Dashing Youth (2024): Rewatch [Episodes 9-10]

##Welcome to the fifth discussion post for a Dashing Youth rewatch. This post is for Episodes 9-10.

Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8

!!! PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS FOR ANYTHING BEYOND THE CURRENT EPISODES AND ANYTHING FROM BOTH BLOOD RIVER AND BLOOD OF YOUTH!!!

Infos about the drama can be found in the old masterpost.

You can also find a translated relationship chart here. If you download the picture it should be big enough to actually be readable.

That’s our first quarter of the show done! Or the first page of epsiodes on viki, were I’m watching because Youku really lacks a 10 seconds back/forward button. I didn’t knew before this rewatch how useful that is for episode discussions.

Ep. 9

New to the show:

Prince Qing - Xiao Xie, one of Xiao Ruofeng’s brothers and the second prince. Wants the throne, like 99% of princes we see in this shows.

Night-time activities

Baili Dongjun recognises someone is near, but surprise: He is not talking about Ye Dingzhi but Ji Ruofeng, who is here for the promised training session. They leave and YDZ does his own praying and reminiscing about the past. He has no offerings with him but does a neat demonstration of the sword skills he learned over the years.

BLDJ gets a demonstration of ‘Falling Flowers and Flowing Water’, the internal strength skill JRF wants to teach him. It uses up quite a bit of BLDJ’s liquor collection. Lei Mengsha and Xiao Ruofeng are watching from a distance and while LMS wants to interfere XRF knows exactly who JRF is and seems to have a hand in arranging the whole thing.

Three days to go

Everyone is after the questions for the preliminary exam Liu Yue is preparing. It seems to be a bit of a tradition to leak them early to let the candidates prepare more, because it’s only the first step in the whole process. LMS tries to get them for BLDJ. I guess the poison bit has him completely in this young master’s corner (though he also seems to like him just fine without that incentive).

Under threat of being made the chief examiner for the next years as well Liu Yue gives in. His test will be about other things than the regular civil or military matters. A bit vague, but he seems to want interesting candidates, that have interests of their own and not those that only learn for the regular questions on similar tests.

Meanwhile BLDJ trains his internal strength and has made some progress. Which leads to LMS getting a cold shower after announcing the ‘Beyond Civil and Military’ exam topic to BLDJ. He is not the only one irritated by that. Yue Yao overhears some guys talking about it in a tavern in Tianqi, where YDZ is also enjoying a meal. She also orders some new clothes at a tailor, ready in three days so lining up with the exam.

The big day

A small time skip later and the exam starts at the Qianjin Gambling House. An odd and new arrangement, but for Liu Yue the whole exam is a bit like gambling, because you either win your place at the academy or you loose all of your preparation time. BLDJ makes a big entrance and stumbles into YDZ, who seems to have taken an interest in joining the test as well. They both also have the same odds on them about getting into the academy. The whole peach incident really throws a long shadow on BLDJ.

The exam begins and everybody gets 12 hours to show talents beside the arts and military prowess. There are a few observers around like Prince Qing, who is one the lookout for talented people that will help him ascend the throne. The emperor and his head eunuch, despite not being in attendance are also discussing the exams, BLDJ being a candidate and which of the princes are involved in all of this.

The examinee are preparing for various displays of craftsmanship from cooking to woodwork. We get a nice looking montage of various skills. At the same time BLDJ is still waiting for whatever he ordered to be brought to him and YDZ also seems to idle. The first candidate tries to show of his go playing skills but is bested by Ling Su, Liu Yue’s ten year old maidservant.

Then BLDJ gets his liquor brewing started, while YDZ prepares a freshly slaughtered lamb leg. They seem to complement each other still, though BLDJ still remains in the dark about YDZ’s true identity. YDZ’s meat preparation spark Prince Qing’s interest.

