Man, I was kind of not mentally prepared for the brief, albeit brutal shots of the combat. We literally saw Basen slicing someone’s head off, which made me yelp because I wasn’t expecting to see that kind of detail, but I digress.
As much as Maomao doesn’t want to lose Shisui, the girl’s on a mission to see this through. She will make Shishou and Shenmei suffer the consequences of their greedy actions for power. She was no softer to the mothers, whom had forgotten and neglected their children in favour of indulging themselves in debauchery. She gave Kyou-u’s mother a good slap for her belayed concern, especially since he has already– along with the other children, taken the medicine.
But seriously this family is such a hot mess. It’s just one thing after another that’s causing this endless streak of misery and tragedies. It was a selfish wish from the former Emperor to knowingly “ask” (because it’s not as simple to say “no” to royalty) Shishou to take his daughter as his wife, all while Shishou’s original fiancee was bidding her time in the Rear Palace up until she was finally released.
And god damn, Shishou is such a spineless coward. It’s because he just sat back and twiddled his thumbs. He was ‘blind’ to the fact his own daughter Suirei was being abused. He took absolutely no responsibility nor any initiatives to stop his wife (Shenmei) from afflicting abuse on others and dragging married women and mothers to engage in debauchery for her own viewing pleasure. Like what the hell dude? Sure, he felt guilty of letting her down, but the consequences of being a doormat and passively watching her wreck havoc and abuse her power has ultimately led the demise of the Shi clan. The only one who has been taking responsibility was none other than Shisui, who refuses to be her mother’s puppet for her own gain! Now that’s what having a backbone looks like! The fact she had to be the one to tell him to take responsibility for once just goes to show how badly he messed this up!
As for Maomao, poor girl can’t do much in this situation, and the worst part is knowing that this is the last time she’ll probably ever see her again. But Shisui has already made up her mind, and she’s set to see this through– just like Maomao wouldn’t hesitate if she had just one chance to drink unknown poison set in front of her. Nevertheless, Maomao didn’t want to give up, so she had hoped by entrusting her Jinshi’s hair pin, that she’d survive this to one day give it back to her.
But Shisui isn’t the only one Maomao has to worry about, but also the fate of the children. She got real lucky that Lihaku’s the one Jinshi had assigned to her aid. At least the guy isn’t the cold-blooded type to not care what becomes of the children, and he’s also already well acquainted with her. Had it been any other soldier, it would’ve been harder to persuade giving the children a better treatment for their brurial. However there’s really important hints that’s been dropped in both last week’s and this weeks’ episode. This week in particular, Lihaku plainly made an observation how the children look as though they are asleep. And you know who appeared to be dead, but was actually still alive when they found her? That’s right, Suirei. This would explain exactly why Shisui had asked Maomao to take care of the children. The poison wasn’t poison to kill, but a drop of miracle for those who might wake up for a slim chance for survival.
As for her reunion with Jinshi– it was actually hilarious that Maomao tried to shrug off thinking she had seen in fighting, and then a few minutes later, BAM, he’s the one kicking down the door. But there’s no more room for either of them to deny his status- it’s officially out in the open for everyone to hear and see. Hell even if a soldier didn’t come in and refer to him as “Crown Prince”, the golden hair pin with the beast on the red orb is enough to identify his true status as the “Moon Prince.” However despite that, he insists the title as ‘crown prince’ doesn’t belong to him anymore, but rather it belongs to Lady Gyokuyou’s newborn. (Which I will add, is adding salt to his wounds as he had been holding out for so long, and the Emperor finally has a new son only after he’s been pushed into a corner to reveal his true status).
That said, it’s tough for both of them now because it’s one thing to be a eunuch and a fellow apothecary, but unfortunately expected to have a totally different dynamic when dealing with royalty– something Gaoshun keeps reminding Jinshi about. And it’s a bit sad, considering right before the truth had come out, Maomao had internally admitted that she missed interacting with Jinshi, the atmosphere where he’s frantic over her usual shenanigans is comforting to her. Needless to say though, she didn’t miss a beat when she joked how he’s younger than he looks when it did come out. Jinshi’s in truth is actually more or less her age, not twenty-five as he led people to believe. And finally, while the truth has finally come to light, we know Jinshi values Maomao far too much to give up his friendship with her, and the fact that he’s still actively trying to deny his status as much as possible, goes to show he really doesn’t want to give into the position.
Oh goodness, there’s only two episodes left. I’m not ready for this season to be over!
