Princess Silver (白发, Bái Fā, literally "White Hair") is a 2019 Chinese historical romance series starring Zhang Xueying and Aarif Rahman. It's based on the novel The White-Haired Imperial Concubine by Mo Yanshang.
Amnesiac Princess Rong Le is ordered to marry Wu You, seventh prince of Northern Lin, a neighbouring kingdom. When he rejects her she decides to stay in Northern Lin and sets out to find a missing tome.
The series can be watched on YouTube
with English subtitles.
Contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Rong Le was once an assassin, and she's a good enough fighter to defeat a large group of attackers.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Rong Qi and Fu Chou are in love with Rong Le, who loves Wu You, while Hen Xiang and Ya Li are in love with Fu Chou.
- Altar Diplomacy:
- A marriage is arranged between Rong Le and Wu You to strengthen ties between their kingdoms.
- Zhao Yun wants to marry Wu Yu, but she has to marry Ning Qian Yi so Northern Lin will form an alliance with Chen.
- Amnesiac Hero: In episode one Rong Le wakes up with no memory of who she used to be.
- An Arm and a Leg: Wu You cuts off General Yu's arm after he tries to hold Rong Le hostage.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Wu Yu's impulsive behaviour and inability to keep his mouth shut make him this for Wu You.
- Attempted Rape: General Yu tries to rape Ling Yue, mistaking her for Rong Le. The real Rong Le arrives in time to stop him.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Wu You stops an assassin stabbing Rong Le by grabbing the blade.
- Battle in the Rain: The first episode opens with Rong Le fighting a group of attackers in the rain.
- Bed Trick: Fu Chou thinks he slept with Rong Le. He actually slept with Hen Xiang disguised as Rong Le. He doesn't react well when he learns the truth.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ning Qian Yi. At first he seems a fairly decent Nice Guy, but he shows how possessive and manipulative he really is when Zhao Yun tries to get out of marrying him.
- Blood from the Mouth: Rong Qi coughs up blood when his Incurable Cough of Death strikes.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Played with, then eventually averted. Rong Le isn't actually Rong Qi's sister, but at first she thinks she is.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Wu You calls his father out in episode four for the way he treated his mother.
- The Chessmaster: Fu Yuan is directly responsible for almost all of the series' events. She engineers circumstances and manipulates people to tear Northern Lin apart from within, all so she can have revenge on its emperor.
- Child by Rape: Rong Qi.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: The emperor of Chen is a young boy.
- Combat Uninterruptus: Rong Le and Wu You calmly continue a game of Go while a battle rages around them, occasionally pausing to ward off attacks or stop drops of blood from splashing them.
- Cool Mask:
- Empress Dowager Fu Yuan wears a golden mask over part of her face.
- Rong Le wears a more elaborate mask over the upper half of her face when she goes to meet Wu You.
- Dark Action Girl: Hen Xiang, whose actions include almost murdering Zhao Yun and fighting a duel with Fu Chou.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Happens several times.
- Consort Yun died in the Emperor's arms.
- Long Yue dies in Rong Le's arms.
- Ning Qian Yi dies in Zhao Yun's arms.
- The emperor of Northern Lin dies in the arms of his two surviving sons.
- Disease Bleach: Wu You turns his hair white by drinking poison.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Ning Qian Yi kills himself when his schemes fail.
- Fu Yuan kills herself after her son dies and her revenge plan is thwarted.
- Evil Matriarch: Fu Yuan is this for Rong Qi and Fu Chou.
- Hates Being Touched: Wu You, especially if the person touching him is a woman.
- Heel–Face Turn: Fu Chou does one after he learns his true identity.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Rong Le is dying of poison, so Rong Qi transfers it to himself. He knows it will kill him, but she'll survive.
- I Am Who?: Several characters learn they aren't who they thought they were. Special mention must go to Fu Chou, who doesn't know at first that he's Wu You's twin brother.
- Ignored Enamoured Underling: Hen Xiang is in love with Fu Chou, and his lack of interest in her combined with his love for Rong Le makes her hate Rong Le.
- I Have Many Names: Rong Le has at least three names and identities over the course of the series: Rong Le, Princess of Western Qi; Man Yao, owner of a tea house; and Qin Man, her real name.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- Long Yue stabs herself rather than be executed for helping Rong Le.
- Xiao Ren tries to kill Fu Chou, and as a result he gets stabbed by Lin Shen.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Xiao Ren, the Crown Prince, is abusive and incompetent. His father knows this and wants to replace him with Wu You.
- Incurable Cough of Death: One of the symptoms of Rong Qi's illness.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: This is how Lian Xin is proved/framed to be a spy. She realises she has blue paint on her fingers, and insists she didn't open the chest on Rong Le's desk. Rong Le points out she never said touching the chest would turn Lian Xin's hand blue.
- Latex Perfection:
- Hen Xiang wears a mask that makes her look exactly like Rong Le when she tries to murder Zhao Yun. Later she does the same thing when she seduces Fu Chou.
- Used again when Lin Shen disguises himself as Fu Chou.
