The Romance of Tiger and Rose Episode 1

Yay! The Romance of Tiger and Rose episode 1 has aired! It’s a romantic comedy/historical drama.

With a dash of transmigration added in.

If you haven’t checked out the synopsis yet, go check it out!

The Romance of Tiger and Rose Episode 1 Recap Highlights:

• Chen Xiaoqian stays up several nights to work on her script for a play and ends up in her novel
• Han Shuo’s plans are ruined as he attracts Chen Qianqian
• Chen Qianqian and Han Shuo’s wedding night

This is relatively short c-drama (about 24 episodes) so I hope it lives up to it’s hype. Let’s discuss what happened in Romance of Tiger and Rose episode 1 recap!

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Marrying a Rescued Beauty

Chen Xiaoqian narrates her story as she writes.

In Huayuan city, women are the ones in power.

While in Xuanhu city, it’s the opposite.

And the two cities were always at odds with each other. After a fierce and decisive battle, Xuanhu lost and decided to send one of their own to make peace.

Xuanhu City decides to send over Han Shuo.

Rumor had it that he wouldn’t live past twenty. Because he has a heart disease.

Han Shuo rides a carriage into Huayuan City.

Then out of nowhere a young woman rides her horse in the middle of the city with no regard for its citizens.

The servants who chase after her tell everyone to get out of the way.

Suddenly, a cart gets pushed in front of her so she yanks the reins tightly to stop the horse. But the extra momentum causes her to fly off her horse.

In his carriage, Han Shuo hears what is happening and uses his martial arts to fly out to help.

Catching the woman in his arms and helping her land safely.

Han Shuo planned this so he could save Chen Chuchu and get his hands on the dragon bone medicine.

Which can save his life.

But Han Shuo realizes he targeted the wrong person. He helped Chen Qianqian instead.

Chen Qianqian takes a quick look at Han Shuo, her savior, and observes he’s pretty handsome.

So she decides to marry him on the spot. Telling her servants that the marriage will be tomorrow.

When one of her servants complain, she retorts that there’s nothing that she can’t have.

Then Han Shuo collapses all of a sudden while one of his servants hover over him with anxiety.

Plot Holes

When Chen Qianqian inquires, Han Shuo explains he has a heart disease. While his servant laments that he may not be able to enjoy a marriage with her long.

But instead of canceling the marriage, Chen Qianqian asks her servants to take them with her to her manor after she leaves.

So they don’t waste time.

Han Shuo and his servant head back to their inn to discuss their plans.

Despite attracting the wrong person, Han Shuo decides to move forward.

Chen Xiaoqian ends her playwriting for now and checks her bank balance.

She’s still not paid for her most recent script.

Her contact informs her that her script won’t pass until she talks to Mr. Han.

So she decides to go meet up with Mr. Han.

While he is in the middle of acting a scene on wires. Each time she asks a question, she has to wait until he comes back down to answer.

Which irritates her to no end. But the reason why he doesn’t approve her script is because the plot has holes.

Mr. Han doesn’t understand why the male lead would fall in love with the female lead.

Because based on what she’s written, Han Shuo is from a male chauvinistic society while the female lead is from a female chauvinistic society.

How could Han Shuo fall in love at first sight? It doesn’t make sense.

But Chen Xiaoqian explains that it’s based on the premise that a hero falls in love with a beauty.

Mr. Han then comments that her characters are weak and flawed. Because true relationship is based on equality, if the characters come from societies where gender isn’t equal how can they fall in love?

Entering a New World

And besides, he doesn’t like her Han Shuo character.

When she returns home, she complains about Mr. Han on the phone.

How this man is so unreasonable.

But then she gets a notification on her phone. That a deposit has been made to her bank account.

Chen Xiaoqian changes her mind and promises to fix the script. And goes all out writing it.

Pulling several all-nighters and living mostly on junk food.

Chen Xiaoqian ends up getting sick and after writing several acts, she passes out from exhaustion.

When Chen Xiaoqian wakes up, she feels refreshed.

But her environment has changed.

She’s sleeping in a bed with curtains. Then when she gets up she sees a platter full of gourmet meat.

She also sees fine jade cups lying on the ground and a famous art painting on the wall.

As Chen Xiaoqian continues to look around, everything in the room is expensive.

Chen Xiaoqian then turns around and sees various male escorts asleep on the ground.

Some of which are exposing their bare chests.

She abruptly turns around in embarrassment and berates herself for splurging on spending.

Just because she got paid, she ended up buying male escorts at a nightclub?

And then notices her own attire.

While cosplaying?

She bumps into a table and knocks over an expensive cup. Which wakes up the males escorts.

They greet her as the third princess.

But Chen Xiaoqian doesn’t notice it as she asks them for their prices. So each one tells her his price for a song.

Then one informs her that these are the usual prices. But if it’s for the third princess, the price is free.

Chen Xiaoqian does a double-take. What did they call her?

Third Princess?

World in Her Playscript

That sounds familiar so she approaches them to check something on their wrists.

She sees the bracelet with the little bell that she described in her own playwriting.

And wonders about something.

So she wants to check on something else and heads upstairs.

To look outside. It’s not her world anymore.

She comments that she has transmigrated into her own playscript.

Then explains that in Huayuan city, girls are preferred. Every household hopes to have a girl to raise their prestige.

As only women can learn to read and hold titles.

And the social classes are: scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants and commoners.

The lowest status jobs like dancers and singers were occupied by men.

Chen Xiaoqian walks back and thinks about her current situation.

She’s now Chen Qianqian, the third princess of Huayuan city. Who participates in debauchery, luxury and reckless spending.

Then remembers that Chen Qianqian gets poisoned on her wedding night with Han Shuo.

A side character who dies by the third act.

