Chinese Drama 2020

The Heiress (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

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• Genre: Historical Costume Drama Fiction, Romance, School, Cross-Dressing
• Release Date: 13 August 2020
• Origin: China; Tencent Production
• Cdrama: 24 Episodes

 

Cast

• Jiang Chao as Chen Ting Yi (5th Prince)
• Una You Jing Ru as Han Yuan Niang/Han Shi Yi
• Wang An Yu as Wang Zhong Yu
• Melody Tang as Wang Xi Yuan
• Wu Yang as Chu Xiang Yue
• Feng Jun Xi as Zhou Xue Zhang
• Cao LI as Wang An Jian
• Li Xin Ze as Chen Cheng Juan
• Sun Yi as Ji Ye
• Ji Mei Han as Jin Zi
• Ouyag Xiao Ru as Yun’er
• Fang Xiao Li as Hu Zi
• Zhang He Hao Zhen as Lin Baozi
• Tan Quan as Gu Wan

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Episode 1

The Chen state is undergoing uncertain times but thank goodness for the venerable Han army for patrolling and keeping control of the borders.  Despite their success though, the king wanted to nationalise them but now the king is in delicate health.

He has yet to appoint a crown prince.  Either the 5th Prince who is much admired by the people for his bravery and valour having served in the army for seven years but he was not much liked by the king.  There was also the 2nd Prince, whose uncle is the powerful Prime Minister Wang, who was too ambitious for the king’s liking.

Anyway, Han Yuan Niang was instructed by her father to enter the Imperial College on behalf of her twin brother Han Shi Yi (who died young).

She must be careful not to give away her secret otherwise the king will find out that there is no successor to the Han Army and this would then give the king an excuse to nationalise the powerful private Han Army.

Everyone was curious about Han Shi Yi because of her military background.

She immediately made an enemy of Wang Zhong You, who bullied her at school on the first day.  She would have been stripped naked if the 5th prince did not intervene.  He said that Han Shi Yi belongs to him.

Good story and the lead girl could really pass as a boy but she was just too noisy and talks too much verging on being hysterical, which is rather annoying.

Anyway, I will persevere because Wang Anyu is here.

Episode 2

Han Shi Yi was making herself looked like a bumbling idiot but by pretending like one, she was actually making herself more of the center of attention because everyone was wondering why such an idiot is the successor to the Han Army.

She was almost body searched but the 5th Prince, who eventually appointed her as his reading partner, which she really did not want to be.

Episode 3

It is rather tortuous watching this.  Han Shi Yi is too zany for my liking.

Han Shi Yi was sexually harassing the 5th Prince’ harem when she accidentally knocked the prince into the ground and kissed him instead.

Episode 4

I must admit this episode is hilarious.

Because of the kiss, which he liked, the 5th Prince thought he might be batting for the other side.  He was so worried, he cast political correctness out of the window and started sexually harassing his employees in the workplace. He was hugging and fondling his two very manly but very bemused bodyguards.

He was so happy afterwards because he realised that he did not get the butterflies in the stomach and pounding heart while he was being intimate with the blokes. 🙂

Wang Zhongyu though was beginning to suspect that Han Shi Yi was a girl.  So he plotted to make her squeal the truth by going out to dinner with her and inviting a gaggle of courtesans for entertainment.

Episode 5

The other guys pretended to take their courtesan dates somewhere more private and leaving Han Shi Yi with her partner in the room.

The courtesan started seducing Han Shi Yi but she was prepared as she knew that Wang Zhongyu and his cohorts were peeping from outside.

They saw that Han Shi Yi was far from rebuffing the attention of the courtesan.  Han Shi Yi was really into it, which convinced the peepers.

A Ms Liu suddenly appeared and started castigating Han Shi Yi for being such a cheat and a womaniser.  She chased Han Shi Yi everywhere trying to beat him up.

Han Shi Yi ran into Qin Wanning and fell down in front of her pulling on her skirt which revealed the innocent lady’s naked lower half to the public.

