Bu Bu Jing Xin is dramatic in ways that can only exist in fiction, yet it remains true to emotions that feel human and understandable. Not just about love, but about pride and loyalty, fear and courage. The characters lives may be extraordinary, but their feelings touch my heart in all the right ways. I still have so many scenes I’m dying to revisit, so my scenes recaps may end up jumping around chronologically. For now, I continue onward with the story, which finds 13th Prince under house arrest, 4th Prince in seclusion planning his moves with the upmost patient, and Ruo Xi demoted to washing clothes in the harshest of physical labor in the Forbidden Palace.
In a blink of an eye, another 10 years pass, and finally Emperor Kangxi reaches the end of his glorious life and reign. His passing allows 4th Prince to claim the throne as the next Emperor, with the drama positing that he stole it from 14th Prince. Even if that debunked myth is true within the context of this drama, 4th Prince has been fleshed out so well that I side with him on this move. He is poised to run a country with his capable efficiency, but first he must right the wrongs done to the two people he loves the most. In the process, he finally fulfills the promise he made to Ruo Xi many years ago, that he will find a way to be with her.
Emperor Kangxi dies and 4th Prince becomes the next Emperor. He orders everyone locked down so that no one can pass word, i.e. conspire against him. This includes Ruo Xi, of course. The other princes rush to the Forbidden Palace but it is too late to do anything other than question the legitimacy of their father’s will claiming to pass the throne to 4th Prince. The officials who 4th Prince has cultivated over the years are present by his side and create a formidable presence. Plus 4th Prince (I’m going to keep referring to him as 4th Prince rather than Emperor Yongzheng) immediately makes 8th Prince a Grand Duke again, leading his faction to find it harder to oppose him. 4th Prince’s mother, the Imperial Consort De, refuses to accept her eldest son’s claim to the throne.
After seven days, Ruo Xi is finally released, during which time she realizes that she can barely make it through being locked up for 7 days, so how could 13th Prince endure being locked up for 10 years. As Ruo Xi is brought back to the Forbidden Palace, she asks about what has happened in the interim. She’s told Emperor Yongzheng has officially been coronated, and 8th Prince and 13th Prince are now Grand Dukes and assisting 4th Prince in handling the transition. In addition, while all the other princes immediately changed their given name so as to not have the same name as the Emperor, 4th Prince decreed that 13th Prince need not change his name. But 13th Prince insisting on changing it regardless.
Ruo Xi looks out from the horse cart as she drives into the Forbidden Palace. She realizes that in the short span of 7 days, the Palace has a new owner now. Everything has changed. For those who have finished the drama, this scene is such a stark parallel to the scene much later when Ruo Xi leaves the Palace that I’m weeping as I type even though this return to the palace is supposedly a joyous one for Ruo Xi.
As Ruo Xi gets out from the cart, she looks at the entrance and then walks over to the side to sit down instead of walking in. She thinks to herself: the former Emperor treated her so well for many years, yet she betrayed him for 4th Prince, does she really covet this Forbidden Palace that much? She realizes that this dream belongs only to 4th Prince, but to her it’s her cage.
Suddenly we see someone walk out, and that person walks over to the sitting Ruo Xi and crouches down to face her. Ruo Xi looks up, and she sees the aged face of 13th Prince looking back at her. He tells her to get up now, 4th Prince has asked him to come bring Ruo Xi back inside. Ruo Xi cannot take her eyes off him and all she can do is nod her yes. He helps her stand up, but Ruo Xi halts and asks for a chance to wash up first since she hasn’t cleaned herself in 7 days.
Ruo Xi is led to her chambers where she meets two new serving girls. She asks for Yu Tan, and then Wang Gong Gong. She finds out Wang Gong Gong has been assigned to serve the new Empress. Ruo Xi washes up, and this time her bath is very subdued as compared to her giddiness when she took a bath in Mongolian with the anticipation of seeing 8th Prince soon. She asks Wang Gong Gong for Yu Tan again, and is told Yu Tan is past the age for ladies to leave the Palace, and 4th Prince has decreed that she be released forthwith.
After bathing, Ruo Xi is changed into her sleeping attire. She dismisses her servant girls and walks over to her bed. She sits down and releases her hair. You can tell how exhausted she is, an exhaustion borne of years of work and mental and emotional strain. She asks herself what she is afraid of? When she can’t see him, she missed him terribly. Now that she is about to see him, she’s tempted to run away.
Ruo Xi turns over and closes her eyes, finally succumbing to her exhaustion. Day turns into night as she sleeps, until we see 4th Prince walk towards her bed and sit down next to her. He reaches out a hand and lightly strokes her forehead. Ruo Xi opens her eyes knowing that he’s finally come to see her.
