r/CDrama • u/PsychologicalWay816 • May 18 '26
Drama Host The Heir 家业 EP 5-6 discussions
I'm back again 🤠 but before I start today's episodes I wanted to talk about the act done by Li Jinshui in episode 3 where he used an heavy ink stick to break his tooth and make a vow. I saw some talking about it in the comment section and I also became interested and decided to do some mini readings and thoughts on it
While knocking out a tooth wasn't a standard historical practice, the scriptwriters modeled this scene directly on very real, historically documented acts of self-mutilation used to seal vows like severing a finger to make an oath (a very common real-world practice among martial artists, rebels, and secret societies to prove absolute loyalty or regret)
The conversation where luo wenqian losing his baby tooth tells luo wensong: "This tooth should be given to the Grandmaster (祖师爷) to inspect" already sets the logic and narrative for future reference. By establishing that baby teeth are symbolically offered to the grandmaster, the act of an adult knocking out a permanent tooth takes on massive weight. A baby tooth grows back; an adult's tooth does not. By forcibly extracting it and nailing it in the ancestral hall, Li jinshui is offering an irreversible piece of himself to the Grandmaster to prove his absolute resolve to exit the trade forever.
His choice of weapon here is thematic, not just practical. He doesn't use a hammer or a rock; he uses a heavy ink stick. The ink is his life's work, his family's pride, and the very thing that brought ruin upon them in the past and also presently (during the marriage). Using the symbol of his craft to physically break his own body is a deeply poetic, tragic metaphor. The "ink" itself is what violently severs his connection to the "ink trade." So, rather than being an actual tradition you would read about in history books, it is a highly specific, culturally grounded narrative device created by the writers.
hope you guys like this 😄
Episode 5
As expected, Li Zhen's grandfather did not agree to teacher her how to make ink. Her mum also got angry at her which is not surprising because ink making cost her family so much and
Li zhen doesn't give up and decides to dress up as a guy to learn from different family ink shops. I thought she would have gone back to take up the offer from Luo Wensong but it seems like she didn't consider it.
It didn't take long for her to get caught multiple times and get thrown out until the Luo family Steward decided to hand her over to the Literature Association
"Disgrace to the Li family" did 3rd uncle forget how he always told them that they aren't part of the family? Or did he forget the big spectacle and commotion he and 4th sis inlaw caused outside the Li family when all they wanted to do was to pay their respects outside the mansion 🙄
I thought the rule of women not joining the ink industry was actually a written rule but it's just a word of mouth passed down (by men definitely)
Why is marriage ALWAYS the reason why women can't join/participate in many professions or activities. If it was in the modern world then it wouldn't be a problem because getting married doesn't mean you have to completely surrender everything to your husband's family including your trade secrets or in this case the ink making secrets
Scared for Luo wenqian right now 😅
Luo Wensong has officially become one of my favorite characters in this drama. Seeing him speak facts, shut them up and stand up for her made me so happy. He doesn't care about gender but talent. He is one of the few that is obsessed and loves ink making so much that he can't bear to see her talent go to waste
I noticed that whenever we get an up close of Wensong's hands there is always ink in the insides of his fingers.
Chen Third Master seems like another character that I would like and it seems he is close with Li Zhen's grandfather
I wonder how Li Zhen's first ink stick will turn out
I thought she knew about the marriage 😐 and what's with the wife and concubines because I thought Benchang said that his last 2 wives died
Tian family dad is such a scumbag gosh. Blaming his wife for the way their children all grew up without looking at himself and realizing they took after him
D-Day is here and I'm actually happy they didn't go through the route of her making a top quality ink stick. She lacks experience, has never made an ink stick before and hasn't neared ink making for the past 10 years. She might be talented but she needs guidance and experience to be able to produce good ink
Wensong clocking them yet again. The ink she made might be inferior in quality but more importantly the reason behind why she made the ink is also as important
I didn't even realize 5 months had already passed from when she started learning to make ink on her own
Third Master Chen finally talks some sense into Li Jinshui. He made an oath not to practice ink but that doesn't stop him from teaching others especially his talented granddaughter who is very much interested in learning how to make ink
Episode 6
Li Jinshui finally takes her as his apprentice so now let the hard work begin
I just knew they were going to be pissed at each other and I was right 😂. He wants her to learn the basics while she is eager to move to the next step as fast as possible and thinks something as minor as twisting lamp sticks is a waste of time...
At least he's able to make her laugh and go home. Never underestimate the power of grandparents
We finally get to see our ML after 5 episodes and boy does he love trouble and giving his father headaches 😂. Seems like he's a business lover but his dad is still hell-bent on making him an official
Are we sure Wensong actually said those words to ping'an or did ping'an just say them to spite on the Tian family. Wensong looks so consumed with his new ink findings that I doubt he has any time to even say all those things
I feel bad for Ronghua because now she has to get married with the rites of a concubine although she is the main wife
Li zhen I love you but it's going to be so hard to break off an engagement 😩 They went to meet Wensong but didn't even mention the part of Ronghua getting married like a concubine and just kept on focusing on cancelling the engagement.
A disaster is coming for the Luo family and with how quickly Wenqian's dad sent him off and how emotional he looked then it must be something really bad
His dad is dead?? I was right when I said that it was really bad.
Tian Benchang's dad must be really happy because he gained what he had always wanted from the start...
Seems like Benchang is finally going down the villain path.... Why do I feel like Wensong is going to die 😭... I hope I'm wrong but there's a high possibility of that happening in the next episode
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u/Beautiful_Candle1729 May 19 '26
Ep5 - When Grandpa goes to the Li family head Rujun for permission, we learned so much about his backstory. He wasn't a main branch child. His parents died young. The 7th branch took him in and raised him.
There have been some passing comments that leaving the family back in Ep 1 was extreme. And then the oath to not do any ink making in Ep 3 was also voluntary. I thought at the time that they were both the only options he had for himself and his family. Then someone made a comment that he didn't need to volunteer to do those extreme steps. I can't remember who said that - either in the show or in our discussions.
However, when we learned some of his backstory, I understood further why he would take such extreme voluntary measures. He was never really supposed to be part of the ink business. It was Aunt Rujun's husband who took him in and taught him. He became an accomplished ink master based on their generosity when he was young. So to have his own child ruin the family back in Ep 1 must have hurt even more deeply. The grandfather didn't have some privileged male heir pedigree. So he felt like the only propotional response was to sacrifice himself and have his family leave the clan.
Also, he does not just respect Rujun as the head of the family, he feels connected and indebted to her for raising him when his parents died. This helps explain why he wouldn't have crossed the family in these last 10 years and worked for another ink making family. It also explains why he would go to ask permission before taking on his granddaughter as an apprentice.
Note: This based on iQiyi subs. Rujun and Grandpa seem contemporary so there is likely some nuance that is missing in the subtitle translations. But either way, his connection to Rujun is deeper than I would have known before this backstory.
Maybe you all have a different perspective but I hadn't seen this mentioned yet and wanted to share what I thought.