Qin Wanning was so distressed she attempted suicide.  So Han Shi Yi agreed to a marriage with Qin Wanning especially when she heard that Qin Wanning had always been maltreated at home.

I am really beginning to warm up to the lead actress.  She is actually very engaging, very watchable.  Good actress.

The 5th Prince is really drawn to Han Shi Yi.  He even kidnapped her and put her under house arrest in the guise that he needed her to show solidarity to make his side a force to be reckoned with.

Episode 6

Wang Zhong Yu couldn’t get over how Han Shi Yi reminded him of a woman so he thought they had to create a situation where she will be forced to dress up as a woman.

Han Shi Yi heard about his plan and said that she was all for it. They had to have a contest and the loser will dress up as a woman.

Their choice of competition was tree climbing.  The first one to get to a lantern will be the winner.

It was quite an exciting contest attended by many including assassins, who almost killed Han Shi Yi when they broke the rope she was clinging to.

But with a sleight of hand, the 5th Prince used his bodyguard hair ornament to break the fall of Han Shi Yi.

Han Shi Yi thought it was the bodyguard who saved her so she invited him to dinner at the LI Glorious Pavillion. She also invited the 5th Prince and her two classmates.

At the pavilion, Han Shi Yi got drunk. She was so drunk, everyone wanted to help her get home but the more forceful 5th Prince carried her like she was a woman in his arm and took her away.

While at the carriage, he tried to fight his attraction to Han Shi Yi but in the end, he decided he will just let nature takes it course.  Afterall, he reasoned that homosexuality is not an isolated case with just him. Bugger that he though :), It has been going for centuries with the royals but not included in the anals, sorry, annals of history, lol.

The 5th Prince took Han Shi YI to his manor and then tried to give her hangover medicine which went all over her chest and clothes.

So he undid her clothes and found out the Han Shi Yi was a she rather than a he.

He realised that the one who died in childhood was the real Han Shi Yi and she was the girl he remembered as Han Yuan Niang.  He thought that if the emperor finds out, her whole clan will be massacred so he neatly fastened her clothes as if nothing had happened and determined that he alone will know of her secret.

But Han Shi Yi noticed over the following days that the 5th Prince was treating her like a delicate and beloved female.

Meanwhile, Wang Xi Huan confronted his father about the near assassination of Han Shi Yi.  He told Lord Wang that if something had happened to Han Shi Yi he will be mighty pissed off.

Lord Wang said that he was not actually the only one wanting to kill Han Shi Yi. The Emperor wanted Han Shi Yi to be dead the most because of the Han Army.

Wang Xi Huan began to feel sympathy for Han Shi YI.

Yanhao, the Second Prince came back to the Capital badly injured after a failed assassination.

The 5th Prince was the number suspect so he was taken to the Emperor for questioning.

Episode 7

The Emperor gauded by the Empress was harshly questioning the 5th Prince about trying to kill the Second Prince.

The 5th Prince admitted that the arrow was from his manor but he asked the Emperor.  Does the emperor thing the 5th Prince stupid enough that he would use his own arrow to assassinate the second prince?

Suddenly the Emperor saw the logic of it and let the prince go which annoyed the Empress.

The 5th Prince told a minister that he did not do it.  And would have not minded not being the crown prince if the Second Pince is a good sort.

He heard that the Second Prince was cruel and does not know how to manage the army, it was left to the Han Army to patrol the borders.

Anyway, it was the inauguration day where Han Shi Yi and Wang Xi Huan had to dress up as women.

Wang Xi Huan was laughed out because it was obvious that he is a bloke.

The 5th Prince worried that Han Shi Yi would get found out but he need not have worried because she dressed up in black like a bearded rabbi.

Wang Xi Huan and Han Shi Yi were larking around.

Han Shi Yi fell into the water, revealing part of her chest to Wang Xi Yuan.

Episode 8

Wang Xi Huan found out for sure that she was a woman when he sneaked into her manor and found her dressing.

The 5th Prince gave her a hair ornament belonging to his mother.  She tried to return it back but he would not accept it.

