extrapenguin

This show has one flaw, and that is that the passage of time is unclear. Does this scene happen immediately after the previous one, or months afterwards?

Prince Jing does well enough. His mom (henceforth referred to as Jingmom for disambiguation purposes, because why not) is a competent healer and thus curries favor with her skills without being obvious about it. Jing gets a promotion and unfettered access to his mom – and their interactions are endearing. Very filial, our Jing. He's also good with Fei Liu, and has some suspicions that MCS has a deeper layer in him. I'm sure Jingmom has already figured it out – she probably knew MCS's mom's maiden name? At the very least she suspects something's up. Or, in the most boring version, she does not know or suspect that MCS is Lin Shu, but spotted the name avoidance and decided that this MCS is a good filial son and also a good friend for Jing, but that doesn't quite add up to desserts.

General Meng is a bit of a straightforward dork and should absolutely not be made to covertly enquire after things, MCS. The scenes with Meng and Jing sitting together in the secret corridor were quite hilarious in an awkward way. Meng Zhi receiving a favor from Eunuch Gao is interesting – was it really for Meng's sake, or did Gao simply want to smooth things over for the Emperor, who must like Meng at least a bit?

The bit with Qin Banruo was quite intriguing – Princess Xuanji was from Hua Zu, a nation conquered by the Chiyan Army, and then she decided to get her revenge, so she set up the Hong Zhiu Xao sisterhood? In that case, why's Xia Jiang helping them? Is he from Hua Zu, too, or does he have some other motive? Qin Banruo suspects something's up and sends someone after Tong Lu, which is quite wise, since MCS presents a slippery target. I wonder when she'll figure out the game. Prince Yu suspects something's up, but won't act on that suspicion for a bit – after all, he's also suspicious of Qin Banruo now.

Jingrui leaves for Southern Chu. I think that despite his assurances, part of it is running away from Marquis Ning's legacy and getting a bit of respite from recent events. Yujian is a true friend. Jingrui's quite adult and philosophical. The bit about MCS being the "pair of hands that revealed the truth" was both accurate and poetic. I do think that MCS would rather that Jingrui hated him; it'd be emotionally easier. The King of Southern Chu being unwell will probably come up later.

The scene with the Emperor paying a surprise visit to the Crown Prince's and finding him partying was heartwrenching. The Emperor feeling ill and regretting things and suffering from doubt from raising such an unfilial son, the bit earlier where he wanted to charge in with a sword, and the Crown Prince at the end coming out just to watch his father leave. Excellently acted. Well done. It's not like I wanted an intact heart in the first place. (And I don't even give a shit about the Crown Prince regularly, but turns out that parent-adult child feels are ... feels.)

Ep 28's scene with Yu being handed the relief effort despite both of the Ministers present being on Jing's side and Jing trying so hard was sad – especially because we know that people will suffer. It may come back as people rioting. Hmm, perhaps this could be what strikes the final blow against Yu, the Emperor discovering that Yu pocketed most of the disaster relief funding? Despite this loss, it's good to know that the ministers newly appointed due to MCS have the people's interests on their mind.

I've watched over half of the show in ... one week. Ehehe. Well, at least I'll know all of it in time to enjoy the collection at Yuletide, and plug in some stuff to