EPISODE 14 RECAP
Xiaoyanzi’s education situation is driving everyone crazy, she can’t do poetry. Just like any ordinary kid. The emperor calls her in for some scolding but also to make an exciting announcement: he is taking a trip to the country and his favorite kids + officials get to come along.
This makes Xiaoyanzi as happy as a clam. However, there’s one condition for Xiaoyanzi — she needs to memorize a long poem in order to come along on the trip. Well, we’ll see how that goes.
Onto much more important things. The empress sends for Ziwei and we know from the first minute that she’s not inviting Ziwei to afternoon tea. A group of aggressive guards grab Ziwei away and push her into something like a torture chamber, where the empress doesn’t give her any chance to talk before ordering the Nannies to start pricking her entire body with sewing needles. That’s right, Nanny Rong has friends who are as nasty as her. If you’ve ever, in your childhood, imagined a bunch of screeching witches who kidnap and eat children alive, that’s what we’re seeing right here.
On another note, if Ruby Lin’s acting has been a little shaky, she makes up for it all during this scene. Poor Ziwei screams and tries to explain, but of course, these women aren’t interested in her explanations.
Ziwei mentions the Twelfth Prince — the empress’ only son — to appeal to her. This makes the empress nervous and she leaves the room, which makes it a lot worse for Ziwei because now she’s alone with the sadistic hags.
The guards outside don’t seem to like what’s going on, though.
As soon as Xiaoyanzi gets the news, she, Yongqi and the Fu brothers barge into the empress’ place and ask for Ziwei back. She denies everything, so they have no choice but to search the whole palace themselves.
No luck at all. And they can’t go to the emperor, either, because it’s already nighttime. Plus, they need evidence before taking the case to the emperor, otherwise, they would just be doing Ziwei more harm than good.
That night, the Boy Trio dress up in their cool black assassin suits and infiltrate the empress’ residence.
They find Ziwei in the end, unconscious on the chamber floor. Luckily for them, the empress’ guards really don’t like what their mistress is doing to Ziwei, so they turn a blind eye to this intrusion and promise to keep Ziwei alive.
Xiaoyanzi kneels in front of the emperor’s bedroom before dawn and waits for him to wake up. Imagine getting out of bed in the morning and the first thing that greets you is your kid’s puffy, terrified face and incoherent weeping.
Xiaoyanzi tries to explain, the emperor doesn’t understand the whole thing but he rushes to see the Boy Trio right away. The boys admit to him that they broke into the empress’ place last night and saw Ziwei being tortured. This isn’t exactly the behavior the emperor was hoping to see from his son and his trusted guards, but it does give him the confidence to go to the empress and demand to hear her answer without unnecessary preambles.
When the empress denies again that Ziwei is here, Xiaoyanzi jumps in and starts shaking and yelling at her. The emperor says nothing, the Boy Trio say nothing. The empress’ guards rush in, but they say nothing, either, and just kind of stand to the side.
Only until Xiaoyanzi knocks the empress to the ground do they interfere. The emperor tells his wife that she is doing a lousy job as the “mother of the people”, so feel free to step down. Yes! This is why we all love Huang-ah-ma.
The boys find Ziwei just in time to save her from another round of torture.