhua knew this, but he was also the one to tell Di Feisheng that Jiao Liqiao was a descendant of the Nanyin people, which made Di Feisheng suspicious of her.
At one point, Di Feisheng had returned and he seemed very receptive to her flirting when he was always very cold to it, in fact telling her outright to back off. Jiao Liqiao’s underlings had advised her to be careful that things were off because Di Feisheng had never been receptive to her flirting. In that scene, Di Feisheng had actually been listening outside, realizing that she was trying to usurp her power.
Jiao Liqiao also seemed to be working with Shan Gudao, given their shared Nanyin heritage. Though she was more focused on her personal goal. Di Feisheng had confronted her at one point about her power. I don’t remember how things played out, but eventually Di Feisheng was hurt and captured by her. Jiao Liqiao had decided that if Di Feisheng wasn’t going to make her his wife so that they could rule together, she would rule herself and have him in her harem.
Jiao Liqiao was basically the sub boss before Shan Gudao who was the main boss, as Jiao Liqiao’s story line was for more intertwined with Di Feisheng’s (compared to Shan Gudao who was directly relevant to Li Lianhua). She was defeated and died, though even at the final battle, she wanted Di Feisheng to submit and be hers.
Jiao Liqiao as a villain got old pretty early on and I want to say it was because she was cartoonish. She did a lot of muahahaha-ing and it got real old real fast for me. Her shy uwu act was also annoying though that was certainly the point because it’s an act. But she just didn’t work for me unfortunately.
Qiao Wanmian
Qiao Wanmian was a member of the Sigumen sct. She had feelings for Li Xiangyi but had written a letter breaking things off. In the present, she was engaged to Xiao Zijin. Wanmian was drawn to Li Lianhua, sensing some similarities. There were times when she was not fully lucid and she spoke to Li Lianhua as Li Xiangyi. That was how Li Lianhua knew that he needed to help her find closure. He concocted a story indicating to her that Li Xiangyi was dead, hoping that she would let herself move on. It kind of worked.
Until she figured out that Li Lianhua was Li Xiangyi. At first, she was frustrated that Li Lianhua was trying to put such a distance between them. At one point she’d asked him “if you’re going to lie to me, can you at least look at me while you do it?” So Li Lianhua looked at her while he spoke, telling her that they’re on their own paths now. He wants to live his wanderer life, and she’s engaged/married to Zijin now. Li Lianhua had told her that she didn’t regret that she still had feelings for Li Lianhua, but rather that she regretted that she had moved on to Zijin then. Whether or not that was true, I think Wanmian was satisfied that Li Lianhua was ready to move on and only saw her as a friend then. After all, it takes two to tango. I think he also helped her clear away the guilt that she held over writing that letter to him.
The problem for Wanmian however was Xiao Zijin. Zijin constantly worried that Wanmian still loved Li Lianhua, even though time and time again she insisted that they’re only friends now and she is devoted to him. Whenever discussing sect matters, Zijin would feel insecure that Wanmian still saw Li Lianhua as sect leader instead of him, despite Wanmian completely recognizing him. It was his insecurity that pushed Wanmian to leave him, because nothing she could do would convince him that she was over him and liked him now.
I thought Wnamian was a nice character. She was gentle but still a noble fighter. I also appreciated her emotional journey of finding closure. She took it with grace.
Xiao Zijin
Xiao Zijin was a member of the sect who was engaged to Qiao Wanmian. He did care for her, even Li Lianhua saw that they had potential. However, he was deeply insecure. He was very wary of Li Lianhua especially a lot of people seemed to see Li Xiangyi in him.
When he found out Li Xiangyi was alive, he confronted him for a duel, but if I remember correctly, Li Lianhua declined and also Wanmian came to basically convince Zijin to stop it. Zijin tried to claim the role as sect leader and nobody went against him. But he continued to be very insecure about whether Wanmian would stop seeing Li Lianhua as sect leader and see him as sect leader. Whenever Wanmian did anything, Zijin would suspect that she still had feelings for Li Xiangyi. It got so absolutely ridiculous and stifling that eventually Wanmian had to leave him because she could do nothing to convince him that she was completely devoted to him.
In the end, Zijin challenged Li Lianhua to a duel because only when Li Lianhua died by his sword would he feel confident that Wanmian could not run off to him, and that he was stronger than Li Lianhua. But Li Lianhua destroyed his sword and jumped off the cliff.
Zijin’s insecurity was his greatest downfall. The fact that Wanmian could do nothing to convince him of her love showed that the issue wasn’t with her, and that it was with him.
Themes
Running away from problems
Li Xiangyi thought that if he faked his death and changed his name, he could run away from his problems. But as Li Lianhua, he saw that it very much wasn’t the case. He left his sect, but his sect was kind of in a weird spot with no clear leadership. Wanmian’s feelings for him were unresolved as she was guilt-ridden over her letter. Di Feisheng couldn’t accept that he had fought an unfair fight. The lack of his corpse left Fang Duobing believing his shifu was still out there. And he had left his feelings with Shan Gudao unresolved.
As Li Lianhua, he got a second change to solve his problems because then he realized that he couldn’t run away from them. He’d be hurting all the people who ever loved and cared for him. This time around, he tries to make things right.
Revenge
Revenge is a strong wuxia theme. Most wuxia stories involve people remembering their history or their family history and being morally obligated to exact revenge. Li Lianhua wanted to leave his past behind him, both the good and the bad. However, it looks like instead of resolving his issues with revenge, he’s resolving them as peacefully as he can. He’s trying to stop the cycle of revenge in his own way.
Di Feisheng on the other hand continued his cycle of revenge, but by doing that, he kind of stopped it from continuing further. He went back to kill the shifu who had raised him in such cruelty, and by that, he hoped that all of his current students would not be subject to that treatment ever again and be free.
Lineage
Lineage is a common wuxia theme, the idea of who and what your past is and what that says about you.
Li Lianhua didn’t remember his past and because of that, he became who he chose to be. First it was the ambitious fighter, and later it became a peaceful person. So when it was revealed that he was the descendent of a princess, it changed nothing for him, because he had chosen who he was going to be instead of letting his heritage decide it. On the other hand, Shan Gudao made his (perceived) lineage his entire purpose. He was feeling unfulfilled about being a martial artist as he felt inferior to Li Lianhua, so he decided he’d be a prince, and emperor, to show the world he’s better than everyone.
Fang Duobing is a classic case of wuxia lineage. He found out that his father was an evil tyrant. Knowing that, he decided he would not live like him. He saw his adoptive parents as his true parents who had raised him with love and care. He quarreled with them, but he knew their love. Li Lianhua had noted how Fang Duobing’s father had spent time teaching him things like how to play go. Fang Duobing also chose to follow the teachings of Li Lianhua over those of Shan Gudao. Fang Duobing decided he would not let his father affect his sense of righteousness.
Overall
I can see why it appealed to people but ultimately it did not grab me as much as I’d like. The actors are nice to look at and I know this drama did numbers for the shippers. It definitely would have been the thing to draw me in. But the lazy writing made it hard for me to like this show.