Old Nine Gates 老九门 - Episode 16 (Recap)
SakiVI: In which a long-awaited event occurs. And where, if you have friends like this, do you really need enemies?
kakashi: It's a saaaaaad episode. One of the few that almost made me cry. But it also makes me rant, oh, how much I need to rant! You bloody fools!
Xin Yue can see Fo Ye would never do that, but for a sad, sad moment, she was a bit hopeful. Ya Tou goes on again about quarrels between husband and wife. Yes, but they're not married, and is this really a quarrel? Seems more a ceasefire, but without the peace talks. But as kakashi pointed out last time, Fo Ye just won't give in. Bad Fo Ye. Also, I'd like to note that Ya Tou seemed positively happy chatting to Xin Yue. Maybe that has been her problem: she hasn't had any friends. She does tell Xin Yue that people looked down on her for marrying above her station. and do note how happily Ya Tou says Er Ye is perfect. He'd never be as childish as Fo Ye.
kakashi: It's a saaaaaad episode. One of the few that almost made me cry. But it also makes me rant, oh, how much I need to rant! You bloody fools!
Episode 16 - Begging For Medicine In The Rain
Back to Ya Tou lying through her teeth about not giving Xin Yue back to Fo Ye.Xin Yue can see Fo Ye would never do that, but for a sad, sad moment, she was a bit hopeful. Ya Tou goes on again about quarrels between husband and wife. Yes, but they're not married, and is this really a quarrel? Seems more a ceasefire, but without the peace talks. But as kakashi pointed out last time, Fo Ye just won't give in. Bad Fo Ye. Also, I'd like to note that Ya Tou seemed positively happy chatting to Xin Yue. Maybe that has been her problem: she hasn't had any friends. She does tell Xin Yue that people looked down on her for marrying above her station. and do note how happily Ya Tou says Er Ye is perfect. He'd never be as childish as Fo Ye.
If I had a husband like Er Ye, I'd constantly be scared he has a skeleton hidden in the closet. No man is that nice! And yes on the friendship. It's the first (and soon last) time we see Yatou that happy and relaxed. Her life seems to be constant suffering otherwise.
Xin Yue calls it, though. Boring.
And creepy!
Maybe Ya Tou is ill to the point of death just to get some excitement.
You are soooo mean, haha.
And creepy!
You are soooo mean, haha.
There are people who will create or encourage problems for that reason, though.
Cut to Er Ye happily doing some calligraphy. His butler notes how happy he is, and Er Ye says that they are going out for an excursion, so make sure everyone's prepared.
Oh no. This is killing me :(
Then we see Ya Tou picking out an outfit for the trip. She is positively flowing and very cheerful with Xin Yue around.
Seriously, she just needed a social life. She should've socialized more. Xin Yue notes that Ya Tou's red dress, that Xin Yue picked out as suiting her, matches Er Ye's red gown.
OMG this couple. Go away.
Oh no. This is killing me :(
OMG this couple. Go away.
After a particularly icky-sweet moment where Ya Tou asks Er Ye red dress or white, and Er Ye says you look good in everything, Ya Tou coughs up blood.
Have we called it before? She has TB. Very advanced. How contagious is it?
See, the excessive lovey-Dover is sick-making. Er Ye is understandably freaked out. Guess they're not going to the lake today.
Have we called it before? She has TB. Very advanced. How contagious is it?
It's always contagious from what I'm reading. And advanced TB should have Ya Tou sick in bed right now.
Xin Yue leaves when Er Ye has put Ya Tou to bed.
The messenger Er Ye sent to Jui Ye's for help -sidebar, is Jui Ye awesome or what since he knows everything?- comes back saying Jui Ye has left town. Oh noes!
Crikey, he's avoiding him? That's so bad.
Crikey, he's avoiding him? That's so bad.
And Tao Hua comes running to say all the medicine is missing, even what they made before. Er Ye is completely freaked out.
Imagine. Just imagine! The poor, poor man.
Imagine. Just imagine! The poor, poor man.
