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sid_guardian2020-10-10 09:40 am
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2020-10-10 09:40 am
Entry tags:
Focus on the bartender: Justice is like my customers
The bartender is a drama-only character. FYI, I got a bit carried away with the screencaps.
We first meet the bartender in ep 16, when Zhao Yunlan is on the run from An Bai and his friends in Dixing. Zhao Yunlan steals a vomiting man’s mask, puts it on, and enters the crowded bar where everyone is masked. (Some are wearing full face masks, which seems like a mistake if you want to drink.)
The bartender welcomes him and hands him a half-full mug of beer, apparently for free. He says the mask looks familiar. “What a coincidence!” says Zhao Yunlan, cheerfully.
An Bai and his friends charge in looking for Zhao Yunlan, and the bartender is all, “Kids these days, am I right?” But his suspicions about Zhao Yunlan grow when Zhao Yunlan uses strange words like “school” and “hospital”.
The bartender does not have an extensive vocabulary.
“Are you really from here?” asks the bartender, and he snatches the mask from Zhao Yunlan’s face. When An Bai & co. close in, the bartender stands back, not getting involved.
Later (ep 17), Shen Wei shows up and asks him, “Have you seen someone with a moustache and maybe a lollipop in his mouth?” The bartender starts to reply, but the vomiting man interrupts. “He is dead! I killed him with my huge fist.” Although the bartender knows this to be untrue, he doesn’t contradict him.
The crowd turns on Shen Wei, who reveals his identity. Everyone else bows and choruses, “Hei Pao Shi Daren.” The bartender just stands there, staring, then points. “He-he-he is the real one.” The Envoy looks at him, and the bartender drops his hand and gulps.
Terrified bartender is reminiscent of terrified Guo Changcheng.
“Tell me, where did he go,” orders the Envoy. The bartender stutters, “I, I, I don't know where he is. But I know three people were looking for him earlier, too.” And then he leans in and whispers in the Envoy’s ear.
The bartender tells the Envoy a secret.
The next time we see the bar is in ep 22. The bartender has raised his prices because “this is the bar Hei Pao Shi Daren graced with his presence.” Unfortunately his customers have voted with their feet and stayed away. Then Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing fall from a portal in the ceiling.
The bartender recognises Zhao Yunlan: “You punk again! I recognize your face.” But Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing ignore him, talking as if they can’t see him, which makes him angry.
"Acting like I don't exist, are you? Don't walk away! You choose — we can settle this in public or in private!
Zhao Yunlan, who has never met an antagonist he can’t wrap around his little finger (except Zhao Xinci and Ye Zun), ends up giving the bartender business advice in exchange for a neck rub. :D :D :D The bartender is fascinated by cat!Da Qing.
Zhao Yunlan bartering business advice for a massage.
Da Qing's in on it — particularly effective since the bartender has probably never seen a cat before.
"No touching the family mascot cat!"
When Shen Wei arrives, the bartender eagerly offers him a drink and runs off to get it before Shen Wei can refuse.
In ep 23, the bar is busy, so Zhao Yunlan’s advice must have worked. An Bai and his friends are hiding out there when palace guards show up looking for them. The bartender tries to block the guards’ entrance, but they say An Bai is suspected of murdering the king, and he stands aside.
There’s a flashback in ep 35 to Ye Zun, disguised as the Envoy, denouncing and burning the Guardian Treaty. The bartender is in the crowd. The man next to him doesn’t think the Envoy would talk like this, and the bartender says, “I've met the great Black-Cloaked Envoy before. That appearance, that tone... He's definitely real.” Oops.
And then there’s episode 39. When Zhao Yunlan shows up at the bar and signals, the bartender sends his customers away. He brings Zhao Yunlan the Guardian Lantern from behind the bar. (I assume Zhao Yunlan and Guo Changcheng came through the portal to the bar again, perhaps before it opened, and stashed the Lantern there then?) Fake Envoy Ye Zun shows up and restrains Zhao Yunlan with energy, and the bartender points at Ye Zun and says, “You—you are not the Black-Cloaked Envoy.”
Ye Zun says, “So what? I’m going to save Dixing anyway,” and the bartender says, “I've run this bar for so many years, I can tell at a glance what kind of guy you are and what's on your mind. Only bad people have that kind of evil expression. A true hero is someone like the Black-Cloaked Envoy.”
Incensed, Ye Zun throws him across the room and monologues at him, while Zhao Yunlan broadcasts Ye Zun’s words to the city. (It’s unclear why the bar has a PA system to outside, but the microphone is there from ep 16.)
Zhao Yunlan explains what they’ve done, Ye Zun smashes the microphone, and the bartender snarks, “Justice is like my customers. It might be late, but it'll turn up eventually.”
