Post by ajk on Feb 25, 2014 14:02:23 GMT -5
Luckily for JD, the village’s leader shows up just in time to break things up and save JD from a beating (although it probably would do him a lot of good). Hwang Yeon is his name; his son Cheonbok was the one directly threatening JD. The young woman we’ve met is Cheonbok’s sister. As villagers look on--Sojaedong is the name of this village--Hwang takes JD to the humble building he'll be living in. We get the impression that this village has hosted exiles before.
JD is left alone inside. It’s cold in there but he can’t even use a flint properly to start a fire for himself. Cheonbok’s sister comes in and has to do it for him. We learn she doesn’t even have her own name. Then later, when her idiot brother tosses some of JD’s misplaced books into a fire, she takes the blame for it. They were significant books, too--gifts from Jeong Mongju.
An Sagi gives expense money to the guy Kim Ui sent, and tells him to keep his mouth shut and get back to Yuan territory ASAP.
Lee Seonggye and his wife are still in the capital. While he prays at the Sangkyunkwan shrine, she goes to talk to Lee In Im. Offers Lee a bribe to get a better position for her husband. But he refuses. "Be happy with what you have," he advises her. Your husband isn’t a politician, and “if you get too greedy, it could ruin you."
Nighttime, outside the shrine: A weird altercation with a local thug brandishing a sword leaves Jeong Mojeon and two of his fellow scholars bloodied. Coincidentally, Lee Seonggye is just leaving the shrine and roughs the guy up, no problem. He takes JM inside somewhere and helps treat his slashed arm. They have a lot of mutual respect and talk like they know each other well, even though this seems to be their first meeting.
Next day: The high officials are meeting; the queen dowager walks in on them and confronts An Sagi. "You met someone named Lee Ga and gave him ten nyangs of gold?" Uh-oh; busted. When we saw the two scholars following that guy, well, this is what became of it. She’s carrying an appeal written by the scholar Park Sangchung. It alleges that a corrupt group in the Supreme Council arranged for the killing of the Ming envoys and for the Yuan army to act threateningly. An denies knowledge and starts ranting; Lee In Im growls at him "Just be quiet" (which was a big mistake because he said it like he knew what the guy should be quiet about). But Choi Yeong orders him arrested.
The villagers are working their fields and JD is working alongside them, as best as he can keep up. They’re whispering to each other, wondering what JD did to be banished, so Hwang tells them. They don’t get it. "Why did he stand up to someone in a high position?" JD explains about Ming and Yuan, but they don’t care—they’re just a poor rural village trying to feed themselves. JD gets angry at that and even sucker-punches Cheonbok over it, and gets admonished by the villagers. Tnen a local trading merchant shows up and tells JD what's been going on in the capital. JD ends up staring into the mountains and screaming like a lunatic.
Lee Ga was detained and interrogated, and confessed. Yes, An Sagi told Kim Ui to kill the envoys and move the Yuan army. Choi Yeong is going to interrogate An tomorrow. The scholars think this will be the end for Lee In Im. That evening JM goes to the jail and begs An to confess that Lee was behind it all. Tells An he’ll get his life spared.
Later, Lee comes to the jail. Sorry, he tells An; I can't save you, so you should commit suicide for the cause. And he threatens to kill An’s family if An doesn’t. After he leaves, a frightened An asks for a late-night meeting with Choi Yeong and JM to confess and save himself…but when they arrive and An is escorted out of the jail to meet them (?!?), Lee In Im’s assassin kills him with an arrow.
A somewhat-well-dressed man passing through Sojaedong village (but not for the first time) goes to see Hwang Yeon; he wants to take Hwang’s daughter with him and make her a shaman. We learn the girl is adopted and her real mother, now deceased, was a shaman. And the girl sees visions. She doesn’t want to go, and gets so upset that she goes outside and ends up balancing stones to meditate and calm herself. JD has overheard it all; he goes to her and knocks over her stones (what a jerk) and tells her the only reason for her visions is that she doesn’t eat well enough and gets sick and becomes feverish and delusional. She’s not educated about those kinds of things and angrily tells him that she can’t read and that the stone-balancing is a faith ritual that "might seem useless to you, but it means everything to me!" And wow, that actually shuts him up. He’s at a loss for words.