The first successful candidate is Yan Feifei, who shows of her qinggong skills (unless you are my writing software, that wants to give her Klingon skills). Next up is Yue Yao in disguise and under a false name – Yin Luoxia (BoY >!Yes, same name as the Xueyue City master with the affinity for gambling!<) who wants to be tested in gambling. BLDJ doesn’t quite recognise her without the veil, but YDZ remembers seeing her in the tavern a few days before.

Ep. 10

New to the show:

Tu Wan - second Master Tu of Qianjin Gambling House BR: >!Same actor as in Blood River!<

Zhuge Yun - another candidate at the examination for the academy with reality warping powers

Gambling

Master Tu seems to recognise the name Yin Luoxia. Before it is settled who exactly will test her skills, Tu Wan, the second master of the gambling house is brought back to also attend the rest of the exam – and easily roped into testing her on her skills. They settle on Tien Gow in the domino version and recruit BLDJ and YDZ. I have no clue about that game, but BLDJ doesn’t seem to have one either, so I feel less bad about it.

But Yue Yao gets a very rare combination that astonishes a lot of the people watching. She also seems to have out-cheated Tu Wan. The girl she is posing as also seems to be the daughter of the former King of Gambling, who became famous at ten years old for reclaiming her father’s title after he had lost it. Yuo Yao passes the exam. Seems like everybody wants to become BLDJ’s classmate. Another candidate, Zhuge Yun, shows of his mastery of Qimen Dunjia, a reality distorting formation, that also gets him a pass.

Liquor and Lamb

As the time limit is nearly at it’s end BLDJ and YDZ present their work. BLDJ has to compete with another guy presenting his own liquor though. They are definitely all more impressed with BLDJ’s, as expected. YDZ’s lamb meat is appreciated as well and he talks about his philosophy of travelling the world. That makes BLDJ compare him to his childhood friend that he is. But it’s still not to the time and place for an outing. The other liquor brewer is also revealed to have cheated with smuggling in already prepared liquor. I guess that way we don’t have to feel bad about him trying this exact year, having to go up against BLDJ and not standing a chance. Both BLDJ and YDZ pass.

Aftermath

Liu Yue gets praise from his master for narrowing down the candidates from 100 to 16. The whole preliminary exam also made him curious about the young people tested and he reveals that he wants to take one of them as his disciple.

YDZ has his meeting with Prince Qing. He doesn’t want fame, power, wealth or women from their possible cooperation, but also doesn’t disclose what he really desires. Prince Qing agrees to give it to him anyway, without knowing. As viewers we can speculate that it might have to something with avenging his family, but the ‘poor’ prince didn’t do enough of a background check to realise YDZ is really not the people you want to align with if your surname is Xiao. Especially if you were present when the judgment against the general and his family was proclaimed as we learn from another flashback. Which hints at Prince Qing being deeper involved in that whole buisness.

At the academy BLDJ gets a visit from XRF and LMS and asked which candidate he doesn’t want to compete with in the further examination. He names YDZ.

Meanwhile Yue Yao writes to the real Yin Luoxia to tell her about the whole ordeal and to get her up to speed about the identity theft. She seems to have learned her gambling skills from her, at least enough to trick everyone. Mo Qixuan catches up with her, clearly not very fond of the disguise she is in, but also more or less only to let her know he is there. Zi Yuji doesn’t agree with that. They both don’t seem to be on the same page about a lot of things.

Bookending

We end this two episodes the same as we started: BLDJ has his last training session with JRF. BLDJ learns that ‘Falling Flowers and Flowing Water’ is actually called Autumn Water Technique and the whole backstory of the technique Gu Chen invented. JRF also finally reveals his identity to his short term student.

XRF and LMS are observing once more and XRF deems YDZ and Zhuge Yun the other canidated to look out for. The prince also calls LMS out on his big concerns for BLDJ, but he finds an excuse instead of talking about the threats by BLDJ’s mom.

Question:

1. What skill would you have tried to pass the exam with?