Old Nine Gates 老九门 - Episode 32 (Recap)

kakashi: We're (almost) done with the fillers! Yaaaaaay! Fo Ye is back! Well, "back". And Lt Zhang is da bomb.
SakiVI: Seriously, during these episodes I almost jumped bias ship.

Episode 32 - Attack on Bai Qiao

When Lt Zhang, Ba Ye, Er Ye, the Chieftain and the Bodyguard prisoner get back to Bai Qiao village, they find it in the grips of the evil guardian/uncle. The Chieftain thinks she stands a chance against the evil guardian if she can speak to her mother, the previous Chieftain, who still holds a lot of power. They cannot go in easily (well guarded) but they can get her out, says Ba Ye! Lt Zhang goes in with a token and tells granny that the Chieftain needs her.
And where has Granny been while the guardian was murdering her son-in-law, grandchild and attempting to kill her daughter? This woman must be the worst matriarch ever.
She probably was on a retirement holiday. 

They have the bodyguard go to the guardian, who is waiting somewhere outside the city, with the Chieftain's "head" in a box. The guardian is so happy to hear the Chieftain has lost her head! And stabs the bodyguard. Oh no. He was beginning to grow on me...
He deserved it for being a betraying asshole. Did he really think he'd survive knowing something he could blackmail the guardian with?

In the box is no head though:

I think the Chieftain's head would be the same weight, sure.

And just like that, the guardian is arrested, because the ex-Chieftain heard it all.

Thanks are in order and the Chieftain promises news about Fo Ye's whereabouts. Ba Ya and Lt Zhang want to take Er Ye along, but she insists on keeping him in the village. Lt Zhang has objections, but seriously, he is not well, leave him with the pretty woman.

I did not understand Lt Zhang suddenly getting suspicious. Unless he is very, very innocent.

Lt Zhang seems to be under the impression that she wants to keep Er Ye as some kind of hostage, but Ba Ye, the reader of hearts, knows much better what is going on: She likes him! Lt Zhang: Then even more so we can't leave him here! Hahahaaa. And Ba Ye: She's a (non-Han) chieftain, she can't possibly force Er Ye to marry, can she? Boys, you crack me up.

She just wants to look at Er Ye for a bit.

She is no man-eater, this lady. She just has a crush and wants to keep the beautiful man a little longer. I'm sure she'll just be looking at him, feeding him delicious medicines. I see no ill in that either!

Me neither! And she needs this after all her stresses.

I would think carefully and keep Lt Zhang instead.

Excellent, that's settled then! They also receive Fo Ye's address, which is: Village North 20 Farmhouse. Haha, people, this episode is hilarious!

They could've just walked around and found him.

If they need an address system like this, there probably are hundreds of farmhouses. This saves us some time, be glad!

On the way, this happens (Ba Ye, you really should do some fitness training):

It seems that Cutie Pie Zhang is extremely anxious about Fo Ye (because of his dream the other day) and is walking too fast for Ba Ye. What about horses or a carriage? Or Ba Ye's donkey? Anyway, Lt Zhang does not want Ba Ye to cuddle with him. And on they go! And then, they get there! Yay!

Doctor Mo leads them to Fo Ye, who is .... not in his right mind. He's still scribbling. Obsessively.

He's hotly, obsessively scribbling. ::FansSelf::

It breaks my heart a little when Lt Zhang approaches his master, all concerned and yet happy to see him... and Fo Ye does not recognize him at all. What is worse - he seems to think he's an enemy.

At least Fo Ye's still got his Skillz.

Ba Ye too:

Well, luckily for them, Fo Ye is suddenly much more interested in scribbling on the wood behind Ba Ye than he is in choking him.

Doctor Mo has no clue what ails him. He seems to draw obscene pictures too? The only person he recognizes is Xin Yue. Who is out searching for a remedy. 

What they realize is this: both Fo Ye and Er Ye brought back this illness from the mine. The big question is this though: why is Ba Ye, who was with them, fine? Ba Ye is insulted about this (I wonder why Just his personality) but also gives us the answer: his family's magic protection mirror against evil spirits is what makes the difference. It's an illness of the mind, this one. Actually, it's probably a curse.
Ba Ye does his anti-curse work before going anywhere with Fo Ye.

They decide to take Fo Ye to the village, seeing how the Chieftain has special medicine (and despite the issue between the two Qiaos). Er Ye is comatose too now. Great. I laughed. Ba Ye is concerned to two women will get in a fight over Er Ye. Lt Zhang:

Lt Zhang is still at the "girls are yucky" stage.

So, the problem is that the medicine that can save Er Ye and Fo Ye is a "sacred object" for the Hei Qiao people. It's the fruit of a toxic plant, which blooms every 10 years (are there actually plants like this?) and there are many poisonous and vicious animals in the area where it grows. The problem is, they cannot go ask the Hei Qiao because there is a dark witch who seems to have poisoned the Hei Qiao's minds, turning them against the Bai Qiao.The Chieftain expects them to attack that very night.

We cut to.... Lu. WHHHHHY??!!? We were doing so well... Lu and Chen Pi accuse Madame Huo of helping Er Ye escape (what, did you not see the mud on her face? Seriously, she knows you are not that bright.), but she says she just went to look for good men to take into the tombs. Fine, okay, just GO IN ALREADY. 

Oh, and we are back with our Ba Ye et al. Rather than waiting for the Hei Qiao to attack, Lt Zhang devises a plan where he takes a few skilled Bai Qiao warriors to the Hei Qiao village and gets the medicine while they are out attacking. Ba Ye will be in charge of the dark witch. Oh look, the village entrance with some lions!
They're almost cute.

And look, Lt Zhang, dressed so nice even when going to war:
Come to think of it, where did they get those clothes? Did they have them sent?  Because they didn't keep luggage and the Bai Qiao don't have tweeds and tailors.

Yum
Slurp

Lt Zhang is quite vicious, I wouldn't want him as my enemy. Kind of hot, though. Many people die, he slaughters everyone who tries to keep him from getting his hands on the holy fruit and in the end, he has it. Wait, will one be enough for two? And: did they get this from Ice Fantasy or vice versa?
I have a feeling these magic fruits or flowers that only bloom once every few years are a recurring theme in c-drama.  

Outside Bai Qiao village, there's another battle between black and white - and then, the leader (his name is Hei Shi) gets word of Lt Zhang's sneak attack. The Hei Qiao withdraw - and for the time being, things in the village return to normal.

They feed the medicine to Er Ye (who recovers pretty quickly) and Fo Ye (who doesn't). At least he has stopped scribbling.

Squeeeee.

Comments

I liked almost everything about this episode, yay. We're still dealing with things not directly related to the main story (mainly the feud between the Bai Qiao and the Hei Qiao), but because it's now linked to medicine that they need to get Er Ye and Fo Ye back on track, I can forgive this. Also, the battle scenes were well done and Visual Zhang was a treat to watch. Little vicious monkey.

I know, Visual Zhang is too cute, and pretty, and lovely and interestingly vicious for words. Okay, I used some, but I feel they are not enough and that I don't have the vocabulary to describe my delight in him. Him and Ba Ye together are quite fun without Fo Ye to fight over, and they both got a chance to show their skillz. Thus, I didn't mind this filler in the end.