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TL;DR Version
Orchid and DFQC each interfere with Xiao Run/Chang Heng and Wan Qing/Chi Di and the two do not meet. Our Fairy and Devil get angry with one another for this and lying, then work together on getting the two mortals back on track to marry and die. They split up, with the men befriending Xiao Run/Chang Heng and the women befriending Wan Qing.
Recap
Wan Qing/Chi Di Nu Zi is crying over the music. She’s never heard it before, but it sounds familiar and she thinks it’s what she’s been waiting for.
DFQC, Ji Lie and Shang Que meet up in the crowded street. DFQC has to be stopped from using magic to find Orchid. Shang Que warns him about Chi Di Nu Zi’s fate but it’s when he brings up Orchid’s safety that DFQC responds, threatening to throw them in Memory Loss River if she’s hurt.
Rong Hao’s henchwoman Die Yi reports on DFQC appearing in town. Rong Hao knows DFQC needs to wait until Chi Di completes her hardship before he can take the primordial spirit. Still, he charges Die Yi with making sure things go okay.
DFQC and Orchid are each looking after the immortals there for their hardships. Orchid interrupts when Xiao Run/Chang Heng is about to get beaten for his gambling shenanigans. She uses her magic to defend him.
DFQC watches Wan Qing/Chi Di from a nearby roof as she prepares to drink poison. He calls out to her to stop. She’s confused, she senses she knows him from another life and they’re entangled together and he’s who she’s been waiting for. DFQC calls her drunk.
Wan Qing/Chi Di goes to drink the poison again and he appears in front of her. She touches the Hellfire mark on her back and says she knows she has previously met him. He knocks her out with magic, wondering where Mr. Right could be.
Orchid is having a comedic version of a similar problem. Xiao Run/Chang Heng thinks he knows her and makes a few guesses at various ladies he’s met before realizing she’s from his dreams. She flees.
DFQC finds her hiding and is furious. He knows Chang Heng is there and that Orchid lied. She turns it around on him for his lying. DFQC is ready to kill Chang Heng but Orchid says he could be Mr. Right. Both are upset with the other for getting in the way of the lovers meeting tonight.
Xiao Run/Chang Heng is up late trying to draw Orchid, convinced it’s her and not Wan Qing/Chi Di that he loves. DFQC shows up and knocks out Cricket/Dan Yin and then Xiao Run/Chang Heng, he erases the latter’s memories.
Next, our four immortals work out how to fix the situation. Chi Di Nu Zi is destined to meet her Mr. Right and be killed by her husband on the wedding day. Though Shang Que and Orchid are not sure why Xiao Run/Chang Heng would kill his wife. Orchid thinks the way they meet isn’t important, they just have to meet in time to carry out their tragic fate.
Jie Li suggests they split up along gender lines. Orchid hesitates because she’s worried about DFQC killing Chang Heng, but DFQC says he’s not a hypocritical fairy and won’t kill Chang Heng while he’s a helpless mortal. Orchid has something to say alone to DFQC that the show wants to reveal later.
Wan Qing/Chi Di wakes up and thinks about DFQC. Orchid gets close to her by helping her with her garden. She asks Wan Qing/Chi Di about love and her vague statements about the moon should clue Orchid in on what’s going on, but a very dense Orchid still thinks Xiao Run/Chang Heng is Mr. Right.
Xiao Run/Chang Heng has forgotten Orchid until he comes across the drawing he did last night. He rushes to school where DFQC is his new classmate. DFQC only needs to be his imperious self to get Xiao Run/Chang Heng interested in him. When they immediately get in trouble Xiao Run/Chang Heng convinces DFQC to escape via a dog hole in the wall and play cuju. DFQC can barely believe he’s doing it.
Orchid maybe doesn’t trust DFQC, because she shows up at school and asks Shang Que where they’ve gone.
Xiao Run/Chang Heng is thrilled by DFQC’s skill at cuju. It’s a game using the wicker ball that DFQC used to play with his father, and he tells Xiao Run/Chang Heng as much.
Now we see what Orchid told him earlier, which was advice on making friends and smiling. He tries to smile at Xiao Run/Chang Heng, who has already decided they’re buddies. Xiao Run/Chang Heng then bandages DFQC’s bleeding finger.
Orchid and Jie Li show up and now I’m guessing Orchid was more worried about DFQC making friends than Chang Heng’s life.
Thoughts
For me, this episode picks up after the slowness of the last one. Also, I’m still not sure why there is a baby Chi Di Nu Zi and also this mortal one, but at least I’m clear that DFQC can’t do anything with her primordial spirit until she passes the hardships. And if she doesn’t pass and gets turned to dust he can’t do anything with her primordial spirit so her needs her to pass. It’s all very Xianxia logic.
In this episode both Orchid and DFQC prove how made they are for each other by breaking the rules at the same time when they use their magic. They also both screw up their own plans at the same time. Truly kindred spirits. Thankfully they also have the fight they need and then end up working together because their immediate goal is the same, even if their distant goals are still very much in conflict.
And I love that it’s Shang Que and Orchid that question why Xiao Run/Chang Heng would kill his wife. DFQC and Jie Li, with their darker outlooks, aren’t bothered by it a bit. This attention to the details of the characters makes them feel real.
It is a little silly that none of them realize that Wan Qing/Chi Di and Xiao Run/Chang Heng are not each other’s destined lovers. But I guess I’ll blame that on immortal-logic as well.
I love that the romance trope of bandaging a wound is used here between Xiao Run/Chang Heng and DFQC.
I haven’t talked about the visuals of this show lately, but DFQC talking to Wan Qing/Chi Di Nu Zi from a different rooftop had a lovely, moody atmosphere. Her flashes of memory with him floating in the air over the desert, backlit by the sun, looking very not-human, brought back a nice dose of fantasy as we get through this mortal-realm section. I think what Wan Qing/Chi Di Nu Zi feels is a kinship over their forced roles and opposition, not love, but I can see why those flashes of memory would be so enticing.