Episode 9

Han Shi Yi found out that Wang Xi Yuan was her favourite playwright, Yideiman (or something). She was so happy to finally learn the real identity of the mysterious playwright, she hugged Wang Xi Yuan which was seen by the jealous 5th Prince.

The prince asked her if she would love Yideiman if she had been a woman.

She just brushed off the question.

There is a contest between the 2nd and 5th prince for the crown prince position.

Episode 10

Jiang Chao is gorgeous as a fighting machine.

The 5th Prince is treating Han Shi Yi as his other half.  He tells her everything including state affairs.

The 5th Prince went with Han Shi Yi to Huangzhong (not sure) to investigate corruption by the 2nd Prince regarding relief food for the poor which was never distributed.

They met a local doctor who was in prison.  He was Lin Baozi who examined Han Zhi Yi when she was pretending to be ill in prison.

Later on, Lin Baozi let it out in the open that Han Shi Hi is a woman.

The 5th Prince asked her what happened to the real Shi YI.  She told him that he was killed at age 6 and she had become Shi Yi ever since.  Very few knew that she is really a woman.

She said that she will remain a ‘man’ throughout her life.  When it was time for her to marry, she will marry a woman from a lower class and they would adopt an heir.

The 5th Prince told her that he was actually glad that she was a lady.

She asked what does he mean?

He replied that surely she knows how he feels about her after all the whole Capital already knows. Awww

Episode 11

The 5th Prince was just in too deep on her.

That is why he continued to change her mind that he will make it possible for her to be a ‘girl’ again.

She explained that this is never going to happen because she will inherit the Han Army.

The 5th Prince started sulking and would not speak to her or allowed her to help him in any way.

But he thawed when he saw her almost burning the cottage when she tried to roast a chicken.

Then ended up kissing and yet Shi Yi said it doesn’t make her want to be a girl.

Meanwhile, Wang Zhong You was falling in love with Shi Yi so he created a play based on her he called The Heiress.

To Shi Yi’s annoyance, she seemed to be involved in a love triangle with Zhongyou and the 5th Prince.

Chu Xiang Yue, cousin of the 5th Prince turned up and was suspicious of the relationship between the 5th Prince and Shiyi.

Meanwhile, the 5th Prince was so jealous he attended a magic show where Zhongyou took Shiyi.

Shiyi can’t help but be jealous of Xiang Yue who threw herself at the 5th Prince during the course of the magic show.

Episode 12

The magic show became an assassination of the 5th Prince.

The magician was wearing a prosthetic mask that hid his real identity but Zhongyou managed to yank the mask and it showed Peng Kun who was now working for Prime Minister Wang.  From being active in helping the 5th Prince to defeat the many kungfu warriors, Zhongyou suddenly stopped but he did stop Peng Kun from harming Shi YI.

Shi Yi was shocked to identify that Peng Kun was the one who ambushed her and twin brother ten years ago.  He was the one who killed Shi Yi and who threw her on the pond to drown.

Zhongyou told his father that if he was going to assassinate the 5th Prince, then just to it but he must not touch Shi Yi because if Shi Yi gets hurt, he will kill those who hurt Shiyi himself.

Prime Minister Wang was annoyed with his son who had been cleverly seduced by a homosexual.

The nature of the relationship of the 5th Prince and Shi Yi is heating up amongst the gossipers.

Shi Yi’s cousin heard a classmate said that Shi Yi is worst than a male prostitute, sleeping with the 5th Prince.

The cousin hit him in the face and he had to be stopped.

Shi Yi told her cousin just to ignore them.

Zhongyou got her into trouble when he kept harassing her at school.  She got so annoyed she threw a bamboo script/book at him which made the teacher send her outside for timeout.

Xi Yuan heard that Chu Xiang Yue came to town in order to marry the 5th Prince.  Having such a long time one-sided love for the 5th Prince herself, she went to see Xiang Yue and insulted her which ended in face slapping and broker arm.

Episode 13

Miss Wang and Miss Chu had a fight over the 5th Prince and Shi Yi was their witness.