4th Prince leans down and asks her why she’s pretending to be asleep when she’s already woken up. Ruo Xi turns to look at 4th Prince, who lays down next to her, causing her to sit up in shock. He recognizes her hesitation and tells her not to be afraid. He really is very tired, and just wants to lay down and rest for a little bit. Is that alright with her?
4th Prince closes his eyes, and Ruo Xi covers him with her blanket before laying back down next to him. He puts his arm around her and pulls her closer towards him. Ruo Xi thinks to herself that this is the moment she’s been waiting for, just the two of them, belonging to each other. Everything else is in the past now.
Suddenly 4th Prince startles and calls out for Ruo Xi. She tells him that she’s right here beside him. He confessed that he thought it was a dream that he was holding her. He touches her cheek and smiles, repeating to himself that everything is fine now. Even 13th Prince has returned to his side.
Ruo Xi strokes his arm to reassure him that they have both returned to him. 4th Prince smiles at her as they stare at each other in silence and peace. At long last. God, these two suffer from so much PTSD it’s not even funny. 4th Prince says he shouldn’t nap because there really are too much official matters for him to attend to.
As 4th Prince sits up to put on his shoes, Ruo Xi also sits up and quietly asks if she can see Yu Tan. In all her years at the Palace, Yu Tan was like a real sister to her. They took care of each other, and Yu Tan even tried to take care of Ruo Xi while she was off washing clothes for many years. 4th Prince leans towards her and says he’ll do as she wishes. Ruo Xi asks if she can see her real sister Ruo Lan as well.
4th Prince’s face falls a little, and then he pulls Ruo Xi into his arms and sighs. He tells her that now is not the time, and when things settle down, he’ll bring Ruo Lan in to see her. Ruo Xi smiles and thanks him. He pokes her on the cheek and says he wants her to smile like this every single day from now on.
Ruo Xi kisses him on the cheek, and then tells him that he should get going on. ROFL, lady, you are crazy! 4th Prince gives her a heated look, before pressing her back down on the bed. Ruo Xi asks if he didn’t intend to leave earlier? To go look at official documents. Mwahahaha, even 4th Prince is staring at her like she’s the craziest little oddball he’s ever seen.
He smiles at her and says that she sure can try a man’s patience. He flicks her on the forehead before leaving. He calls for snacks as he heads to pull an all-nighter at work. Ruo Xi lays in bed and smiles, finally at ease. Neither can really know what the future brings, but finally the wrongs have been righted, with 13th Prince back and Ruo Xi no longer suffering harsh physical labor.
It’s a few days later when 4th Prince finally has a chance to sit down for a meal with 13th Prince and Ruo Xi. He looks at them and says “10 years, and finally we have a chance to get together”. 13th Prince sets his bowl down and thanks his now Royal Brother for his grace. 4th Prince puts some food in 13th Prince’s bowl, still treating his beloved younger brother with the same affection he did before he became the Emperor.
But 13th Prince looks uncomfortable with 4th Prince, the Emperor, putting food in his bowl, and stands up on ceremony to thank his Royal Brother. 4th Prince smiles and tells him to sit down and eat. 13th Prince sits down and they begin to eat.
Ruo Xi looks between the two men and thinks to herself that 10 years of separation, now that they are together, it’s not so easy to just shoot the breeze and catch up on things that has happened. She realizes 4th Prince is making extra effort to be affectionate to 13th Prince, who is conversely making a concerted move to be polite and perform all the proper courtesies towards his Emperor brother.
13th Prince quickly finishes and asks to be excused, citing work he still needs to do. 4th Prince smiles and excuses him. Ruo Xi sets her food down and says she is also done. 4th Prince asks the food to be taken away as they get up from the table. He asks Ruo Xi if she feels the situation is odd? She does, and asks what happened?
4th Prince says that since 13th Prince returned, he has been treating his elder brother with excessive courtesy and polite distance. While 4th Prince may want others to respect and even fear him, but he doesn’t want that from 13th Prince! He just wants to be 13th Prince’s beloved elder 4th brother, not the Emperor to him.
Ruo Xi grabs his hand and reassures him to be patient. 13th Prince was just released from 10 years of confinement, having endured so much in captivity. He needs some time to adjust to all the changes that has happened since he was locked up. 4th Princes squeezes Ruo Xi’s hand and hopes what she says is true. For Ruo Xi and 13th Prince are the only two people he trusts in this world now.
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I thought you were away. Thanks for your recap!!
Can you recap the time when Kangxi toured 4th Prince farm? I really liked RX's tolerance towards their situation and and envy when 4th FuJi served the emporer snacks.
