Yinzhang and Haohao perform at Lord Xiao’s birthday banquet. A successful show, In general.
Qianfan’s half brother is jealous of him and tries to cause trouble. He suggests a duet between Qianfan and Yinzhang. Particularly he wants Qianfan to do some sword dance while Yinzhang plays. Oh…kay, how is that going to get Qianfan in trouble?
Yinzhang turns the idea down, but Qianfan has something up his sleeve for his half-brother. And it’s big.
He asks the kitchen to bring out a raw fish, some fruits, and a sword. And then Qianfan is like: You want sword-dancing, brother? I’ll give you some.
Qianfan takes his sword, gashes the fish, stabs an orange, and lets the juice drip onto the fish. It tastes good, apparently.
Now Lord Xiao is even more proud of Qianfan, which leaves his other son ten times more bitter.
After that, Yinzhang treats them all with another song. This time, she plays a peace about the valor of heroes and she plays sit so well that it inspires one of the men to… er… stand up and express his heroic heart. This one lord is about to move to work in another region, so he gives a passionate speech about how the other men should continue to serve the emperor well. It’s such a long speech that these guys have no idea when they should start clapping.
The same lord also praises Yinzhang’s talent and hails her Pipa like he’s about to get married to it.
Although, one person isn’t too happy about YInzhang’s success: Haohao. She goes home in a dark mood, throws a fit and breaks up with Chi Pan.
It’s time for Yinzhang to go home too, Qianfan takes her to the gates of Lord Xiao’s mansion and… leaves her there. Don’t you think you can wait for her carriage to arrive before leaving, Qianfan? Why do you lead her on when it’s unnecessary but leaves her alone when your presence is needed?
A group of drunkards attempt to harass Yinzhang but Shen Ruzuo appears just in time to shoo them away. Hmm… You’re sure you didn’t set this up so you can play the hero, Ruzuo?
On the way home, Ruzuo renews his offer to Yinzhang and says she is too good to play at the teahouse. OK, that is one step too far. Brag about yourself all you want, but don’t trash-talk Pan’er’s teahouse!
That night, Qianfan has a brief talk with his father figure Qi Mu about the new case they’re investigating. But when they part, Qianfan realizes that Qi Mu knows more than he should. He may have trusted the wrong person all this time!