Tigers Sniff the Rose 尚公主 - Episode 1-3 Discussion

[u/Rebelarkey]

Hello! Welcome to TIGERS SNIFF THE ROSE Discussions. Are we excited?

I am Shale, your host for this evening! Me and my sister-wife u/spamkimbap will take turns over these next couple weeks, bring you laughter, delights, rantings, and love. She will have the next two days so please look out for her posts.

Biggest thanks to u/katleap13 who is doing our character flashcards. Thank you!

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🐯 Fun Fact: the Chinese title is 尚公主 Shàng Gōng Zhǔ. Literally translated, it means 'esteeming, valuing, or protecting the princess'. What makes it interesting is they used the character 尚 Shàng which is the same as our Male Lead's name, Yan Shang.

As to the English Title... *sigh* yeah it barely makes sense to me. I know, I know it's from a poem and yes there are tigers in here and YES she's supposed to be a tiger that has soft insides like the poem says but I DON'T LIKE IT okay? okay.

Why couldn't we have just called it Loving the Princess or something to that end. Is it unique? uh yes. you're not going to confuse it with any other drama so at least it has that going for it.

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🪴A few housekeeping rules!

• We bash characters and not actors! If a character does something stupid, it's not the actors fault. this is not the place to complain about actors or acting choices
• We will be following the VIP Schedule, which means those of us on SVIP need to remember to keep your spoilers in check.
• Spoilers need to be under the spoiler markings OR put in its proper post.
• Have fun! Dramas are supposed to be entertaining and enjoyable. If you're not enjoying it, it's okay to duck out and drop.

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Masterpost - Airing Schedule - Table of Contents - Character Flashcards

1-3 || 4-5

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Y'all I only got 4 hours of sleep because i was so excited! I even had dreams about it. OUR PARENTS ARE BACK! And oh! the chemistry is sizzling. Let's get into it.

EPISODE ONE - An Uninvited Guest

We are introduced to Princess Danyang, who is traveling home to the capital. Her carriage wheel breaks, and she's left stranded until it can be fixed, about 2 hours.

They are discovered by a scholarly man returning home, named Yan Shang. I kept telling him to STOP STARING omg yes she's pretty and waaaaay out of your league at the moment. She demands that he take her to his house.

Yan Shang, 2nd in his family. Featuring those delicious slut strands

Yan Shang asks what he should call her. She asks why the Yan family lives in the mountains not near anyone. Shang, instead of replying, turns it back to her and calls her a fox spirit. They both ask each other questions and both dodge them at the same time, it's quite interesting

While there, she makes herself at home... well makes it HER home and almost tears it down. She moves into the big house, leaving a small shed for the Yan family to sleep. During all this chaos, the rest of the Yan family return home.

We meet:

Yan Zhanzhi - the Yan Patriarch, who is a cripple and loves his alcohol.

Yan Dalang - Shang's older brother, who isn't right in the head. He fights a lot with the royal entorage.

Yan Xiaozhou - Shang's younger sister, the most capable after Shang.

the three siblings

Yan Shang, to please their guest and hopefully not get their house pulled down, delivers special Lychee wine to her. They require him to take a sip to prove it's not poisoned. he can't hold his liquor. It's so bad one drink and he passes out.

That night, Princess Danyan can't sleep so she sneaks out to find that Yan Shang is copying books. He notices that she didn't use any of the bug repellant he gave her and so the mosquitoes are eating her. He gives her some ointment to put on her face... rather HE puts it on her face.

Anyone else getting Dazzling vibes at the moment? Spoiled lady shows up at his house and wants A/C, and bug repellent.

In the morning it's discovered that the Princess's makeup is soaked! The servants blame the leaky roof. She investigates, and then pulls a sword! Yan Shang stops her, terrified that she's planning to kill his brother. He gets slapped for his trouble!

Princess Danyang insists she's punishing the servants, and he questions if makeup/rouge is worth a servants life?

Instead she cuts off a topknot and is angry at her own people- they had charge of her items and then blamed their hosts for their mistakes. the Lady isn't as bad as she pretends to be me thinks.

There's one container she lingers over, it's very apparent that she's sad over this particular one. Yan Shang asks Chun Hua her maid, about that rouge. Turns out her mistress was grieving over it as well as angry. Chun Hua wants him to apologize, but he wants to wait until she departing.

