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TL;DR Version
DFQC tries to take care of Orchid so she’s strong enough to fix the Destiny Book, and she mistakes this for genuine kindness. Despite his effort, she does not grow stronger and instead gets really sick drinking a potion on her own. When DFQC cooks to try and cheer her up, he discovers he needs to take care of her heart more than her body.
Recap
Orchid and her flower spirits cheer at DFQC’s absence while he watches nearby. DFQC questions how he could care about her feelings, which means he does care.
Orchid reflects it was less lonely with him around, and that he must have also been lonely in the Haotian Tower. She tries to cheer herself up but her flower spirits have to go and now she’s truly alone.
DFQC brings her the morning dew and she’s touched he was gone all morning collecting it. She has a goldilocks moment where it’s too cold, then too hot, then when it’s the right temperature she wants to add honey. DFQC is left sitting there, very annoyed.
Chang Heng meets with the guy I’ve been calling the emperor, who’s really Lord Yunzhong but I think is in charge. Yunzhong wants to know if he’s found the goddess, and Chang Heng suggests she might be dead. Yunzhong says if she were dead, the Evil God Tai Sui would be causing chaos. Chang Heng angers Yunzhong by suggesting this is a myth.
Yunzhong is also angry because he found Orchid’s handkerchief and knows Chang Heng is in love with someone. If Yunzhong figures out the handkerchief came from Orchid, she’ll be in danger, so Chang Heng promises to do his duty. Yunzhong hands the handkerchief back, but the threat is there.
Orchid finally drinks her morning dew but there are no immediate results.
Chang Heng broods over the handkerchief, remembering 500 years ago again. Orchid promised to protect him. He said he didn’t need protection, but she feels everyone does. Present-day Chang Heng saves the handkerchief with the orchid and tosses the potion he made for her. This is how he’s decided to protect her.
DFQC shows up in Orchids’ room with eternal fire in his palm. He got this dangerous-to-acquire magical item to heat her room. Worried, she tells him she has someone she likes and he should serve his time and work on being a better person. DFQC is not interested.
DFQC reads further into the care of Xilan grass, discovering they need the warmth of the morning sun. Siming Hall is cold and dark, so no wonder Orchid is weak.
Early next morning he drags a reluctant Orchid out of bed and shoots them through the clouds, which gets her screaming. She’s still clutching him when they’re on solid ground, only to panic again when she discovers they’re in Yunzhong Water Pavilion, the domain of Lord Yunzhong. Orchid again grabs DFQC for safety only to discover that they are invisible. She’s annoyed he didn’t tell her, and he probably did that to show off.
They go up onto the landing where we’ve seen Chang Heng and Yunzhong a few times, only it’s cloudy and deserted. Orchid doesn’t understand how DFQC can be so powerful when she’s never heard of him. She’s still worrying when the sun starts to come up, and DFQC physically twists her to face it.
Orchid babbles on until DFQC tells her to sunbathe and then watches her smile toward the bright light. He comments on the cruelty of the fairy realm, where low-born immortals can’t share in the pleasures that the high-born hoard for themselves. It’s clear he’s talking about Orchid’s situation.
Orchid thanks him, and then grabs him excitedly at the sight of Cloud Whales. He watches her be happy, and behind them, unseen, flowers bloom.
Several days must have passed because a frustrated DFQC is reading the Book of Xilan and trying to figure out why Orchid isn’t better. Then, flowers in the garden die and DFQC feels ill. He bursts into Orchid’s room, where she’s feverish. She stole the Universe Pill back from him, only it didn’t work well with her system. She asks if she’s dying and, annoyed, he says yes.
Convinced, she tells him that he’s really a nice guy. He argues that he’s the worst in the three realms. She urges him again to turn himself in and also tells him where her spirit stones are so he can buy himself something. He can’t take it anymore and tells her he already magicked away her illness.
Now though, she’s sad and he wants to know why. She misses her master, who would nurse her and feed her flower soup. DFQC leaves her, determined not to do anything more with her, but her sadness is overwhelming.
Orchid wakes in a smoke-filled room from DFQC cooking her flower soup. It’s black and doesn’t look appetizing. He tells her not to be sad and she asks if he did this to make her happy. In the garden, still unseen, the flowers bloom.
Orchid has to explain that she’s crying from happiness to DFQC, and then kindheartedly swallows down the vile soup. DFQC is delusional about his cooking until he tastes it himself. He seems stunned that she ate it.
He walks down to the garden and sees the blooming flowers. He realizes that the garden is tied to her primordial spirit and that instead of focusing on her body, he needs to make her heart happy.
Thoughts
The power imbalance in this show is so fun to watch. Orchid, though she doesn’t know it, has him at her beck and call even though she’s possibly the weakest immortal in the realm and him the most powerful. I really like how they’ve done this trope, without her knowing it. Too often one character knows they have the other at a disadvantage and uses it to behave cruelly. Orchid is putting DFQC to work without even knowing what she’s doing.
And it’s interesting to see the emotionally dead immortal having to work so hard for her well-being. There are a lot of tropes in this show that are used in interesting ways, and while I’m used to seeing the ML of a show having to in some way help the FL, usually it’s more academic. The twist here is his realizing that it’s not about making her stronger, it’s about making her happier. This is different from a lot of shows, where the ML usually isn’t responsible for anything emotional.
Another trope I’m thinking about after this episode is contract marriage. The way this spell is tying them together, even if Orchid isn’t so much aware of it, and forcing them to rely on one another feels like a fake marriage.
And I do think that DFQC is slowly warming up to her. He has a very, very long way to go. But even if his interests are selfish, he’s thoughtful in how he’s helping her. He’s also thinking about her circumstances and the way she thinks he’s nice and pretends to like his terrible soup. If nothing else, he’s noticing things about her instead of just wanting to kill her all the time.
Also, Cloud Whales are awesome and it’s a tragedy they don’t really exist.