Thanks to Kappy for compiling all the lovely screenshots 🙂
Episode 2 Recap:
Before I begin, just note that Wan Ma Tang is the same as 10,000 Horses Pavilion/Temple; if anyone has a better translation of Wan Ma Tang pls let me know!~
Hong Xue and Ma Fang Ling are in the midst of their fight, twirling and doing all those acrobatics.
Then, after Hong Xue cuts off a bit of Fang Ling’s hair and her face is revealed, they have “the moment” where they just stare at each other and meet each other for the first time. You can see both of their eyes just change and have that chemistry when they stare at each other.
Then time unfreezes, and Hong Xue brings his sword towards Fang Ling.
Ye Kai sees that Fang Ling is about to be severed and quickly grabs a hairpin from Ding Ling Lin’s hair and flicks it towards Hong Xue, making him drop his sword. The assassins talk over it, asking, “Which person with great martial arts could have blocked such a quick sword blow.”
Hong Xue fights among the soldiers on the ground, (very impressively, if I might add) but eventually he allows himself to be captured and two swords are held to his neck. He has a flashback to his mom telling him to make Fang Ling fall in love with him as it will help them get to Ma Kong Qun and kill him.
Fang Ling flies down from the carriage, and checks her hair in the mirror. Then, she turns to the matter at hand.
She asks for her sword afterwards, to kill Hong Xue. But Feng Shu, one of the guys by her side keeps telling her not to, because she won’t be following the “Ma Wan Tang manners” (Ma Wan Tang is the group Fang Ling and all the people there belong to. It’s kinda like a Sect but they call it the 10,000 Horses Pavilion/Temple). The guy in the white agrees and begs her to think again.
So they bicker, Fang Ling determined to kill Hong Xue, since, “If his sword was only 3 inches nearer, he would have cut off my head, not my hair. If my dad hadn’t asked me to replace him, coming to the Border City, the thing that would have dropped onto the ground would have been his head.”
Feng Shu just laughs, “That guy isn’t even his match. We don’t need to care about such a small matter.”
Of course, Fang Ling is gravely offended, and then he goes on to make more banter. The assassins talk about this from their high perch and conclude that Feng Shu must be contesting Fang Ling over some leadership rights.
At this moment, Ye Kai makes an appearance. He tells Ding Ling Lin to stay where she is and she’s all like, “I’m not going to let you go to the excitement without me.” with her one expression.
He tells them that he’s Mu Rong Ming Zhu after butting into the conversation and proceeds to defend his fiancee by telling her that if she is bullied in the future he can help, and by also making rude comments to Feng Shu (So he’s doing it the MRMZ way). Then, they turn to Hong Xue again. Feng Shu and his buddy ask him for his opinion and he says, “Kill him, of course.”
The white guy gives him his own sword. Then, Ye Kai proceeds for the kill. But he stops halfway, going back to his fiancee and saying, “We can’t kill him.” She, of course, asks why, and he proceeds to list a bunch of reasons. The main reason he gives goes something like this “Most people are sent to kill by their employer. Take him back and interrogate him. If he doesn’t say anything, lock him up, just do whatever you want with him.”
Fang Ling says, “Good Idea,” and calls for her lackeys to take him away. She slashes him on the cheek and says, “I’ll let you go for MRMZ, and let you live for a few more days.”
She tells her bodyguard to bring him away. That’s when Ding Ling Lin catches up to Ye Kai. She punches him playfully and says, “Wait up, wait up.” He gives her a death glare and says, “Who let you come here?” She says, “Why can’t I come with you?” Then she turns her attention to Fang Ling and jabs at her saying, “Who is she?”
He elbows her, trying to remedy the situation, but she’s already on to talking again, “You’re Ma Kong Qun’s daughter right?You’re so beautiful.” Fang Ling asks who she is and Ye Kai cuts her off to say that she’s her personal servant and asks her to teach Ding Ling Lin a few things as she has “bad manners”. She glares at him.
Before Cui Nong and the others leave, someone asks her if she wants to go down to see Ma Fang Ling again since it’s been a long time since they’ve last met. Cui Nong shakes her head and says, “Haven’t I seen her now?”
Meanwhile, Fang Ling is giving Ye Kai and Ding Ling Lin the rundown of her father’s accomplishments and the establishment of the Ma Wan Tang. She’s about to ramble on about how she wished she could be a guy to step up to be the successor but her bodyguard coughs gently and she goes back to business.
Back to Hong Xue, who’s beaten a few times in front of Fang Ling.
Then, Fang Ling says, “Of the people who want to kill my dad, there are two kinds. One kind is living a torturous life in the Wan Ma Tang, working for us, the other kind is dead.”
