I foolishly believed Zhou Yu is a man who values friendship! I am so wrong! Please forgive me!!
I shall start with the ending recap of this episode where Yuet Ying asked ZGL a hypothetical question; "If one day your master orders you to, will you betray your friend for the greater good?" and the greater good means winning a war for your master and ZGL says empathically with the camera close up enough to see some traces of glue on his moustache; "Never"
And I would have been rather touched until I remember in Bok Mong Slope, he sent 500 unknown innocent soldiers to their death and he had no regrets, not even kneeling and crying "I AM SO SORRYYYYYYYYYYY" which means his empathy is only for his friend and as the last scene suggests he will face a similar situation with Wan Shun perhaps in the almost last episode. And since ZGL is a great great man, he will NEVER betray Wan Shun or follow his master's order to destroy Wan Shun but of course if that means 1000 unknown nameless soldiers shall have to die instead of Wan Shun, ZGL will have no regrets.
This episode lets us see the true nature of Zhou Yu but then everyone forgets, who cares about civility, friendship and loyalty to your friend who serves for another master. I feel their judgment of Zhou Yu is a tad harsh in this episode.
Recap.
As expected, Shun mans up and so breaks poor Song Yau's heart. He basically explains he doesn't love her. He also said, in a rather tactless way "In my hometown we love and we break up a lot. It doesn't matter in the end. I mean you can love someone today, and love another tomorrow, as long as you're happy, it shouldn't matter" as Song Yau still in shock cries "How can you say that? I don't care how your hometown is, when we love, we love that person forever. I will never change my heart, I have always and will always love you but... now you are telling me you have never loved me..." and tearfully she left in the usual TVB slow mo way, typical. Shun feels a tinge of regret because he does admit she is a terribly nice girl.
And so here is a hypothetical question. Will you accept the love of Song Yau if you were Wan Shun even though you know in your heart you don't love her? As Wan Shun should you be expected to return a love you do not wish for? Just because she is a terribly nice girl? You can force yourself to love her but in the end it is only liking? My answer is whatever makes you happy, people are selfish, don't force yourself. BUT TVB will make it very easy for Shun and all of us; because Shun will realise he misses her, he loves her, goes back to win her heart which she never ever gave another and so we shall have the riddle solved by basically he will love her back because deep down, he really really loves her. Just that he doesn't know yet.
Pause.
I actually expected Tavia to have her famous crying meltdown scene, you know cry like whooo whoooo whoo whoo but surprisingly, never. Interesting.
Continue.
Song Yau in her room feeling sad, doesn't look like someone who has been crying for days when Yuet Ying comes in to console her on the orders of her husband as Song Yau says "You're the 6th person to ask if I was ok. Even the doctor dropped by.. I am so sorry to bother everyone" as Yuet Ying says as she notices all doors and windows open even though big gust of wind "You mustn't neglect your own health for whatever reason" and Song Yau says "Don't worry, I am fine. I am rarely sick". Yuet Ying holds Song Yau's hands and says gently "Song Yau, you must let go of what you must let go, and move on with your life as you must. Forgetting is the best way to deal with heartbreak" and Song Yau appreciates Yuet Ying's advice.
Lau Bei meets with Shun and ZGL as Shun says "My lord, I am very sorry" and Lau Bei basically scolded him for hurting Song Yau who has been crying for days and ZGL says "My lord, punishing Wan Shun will not help with the matter at hand. At least Wan Shun was honest with Song Yau instead of dragging this any further. And war is coming, Cao Cao will be attacking us soon and so perhaps we should push all personal matters aside for awhile. Moreover, this is a personal issue between them" as Lau Bei sighs "Yes, we can't be the judge of personal matters of the heart.." as Shun promises he will work hard.
Song Yau goes to buy threads with a fellow maid and maid is very happy Song Yau is walking out again and not hiding in her room until around the corner comes Shun and the fellow maid is abusive towards Shun as Shun greets Song Yau, and Song Yau smiles and greets him back and is calm as he leaves awkwardly. The moment he is out of sight, the maid says happily "Song Yau, I am so proud of you! You even smiled at him to show you're ok! You go girl!" but then Song Yau starts to crumble and cry and maid takes her by the side and says "I thought you forgot about him? Oh I should have known rather than let you take this road.." as Song Yau cries "It wasn't a coincidence. I knew he will be taking this route after his meeting about the weapons. I wanted to see him so I took you with me deliberately so that I may bump into him, just have a glimpse at him. I thought I will be alright, but I am not. The more I don't see him, the more I miss him. The more I tried not to think of him, the more I do. I miss him! I miss him! I miss him so much!" and she cries but not the wohhhhhh wohhhhh wohhhhh way which again is interesting.
