When last we left the warlord and the beauty, Wei Shao was panicking over maybe having feelings for his wife.
And Man Man was being remarkably understanding
She’s sending food and things to keep him comfortable. It takes military strategist Wei Shao too long to realize his wife is taking care of him. But when he learns about her publicity efforts for the deer hunt, he supplies the name of a popular poet.
We’re STILL dealing with Wei Shao’s box, as Man Man is coincidentally reminded of the whole matching-jade-pendants-with-Yu-Luo thing.
She sends the box to Wei Shao, who remembers the backstory in detail for us. Before he died, his brother asked for two things. First, don’t trust anyone in the Qiao clan. Two, take care of “her.” Then he broke his own jade pendant in half. “Her” is Yu Luo, and that’s why they each have half a pendant.
This is why Wei Shao is resisting a deeper relationship with Man Man SO much.
But he’s done with the cold, damp office and returns. Man Man acts chill, until he lays his head in her lap and mentions a headache. This is a prompt for a massage. Something has shifted in Wei Shao again, because after he opens his box for her and shares the items inside, including the jade pendant.
His brother was the perfect heir, and since he’s died, Wei Shao has tried to live up to him while feeling like he never could. Man Man says he’s the best heir the family could hope for.
He tells her about his promise regarding Yu Lou. The other promise, he only says that he failed to fulfill it. So, he trusts a member of the Qiao clan. Awww, be still my heart.
Man Man hugs him, and he finally learns her nickname is Man Man.
The Wei family has a cozy family dinner
Wei Yan is drunk and flirty with his aunt and grandma, and encourages Wei Shao to flirt with his wife. Wei Shao tells Man Man the latest hairpin he got her was made with leftovers. What is wrong with you, Wei Shao?
At least Grandma scolds him.
Meanwhile, Wei Yan has been collecting tavern maids to find a face to put on his painting. He’s unsatisfied with their faces, and one of them steals his flute and uses it as proof they are having an affair. Worse, she’s not just a tavern maid, but Someone’s Daughter.
Wei Yan wants to ignore it, but Man Man wants to clear his name. She proves the night they were supposedly together, he was having the family dinner. And she gets the flute back.
Grandma hopes that Wei Yan will fall in love and get married. Unfortunately, he has fallen in love with Man Man, who defended him. He paints Man Man’s face onto the Mountain Goddess.
The maid who looks like Man Man sees it and misunderstands.
Then we get a bunch of nonsense about the poet
Instead of writing poems about the deer hunt and the wonders of canals, his main subject is Man Man’s beauty. He thinks flattering a violent warlord’s wife is a compliment, and fails to understand Wei Shao now wants to kill him.
Man Man thinks it’s all nonsense. I agree, though I think she should be more annoyed with the poet for going off topic.
Anyway, Wei Shao drags Man Man off and notices she’s not wearing the hairpin. Because he insulted it, she thought he didn’t like it. But he had it crafted especially for her.
She put it on that evening, and then compliments her beauty and grumbles about the poet. Man Man knows he’s jealous.
She soothes him by talking about everything he has done for the people. He knows he’s being manipulated, but he’s okay with it.
We’re almost done with the poet
Because the stupid man has learned music and composed something specifically for Man Man in three days. Wei Shao is impressed by his intelligence, but sends the poet off to some corner of Wei to look at inscriptions. If taken seriously, this is pretty horrifying. But the poet is fine with it.
Yu Luo gets sick on the road and is found by her husband’s General Xue. He’s not there to confine her, but support her. Uncle Bian has been lying, and her husband wanted her taken care of, not locked up. It’s sweet that she’s relieved her husband didn’t suck and did love her. She’s still horrible.
And she’s interested in the upcoming deer hunt. She’d rather do that than whatever smart choice General Xue is suggesting. She wants to fulfill her husband’s last wish and reclaim Bian.
