When last we left our Handsome Stranger and the Pig Butcher, they got married.
Now it’s time for a sexless, awkward wedding night
Changyu waits for Yan Zheng to make himself decent, then goes inside. She wants to help him with his injury, which means exposing his BARE SHOULDER. He resists until she reminds him she carried him through the snow.
She says that even if she were lusting after him, he’s too injured. Oops.
While pouring medication into his gaping wound, she notices all his old scars. Then she gets all close to rebandage him. Once again, her care for him has him staaaaaaaaaaaring.
They aren’t going to spend the night together, but Changyu drops the naughty book in front of him. To get rid of it, she throws it outside, right in front of her horrible Uncle and Aunt. They’re spying to prove the marriage isn’t real.
But Changyu easily sees them. Now our newlyweds have to spend the night together. Yan Zheng sets up a candle so their silhouettes are visible. He directs her to help him partially undress, wipe him down, and lean close so it seems they are kissing. Fake sex complete, she blows out the candle.
Then, Changyu throws dirty Yan Zheng water on her Aunt and Uncle
The next day, she goes back to work. But while there, she sees the guards dragging away refugees and rushes to get Yan Zheng’s new papers from the Constable.
She tries to give the Constable a gift, but he says they’ve done nothing improper. Uh oh, will this Become An Issue?
After, she goes to get her hairpin back, but as we know, it’s gone! She couldn’t read well enough to see that she only had 10 days to get it back.
Oh great, Ex-Fiancé is engaged to the magistrate’s daughter, so he and his mom are literally moving up in the world. When Changyu walks by, Horrible Mother offers a little money for the return of the betrothal letter. Then she fakes outrage when Changyu says it’s not enough.
Changyu is ready to explode.
Never fear, it’s Accounting To The Rescue!
Yan Zheng arrives with an itemized list he created with the Zhao’s help, totalling up what is actually owed to Changyu.
The details are embarrassing, and a chorus of villagers helps humiliate Horrible Mother.
They don’t have the money, so Yan Zheng wants an IOU. Before that can happen, the Ex-Fiancé’s Fiancée arrives. She babbles about being born rich and therefore superior, then dumps the money owed plus extra on the ground.
Jade may be pretty, but it’ll never match gold for value. This Means Something.
Chanyu returns the betrothal letter and only takes what’s owed from the money. Ex-Fiancé isn’t worth more. As they leave, Ex-Fiancé’s Fiancée screeches at them, because she’s awful.
Yan Zheng is Unimpressed by Ex-Fiancé
Changyu thinks it’s to make her feel better, but he’s snobby about how easy it is to be a scholar. She teases him for thinking he’s some grand official, and suggests he become one. But that’s not his ambition.
Anyway, it’s the missing hairpin that really upset her. Before he can explain, she snarks about how someone overpaid for it. When he shows her the hairpin, she’s ready to attack the pawn shop guy for cheating him.
Yan Zheng claims it was a payment from the bookstore for some essays. She tells him he doesn’t need to sell essays. She can slaughter pigs. No husband of hers will ever need to work! But really, it’s sweet.
Back home, she thanks her mother’s memorial tablet for watching over her. Yan Zheng helps her put the hairpin in. Awww.
Meanwhile, the messenger bird is flying above the clouds
Which apparently is a thing birds can do?
It goes somewhere warm, where two young scholars are copying texts as punishment. The bird lands on the headmaster’s arm, carrying a message from Yan Zheng asking for his real papers.
Now forget about these people, we’re done with them.
Ning drags Yan Zheng out to watch Changyu slaughter a pig. Changyu repeats her usual pre-slaughter slogan, be a good pig in this life, a good human in the next. Yan Zheng thinks he’s heard this before.
Changyu catches them and makes them leave. But she worries he’s scared and disgusted.
Of course, he isn’t. She didn’t mind his injuries, so he doesn’t mind her work.
She remembers he’s seen corpses as an escort
But what he remembers is a snowy battlefield littered with the dead.
Her knives catch his attention. She says her father had them forged. Now Yan Zheng is curious about her father’s martial arts skills. Chanyu only knows he traveled when young, and jokes that he trained under a reclusive master.
Remembering her fighting style, Yan Zheng is reminded of a teacher he trained under when he was young.
Yan Zheng’s stupid bird gets caught, for the second time. He saves it from getting sold or turned into stew, suggesting he can train it before selling it for more money. Then he upsets her by using a hair ribbon she gave him to bandage the bird’s wing.
While washing the hair ribbon, he hears her talking to her parents’ memorial tablets about him. She also asks them to make Ex-Fiancé fail the imperial exam.
Someone has vandalized her shop!
It’s Mr Jin and his goons, hired by Some Guy. When they learn it’s HER shop, they immediately clean up and start working for her.
Mr Jin’s grandmother shows up to beat him with a broom for his poor behavior. But Changyu steps in and swears he’s doing honest work. A crowd of villagers backs her up.
Once Grandma leaves, Changyu scolds him. But Mr Jin explains that he and his goons all have people to support, except the one guy, who is an orphan. They want to be good people, but with the war going on, good people can barely survive.
At the end of the day, she gives them all delicious noodles and half a day’s wages. Now she needs to confront the man who hired them in the first place.
Meanwhile, Yan Zheng orders a ton of supplies, including ointment for chapped hands, and tells the store owner to say Changyu’s father paid for it ahead of time. As Yan Zheng finishes his business, he sees Changyu angrily passing by.
The guy who paid Mr Jin to attack Changyu is a sexist drunk
She kicks a table at him and stabs a knife into it, right near his face. The wandering chorus of villagers is on Changyu’s side now.
Changyu tells him to Never Do This Again, and walks away, nearly getting a knife in the back. But Yan Zheng deploys a pebble, and the knife ends up in the Sexist Drunk’s sign.
They ride back together, and Changyu worries that he thinks she’s vulgar. But those worries are for people with money. No one has the right to judge those who are struggling.
Growing up, she wasn’t allowed to do things like fight or slaughter pigs for fear of gossip. Now that her parents are dead, she has to do them. Yan Zheng says to ignore the gossips, or maybe to beat them up?
At home, Changyu sees the stuff her “father” bought. She wants to return the “useless” ointment, but Yan Zheng sticks his finger in it, so she can’t. Mrs Zhao explains that he did it because he cares.
Changyu is pleased, and later deliberately uses it in front of him.
Time for the trial! Changyu tells Yan Zheng to stay home, since he’s injured. But her Aunt and Uncle are also no-shows.
Mr Zhao tells the Constable that Changyu couldn’t have done anything to them. She was home all night. The judge is about to rule that Changyu gets the house, when her Uncle’s dead body is brought in.
Changyu’s Aunt slaps her and accuses her of murder!
Dun Dun DUN!
Poor Yan Zheng doesn’t seem to have the lead-super-healing to get him all better in a matter of episodes.
He’s also an interesting mix of snobby and understanding. He has no idea how little money poor people live on or how much things cost, so he must never have been poor. Yet, he’s sympathetic to what they have to do to survive. I wonder if this has to do with his apparent bad reputation for being a violent warrior.
Despite that reputation, I’m going to guess that he didn’t kill Changyu’s Uncle. Though maybe the show wants us to think that, since it made sure Mr Zhao told us it couldn’t be Changyu.
If I lived in Changyu’s village, I too would follow her around just to gawk and then show my support. She’s got to be the most interesting thing happening there.
Our main couple is so shy and kind to each other. It makes for an interesting mix of pig slaughter, violent death, and sweet romance. I’m good for more of all three.
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