Old Nine Gates 老九门 - Episode 8 (Recap)

SakiVI: We get Ya Tou and Er Ye's love story's background in this. Their story isn't just Twu Wuv, it's Heroism and Fate and a Maiden Saved.
Also, Ya Tou and Er Ye do couple fist clenches. They must be Meant To Be. 
kakashi: I'm a bit anti-maiden, I had to realize during this episode. But I'm very much pro auction!! I'm already very excited about the upcoming episodes!!!!! T-action and auction-action! I'm also pro 9th Gate.

Episode 8 - Information from the North

Back to Chief Lu trying to recruit Jiu Ye.
Idiot.
Jiu Ye says he is only the Ninth Gate and not worth mentioning. He says that the Nine Gates are just a sort of loose organization that is part of civil society, I assume like some sort of business leaders' club. Chief Lu is not happy with this response.
Haha "You can call us Changsha's Lions Club, buddy - and now buzz off, we don't accept new members". Haha.
He says, you people are shady, though. Rude. And look who's talking, mister.
Shady is his middle name. Chief "Shady" Lu is what his friends call him. He has none though.

Jiu Ye dismisses this as gossip, and Chief Lu gets testy, but Jiu Ye continues to deny things that, as he says, aren't proven.
Have I mentioned that I like Jiu Ye's looks?
Yes, that's why I keep posting his pictures. The gif you put in is much better, though. :-)
He's making Chief Lu look pretty stupid. Because he is. Then Jiu Ye basically kicks Chief Lu out and tells him to take his gift with him.
Jiu Ye, let me hug you. Are you hiding well sculpted muscles under this proper suit? I'm pretty sure you are. I also love how you just delivered the politest "fuck off you git" ever.
Jiu Ye then meets Lt Zhang, looking really pretty in his uniform.
Hossa!
They discuss how Chief Lu has tried meeting each of the Nine Gates only to be rebuffed. In true Old Boys Network style, Jiu Ye says, "how could he topple us?" Bwahahahahaha.
Ooh, Lt Zhang's profile! 
Ohhhh, it's a good one!

Ooh, the Wu mansion!
Who let the dogs out / Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof / Who let the dogs out / Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof…
That's Wu Xie's ancestral home. Chief Lu's man has been attacked by dogs. I think I like Wu Ye already.
He is No. 5, for those of you who care about things like that:
Bwahahahaha, as Chief Lu sits in a teahouse listening to his men's reports, he finds all the Nine Gates rejected his advances. And those he sent to Ban Jie Li's house simply never returned. (Sidebar: Perhaps he fed them to sharks.) Chief Lu is seriously miffed.
That is No. 3. He is totally paranoid, right?
And a bigger thug than Chen Pi.
Cut to the Chamber of Commerce. Really, the lanterns are very pretty there.
That's about the only pretty thing hanging around though.
Ooh, Ryouko Tanaka in the same suit.
I hope she has more than one of the same, cause: smell.
Over a game of chess, Ryouko reports to Hendry Cox that Chief Lu failed at forcing his way into the Nine Gates, and thus can't be used since he is foolhardy and impetuous, anxious for a quick success.  But Hendry says, no, Chief Lu is exactly the sort of person that can be used. Okay, all this plotting is twisting your face, Hendry.
I'm tempted to remove all Hendry pictures.
Hendry compares Chief Lu to the rook piece in chess: impetuous, going on a rampage. Ryouko smirks per usual.
Ah, but she's a great smirker. Not everyone can smirk that convincingly. 
But, asks Ryouko, what if he is not suitably used? (Suit-ably? haha) Hendry responds with the cannon chess piece and they both smile widely.
I'm going to throw up. 
Well, Hendry does. Ryouko just does a wider version of her smirk.
What kind of stupid name is HenDry anyway? Did they make a typo when they put his name on the registry?
I looked it up. It's a form of Henry. From Scotland, I think, and used mostly there and in Ireland.
Oups. Sorry people named Hendry in real life. It's not you, it's him.
Cut to Fo Ye's palace. It always looks good. It looks refreshing, in fact.
It gives me hot flashes because it is usually followed by... My OTL! (okay, that's a lie, I don't only have one, but he is it at the moment since I'm not watching much else). Wow, that mansion looks empty. We really need to move in, Saki.
Any time, sensei, any time.
Ba Ye returns and tells Fo Ye that there seems to be a big ancient tomb under the mine. Fo Ye says, that's exactly what he thought.
Haha, that's what I always say when someone tells me something important. 
Guise, you saw that ancient tomb, remember? What are you so surprised about?
I think Ba Ye means a much, much, MUCH bigger kind of ancient tomb. A tomb within a tomb, that kind of thing. Unless they have memory loss because of hair.

