Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花 - Episode 13 (Recap)

kakashi: This episode turned me to mush and into an ardent Mark Chao fan. SO GOOD.
JoAnne: You are not the only one. I even like his wig, that's how bad I have it.

Episode 13

Time passes... Bai Qian brings the snake back to the cave she found it in. It's an attempt to let the snake go, if it wants to go. She obviously doesn't want it gone, but is it not a creature of the wild? She cannot keep holding onto it. There's a wounded bird there that she picks up instead, leaving the snake behind.
'You can go if you want, but I want you to stay because if you leave, I won't have anyone to talk to... oh look! a bird! Bye snake, I'm going home with this bird.'

But the snake won't leave. Crown Prince comes to her house that night, noticing the bird cage she now has next to her, asking himself whether he is any different than this bird for her.
Man she just takes everything to bed with her, this girl.

He reaches out his hand and caresses her cheek ... no, he can't stay away and he doesn't care about any birds. We learn it's been three months now ... three months of snake cuddling. He thinks he needs to marry her. Methinks too.
Oh, yes.

In town, the Lion Beast finally approaches his Princess and she learns of her eldest brother's whereabouts. Banished to the Arctic Lands! She didn't even know about the bad blood between her two brothers, poor child. The Golden Lion tells her they need Li Jing's military seal if they want to free Big Bro. She must steal it!
She doesn't think he deserves it for killing her half-brother's mother, I guess.

But then, the Beast senses the presence of a Celestial outside and tells her to be quiet. Yup, there is a Celestial inside Bai Qian's basket! Unfortunately, the Taoist priest from before wants vengeance and outs her as witch with an evil black snake in her basket. That's a very bad omen in this town, apparently. He even ventures to burn it, with the townspeople edging him on! But Bai Qian shields her snake from harm with her own body. The Ghost Princess wants to intervene, but ...

... enough is enough. The Crown Prince shows his true form. His dragon form.
That's what I'm talking about! Yes! Do you, little snake man!

The town people all go "dragon god, bless us, bless us" and the dragon douses the evil priest with water until he can barely breath (later, Crown Prince has Si Ming pay this dude a little visit ... insanity ensues). Bai Qian is decidedly unafraid when she faces the magnificent dragon. She says: "You weren't a black snake?" Ahahahaha. And: "You've become so big. How will I take care of you now?" Sadly, Crown Prince has to leave though - when he shows his true form, the Celestial Palace knows and he'll have some explaining to do.
This poor girl, all she ever hears is 'wait for me'.

Bai Qian returns to her hut... she is very sad that the snake-dragon has left. Even days later, she still talks to it. 
You know, living in a hut on a mountain, surviving on fruit, talking to animals... it's not much a step more to talk to things that aren't there.

Up in the Heavens, Su Jin still hasn't gotten the memo. Wow, is she drunk? Ye Hua even has to threaten her - she wouldn't have left him alone otherwise. I get it, woman. He is magnificent and you took care of him for so many years. He means the skies to you, but woman: it takes two to tango. In addition, you're about to marry his grandfather. 
Yeah, she's drunk. And crazy, and totally not at all what any of us care about: not Ye Hua, not us. Scat, cat.

This unpleasant scene is followed by what is one of my favorite scenes in this episode. Ye Hua has turned to his 3rd Uncle for relationship advice! I really feel like recapping this line for line, it's so good. So, Ye Hua admits he wants to be with that woman. Lian Song is delighted and says: "The day has come for you, you are aware of women now!" Pfffffffft. At first, Ye Hua is in denial. This woman is "like something I once lost", he says, "and have finally found after thousands and thousands of years". Awwwww, Lotus memories.
Sigh.

Uncle (love the smile) says he fully understands: there are three words that describe Ye Hua's condition. He is enamored. Crown Prince still doesn't want to admit it, but Uncle says it's pretty monumental. He lived for so long already and has barely spoken to any women until now. Sharing a bed with one for months in the mortal realm ... it's monumental. And to him, it's pretty obvious what Ye Hua wants to hear: how he can make her like him.
Well first, stop being a snake.

Crown Prince, smiling: "That's right". Awwwwwwwww, I melt.
His smile is so cute.
Uncle Three suggests three things. First, there isn't a young woman who doesn't like a charming man. He wants Ye Hua to walk right up to her and smile. She is "guaranteed to melt".
Worked for us. And all y'all out there reading, too, I bet.
Crown Prince:

Okay, maybe not. The second thing Uncle Three suggests is playing the hero. Ye Hua should release a monster on that mountain to scare her! Then he'll appear, wielding his sword, and will kill the evil beast in front of her.
Crown Prince: "So is this how you tricked Lady Cheng Yu into giving herself to you?"
That's a sore spot for Lian Song, that relationship ended 30'000 years ago and I get the feeling he regrets it. Anyway, Crown Prince says this won't work either. She is not afraid of anything - not even of dragons.
I'm telling you... since Ye Hua is committed elsewhere, I would not exactly frown upon Lian Song and his own considerably cute smile.