Then Hong Xue says, “If you want to lock up all the people who want to kill your dad you should have a bigger jail cell.” (Great words, great words.)
To that, Fang Ling only says, “All right, then I want to see if your mouth is stronger than your bones.”
Hong Xue is tortured later by the bodyguard, as they try to pry the truth out of him. Of course, he doesn’t say anything. Some of his future inmates try to bet on whether he’ll speak or not. If he doesn’t tell who his employer is, his future inmates will get no dinner.
The bodyguard doesn’t get any reaction from him at all, even after increasing his torment methods and he is dumped into the cell, in for some more torture as the mad inmates punch him and beat him up. The head of the inmates says something like “We’ve worked so hard today, and we get no dinner thanks to you. Welcome him into our home guys.”
He gets beaten up and blood streams down his forehead. He looks pretty defeated right now, but I’m sure that his inner spirit is still strong!
The next day, Ye Kai and Fang Ling decide to go around for a bit on the famous horses of the Thousand Horses. Hong Xue is picked to be the one Fang Ling steps on to get on her horse. Hong Xue resists quite a bit, but is finally forced down by the guards by his side. Right when Fang Ling steps on him, he stands up, making Fang Ling fall.
Fang Ling is mad and immediately grabs a sword and says, “I’ll kill you,” only to be blocked by Ye Kai who tries to remedy the situation. (For some reason he’s always to Hong Xue’s rescue.)
To save Hong Xue, Ye Kai says that he hates Hong Xue more than she does and wants to see him die a terrible death. He makes the idea of forcing Hong Xue into something like a gladiator’s fight at the Colosseum, where he’ll be facing another person who’s killed 99 people in the arena. If he kills his opponent, he’ll be free; if he doesn’t, he’ll be killed.
He is extremely reluctant to kill the other innocent person, but at night, a lady comes to him in his prison cell, saying, “Fu Hong Xue, you have finally come. I will help you, Hong Xue, I will help you learn all you need to live at the Wan Ma Tang.” She says that she will also help him kill all of his opponents.
The next day, it’s time for the competition. Fu Hong Xue, in chains, is facing the guy who’s killed 99 people previously. Hong Xue’s oponent has a horse and a really badass sword, while he only has a really bad sword that someone threw onto the sand.
In the beginning, it seems that Fu Hong Xue is going to lose because he keeps falling to the ground after attacking the horse, but in actuality, he is actually unlocking his chains, and waiting for the right opportunity to attack. Ye Kai knows of this, but everyone else just laughs at his “feeble” attempts. Finally, he strikes, and his opponent is dead. Ye Kai also notes the assassins that group on the top of the cliff to watch.
At some point, Ye Kai also says to Ding Ling Lin that Fu Hong Xue has the best martial arts in the whole place, so no one can kill him.
Fu Hong Xue looks pretty haunted when his opponent is dead and for good reason. His opponent’s last words are, “I can finally leave this place.” Pretty haunting, if you ask me.
Then, Fang Ling says, “Today, I will set you free. Kiss my foot, and you can leave this place.”
Hong Xue just ignores her and walks away. This makes Fang Ling mad. She asks for her blade so that she can fight him. She says, “Either you die, or I die.” Hong Xue says, “I don’t want to kill anymore people.”
Fang Ling just says, “You don’t have a choice!” They fight, Fang Ling with a blade, and Hong Xue with his hands. Hong Xue is of course, on the winning side and he spares Fang Ling’s life and Fang Ling looks very conflicted. Then, Hong Xue chooses to stay, completely against the expectations of those around him. He’s back in captivity.
Back to Ye Kai and Ding Ling Lin. Ding Ling Lin wants to find out why he’s there, pretending to be MRMZ. Ding Ling Lin is all like “I can ‘help’!” After some nagging, Ye Kai decides to tell her the truth (or is it?). He says that he’s looking for the Manual of Death and Life (Sheng Si Jing) and that it is in Fang Ling’s hands. He also mentions a sword, that he wants to take a look at, a sword that “may hide a secret”. Someone overhears, and it’s the person from Hong Xue’s cell the other night who whispered, “I can help” and caressed his face.
Now it’s time for Ding Ling Lin’s spy work. A lot of things almost go wrong lol. She is relaxing with Fang Ling in the bathtub, trying to take her mind away from what Ye Kai is about to steal (the sword). She shares her “family’s wine” with Fang Ling and tries to talk to her. It’s made from a special type of plant, and Fang Ling asks her where DLL got it from, seeing as they’re in the desert. DLL fibs, saying that a servant got it from a special place outside the desert.
