EPISODE 4

Where to start for tonight's summary? Not to say it wasn't memorable but tonight talked about basically two people; Onn Sin and Yu Fei but still too many things happening at once. So I guess Onn Sin first.

Yee Soon realised she had to warn Onn Sin about not meddling into what she was doing as Eunuch Tsui has become very desperate in holding to his power. It seems the Emperor was keen on eradicating corruption and Eunuch Tsui was very afraid the investigation may lead to him, an obviously corrupt official. So he must make sure Yee Soon and gang must make it as favourite concubines of the Emperor. Eunuch Tsui loved Yee Soon the most so she was given a special task; to get rid of meddling people. So what she did was when practising walking she put a needle into her own shoes and when she got hurt, Yuk Ying dramatically blamed Onn Sin. Onn Sin was sorry since she didn't know how it happened but the eunuch in charge was very offended when Onn Sin volunteered to pay penalty for her wrongdoing. The eunuch said she was respected amongst the palace maids and very experienced and since she was leaving next year AND she volunteered to pay penalty only meant Onn Sin didn't quite care about her job anymore and the eunuch was very angry she can be so careless and in a way he was trying to put her down. I wonder though which gang Onn Sin belonged to? The Empress? Maybe not. Maybe neutral. The eunuch also said she must take good care of these candidates because any one of them may be the most favoured concubine so this was like some investment you see. And then Yee Soon walked in and said it was her own fault she left the needle in her own shoes. Onn Sin was forgiven. And when Yee Soon and Onn Sin were alone, Yee Soon in a very gentle but conniving way in effect told Onn Sin to mind her own business or else she would regret it. Onn Sin was very upset but said nothing.

Onn Sin then left and bumped into good friend of hers whose name I could not remember. That girl was crying and Onn Sin realised this young maid was abused by Yu Fei's gang although she worked in Yu Fei's chambers because she was sent there by the Empress and they thought she was spying when she was not. Onn Sin consoled her and assured her time will pass by soon enough for her to leave the palace and Onn Sin will by then wait for her at her village to teach her how to play the flute. She and Onn Sin were from the same village. The girl was happier but then Yu Fei's ke-po eunuch arrived and told the girl to fetch the younger Dr Suen and Onn Sin was curious.

Suen Bak Yeung was on his way to see Yu Fei when he was stopped by his father who said Suen's secret visits to give secret medication and secret cure is not right and the Empress will soon discover. In fact the relevant officials were informed and they're investigating younger Suen. Younger Suen asked how they knew and older Suen said "Because I told them. I saw (I think he either meant bird or insect or moth) flying into our house and I knew that was your mother. I have promised your mother before she died (it could be on her dying bed but that would be a mistake since older Suen wasn't with Mrs Suen when she died so it must have meant an earlier event) that I would take care of you. You must turn back now, go away until these things settle down and the Empress would never know..." but Bak Yeung refused.

Once outside, we see Hung Mo and gang doing renovation. Later we will know that they were renovating Chan Fei's room. Anyway one guy fell from rooftop and was seriously injured. Suen passed by, took one look and said he was dying and nothing he could do. When he walked away, Hung Mo took that as refusal to treat that boy because they were lowly servants since in Hung Mo's mind who have met Bak Yeung several times that this man was arrogant and looked down on him. Hung Mo and sworn brother accused Bak Yeung of differential treatment and a coward. They only stopped when a eunuch told them to shut up and Bak Yeung reluctantly left. Maybe that boy IS dying but Hung Mo was prejudiced against Bak Yeung.

Bak Yeung reached Yu Fei and told her that she will suffer a miscarriage or maybe give birth to a stillborn unless she gives birth now at 7 months. Yu Fei thought long and hard and was very desperate that she said yes but she warned Bak Yeung he could lose his head if he fails and to Bak Yeung if he fails now or later he will still lose his head so why not now? And then the Empress arrived.

The Empress came bearing gifts but Yu Fei did not accept them. She didn't say no outright, Po Shim her maid cunningly took away the dim sum and Yu Fei said she can't eat sweet stuff now. The maid took away the hot tea given by the Empress and when she gave Yu Fei some incense to burn, the maid deliberately but making it look like accident bumped into the pot of whatever you call it. Yu Fei pretended to be angry and wanted to punish Po Shim but the Empress said let it be and she left, good naturedly. So far Empress not evil yet but the Empress did say something which would be tonight's most memorable line;

"My dear sister (as in Yu Fei) you must be careful with your first child. After all it is the Emperor's son. I have experience since I bore the Emperor THREE sons"

Ahhh who can beat that eh?

Anyway Yu Fei was so upset her tummy was upset and Bak Yeung said was the time to give birth. Yu Fei reluctantly trusted Bak Yeung but when she was in pain she said to Bak Yeung "Do you know what you're doing? If you can't save my child, leave now!" but Bak Yeung arrogantly said "My lady, if I can't save you, no one can".

Whilst she was giving birth, Onn Sin's good friend, the one that got bullied was told to catch a toad whilst it was raining heavily. She followed the toad into Yu Fei's room (living room) and wind blew and the Goddess of Mercy Bearing Children fell and was basically broken. The eunuch saw it and the girl was so scared she ran away. Po Shim was told what happened and she said to the Eunuch "Are you crazy to let her go? Find her. It's either her or us and why must you cover for her? Better be her than us!"