Er Ye tells Ya Tou that he will get the medicine for her and she says she is not taking it anymore, that she has returned it to Fo Ye. Er Ye is horrified, and says he will get the medicine from Fo Ye. Ya Tou stops him saying not to leave her, that it is so cold.
You know, these people are quite horrible. Did they not think Er Ye would find out eventually? Could stupid Yatou not have TALKED to him? If he loves her that much, he would have understood her decision. He would have let her die without taking a medicine with horrible side-effects.
You know, these people are quite horrible. Did they not think Er Ye would find out eventually? Could stupid Yatou not have TALKED to him? If he loves her that much, he would have understood her decision. He would have let her die without taking a medicine with horrible side-effects.
Cut to Fo Ye and Jiu Ye.
Oh no, they're holed up together :(((
Oh no, they're holed up together :(((
The butler comes in to say Er Ye and Ya Tou are at the gates, and Fo Ye sighs and says to lock the gates.
You're an idiot, Fo Ye. You should never have agreed to this. Er Ye is one of your best friends!
Okay, ranting now: this is all weird. No matter what, they should be aiming to prolong a human life. There's still that morphine from before - Ya Tou was given 4 months supply - and there must be other herbs that can at least make Ya Tou more cheerful and positive. People with stage 4 cancer can live indefinitely, so why not her? Rant over. Fo Ye and Jui Ye look guilty and we see the blood-stained letter Ya Tou wrote. Oh, come on!
I understand the wish of a dying person to just die. I think it is a legitimate wish, so I would not want them to force anything on her. At this stage, she is terminally ill. But what I don't understand is why they have to betray Er Ye like this. It's all because of Yatou. I really can't stand her.
You're an idiot, Fo Ye. You should never have agreed to this. Er Ye is one of your best friends!
I understand the wish of a dying person to just die. I think it is a legitimate wish, so I would not want them to force anything on her. At this stage, she is terminally ill. But what I don't understand is why they have to betray Er Ye like this. It's all because of Yatou. I really can't stand her.
The gates are locked, and our doomed couple are in the rain. Of course. It's raining heaven's tears on their doomed love. Gagging now.
Brilliant idea to get a terminal TB patient out into that rain, yes.
Brilliant idea to get a terminal TB patient out into that rain, yes.
Whatever it is that she has.
Er Ye starts shouting for the medicine in the rain.
Hence the title of this episode, yes.
Fo Ye hears his shouts inside the nice dry mansion.
It pains him so...
Not as much as it pains the people outside in the rain...
Crikey, Er Ye must feel so betrayed! I started crying for him. All these people thinking they know better for him than he does, who planned to help him, and yet they pulled the help away, cold as ice.
Hence the title of this episode, yes.
It pains him so...
Not as much as it pains the people outside in the rain...
Fo Ye leaves the living room, while Er Ye looks over at Ya Tou, and breaks down begging.
It's horrible :(
Oh my heart. 😭
It's horrible :(
Fo Ye comes out and sees Er Ye begging and shaking the gates and it's like his heart stops.
I don't understand him. Why does he think he needs to be more loyal to Yatou than to Er Ye? Last dying wish and all? But it makes no sense.
Just give him the medicine, or talk well with him and say you'll look for another way and make Ya Tou comfortable for now. Besides, if she's really dying, one or two more of the medicine pellets won't matter now.
I don't understand him. Why does he think he needs to be more loyal to Yatou than to Er Ye? Last dying wish and all? But it makes no sense.
Fo Ye gave his word - and he should not have done so.
The butler tells Er Ye to go back, it's raining, and Er Ye says he is not leaving without the medicine.
Er Ye falls to his knees. Fo Ye looks - grieved? Not sure. He's kind of stoic here.
And wet.
And wet.
Er Ye offers to be Fo Ye's slave, just give him the medicine. He looks back at Ya Tou, and begs more.
You know, at this stage, Er Ye is just clinging to this idea that everything will be alright if only she got the medicine because they have NOT TOLD HIM what the medicine does to her.
You know, at this stage, Er Ye is just clinging to this idea that everything will be alright if only she got the medicine because they have NOT TOLD HIM what the medicine does to her.
And he clearly told her to say if it did not work or if the side effects were too much for her.