The 5th Prince investigated what happened.

Not wanting to offend either, Shi Yi said that she saw very minimal over what happened between the women.  When Miss Chu said that surely Shi Yi saw how she was slapped by Miss Wang.

Shi Yi said that all she saw was the mark on her face.

Miss Wang then said that Shi Yi saw how her arm was dislocated by Miss Chu.

Again Shi Yi said she did not see Miss Chu touching Miss Wang instead she saw her wink to her maid who dislocated Miss Wang’s arm.

Miss Chu was furious.

The 5th Prince said that Miss Wang had to apologise to Miss Chu.

Shi Yi was in the market with her two assistants when they noticed that they were being followed by Jiye, the 5th Prince guard.

They confronted him and he immediately said that he was sent by the prince to guard Shi Yi.

Shiyi tasked him to carry their gargantuan amount of shopping.  He was purposely knocked by one of Shi Yi’s assistant making him lose sight of Shiyi.

Shiyi wandered around on her own until she bumped into a woman who started shouting that she was being harrassed by Shiyi.

A gang turned up and they were going to strip Shi Yi when a gorgeous Wang Zhong You appeared and rescued Shi YI.

He was seducing Shi Yi with his good looks when the 5th Prince, who had been alerted that Shi Yi had gone missing, turned up and plucked Shi YI from the arms of Wang Zhong You.

It turned out that the gang was hired by Miss Chu to harassed and humiliate Shi Yi so the 5th Prince does not favour Shi Yi anymore.

The 5th Prince banished Miss Chu to the Duke’s quarter which had not seen repair and clean-up for a long time.

This kind of punishment did not go well with Shi Yi.

Anyway, it was the hunting season and the students of the academy went.

Episode 14

Shi YI, the 5th Prince, Mr Zhou and Mr Chen were ambushed by Mr Wang’s army.  The four had no choice but to jump into the ravine to get away from the soldiers.

They were able to find a cave to spend the night but Shi Yi and the Prince was supposed to take turn watching for the enemy.

But they started clearing the air regarding Miss Chu.

The 5th Prince said that he sent Miss Chu to the Duke’s place so that she could be out of the way.  He could not really punish her because she was brought up by his aunt and uncle who would be sad if Miss Chu is unhappy.

They had their heart to heart where the 5th Prince confessed to her again and said that he knew that she loves him as well. She tried to deny it but it was no use. The Prince was forceful.

Mr Chen and Mr Zhou saw them in a rather intimate position for two blokes, they were shocked but did not want to say anything so they both pretended to be asleep.

Someone reported to the King that the 5th Prince was missing.  He was so worried he ordered the army to find the prince at all costs.

The 5th Prince got stabbed in the chest by a flying poisoned dagger by Peng Lun.

Shi Yi thought that he was dying and telling him that she would do anything he wanted just live.

She later found out that he was milking his injury to make her confess that she loves him.

He said he will marry her.

Episode 15

Shi Yi was at the Yidian.  Wang Zhong You asked her if anything happened between her and the Prince.  She quickly denied saying that Mr Chen and Mr Zhou was there as well.

She then noticed the latest part of the play by Yidian.  Wang Zhong You said that it was the last part of The Heiress.

He then confessed to her that he knew she was a woman.  He found it out during the inauguration so just to confirm he sneaked into her manor and found out for sure.  He then told her that he loves her, he was not blackmailing her, he really loved her.

She advised him to see a doctor.

Episode16

There was a calamity in one fo the villages.  There was a massive flooding leaving many homeless, diseased and hungry.

The king sent both the 2nd prince and the 5th Prince.  The academy asked for volunteers to go with the princes.

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Episode 24

OMG! What are you doing to me Cdramas?!!!  Another ambiguous ending; the third in a row after Dance of the Phoenix and The Sleepless Princess!  I want happy endings.

I supposed Shi Yi deserved to have a not so happy ending.  She did not trust the person who most loved her more than his own life.