Choi Yeong insists on investigating An Sagi’s assassination but Lee’s Council allies are pressuring him to just blame it on the Yuan and let it go. The scholars are so intent on seeing it through, though, that they write an appeal to the QD to impeach Lee In Im. Choi Yeong studies it and decides he’ll arrest Lee.
JD is left alone inside. It’s cold in there but he can’t even use a flint properly to start a fire for himself. Cheonbok’s sister comes in and has to do it for him. We learn she doesn’t even have her own name. Then later, when her idiot brother tosses some of JD’s misplaced books into a fire, she takes the blame for it. They were significant books, too--gifts from Jeong Mongju.
An Sagi gives expense money to the guy Kim Ui sent, and tells him to keep his mouth shut and get back to Yuan territory ASAP.
Lee Seonggye and his wife are still in the capital. While he prays at the Sangkyunkwan shrine, she goes to talk to Lee In Im. Offers Lee a bribe to get a better position for her husband. But he refuses. "Be happy with what you have," he advises her. Your husband isn’t a politician, and “if you get too greedy, it could ruin you."
Nighttime, outside the shrine: A weird altercation with a local thug brandishing a sword leaves Jeong Mojeon and two of his fellow scholars bloodied. Coincidentally, Lee Seonggye is just leaving the shrine and roughs the guy up, no problem. He takes JM inside somewhere and helps treat his slashed arm. They have a lot of mutual respect and talk like they know each other well, even though this seems to be their first meeting.
Next day: The high officials are meeting; the queen dowager walks in on them and confronts An Sagi. "You met someone named Lee Ga and gave him ten nyangs of gold?" Uh-oh; busted. When we saw the two scholars following that guy, well, this is what became of it. She’s carrying an appeal written by the scholar Park Sangchung. It alleges that a corrupt group in the Supreme Council arranged for the killing of the Ming envoys and for the Yuan army to act threateningly. An denies knowledge and starts ranting; Lee In Im growls at him "Just be quiet" (which was a big mistake because he said it like he knew what the guy should be quiet about). But Choi Yeong orders him arrested.
The villagers are working their fields and JD is working alongside them, as best as he can keep up. They’re whispering to each other, wondering what JD did to be banished, so Hwang tells them. They don’t get it. "Why did he stand up to someone in a high position?" JD explains about Ming and Yuan, but they don’t care—they’re just a poor rural village trying to feed themselves. JD gets angry at that and even sucker-punches Cheonbok over it, and gets admonished by the villagers. Tnen a local trading merchant shows up and tells JD what's been going on in the capital. JD ends up staring into the mountains and screaming like a lunatic.
Lee Ga was detained and interrogated, and confessed. Yes, An Sagi told Kim Ui to kill the envoys and move the Yuan army. Choi Yeong is going to interrogate An tomorrow. The scholars think this will be the end for Lee In Im. That evening JM goes to the jail and begs An to confess that Lee was behind it all. Tells An he’ll get his life spared.
Later, Lee comes to the jail. Sorry, he tells An; I can't save you, so you should commit suicide for the cause. And he threatens to kill An’s family if An doesn’t. After he leaves, a frightened An asks for a late-night meeting with Choi Yeong and JM to confess and save himself…but when they arrive and An is escorted out of the jail to meet them (?!?), Lee In Im’s assassin kills him with an arrow.
A somewhat-well-dressed man passing through Sojaedong village (but not for the first time) goes to see Hwang Yeon; he wants to take Hwang’s daughter with him and make her a shaman. We learn the girl is adopted and her real mother, now deceased, was a shaman. And the girl sees visions. She doesn’t want to go, and gets so upset that she goes outside and ends up balancing stones to meditate and calm herself. JD has overheard it all; he goes to her and knocks over her stones (what a jerk) and tells her the only reason for her visions is that she doesn’t eat well enough and gets sick and becomes feverish and delusional. She’s not educated about those kinds of things and angrily tells him that she can’t read and that the stone-balancing is a faith ritual that "might seem useless to you, but it means everything to me!" And wow, that actually shuts him up. He’s at a loss for words.
Choi Yeong insists on investigating An Sagi’s assassination but Lee’s Council allies are pressuring him to just blame it on the Yuan and let it go. The scholars are so intent on seeing it through, though, that they write an appeal to the QD to impeach Lee In Im. Choi Yeong studies it and decides he’ll arrest Lee.