Fo Ye steps up before Er Ye. He says to stop asking. He has been entrusted this matter and he will stay loyal. Yes, but Er Ye is totally betrayed.
Idiotic.
Idiotic.
Flashback to Fo Ye somehow visiting Ya Tou without Er Ye knowing and saying he can't do as she asks. Ya Tou begs on her knees, though, and says please keep Er Ye alive after she's gone.
I hate her for that.
I hate her for that.
Ya Tou says she can't be a burden to Er Ye any longer. She wants Fo Ye to take him tomb raiding after she does. And die she apparently must, despite Er Ye's clear desire to live with her and not go tomb raiding.
What a toxic relationship! Er Ye, you should never have gotten involved.
Wow, this is noble idiocy to an extreme!
What a toxic relationship! Er Ye, you should never have gotten involved.
Back to the present moment with Fo Ye looking at Er Ye crying and pleading. Fo Ye looks over to Ya Tou and she shakes her head. And Fo Ye says his loyalty to the person who entrusted the medicine to him is higher than the sky. He won't give in.
We need a word, Fo Ye, after this is over. I think I will need to hit you.
We need a word, Fo Ye, after this is over. I think I will need to hit you.
Fo Ye bangs the gate in frustration and walks away leaving Er Ye screaming. I'm crying for Er Ye, not one of these people has considered what he wants or that he's an adult who can decide how to live his life. Bastards, all of them, Ya Tou included.
I so agree. I would never ever forgive these people if I were Er Ye.
and Fo Ye is all like this
I'm at a loss for words. Sense it does make not.
Er Ye sees her, and catches her when she almost collapses. Okay, guess she is sick.
I so agree. I would never ever forgive these people if I were Er Ye.
Damn Er Ye is just screaming,
It ripped my heart to pieces.
and Ya Tou is her usual self, just wet.
Er Te is just defeated. Ya Tou, you should've told him! No screenshot of you!
Finally, after many more tears and apologies from Er Ye to Ya Tou - he's so heartbroken he let her down, but dude, she let you down from where I'm sitting - they leave.
She never confided in him, it seems. She just felt guilty all her life, for being with a man she though she didn't deserve. She never told him what was really going on with her and her illness. She lied to him all the time. And in the end, she refuses to talk to him about the medicine that he went and got for her at such high cost. What a horrible person you are, Yatou.
Fo Ye returns to Jiu Ye and throws his jacket onto the floor in anger. Jui Ye comforts Fo Ye, but seriously, guys, this is all very very stupid of you. And a bit mean.
Cut to the misty moon over the Hong Mansion where Ya Tou is washing clothes. Is she sure she's sick?
She should have sought psychological help, really, a long way back. Did they have psychologists in Changsha at that time?
Doubt it. Psychology would've still been a fairly new field, and I can't see people in China at that time caring much for it. However, that is the sort of role a shaman or a priest should've filled. And she could've gone to one of them.
And I'm sick of her.
Guess what Ya Tou wants now? Three guesses. No peeking.
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Noodles! This woman is all about clothes and noodles, which, if she were a happier person, would be fun and quirky. But she's dying, both inside and outside, so we're sad she's asking for her last bowl of noodles.
Sadly, I'm not sad.
Er Ye carries her outside to this really pretty street,
Damn, but this obsession with noodles is creepy.
What a no-good, terrible evening!
Theri first date in forever and now this.
A noodle machine?
At any rate, Ya Tou and Er Ye are sitting under the now-clear sky enjoying their time together to the extent anyone dying and anyone who has failed to grant a last wish to a dying person can enjoy their time together. Ya Tou has Er Ye tell her about their wedding night. Er Ye remembers being drunk.
Oh, great.
*Yawn*
Anyway, no way to blow out the moonlight which had brightened their night together back then. Sounds very romantic - and utterly tedious.
Never have I cared about anyone's night together that little.
They continue to reminisce about their wedding night, and then Ya Tou cries that her lifetime is not the same as Er Ye's lifetime. Er Ye cries that he wants to always eat her noodles. (No, really, he does.) and Ya Tou weeps that her noodles have been just awful lately.