Ye Zun attacks him, but Zhao Yunlan intervenes. “Is it worth wasting your energy on killing such a nobody?” Ye Zun drops the bartender, shouting, “Even a nobody like him dares to refute my great ambition!”
Later that episode, Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing and Zhu Hong see the bartender in the street. He’s clutching his side, wounded, but nonetheless rallying the citizens by broadcasting a recording of Ye Zun’s villain monologue. “Come with me!” he cries, and the people follow. And even later, when we catch up with him, he’s using the megaphone to amplify his own words of revolution, saying the people should take over the palace and punish evil.
Revolutionary Bartender!
By the time Zhao Yunlan sacrifices himself, the streets are empty and the angry mob has gone to the bar for a drink. They’re astonished when daylight shines in through the window.
Sometimes you need a drink before you can revolt.
When first we see the bartender, he’s a passive observer. He lets An Bai and his friends accost Zhao Yunlan and doesn’t contradict the vomiting man who claims to the Envoy that he's killed Zhao Yunlan. But meeting the Envoy and receiving advice and encouragement from Zhao Yunlan change the bartender's attitude. He tries to prevent the palace guards from entering his bar. He colludes with Zhao Yunlan and stands up to Ye Zun, and ultimately rallies the people to try to turn the tide of the crisis. (And okay, in the middle there, he misidentifies Ye Zun as the Envoy. Nobody’s perfect!)
The exterior of the bar is unprepossessing, but the bartender has decorated its interior with all kinds of whimsical things, including but not limited to: a fishing net, a mirror ball, masks, a shield, ropes, various sculptures, animal skins, fuzzy green balls, and twinkly red lights.
After Zhao Yunlan gives the bartender business advice and Da Qing supposedly brings him luck, the bartender hangs a new picture above the bar:
Lucky black cat banner from the Dixing bar
Translation: the big white character is “cat”; the little round ones are “luck”.
Top row: 灵猫招财 the spirit cat is good luck
Bottom row: 客似云来 guests (stream in) like clouds
I couldn’t find any works about the bartender or the bar. If you know of any — or fanworks that explain why the patrons are wearing masks in episode 16 — please link in comments.
Feel free to answer just some (or none) of the questions and/or weigh in with your own thoughts. Share links to meta, picspams, and related fanworks, new or old! Self-recs whole-heartedly encouraged.
The Dixing bartender’s story
We first meet the bartender in ep 16, when Zhao Yunlan is on the run from An Bai and his friends in Dixing. Zhao Yunlan steals a vomiting man’s mask, puts it on, and enters the crowded bar where everyone is masked. (Some are wearing full face masks, which seems like a mistake if you want to drink.)
The bartender welcomes him and hands him a half-full mug of beer, apparently for free. He says the mask looks familiar. “What a coincidence!” says Zhao Yunlan, cheerfully.
An Bai and his friends charge in looking for Zhao Yunlan, and the bartender is all, “Kids these days, am I right?” But his suspicions about Zhao Yunlan grow when Zhao Yunlan uses strange words like “school” and “hospital”.
The bartender does not have an extensive vocabulary.
“Are you really from here?” asks the bartender, and he snatches the mask from Zhao Yunlan’s face. When An Bai & co. close in, the bartender stands back, not getting involved.
Later (ep 17), Shen Wei shows up and asks him, “Have you seen someone with a moustache and maybe a lollipop in his mouth?” The bartender starts to reply, but the vomiting man interrupts. “He is dead! I killed him with my huge fist.” Although the bartender knows this to be untrue, he doesn’t contradict him.
The crowd turns on Shen Wei, who reveals his identity. Everyone else bows and choruses, “Hei Pao Shi Daren.” The bartender just stands there, staring, then points. “He-he-he is the real one.” The Envoy looks at him, and the bartender drops his hand and gulps.
Terrified bartender is reminiscent of terrified Guo Changcheng.
“Tell me, where did he go,” orders the Envoy. The bartender stutters, “I, I, I don't know where he is. But I know three people were looking for him earlier, too.” And then he leans in and whispers in the Envoy’s ear.
The bartender tells the Envoy a secret.
The next time we see the bar is in ep 22. The bartender has raised his prices because “this is the bar Hei Pao Shi Daren graced with his presence.” Unfortunately his customers have voted with their feet and stayed away. Then Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing fall from a portal in the ceiling.
The bartender recognises Zhao Yunlan: “You punk again! I recognize your face.” But Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing ignore him, talking as if they can’t see him, which makes him angry.
"Acting like I don't exist, are you? Don't walk away! You choose — we can settle this in public or in private!
