Let’s get down to business.

A. New Developments

1. The poisoner CuiQue is poisoned.

How?

Maid GanTang brought tea for CQ and the housekeeper Madam Han. The teacups weren’t the same. One was plain brown clay, while the other one was subtly decorated with its cover in black finish.

The difference was by design. LanXiang expected CQ to take the “more” refined teacup as she was the “esteemed” houseguest, and Madam Han was merely a servant. So, the maids reheated the poisoned water from JQ’s bathwater and served it right back to her.

In short, LX flipped the script. Or as my boys used to say, she played the UNO reverse card on CQ.

2. LanXiang turned over to Lin JinLan the 2nd son all the house tokens and seals given to her by First Madam. Nevertheless, he defers to LanXiang’s judgment in exposing CQ’s crimes.

It’s just right that the First Madam and the 2nd son trust her ability to manage the household and protect the lives of everyone in the residence. The First Madam claimed that she knew of the things in service of JQ.

3. It’s vindication day for the maids!

As the First Madam pointed out, there were many “masters” in the house, but all were ineffectual. It’s thanks to the combined efforts of the domestic staff that CQ was taken down.

LX: When you were bent on climbing higher, you never bothered to look down. But everything you eat, wear, and use passes through the hands of lowly maids like us. We saw it all. You had LingDang poison the hot water. TongCao (the 3rd sister’s maid) saw it. You accepted the Yunzi stones. XiaoLian (the slow-witted maid) saw it. You wore an undershirt made of Xinggu gauze. GanTang saw it. (Gantang is the daughter of the First Madam’s personal maid).

And let’s not forget that BaoGai verified for LX that LingDang had been around on that day she was heating hot water for YuChan and LX.

These ladies deserve the party afterwards.

4. The 2nd sister Lin XiuWan attempts to defend CQ against the accusation by mentioning how Du Zheng saved JQ’s life. But 3rd sister Lin XiuRu brings up the incident at the cave that she witnessed to prove that the Du siblings don’t have their best interest at heart.

Lin XiuWan is rightfully shamed.

5. I especially like the moment when CQ tries to justify her crime as her struggle against:

a) the unfair treatment of genteel but poor women like her in society, and
b) the pathetic social and economic pressure on women to marry in order to improve their status.

Hmph! She’s truly a psycho. Not only is she afflicted with delusions of grandeur, but she’s also one of those bores who go on and on about social justice.

As she rants, the whole Lin household can only just watch in horror her spiraling into madness. When she has quieted down, LX calmly presents her case.

These are great shots. I call this picture of CQ under the flowering tree the “Ophelia” shot. You see, a woman seen picking flowers (or wearing flowers in her hair) is usually a visual metaphor for mental instability. Ophelia is a character in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” who went crazy after learning that her father was murdered by the man she loved. She’s also become a symbol of powerless women trapped in patriarchal societies.

As for LX’s shot staring at CQ, it’s a great shot because it captures her incomprehension and total rejection of CQ’s argument. She stands apart from CQ.

LX: A woman was born amid the chaos of the previous dynasty. At 12 or 13, she was sold as a child bride. Unable to endure her in-laws’ abuse, she ran away and eventually ended up in Yazhou. But she never gave up on herself. She learned weaving from the local women and worked hard to support herself.
CQ: (scoffing) A woman like that would drift aimlessly or live a life of drudgery.
LX: (continuing) After she passed away, cotton became widely cultivated. The local women, using the techniques she had taught them, wove Songjiang cloth that became renowned throughout the land. In Songjiang Prefecture, the people built a shrine to honor her, and offerings have never ceased.
CQ: (wonderingly) A woman could be revered like a sage? Her name remembered in history? Offerings. Offerings at a shrine?
LX: Her name was Huang DaoPo. Perhaps you’ve never heard of her, but you’ve certainly used the Songjiang cloth she passed down. Her divine titles, the Weaver Star and First Deity of Cotton, are ones you’ve surely worshipped, too.