I'm feeling very guilty because I'm laughing so hard.
Oh, and she dies.
I thought this storyline would never end! I should feel all sad, but instead, I'm just relieved it's over.
We are one really annoying character down. I feel sorry for you, Yatou, but you really made Er Ye's life hell and ours too.
Cut to the new day. Life goes on and all that.
Here is Fo Ye all sad-hot.
Er Ye is in funeral white with a sword.
And Er Ye slices into Fo Ye's shoulder which, naturally Fo Ye totally tolerates.
We are one really annoying character down. I feel sorry for you, Yatou, but you really made Er Ye's life hell and ours too.
Cut to the new day. Life goes on and all that.
Fo Ye is in uniform getting tea when the butler says Er Ye is at the door with hostile intent.
... because Yatou was too cowardly to talk to her most beloved husband, Fo Ye now has to pay the price.
He wants Fo Ye to compensate with his life. Not surprising since the evening before must've seemed like a particularly vicious practical joke.
Ah, but if Er Ye thought about this for one second, he would have to realize that all of this was his wife's doing. But it's easier to blame Fo Ye, of course.
And his arms didn't come off because?
It's what makes her such a great woman. And he knows it. How brave she is to step in and push Er Ye aside!
Fo Ye tells Er Ye that once he's got Ya Tou buried, and he has gone down to the mines with Fo Ye and unearthed the Japanese conspiracy, he can have Fo Ye's life. Hmm, I don't know if Er Ye is the type to hold a grudge that long... Anyway, Er Ye wants the whole household buried with Ya Tou.
I'd probably hold this grudge forever, if I were Er Ye, and I don't hold grudges long either. I didn't think it was very tactful of Fo Ye to bring up the mines though. Er Ye probably has other things on his mind right now.
Fo Ye reacts to the sword wound after Er Ye leaves. What, does Er Ye know some special weak spot on Fo Ye's body that other attackers didn't?
It was all a bit strange.
That's the Hong Mansion, now also a funeral house.
Jiu Ye hands over Ya Tou's letter.
About bloody time, you fool!
Anyway, here's more Jiu Ye, although I'm not too happy with his role in all this as well.
Stupid idiots, all of them.
Oh no.
:)
He is a weird one, this kid.
Yep, she's dead. And she never even ate your Tang You Baba, Chen Pi.
Strangely enough, he is the one I feel the most sorry for in this episode. Er Ye too, but Er Ye should have known what's up. He just seemed to walk through life blindly because of Yatou.
In fact, she didn't think of you at all. (Sidebar: sniggering at how Chen Pi the Poo was totally forgotten.) Feeling small, Chen Pi?
:((((
Yes, he thinks of the Tang You Baba. Actually I was just kidding around when I wrote that line earlier, but here, he says it. He got me.
He's insane. Somewhat functional, but insane. This is not going to end well, right?
And then he says, no this must all be one big joke, no way Er Ye would let you die.
Sigh.
And then he remembers that Fo Ye was going to cure her. So, this funeral must be a joke all at Chen Pi's expense. Except, it's all too real. Sorry, Pi.
Cut to Er Ye at the gibang. Ba Ye bursts in to yell at him for getting drunk instead of burying Ya Tou.
Man, these people. Er Ye, didn't she tell you to live on after her death, happy life and all? Why are you not doing what she told you? sigh.... so stupid, this whole letter business.
Er Ye doesn't care, and so Ba Ye leaves. Ba Ye runs to Fo Ye and tells him about Er Ye partying when Xin Yue comes in and kicks Ba Ye out. Oh, and Fo Ye totally tolerates it.
Chen Pi overhears a couple of men talking about Ya Tou's death, calls them liars and runs to the house.
That is brutal. I feel sorry for Chen Pi that he has to find out this way. He's like a discarded doll. They had him around for a while, but once he disappeared, they completely forgot about him.
Strangely enough, he is the one I feel the most sorry for in this episode. Er Ye too, but Er Ye should have known what's up. He just seemed to walk through life blindly because of Yatou.