- Locked into Strangeness: Rong Le's hair turns white after she stabs Wu You.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Almost every important male character is a Pretty Boy, and all of them have long hair.
- Long-Lost Relative:
- Fu Chou is Wu You's twin brother. He doesn't react well when he learns the truth.
- Hen Xiang is Rong Le's sister. This doesn't cause nearly as much angst when it's revealed.
- MacGuffin: The Book of Mountains and Rivers. Almost every named character either starts out looking for it or gets dragged into the search for it, and people will kill, spy on and betray each other to find it.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Most of the main witnesses in the case of titles being sold die in "accidents" arranged by Yu Shi Hai.
- Meaningful Rename: Fu Chou's real name is Wu Chou. His assumed name note sounds like "fùchóu" note , meaning "revenge".
- Missing Mum: Wu You's and Fu Chou's mother Consort Yun died before the series starts.
- Mistaken Identity: Zhao Yun mistakes Ning Qian Yi for a fishmonger.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- While drugged and hallucinating the emperor attacks and fatally injures Consort Yun. He has this reaction when he recovers.
- Rong Le accidentally stabs Wu You and goes into a Heroic BSoD afterwards.
- Not Blood Siblings: Rong Qi and Rong Le.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Fu Chou finds Rong Le in the bath with Wu You. It's actually because they were locked in, and Wu You needed a place to hide before Xiao Ren found him, but Fu Chou doesn't know that.
- The servants find Ya Li in bed with Wu You. It was a plot to make Rong Le think Wu You was cheating on her, but everyone jumps to the more obvious conclusion.
- Almost the exact same thing happens to Rong Le, who wakes up in bed with a strange man. It was another of Ya Li's plots, but everyone thinks Rong Le was cheating on Wu You.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: The emperor of Chen is a lot smarter than he pretends to be.
- One-Steve Limit:
- Accidentally averted by the transliteration of character names. In English the name of Wu Younote (Prince Li) is almost identical to the name of his younger brother Wu Yunote (Prince Chen).
- Speaking of Wu Yu, Chen is also the name of a neighbouring kingdom. This can cause confusion when the kingdom is being referred to while Prince Chen is present.
- One-Woman Wail: Shows up during Rong Le and Rong Qi's farewell.
- Outliving One's Offspring:
- The emperor of Northern Lin outlives two of his sons, Xiao Ren and Fu Chou.
- Fu Yuan outlives Rong Qi.
- Rape as Backstory: Fu Yuan. Because of it she creates an elaborate plan to destroy an entire kingdom.
- Revenge: The main motivation of both Fu Yuan and Fu Chou. Fu Yuan wants revenge for being raped and almost burnt alive, and Fu Chou wants revenge for how his mother was treated and how he was almost killed.
- Royal Brat:
- Wu You starts out as one, refusing to attend court and then rejecting his bride-to-be.
- The emperor of Chen pretends to be one because it (combined with his age) makes people underestimate him.
- Sadistic Choice:
- Fu Yuan tells Rong Qi that either she'll kill herself, or he'll force Rong Le to go through with the arranged marriage.
- Later, Fu Yuan holds Hen Xiang's daughter and Rong Le's son prisoner, and tells Hen Xiang that she can only save her daughter if she kills Rong Le's son.
- Sanity Slippage: Xiao Ren goes mad after Fu Chou imprisons him.
- Separated at Birth: Wu You and Fu Chou. They discover they're brothers years later, after they've become enemies.
- Sibling Triangle: Wu You and Fu Chou are both in love with Rong Le. Played with, because they don't know they're brothers.
- Splitting the Arrow: Rong Le does this blindfolded during the archery contest.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Wu Yu and Zhao Yun fall in love and try to elope, but they're caught and Zhao Yun is forced to marry Ning Qian Yi.
- Strong Family Resemblance: The resemblance between Rong Le and Hen Xiang allows the latter to impersonate Rong Le.
- Suck Out the Poison: Rong Le does this when Wu You is hit by a poisoned arrow.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Rong Le dresses up as a man when she escapes Western Qi's palace, and later when she goes to see Chen Yu.
- Taking the Bullet: Wu Yu jumps in front of an arrow that would have hit Zhao Yun.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Rong Le gives Wu You an indirect one by criticising his behaviour to his father while he's listening.
- Later Rong Le calls Rong Qi out for his plots and manipulations.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Rong Qi stares blankly ahead for hours after he sees Rong Le (apparently) kill Wu You. He doesn't react while having his hand bandaged, or even when his mother arrives and speaks to him.
- Wedding Smashers: Wu You interrupts Fu Chou and Rong Le's wedding when he learns Rong Le and Man Yao are the same person. Rong Le marries Fu Chou anyway.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The second half of the last episode shows what happened to the characters after Fu Yuan's death. Wu You and Rong Le are crowned emperor and empress; Wu Yu and Xiao Ke agree to get married; and Chen Yu is a tutor warning children not to make the same mistakes she and so many other people made.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Rong Qi was poisoned, and as a result he can't live past the age of twenty-four.