I thought this scene was one of the more awkward scenes of the drama. I hated the outright implications about 4th stealing the throne.
I think this was the beginning of the end for me. Things started to be so sad after this and that awful horse scene was right after this.
My temper really flared at that horse scene, and whatever sympathy/empathy I had for BBJX's version of 4th Prince disappeared immediately. Yes, the beginning of the end for me too.
Really? The horse death was quick way to go compared to way worse things 4th Prince could have done. The official was the one who falsely implicated 4th Prince as colluding to seek the throne, thereby causing 13th Prince to spend 10 years in captivity. I think 4th Prince went easy on him.
What's worse was that 4th Prince brought 8th Prince there, and rather than admit he told the official to set up 4th Prince, 8th Prince said nothing and allowed the official to die. 4th Prince hinted that had the official been under orders, then he would consider the punishment different, i.e. he was just a lackey. But since 8th Prince didn't speak up, 4th Prince had no choice but to concede that the official acted on his own accord to set up 4th Prince, who is now the Emperor.
I think what's so telling about all those deaths, Li Gong Gong, Yu Tan, the officials, etc. is that none of them blamed 4th Prince or lamented their fate. There is a saying that to serve the Imperial family, one must accept that your life and death is no longer your own.
I find some viewers see the story through our modern lens of what is cruel, just, fair, right, etc., but not through the eyes of the rules and regulations of the Manchu court.
I loved 4th Prince even more for doing what he had to do to secure his power and stabilize the country. Kangxi left it a mess by not announcing a Crown Prince and leaving that seat vacant for so long.
I feel the opposite as Ms. Koala as far as Yu Tan is concerned. I was barely OK with the horse scene. Yu Tan's scene just disgusted me. After I watched it I just started to hate the show and lost all feeling for the characters.
Logically I can reason out that it may have been an effective method and historically accurate, but my heart and stomach can't stand it. I would have been fine with Yu Tan dying like the eunuch, but I find torture/painful death scenes so repulsive that afterwards I'm unable to think about that movie/drama without that scene. It flavors everything that happens afterwards. I watched the end of the show, but I had a harder time connecting with the character. When 8th's wife died, I just laughed because when I stopped connecting to the characters all the angst just seemed silly.
Well for my part I agree with you Ockoala. The rules weren't the same, and sometimes being hard will prevent from having to punish and kill more people. It IS harsh, even more considering nowadays societies, but truth afterall.
Actually..
1. I think Yu Tan's execution could be considered as the one with the least suffering. I know it sounds silly, but it is really the word "steaming" that sounds scary and disgusting. If you come to think of it.. she is "just" .. being suffocated to death (being caged in a burning house). Like Wang Gong Gong says: it happens fast without pain (which might be Yongzheng's intention since she was a dear friend/sister to Ruoxi?). Steaming doesn't mean she is being "cooked" alive in boiling water.
On a sidenote, I've read somewhere else that IF Yongzheng is truly cruel, he would have cooked her alive and cut her into pieces and feed it to 9th. O___________O UHM.. W-H-A-T.
2. BBJX ain't going for the idol/fairytale approach, so I can understand the reality and cruelness and I actually appreciate it. Perhaps they could have "skipped" the actual filming.. but well. It doesn't distract me. Probably because I watch a lot of Chinese ancient series.. so this is nothing new. And poisoned wine would mean for one to be executed without the knowing of other people. Yongzheng WANTED other people to witness the execution of the official and Yu Tan. So there is actually a difference between Yu Tan and Li Gong Gong.
The Qing dynasty executions are known to be cruel. Both the horse scene and "steaming" are far from the extreme ones. For example.. they had Ling Chi ("slow slicing little pieces of meat .. alive") which was pretty "popular" during the Qing dynasty. I'm already "glad" that Yongzheng didn't use that method. The horse one (Wu ma fen shi) is actually one that you hear most often in series.. but it's just never filmed. BBJX is pretty daring indeed.
Just what I wanted to read. Descriptions of more extreme deaths. I feel like this will keep being debated. I'm not ignoring historical facts or the logic. I just know I have a weak stomach. Really weak. Even Princess Bride gives me makes my stomach churn. This all goes back to a horror story during girl's camp where a peg-legged man pour gaseoline over a group of girls and lit them on fire.
Others may want the historically accurate version, but I wouldn't mind a cleaner version. I'm not saying it shouldn't be noted or talked about as that raises awareness of that past, but I wish I hadn't seen it myself.
I understand it might be hard for some to swallow the scenes. But I personally appreciate the realness of BBJX.