Zhao Yunlan, who has never met an antagonist he can’t wrap around his little finger (except Zhao Xinci and Ye Zun), ends up giving the bartender business advice in exchange for a neck rub. :D :D :D The bartender is fascinated by cat!Da Qing.
Zhao Yunlan bartering business advice for a massage.
Da Qing's in on it — particularly effective since the bartender has probably never seen a cat before.
"No touching the family mascot cat!"
When Shen Wei arrives, the bartender eagerly offers him a drink and runs off to get it before Shen Wei can refuse.
In ep 23, the bar is busy, so Zhao Yunlan’s advice must have worked. An Bai and his friends are hiding out there when palace guards show up looking for them. The bartender tries to block the guards’ entrance, but they say An Bai is suspected of murdering the king, and he stands aside.
There’s a flashback in ep 35 to Ye Zun, disguised as the Envoy, denouncing and burning the Guardian Treaty. The bartender is in the crowd. The man next to him doesn’t think the Envoy would talk like this, and the bartender says, “I've met the great Black-Cloaked Envoy before. That appearance, that tone... He's definitely real.” Oops.
And then there’s episode 39. When Zhao Yunlan shows up at the bar and signals, the bartender sends his customers away. He brings Zhao Yunlan the Guardian Lantern from behind the bar. (I assume Zhao Yunlan and Guo Changcheng came through the portal to the bar again, perhaps before it opened, and stashed the Lantern there then?) Fake Envoy Ye Zun shows up and restrains Zhao Yunlan with energy, and the bartender points at Ye Zun and says, “You—you are not the Black-Cloaked Envoy.”
Ye Zun says, “So what? I’m going to save Dixing anyway,” and the bartender says, “I've run this bar for so many years, I can tell at a glance what kind of guy you are and what's on your mind. Only bad people have that kind of evil expression. A true hero is someone like the Black-Cloaked Envoy.”
Incensed, Ye Zun throws him across the room and monologues at him, while Zhao Yunlan broadcasts Ye Zun’s words to the city. (It’s unclear why the bar has a PA system to outside, but the microphone is there from ep 16.)
Zhao Yunlan explains what they’ve done, Ye Zun smashes the microphone, and the bartender snarks, “Justice is like my customers. It might be late, but it'll turn up eventually.”
Ye Zun attacks him, but Zhao Yunlan intervenes. “Is it worth wasting your energy on killing such a nobody?” Ye Zun drops the bartender, shouting, “Even a nobody like him dares to refute my great ambition!”
Later that episode, Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing and Zhu Hong see the bartender in the street. He’s clutching his side, wounded, but nonetheless rallying the citizens by broadcasting a recording of Ye Zun’s villain monologue. “Come with me!” he cries, and the people follow. And even later, when we catch up with him, he’s using the megaphone to amplify his own words of revolution, saying the people should take over the palace and punish evil.
Revolutionary Bartender!
By the time Zhao Yunlan sacrifices himself, the streets are empty and the angry mob has gone to the bar for a drink. They’re astonished when daylight shines in through the window.
Sometimes you need a drink before you can revolt.
tl;dr
When first we see the bartender, he’s a passive observer. He lets An Bai and his friends accost Zhao Yunlan and doesn’t contradict the vomiting man who claims to the Envoy that he's killed Zhao Yunlan. But meeting the Envoy and receiving advice and encouragement from Zhao Yunlan change the bartender's attitude. He tries to prevent the palace guards from entering his bar. He colludes with Zhao Yunlan and stands up to Ye Zun, and ultimately rallies the people to try to turn the tide of the crisis. (And okay, in the middle there, he misidentifies Ye Zun as the Envoy. Nobody’s perfect!)
Bar decorations
The exterior of the bar is unprepossessing, but the bartender has decorated its interior with all kinds of whimsical things, including but not limited to: a fishing net, a mirror ball, masks, a shield, ropes, various sculptures, animal skins, fuzzy green balls, and twinkly red lights.
After Zhao Yunlan gives the bartender business advice and Da Qing supposedly brings him luck, the bartender hangs a new picture above the bar:
Lucky black cat banner from the Dixing bar
Translation: the big white character is “cat”; the little round ones are “luck”.
Top row: 灵猫招财 the spirit cat is good luck
Bottom row: 客似云来 guests (stream in) like clouds
Fanworks
I couldn’t find any works about the bartender or the bar. If you know of any — or fanworks that explain why the patrons are wearing masks in episode 16 — please link in comments.
Questions
- What does the bartender whisper in the Envoy’s ear, and why doesn’t he say it aloud?
- How does Zhao Yunlan convince the bartender to give him a shoulder rub?
- What’s the deal with the masks?
- Given all the boat paraphernalia in the bar, does Dixing have lakes/a sea?
