Ziwei and Er’kang visit the orphanage to bring the children some gifts. Liu Qing acts a little weird and isn’t so happy that Ziwei is here with the young master of the Fu family. He likes Ziwei. Give up now.
Er’kang spots this immediately and later asks Ziwei what they were talking about, then also immediately says it’s none of his business. After some beating about the bush, like they always do, Er’kang is like, I’m done with this, here’s the truth: I want you.
Ziwei is less enthusiastic. She thinks maybe he should let her go, because it’s way too dangerous to defy traditions like this and neither of them knows whether they will actually succeed in revealing the truth, which is crucial if they want to be married properly. Basically, nobody has any plan yet and Ziwei isn’t sure if their “romance” is worth risking people’s lives.
ER’KANG: I will tell the emperor I’m in love with a peasant girl. If he opposes our marriage, I will remind him of his little fling with your mom.
Er… calm down.
ZIWEI: Don’t compare yourself to the emperor.
ER’KANG: So… I guess it’s good enough that we love each other.
Nope, not good enough for Ziwei. She doesn’t want to be like her mom, so either she marries into the Fu family properly or she will not have Er’kang at all, so no more hand-holding or whatever before they have an actual plan. Again, this girl is such a low-key badass.
By the way, I should point out that whenever Ziwei and Erkang talk, above is their favorite position: Ziwei standing in the front looking like someone is dying and Er’kang in the back ready to unleash some passionate declaration no one is ready for.
In the palace, Yongqi kind of makes his own confession toward Xiaoyanzi: if you were a boy, I’ll force you down and treat your injuries myself.
Double calm down!
Xiaoyanzi finally gets to go to the Fu manor that night. She meets Ziwei, they both cry. But they also explain things quickly to each other. Jinsuo doesn’t forgive Xiaoyanzi yet, though. And againnnn, this girl makes Xiaoyanzi as well as us listen to how Ziwei has cried and suffered. Yes, we know, we saw.
Look, I know that Jinsuo has a special connection to Ziwei and she does care about Xiaoyanzi. But from a writing perspective, these scenes drag on more than they need to.
It doesn’t take Ziwei a lot of effort to convince Xiaoyanzi to behave in front of the emperor. She’s like, look, he’s my dad and he loves you and I forgive you for having no self-control and stealing my princess title, so do you think you can be a good kid to him on my behalf?
Job done, Xiaoyanzi understands that she should keep her mouth in check now.
Things don’t go so well at the palace, the emperor chooses this night to visit Xiaoyanzi. The servants all panic, especially the one who is posing as Xiaoyanzi on her bed!