EPISODE 2 RECAP
Zhan Zhao makes a trip to the Shi family to let the father and the grandmother know about their boy Qing’er who ran away from home to look for his mother and is now staying at Lord Bao’s. As expected, Shi Yongjing the father is like, nahh, that kid can fall flat on his face for all I care.
The grandmother, however, responds like a normal person and plans to go pick up Qing’er.
When Zhan Zhao attempts to fish for more information regarding the boy’s mother, the grandmother throws him out.
Zhan Zhao returns and reports to Lord Bao about what happens. Lord Bao is appalled by Yongjing’s apathy towards his son, so he does some brainstorming and decides that this odd case requires his attention. I guess he’s just curious because, honestly, with the amount of work a prefect like him has to do every day, this case should be way down the list or handed to a lower-ranked official.
Lord Bao orders Zhan Zhao to go and send a message to Ligou that Qing’er is all right. Which is, of course, his way of investigating whether Ligou has more to with Qing’er than just a caring by-passer.
But before Zhan Zhao can go anywhere, Yongjing arrives. Along with him is Liu Qingping, the man Ligou was accused of being in a relationship with.
Why is Liu Qingping here? He wants to claim Qing’er as his son. Why? Oh, that’s an interesting story. And… pretty disgusting, if we’re being completely honest here.
So, both Liu Qingping and Yongjing want to take Qing’er home. Lord Bao is more curious than ever, he asks them both to explain themselves. Does it require the entire court trio just to listen to this potentially embarrassing story, though?
Anyway, this is the story, as told by Yongjing and Qingping:
(When Ligou’s name was still Rou’er) Yongjing and Rou’er were happily married but without children. Yongjing’s mother blamed Rou’er for it.
Yongjing said it was him that was the problem, but the mom didn’t believe him. Lady, your son is a doctor, believe him. Mom threatened to separate them.
Qingping was one of Yongjing’s patients, now healed from whatever injury he had suffered before, in excellent health and fertility, or so Yongjing found.
Qingping promised to return the favor after Yongjing had healed him. Yongjing spilt out what he wanted right away: look, my mom will make me marry someone else if we don’t have children ASAP, so sleep with my wife until she produces a son, maybe?
To Yongjing’s credit, he looked genuinely miserable about this, but I don’t really care.
Rou’er protested. Qingping protested. Then he saw how gorgeous Rou’er was. Then he still protested, but Yongjing pushed him into their bedroom one night when Rou’er was sleeping and… yeah, you can guess the rest.
But Ligou threw Qingping out of the room shortly afterwards. Yongjing went in and asked her with a betrayed face if anything had happened. This idiot needs therapy ASAP.
Anyway, Rou’er slapped him, then said nothing happened. But that isn’t necessarily true.
So that’s their story.
Lord Bao has heard enough, he yells at both men for being useless cowards.
But the problem still remains: whose son is Qing’er?
Legally, Yongjing is. But Qingping insists Qing’er is his biological son.
But then why did Qingping wait 7 years to claim Qing’er? Why not do it back then? Well, because his family is also pushing for him to have a son and he and his wife just can’t seem to secure one.
Lord Bao connects the dots right away: uhh… doesn’t that mean Qingping could also be infertile?
Me, I don’t care which of those guys can have kids, neither of them should be anywhere near children.
Lord Bao has no choice now but to investigate for the kid’s sake.
According to Gongsun Ce, there’s a high chance that Qing’er is Qingping’s son, because guess what, Yongjing is a doctor. He really wanted his plan to work, so he probably drugged his wife that night too so Qingping could do whatever he needed to do. Good job, Gongsun Ce. but yeah, double-low, these two guys.
Lord Bao sends them both away and asks Zhan Zhao to follow them. Ughh, such a crappy job for Zhan Zhao. Before leaving, Qingping admits his failure and promises to take better care of the boy from now on. Whatever, we’ll see about that.
At the Zang manor, General Zang still doesn’t want to see Ligou, but make up they must! So she starts talking to him from outside his library’s window.
Ligou reminds the general of his promise before they got married: he agreed that whatever her past, he would never abandon her. So what happened to that, huh? But Ligou also blames herself for taking his promise too literally. Which sounds kind of like a backhanded apology, but hey at least they’re talking.
In the end, Ligou decides she can’t stay at the Zang manor anymore. With the boy being too close, her scandal may blow up and it will only hurt both the general and the boy more. But at the same time… nooo stay with your general, Ligou! You are way too innocent to survive outside.
So when Qing’er visits Ligou again that day, she takes the boy away to stay at an inn for now.
But wouldn’t you believe Ligou’s luck — that happens to be the same inn her useless husband and Qingping are staying. Sheesh.
Yongjing gets out of there at soon as he can because he can’t stand Qingping. Yeah, I never thought I’d agree with Yongjing, but Qingping really is annoying and low.
And the moment Ligou steps out of her room for a bit, she runs into that d***head Qingping, who grabs her and tries to make her leave with him. Why? He says he never stops thinking about her ever since that “night”.
No words can describe Ligou’s horror. When Qingping doesn’t let go, Ligou pulls out her hairpin and stabs him. Straight at his heart, I think. Girl’s got great aim.
Ligou’s hatred rises, all the memories of her suffering come back and she continues to stab Qingping until he collapses.
The general walks in just in time to catch Ligou as she passes out.
COMMENTS
The worst thing about Yongjing and Qingping’s story is not even what happens in it, it is that this kind of thing could and has happened to women during this time, or even nowadays in less developed parts of the world.
And after everything that they have done, it’s still Ligou that suffers the consequences. Remember how she was tied to a wooden door as punishment for “adultery” and her husband stood on the side with a helpless face as if he was the one who was wronged? All it takes to ruin a woman’s life is one guy who is too afraid to own up to his mistakes.
On one hand, I applaud the drama for coming up with a story so close to reality, where you can analyze each character’s motive and response; on the other, let’s hope General Zang kicks those men the same way he kicks his soccer balls. Until they deflate. Blehh.
On another note, I adore Ligou. While she is the victim of this whole shenanigan, we can see that other people cannot tell her what to do. From choosing to die with dignity to breaking up with her former husband, to expressing herself to General Zang, Ligou is fully aware of the unjust world she lives in, but she doesn’t let it dictate how she acts and who she becomes.