Maid rushes to find Shun by the roadside stall and scolds Shun "You listen up you bastard! You will not bump into Song Yau ever again!" as Shun says "Is she alright?" and maid says "No she is crying right now!" as Shun thinks she is ok when she was smiling as the maid explains what actually happened and she thundered "You listen here!! If she walks from left, you will go the opposite way. If she is in a room, you will leave the room. You will avoid her, you will not even talk to her, you will never hurt her again, or else...." and Shun looks more guilty than ever.
Shun makes a huge mistake by losing one important document found by another. Lau Bei of course chastised him, ZGL also says he should be more careful and not to be emotional due to personal issues...
excuse me ZGL, you abandoned the military meeting with impending war to look for your missing wife! Who are you to talk like that now? Lau Bei, you go through a meltdown when you thought your cause was lost! Who are you to chastise Shun now? Only Guan Yu who never had a meltdown can comment and he basically says "Wan Shun, you may be playful but you're never careless" which is true whilst Cheung Fei gives him a dirty look. Anyway all is forgiven.
Shun alone in a room when a maid walks in to sweep the floor and basically scolded Shun again when Shun finds out Song Yau has left for the temple. Shocked, at night he sees Kan and urgently asks "Where is Song Yau? Is she really at a temple? Why is she at a temple?" and Kan becomes uncharacteristically angry as he shouts "Now suddenly you care about Song Yau when you never bothered? At least you had the decency to finally tell her you never loved her. She even came to me later asking me if you never really loved her!" and Shun alarmed says "What did you say?" and Kan shouts "Of course I told her the truth! I told her you never loved her! Never ever from the very beginning, NEVER!! Song Yau is such a nice girl, she was so happy and jovial until you came along and broke her heart! You bastard!!! I feel like beating you up!!!" and Shun says in a small voice "I deserve that. Beat me" and Kan refuses to and rushes to sit down by the side angrily and says "No I won't beat you! It is a waste of my breath!"
Pause.
What Kan says is "Beating you is waste of chicken shit" because "kai si" is chicken shit but what he actually wanted to say was "Beating you is a waste of gas" as in waste of energy or breath and gas in Chinese is pronounced as 'gas-si" which is probably taught by Shun but Kan learns wrongly and says "kai-si". Ahhh Kan is becoming more and more manly.
Continue.
Anyway Kan tells Shun Song Yau is at the temple to take care of E-Dou and not like Shun who when panicking thinks she is there to be a nun. Song Yau doesn't want to bother Shun and again Kan releases his anger at Shun when he feels Song Yau thinks of others and never herself. A rather funny scene.
Ok so we move on from Song Yau which is have taken a quarter of this episode and now we move to serious business.
Cao Cao wants to train a navy because that is the best way to defeat Dong Wu which is surrounded by water. Interestingly Zhou Yu has never really been in a war and his navy isn't very good. Which confuses me because I thought Zhou Yu is highly decorated as a commander and general and he is a naval officer so to speak? Anyway Man Yeuk suggest to use Choi Mao as the general or rather admiral to train the navy since there is no one else more suited but Hon argues Choi Mai who is Lady Choi's brother would never serve them loyally since they killed Lady Choi but Man Yeuk argues "I have known him personally for 30 years. He is a man who lives by 1 principle only; when in war, he must win. He will serve master faithfully and I have no doubt about that. Moreover, all Zhou Yu knows in training his navy he learns from Choi Mao's way. No one is more qualified" and again Cao Cao listens to Man Yeuk, much to Hon's disgust.
Man Yeuk sees Choi Mao and successfully persuades Choi Mao although Choi Mai asks "Is Cao Cao a master worth serving?" and Man Yeuk says without a doubt "Yes. He forgets the past and rewards those who serves him well".
How wrong he was.
Anyway Sun Quan finds out Choi Mao now serves Cao Cao and everyone is rather disgusted with Choi Mao who serves his sister's killer. Zhou Yu is convinced he can beat Choi Mao on the sea. I mean earlier there was a small battle between Cao Cao and Dong Wu on water and Dong Wu won so that explains his confidence. ZGL is not that confident.
At night playing chess game, Yuet Ying wins and smiles as she says "Husband, you let me win. Your skills have improved so much but you deliberately let me win" as ZGL opens up a peanut and have her errrr 2 peanuts...whatever!! Very romantic as she eats and ZGL says "At least you smiled when I deliberately lost the game. But Commander Zhou, however much I let him has his way, he will never reciprocate in kind to me..." as Yuet Ying says "And you will have to work with him..." as ZGL says "He says he will personally oversee the training of the navy which means he is saying he doesn't want my advice if I have any to offer" and Yuet Ying smiles "Husband, I have only one thing to say. Even if he refuses to listen, you will still offer your advice in discharge of your duties" and ZGL smiles "What will I do without you? You're right. Even if he doesn't listen, I will still offer my advice. The weather, the climate, the sea condition, all these will affect the outcome, I must research those!" as Yuet Ying opens up more peanuts for him as she sits by his side and he pours over the documents and reports.
