Pursuit of Jade (逐玉 / Zhu Yu) | 40 episodes | Netflix, iQIYI | MDL 9.1 | Adapted from the web novel by Tuan Zi Lai Xi
The word “Pursuit” attracted me to this drama because I had watched the American movie “Pursuit of Happiness” (2006), a couple of years back. The plot was about a desperate single father trying to get three meals on the table for himself and his son. In such a pursuit seeks employment to support his family. The movie was such a heartstopper for me. The actors did a great job and finally when does land the job that he wanted with desperation, I shed tears of joy seeing this too!
Sometimes, words attract me to a drama. Chinese drama titles are ingenious, much like their names for specific rooms. Truth and Integrity, Calm Waters, Spring Blossom, and some really interesting names. In my Tam-Braham community, kitchen is “samaiyal arai” rest is all clubbed into “veedu”. But all those interesting Chinese room names made feel warm about the Chinese culture which mixed like India. They have original traditional faith, Buddhism, and Christianity a living diverse culture. This drama became a kind of search for the inner working of the common person who goes about their lives in an ordinary life.
This drama starts with Fan Changyu (Tian Xiwei (田曦薇) ) finding Xie Zheng (Zhang Linghe (张凌赫) ) embedded in snow. The pin from her hair falls on his hand just protruding from the snow and everything inside me perks up with vigorous interest.
Actually, the writer didn’t pursue with the hairpin as something the mothers of the lead roles exchanged. My imagined scene: When Xie Zheng is a babe in cradle, he used to be attracted to the bright jade pin and kept pulling at it when carried around. So the first touch by Xie Zheng is established. Now when Fan Changyu’s mother as an expectant mother meets her friend there is second connection. The adults agree to a marriage between Xie Zheng and the yet to be born Fan Changyu.
I felt inspired with this plot twist when I saw the extra credit about plot’s what if situation. If the past had been different then, what would have been the fate of the main leads. So it ties the first scene where Fan Changyu’s pin warms up and awakens Xie Zheng buried in the snow. That would be nice. But then I respect the writer’s choice for the plot.
Still, the mystery of the backstories unfolding was well placed. The relationships of the characters are done well. I liked the fact that it takes a whole village to help a child grow or break so much that they harden up and so does their characters.
The place Lin’an was well structured to provide deep insight into Fan Changyu’s character and aspirations. It played off her naïveté, which is maintained until the end, even though the character undergoes so much turmoil and hardship. At least it is not a pail-on of difficulties.
The interesting thing about the relationship between the two leads is the fact that their love for each other outweighs deceit, faking identity details, and not being honest about eminent dangers. Yet the duo face difficulties together and overcome the present hurdles while paving their futures.
Fan Changyu is clueless that Xie Zheng is a popular fearless general who is assumed to be dead. The presence of slight but constant friction of thoughts between the leads is well maintained. The male lead tries his best to keep his identity a secret from the female lead and it was done with a right amount of humour.
What stayed with me the most: Fan Changyu is clueless about the common greed human desire for money, wealth, and power. At every instance when Xie Zheng asks her what does she wish for. It turned out to be mundane and almost an insignificant desire for pigs. Xie Zheng given his popularity and wealth is capable of giving her more in wealth.
Maybe this stems from the fact, that he had so far seen only power hungry ministers plotting against each other and currying favour with the King. While the innocence of Fan Changyu was seen in her aspiration to raise pigs and to slaughter them for her family to live on making a decent living. Nothing fancy like the capital ladies who had tried to court Xie Zheng without success.
The absence of extravagance in her life style also appeals to the frugal Marquis. Xie Zheng was a vegetarian through his association with his Master and pig slaughter profession on his love interest throws him off but lands up becoming a meat eater. I don’t have a backing to prove the theory of his conversion.
My assumption here that people in army see blood all over and are fearless. As a general, I also assumed he was a non-vegetarian to start with; but not so in this drama.
The comic effect was that the falcon also is feed vegetables. When the bird got caught in Fan Changyu’s trap because of the leftover meat pieces for lure, I was chuckling. This, then, is looped back to the Master of the lead and his friends, who do not eat meat. The way the disciples act uncomfortable in the presence of meat remembering their teacher’s advice was humorous. The master’s vegetarianism is passed on to bird and beings alike.
Fan Changyu doesn’t harden. She remains herself even after she achieved moderate success. The fact that she still wished to return to her home in Lin’an speaks for her. Despite her broadened world view after going to the capital her aspiration are her own.
I loved the falcon as a character with high flying spirits and humanlike flaws. He was well trained and was a strappy falcon at that! The falcon was portrayed as sharp flight but with landing problems — it falls for the smallest food lures like discarded meat pieces. Xie Zheng comments about it and taps its head in playful reprimand. Fan Changyu, without knowing, traps the creature. The arc of the reluctant Marquis being ensnarled by Fan Changyu much like the clueless Falcon was a clear indication that the relationship was blooming at its own pace.
The story’s arc was well done — a motif that drove the plot along were clear and riddled for situational comic relief.
The way female characters are portrayed has an inherent quality of moving away from the stereotypical female of the past dramas where the male lead carries the entire drama.
I usually like a drama to be well-balanced. The balance of main leads along with supporting characters often were the best dramas to watch. Sometimes, I am not watching the main leads but the side roles and supporting roles, because some actors will steal the show with just a few moments on screen. They are the scene snatchers and absolutely worth looking out for in a drama.
The massacre of Lin’an was the hardest to watch.
The second son and heir, Sui Yuanqing played by Lin Muran was so scary — and if it scared me then the actor has an excellent knowledge of the craft. His stage presence was appealingly frightening, though I have seen more senior actors who could make you frightened enough to hide in your mother’s ‘mundanai’ (“Amma oda mundanai” — the loose end of a sari, where a child hides their face).
That is the actor’s craft: to frighten a grown woman back into her mother’s fold.
Pursuit of Jade, main object character was the pin. It played the important role in opening the portals of the drama for the trajectory of plot progress. I not sure if buying a female a hairpin is often seen as an act of affection between intended to marry couples. I had this vague reference that a husband alone has the right to make or to stick a pin his wife’s hair. It felt like a sanctimonious act of clean line between what is culturally allowed and not allowed between a man and a woman. These are the nuance I look out for while watching the drama.
It reminds me of Francis of Assisi prayer “strive to understand than to be understood.” In slow but steady stream understanding of a culture happened for me.
Credit: Polished by Blue Whale Koi Kai (DeepSeek AI)
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