[Recap] Legend of Dragon Pearl Episode 1-4

The Legend of the Dragon Pearl aired today and already dropped a 12 episodes starter for everyone!

Synopsis: The story of the ill-fated romance between Zhu Yi Huan (Yangzi), the last princess of the Ming Dynasty and Kangxi (Qin Jun Jie), the young emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

You can watch the raw version here.  You can more information on the drama on this thread.

Episode 1

During the warring stage of the Ming dynasty, before the Qing dynasty took over, the queen gave birth to a young princess. But because the king did not have an heir, he announced that he would lit himself on first if a son is not born. In order to prevent the tragedy, the doctor at that time, doctor Fan, switched the princess with the newly born lord from Lord Jin’s household in secret.

When Wu Sam Gui knocked down the door and invaded the palace, the king and queen managed to escape on time. The wife of Lord Jin and her daughter (the princess) were caught. They were used to threaten Lord Jin to surrender. Instead of surrendering, Lord Jin shot two arrows at his wife and daughter. Luckily the daughter did not die. Wu Sam Gui decided to leave her to her fate at the battle field. After that, the Qing took over and KangXi ascended the throne.

Doctor Fan visited the battlefield, rescued the princess and brought her to a hidden village, Ming Zu Gu, that were set up as a refugee for Ming descendants. Doctor Fan took the princess, named Yi Huan, out on her 7th birthday and caught news that the king and queen of the Ming dynasty were caught. He brought her to see their death sentenced and asked her to remember their faces.

At night, doctor Fan went back to pay his respect for the previous king and queen but were ambushed by soldiers. A dark figure rescued him and that person turned out to be Lord Jin. Doctor Fan and Yi Huan reuntied with some Ming supporters and the fake last prince of the Ming dynasty. Doctor Fan told Yi Huan that Lord Jin is her dad. And together with other children, she began learning different subjects under 5 teachers.

Episode 2 

However, Yi Huan is a lazy and carefree kid that doesn’t like to work or learn. Because of that, she got yelled at by all her shifus and asked to work twice as hard. That caused her headache to act up and faint. Her shifus doted her and allowed her to skip the difficult learning due to her illness. She grew up even more carefree and playful.

Years passed and everyone grew up. In order to leave the village, everyone was tasked with a mission to either kill someone or retrieve an item. They all succeeded. Upon return, Lord Jin tasked them with the mission to retrieve the keys and the box that hold the map to a treasure buried by the previous king. Since Yi Huan’s skills were not defined, they decided that she cannot leave the village yet.

Yi Huan decided to sneak out of the village and join everyone at the capital. Doctor Fan and Lord Jin saw her leaving the village but did not stop her. Thru their conversation, it was revealed that Lord Jin knew that Yi Huan is not his daughter but the last princess of the Ming Dynasty. In order to keep the morale of Ming supporters, they hid this secret and continued to pretend that his son is the prince.

Our female and male lead for the first time at the capital. Not knowing who he is, Yi Huang started criticising the current king, KangXi. KangXi’s follower got mad and Yi Huan ran away thinking he was just a rich lord.

 

Episode 3

Before trying to meet up with her fellow brothers and sisters, Yi Huan got hungry and decided to eat first. At the restaurant, she bumped into the same guy again. He kept staring at him thinking she’s an interesting person. She noticed and the two had a staring contest where he lost. (Lol. So random).

Because Yi Huan ordered a table full of food and was devouring it, she got laughed at by others. She heard them and started picking a fight with them but Long Sam stopped it before the fight broke out. She paid for her food before trying to leave but all her coins were not enough. In order to leave, she must perform something unique.

Yi Huan did her performance with plates and left quickly right after. Outside the entrance, she said some beggars planning to kidnap Long Sam. She ran back to warn him. She returned his favor by pretending to be him so that the beggars would target her instead. They captured her and brought her to their boss who happened to be Zhu Gege (the fake prince).

Zhu Gege told her their suspicion with Long Sam and wanted to investigate his identity. To help him, Yi Huan went back to the designated store to meet Long Sam but he was no longer there. Back at home, Yi Huan told Zhu Gege that she wanted to infiltrate the palace. He agreed to accompany her. Outside the palace, Yi Huan told Zhu Gege that she doesn’t care about who’s king. All she wanted in life is to eat yummy food, wear pretty clothing, and cure the scar on Qin Ying sister’s face.

Episode 4

Yi Huan continued to wander the street of the capital till night time and a horse carriage almost ran her over. Out of anger she followed that carriage and wanted to carve out the gold on it. When she heard footsteps, she quickly hid inside the carriage and accidentally overhead Ou Bai and another person’s talking about poising the king.

After Ou Bai left, Yi Huan continued to hid inside the carriage so that it can carry her into the palace. Once inside the palace, she first looked for the kitchen for food. While eating and stealing golden plates, another person entered. She stopped him from stealing food and discovered that it was Long Sam, the same  guy she met at the restaurant. In order to not get discovered, he dragged her away.

Long Sam pretended to be the king’s guard when Yi Huan asked him for his identity. While eating the desserts, Yi Huan noticed that the two desserts, when mixed, are poisonous. She checked Long Sam’s pulse and discovered that he had been mildly poisoned. She told him that she can cure him. Out of fate, the two decided to swore to brotherhood. Of course Yi Huan fought to be the big brother and Long Sam obliged.

The next morning, Yi Huan returned home to a bunch of worried brothers and sisters. She told them about her and Long Sam. They told her to use that relationship to cause a drift between the king and Ou Bai. She was reluctant but agreed.

Chexmix: For once, a drama is how I imagined it would be based on the trailer! The main character, Yi Huan, is as carefree and funny as the trailer shown her to be and her relationship with Long Sam/Kangxi is so entertaining to watch. Yi Huan reminded me of Xiao Yan Zi from Huang Zhu Gege except for she has funnier expressions. lol. I really like it so far. Oh and the best part about this drama is that each episode is only like 30 min long! Breeze through it so quickly! =D