Note: I checked this out (thanks, google and wiki!) and there is indeed a woman named Huang DaoPo (1245-1330) who’s considered the textile pioneer in Songjiang. (Songjiang is located somewhere near present-day Shanghai.) Because of Huang DaoPo’s work, the Songjiang cotton cloth is considered a traditional, cultural treasure. Songjiang was even once considered the clothing capital of the world. If you want to read more about here, here’s a good site: https://www.theworldofchinese.com

Then, the First Madam adds her two cents.

FM: LanXiang is right. Du CuiQue, don’t blame everything on an unjust world. No matter how unjust the world may be, you still have to live with honor and integrity. You’re simply consumed by greed and want everything without working for it!

Brava! Say it louder please for the woke folks and Mamdani socialist idiots at the back.  

6. CQ tries to evade justice with death, but she’s forcibly given the antidote.

Uh-oh. She swears that she’ll never let LX go even as a ghost. I guess we haven’t heard the last of her.

7. Du Zheng revealed true colors. He dueled against JQ, but it was Commander Yuan’s one shot that did him in.

Commander Yuan is my low-key crush because he seems to be a decent guy.

Those are the seven memorable scenes in this episode for me.

B. Meanwhile, on the romantic front:

1. Indirect kiss trope

Yeah, we all saw that.

An inebriated LX sends her coworkers out to drink three full cups of liquor with JQ’s two guards for helping them out. With everybody gone but LX, JQ enters the room. She moves to stand up but JQ puts a hand on her shoulder. She tipsily bows to him instead.

JQ refills her cup.

JQ: This time, it’s all thanks to you. I’ll always remember it and never forget. I’ll drink first as a sign of respect.

He tosses back the drink.

Even in her drunken state, she knows he shouldn’t be drinking from her cup.

He pours liquor again in her cup and hands it to her. She looks down at it and then at his face.

LX: That’s my cup.

He continues to extend the cup to her and chuckles.

JQ: So? … What? You’ll drink when YinChen and the others toast you, but when I toast you, you won’t drink?

No, that isn’t her point, and he knows that. He’s deliberately being obtuse.

She’s saying they can’t drink from the same cup as that will be like kissing each other. Her lips will touch the place where his lips had recently been.

But just as I explained in Episode 16, JQ has been “testing the waters.” On their last night together, he had leaned in to whisper in her ear, then afterwards, laid his hand on her shoulder before parting. Now, he’s pushing his luck by drinking from the same cup. He’s testing to see if she’s romantically interested in him.

JQ: (teasing) Well, how about I call YinChen and the others back and have each of them toast you with a full cup? Yin–!
LX: (grabbing the cup and gulping the drink) You’re playing dirty!

He just smiles. Evil child!

Then, they hear the girls returning. LX says she must leave before they come and bows unsteadily before him. He waits for her to leave the room, then pours himself another drink and gulps it. (Lol. It’s his turn this time.)

Then, he follows her out.

2. The moon gate, orchid fragrance, and rock garden

I’m glad she’s a happy drunk.

She staggers down the corridors to her quarters, occasionally holding on to a column for balance. Behind her, he follows quietly, ready to catch her if she falls.

I like this scene because it reminds me of that time at Commander Yuan’s camp when she was trailing behind him. Their situation has reversed.

She reaches a moon gate to a rock garden.

Note: I was told that a moon gate in feng shui brings good luck. Supposedly, earth is square and heaven is a circle. So, if you pass through a moon gate, you’re metaphorically stepping into heaven or an otherworldly place.

LX: (taking deep breaths) It smells so nice!
JQ: What flower is that fragrance from?

She turns around, surprised to see him standing behind her.

LX: (smiling) Orchids. Some orchids are most fragrant at noon. (walking down the steps) Other orchids are most fragrant at night.

This was asked before in my Episode 1 post, and I was able to do more googling after that. LX replies “Lanhua” or “orchid.” “Lan” means “orchid” and “hua” means flower. Her name LanXiang, however, means “orchid fragrance.”

