Inside the imperial palace, all the physicians are summoned. The emperor wants Xiaoyanzi saved at all costs.
Lady Ling is with the emperor. She is currently his favorite concubine. She advises him to stop pacing and maybe leave the room so the physicians can work without fearing for their lives.
In a different palace — a different building in their palace system — the empress is having a lot of thoughts due to the emperor’s absence today. She is pissed that Lady Ling once again wins the emperor’s favor; she is wary of the girl they just brought in; she’s also happy thinking Lady Ling probably won’t be a favorite for much longer if the emperor is so obsessed with this new girl. What?? You’ve wandered too far from what’s possible, lady!
With the empress is Nanny Rong, kind of a head maid, adding fuel to the fire but also telling the empress to calm down.
The emperor has a dream about Xia Yuhe that night, then wakes up and yells for Lady Ling immediately. They visit Xiaoyanzi afterwards.
Xiaoyanzi is kind of conscious though not very aware of her surrounding. The emperor can’t wait any longer so he starts asking her questions.
The thing is, when Ziwei and Xiaoyanzi became sworn sisters, Ziwei was determined that Xiaoyanzi can share everything she has, including her identification. This was done so that Xiaoyanzi could feel like she had a family. And since Xiaoyanzi is muddled right now, here are her answers to the emperor’s questions:
How old are you? 18.
Where’s your father? I don’t have one.
What is your family name? Xia.
Uh-oh, that’s everything Ziwei is.
Lady Ling believes they should wait to see more proof, but the emperor’s mind already starts to recognize Xiaoyanzi as his daughter, partly because he wants her to be. He feels bad about letting Xia Yuhe down. Dude, you probably SHOULD wait.
Xiaoyanzi finally wakes up. The first person to visit her, however, is the empress. Not exactly good luck. She comments that Xiaoyanzi looks nothing like the emperor, which probably comes from jealousy more than actual observation, but er… we can’t deny she is right.
The emperor visits again. Lady Ling is a little scared that the empress might cling to this to make trouble for her, so she kind of timidly asks that the emperor take her side when it comes to that. She also adds that the more she observes, the more she thinks Xiaoyanzi really does resemble the emperor. OK, lady, I know you’re nice, but tone the flattery down, I’m starting to be afraid for your life when this whole thing crashes.
Xiaoyanzi opens her eyes and the emperor starts to spoil her, even before asking more questions. Xiaoyanzi, in awe by the shower of affection, can’t bring herself to mention that she is NOT his daughter. Well, if you go from being an orphan to being spoon-fed medicine by the most powerful man in the country in one day, then I kind of understand why you would want to commit treason for that.
It doesn’t help at all that Lady Ling and all the maids are already calling her “princess”.
Xiaoyanzi looks at the emperor with guilt, but he completely misreads her expression. He thinks she is angry at him for abandoning her mom.
When Xiaoyanzi is still trying to process this life-changing experience, the emperor is like, so? Speak up, do you want me as your father or not?
And Xiaoyanzi is like, yeah ok sure!
It’s worth noting again that this emperor is not exactly the most patient person in the world. He wants to acknowledge Xiaoyanzi and he wants her to accept that. He’s like, call me dad so I can start spoiling you immediately, tick tock, I don’t have time.
So Xiaoyanzi’s plan here is: she is going to “borrow” Ziwei’s dad for a few days, then she will tell him the truth. Poor, poor, innocent Xiaoyanzi.
When Xiaoyanzi is well enough, Lady Ling gives her a tour around. Here is when Xiaoyanzi learns that being a princess means you’re stuck in the palace. There’s no going back to the orphanage or going out; you can’t even talk about going out; and thinking about going out is probably also taboo. Sheesh, now you know what the deal is, Xiaoyanzi.
Outside the palace, Ziwei is sick with worry, and Jinsuo has a theory: maybe Xiaoyanzi has betrayed Ziwei. But Ziwei puts her down right away. Ziwei is incapable of thinking badly of anyone. To be fair, Jinsuo has a point, it’s just her delivery of that point that’s the problem, what with the weeping and non-stop glorification of Ziwei and all. See? Even Ziwei can’t take it.