Perhaps you should have checked some spoilers beforehand.. then you could might have avoided the scenes you prefer not to see ;).
I don't do spoilers. I have avoided any site that mentioned BBJX for the last few weeks. Including this one. :(
The feelings that engulf me during the horse death scene was anger. I was angry that 4th/Emperor had to be that harsh. I was angry that 8th seems non-chalant about it. I was angry that that man has to suffer coz of politics. I knew that as an Emperor facing threats from various sides, 4th has to act that way. Tho i agree with you sis, while watching BBJX, i was putting everything in the perspective of the past. You will understand why, 4th, as the emperor had to act in certain ways, at certain times, more so with the punishments.
I can understand why the 4th prince killed the minister who implicated him and Yutan but it was just too cruel for words. Can you imagine the pain of being stretched apart till your limbs fall off and being boiled to your death? I also hate he fact he killed Kangxi's eunuch who did nothing wrong but had served the previous emperor all his life only to be told to commit suicide. I understand why he did it to protect Rouxi and 13th prince but it still made me hate him.
So I understood why Rouxi had to leave the palace for her own sanity despite her love for the 4th prince.
Actually he ordered for Eunuch Li's death for a very simple reason; eunuch Li knew too much. Eunuch Li also know his fate was sealed the moment he had to lie about the succession.
The official was a revenge and frankly I would have done the same thing. same with Yu Tan. What she did was unforgivable. She caused a wedge between father and son, she stirred up problems, spied for 9th.. and she was given many chances, but she squandered those off. So what should 4th do? Forgive her? She is a time bomb. Did he also kill the eunuch at the washerroom?
I however despise his mother. 14th may be noble but noble and just does not mean he can govern the dwindling country well, rifed with corruption which 8th participated in and dwindling resources. 4th was perfect man to restore order. I would have wished the book adopted the real history; let him ascend through legitimate means. Somehow after the acsession to the throne story ended, everything just went downhill politically, and so much focus on the relationship that it was at times too much to watch. I feel he has to keep justifying his actions to Ruoxi, and Ruoxi kept doubting him and worrying herself to death. In the end she punished him by leaving and then dying.
And I don't think the emperor was cruel. Harsh yes but cruel? It was a necessity. Kangxi himself was extremely harsh on his own sons.
I was really sad when Eunuch Li died, I think it was unfair but then for the security of his throne, 4th had to do it. Eunuch Li had nothing but a good person, almost a father to RuoXi. He had cared very much for her. It bawled out when he drank the poison, poor man! He was just at the wrong time and the wrong place.
I love 4th prince before he turned Emperor, BUT I loved him even more after he turned Emperor. I love seeing the beyond superior presence of his. His presence and vibe is no longer of a 4th prince but a King of a country. I thought Nicky was so awesome in his transition of power position. His severe cruelty is a debate that can never be resolved. To some, he might be too cruel. However, to me, yes it was cruel, but it was the only way to subdue those trying to push him over. He was cruel but fair, and that's what I appreciate in an Emperor.
I see it as as case of 'when push come to shove'. Yes he was cruel, but they started it (oh gawd, I sound 5), but you get what I mean right? An example would be Yutan, he gave her chances after chances and ever warning but she went ahead and did what she did anyway. Although not the best method to kill someone, 4th had to set a sample.
But he wasn't fair to Kangxi's eunuch and the 8th prince
In the end, everyone accepted that was the way the royal world worked. Li Gong Gong knew his time was up the second 4th Prince ascended the throne, and he accepted that he was allowed a peaceful death. In even more olden times, the servants of the Emperor would be buried alive with the Emperor to continue to serve him in death. To serve a royal master means your life is forfeit, it is at the whim of the Emperor that you receive great riches or instant death. Li Gong Gong did not fault or blame 4th Prince for what happened to him.
It was Ruo Xi, using her modern sensibilities, and her love for everyone, that ultimately found it hard to accept these completely acceptable actions during that era and that world she lived in.
And 8th Prince set up 4th Prince. I think 4th Prince was most fair to 8th Prince from beginning to end.
All through the drama, all the Princes are constantly baffled by Ruo Xi's actions time and again. She is our lens to that world, but I view that world through the understanding of what was acceptable then and not now.
Ooooo more BBJX!! Yay!!
Yes, this is the beginning of the end.... But I think the true beginning to the end is like the last five episodes...
I love how this drama puts you in Ruoxi's perspective, being both afraid of 4th prince and yet being desperately in love with him...
Please keep the recaps coming!! :)
quote: "She thinks to herself: the former Emperor treated her so well for many years".