“Lan” = “orchid”
“Xiang” = “fragrance.”

She sits on a step and rests her arm on a rock. She closes her eyes.

JQ: What are you doing?
LX: I want to smell the flowers.

He sighs but follows her. He too sits on the step beside her.

JQ: Which do you like better? The fragrance of flowers or silver?
LX: Silver.
JQ: (smiling) You aren’t too drunk to think straight.

In vino, veritas. Even when she’s drunk, she manages to keep her wits about her. She’s still sensible and pragmatic. She’s in no danger of becoming emotional, poetic, sentimental, or morose.

In a way, she reminds me of JQ’s first wife, Zhao XingTang, who built herself a fortress made of silver taels. She loves money, too, but she sees it as her only guaranteed source of peace and security. In contrast, LX likes money but she hasn’t lost sight of what truly matters in life. She still enjoys her parents, her friendship with women, the simple pleasures like the smell of flowers, integrity and decency, and so on.

LX: (grinning) It’s good to be alive. I can still smell the flowers.

Three things:

a. Nothing says that you’re fully alive like your five senses, or at least one of them, celebrating the sublime beauty of nature. 🙂

b. She’s being a filial child; she heeds the words of both her mothers. Her deceased mother had scrawled a message in blood to her: “Live.” Then, her adoptive mother had urged her to “Live with all your might. Live fiercely. Just like wild grass. Live boldly and freely.”

c. She has lots to be thankful for: her mother who spared her from death, her adoptive parents who gave her a new identify, and herself for her courage to find meaning and joy in her daily existence.

However, while she revels in her life, JQ broods about death, right beside her.

JQ: CongYi… Du Zheng is dead. Du CuiQue must think I caused her brother’s death. I wanted to repay them. So I had Du Zheng transferred to Jinling and brought Du CuiQue into the residence. Was I wrong?
LX: You did nothing wrong. They were the ones in the wrong. They were too greedy. In this world, who doesn’t want a better life? I’m greedy, too. But our forebears taught us, “A gentleman acquires wealth by honorable means.” You can’t trample on others just because you want a better life.
JQ: I don’t think I did anything wrong, either.

Awww…

LX: (putting her head down on a rock)
JQ: But why do I still feel so awful?
LX: Because you’re a good person.

JQ doesn’t take pleasure in Du Zheng’s death, even though the man did wrong. JQ would have preferred it if Du Zheng had changed his ways and lived as a good man. JQ clearly understands that we are all members of one human race and interconnected in this one life.

He looks at her, and she beams at him.

JQ: I’m a good person…. I like hearing that. Say it some more.

He looks at her again, and sees that she’s slipped into dreamland.

JQ: You’re really drunk.

He sits there for a while, then he walks down the stone steps.

Let’s note the camera action.

First, the camera focuses on his ankle-length hanfu and black shoes as he goes down the path.

Then, the camera spotlights the plant with long green blades and white flowers, nestled against the rock. I’m going to assume that this is the orchid whose fragrance fascinated LX and JQ.

After that, the camera pans up the steps to show where they were sitting together. She’s no longer there.

I’m sure viewers are wondering whether he’s carrying her or not, so I’ll explain the visual metaphor here. (Gee thanks, mom, for dragging us to the National Gallery of Arts every weekend.)

The flower is LanXiang. We already noted that her name in Chinese stands for orchid, or “orchid fragrance” to be precise.

The rock, on the other hand, is JinQi. He’s a man.

Didn’t we see how LX was walking unsteadily, swaying here and there, like a flower being blown here and there by the wind?

Meanwhile, JQ walked steadily behind her, like a solid rock that she could depend on, lean against should she stumble and fall, or fall asleep on when she’s too drunk.

For me, then, the image of the flower nestled in the rocks suggests that LX is being snugly, warmly, and protectively cradled in JQ’s arms while she sleeps.

We don’t need to see her to picture the vision in our minds.

And that’s why this is one of my favorite scenes.