The Story of Ming Lan Episode 2

Early character development

As mentioned, everything in this show is meticulously planned. Every word, evern the way people stand, sends a meaning, The dialogue is extremely clever and often like a dance between people. That said:

1) Old Madame (the granny of the house) is considering personally taking one of the three daughters under her wing. None of the children understand the importance of this because they are kids. Master Sheng is angling for his favorite, Mo’er (the daughter of his favorite concubine Lin) to be chosen. Mo’er meets privately with her grandmother and already exhibits some early signs of ‘bad qualities’. She reads poetry to her grandmother (later to be her best skill) and argues with her grandmother when she asks her to go eat. Mo’er doesn’t see her grandmother is being considerate of her because she has not yet eaten nor does she pick up on the comment ‘you were taught by your mother and are like her’ which is actually a criticism.

2) Later Mo’er (the eldest sister)throws a tantrum in her mothers room. Her mother explains she must get on Old Madame’s good side because it will be good for her future and reduce chances of her starving a fear that Mo’er will always have (and a very understandable fear) hence she is being taught to lie and manipulate as early as ten to protect herself and this will impact her decisions for the rest of the show. Hence, always be mindful that everything Mo’er does is often motivated by her own fears and insecurities. Some are valid, but they were all taught by her mother.

3)While out, Gu Ting Ye and eldest Sheng Brothers boat is attacked and Gu falls into the water, presumably dead

.4)At the request of Ming Lan, Master Sheng visits her mother, concubine Wei. It is evident to the viewer it is on a whim but to Ming Lan it is the world. Concubine Wei has a tiny little room while Lin ( favorite) has a massive pavilion. Sheng inquires on her health as she is pregnant and they make polite small talk. Eventually, Ming Lan (who is only 8) ignores her mothers earlier words and tells her father of all the terrible things they have endured: not enough food or coal and they are being bullied. Her mother tries to silence her but it does not work. Ming Lan does not know it yet, but her actions will have disastrous consequences for the life of her mother, unborn brother, maids serving her mother, etc. and will be the biggest learning experience of her life. Ming Lan believes her father will seek justice of them.

5)Note, reader, that Master Sheng goes to Big Madame to complain. It triggers an argument. Big Madame’s servant reminds him that Mistress Lin is in fact in charge of this as she currently has the keys (again, an unheard of action as it creates confusion in the house in terms of chain of command etc.) . Master Sheng is now between a rock and a hard place he likely would never have addressed this if he remembered Lin was in charge but now he must. Worse, his legal wife will surely pounce on this opportunity to punish Lin so a minor incident like coal has blown up to a fight between the favored concubine and main wife, and miss Wei with no power is caught in it.

6)Eldest brother is rescued from the water, GunTing Ye is Not.

7) The family is searching for a thief, as the items owed to concubine Wei must be somewhere (someone is taking them and not giving them to her). All the items are found in the room of the personal servant serving Concubine Wei, xaiodie. It is fairly obvious from Big Madames face that she does not believe this farce but she has no reason to stand up for xiaodie as she is not her servant. She does not really care. In addition, her husband has clearly made up his mind,

8) Concubine Wei tries to ask for a thorough investigation but Concubine Lin insists she is a softy (these are very clever words that undermine Weis argument it casts her as someone unreliable as she will be seen as weak and easily tricked). The Master is uninterested in investigating because Wei now has the items she needed. He is clearly annoyed by the situation, and although Big Madame sees this as another instance of Madame Lin acting out she focuses not on Concubine Wei’s matter but the wrongs she is experiencing. This shows the household is messy and Wei is merely an innocent bystander. No one here to back her.

9)In an act of desperation, Concubine Wei gets on her knees and insists that xiaodie merely be fired because to have her executed would be bad luck for the recently married Hu’er. Everything changes when they are interrupted Changbai returns, beaten, and reports the attack. You can see the difference immediately Master Sheng and Big Madame are in a panic to assist the heir, Ming Lan and her mother forgotten. Hu’er’s husband is in a panic because gu ting is missing he never let on that he brought with him the son of a military general and Marquis (who has his own problems that make the Sheng problems look like a Disney movie you will see)

.10)Taking advantage of the confusion, Mistress Lin visits with the doctor who tells her to update her on Concubine Wei’s pregnancy and to keep it between them because the rest of the house is overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the search for Gu Ting Ye is in full swing. Xiaodie is kicked out of the house and xiaodia (I know the names are similar) stops to give her a parting gift, a bracelet, the last of her dowry.

11)The badly decomposed body of a boy identified as Gu Ting based on his clothes is found. Meanwhile, Ming Lan is happy that her mother is not cold and views this as their luck improving. Plenty of food. Her mother has so many servants now she can only sit and eat and relax.

12)The husband of Hu’er is in a panic because he must explain this to the Marquis. A funeral is held, and a ton of relatives for the boy appear.

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