So she asks her male escorts which act is this. And they are confused by what she means.

She wonders how she can better explain this until another servant rushes in.

Reporting that her wedding dress is ready.

This servant walks off to the side and another servant reveals a wedding headdress.

So Chen Xiaoqian realizes the story has already entered the third act.

She chuckles to herself and orders her servant to take the wedding dress away since she’s not marrying Han Shuo.

Because he’s her unlucky star.

But the next day, Han Shuo’s servant observes there is a wedding procession squatting outside their inn.

Under the excuse of protecting them.

Rushing the Wedding

Han Shuo then discusses matters with his servants. Han Shuo plans to get rid of Chen Qianqian by poisoning her.

Then go with his original plan of helping Chen Chuchu succeed the city’s leader position.

To obtain his dragon bone medicine.

But for now, he orders his servant to eliminate the culprit who messed up his plan.

And he ends up killing the horse.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiaoqian (Chen Qianqian) hears about it and wonders how she will take care of this.

Zi Rui, her loud-talk servant starts rambling about the wedding’s numerous procedures.

She recalls that in the original story, she gave him a lot of lines to reach the word count.

So she wants him to summarize the wedding procedures in ten words.

Because otherwise he’s a chatterbox.

Chen Qianqian tells Zi Rui that she wants to cancel the marriage parade to speed up the wedding.

If anyone asks, tell them that she’s eager to consummate the marriage.

Chen Chuchu hears how her sister is rushing the wedding plans but hopes that once she marries, she becomes more responsible.

Meanwhile, Han Shuo receives a bottle of poison from his servant called the “Soul Scattering” powder.

Which is a tasteless and untraceable poison.

Then the servant comments how Chen Qianqian is known for her martial arts skills so he passes a hidden danger to his young master.

To preserve his purity.

Han Shuo shows Bai Ji his own skills so the servant admits he was wrong.

Then another servant reports that Chen Qianqian is rushing the wedding so there will be no wedding parade.

Going Straight to the Consummation

Chen Qianqian gets dressed by servants into her wedding robes and asks Zi Rui what’s the next step.

It’s making vows to the heaven and earth.

So she tells him to cancel that too.

In another area of town, some servants gossip about how Chen Qianqian and their young master were betrothed to each other while they were young.

But now there’s a Han Shuo? However they know their young master can wait since rumors state that Han Shuo can live to only 20.

Then a servants reports to Minister Pei that Chen Qianqian will be skipping the vows.

Pei Heng was writing something but then pauses when he hears about Chen Qianqian’s unruliness.

Meanwhile, Chen Qianqian hears about the next step in the wedding procession: visiting the elders.

And cancels that too.

A servant then rushes over to report to the City Lord, Chen Qianqian’s mother, about Chen Qianqian wanting to cancel her visit.

The City Lord thinks Chen Qianqian is becoming more and more audacious but relents after some consideration.

Han Shuo sits in the wedding consummation room while the matchmaker puts on his veil.

As part of the tradition and culture here in Huayuan city. Then attempts to put a gecko cinnabar mark on him.

And Han Shuo immediately refuses before going off on a rant.

He came here to mend the relationship between the two cities.

But here they are enforcing these customs on him.

He stops to cough and Chen Qianqian comes in to finish his sentence.

While telling the matchmaker to leave. There’s no point putting on the mark anyways.

Chen Qianqian greets her husband-to-be while Zi Rui pulls Bai Ji out of the room with him.

Poisoning Chen Qianqian

To give the newly weds their privacy.

Chen Qianqian wonders if they should just get to the point or go through the motions.

Han Shuo tells her that it’s their wedding night so they should at least drink the celebratory wine.

He sits down while she paces back and forth, slipping his poison into a wine cup and putting it on the table.

When Chen Qianqian sits down, he adds the wine and tells her that he hopes they can support each other.

Han Shuo raises a toast to her. And Chen Qianqian grabs her wine cup in return.

Then comments that after this, she will be able to go home.

Han Shuo reconsiders something and distracts her before she takes a sip.

He then switches the wine.

But Chen Qianqian surprises him again when she offers her cup to him. So he coughs again to distract her. She sees that the veil is in the way and removes it.

And notices that the guy in front of her looks exactly like Mr. Han.

But Han Shuo doesn’t understand what she means. And comments if she’s wondering if he added poison in the wine.

She counters that he knows perfectly well if there is poison in the wine.

Chen Qianqian calls for her servants and tells them that her husband-to-be is trying to poison her.

And drinks both wine cups. Nothing happens so she thinks the poison is in the food.

After munching on some, nothing happens.

So she thinks this guy is so devious to put the poison on his lips.

Chen Qianqian leans in real close to kiss him.

While both Zi Rui and Bai Ji are shocked are how bold she is.

After kissing him, Han Shuo agrees that she’s definitely doomed.

Returning Home?

Chen Qianqian then starts to feel dizzy and sick. Ordering Zi Rui to enact punishment on Han Shuo if she dies.

She initially falls on Han Shuo and comments that his poison has a delayed effect.

Before passing out on the bed.

Han Shuo is in disbelief while Zi Rui calls for the doctor.

And soldiers surround Han Shuo and Bai Ji with swords.

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Comments

What do you think of the Romance of Tiger and Rose episode 1? I thought it was a pretty good start.

And enjoyed how the roles are reversed in Huayuan City. Women had to consider their reputation and virtue but it’s the opposite for them.

The comedy is light-hearted and enjoyable.

The costumes are beautiful and I’m interested in watching more. Will Chen Xiaoqian return to the modern world that easily?

Probably not, because we won’t have a show to watch. I’m curious to see if this world will follow what Chen Xiaoqian wrote so far before she passed out from exhaustion.

Any thoughts on Romance of Tiger and Rose episode 1? Leave a comment below!