EPISODE 12
Hanxiang lets the gang know that they don’t have to worry about her and her boyfriend anymore because she doesn’t plan on reuniting with him. She wants to be a good princess to her people and she doesn’t want to betray the emperor’s trust now that he has promised to leave her alone. The bar for the emperor’s behavior is kind of low here. On the other hand, I can’t say Hanxiang is wrong for wanting to leave well enough alone, especially after so many failed escape attempts already.
The empress and Nanny Rong must have a lot of free time that day (just like every other day) because as soon as they hear Xiaoyanzi has been attacked by bees, they come over to make fun of her.
But Xiaoyanzi is never out of tricks. She tricks the empress and Nanny Rong into giving her their headdresses then stuff them with the flower petals from the other day. The whole gang cooperates flawlessly even though some of them don’t understand clearly what’s going on.
And of course, the next thing that happens is the empress and Nanny Rong running for their lives from bees and getting stung mercilessly.
Moving on, Xiaoyanzi is left in awe by the emperor’s promise to… give Hanxiang some basic human rights, so she and Ziwei put on a show for him on his birthday. And I mean it’s an entire SHOW. Erkang and Yongqi do the lion dance, then all of them sing him the special happy birthday song for emperors. Well, I guess if you’re gonna stab him in the back soon, might as well throw him a perfect birthday party.
Point is: Huang-ah-ma is more than pleased with all of these kids, except Hanxiang, of course, who is, in fact, his wife. Even the dowager finds no reason to bash them anymore.
But don’t celebrate too soon. The empress and Nanny Rong have plotted their revenge already. It’s kind of a lame plan but the aim is just to fool the dowager, so it doesn’t need to be a smart plan.
They stage an assassin attack and lead everyone to the two girls’ residence where they had planted a voodoo doll to frame Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei of sorcery.
The people with a brain — including the emperor — work out immediately that the so-called assassin was acting very un-assassin-like.
But the thing is, the gang believes it was Meng Dan who broke in to see Hanxiang so they all start making weird faces at each other, which makes the emperor and the dowager suspect they’re hiding something. Listen, people, you were all there when Meng Dan tried to steal Hanxiang away. That guy can’t plan a proper mission, okay? How would he break into the imperial palace? You’re drawing attention for nothing here.
The emperor orders his guards to search the room, and of course they find the voodoo doll.
As expected, it’s the creepiest doll you’ve ever seen. The only thing that’s creepier than the doll is Nanny Rong’s grinning face.
The dowager believes right away that Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei are witches. I’m pretty sure nobody else does, though. The emperor is just surprised, but it doesn’t look like he suspects them of witchcraft at all. His face is more like: why do stupid harem schemes keep getting thrown at me?
We can see, however, that even though this scheme is bad, it’s good enough to put Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei in jail for the time being.
THE GUYS’ EXPRESSIONS OF THE DAY
