What a great conclusion to a fantastic arc! I’m honestly quite glad it wasn’t as tragic as it could’ve been. Shisui’s body was never found, as she was recovered by the guard who had spotted the hair pin in the brushes (as implied in the post-credits last week). Thankfully she managed to survive and have a chance to just start fresh under a new name, free from the burden of abuse from her mother, finally can just be who she wants to be. That said, Jinshi’s hair pin was doomed to be traded off in the market after-all! HAHAHA!
All five of the children that Shisui had given the resurrection medicine to woke up. Among them, Kyou-u (now called Chou-u) took the longest and unfortunately suffered side-effects of paralysis in his arm and lost of memories. For that reason, he was sent to live in the district where he has a bit more freedom and will not run into his friends that might trigger his memories, while the other children and Suirei are adopted by Ah-Duo, who has taken them under her custody to protect them all. This was the best way for Jinshi to fulfill Shisui’s promise of ‘protecting the ones who once died’. Shisui had faith that the resurrection medicine would work as intended for the children, and that was why she had left them specifically in Maomao’s care. They were lucky to have been spared, as the rest of the Shi Clan had been executed with no further exceptions.
In amidst the post-battle exhaustion, we got some sweet intimate moments, along with the usual hilarity between Maomao and Jinshi. Both were so tired that they weren’t quite on the same page of thought. Jinshi was genuinely concerned about her wounds and condition, but she was more concerned about his face wound– though like her, he isn’t particularly concerned about it, regardless of his royal status. Maomao did make an good point though, that having more scars would actually be more beneficial for him. That’s also probably why I feel that this exhausted and wounded/scarred faced Jinshi is probably the most accurate picture of who he really is. As Maomao said herself, he isn’t a flamboyant type his appearance suggests him to be, but rather solid and practical.
Hilariously though, Jinshi completely lost his composure when Maomao praised him for being manly. He wanted to kiss her so bad, but–JINSHI PLEASE. TIME AND PLACE. REPEAT AFTER ME: TIME AND PLACE. Because yeah sure, a first kiss next to some kid’s initially-believed to be corpses! How fucking romantic! Not to mention he looked like he was about to lose his mind! Thank god a kid made enough noise to indicate they were waking up and that threw that plan out the window!
With the Shi Clan’s demise, not only was there a lot of work for Jinshi to take care of, Maomao also no longer had a place nor role in the Inner Palace, so it was a long time before the two got to see each again. Thankfully Jinshi showed up at the perfect time to interrupt Maomao from chopping her pinky finger off for research purpose. He was there to claim the favour, and Maomao quickly remembered what it was, and was quite frantic and wasn’t sure how or what to tell him about what happened to it, but she did eventually explain that she had given it to Shisui in hopes for her to give it back some day. Hearing that was the reason why she didn’t have it anymore, Jinshi wasn’t about to chide her for it, he understood and respected her intentions behind giving it away.
Then it led to his own problem: The favour of asking Maomao to listen to him till the very end. Well, there wasn’t really a point of doing that anymore when the whole crisis with the Shi Clan exposed the fact he’s the elusive Moon Prince. So he had to tap into another favour, which– hilariously was what “let’s continue where we left off” Maomao had absentmindedly promised with a “yeah yeah” while she was caring for the waking children. But Jinshi had to go about it in such a weird way, like dude starting with a kiss on the neck???? Bruh, of course she’s like: What are you doing? Because I’m pretty sure most people would be equally as confused as her since he literally does it out of nowhere. Then she (unintentionally) provokes him into biting her neck instead– I freaking can’t with these two idiots! Of course she finally realizes what he means when he tells her he wishes he could bite her all over, I mean- you can’t mix-up THAT implication. But that wasn’t the end of these two’s riot. The second after Jinshi is like: let’s continue where left off– Maomao, gets immediately distracted by admiring how ‘clean’ his new stitches are–MAOMAO, FOCUS! Good thing Chou-u interrupted Jinshi from kissing her because he was sure about to. He took whole caressing the face thing as a green-light to go for it!
But at the very least Jinshi didn’t leave empty-handed so to speak. His promises may have been already fulfilled by other ways and the things he wanted to do didn’t pan out as he had hoped, but hey, the one thing he did manage to claim is securing Maomao’s lap as a pillow to take a nap on. Hahaha. He really is such a child sometimes.
Apart from Maomao and Jinshi and the fates of Shisui and Suirei, their lives weren’t the only ones that had changed. Lady Gyokuyou has been chosen to be the next Empress, Lumen has officially been reinstated to work at the palace, and Xiaolan’s tenure as a maid has officially ended, and thankfully managed to secure a job as a maid for a concubine’s sister. But the saddest and most tragic part about the partings, is that both Shisui’s and Maomao’s were very sudden. Neither had a chance to properly say their goodbyes to Xiaolan and vice versa. Thankfully, Seki-u has a considerate heart, and wasn’t about to leave Xiaolan on her own in the baths. It was also thanks to her, that Xiaolan was able to pass on the letters she left to Maomao and Shisui to bid farewell to them, with hopes they could meet again.
It’s good that Maomao now has contact with Xiaolan through letters (thanks to the fact she now know how to write), but for Shisui… man that was utterly heartbreaking to see. Maomao knows Shisui’s body is missing, and she hopes it’d stay missing when spring comes, but even then it’s not like she can tell Xiaolan what had happened to her. It’s secret she’ll have to shoulder herself. The cover story for the two of them is that they had been moved elsewhere to work, especially since Maomao no longer has the right/privilege to work in the Inner Palace as she had done before since she was absent for too long (regardless of the fact she had been kidnapped).
And that’s a wrap for this season! It really enjoyed this one, even more so than the first. This was one of my favourite arcs and I felt they did a fantastic job adapting it! I’m SOOOOO glad that Season 3 has already been announced, as it’s my favourite arc to date after this one! Look forward to it, it’s a going to be a doozy!
This episode sure gave bittersweet feelings.
First of all, thank goodness the children are not dead and won’t be executed! I was really heartbroken when the children were given poison despite the possibility that the medicine only made them “dead” temporarily. And Shisui survives! She earned her freedom and now can become whoever she wants to be and go wherever she wants to go! And most of all…Maomao and Jinshi moment! I swear, these two are hilariously the best pair! The miscommunication and with the way the two of them so easily got distracted that led to the situations are funnily sweet! But, does this mean Maomao finally realized Jinshi’s feelings for her?
Second, while Maomao was kidnapped, Xiaolan had to leave without the chance of saying goodbye to Maomao and Shisui. It was heart wrenching to watch Maomao shed tears while reading Xiaolan’s letter for her. Xiaolan is no longer at the palace and Shisui’s whereabouts is unknown. All this time Maomao never really thought how it will be if Xiaolan and Shisui, her friends, are not there with her anymore. Yes, Maomao can still exchange letters with Xiaolan, but it’d be different. I believe it’s one of those times where “you never realize how truly precious something or someone is until they’re gone”. Even though I know the possibility is very unlikely, I hope that the three of them can meet again somehow in the future.
Looking forward to season 3!