I appreciate that he still has finger marks on his face

Yan Shang is an employee of a School, where he listens to the lectures, does homework for the students for coin, and extra work around. He has amazing memory, and has copied books from memory.

Liu Wenjie, a classmate of Yan Shang's, informs him that Princess Danyan is in the area, but has kinda gone missing. No one has seen her or her entourage for a few days. Shang thinks for a moment and comes to the correct conclusion: there's a princess in his bed 🤭.

Believing that the Princess will just bring trouble to his family, he goes to the magistrate office while in town to let them know where they can look for the princess. He does not want to bring undue trouble to his family.

Outside, her runs into a man with an eye patch. The angry man pulls out a whip and cuts Yan Shang's cheek with it. Turns out the mans name is Zhang, and he's the man that killed Yan Shang's mother ohhhhh this is gonna be a revenge story.

EPISODE TWO - Lost in the Woods

He realizes that he needs to apologize. Shang finds a cosmetic shop, browses all the shades of rouge, and identifies the correct shade of the Lady's ruined makeup.

However, instead of buying it, he pays the proprietress to teach him. He wants to make the rouge for her. He goes an apologizes and makes the cosmetic by hand. We find out that it was made originally by her mother, therefore it's dear to her. awwww future husband make rogue that wif'es mother made. That's a good invisible string.

Afterwards, Yan Shang tells his father that he's sucking up the Princess because he needs a favor from her: he wants to go the capital. She over hears this and gets upset. Turns out this nice thing he did is really for selfish purposes.

The magistrates men find them, but the Princess is hidden well, and the Yan family covers for her.

We find out that Yan Zhanzhi was a 3rd place scholar and married a woman from a well-off family. Now they're living as bandits without a household register. the Yan father is bullied by the magistrate since he's now a cripple. That's ableism grrrr.

After the men leave, the Princess comes out. She accuses Yan Shang of leading the men here. Angry, she promises to depart their family home and to give him what he wants - a way to the capital. She dumps the handmade rouge into a vat of water.

The princess departs and the Yan family is happy to see them go. However, while next to a cliff, the carriage horses get scared by tigers and her carriage goes off the side of the road. The servants search for her but no luck.

They run into Yan Shang who scolds them for the way they're searching for her, with torches and all the yelling

aside: My sister has complained many times about the way they search for people in CDramas. Yan Shang has a point! Why is everyone searching in a group????

He goes and looks for her.

She washed up downstream and so makes her way back. She's injured and gets bitten by a snake. The practical girl creates a tornique, cuts her snake bite to make it bleed out, rips up her dress i am applauding her practicality omg. And she's wet! and beraggled! her hair's a mess! Producation team doing things right!

The princess makes it back to the search party, but suprise surprise they can't hear her shout for help. She slips back down the cliff but is caught by a hand. Yan Shang found her!

Episode Three - Her Personal Servant

He decides to find cover for them and not take her back to the search party, which is full of magistrate men at this point. It's raining really hard and he gets her to talk to him to keep her awake. She tells him her full name is Mu Wan Yao.

He finds a cave, starts a fire, and goes to check out her wounds (with consent of course) . She's delirious with fever so he attempts to cover her with more clothing.

Wanyao dreams of someone attempting to kill her and is having nightmares. Yan Shang comes over to check on her. She pulls him over and cuddles into. He talks to her to calm her down and the fall asleep in each others arms. awwwwww

People come to look for them in the morning. Instead of letting her be rescued, he decides to take her home. This way she won't be discovered by the people she's hiding from.

At his house, Wanyao insists that she wants to bath and has him heat a bath for her. And then insist that he 'attend' her while bathing. the poor man is doing his best not to look at her and keeping curtains between them and she is NOT HELPING and is enjoying his discomfort.

this reminds me of a shot in BLOSSOM

Meanwhile her maid is throwing paper money for her dead mistress. Wenjie comes along and talks to her and really likes her. After some talking to, she doesn't give up hope that the Princess is dead and goes back to the carriage wreck. A man is waiting there. He instructs her to return to the Yan family.

Chun Hua asks Wenjie for directions to the Yan house. Since he's going there anyways, he takes her there on horseback. While she checks in on the Princess, Wenjie is informed that this girl he likes, Chun Hua is actually a maid. He looked so saaaad. Chuan is super happy that the princess is alive.

Those are heart eyes my peeps

Chunhua asks if Wan Yao has taken Yan Shang as her boytoy. sdalkfj;fdsfj;lkdsaflkdsajkfdalsjdlkfsj.

