Ying and Yan - Plot Summaries - White Version

White Version

The play begins with Yan trying to get the white rabbit he used as a guinea pig from Inga. He tries to convince her he's on his way to discover a vaccine against tetanus, but Inga refuses to give him the rabbit. She turns the conversation to uncle Sigizmund's will and their future marriage.

When both arrive at the living room, they discover the whole family and friends in a wide range of states. Most of them seem outraged. When Slyunkov is asked to read the will again, it is revealed that all Sigizmund's money goes to Inga, Yan gets a Chinese paper fan, and the rest gets nothing. Slyunkov notices that the fan must be passed on in presence of a person called Erast Fandorin. As Slyunkov says, Mr Fandorin was expected in the morning, but somehow didn't make it to the manor yet. Arkasha admits having prepared a cart and sent a quite dumb coachman to get Fandorin. Finally, Slyunkov agrees to give the fan to Yan without further ado. While in a bad state, the item looks impressive and has its two sides of different colors: black and white. Dickson suggests Yan would sell it to a collector. Interested in the money that would make, Kazimir takes the fan and discusses a possible sale with Dickson. He asks Yan to bring him some cognac, which Yan does, and drinks it. Inga manages to get the fan away and jokingly slaps Kazimir with the fan's black side. All of a sudden, Kazimir starts shivering and drops dead.

That's where Fandrin enters the room and tells the family he had an accident because of rough roads and a not so solid cart. He is in a good shape, except of a broken arm. He is accompanied by Masa who only starts to learn Russian. The family tries to hide the corpse from him, but he finally notices it. Nevertheless, Fandorin tells the family that the fan is known to be magical. When turned white to the person and black to the world, waving it and singing an incantation eight times would make the person happy and wealthy at the expense of the rest, and vice-versa if the fan is turned other way. It can also heal by slapping with its white side and kill by slapping with its black one. Having heard that, Inga remembers slapping Kazimir and faints. The electric lights go off because of the storm, and when they're on again, the fan is missing. Fandorin plans on questioning every present person, asks Dickson to autopsy the body and check the cognac for poison, then tells everybody except Yan to leave. When Kazimir's body is being pulled away, Fandorin sees a paper falling off his pocket and keeps it.

After some hesitations, Yan supposes his aunt Lidiya would be the thief, as she wants youth and wealth desperately. Then he mentions the price Dickinson said the fan was worth, and Fandorin impresses Yan by telling him the real price of the fan as an antique item. Yan decides to sell the fan after it's found to get money and go on with his researches. Meanwhile Arkasha tries to impression Glasha with his guitar playing and singing, but Masa arrives and steals the spotlight, much to the lackey's chagrin.

Fandorin then questions Inga, and she tells him about having fallen in love with Yan (who she fell in love with when she saw him after a long time of separation, she tells he changed a lot) and about Kazimir's disastrous situation in life. Meanwhile, an embarrassed and jealous Arkasha makes fun of Masa. Masa asks him if it was him who prepared the cart. Arkasha denies, but Glasha acknowledges. Arkasha and Masa fight, and Masa prevails.

Fandorin confronts Lidiya on Kazimir's death. He supposes there was poison in the wine and she was involved. He reminds she had an affair with Kazimir and shows her the paper he got from the deceased, in which Lidiya promises Kazimir she'd never lend him money again and asks him to leave her alone. Stanislav enters the living room to discover his wife in tears and congratulates her for supposedly having poisoned Kazimir, only to blame her for the affair and lending money to Kazimir a beat later.

Masa and Glasha sit on a bench outside and talk. They are surprised by Faddey. Glasha leaves and Faddey sits on the bench and laments about his destiny as a manservant and his total lack of future plans. Masa asks him if Dickson was around for a long time, and Faddey tells Dickson was Sigizmund's doctor, but not since too long. Faddey also blames Dickson for giving Sigizmund bad medicine and thus letting him die. Masa runs to the manor, comes in, arrives at the living room and hides.

Fandorin, who noticed Masa coming in, questions Dickson. The doctor tells the cognac was clean and Kazimir's death was from an infarctus. When Fandorin tels Masa to go get the bottle in Japanese, Dickson mentions the bottle is broken. Fandorin gets suspicious of the doctor and accuses him for having poisoned Kazimir and having been on the fan's trail for a long time (he figures the doctor has at one point been to Japan). When the doctor gives up and prepares to spill everything he's shot by someone from outside. Fandorin tries to go through the window to follow the killer, but his broken arm slows him down.

When Fandorin comes in again, the rest of the family and friends join him. Everybody's here except Arkasha. Planning to unmask the killer by his wet clothes Fandorin is puzzled as every person has wet clothes for one reason or another. While Fandorin explains his theories to the rest, Arkasha listens silently, hidden behind a wall. Slyunkov makes Yan sign a paper about his heritage, the latter signs the paper without even reading it. Fandorin orders no-one may leave the house until the killer is found. Yan supposes the person who stole the fan hid it either in the basement or in the attic. Fandorin hesitates, but Inga ensures him he should take a chance. Fandorin then heads to the basement.

Meanwhile Arkasha plays a jealousy scene in front of Glasha. Masa joins them and asks if Arkasha and Dickson are friends. Once again, Arkasha denies, but Glasha acknowledges. When Masa tries to make Arkasha go with him to make Fandorin question him, Arkasha finds a chair and breaks the light with it. Then he flees.

In the basement, Fandorin and Masa discover the thief: it is Slyunkov. He spontaneously stole the fan and is completely unrelated to every other crime that happened. He indeed hid the fan in the basement and now tries to get away in silence. Fandorin takes a look at the paper Yan signed earlier and finds out it is a contract of disposal for the fan. This was necessary, as the fan is only told to work when in hands of its rightful owner. Fandorin supposes Slyunkov should give it a try. Slyunkov turns it white side towards him and does the ritual. Nothing happens. Slyunkov faints. Fandorin takes the fan away and gives it to Masa. As Masa tells Fandorin Dickson and Arkasha are operating together, Fandorin storms off. On the first floor he learns from the restless Inga that Yan is in the attic and Arkasha just went there to join him, and both of them run to the attic, much to Faddey's amusement.

Arrived to the attic, they discover Arkasha and Yan struggling on the floor. Yan picks up a gun lying nearby and shoots Arkasha. Then Fandorin, thanks to the dust on the floor, reconstructs some of the events and explains them to Yan and Inga, as well as his theory. Masa inspects the corpse ans finds out Arkasha wasn't shot once, but twice. Fandorin then realizes the gun belonged to Yan, and not to Arkasha. He also inspects the walls and finds out the bullet Yan said he dodged was indeed fired by him in order to kill a panicking crime partner. That's when Fandorin blames him for being the mastermind behind Sigizmund's death and all the other deaths, all this to get money from selling the rare fan. Realizing he's trapped, Yan grabs Inga and points a syringe full of tetanus bacteria towards her. Masa is forced to give him the fan and he flees. Fandorin says Yan would probably be intercepted by the police surrounding the manor. Masa then reveals the fan to the world. What was in the box he gave to Yan was the scroll he used to write down Russian words so he could learn them.