What makes the rendition of identity, intimacy and balance even deeper is its extension to community. After some challenges and intrigue from neighbors, newfound friends and the law, Yan Zheng and Changyu celebrate the lunar new year by writing couplets. This is another episode where I found my folklorist role activated.
The couplet scene is where intimacy becomes public because
married life is part of community. And in this particular scene, Yan Zheng
teaches Ning, Changyu's little sister, how to read and showing her how to
write. The Marquis is not only a military elite. He is also a scholar and a
poet. When the neighbors read Yan Zheng's couplet, they asked him to write for
them especially at the time when the lone scholar left Lin'an for the capital.
I’m already smitten at Yan Zheng at this point. Seeing him interact with the village elders, men and women who cannot write well or express their beliefs and dreams found a scribe who can help them articulate their desired grace. Changyu is the luckiest girl in the world. Yan Zheng, aka Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an was inscribing himself into her world.
As our one true pair assimilates in community, we see a
temporary equilibrium built on asymmetrical truths: she holds social
legitimacy. He holds hidden power. And the romantic and moral tension thickens.
That’s why when Lin'an was plundered, violated and destroyed it was a necessary
rupture. Episode 17 was difficult to watch. Seeing Lin'an fall was tragic
because it challenges the intimacy, identity and balance in an enclosure that
allowed these themes and elements to grow.
Next post: Act 2 - Revelation in Love and Alignment in War
