When last we left our Handsome Stranger and the Pig Butcher, they were busy kissing while others played politics.
And it’s time for Qi to kidnap Qian again!
But Qian helps Bao escape by taking a sword slash to the back. Oops.
Now Qi is upset that she’s sick from the infected knife wound. Barely conscious, she begs him not to kill people. But he goes through doctors the way Changyu goes through tutors.
For real, since he doesn’t kill them, just knocks them out a little. So they’ll work harder. Qi has some unique productivity theories.
Meanwhile, the Grand Princess forces Changyu into pretty clothes, and Changyu starts enjoying it. But she’s not excited about learning court etiquette.
Unfortunately, the creepy AI faced Ex-Fiancé still exists, though he’s not doing well without any women alive to support him. Naturally, he gets assigned to teach Changyu.
At least when he sees her, he apologizes. Changyu accepts his apology, but does not want to learn anything from him.
On his way out, he’s bullied by Mr Jin and his guys. Then he runs into Yan Zheng and thinks he’s become rich and powerful thanks to Changyu. He learns the truth and faints.
Enough of that, Yan Zheng takes Changyu out into the capital at night
She’s not impressed because she knows the dirty politics behind the beauty. Yan Zheng promises they’ll get rid of the traitors and power holders. Be still my heart.
She’s also worried because Yan Zheng isn’t supposed to be there. But Yan Zheng has stopped caring about rules lately.
Yan Zheng remembers when she called him jade, and he says SHE’S the uncut jade. Aww.
Qi is also in town, and scheming. Rather than go after Yan Zheng for being there illegally, he wants the Emperor to summon him legally. He has a lot of men hidden among Yan Zheng’s people, and this will bring them in too.
The Emperor’s summons ALSO worry Changyu. Plus, they learn Qi has Qian again. AND the Emperor wants Changyu as his noble consort.
Changyu deals with that by revealing to the annoying Emperor that her husband is Marquis Wu. That takes care of that. Maybe.
Grand Princess’s mother calls her in to tell her to stop looking into what happened 17 years ago. When Grand Princess asks why, her mother tells her she’s a spoiled brat. Grand Princess agrees to stop.
After she leaves, her mother ominously fears the past is repeating itself. Dun dun dun!
The Emperor summons Grand Tutor Li to worry about the rumored imperial grandson at him. Grand Tutor Li suggests someone is plotting against him. Like. Maybe. Yan Zheng.
No worries! Grand Tutor Li has a plan! That we don’t get to hear, but the emperor does.
Why is this show so obsessed with 3 days later?
It did that in the last episodes too.
Whatever, Yan Zheng officially arrives at the capital to great fanfare. Changyu throws that hair ribbon they’ve been passing back and forth as a favor, and he catches it. The capital equivalent of the village chorus argues over their relationship.
Meanwhile, Ex-Fiancé lost his job and is wandering around drunk and crying with self-pity. Is he going to do something again, or are we just watching this horrible person slowly die?
Next, Yan Zheng and his Uncle meet while paying respect at the family mausoleum. They call a VERY temporary truce. Ten minutes later, Yan Zheng wants to know if Chancellor Wei guessed that his actions 17 years ago would lead to his parents’ deaths.
He wants his uncle to swear an oath in front of his parents that what he did back then was to stop a rebellion.
Chancellor Wei would rather remind Yan Zheng that he owes him for raising him. But Yan Zheng says he raised a blade to use against others, not a child. And then that blade turned against him.
Chancellor Wei wants Yan Zheng to sever ties with Changyu
Yan Zheng will not be doing that. He’ll be severing all ties with Chancellor Wei instead. To do that, he’ll receive 108 lashes for disloyalty and unfilial conduct. After that, he’ll never hear talk about being raised by him or gratitude again.
So… Yan Zheng gets beaten bloody in front of his parents’ memorial tablets.
He collapses and sees his mother reaching for him. Only, it turns out to be Changyu. She’s not happy that he’s a bloody mess.
Chancellor Wei scolds her, but she says that she’s Yan Zheng’s wife. Chancellor Wei says it wasn’t a real marriage, but Yan Zheng declares it to be real because he says so. Then, he introduces Changyu to his parents.
He tells them how Changyu saved his life and made him feel alive again. Changyu is crying, as she should be. He vows to his parents that she is his wife. My. Heart.
Aunt wanders in, gets to meet Changyu, and helps her bloody nephew stand up. Once the young couple is gone, she gives Chancellor Wei osmanthus cake to offer his sister. Like he used to bring her, in happier times, when she was alive.
Qi and Qian are still playing games with each other
Not that Qian has much choice.
Qian initially refuses to be Qi’s empress until he kneels before her and begs. And. He does it. It’s kinda sexy. If he weren’t a violent murderer.
Anyway, this leads to kissing, and kissing leads to sex, and sex leads to her trying to steal the tiger tally from around his neck. But he stops her.
Meanwhile, Yan Zheng and Changyu play their game where she tends to his injuries for the dozenth time.
Now that he’s been beaten, he can marry her properly. Changyu cries, realizing this was all his plan. He weakly asks her to marry him. She tells him they don’t need to do it again. He’s always belonged to her. Yesssss.
Back to Qi and Qian. While he’s asleep, she takes her dagger out, but he sleep-mumbles for his mother to let him die. She uses the dagger to cut the tiger tally from his neck. Then she passes it to her maid to take to Changyu.
She’s not leaving because if she does, more people will die.
Back to Yan Zheng and Changyu the next morning. He thought his Uncle blamed him because his mother died by suicide when he went to get her osmanthus cake. When he avenged them and became the marquis, the only thing that came back to him was the sickening smell of osmanthus.
When Changyu followed him to the camp, he wanted to forget his revenge
He could not bear to see her cry. But he can’t forget who he is. And he can’t remember what his father looked like in life, and only remembers his corpse.
Changyu has never blamed him. Chancellor Wei is his Uncle. He raised him. The debt is repaid, and vengeance must be taken. She doesn’t want him to punish himself for other people’s sins.
Crying, Yan Zheng tells her that in 3 days (!!!!) he’ll enter the palace and bring the palace maid as a witness.
Then a message comes, telling him Chancellor Wei had an affair with a palace consort.
And seeing Changyu and Yan Zheng together seems to have reminded Chancellor Wei of that lost love. Back then, they were going to marry, until she received an imperial decree. They had no way to be together.
Meanwhile, Grand Tutor Li tricks his grandson into worrying about him and then has him taken into custody. Then, he scolds Li for being too emotional. This is always the argument of the patriarchy.
Li tells his grandfather he acts for the country, not for personal gain, unlike him. Grand Tutor Li’s defense is that they didn’t get enough for their service… so… He’s actually agreeing.
And anyway, too late now! Li is getting locked away.
I was really happy to see Changyu and Yan Zheng talking about FEELS
I think I’d been waiting for this kind of moment since she discovered his true identity.
Yes, Yan Zheng is the famous Marquis Wu, so she already knows his tragic backstory. They even sorta kinda talked about it ages ago. But it’s different to see him really open up to her and share his true feelings directly.
To me, this was more moving than the kisses in the last episode. Seeing him express his complicated feelings, and her accepting him and the situation, got me right in the feels. I’m that kind of person.
We’ve got 4 episodes left, and my money is still on the show keeping secrets from us. I wouldn’t be surprised if Yan Zheng already knows about Qi’s men infiltrating his army. Did Qian really get that tiger tally? I don’t think we have time for another fake-out.
What I want most is for Qi to kill Grand Tutor Li. Is that wrong?
Leave a Reply