Ba Ye tells Fo Ye about the lunatic and the human-shaped cemetery. This type of cemetery has meridian lines just like a human. Crikey. Anyway, it can be structured as either a living or dead human, and if as a living human, the traps will shift, but follow a certain pattern and the tomb easier to enter. But if it is structured like a dead person, the trap mechanisms won't shift, but there won't be a pattern, and so they won't be able to predict the next trap. Gosh, so cool, this t-action planning!
Huh. *scribbles excited notes into new Fo Ye appreciation journal*
Also, Ba Ye, like an afterthought, tells Fo Ye the Japanese have been researching that mine.
I agree with Fo Ye: 
He tells they'll have to go in again, and Ba Ye says, no, too dangerous, they need Er Ye. But Er Ye's madame is ill, so Ba Ye says Er Ye won't leave.
Just take her with you, guys. She's dying anyway.
Then Ba Ye reminisces about how Er Ye saved Ya Tou from slavery. He recounts how Ya Tou was being paraded around town before being sold to a brothel.
That's awful! Someone do something! 
It was the 1920s at least, so I'm surprised this kind of open slavery was still happening.
Er Ye saw her,
and I see him - oh, you pretty man, you!
and he remembered how she had made him noodles as a child.
OMG, haha, seriously? It's the curse of the noodles!
Her colour choices didn't change. 
And her cooking skills haven't improved!
Er Ye tossed darts that he happened to carry with him like Ba Ye casually carries hydrochloric acid, and thus got the filthy man's hand off Ya Tou.
I'm beginning to think that poison darts and hydrochloric acid belong into every good purse.
Why do they keep touching her chin?
Maybe because the censors wouldn't appreciate the touching of boobs? (I think it was to lift her head up, to show off her beauty)
Er Ye knocks all the men over because skillz.
Oh HELL yeah, finally, we get to see them!
Why yes, it is.
Hi, Er Ye. 

Ya Tou recognizes Er Ye too.
Once you have shared your true noodles your hearts will beat as one! He's her One True Noodle!
Shut up, Little Er Ye.
I think he has been lying for years and years and years about those noodles.

Er Ye undid the ropes, and the slaver's men surrounded him. But they didn't actually dare fight him.
Er Ye said he would take Ya Tou.
I'm not sure that anybody is to "take her", dear Er Ye.
A dirty puddle water analogy was made here.
This man insisted on 500 taels of gold (15.5kg!!!), so I'm guessing Ya Tou was not the dirty puddle water, but the situation was dirty puddle water. No one worth so much gold could be dirty puddle water. Dirty puddle water is free.
You're right when you're right, Saki. 
Hey, this scene is interesting though, it explains a lot about Yatou's psyche. She's a poor noodle girl, saved by a rich and influential noodle lover (who is rich, but does not have 15.5 kg of gold). I bet you she never felt quite up to the "Madame"-job.
You're right when you're right, kakashi.

Anyway, Er Ye said he was taking Ya Tou, and to come and get the money from him that night.
So he was very cool and badass before she started feeding him her limp noodles?
Oh look who was standing guard, fully grown and not a child at all, outside the Hong mansion!
It's The Nose!
By the way, no one gets their nose made in such a perfect villain's hook. It's natural.
The slave trader had his boss, Zeng Ye, with him. Chen Pi wouldn't move an inch, though. 
Is it possible Chen Pi was awesome too before Yatou and her noodles came along?
Hahahaha, look at him rubbing the Nose. So cute.
But Er Ye invited Zeng Ye in. Er Ye didn't have 500 taels of gold, because, really, who does outside a central bank?  But he was able to cut a deal.
Cut to Er Ye drying Ya Tou's hair and assuring her no one would bully her again. Chen Pi made 3's company, per usual.
Creepers at Chen Pi being there too. Like there wasn't one maid in that house? 
Ohhh, maybe Chen Pi puts on a maid's costume from time to time?
Zeng Ye leaves very happy with something in his hands, probably a cultural artifact. He tells the slave trader he will pay the money Er Ye owes.
Back to Fo Ye and Ba Ye. Ba Ye tells Fo Ye that Er Ye committed a huge taboo! To free Ya Tou, Er Ye dug up a new grave of less than three months old and pulled out a treasure to pay off Zeng.
Oh no! No wonder he thinks his ancestors are unhappy with him. But shows us how much she means to him (her and her noodles). He'd do anything for her. Did anything.
Sidebar: Fo Ye looking Hawt.
OMFG! (Saki hates OMFG. But he makes me swear)
Here's another.
Ba Ye says to discuss with Jiu Ye, but look, Jiu Ye has already arrived! First, Fo Ye's reaction to that news. 
HOT.
Then, Jiu Ye. 
Appreciated.
Then, the three together.
Oh, Fo Ye quickly put on his manly clothes.

