The Story of Ming Lan Episode 33

A Stoic Wedding & Concubine Lin's Exile

This is an emotional episode for a lot of reasons, I think, because it involves the mother-daughter-father relationship of Concubine Lin and Mo'er.A very stone-faced Big Madame and Minister Sheng provide the bare minimum of words necessary for Mo'er as she bows to them. The atmosphere is so tense you can cut it with a knife. Mo'er shows some emotion as she seeks her father's approval but he makes it apparent that she is marrying into a big lord's home, so she needn't return. And he asks her why she is crying, since she chose this path.Concubine Lin tries to follow the family out but is held back and Mo'er is shaken by this but before getting into her palaquin she swears she will not regret this. An angry Concubine Lin is forced back into her room--it is sad that she cannot see her daughter wed, especially after all the effort she put into this marriage. Suddenly, she is dragged away and beaten until she is unconscious, and even then it is apparent that Master Sheng is upset that she chose to do this, upset by her lies, upset at hismelf. He cries. It is a super well acted scene.After, she is sent to exile. To live on a farmstead. They then must decide how to get rid of the servants serving her to avoid attracting attention. Ming Lan, meanwhile, appears eerily calm. She prays to her mother, and it is evident that she views this as administration of justice for her murder by Concubine Lin. She does not seem to be ruffled at all. She then secretly follows Lin to her exile, and just sits there silently. Concubine Lin is still recovering from her beating, and she puts two and two together, realizing that Ming Lan essnetilly set a trap for her and then exposed the crime to everyone. She appears to be angry, shocked, and her last words are begging Ming Lan to tell her what she is planning (I think she is worried Ming Lan will hurt her children).Old Madame has been trying to figure out why Ming Lan followed her. She returns and asks for time before she tells her what she has been about. Old Madame hazards a guess literally right before Ming Lan tells her, and is utterly shocked by the depth of the plot, the risks Ming Lan took, all alone. Instead of being afraid of her, or disgusted by her actions, she first makes it clear none can know of this matter, and then holds her close (she does get one slap for her foolishness) and she apologizes that her inability to uphold justice back then has led her to do these things. MW, Big Madame learns that Concubine Lin is ill. She is dying. She is shocked....and scared. What frightens her the most about this whole thing is that he doesn't hate Consort Lin for what she did, but for once being honest about her feelings for him and her intentions. It makes her cry, perhaps because she is direct person and her own personality may have driven him into the arms of Lin--it puts things into perspective for her. Either way it is upsetting that Lin is not being punished for her crime.We end with Ming lan saying she regretted nothing to her grandmother....Concubine LinSo Lin is gone, but I imagine another wolf will take her place! Ming Lan may be sensible but we see a trait that is both good and bad: she cares about justice but her actions are guided by emotion and so she could have potentially ruined her family for revenge. And she did not regret it. Did she do the right thing?

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