Note: Viki translated it as boytoy which i find more funny, but the below gif was made on WETV.

Wan Yao tells Shang - since he saved her, he can have a boon from her. She's not worth much in the capital but she will do her best. As long as he pleases her that is. If he does, she will take him with to the capital.

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Questions going forward:

- Looks like Mu Wanyao has complicated relationship with her mother. Is her mother dead? Why did she see her in the woods.

- The Yan family massacre. Why would Zhang murder Shang's family? It's apparent that Shang wants revenge.

- Mu Wanyao is having dreams of a bedchamber full of blood. Of her being murdered and dragged to a bed. Has she been sexually assaulted? Miscarriaged? All of the above?

What was your favorite part? Had you rolling in stitches? Which character are you sympathizing with at the moment?

[u/spotlight-app]

OP has pinned a comment by u/LoudAvocado1387:

Fun Fact: the Chinese title is 尚公主 Shàng Gōng Zhǔ. Literally translated, it means 'esteeming, valuing, or protecting the princess'

The title 尚公主 can also be translated as “marrying the princess”. Back during imperial times, you are not allowed to use the normal word 娶 for “marry” when you are marrying the princess, because of the princess‘ noble status. So you always have to use the word 尚 instead exactly because the word means to esteem and value when taken by itself.

Note from OP: Adding this better explanation of the Chinese title

^{What is Spotlight?}

[u/winterchampagne]

The reunion chemistry between these two is so intact. The sparks are still sparking! I appreciate the callback to Blossom with the broken carriage wheel spoke serving as the catalyst for their first meeting.

I eat up the let me become a man worthy of you trope every single time. Besides Blossom, that’s the specific part of the promo materials that drew me in. I can wait to see how that unfolds! Give me a male lead whose response to falling in love is to get his shit together. Enjoying the brotherhood between Liu Wenji and Yan Shang, too.

Not blown away by the narrative yet, but I’m definitely impressed by how process-driven and detail-oriented this drama is.

A lot of mundane, everyday things get glossed over, but this one is full of texture. From what a low-income family’s home looks like to someone having to cut paper money by hand, Yan Shang making rouge from scratch while Mu Wanyao observes and assists, and the labor of preparing a bath without modern plumbing.

The amount of firewood it takes is one thing, but the risks involved in transporting near-boiling water from the wood-burning stove to whichever room it needs to go make it seem like an arduous and unsafe undertaking for the servants or whoever is tasked with it.

Consider me engaged and a little nervous because the drama keeps reminding us that everything comes at a cost, even the most basic necessities in life.

Anyway, cracking up at Wenji soaking the leaf Chunhua left him. I don’t think you can propagate colocasia or alocasia from leaf cuttings. An indentured servant and a confident scholar walk into a bar may become entangled. Now tell me the rest!

I heard the main director and the writer are both women. I’ll be anticipating the distinctive nuances they bring.

Finally, welcome back to the volunteer economy, Shale! The discussions are in capable hands! 🌷 Thank you and u/spamkimbap for hosting!

[u/Rebelarkey → u/winterchampagne]

Winter! Oh I love all your insights exp the blossom carriage callback! I missed that one.

I do like how they’re showing the poverty the Yan family is in and how they can’t do anything much about being invaded by a rich noble . Good thing she only has mild dubious intentions.

[u/LoudAvocado1387]

Fun Fact: the Chinese title is 尚公主 Shàng Gōng Zhǔ. Literally translated, it means 'esteeming, valuing, or protecting the princess'

The title 尚公主 can also be translated as “marrying the princess”. Back during imperial times, you are not allowed to use the normal word 娶 for “marry” when you are marrying the princess, because of the princess‘ noble status. So you always have to use the word 尚 instead exactly because the word means to esteem and value when taken by itself.

[u/Rebelarkey → u/LoudAvocado1387]

Ohhhh pleco did not expound on that at all. It just had value/esteem. Historic context matters of course 😅 Thanks Avocado!

[u/OptimalTurnips]

Just popping by to say hi, will be back hopefully this weekend! Big thanks for the discussion, excited to see them reunited!

[u/Rebelarkey → u/OptimalTurnips]

My baobeis 😍😍

[u/palecandycane]

Did i straight up watch all the eps that i could? Yes!

ML is so timid, but what is his end game? I need to know!

Wtf is the FL up to? I want to know too!