New gang formation
Anyway, they wonder how to get Er Ye out of retirement to get help with the mine and foiling the Japanese.
Cause they know he knows. Things about that tomb, that is. 
Basically, the problem is Ya Tou. Er Ye won't leave Ya Tou, and since we know from The Lost Tomb that ancient graves have nasty dangers like corpse eaters, I'm not surprised.
I think it's the noodles, not the zombies. Those are enchanted noodles, making Er Ye forget his true nature.
They decide to visit Ya Tou while Er Ye is out performing. The idea is to persuade her to persuade Er Ye. 
That's sneaky and a tiny little bit mean. I'd be pretty pissed if I were Er Ye and found out about this!
Ya Tou is actively embroidering when they arrive, and looks perfectly fine and beautifully groomed.
Dying inside, dying inside!
She sends Tao Hua the maid away and listens to Fo Ye and Jui Ye. They explain the Japanese problem and how Er Ye's ancestors have been there before, making Er Ye the fount of knowledge regarding that mine.
So, question: do the Nine Gates inherit ancestral knowledge via their genes or some family osmosis? Because Er Ye's great uncle just died over there and so it's not like he chatted about his experience with his great-nephew.
Oh, you mean like Sheldrakes morphogenetical fields? Yes!

Anyway, Ya Tou clenches her hands. She points out how none of Er Ye's ancestors made it out alive, and Fo Ye tells her this is an urgent matter of urgent Changsha security.
Yes, and he really, really, really wants to go into that cave. (I actually think it's a bit pushy of him to go see Yatou. I don't like it, he knows she is gravely ill).
To be fair, her being "gravely ill" is a little hard to believe.
Ya Tou recalls Er Ye's promise not to rob graves in the family shrine.
I don't remember that, did he really promise something silly like this? Does he not know we want T-action?
Ya Tou says this isn't her decision, and that she and Er Ye just want to live quietly together. Seems fair, actually. Then she starts her coughing, which could just be from stress. 
Or guilt!!! She know that her noodles are not good for Er Ye!
Fortunately, Jiu Ye and Fo Ye see what medicine that Hendry has prescribed. Jui Ye, in particular, is curious about Ya Tou's condition and the medicine, especially since the butler tells him it has stopped being as effective as before.
I'm so happy he's so smart!
It's an empty vial. How can he tell what's in it? 
Maybe that's his superpower?

Back to Fo Ye's palace. Ba Ye is comfy, calculating fortunes to pass the time.
Sidebar: I wonder what Ba Ye's house is like? As in with just him, and no Japanese samurai stringing him up.
It looked pretty bare if it was the one we saw in episode 2, no wonder he likes to hang with Fo Ye.
He's well-dressed and has plenty of cash based on episode 7. I think he needs a loving madame or a disciple to fix up the place. Unless it was bare because the Japanese had trashed it.

Anyway, they discuss how, since Ya Tou is so ill, Er Ye will not dare leave her. His love for her is too deep. Okay, Jui Ye, but there's also that he's her husband, they both believe she is deathly ill (Sidebar, pffft) and thus it's also his duty to stay by her.
They really seem to think that their anti-Japanese mission is a thousand times more important. 
Exactly. For people who think they are deathly ill, or that a family member is deathly ill, they care about that immediate problem, not anything else like possible experiments in a mine.
I just noticed the gramophones in this show are shaped like flowers.
Oh, Let me be a flower in Fo Ye's mansion! 

BaYe protests that a man should be good to his wife. Good boy, Ba Ye. They think this must be a dead end because if Ya Tou lives, Er Ye won't come out of retirement, and if Ya Tou dies, Er Ye will be too upset to come out of retirement. And they say Ya Tou is worried Er Ye won't be able to take care of himself if she's not around. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, though.
Oh, I thought he was saying that Er Ye will take his own life if Yatou dies. 
Then Fo Ye says something rather romantic. 
Fo Ye, now also a poet!
He asks about Ya Tou's medicine.
A change of expression meriting a whole new photo!
Mjamm!
Jui Ye says Ya Tou is taking a narcotic called morphine. It's derived from opium (No. 9 takes it against his headaches) and will only mask her symptoms while making her increasingly addicted.
Hendry is a fucking bastard!
Drug dealers usually are from what I hear.