:((((
He's insane. Somewhat functional, but insane. This is not going to end well, right?
Man, these people. Er Ye, didn't she tell you to live on after her death, happy life and all? Why are you not doing what she told you? sigh.... so stupid, this whole letter business.
Haha. No chance against her, folks. You should have let her handle that Yatou mess.
It's not my favorite episode, as you might have guessed. When I first watched it, I felt mainly sad, mainly for the friendship between Er Ye and Fo Ye that was destroyed because of Yatou's lies. Watching it again, I feel rage. Such a poor way of handling things and all because Yatou was so dishonest and cowardly. If she wanted Er Ye to live on without her, she should have fucking talked to him. She should have made him a real partner and she should have taken decisions together with him. Instead, she chose to lie to him until the very end, communicate through letters he gets after her death, thereby also hiding behind Fo Ye, taking into account that Er Ye would direct his wrath at him. I HATE HER.
I think she was so insecure about being married to someone so up there socially as Er Ye, that she could not bring herself to say anything bad ever. Yet, that neurosis of hers just caused terrible trouble for him.
Chen Pi was crazy. Nothing new there.
Poor crazy Chen Pi. It's also the last time I felt sorry for him, so yeah. Not a good character.
Fo Ye and Xin Yue seem to be improving a bit. But, I'm not too sure about their relationship as yet. Fo Ye may just be using her as a nurse since I think Er Ye really did hit his weak spot.
Yes, he seems quite injured, but that was strange because we see no blood (or hardly any blood) and the sword doesn't even pierce the fabric of his jacket. In the next episode, we see that he has kind of accepted her presence, seems to in fact like it, but as soon as he gets the chance, he tries to send her back to Bei Ping again. I think we have to accept that he's a jerk.
Frankly, Ba Ye seemed the only sensible one this entire episode. He didn't hide important information, manipulate another's feelings, or go crazy.
Comments:
Poor Er Ye. The other Ye's and Ya Tou did not handle things well. Everyone should've been very straight about the medicine not working. He could've prepared himself better for Ya Tou's death, even if he kept searching for a cure, instead of having his hopes raised and dashed so coldly. It's one thing for fate to be cruel, but for your friends to be like this is just ghastly.It's not my favorite episode, as you might have guessed. When I first watched it, I felt mainly sad, mainly for the friendship between Er Ye and Fo Ye that was destroyed because of Yatou's lies. Watching it again, I feel rage. Such a poor way of handling things and all because Yatou was so dishonest and cowardly. If she wanted Er Ye to live on without her, she should have fucking talked to him. She should have made him a real partner and she should have taken decisions together with him. Instead, she chose to lie to him until the very end, communicate through letters he gets after her death, thereby also hiding behind Fo Ye, taking into account that Er Ye would direct his wrath at him. I HATE HER.
I think she was so insecure about being married to someone so up there socially as Er Ye, that she could not bring herself to say anything bad ever. Yet, that neurosis of hers just caused terrible trouble for him.
Chen Pi was crazy. Nothing new there.
Poor crazy Chen Pi. It's also the last time I felt sorry for him, so yeah. Not a good character.
Fo Ye and Xin Yue seem to be improving a bit. But, I'm not too sure about their relationship as yet. Fo Ye may just be using her as a nurse since I think Er Ye really did hit his weak spot.
Yes, he seems quite injured, but that was strange because we see no blood (or hardly any blood) and the sword doesn't even pierce the fabric of his jacket. In the next episode, we see that he has kind of accepted her presence, seems to in fact like it, but as soon as he gets the chance, he tries to send her back to Bei Ping again. I think we have to accept that he's a jerk.
Frankly, Ba Ye seemed the only sensible one this entire episode. He didn't hide important information, manipulate another's feelings, or go crazy.
I think it's only because they did not confide in Ba Ye in all this. Not that he could have dissuaded Fo Ye, but I do think he would have cautioned against betraying Er Ye like this. I don't understand why Fo Ye agreed to Yatou's stupid plan. Just because she begged him on her knees? It seems he cannot say "no" to women at all. That's an interesting weak spot to consider. I hope you learn something from this mess though. Idiot.