EPISODE 17
Hanxiang tries her best to dodge the emperor’s advances. In the end, she offers to dance for him so he’d leave her alone. I don’t know about that, though, it seems to just turn him on even more.
The next day, Hanxiang has a little chat with her two reluctant love advisors: Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei.
And what’s the problem this time besides how the emperor won’t leave her alone? Hanxiang feels like she’s being conquered by the emperor’s fierce looks and passion. She’s afraid that if things keep going the way they do, she might fall for him one day. Huh… I sure didn’t see that coming.
And neither did Xiaoyanzi.
Ziwei tells Hanxiang to make up her mind soon.
Xiaoyanzi has a better plan: fireworks.
That’s right. She wants to cheer everyone up, so she gathers them all and gives them fireworks for free to play with.
The gang is hesitant for a bit but then all join in. Even the empress’ young son — the Twelfth Prince — is there to hang out with them. This is not exactly being done in secret so I don’t blame the dowager for seeing it and wanting to come over to check it out this time.
Everything would have been fine if Xiaoyanzi hadn’t bumped right into the dowager while twirling around and nearly burned her clothes with the fireworks. It’s not a pretty scene.
Afterwards, the emperor gets two ears full of complaints about it from the dowager. He then ups his pressure on Yongqi to make Xiaoyanzi into a proper lady. And to Yongqi, this means forcing her to learn more idioms. It’s a terrible plan, but… you know, they’ve got to start somewhere.
It doesn’t go well at all. Yongqi freaks out about how their engagement may be voided, so he doesn’t hold back his punches with Xiaoyanzi. I have my duty, I have a good image to maintain, I have a family to impress, that kind of thing.
Xiaoyanzi, thinking that Yongqi is saying she’s not good enough — with good evidence, of course — cries and tells him to leave her alone. And he does.
Erkang, on the other hand, is pretty sure that Yongqi’s male pride will subside in the next few days and everything will be all right again when the two lovebirds talk.
But Xiaoyanzi feels like she’s had enough. The next morning, she dresses up as a commoner and walks out of the palace after a fight with the guards at the gates. We all know what this means, everyone at Shufang Palace is in trouble. The dowager doesn’t like them, but that doesn’t give any of them license to be out of her sight. At least that’s the way she thinks.
How do you feel about it now, Erkang?