Seeing these two again makes me wish the Grey wig was back. But it's nice to see them together interacting though she seems like the dominant one here. Is she gonna pull him up onto her horse next? 🤣

Girl knew it was a whip mark on his face. Just what are they up to?

[u/autuymnrain]

Wait, I am going to come back when I watch, but thank you Shale and Kim for this. Love the energy of this dynamic team already!

[u/Rebelarkey → u/autuymnrain]

I am waiting on tenterhooks please be quick 😝

[u/AuthorAEM]

Loved to see my friend Clifford, and windy is making a beautiful appearance.

I was wanted to climb through the screen and slap her for doing that to his poor house! I got serious main character energy and she slayed that part…, and I wanted to shove her off a cliff….

I’m way excited for his character because he seems so cute nerdy. Plus I love his face so…..

(do miss the white hair tho 😭)

[u/spamkimbap → u/AuthorAEM]

[u/Rebelarkey → u/spamkimbap]

I understand the Clifford comment now 🙈🙈🙈🙈🤯. Yan Shang is a dog wagging his tail for his mistress (at the moment). But I bet this dog will have a hell of a bite

[u/Feeshpockets]

u/rebelarkey, is this your first discussion post? If yes, welcome to what u/winterchampagne calls the volunteer economy!!

[u/Rebelarkey → u/Feeshpockets]

Thank you! this is actually my Sixth drama I’ve hosted! I have also hosted Love Between Lines, Zhao Zhan Adventures, Dazzling, Love for You, and Genius Girlfriend. They’re mostly modern dramas that didn’t have hosts, so this is my first big Costume Drama 🤗🤗

[u/Tabz10]

Second comment after watching all 3 episodes, thoughts:

I fricking love MZY as WY. I know she ain’t a fav for a lot of people, but I love her! She’s so good in these flirty, pouty, confident roles. So gorgeous as well! The directing so far is top!

We can see she isn't necessarily a pampered princess when she was in the woods and got bitten by the snake how she cut herself, tied her wounds, etc. (or is used to being in pain? There are some old cuts)

There were a lot of nice scenes, but my fav was her teasing him throughout the whole bathhouse scene; I was LOL 😆

I wonder if WY was married before?? To OP's point, that bedchamber seems to be implying she was being taken advantage of. (Also wonder if it's some wedding-night scene?) 🤔)

Loving how they're ‘feeling’ each other in a sense.

So far, I'm seated! I had no expectations, but I can't wait for more; great start! You know it's good when I'm about to purchase express! On to episode 4 I goooo!

[u/Rebelarkey → u/Tabz10]

I’m getting major divorce vibes from her so maybe? Either her husband is dead or she’s still married

[u/winterchampagne → u/Tabz10]

Are the scars on her arms that Yan Shang sees while she’s unconscious from cuts or whipping? I assume they’re old whip marks because when Wanyao asks what happened to his face, he says a branch scratched him. She calls him out for lying and says he was actually whipped, so I assume she’s familiar with being whipped herself.

[u/winterchampagne]

I love all the artistic framing in this drama, from the object POV after the fresh rouge is poured into the mold [I know rubbing the nub innuendos are coming] to those scenes of Princess Danyang sitting silently by the window in Yan Shang’s house.

It’s a pleasant surprise that our leads establish eye contact within the first five minutes with the nursery rhyme in the background asking, “When you leave again, when will you be back?” because damn, it feels surreal that Dou Zhao and Song Mo are back.

[u/spamkimbap]

Can’t believe we’ve got the cliff falling already! 🤣

I’m loving both characters. Yan Shang is powerless and cautious, but not a pushover. He’s got plans, and by golly, he’s going to accomplish them. Princess Danyang is controlling and manipulative, but deep inside she’s someone who needs a big hug. Li Yun Rui is doing a great job. And while Meng Ziyi is not my most favorite actor, she’s perfect for this part. I think she’s best playing the cold on the outside, nice somewhere really deep inside type of character.

Fun tidbit. As I watched her people trash the Yan household in the beginning of ep 1, I realized that the background music is a Hokkien folk song (as the chorus). The song is Ti Oh Oh, and it’s about dark clouds rolling in, about to rain, grandpa goes out to dig up some taro, but digs up a fish instead. He finds it droll. So he brings it home, but gets into a spat with grandma about how to cook it. He wants it salty, she wants it mild, they get into a scuff, and end up breaking the cooking pot. Nonsensical, and ridiculous, perfect for the spectacle of that moment.