So he searched for the girl in the name of Yu Fei by saying "Whoever can find this maid, will be rewarded by Yu Fei" when Yu Fei was busy giving birth. Onn Sin found out and she too went looking.

Meanwhile Hung Mo and sworn brother was in Chan Fei's room as sworn brother found some pieces of jewelry in there when Hung Mo heard that familiar music. He went to look for it and heard the music coming from the bottom of a well. He threw down a rope and out came that poor palace maid, shaking with fear. They went back to Chan Fei's room and she told them what happened and they didn't understand how such a small issue can be blown so big. Then they heard someone coming and sworn brother and this girl hid at the back.

It was Onn Sin looking for the girl. She asked why this guy was there and Hung Mo said he was there to take a leak when it rained. She didn't bother with him until she saw the flute she gave the girl lying on the floor. The girl immediately ran out and hugged Onn Sin. Onn Sin thought Hung Mo and gang did something indecent to her but she said they were nice people and she was very apologetic for thinking otherwise. And then the eunuch came and Onn Sin told Hung Mo to get her out of the palace. When Onn Sin faced the eunuch she was cool. The Eunuch asked "What are you doing here? Hiding that maid?" and Onn Sin said "I too am looking for her" and the eunuch said "Everybody knows both of you are best friends" and Onn Sin was offended and said "Are you implying I am lying to you?" and eunuch said "You know Yu Fei will punish you if you lie. Give the girl to me!" and then Hung Mo said "I have the girl with me!" and I like Onn Sin thought TRAITOR!

Next scene Yu Fei successfully gave birth to a baby.

Back to Hung Mo, eunuch said "You will be rewarded!" and Hung Mo said "What if I can prove she didn't break the statue?" and eunuch said "How dare you to suggest so?" and Hung Mo said "It was the spirits in this room" and the eunuch was like are you joking with me and Hung Mo held up a shiny piece of jewelry he found on the floor and something dark swooped down and took it away, happened again the second time and then Hung Mo said to eunuch to climb the ladder and take something down and indeed it was a nest full of shiny stuff and the statue's head and they were birds! What birds exactly I can't say, I know what they are I just can't bloody remember the name right now except for the Malay name, Burung Gagak. Anyone knows please help me here. So Hung Mo said the bird knocked down the statue and took away the head and then the eunuch understood why they heard bells ringing in Chan Fei's room and realised one of the bird's got the bell stuck on its feet so that was why. There was no ghosts! Case solved. And yes, CROWS. Aiyah why so difficult to remember.

Next scene also the last scene Yu Fei, exhausted and all asked Bak Yeung "A prince or princess?" and Bak Yeung looked reluctant to say and said "A princess" and Yu Fei looked very worried and the end for tonight.

Tomorrow will be a sad day for Onn Sin. I must say who says Onn Sin no role? So far lots of role.
Story wise tonight is ok. I like the story of Onn Sin and how she tried to avoid trouble so that she can leave safely and yet can't help herself to meddle in some matters as she simply cannot let injustice be perpetrated. The encounter between Onn Sin and Yee Soon was icy to the core and it reminded Onn Sin on how cruel the palace is and how conniving Yee Soon is. So far I do not pity Yu Fei after all she hurt so many people for self preservation.

Performance wise quite ok tonight.

For one, Gigi Lai had very little scenes and for that I am thankful.

Charmaine had more to do today and although her performance is still lacking her character does resemble a bit of Chow Chi Yeuk in HSDS. But she was prettier back then (in fact prettiest back then) and very soft and yet scheming. I would like Yee Soon to be like that. Somehow now Charmaine just didn't cut it. But She was ok in the scene with Maggie. But frankly Maggie was magnificent as she looked downward, eyes cast down and looking a bit worried as she was threatened. Very good performance.

Sheren Tang was wonderful with her worries and all but I still can't like Yu Fei. Rebecca Chan was really quite wonderful although she has yet to show her true evil colours so to speak. I must say best costume award belongs to the Empress. She looked stunning.

Bowie was bearable. He is still reciting his lines and I wonder what happened? He is a great actor but why here like robot?
Moses was more expressive in so many ways but of course Suen Bak Yeung can't be THAT expressive but I could differentiate between reciting lines and good acting and Bowie didn't cut it tonight. Moses was ok.

Everybody else was ok, no one bad enough for me to notice or good enough for me to remember his or her name.

One mention though; Chan Hung Lit should have been dubbed. When he spoke slowly I can understand him but the moment he was speaking urgently, sorry to say I was like "Chen xian sheng, ni dau di shuo sum mo, wo bu ming bai!" Might as well this be a Mandarin series. Quite a torture to understand what he was saying.

This episode again had too much dialogue using sometimes difficult words and yet very inconsistent in the sense of using modern words as well.

I think tomorrow's episode would be very interesting as we see what happen to that poor palace maid. By the way this girl was ok. She did bring out the fear in that character very well, like shaking all over like she was really really afraid. Wonder who she is?

To me still Maggie Cheung's Onn Sin is still most interesting and she really looked quite a concubine in the costume as seen in the MV BUT all too too old.

- For screencaps of this episode do check out Sehseh's WAB page -