Oh yes ZGL what will you do without her since she is the real ZGL?
Sun Quan gives Zhou Yu a document given by ZGL and says perhaps he should have a look and Zhou Yu doesn't want to until Sun Quan says "His ideas are brilliant" as Zhou Yu asks "You read this?" and Sun Quan says "Yes! Brilliant man, he looks at all factors, he gives good advice as to the weather, the supplies, you must read this if it can help our cause" as Sun Quan gently urges Zhou Yu to read it. I think even Sun Quan knows Zhou Yu is jealous of ZGL the way he gently approaches Zhou Yu and Zhou Yu finally reads and he widens his eyes as damn it! ZGL is brilliant! Because his advice covers everything, climate, ship, food, supplies, he anticipates problems and gives solutions and Zhou Yu isn't pleased.
Camp Cao Cao, Man Yeuk says Choi Mao needs 3 months to train the navy and Cao Cao has no patience and so Man Yeuk says "There is a way which will mean less than a month" and he suggests to Cao Cao to try and lure Zhou Yu to their side since without a commander Dong Wu will become messy but Man Yeuk says Zhou Yu can't be seduced by money, "Not with money... he has enough of those.. I heard a rumour that Zhou Yu is a man who values friendship and we have his school friend, Jiang Gan, the assistant and he can persuade Zhou Yu if we give him a good deal" and so Cao Cao agrees. Man Yeuk says they will discuss more when he returns from Xudu.
Jiang Gan goes to see Zhou Yu who receives him warmly but as they are talking about old times, Xiao Qiao plays the piano loudly (and she does so previously when Zhou Yu was discussing matters with his assistant and refuses to stop and told him to go to another room if she bothered him - spoilt brat!) and he gets a tad angry and complains about his wife. As Jiang Gan tells him Cao Cao's offer "Our teacher has always spoke highly of you, saying you were meant for greater things. That was like so many years ago and he was right, partly. My friend Gong Jin ..."
Gong Jin is his personal name I assume. Even Sun Quan calls him that.
"... your ambition should not be limited to a small place like Dong Wu. My master, Cao Cao can realise your true potential and will even give you Dong Wu in return.." and Zhou Yu looks interested but again the piano bothers him, he rushes out, comes back later and says he scolded his wife, etc which we know is B.S. and they spent time discussing about his marital problems, got very very drunk and Zhou Yu basically is so drunk, he can't move whilst Jiang Gan tries to carry him and then discovers a letter written by Choi Mao and Zhang Yun and quickly leaves after reading the contents.
To cut the long story short, he tells Cao Cao "I found this letter at my own personal risk. In it, Choi Mao and Zhang Yun pretends to pledge loyalty to master but in actual fact plans to assassinate you and bring back your heard to Zhou Yu!" and naturally Cao Cao is angry and Hon pushes for execution which Cao Cao agrees even though another assistant says let's wait for Man Yeuk but Cao Cao proceeds anyway.
Execution day, Choi Mao and Zhang Yun don't know why they're being executed until someone told them and basically Choi Mao dies saying "You will regret this Cao Cao!! Your navy will lose without my help!!"
Back at camp Lau Bei, they found out Cao Cao killed those 2 men and Zhou Yu is praised for his deception and quick thinking as Zhou Yu says "That Jiang Gan thinks I will treasure our friendship more when we now serve on different sides. I knew I must make use of his naive nature to my advantage" and so feels he has trump ZGL in this as ZGL and Lau Bei looks disturbed.
Camp Cao Cao, Man Yeuk returns and shocked he said "MASTER! YOU HAVE KILLED 2 INNOCENT MEN!!" as accusations were countered as he explains "Why would Zhou Yu let such an important document lie around so carelessly? Have we ever heard of Zhou Yu being so easily drunk? Never! He uses the simplest trick to trick you master into believing Choi Mao and Zhang Yun betrayed you! And why would he betray you? He could have left many months ago if he feels any injustice about his sister's death! But he stayed, and even worked in the minor capacity you allocated him, because he was bidding his time to rise again. And as I have said, he only want to win wars, he doesn't care about anything else!!!" and finally Cao Cao says "That bastard Zhou Yu! He tricked me!!" as Man Yeuk cries "I believed those rumours about his loyalty to friendship, I actually believed those rumours when Zhou Yu doesn't care about those. I am wrong! I am so wrong!!!"