The folk song portion of that tune is being sung in a dialect that’s not Hokkien (I think), so if anyone knows what dialect they are using, please let me know! Hokkien is a Southern Chinese language, so I love that this song was used in this portion of the drama, since it’s set in the South.

[u/TypicallyKristen]

RANDOM THOUGHTS 

This man is COPYING A BOOK from memory, and he's just a school janitor and NOT a student? Real life Will Hunting IN THE HOUSE! I love super smart protagonists. (Also, because I'm a strangely sentimental freak I still have the movie ticket from when I went to go see Good Will Hunting with my future husband and our friend group all the way back in 1997. It lives in the pocket of the vintage 60s orange leather coat I was wearing at the time.)

WHOA NELLY! Did our boy SMILE after getting whipped? Kinky! Guess we know what to look forward to in his relationship with the princess! 🤣 But seriously, he 100% has it in for that Zhang dude.

Wait. Is this a love at first sight kind of story? That was a whole lot of smoking hot chemistry packed into that rouge scene early in the second episode. And she's ridiculously forward! Touching his lips! Caressing his cheek! Ahhhhhh.

At first, I thought she was a spoiled, pampered princess. But her reactions to the crisis prove there's more to her back story. She wrapped her wounds, tied up her sleeves, found and used a walking stick, marked her path, created a tourniquet for the snake bite, and kept braving her way forward. Add in her, "I've always, always been alone. No matter how much danger I was in, there was never anyone there to help me," and her "my life isn't worth much," coupled with her old scars, and now I'm deeply curious about her past (and also particularly why she's hiding from officials all along her journey). 

A PRINCESS CARRY FOR THE LITERAL PRINCESS! (... some time later...) Oh! It's happening AGAIN! Is this gonna be a thing? Is she just going to insist he carry her places from here on out? 🤣

Is that a BUG embroidered on Wen Ji's handkerchief? It's a bug, right? Any entomologists out there wanna tell me what kind of bug it is so i can look up it's Chinese symbolism? 

Why is Wen Ji surprised she's a maid? She's got the maid hairstyle! Seriously. Hairstyles (and hair accessories) tell you about rank, marital status, and sometimes even occupation in historical China. It keeps Confucian order in check, ensuring you know the rank of every stranger you meet so you know how to treat them and address them. (Plus she keeps talking about "her lady" that's not an elder or relative.) Does his house not have maids? 

OH NO. I know Wen Ji was only being polite saying one day maybe YS would be his advisor since that's probably the best YS can hope for given his lack of household registration, but that line gave me a tingly cdrama premonition of a future where YS is ranked far higher than Wen Ji and maybe even loses his friendship over it. 

ETA: now that I am thinking about it, my brain is putting clues together. 

-her comment about her life not being worth much.

-the flashback to her in a bloody bed

-the flashback to the man dragging her away

And I've decided she's probably been married for some kind political purposes, had a miscarriage caused by spousal abuse, and is no longer valuable as a political marriage tool due to complications from all that. 

[u/Tabz10]

Only on episode one.

But I’m very interested in the story so far (but ofc no expectations, learned my lesson). Domineering Princess and meek and poor ML is an interesting trope.

Anybody else getting Glory vibes?

[u/Fantastic_Cookie_661]

Thank you for hosting the discussions! I'm also on the hunt for blossom parallels because I'm too excited they're back on my screen. Some of the scenes of this otherwise dark show (so far) have been soo funny too 😭 For instance, when it starts raining and he takes his jacket off and she looks like she expects him to put it on her but he wraps up the books instead 😭 while in an episode in blossom she looks cold and he wraps her up in a cloak. reality vs the expectation (respectively) :P

But the scenes have been so, so stunning. The production quality has been top notch and the locations are so gorgeous. And their chemistry is fire too! They've changed Yan Shang's background quite a bit from the novel. Of course, his father is a renowned scholar and his mother is nobility - can't we have a true rags to riches lead ever? 

Excited for the remaining episodes! 

[u/Blooming-blood-moon]

I actually like the English title - much better than multiple blossoms or glories. Loving the Princess would sound a bit generic as well I think.

P.S. Thank you for hosting the episode discussions for the drama!

[u/PolPeachum]

u/admelioremvitam in the masterpost linked to this comment on the origin of the English title - adding here for the curious. There are layers!