No, you didn’t miss any of my write-ups for the earlier episodes. I’m only jumping ahead because this episode is my guilty pleasure. This drama doesn’t require analysis.

I’m going to list my favorite scenes with a brief commentary — like I usually do when I’m reviewing Cdramas. Feel free to add your own memorable scenes.

My Highlights:

1. Ji Heng knows

When Ji Heng asks his younger brother if he’s found out anything else about Dr. Tian Qi, Zheng conceals that their male doctor is actually a woman in disguise.

He answers nothing else then looks down. Ji Heng guesses that his brother is lying because every time he lies, he looks away unconsciously.

lol. Remember what I said in my First Impressions when he complimented Zheng on being the person he trusts the most in the world, and Zheng looked down?

I rest my case.

Since his brother doesn’t want to be more forthcoming about Tian Qi, Ji Heng resolves to test Tian Qi himself.

Tian Qi unwittingly opens herself up to be tested when she goes up to him and asks him where he’s going. He’s going to a military exercise outside the city and he orders her to come along.

The younger brother guesses that Heng’s suspicious of Tian Qi and wants to test her. He knows that should Heng discover Tian Qi’s deception, he’ll kill her even though she has no bad intention.

I find it interesting that while these two brothers can read each other’s thoughts very well, they don’t let the other person know it.

Also, I like that Zheng worries that Tian Qi’s secret will be discovered by Heng. He thinks that Tian Qi needed protection from his brother’s wrath.

Which brings me to this last point.

It’s intriguing that, despite Zheng readily pledging his loyalty to his older brother, he regards his brother as a cold-blooded killer, and different from him. This is probably because Heng is a famous general in the imperial army so he would have had killed many people.

I think at some point, if Zheng has to make a choice between Ji Heng or Tian Qi, he’ll side with with her because she’s the weaker one. As it is, he already thinks of himself as her “secret” protector.

2. “Why do you keep staring at me?”

This is a running joke in this cdrama: she unconsciously grins whenever she stares at him, and he ALWAYS catches her, fangirling.

This time, she answers honestly, “You look gorgeous in the armor.” But then she piles it on, “And I’ve never been to training ground before. I feel so safe beside you. You’re like a god of war!!”

And just like that, she manages to convert HER embarrassment into HIS embarrassment. By going overboard with her compliments, she makes him wish that he hadn’t caught her staring at him.

Heng said, “Stop flattering! It makes me sick in the stomach.”

hahaha. She takes his comment literally and offers him remedy for his queasiness. “My lord, are you ok? I prepared some prunes. Want to try? It’s delicious and good for vomiting.”

She doesn’t get that he isn’t nauseous because of motion-sickness. What he means is her fulsome compliments embarrass him, and he wants her to stop chattering.

3. The girl in the forest

Tian Qi makes a coronet of flowers for her cap and she sings in the forest. Ji Heng only sees a feminine shape through the flowers and hears a feminine voice.

His assistant notices him smiling and thinks to himself, “Amazing! Finally a girl can draw our general’s attention.” This is our first indication in this Cdrama that Heng might have been a fearsome killer in battles but he’s no ladykiller.

But when he sees that it’s Tian Qi with a silly looking floral hat, he’s dismayed, “Tian Qi?! You again. Why is it always you?”

She quickly lies that she wanted to pick flowers for him. He notices that she’s plucked off almost all of the flowers from the branch and wore them on her hat.

JH: It’s bare. How could I be pleased by the flowers? You’re just pleasing yourself.
TQ: (thinking quickly) My lord. You know what? I plucked off the flowers intentionally to leave only the stamen.

I’m not sure if the translation is incorrect or she’s lying sooo badly.

TQ: The flower’s beauty is all in her stamen. The stamen is the heart. Petals are seductive indeed and also enchanting. But the fragrance only comes out from the stamen. So when we look at the flowers, we should admire her stamen instead of the flowers.
The attendant: What a quick wit. Genius. (He knows that she’s lying to her teeth and admires her temerity.)
JH: Though your words are simple, they contain a wisdom. It’s a metaphor to describe people.

