schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (ahsoka)
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A week ago I wondered if I could finish "Nirvana in Fire" before Yuletide nominations close on Friday. I shouldn't have worried, it was too hard to stop.


Jingyan finally found out that Mei Changsu = Lin Shu! At an audience with the Emperor where Jia Xiang accuses Lin Shu, and he knows he only has a few hours until his guards and Nihuang and Meng will start a rebellion (!) to save "Mei Changsu." Lin Shu doesn't even deny it, Jingyan does it for him but of course he understands. The Emperor tries to kill Mei Changsu regardless but of course Jingyan doesn't let him. He also later realizes that almost everyone knew about Lin Shu but him. Poor guy.
Gao Zhan – who's on their side now!, only the warning came too late – must have seen through it, but he's also right that Jingyan would have reacted differently to Lin Shu being taken to Xuanjing Bureau, if he'd known.

So Jingyan finds out, and then it apparently takes a while for them to meet again… In the prison cell where Prince Qui died, because why not. And then Mei Changsu tells him Lin Shu can't reveal himself and return to the capital because it would taint the beginning of Jingyan's time as an Emperor. I liked it when Jingyan got angry at being addressed by Mei Changsu, not Lin Shu – his childhood best friend is alive, yes there's some uncomfortable distance but still Lin Shu doesn't need to petition him as His Highness. When Lin Shu acts as if the egg-sized pearl is his due, that seemed a lot closer to the young Lin Shu we saw in the flashbacks. Finding out that xiao-Shu is still alive should have been joyful, but Jingyan is also painfully aware of all the hardships he had to endure. (And he doesn't even know the specifics of the Bitter Flame poison.) 13 years! Of course now that Jingyan knows that Mei Changsu = xiao-Shu he trusts him absolutely, "we can be treated as one" indeed.

Wrapping up the Hua and Juanxing Bureau spy networks: with the help of Jia Xiang's ex-wife, who Marquis Yan was still in contact with, nice. (He probably had her write the letter stating her son is dead years ago in case he ever needed it.) Gong Yu admits that she's of the Hua Zu, but Chief Mei doesn't care, good.
Jingyan's future wife is smart to realize her former nurse is from the Hua, I wonder who told her. They get married off-screen, oh well. And we get to see a baby boy in the "years later" epilogue section playing with Tingsheng who they adopted, nice.

I loved Lin Chen, and Lin Chen and Fei Liu (Fei Liu even helped him with his medicine, and also dropped a bucket of water on his head), and Lin Chen and Mei Changsu (I don't think anyone else can make Mei Changsu smile and laugh like that), and all three of them together. When Lin Chen had to persuade Meng Zhi and Xia Dong from storming the prison to rescue Gong Yu and finally understood why Mei Changsu is so tired all the time, hah. Meng Zhi and Xia Dong seem to be always exactly as smart as the plot requires (and/or they just have big blind spots.)

Grand Princess Liyang! I'm a big fan. It fits that it's Jingrui who helps her find the courage to go through with it – hi Jingrui, good to see you again, you're great as always and trying to do the right thing – and that it's her extended family she's afraid for, and the Emperor she's afraid of. Back then a lot of people must have died in the capital too, in addition to family members. Lin Xie's wife was her sister, I didn't realize that for a long time.

Then the big petition during the birthday party. It seemed to me like Meng Zhi and Prince Ji were some of the petitioners the Emperor was most surprised by. All the ministers! Both Mu Prince and Princess, the Marquis Yan, and of course the Crown Prince. The Emperor isn't stupid, he does make the connection with "Su Zhe." But Jingyan steps between the Emperor's sword and xiao-Shu, of course he does.
The Emperor has a breakdown, Consort Jing tries to reason with him, then he talks with Lin Shu, finally gives in but tells him Lin Shu can never appear in the capital again. Lin Shu expected that but he's still sad about it. When the Emperor reminded him of the times they spent as uncle and nephew (that family connection never came up much before), what did he hope Lin Shu would say? That the Emperor isn't a fundamentally bad person, probably.

The case is re-opened, the witnesses re-examined, the Chiyan army and the Lin family and Prince Qui are exonerated, happy ending :) There is finally a memorial for Lin Shu's family where he can pay his respects.

And then suddenly war on all fronts, and Lin Shu wants to ride off for one last time. I knew the Bingxu grass would play a role (not difficult to find ten people indeed), here as a strength-for-3-months pill. I loved the argument between Lin Chen and Mei Changsu/Lin Shu: Lin Chen's friend is Mei Changsu, he wants him to survive and do well, while Mei Changsu wants a chance to finish as Lin Shu, in the army defending his country. In the end Lin Chen can't stop him, but he enlists in the army to follow him, whoa. I like their friendship a lot. I think Lin Chen might be the only person (we see) that Mei Changsu can't fool.
Jingyan isn't happy about the separation either, and that he has to stay back. I like to think he knew xiao-Shu wasn't entirely truthful when he promised to come back. At least Nihuang got it a little bit clearer, when Lin Shu concentrated in his promises on their next life. And at least there's at least a one month timeskip between when the trial is reopened and the case closed, I can imagine whatever I want about what they did during that time.

So Lin Shu will die in the army, surrounded by Meng Zhi and Lin Chen and Fei Liu and Zhen Ping and Li Gang and Yan Yujin and Jingrui and Gong Yu – at least I think, they all look a bit weird with the helmets on, maybe they are in different armies? Mei Changsu in army uniform is very odd. It's a sad ending because he dies, but he's (presumably) happy with what he could accomplish and satisfied with the manner of his death, that makes it better. I'll just imagine that everyone else lives long and very happy lives.

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