Let’s go for another round of Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei causing chaos in the imperial palace of Daqing and their men cheering them on in the background.
EPISODE 1 RECAP
Just like Season 1, this season starts out with a commotion. Back then, it was Ziwei running after Xiaoyanzi’s sedan and shouting that Xiaoyanzi is not a real princess.
This time, we have both of them locked in a wooden cage and being escorted to a public execution. I’m guessing they have done something to piss off the emperor, aka Huang-ah-ma, again.
And look, there are the boys, hiding amidst the crowd in commoner’s clothes. They’re going to do something reckless before the emperor can forgive them, aren’t they?
Back to the present.
The story starts with a princess from the tribe of Hui travelling to our protagonists’ kingdom. She doesn’t look happy about it.
Ambush! A group of men attack them. One man seems particularly interested in the princess. He asks her to “run away” with him.
But the men are soon defeated. The princess pleads for their lives, which her father accommodates.
In the capital city of Daqing, our gang — Xiaoyanzi, Ziwei, Yongqi, and Er’kang — are helping their friends Liu Qing and Liu Hong prepare for opening day of their new restaurant.
Lots of things to unpack here:
First of all, Er’kang seems a lot calmer than in Season 1. Probably because he no longer has to constantly worry about the possibility of Ziwei getting stabbed by needles in the dark or becoming an imperial concubine. He even cracks several jokes.
Two: everyone is wondering why the emperor hasn’t let the two couples marry. Turns out, the emperor doesn’t want to part with his two precious daughters yet; after all, he has just sorted out which one is the daughter he’s supposed to love and which one he is not supposed to love but loves anyway.
So suck it up, Er’kang and Yongqi, the emperor is keeping the princesses for another two years.
Three: The Empress Dowager, the emperor’s mother, is coming back from her Buddhist retreat; and with her is a mysterious “Princess Qing’er”, whose name makes Er’kang blush a bit. Ohhh, what’s the story there, Er’kang? Come on, tell us.
Also, it’s great that the men no longer wear heavy eyeliner.
And… erm, yeah, Jinsuo is still here.
Anyway, the day is going pretty well when Xiaoyanzi suddenly decides to do a few somersaults in the air and splashes EVERYONE with paint. Like, how did you even do that?
And it’s about to get worse — news reaches them that the Empress Dowager is arriving already and they are to report to the palace right away. Talk about terrible timing.
Xiaoyanzi tries to improve her situation by wiping her face on Yongqi’s shirt over here.
But it seems that won’t be enough to clean the paint from her face.
We get a short scene with the empress and Nanny Rong. The empress wants to give up and stay out of Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei’s way, but Nanny Rong won’t let her. So they’re back to being evil.
It is time for the welcome party and Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei still can’t get the paint off their faces no matter what they try.
Maybe ask Er’kang and Yongqi how they’ve done it. They got splashed with paint too, didn’t they? But look at their faces now, all clean and shiny. Whatever stuff they’re using, borrow it.
Anyway, the right thing to do now would be to not show up at all since the Dowager wouldn’t have the time to greet every single one of Qianlong’s children anyway.
But I guess Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei decide they want to make an unforgettable entrance, so both of them dash and bump into the Dowager while she is walking peacefully inside. Oops. The emperor totally expected a spectacle from Xiaoyanzi, but Ziwei too?
The Dowager makes no comments and proceeds inside. The mysterious Princess Qing’er smiles at Er’kang on her way in. He looks like he wants to jump down a hole and bury himself.
But if you think the Dowager is going to let this whole thing go, you’d be wrong. She is ultra curious about the paint-splashed princesses. The emperor’s constant praises don’t really help them because now the Dowager holds them to a higher standard. Who could these two girls possibly be that even the Emperor of Daqing speaks of them like treasures? Hmm…
No time to waste, the Dowager summons Ziwei and Xiaoyanzi right away.