- Where did the microphone/PA system come from? What is it usually used for?
- What happened to the bartender-led uprising?
- What do you think happens to the bartender after the showdown, in re-Hallowed Dixing?
Feel free to answer just some (or none) of the questions and/or weigh in with your own thoughts. Share links to meta, picspams, and related fanworks, new or old! Self-recs whole-heartedly encouraged.
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And the black cat banner is amazing! (I wonder who in Dixing made it, and what they thought of it!)
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But the bar raises so many questions about the extent of Dixing, I think. Like, does Dixing make its own beer and other alcohol, in which case it must have not only grains and fruits, but also factories to make the bottles, etc. What do they make all those candles from? WHAT'S WITH THE MICROPHONE?!
So maybe there are large bodies of water, somewhere out there beyond the volcano? Idk! Otherwise, they're doing a lot of importing!
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Excellent point! And did they believe the bartender about the spirit cat, or did they decide it was a mythological animal like the ones depicting in the palace statues, and just humour him? *g*
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We never see any of Dixing other than a bit of city and the ruins by Ye Zun's pillar, but that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't more to it. I like to imagine that there is.
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My headcanon on the flashback where he believes Ye Zun is the Envoy is that Ye Zun is exerting some low level mind whammying to convince people.
I wondered about the microphone, too. It would be kind of cool if the bar was an unofficial "community center," where people gathered around for the latest news/gossips, and the microphone was used for important announcements. Or maybe it's for busy times when the clientele spills over onto the street. Or bingo night...
The screencaps of the decor are wonderful! Such great details! I love the lucky cat banner - that's awesome.
I imagine Dixing as being much larger than we see, so it could have lakes and rivers. I imagine it like an underground version of Haixing, which has areas outside of Dragon City.
P.S. There's a good shot of the sculpture thing with a musical instrument in episode 23 at 17:58. It's sort of like metal(?) skeletal figure, and the instrument appears to be a guitar.
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Me too! He's great! :-)
Ahhhh, that makes a lot of sense. Yes!
Maybe Sha Ya played a gig there at some point, particularly in light of the guitar-playing figure in your p.s.
Yes, me too. I think perhaps during the dark Hallow-less times, the wider world fell into disrepair and drought, and maybe crops were only saved by people using their powers, but it must have once been quite expansive. There are all those stone arches near Ye Zun's pillar, for example.
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ETA: I wonder if no one in Dixing ever comments on them because they just assume they're a particularly ineffective mask. *g*
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Oddly, this works for me in a worldbuilding way. I see it as a sign of the divide between the ruling "noble" class and the common Dixingren, where the rulers' old-fashioned clothes are a sign of status.
I, too, love the mix of modern and archaic in Dixing. And now I'm thinking about the electricity, lighting, modern clothes, etc., and it suggests there has been ongoing (illicit?) trade between Haixing and Dixing for some time. Or at least an exchange of ideas/technology. Maybe just enough to keep most Dixingren content with the status quo? Which might imply the powers-that-be turned a blind eye to the trade, but allowed nothing as potentially dangerous as schools.
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Which might imply the powers-that-be turned a blind eye to the trade, but allowed nothing as potentially dangerous as schools.
Yeah, that's what it looks like to me. Maybe there is or was officially sanctioned trade of some kind, too? Either way I think the Regent and possibly his predecessor(s) must have kept a close eye on this kind of thing.
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Maybe there is or was officially sanctioned trade of some kind, too?
Oh, that's an interesting idea!
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:-D
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He is a hero! And adorkable! :-D
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What does the bartender whisper in the Envoy’s ear, and why doesn’t he say it aloud?
I would really like to know that, too! But I have zero idea.
Given all the boat paraphernalia in the bar, does Dixing have lakes/a sea?
Either it does (and I don't see why it shouldn't), or that's the barkeeper's idea of "exotic" Haixing decoration. *g*
What happened to the bartender-led uprising?
There must be a bit of a time skip in there. I assume they arrived at the palace after Ye Zun died, were told it was over, and went back to celebrate.
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Perhaps he's explaining about An Bai & co, and doesn't want him customers to know he's a snitch? Idk.
Hee! But I don't think that Dixing, generally, is that interested in Haixing. When ZYL asks if the masks are due to a masquerade and says they have to keep up with Haixing, the bartender just looks confused.
Oh good point! It's not that they all decided to get some liquid courage first and then got distracted... *g*
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Maybe the glasses are how they recognize that Shen Wei is the Envoy even when he's not in his robes. The glasses are "just one of those weird Black Cloaked Envoy things," they think with a shrug.
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Oh, yeah, I agree. It wasn't a serious suggestion. :)