There's the last option though that very much appeals to Ye Hua! It's called "playing the pity game". OMG, our boy is so excited!
How do you make pitiful attractive?

The next morning, she finds a badly wounded man on her doorstep. Of course, she immediately takes him in. She is extremely worried, he is extremely happy.
Oh that kind of pity. I was picturing something else. Look at him patting that blanket like 'soon, my precious, sooooooon.'

She ventures to wash his wounds and gets really shy about removing his clothes. He coughs ten times more and she does it for him. Boy, you're naughty! When he sees how distressed she actually is (he is so much in love he cannot stop staring at her face), he realizes he might have slightly overdone it. He quickly heals himself and then claims she must have applied a miracle herb to his wound. But of course, he has severe internal injuries. Many. He is also too weak to really talk about the monster who attacked him.
It's hilarious. And a very nice view, indeed.

Later, she feeds him. And tells him to stay for a few days to recuperate. She doesn't have much rice, but it will last for a bit. Wow, she has almost NO rice and feeds it all to him. She's like a saint.

He asks for her name - and she must admit she doesn't have one. No name and no family. And no friends. He will give her one then, he says. She is dressed so simple and yet so elegant. He thinks Su Su suits her really well (素素). She is very happy to receive such a name, so happy, she forgets to ask what his is.

She asks him to write 夜华 out for her. On her hand. Your uncle deserves a BIG present, man. You already made this woman fall for you ultra hard, Crown Prince. With a little help from fate, I guess.

I practically felt that on my own hand. But speaking of fate, yes, I'm guessing he didn't actually have to do anything to bring this about. If it didn't happen here, it would have happened some other way. That's what fate is, right?

At night, she leaves him her bed and sleeps sitting up, head on the table. But the boy came for cuddles and cuddles he gets - he picks her up and carries her into bed. Very carefully, he covers her with the blanket and then gets in next to her. She turns to hug him close.

And he smiles like the adorable sweetheart he is.

The next morning, she almost burns down the hut. The woman can't cook! Like ... not at all. Their conversation outside about how she survived up until now and raw meet (which he hates) is hilarious. She immediately starts telling him about her finicky black snake who really liked raw meat a lot, but gave her much troubles. It had to sleep with her everyday! She even got a quilt so that it wouldn't be cold.

I'm laughing now just thinking about it.

She goes out to pick some more herbs ... and doesn't return. Ye Hua gets concerned and goes in search of her. She got lost! The last time she went into this forest, it took her eight days to find her way out. Ye Hua: "To be able to get lost to such an extent is an ability all on its own". And: "I have always been very tolerant to those who aren't smart". 

Well she is kind of an idiot.

They settle for the night (she thinks he cannot have any energy left to walk back) and she starts talking about the dragon again. How she isn't good at taking care of things and how that dragon mustn't have liked her. Why else would it have disappeared like that! He suggests it probably had no choice. They're from a clan of ancient gods and only appear in the mortal realm to fight monsters. It cannot stay in the mortal realm for a long time - otherwise, it would affect the fates of mortals and there would be trouble.

Later, he tells her the tale of the Black Dragon and the Scarlet Flame Golden Lion - blushing when he talks about how the Lion raped the Empress. As he continues, she falls asleep, after asking "And then?" for the last time. As he catches her head he whispers "and then, the Dragon met you".
I melt again. Actually, my melted bits evaporate.

Comments

I love their interactions. LOVE. Love. Love. It's not only that he is completely and utterly in love and radiates it with every look, every breath, every smile. It's also the way they talk (like equals) and what they talk about. Little things. Food, herbs, the forest. For a man like him, who was groomed to be the next Ruler since birth, this must be paradise. 

It's odd because he clearly is aware that they are not equals - and she proves to be quite forgetful and incapable in lots of ways - but he doesn't care, at all. She has other qualities that make her equal to his stronger abilities, and he adores her for those qualities and is deliriously happy to just go through the business of living, together with her.

Let's just enjoy the fuzzy warm happy feelings for now. We can start worrying about the obvious soon enough.

Nope. Let's just stop here. Shall we? Can we? No, I suppose not.