Pause.
I pity Man Yeuk. He really is loyal to Cao Cao, and very cunning as well as reasonable. He should run to Lau Bei who would be a better master. Although Cao Cao does listen to him first and foremost. He balances between his duty to Cao Cao and his loyalty to friendship.
Continue.
He finds the 2 grave site for Choi Mao and Zhang Yun and he cries "My brother Choi Mao, I am so sorry! By asking you to serve my master and then by asking Jiang Gan to seek out Zhou Yu, I have caused your death and General Zhang's death! I foolishly believed Zhou Yu is a man who values friendship! I am so wrong! Please forgive me!!" as he kneels and pays his respect repeatedly, full of regret and he orders their bodies to be dug up and reburied at Yuebo Hill.
Pause.
I have a soft spot for Man Yeuk. I feels deep down he is a good man but problem is he works for Cao Cao because he is also ambitious but not so ambitious as to disregard old friendship or other talents, with the way he handled Lau Bei's old adviser and also in this instance. Unlike Hon, Man Yeuk is still a decent person underneath it all.
Continue.
Yuet Ying wins again in the chess game and she says "This time you lose because you were not concentrating. Is is about Commander Zhou Yu?" as ZGL admits how Zhou Yu gloats over the 2 men's death and his deception disturbs him as Yuet Ying says "Indeed, he could have sent his friend Jiang Gan to his death when he used that letter as a deception. But husband, you're both serving different masters, he did what he had to do, and I believe so will you" as ZGL says "No, I will not use such a dirty trick". Yuet Ying says "Husband, it is time of war. Such tricks are used often. Let me ask you a hypothetical question; If one day your master orders you to, will you betray your friend for the greater good?" and ZGL answers, "Never. I will find a way to persuade master and to find another solution" and Yuet Ying persists "But if there is no other way?" and ZGL says with determination "Never, I will never betray my friend".
And so you have it! ZGL says so! I am sure in 10 episodes he shall be faced with this dilemma and I do believe he will not betray Shun. Why? He is the good guy, he is the Z Man and he will rather 100000000000 men die in place of Shun than betray his friend. But why don't someone ask Shun; "Will you let 10000 people to die for you or you rather die in place of 10000 people?"
What will Shun say? Probably "No, but for my idol, I will".
Anyway I made a mistake. Zhou Yu doesn't just want to be THE adviser, he wants to be the greatest adviser on the land. With man like this, Sun Quan is destined to fail, but luckily Z Man is here.
No comment on performances except Tavia Yeung's raspy voice is bothering me.
Life is really worthless for a low-rank soldier. Strategist like Zhuge Liang can just send you to dead without a moment care.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading the abridged version of ROTK. This fact is even more clear to me reading the novel. I see leaders bringing tens of thousands of soldiers to battle and only the leader was rewarded. I read how those now legendary historical figure rally young people to be his army, but, whose name go down in history? Only that rallying person. No one mentioned the soldiers. They are just pawn. Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu were sworn brothers. But, after they effort in defeating a Yellow Bandit gang and helping another general in battle, only Liu Bei for promoted. His sworn brothers, still no rank.
Because Lau Bei is the leader. Of course he is promoted. And he in turn will promote his brothers. This is still the case in today's world.
Delete"excuse me ZGL, you abandoned the military meeting with impending war to look for your missing wife! Who are you to talk like that now?"
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. Lau Bei too.
Btw, Sun Shang Xiang, Sun Quan's younger sister is missing in the series. In history, SSX will marry Liu Bei later.
ReplyDeleteWah, all these servants to fierce in scolding Wan Shun. Discipline must be very lax in Lau Bei's household. Shun is an adviser. So, he should be higher rank than the maids. Even if they hated him, I don't think a maid can scold a hire rank adviser like that.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder. If everyone loves Song Yau so greatly, and Lau Bei and wives constantly said they treat Song Yau like their daughter, why did Lau Bei not officially adopt SY? She still has to do all the maid's work.
Because scriptwriter did not think of that.
DeleteAnyway Lau Bei is like a very lenient boss except when it comes to SY's marriage it seems.
Tavia's cry when she thought Shun was dead sound like 'che ha'. Luckily, she didn't cry like that this time.
ReplyDelete" Man Yeuk argues "I have known him personally for 30 years. He is a man who lives by 1 principle only; when in war, he must win. He will serve master faithfully and I have no doubt about that. "
ReplyDeleteThis is the man who get all panicky when he heard Cao Cao came to attack. It's his sister who asked him to stay calm. He doesn't sound like the man described by Man Yeuk.