I still cannot get over the fact that the Emperor Kangxi sent her to the laundry for 6 years. She served him for as many years before and after everything she's done, after one refusal, just like that to the pits. I understand it would not cross his mind to ask what she wants, but still I think it is very cruel.
You have to think though, (in context of the drama) the king was marrying her off to his successor in his mind so he was being very generous in doing so. It actually tells you how much the king loved her.
Also, you also have to remember, he could have just as easily ordered her death and her family's death or imprisonment. He had no choice but to punish her for her refusal but he did it in the most kind way he could.
It was obvious that the king loved her because he continually missed her after he sent her away, even as he was dying he was concerned for her health.
She didn't think it was cruel. Dealing with the punishment was hard, but the punishment for outright defying the Emperor's decree was nothing. She could easily have been beheaded and no one would blink an eyelash. KX loved her enough to go easy on her.
I agree that KX went gentle on RX. Yes, to the modern thinking rejecting the command to marry someone you don't love is perfectly sane and normal. However, back in those times, blatantly defying the Emperor is death. Not just your death, but your entire family's death. Which was why RL had to agree to marry 8th, because if she didn't, her entire family can be beheaded as well. For RX punishment of 20 paddles and put to the Laundry Dept, it was considered very light. RX knows it too. If there was anyone else besides Li Gong Gong witnessing her defying the Emperor's order, KX will have no choice but to behead her.
This is the beginning of the irony. After episode 20, 4th Prince fought for the throne not because it was his dream, but because 13th's and Rouxi's fate depended on it. Now that he has the throne and that 13th and Rouxi is by his side again, not everything is what he dreamt it to be. His happy reunion was rudely interrupted by reality. As the drama progresses, ironies began to unfold. He fought for the throne, partly for rouxi and 13th, but also because it was his own desire and wish since he was younger. Now that he has everything he supposedly desired, we can only see it unravel as he loses the people he love one by one.
I think what is sad is that both RX and 4th thought that once 4th become emperor, they can have some happy years together. RX can finally stop being so cautious not knowing when she will lose her life or get married off to someone she doesn't love. And 4th can enjoy and embrace in the warmth and comfort and joy that RX always provided for him. But once they are physically together, we see their relationship falling apart because they have too many things between them that can't be solved. Conflicting ideals, emotions, goals, and purposes. It goes to show that you can love someone wholeheartedly and there is nothing stopping you from being with them, it is still not enough. Their biggest obstacle wasn't some great external force, it was themselves. RX couldn't let go of the love she has for 8th, 14th, 10th prince. And 4th could not let go of his duties as an emperor. And those two things seem to always conflict with each other. Neither is wrong, neither is right. It really just how it is.
But it is also one thing I dislike about the drama, it is the inclination that we can't fight "fate". Why does every freaking chinese drama always have to have the binary between fate and human will? freedom and responsibility? love and obligation? it is really taxing.
I also wonder what did make 4th think that he will score some brownie points by steaming?
And what would make you draw that erroneous and laughable assumption? The two issues are completely unrelated in his mind. He was the Emperor getting rid of a spy he gave multiples chances to leave the palace but she didn't take it. It was unfortunate RX loved Yu Tan too much.
The whole Yu Tan thing bothered me. I dont think he was wrong for what he did. I think 9th should have died with her.
It really bothered me that he begged RX to listen and let him explain and she didn't. Their relationship had already started to fall apart at that time but this was really the catalyst that made it unreparable. I hate that he warned Yu Tan several times and she didn't listen.
RX was betrayed by her best friend but was never allowed to confront that betrayal, instead having to mourn her friend instead. It was sad for all involved.
I just wanted to say how much I love your recaps. I finished the entire drama already, but reading your recaps keep the drama fresh in my mind and also introduce new angles. Nicky's 4th prince was so awesome. He didn't have very much lines compared to some of the other actors, but he conveyed so much more in his expressions and stance. Fantastic job.
nicky act in bbjx is the best!!!waiting patiently for bbjx awards line up !
I finally finished this drama last night - Viki did a terrific subbing job, One question I have, though. How many years did she spend in the past? The time references seem to vary from episode to episode.
No spoilers,but I had the same reaction watching the finale to "Lovers in Prague" that I had with the finale of this one - one word. "Huh?!"
She spent about 20 years in the past. LiP ending left me befuddled. BBJX's ending is straightforward albeit open to further conjecture.
Thanks for clarifying the time line - I really couldn't get a clear handle on it, particularly when none of them appeared to age.
I'd like to discuss more re:finale, but don't want to spoil it for anyone.
:)
you could actually see the signs of them aging... and they put in snippets in the convo to make us see that time had passed by already.
Thanks for the re-cap!