EPISODE 28 RECAP
The dowager suggests to Qing’er that since she likes Erkang, she (dowager) can spare Erkang and let them be a couple. But Qinger turns that down immediately; she has too much self-respect for that. And may I just say that the dowager does not know Erkang at all.
But now we need to deal with more urgent — or we can say more stupid — matters at hand. The dowager had been looking for Ziwei’s guardians to learn about Ziwei’s origin, and guess whom she gave that job to: the empress! Yay… we’re definitely going to get impartial information…
The empress has found Ziwei’s mom’s midwife and also Ziwei’s aunt and uncle. And as expected, these idiots do their best to make sure Ziwei is framed as a liar regarding her date of birth. Whether they’re frauds or have been bought by the empress, we don’t know yet, but the way they tell their stories just lets you know that it’s all bogus. Also, they don’t exactly look confident about their accounts.
When the emperor hears this, oh, the whole sky falls straight down Ziwei’s head. He is like: your mom was a liar, and she created you, another liar!
Ziwei could take any amount of slander except insults towards her mom. She tells the emperor — in her very gentle way — that he has no right to say those things, which is very gutsy of her.
To be fair, the emperor could have worked out this bad scheme, but he’s currently blinded by anger.
Erkang, just like anyone who’s not the dowager and the emperor, can tell right away that something is fishy. When the dowager asks him to let go of Ziwei, he resists exactly as we imagined he would: a sweeping, earth-shaking declaration of his love for Ziwei again. If you ignore the dramatic tone, it’s actually a good speech. Oh how you have underestimated and insulted me by implying that Ziwei’s origin was important to me, I love Ziwei because she is Ziwei, he says. Which is also his way of calling the emperor a crappy dad.
Erkang instantly becomes the new local favorite. Qing’er is moved to tears, the emperor is speechless and can only stare at him, and even Xiaoyanzi declare their eternal friendship with him afterwards.
Comes the day when the emperor has to pronounce the kids’ punishment. To be brief, here it is:
Ziwei + Xiaoyanzi — death
Jinsuo — exile
Erkang — 15 years
A lot of begging and weeping follows, the emperor gives the girls one last chance to say something, but it seems like they are too angry to take advantage of this opportunity.
XIAOYANZI: we made a mistake in accepting you as a father.
ZIWEI: you don’t deserve my mom.
Well, that’s the final nail in the coffin, the emperor will hear no more.
By the way, are those… tears in the emperor’s eyes? Hmm, maybe he actually is giving them a chance to be spared death, and they just didn’t take it and instead… humiliated him again in front of his officials.
That night, after Jinsuo is taken away, Lady Ling and Qing’er reveal that they have a plan to rescue the gang all along. Awesome, I trust them more than they trust the gang when it comes to planning, to be honest.
They bribe the jailers and help Erkang out first.
Lady Ling is pretty chill about her own fate, she doesn’t believe the emperor would punish her or Qing’er since losing three children and a great guard is already a big blow for him. Well, I’m impressed with Lady Ling, she certainly knows the emperor’s weakness well and knows when to take advantage of it.
I could make some comments about the crappy prison system that allows this to happen, but I won’t, since the gang escaping is what we all want.