When she stabbed him out of grief, sorrow, and distrust, he just let her.  He said that her words hurt more than being stabbed by her.  Then when she went to report to the king that the 5th Prince was a cruel, megalomanic, he allowed her to do so and even offered to provide escorts for her against the assassins along the way.

She reported the 5th Prince to the dying King which made the king so stressed because he knew his son is being maligned through no fault of his own.

Still, Shi Yi would not leave despite the King almost begging her to go.  She just knelt on his death bed until he makes a decision to punish or make sure the 5th Prince doesn’t inherit the throne.

The king started spewing blood and then the end was nigh.  He was intoning that Zitong, the 5th Prince’s mother was the love of his life and would be with her soon.

The Queen found him dying and heard what he said about his love for  Zitong.  The queen reminded the king that he also told her that she was the love of his life from childhood. She said that even in death they will be husband and wife so she stabbed herself with her hairpin and died with him.

Knowing that the Wang Family had been rumbled and without the queen’s patronage, Prime Minister Wang spoke to his son, Wang Zhong You, and confessed that it was him who collaborated with the enemies and killing the 60,000 Han army, including Shi Yi’s father.

Prime Minister Wang told his son to leave the capital because he was pretty sure every single member of the Wang Family will be annihilated.  The Prime Minister then stabbed himself to death.

Anyway as the last edict of the king before his death, he allowed the marriage between Shi Yi and the 5th Prince.

The marriage had to take place within the 7th days pre-mourning period, otherwise, the 5th Prince who is now the new Emperor will have to wait 3 years before he could marry.

Shiyi was in her bridal dress when the 5th Prince came to see her.  He told her that she was beautiful but she was unmoved.

She blamed him for being a collaborator which caused the death of the entire Han Army.

He asked her to trust him but she was beyond reasoning.  But she offered him a drink.

He was about to drink it when the glass was flicked off his hand; he then quickly took her glass as well.

She said his glass was ok, only her own was poisoned because she wanted to be with her dead relatives.

No matter what he tells her, she disbelieved.  She even accused him of looking all innocent when blood was in his hand.

Wang Zhong Yu came to see her and told her to go away with him.  There was a fight between the 5th Prince and Zhong Yu but Shi Yi intervened. Thinking that Shiyi was in danger, Jinzi, Shiyi’s last remaining soldier came flying in with a sword.  She was stopped and stabbed by one of the soldiers.

This was really too much for Shi and the Emperor could see that as well so he allowed her to leave with Zhong Yu.

Zhong Yu and Shiyi were traveling by carriage when it stopped and Shi Yi and Zhong Yu got out.

Shiyi said that she will go her own way and not see Zhong Yu again. He knew that despite everything, she still loves the Emperor.

It made him feel so guilty so he confessed to her that it was his father who collaborated with the enemies and who created false documents and fake seals.

But Shiyi said that the 5th Prince/Emperor knew something about it and did not do anything to stop it.

As they parted ways, Zhong Yu that it was fated that they will never be together.

Meanwhile, Chu Xiang Yue went to the new Emperor and told him that since Shiyi is gone, she was still there because she cares for him and truly loves him.

The Emperor told her that she was never going to be an empress.  She was complaining to she told the guard to take her away and marry her off to someone on the west border.

Three years later…

Zhong Yu had become a popular author, his autograph was much sought after.

And Shi Yi is back. She was dining in a restaurant when she heard the people’s admiration of the king.  They said that he is a very just king and even built a new Han Army.

Shi Yi became more intrigued when she was walking in a busy town centre and saw a restaurant named just like what she told the 5th prince before that if she ever opened her own restaurant she will call it Hungry Tummy (I’ve forgotten what it was called, LOL)

There was a celebration at the restaurant because the wife of the owner had just a baby,  Shi Yi gave the jade pendant that the 5th Prince gave her to the owner which she said should be given to the baby.

It so happened that the Emperor/5th Prince was attending the celebration.  He spotted the pendant and asked where the giver went.

He chased for her but he could not see her. She can see him though and just smiled.

The End.

 

What does that mean?