Jui Ye also tells them only the Japanese possess opium in Changsha. Dun dun da dun!
Why ever not, Fo Ye? They're the villains. I would totally expect anything and everything bad from them.

Oh, Fo Ye is so worried!
Hot and bothered. My favorite Fo Ye.
So then they discuss how Ya Tou was seen by a healer known to work very well, and whose name I could never catch, so unless he suddenly shows up later, I'm going to ignore it. But that healer did not have Carpesium, an ingredient necessary for Ya Tou's cure. Carpesium can bring dead, dissected deer back to life, according to some tale of Ancient China that Jui Ye relates and that doesn't sound dodgy at all, and thus totally must be true.
Okay, let's see how this miracle drug will help our dying damsel. Maybe try cutting her apart first?
The boys want to cure Ya Tou so they can take Er Ye graverobbing, er, I mean, foiling the Japanese in the mine.
Well, half-way noble is still better than nothing! 
And that's why they are believing this ridiculous story.
Cut to Er Ye in a fabulous white cloak entering his lovely house. 
He hears about the other Ye's visit, and of Ya Tou's collapse.
Er Ye goes to pray.
I doubt that will help.
He has no carpesium, so he's doing what he can.
Oh look, Ya Tou is up and sighing over her food. And worrying what Er Ye will do without her. Ya Tou, bereavement is dreadful, but people move on. Anyway, Tao Hua points out that people get sick, and that Ya Tou should chill a bit.
Oh friggin YES, please STOP THE MOPING.
But Ya Tou is convinced she will not recover. Negative thinking won't help you, Ya Tou! Great, she's upsetting her poor maid. Ya Tou is also worried that if something happens to Fo Ye, Er Ye will feel guilty that he didn't help. Frankly, Ya Tou, Er Ye just needs to make a choice and stick to it. That's what Fo Ye would do.
I'm done with you, Ya Tou.
When the cook wants to know what to make for lunch, Ya Tou says, just make some plain porridge. How self-sacrificing. (What's wrong with porridge?) (Nothing wrong with porridge except everyone else in the house will probably have to eat it too because one meal usually cooked for everyone in houses with servants. And they don't think they are sick.)  
This, of course, gets Chen Pi rushing in. Ya Tou tells him she doesn't have much appetite, but, when Chen Pi asks if the medicine is not working,
she says the medicine will take time to work.
Yeah, great, she's just becoming an addict right now. That's so incredibly vile.
Darn it, Ya Tou, Chen Pi was using his nose for a change!
I hate how she's all "I'm dying etc." with the maid but lies her ass off in front of the men. Why?! 
Ladies don't keep secrets from their maids.

Anyway, Chen Pi goes out to get Ya Tou some treat that she likes. Okay, but the cook could've made it as well. Also, Chen Pi, that's really a bit creepy that you were waiting outside Ya Tou's door to hear what she was going to eat. Give some privacy: that's a woman's room.
Cut to Fo Ye's generalissimo palace. 
Which wing will you take?
The one at the back. I'm all for privacy.
Jui Ye came to visit. Again? He flatters Fo Ye a lot, and Fo Ye laughs that he sounds like Ba Ye!
Aw, look at that Fo Ye smile!

Jui Ye also says the the Bei Ping Xin Yue restaurant - referred to also as a hotel - will have the carpesium up for auction. Yay!
AUCTION, AUCTION, AUCTION!!!! (Copper fish?)
But there's only a week to the event, and it requires a special invitation. Boo.
That won't stop Fo Ye, though. He's off to discuss with Er Ye. Leg Swing:
Thug bracelets:
Strong grip:
And now all together, in one marvellous gif!
Oh, yawn, Ya Tou again. Er Ye comes to check on her. She's still alive, Er Ye.
Guess what Er Ye does next. Three guesses.
-
-
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He puts a coat on her! Okay, you didn't scroll down and look, did you? That would be cheating.
Damn, I was wrong.
They discuss her embroidery project and Er Ye kisses her fingers. I don't like that bracelet.  It looks like it's going to die of chronic fatigue syndrome.
*snickers*
Tao Hua announces Fo Ye, and Ya Tou says he came yesterday with tonics. Er Ye says he'll be back soon and then will stay with Ya Tou as she stitches. These two certainly have a comfortable, nice relationship.
Yes, that's true. But they bore me to death while at it. 
Er Ye asks how Fo Ye is feeling after getting infected with hair.
I'm relieved too, darling.
Fo Ye then raises two matters. The first is the medicine Ya Tou is taking. Fo Ye explains it is only an analgesic, and that it will simply get Ya Tou addicted. Er Ye is furious.
Wow, imagine this would happen to anyone you loved so much.
He even clenches his fists! This is all Chen Pi's fault because he didn't do his due diligence.
Well, I don't know. Sure, Chen Pi is very stupid to believe this vile Hendry, but there are many other people who could have become suspicious!!
It's a drug, and Chen Pi runs a gang on the docks. I don't think it would've been that hard to get the name of the drug, or find out what "medicine" the Japanese are dealing in.