I love that he spins her lie into something profound. And he does it with a straight face. I can’t tell whether he’s also pulling her leg or not.

JH: (continuing) Don’t judge anyone by his appearance. What matters is the heart. Is this what you mean? Like flower, like people.
TQ: My lord. I don’t know about metaphor. What I said was to show my loyalty to you. I hope you like it.
Attendant: So shameless. How shameless is he! (He knows that TQ is lying.)
JH: Do you like the flower crown? Okay. Keep wearing it. (leaving her)
TQ: (to herself) Stupid.

lol. She realizes too late that he saw through her bluffing. Clearly, she was only flattering him when she said that she plucked the flowers off so she could give him the best part of all, the stamen. (Like, who does that??) He orders her then to continue wearing the flowered hat as she likes the flowers so much. He’s punishing her for lying by making her walk around with the floral crown. He knows she’s going to be ridiculed for it.

Getting on his carriage, he tells her, “Don’t get in. Stay outside. Let us admire your flower crown.”

He only smiles when she protests. Then, to punish her further, he adds, “There are 25 flowers on your head. Don’t lose any of them. Lose one flower, you get paddled ten strikes. If you lose five flowers, there’s an extra punishment. When we arrive at the post house, I’ll count them. Clear?”

TQ: (protesting) My lord!
JH: Remember. That’s the deal. One flower, ten strikes.
TQ: (grumbing) It’s not a deal. I didn’t agree to anything.
JH: Any problems?
TQ: Of course none, my lord.
JH: (smiling secretly)

It’s easy to guess why he’s having fun at her expense, and being extra-cruel. He’s covering up the fact that he was embarrassed when he mistook her to be a lovely girl in the forest. He was ready to be smitten by a stranger’s beauty and was shocked to see that the stranger turned out to be only Tian Qi.

When they arrive at their destination, he immediately counts the flowers like he said he would. She lost three on the way.

JH: What did we say? One flower, ten strikes.
TQ: (wincing) My lord, you can punish me as you want. But if I get seriously injured, I won’t be able to serve you.
JH: You really want to serve me? (she smiles in reply) Then, I’ll save it to next time. Make it a round figure. I can punish you with all of the strikes all at one time.
TQ: What do you mean?
JH: It’s quicker to paddle you to death one time.

pwahahaha. Of course. It doesn’t make sense to paddle her *close to death* several times. It’s less hassle to paddle her TO DEATH and bury her dead body afterwards.

TQ: (giggling nervously) Thank you for your mercy.

He turns around and hides his smile.

4. The bath scene

Just watch this yourself if you want to ogle at a boy’s torso. (Remember the actor’s only 22 years old.)

Ji Heng finds her awkwardness and her hesitation to remove his clothes weird. He thinks, “This guy! What’s wrong with him? That guy is like a woman.”

Duh.

5. The “Literal Metaphor” shield

On the way home, she declares she isn’t riding back with him. I like that he’s the one who notices that she’s not getting on the carriage. He stops and waits for her explanation.

TQ: My lord, I won’t ride in the carriage. I don’t want to disturb you.
JH: Whatever.

Ha. He said “whatever” but I’m sure he’s sulking by himself and missing her company.

TQ: Mr. Sheng! The scenery here is beautiful. I read in some novel before, that in a scene in a forest like this, either a ghost haunting or an assassination would occur.

Ji Heng suddenly opens the carriage door and talks to her. Something tells me that he’s been listening and was just waiting for his chance to scold her.

JH: What a jinx you are! If there’s an assassin, I’ll use you as a shield.
TQ: My lord. Don’t worry. If anyone wants to kill you, I’m willing to die for you. I will be your shield without any hesitation.
JH: (slams the door on her)

This is a trope. I’ll call it the “Literal metaphor” because as soon as she offers to become his shield, metaphorically speaking, she does become his shield, literally speaking. lol.

The shield. +100

I’ll have to deduct 10 points because she ends up as his shield only by ACCIDENT. She’s running towards him to seek his help when she trips on an assassin. She lands in his arms and the arrow hits her.

6. The arrow

This scene marks the turning point in their relationship.

