Thread by @Singeli6, Okay huddle up it’s time for me to talk about one of [...]

Okay huddle up it’s time for me to talk about one of my fave scenes in #tsomd: Dong’er’s rescue and arrival at Sui Zhou’s house

First, I want to stress how incredibly smart SZ was about all of this. Yes our boy can be somewhat rash (esp when ethics are concerned: see... everything), but here? He is a commander waging a campaign, and he is NOT going to lose

He knows TF is heavily emotionally invested. He gets all the details from TF while pretending not to listen very hard, and he doesn’t tell TF what he’s doing bc he knows if he fails, TF will be crushed.

He gathers information. Critically, when it’s time to act, he DOES NOT go to the brothel himself. It’s a successful madam’s job to know who is coming in her doors. Him, an Imperial Guard with a connection to the Dowager Empress, asking about a girl who’s virginity hasn’t even

been auctioned off yet? Dong’er would be whisked away so quickly and the price would go up astronomically before he’s even had a chance to make an offer. As it is, it’s risky. When negotiating, don’t show how badly you want what the other party has. Don’t let them know they have

the advantage. Instead, SZ sends a trusted subordinate.

He doesn’t know Dong’er yet, so he doesn’t bother trying to give her a heads up, as that could easily give the game away. Definitely if this was happening later in the series, it would go down differently.

(Brief digression: SZ has only met Dong’er a couple of times at this point! He may find her funny or cute if he thinks about her at all, but he knows NOTHING about this kid except that TF is beside himself at the thought of anything bad happening to her. She’s a random servant &

SZ has no reason to spend his $$ and take a professional risk by flexing some muscle and getting her out of the brothel. But he does it anyway, because TF is so upset. And once he gets involved it definitely triggers his savior complex; he wasn’t able to save his men, but

he can at least save one little girl.)

OK WHERE WAS I? Right: he sends a trusted subordinate.

He knows there can’t be any evidence of this being a coerced transaction but he also needs to send a message: this girl is under protection. Do not fuck with me. So what does he do?

He threatens to make the brothel unpopular, to ruin its reputation, to make life and business extremely unpleasant. He offers a brief demonstration.

And to hammer the message home, he demands Dong’er’s contract — NOT for the inflated price that TF offered,

and (this is crucial!!) he refuses to accept the madam’s bribe: if you stop threatening to raid the brothel for minor infractions, I’ll let you take Dong’er as a gift, for free!

That won’t work; that implicates him, and gives the madam something to use against him.

He insists on paying the exact amount Dong’er’s mistress sold her contract to the brothel for, not a penny more or less.

This is a brilliant strategic move.

It protects Dong’er because the madam can’t say the imperial guard used threats to take one of her girls w/o paying.

It means the madam can’t easily appeal to another power and take Dong’er back. But, by refusing to pay the inflated price she quoted to TF (which, in terms of business practice, was probably the going rate), he sends the message that he knows she wasn’t playing fair, she may

have not *technically* done anything wrong per se, but he wants her to know he knows what she did and does not appreciate it.

Again: do not fuck with me, do not fuck with those who I care about. You will not like the consequences.

It is a fairly subtle display of power, and

more importantly, it’s SZ saying, “hey. I know my power is limited here, but I know how to use that power to ruin you. do not try me.”

And that’s how he wins.

Now, what about TF and Dong’er, once she arrives at the house?

A quick note about TF for a second: he cultivates an image of being a genius who primarily cares about food and justice, in that order. It’s mostly true! In his job, he often sees the worst of ppl, and I think he focuses on other things (like food) because a) he genuinely does

love food and writing erotic romance but also b) he cares SO MUCH about justice and what is right and what is fair, and it HURTS him when the world and the society he lives in betray him. So, fine! He won’t care! (TF has big youngest child energy just saying!)

TF has also always been able to get himself out of trouble (so far) with minimal consequences, even when he fucks up! Everything always manages to work out somehow, even when he procrastinates, because he’s so much smarter than everyone around him.

Except Dong’er’s fate can’t

be solved by his brain, he can’t flutter his eyelashes and charm his way out of this one, and someone innocent is paying the price for his failure in a way that hasn’t happened to him before. There’s no avoiding the consequences and the overwhelming sense of failure.

(I feel like this is a sentiment/experience that a lot of ppl who were identified as gifted children can relate to, but TSOMD and the gifted child is another topic and this thread is already too long!)

He discovers, too late, that for all his teasing and complaining, he truly, deeply cares about Dong’er like she’s his little sister. Thanks! He hates it!!