DLL is super excited, and she starts laughing randomly after she gives Fang Ling the wine, thinking, how can I let you just drink one cup? And that she must make Fang Ling drunk!
Fang Ling notices that DLL is laughing randomly and she asks about it. DLL can’t think of anything to say so she just says, “I was just thinking about what great luck my master has to meet such a beautiful lady like you.” (laaame.)
Fang Ling just takes it as “Your master told me to tell me that, didn’t he?” DLL denies this quickly.
DLL notices that Fang Ling is looking around and freaks out. She suddenly says, “I have to tell you a big secret,” to keep Fang Ling’s attention on her.
Fang Ling is very intrigued. DLL says, “You know, my master isn’t MRMZ.”
Ye Kai peeks out from behind the curtains, and just looks panicked lol.
Fang Ling says, “What?” She’s mad now and she’s all like, “Then who is he?”
DLL is put on the spot. I have no idea what’s going on in that brain of hers but she says “…a bunny.” lol Ye Kai’s expression is so worthwhile.
“How can he be a bunny?” Fang Ling asks, totally engaged and naive.
DLL immediately follows with, “He came from the moon, so he’s a bunny.” (If you’ve ever heard the Chinese myth about Chang’e and the moon rabbit this is it.)
DLL finally manages to recover her steam and says, “You’re not normal either, you are Chang’e, from the sky. Thus, your marriage can only be described as destiny.”
Fang Ling nods, no longer mad. DLL sighs “phew when she sees that Ye Kai has left the grounds. Fang Ling then turns the tables, saying, “You are in love with him, right?”
DLL says, “How did you know?”
Fang Ling says, “Your expression and the way you act around him are different. You also look at him like a little girl looking up at her man.” (No kidding.)
Then DLL goes into depressed mode and starts rambling, “Why does he treat me like a baby? Why won’t he even look at me?” She drinks more wine. Too bad she couldn’t follow her earlier resolution to make her drunk. 😛
Well, now Ye Kai has the sword. He tries to open it numerous ways, but he just can’t. All of his poses and postures…just for that one sword are hilarious though.
Later, Fang Ling comes out and he goes into a casual position, trying to cover it. She knows though. Apparently, the sword can only be opened by Fang Ling’s destined one, so Ye Kai was definitely lying before about the sword. 😛
Fang Ling and Ye Kai talk. Ye Kai says (mainly to salvage his pride), “I am to marry a beautiful lady, not this cold sword, so who cares anyways.”
Fang Ling says, “It’s only too bad that marriage must be decided by our parents. But you aren’t as annoying as people say you should be.”
Ye Kai says thanks for her kind words. Fang Ling follows up with “Good Night.”
Ye Kai then asks a very interesting question, “If one day, someone pulls the sword out, what will you do?”
Fang Ling says, “This person probably doesn’t even exist. But if he did appear one day, I would leave everything and go with him.”
— END —
Thoughts: Well…things are going great so far. Fang Ling’s words at the end can be taken as a premonition for what is to come~ As for DLL and YK, they are still so adorable together…and who is that mysterious lady who visits FHX in the middle of the night? Ye Kai said that he’s here for the Sheng Si Jing (Death Life Manual) but what does he really want?
We may never know~ We’ll find out in the next episode
4 thoughts on “Border Town Prodigal: Episode 2”
hmmm… the female lead isn’t very nice. “kiss my feet.” ewww!!! lols.
im not watching, just merely looking at pretty pictures. ye kai’s faces. 😀
4 thoughts on “Border Town Prodigal: Episode 2”
Thanks for the recap!
Zhu Yi Long looks so pale to me in here and his stiff, pointy hair upsets me greatly. Lol.
4 thoughts on “Border Town Prodigal: Episode 2”
Thanks for the recap!
Love how Ye Kai manages to fool everyone into thinking he’s MRMZ. That’s some skill. Lol.
DLL is so cute. Thank goodness there’s her in this series to keep the angst at bay.
4 thoughts on “Border Town Prodigal: Episode 2”
hey, tranzgeek! Thanks for the recap!
Not the most impressive of episodes but still good. 3 things to say:
1. Ye Kai continues to be awesome <3. Him trying to pull the sword out was comedy gold.
2. What is the point of getting captured, Hong Xue?! The guy you want to kill is not even there!!! How does getting imprisoned and beaten up regularly help you kill him anyway? Isn't it better to just stalk the fortress, wait until Daddy Ma comes back and then sneak in and kill him?Srsly, wtf?!
3. Somebody, anybody, please, teach Hong Xue to wash his hair. That someone should preferably be Fang Ling…