A Dream of Splendor Episode 10 Recap
> A Dream of Splendor Recap
Sun Sanniang was older than Zhao Pan'er and Song Yinzhang, and deeply understood social etiquette. Although she was brave and chivalrous, she would also consider that Chi Yanei had some influence in Tokyo. It was better to have one more friend than one more enemy, so she borrowed the inn's kitchen to make flower pastries and planned to send them as an apology. Unexpectedly, this borrowing attracted the innkeeper's wife.
As soon as she stared at the plate of pastries, her eyes would sparkle, like a hungry wolf preying, wishing she could snatch them all up. When she learned that the flower pastries were made by Sun Sanniang, the innkeeper's wife almost treated her like her own mother and worshipped her, only calming down when Sun Sanniang agreed to make pastries just for her.
Seeing Sun Sanniang and Zhao Pan'er leave one after another, only Song Yinzhang had nothing to do, so she simply came to the street alone. She happened to encounter the courtesan Zhang Haohao on a magnificent parade. The people scrambled to line the streets to watch, just to catch a glimpse of her elegance, and the person leading her horse was none other than MasterLiu Jiu, the best lyricist in the world.
Although they were both government courtesans from the music bureau, Song Yinzhang's experience was vastly different from Zhang Haohao's. Especially upon hearing that Zhang Haohao could perform for the officials and was infinitely glorious, she couldn't help but feel envious. Zhang Haohao, having heard about Chi Yanei's incident at the Sanyuan Inn, immediately went to find them and happened to meet Song Yinzhang face-to-face.
Because they admired each other, they simply collaborated on a tune in the pavilion, which sounded like celestial music. Zhang Haohao had always been arrogant, believing her singing voice was unparalleled in the world. Until today, upon seeing Song Yinzhang, she had never imagined there was such a skilled pipa player. Her fondness for her grew even more, and their conversation was quite cheerful. As for Song Yinzhang's misunderstanding about Chi Yanei, Zhang Haohao truthfully explained the reason.
In fact, Chi Yanei had never looked down on women from entertainment districts; after all, his mother had left her status and married into a good family. On the contrary, for Zhang Haohao, being born into a music household did not make them inferior. They were not like ordinary courtesans who flaunted themselves; the effort they put in was no less than others.
If they were truly as lowly and despicable as the outside world claimed, then serving people with their looks would be despicable, but living honestly and with a clear conscience by earning a living with their skills was truly living with dignity. Because of Zhang Haohao's words, Song Yinzhang gradually regained her confidence, so she followed Sun Sanniang to find Zhao Pan'er.
At this time, Uncle De ran to the yamen to summon help, bringing the ward officials to falsely accuse Zhao Pan'er and others of extorting Ouyang Xu, and even intended to strip off their clothes on the street to humiliate them. Zhao Pan'er and the other two got into a conflict with the soldiers and were then brutally beaten until Ouyang Xu appeared and stopped it.
Ouyang Xu feigned indifference and looked at Zhao Pan'er, ordering her to leave Tokyo as soon as possible. But Zhao Pan'er felt inexplicably disgusted and disappointed by his attitude and did not accept the silver he offered. After receiving benefits, the ward officials paraded Zhao Pan'er, Song Yinzhang, and Sun Sanniang through the streets as a public spectacle, looking utterly miserable. Fortunately, they met Gu Qianfan outside the city suburbs.
However, to avoid implicating him, they refused to return to Tokyo. Gu Qianfan deliberately angered Zhao Pan'er. His words struck at the heart of their pain. Sun Sanniang and Song Yinzhang were unwilling to return to Qiantang like this and decided to stay and make a name for themselves. Finally, the people from the Capital Security Office escorted them to the medical clinic. Gu Qianfan personally applied medicine to Zhao Pan'er's wounds, gently and carefully.
Afterwards, he ordered his men to arrest the ward officials. He originally intended to detain them at the Capital Security Office, but was stopped by Zhao Pan'er. Zhao Pan'er considered that Gu Qianfan had only recently returned to Tokyo and didn't need to offend others for her sake, lest he incur the displeasure of the Gao family and get implicated.
In fact, Ouyang Xu was afraid that Zhao Pan'er would stay in Tokyo, and also that the Gao family would know he still had a marriage engagement. Therefore, Zhao Pan'er asked the ward officials to write a written statement about Ouyang Xu colluding with the yamen officials, planning to settle accounts with Ouyang Xu after the matter was resolved. However, the urgent priority was to find lodging.
Zhao Pan'er was preparing to return to the inn when Chen Lian happened to be a local of Tokyo. His family had an unused small courtyard nearby where Zhao Pan'er and the others could stay for the time being. Zhao Pan'er could not politely decline Chen Lian's kind offer, so she took Sun Sanniang and Song Yinzhang there. Unexpectedly, the so-called small courtyard was actually a large mansion with three courtyards in and three courtyards out.
The furnishings inside were complete, and rockeries, ponds, and pavilions could be seen everywhere. After Chen Lian left, Song Yinzhang couldn't help but think that Gu Qianfan held a high position and might be able to arrange for her to be removed from the music household register. However, Zhao Pan'er and Sun Sanniang advised her not to trouble others again.
Although Zhao Pan'er had extended a helping hand when Gu Qianfan was in trouble, Gu Qianfan had also helped them repeatedly, which was enough to show that he understood propriety, and they should know when to advance and when to retreat. Therefore, Zhao Pan'er believed that the valuable thing for a person was self-reliance and should not place hope on anyone. Furthermore, Gu Qianfan often dealt with extremely vicious people, which could very likely implicate Song Yinzhang.
Sure enough, Song Yinzhang immediately dismissed the idea. Unexpectedly, Gu Qianfan, who heard Zhao Pan'er's words from the room, couldn't help but tease her a couple of times, saying he wanted to see the condition of her shoulder wound. After touring the courtyard, Sun Sanniang hurried over to call Zhao Pan'er and happened to walk in on her and Gu Qianfan's intimate interactions, which startled her greatly. Chen Lian also brought his colleagues over to help, and the atmosphere became particularly strange.