So when that gate opens and Dong’er walks through, scared and traumatized and unlike herself, he is so incredibly relieved

but also freaked out because HE is the one who gets to have melodramatic meltdowns in their relationship, not her! And she’s crying about a pretty serious trauma that he feels at least partially if not fully responsible for!

You can see his little gears turning as he tries

to figure out how to fix this, how to get things back to the way they were where she’s his annoying little sister who sasses him and shares snacks. And so he does something pretty unusual for their relationship up to this point: he offers her a hug and lets her stay there

in his arms for a long time. It’s safe, it’s nonsexual, it’s a promise and an apology all at once.

But this is a lot of emotional honesty and our boy TF is not about that! Also Dong’er sobbing her heart out in relief is not her usual mode and that’s incredibly

disconcerting. What to do what to do???

TF gets them back to their normal the only way he knows: by teasing. He tells her she’s ugly and to go wash her face.

If you haven’t been watching these characters it might seem a lil harsh, no?

But he’s doing two things here. 1. He’s letting her know nothing has changed, they’re back to their old dynamic, he’s still going to tease her and 2. The makeup she is wearing is a prostitute’s makeup. It’s designed to sexualize her and make her appealing to the male gaze.

TF is saying she’s safe here, that he DOESN’T think of her as an object of sexual desire, & he’s stating this loudly because he wants everybody to know it and they won’t contradict him. She is not only free from the contract with the brother, she is free to be a little girl again

he disengages bc lol that’s enough emotional vulnerability for one night thank you very much but also to give them both space to breathe, and to give Dong’er space to change into her old clothes and wash her face and remove the trappings that signify she’s an object

of desire and put on her old clothes.

And then he turns to SZ, who has been watching this silently, making his own assessments, and tears up the contract!

(Side note I do kinda wish he’d done that in front of Dong’er because she clearly understands the concept of

her contract WAY better than TF; for evidence pls see the conversation she had with him about her mistress’ family, her contract, etc. Dong’er clearly knows what is up and as a girl whose life and livelihood depend precariously on those around her, she’s way more observant about

these kinds of things than TF. Her contract being sold to the brothel comes as a shock to him. If it shocks Dong’er at all, it’s ONLY because TF promised he’d buy her contract himself)

I suspect that from a Doylist standpoint, she isn’t there when he tears up the contract bc he doesn’t want her to feel any more beholden to him than she already is. From a Watsonian standpoint, the scene is way more dramatically charged when we have the focus just on TF and SZ.

And THEN!! We get the incredibly endearing scenes of Dong’er settling in, of her at the table with TF and SZ

I’m going to have to take a break bc I’m on mobile and can’t pull up these scenes atm but I WILL be back to discuss bc they are too good to leave out

Ok we’re back!!

And so is Dong’er

. Next we get delightful montage of SZ lovingly preparing a meal and the three of them sitting down together. TF tries to cue Dong’er to say “thank you” to SZ for dinner and for letting her stay the night.

But yet again TF underestimates

Dong’er’s ability to read the lay of the land: she *knows* TF is too broke to have bought her contract, she knows Brother Guangchuan is an imperial guard and SZ is his commanding officer. Girl knows how to add 2+2 and get 4. She knows she owes her extraction to SZ.

So she makes the deepest bow possible, saying, “I will never forget your excellencies’ kindness to me,” (sorry I’m sure it’s more than that but I’m limited to viki subs, pls @ me with linguistic nuances I miss!) and TF realizes she misunderstood what he was trying to say

SZ tells her to stand up, and TF echoes him, gets up himself, and positions himself *at Dong’er’s side*, redistributing power so she’s not a servant in front of two masters.

And SZ tells her, “don’t call me ‘your excellency,’ call me ‘older brother.’” (da-ge)

Cue the next day, when SZ is cranky because his entire household has been upended and he yells at TF, and then apologizes with food. When TF reaches for it, SZ slaps the table and makes him wait until he’s served Dong’er first.

Yeah, she’s technically their housekeeper,

only because it would probably be weird for two bachelors to adopt a little girl and also giving Dong’er chores a) keeps her out of trouble and b) helps her feel like she’s contributing and isn’t even more indebted to them.

But by the end of ep5, SZ and TF are very much

on the same page wrt Dong’er: she’s their little sister and they would burn the city down to keep her safe.

Ofc they don’t realize quite yet that she’s a genius who will run their house and run circles around them, but you can’t get to know your found family in a single day, etc

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