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extrapenguinLots of things happened.
The plague plotline – my favorite so far – continues well, with Minister Xun holding another speech, lots of well-done plague scenes, and a Pingjing-Lin Xi bedside scene with Lin Xi sick and Pingjing showing his aptitude for nursing. Lin Xi almost revealed she's Pingjing's childhood betrothed. Pingzhang guessed it, but Lin Xi doesn't know that. Also, Pingjing is secretly a doctor, since he boiled Lin Xi a tea that cured what the medicine didn't. (Well taught, Lin Chen.) Pingjing is adorable. Minister Tang getting some hope, and the scheme devised to get the Baiyin herbs into the city, and everything else about the plague storyline was amazing. I love people banding together to do what's right.
Puyang-wise, first Yuanqi and then Minister Xun wised up about him. Whoo! We also got his backstory: he's a bit deranged since he was accepted to Yeqin Imperial Guard Bootcamp but washed out (like 98% of bootcampers) because of flaws in character. Then a plague hit his country and killed pretty much everyone except a bunch of children. His little bro got the Imperial Guard Seal and was going to just chill and live like shifu told them, but Puyang stabbed him in the back, stole the seal, and went down the path of revenge. What did Da Liang do to enrage him? Employed quarantine measures. Y'know, the thing that one does when there is a plague, to keep it from spreading. What the fuck is wrong with you, dude.
Then, Puyang sends Yun-jie to stab Pingjing with a poisoned knife, and we get a Meng Qianxue action scene!!!! However, Puyang holds the antidote, so Pingzheng must go meet him. Pingzheng is more devious than Puyang expects, and also really fucking determined to get the damn snake's gallbladder. He also interacts nicely with Feizhan. While that's happening outside his mountain lair, Puyang murders Disciple to gain health, allegedly, but more likely to gain the superhuman powers the blood-of-someone-with-these-two-poisons treatment brings to the healthy. The treatment also gives people hotter hairstyles.
While the plague was still ongoing, Pingjing & co figured out the tattoo thing (mark of being in the Yeqin Imperial Guard Bootcamp). With this, Yuanqi figured out Uncle Tai had the tattoo, so Yuanqi stabbed him in the back. At this point, Yuanqi only knew that it was on Puyang Ying's associates, so yes, it was a reasonable choice – but we don't know whether Uncle Tai was actually (still) obeying Puyang, or if he'd chosen instead to simply aid the one nice person left in his life, Yuanqi. Another option would've been to use Tai to send false intel to Puyang, but, well, Yuanqi was not at that point in his life.
The other major dead YIGB graduate is Senior Head Maid Xin, who tried to kill the Crown Prince, but multiple maids and eunuchs stepped in between and then Feizhan did a heroic last-minute rescue. Yuanshi saw all of this. His most senior caretaker tried to murder him, and succeeded in murdering several people who he knew as caretakers. The kid is 11. Please get him a therapist.
One thing I don't like about the show is how Meng Qianxue doesn't get to do much of anything. Her husband tricks her into staying indoors looking for a nonexistent cure in the Langya books, then hides information from her. I realize this is ~the era~, but given how much they seem to like each other, I'd like for Qianxue to at least get a bigger impact and not just adorable wife who ships her brother-in-law with a doctor.
Also, someone mentioned Meng Qianxue/Xiao Pingzheng/Xun Feizhan. I endorse this threesome, along with Yuanshi & hugs.
The plague plotline – my favorite so far – continues well, with Minister Xun holding another speech, lots of well-done plague scenes, and a Pingjing-Lin Xi bedside scene with Lin Xi sick and Pingjing showing his aptitude for nursing. Lin Xi almost revealed she's Pingjing's childhood betrothed. Pingzhang guessed it, but Lin Xi doesn't know that. Also, Pingjing is secretly a doctor, since he boiled Lin Xi a tea that cured what the medicine didn't. (Well taught, Lin Chen.) Pingjing is adorable. Minister Tang getting some hope, and the scheme devised to get the Baiyin herbs into the city, and everything else about the plague storyline was amazing. I love people banding together to do what's right.
Puyang-wise, first Yuanqi and then Minister Xun wised up about him. Whoo! We also got his backstory: he's a bit deranged since he was accepted to Yeqin Imperial Guard Bootcamp but washed out (like 98% of bootcampers) because of flaws in character. Then a plague hit his country and killed pretty much everyone except a bunch of children. His little bro got the Imperial Guard Seal and was going to just chill and live like shifu told them, but Puyang stabbed him in the back, stole the seal, and went down the path of revenge. What did Da Liang do to enrage him? Employed quarantine measures. Y'know, the thing that one does when there is a plague, to keep it from spreading. What the fuck is wrong with you, dude.
Then, Puyang sends Yun-jie to stab Pingjing with a poisoned knife, and we get a Meng Qianxue action scene!!!! However, Puyang holds the antidote, so Pingzheng must go meet him. Pingzheng is more devious than Puyang expects, and also really fucking determined to get the damn snake's gallbladder. He also interacts nicely with Feizhan. While that's happening outside his mountain lair, Puyang murders Disciple to gain health, allegedly, but more likely to gain the superhuman powers the blood-of-someone-with-these-two-poisons treatment brings to the healthy. The treatment also gives people hotter hairstyles.
While the plague was still ongoing, Pingjing & co figured out the tattoo thing (mark of being in the Yeqin Imperial Guard Bootcamp). With this, Yuanqi figured out Uncle Tai had the tattoo, so Yuanqi stabbed him in the back. At this point, Yuanqi only knew that it was on Puyang Ying's associates, so yes, it was a reasonable choice – but we don't know whether Uncle Tai was actually (still) obeying Puyang, or if he'd chosen instead to simply aid the one nice person left in his life, Yuanqi. Another option would've been to use Tai to send false intel to Puyang, but, well, Yuanqi was not at that point in his life.
The other major dead YIGB graduate is Senior Head Maid Xin, who tried to kill the Crown Prince, but multiple maids and eunuchs stepped in between and then Feizhan did a heroic last-minute rescue. Yuanshi saw all of this. His most senior caretaker tried to murder him, and succeeded in murdering several people who he knew as caretakers. The kid is 11. Please get him a therapist.
One thing I don't like about the show is how Meng Qianxue doesn't get to do much of anything. Her husband tricks her into staying indoors looking for a nonexistent cure in the Langya books, then hides information from her. I realize this is ~the era~, but given how much they seem to like each other, I'd like for Qianxue to at least get a bigger impact and not just adorable wife who ships her brother-in-law with a doctor.
Also, someone mentioned Meng Qianxue/Xiao Pingzheng/Xun Feizhan. I endorse this threesome, along with Yuanshi & hugs.