Next, Fo Ye tells Er Ye regarding the carpesium auction in Bei Ping. There's a small argument about whether Er Ye should go alone or with Fo Ye, but Fo Ye wins out and tells Er Ye they'll go together since the auction is hard to get into.
Er Ye then tries to stick up for Chen Pi. He explains that Chen Pi would not have known the medicine was addictive and pretty much useless. Yes, but he should have got the details, Er Ye. If it's a drug the Japanese are dealing, then there's word on the street about it.
*sigh*
Cut to Chen Pi all excited to buy Ya Tou something delicious to eat.
That's a bit sad, cause you just know this won't end well.
But look, it's Visual Zhang! So, so pretty, even from a distance, sigh.
I foresee a great future!
And look at him all handsome and lovely all close up. He demands Chen Pi come with him.  
A great future indeed!
Just wait, this actor is going to end up in a youth drama and in a fantasy wuxia before long. I just hope I can stand the shows because I really want to see more of him.
Chen Pi's nose gets stubborn, and the two fight. The two disciples seemed evenly matched until Lt Zhang pulled out this gun. Yep, your fist won't do much against that gun, Chen Pi.
Hehehe, *hugs Visual Zhang for slyness*.
Since Chen Pi resisted arrest, he gets handcuffed. This really was overdue.
Ohhhhh, handcuffs. Visual Zhang likes handcuffs!
Chen Pi begs to go home since he has to give Ya Tou her snack. I can see why he's desperate: he adores Ya Tou, and he is worried about her not eating.
He's obsessed, but I feel sorry for him. 
Me too. :-(
But he is dragged away and the snack is stepped on, much like Chen Pi's heart.
Oh noes. Noes, not nose.
Back at the Hong mansion, Er Ye is telling Ya Tou about the trip to Bei Ping.  She insists on going too.
Great *yawns*.
They argue about whether she's well enough, and she first says she feels better, and then says she might not last while he's away.  
Come on now. This is getting so silly.
And she says, look, you got me these nice clothes, but I can't wear them anywhere. I want to go out with you to Bei Ping and wear these clothes. Great, we got that settled.
*enthusiastic clapping*.

Comments

I laughed so much at Chief Lu's complete inability to penetrate the Nine Gates. For someone so high on himself, he really had no clue how to approach people. He started right off attacking Fo Ye, and not one of them showed an interest. After all, as we've seen, Fo Ye takes care of the Nine, and so chances are, even if any of them don't like being subordinate to him, they will accept his management because their lives will be easier like that.  
I also loved it. It's because I hate Chief Lu: he has something against Fo Ye and I hate everyone who has something against Fo Ye. As we will see later though, the bond between the Nine might not be all THAT good. There are some rules that should not be broken and Fo Ye does not particularly like following rules, it seems. 

Fo Ye was heroic, Ba Ye told a good story, Jui Ye was clever, and Chen Pi was lovesick. Also important, Lt Zhang was pretty. And I was impressed with his fighting skillz. Good boy.  
All his scenes are great.

Ya Tou, well, I'm thinking they should've had antibiotics if it is tuberculosis. Her attitude is what annoys me the most. Stop being so melancholy! You're upsetting everyone! And get a second opinion. That Hendry Cox isn't the only western doctor in town. Plus, there must be other western doctors to see. 
Let's not try to approach this show with logic, it won't work. Just repeat after me: "Yatou is terminally ill with TB but does not know it - and there are no doctors at hand to find out". Also: "She fully trusts Hendry Cox who isn't even a real doctor because she thinks he looks trustworthy". ETC.