After threatening to kill her so many times in the past, he can’t really bear to see her in pain. He offers to remove the arrow and staunch the bleeding himself. When his attendant, Mr. Sheng, says he’ll do instead, he declares her life as his.

JH: I said that his life belongs to me. He can’t die without my permission. It’ll never change.

Some feminists will bristle at all this “Her life is mine!” talk because it turns Tian Qi into a possession. Given the time and setting of this Cdrama, that interpretation isn’t far off base.

However, since this is a romantic comedy after all, I choose to view this arrogant declaration as a sign of his extreme anxiety and fear that she’ll die on him. You know, when people are facing a threat to their happiness, peace and existence, they either fight or flee. We’ve heard of this fight-or-flight response.

Ji Heng doesn’t want Tian Qi to die; he wants her to fight death. Saying that she can’t die without his permission is merely his way of urging her to go fight for her life. He’s bidding her to live.

After the arrow is removed and Tian Qi’s bandaged, he hurries back to her side and talks to her sleeping body. This is the first time he’s addressed her in a tender manner, and this is as close as he’ll get to issuing an apology for his past behavior.

JH: I knew you were a jinx. Your words came true. You became my shield. Now you regret it, don’t you? You ruined my plan to lure the snake out. You’d better recover soon. You are so quiet. I’m not used to it. Recover quickly. I promise I won’t punish you for making noise around me.

Awww… I thought this was sweet. In the carriage ride, he scolded her for being too exuberant with her praises. Then earlier he grumpily threatened to use her as a shield simply because he heard her talking to Mr. Sheng and he wasn’t included in the conversation. But now that she’s quiet, he misses her chatter.

That night, he insists on taking care of her personally. He ignores his brother’s offer to watch over Tian Qi while he rests. Instead, he thanks his brother for finding the doctor quickly.

When the doctor offers to take care of Tian Qi, he tells her there’s no need.

He’s fanning her when his attendant walks in.  He knows he’s acting out of character; so he pretends to fan himself (with the wrong end of the fan). His attendant offers to look after Tian Qi so he can rest, but just like with his brother and the doctor, he declines their help.

He says, “No need. If he weren’t there, I would be the one lying here. He saved my life. It’s reasonable for me to take care of him. You go.”

This isn’t true, of course. What’s reasonable is for him to take care of her PART-TIME, not the whole time. Three other people are willing to share the load with him, but he doesn’t want them to. He wants to take on the sole responsibility of tending to her.

And this is a first time for him. When his fiancee, Princess Shuncheng, was poisoned, he didn’t go to her bedside to look after her. He allowed her own medical doctors to attend to her needs.

7. The secret continues

When she wakes up, she worries that Ji Heng has discovered her disguise, so she asks her aunt/the doctor who treated.

TQ: I remember he was going to cut my cloth. Did he find out my identity as a woman?
Aunt: He did.

She starts to cough in shock, so the Aunt reassures her, “Don’t worry. I’m the one who pulled out your arrow.”

Now, there are two interpretations here. The first interpretation is that her aunt was really joking when she said that he discovered her identity as a woman.

The second interpretation is that her aunt was talking about something else entirely. She means that for the first time, Ji Heng has begun to treat her tenderly and to attend to her devotedly like he would have done had he known she was woman.

Remember their conversation earlier about flowers, when he thought that there was a metaphor to the flowers? He realized, “Don’t judge anyone by his appearance. What matters is the heart. Is this what you mean? Like flower, like people.”

Ji Heng is now learning the truth behind those words. That night, while he was taking care of her, he didn’t judge her by her appearance. After all, she was still dressed up like in her manly clothes. But what mattered was the heart, and Tian Qi was very much a woman at heart.

From the way she gazed at him with adoring eyes, chattered nonstop to hide her embarrassment, hummed a song without a care in the forest, decorated her hat with a crown of flowers, panicked when she had to help him with his bath, ran away from the assassin, and shielded him (foolishly) from an arrow, she couldn’t be mistaken for anything BUT a feminine soul in a man’s clothing.

He’s just a little bit slow. lol.