Time for a New Year’s celebration
Wei Shao and Man Man look good dressed in black and red for a formal celebration of the harvest and new alcohol. After all the activity, Wei Shao offers Man Man a piggyback, and she unwisely rejects it.
He says that she alone holds his reins, which is romantic if you ask me. And a piggyback in all those clothes feels like a nightmare. But with an edit, they make it happen.
At home, Wei Yan admires Man Man admiring snow. He thanks her for her festival gift, and she pulls a Wei Shao and says she gave everyone a gift. He has a gift for her, too. Then he makes awkward conversation and brings up the weather, but she only shows interest when Wei Shao is mentioned.
She gets rid of him by pointing out how he can get back to his place. The maids make noises about his thoughtful present. Are you trying to stir up trouble, ladies?
Wei Shao also admires Man Man admiring snow
They go out to the festival. Wei Shao tries to spoil the mood by refusing to believe in the magical wish-granting properties of water lanterns. Man Man succeeds in getting him to release one anyway. He writes “True as strings tuned as one not death nor time shall rend”. Woah.
She won’t let him look at her wish. They have a sweet moment, staring in the snow, and releasing the boats.
After, he pretends he needs to go to the office so he can force his generals to fish all the water lanterns out. He wants to know what Man Man wrote. Liang is horrified that he’s destroying other people’s wishes. Wei Shao claims that this way, he knows what the people want.
This is so silly, but I also love it.
When they find Man Man’s wish, it’s all for her Qiao family. Wei Shao isn’t mentioned.
This causes Wei Shao to get a drama-fever
Man Man wants him to take the bed, but he refuses. He wants her to take care of him.
Wei Shao wakes up to no Man Man, then overhears Tao learning how to string Liang along from another maid. Irritated, Wei Shao interrupts to scold that Wei men like people to be straightforward. Not that he’s one to talk.
Man Man arrives, but he’s going into work. Anger cured him. Been there.
So Tao finds Liang and asks him what’s wrong with Wei Shao. Tao promises she won’t tell Man Man, so Liang gives her the full story. Once she’s gone, Liang admits to Wei Q that he knows she’ll tell Man Man, and it’s probably for the best. Nice.
Man Man blames herself again and decides she needs to make it up to him.
By drinking all the wine alone?
And getting very drunk, very affectionate, very playful, and very silly. Until he carries her into the bedroom. Was this a plan or just her finally breaking after dealing with all his back-and-forth moods? She even accidentally scratches his neck with some silly pinwheel-type toy she’s flailing around.
Then she lays her head on his lap and asks him to stop being angry with her. Even though he resents her not being there when he woke up while sick, he gets her water and helps her drink it.
She cries and asks him how he can be so petty? Man Man, it’s not hard to be petty.
She knows he’s upset because he thinks she doesn’t share his feelings. She says what he wrote was a wish, while what she wrote was a regret. He’s there, but the family she wrote to is far away.
She falls asleep, and he tucks her in, looks at her sleeping face, and gives her a forehead kiss! Almost!
Wei Shao is sometimes very young with Man Man
It makes sense. He was a kid when his family was murdered, he was shoved in a dark box to save his life, and he had to become the head of the family.
I think if he’d been older when all that happened and he made those promises to his brother, he’d have a different perspective. He took it seriously in the way a kid trying to be an adult takes things.
Even now, as an adult, the way he sees that time and those promises is still through the lens of a child.
Then, when he tells Man Man her hairpin was just made of scraps, this is a bratty kid thing to say.
Having a romantic partner can be confusing because we often see these sides of each other that no one else gets to see. With everyone else (well, except sometimes his generals), Wei Shao is this cold warlord. But with Man Man, he’s sometimes the hurt child.
He’s still lucky Man Man is so emotionally mature, understanding, and they’re in an era where she can’t get a divorce and move to her own apartment. I was glad to see her get drunk and cry a little. She’s earned a good cry.
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