One day, the emperor visits Xiaoyanzi to find that she is GAMBLING. Oh no, that is unacceptable anywhere, any time, least of all within the palace. He decides that Xiaoyanzi needs to be educated about manners ASAP, and gives the job to Nanny Rong. Erm… is there no other nanny in the palace? Look at this woman’s face! She’s obviously thrilled at the idea of torturing Xiaoyanzi.
Xiaoyanzi’s lessons begin. Bowing, walking, waving handkerchiefs — it all drives Xiaoyanzi crazy and sleepy. All things crash down when Nanny Rong tries to tell her how to eat her food. Nope, that’s where Xiaoyanzi loses it. She takes off her headdress and storms out, nearly hitting the emperor — who is on his way in — with her shoes.
The emperor looks at the state of her and decides in fury: time for flogging. Yongqi, Er’tai, and Lady Ling plead for her, but Xiaoyanzi just can’t be quiet and throws at the emperor what he doesn’t want to hear the most: I don’t want to be a princess.
The guards carry out the flogging. The sound effect makes it sound like they’re hitting a punching bag. I mean, if the wooden posts really make that kind of impact every time they strike, Xiaoyanzi should be dead by now.
Desperate, Xiaoyanzi calls out to her “mom”. This makes the emperor stop, all right. He halts the flogging and leaves in guilt. Xiaoyanzi is as defeated as a pulp, but her first thought is: luckily it wasn’t Ziwei who got hit. Aww.
Yongqi, Er’tai and Lady Ling run over to tend to Xiaoyanzi. Yongqi just kind of casually grabs Xiaoyanzi’s hand in the process. You think we wouldn’t notice, don’t you?
Ziwei hears the story, panics, and begs the Fu family to take her to see Xiaoyanzi. She believes only she can calm Xiaoyanzi down so things like this won’t happen again. It’s hilarious how the Fu family acts like the sky is falling every time Ziwei kneels down in front of them.
The emperor is worried about Xiaoyanzi. Of course he is. Xiaoyanzi is refusing to eat or let her injuries be treated. A fever, too. Lady Ling is a little frustrated that the emperor still doesn’t understand why this flogging thing affects Xiaoyanzi so much. Not only is it pain, it’s also a humiliation for XYZ because it looked like her own father abandoned her and took evil’s side.
The emperor is like, damn that guard, who told him to hit the princess so hard? Erm… you did?
He storms away and to Xiaoyanzi, who is throwing a tantrum. She’s angry and still in shock that the emperor could be that scary. After some explanation and feeble reprimanding, the emperor throws in the towel and says Xiaoyanzi can quit her manners classes. This must be his first attempt at any kind of parenting at all. Although, if the teacher is Nanny Rong, I’d say having no education is better.
Ziwei is having a lot on her mind right now. Even though she already said she doesn’t care about switching places with Xiaoyanzi anymore, she still thinks about the emperor everyday. Er’kang makes a nervous attempt to ease her mind.