...A lot is going on in this show, as you can tell...I don't know if i can do this for every episode...
1. Bad news for the crown prince: 18th prince perished in the flaming inferno of the previous episode (poor kiddo)

 2.4th prince stands up for the crown prince (I can already tell this man is ambitious and a skilled schemer-I like him already) 

3.The young woman responsible for the fire and 4th prince pay tribute to 18th prince who is treated as an unfortunate casualty in the quest for the throne in the next scene, by the lake .

4.Our female lead makes it back to the palace after 8th prince dropped her off in the middle of nowhere (whom I find to be wicked attractive in spite of the hairstyle...but props for maintaining historical accuracy)--starving, she encounters an extremely nice man who sells clothing but unfortunately lacks the skill to 'sell' a product-i dub him Mr. Merchant because there are so many names in this show... 

5.Our female lead proves she is quite the show woman and introduces the modern concept of models and putting clothes on display/sales--she tries to sell clothes to a noblewoman and fails

 6.The emperor learns that his servant has been recording all of his activities//chief eunuch begs for the servant's life who is his godson and frames it as follows:godson is an idiot and needs to track everything to do his job well--the eunuch says he will transfer if he isn't believed--the emperor chooses to believe this bad lie but the acting was so good i can see why he believed it (chief eunuch is a bit creepy, i think)

 7.godson receives an awful beating in order to ensure that he is not suspect but chief eunuch reminds him this is a one time only get out of jail free card because otherwise they will look suspicious; he also tries to teach him an important lesson: the palace has many ears so tread carefully and be smart (good advise)

 8.4th prince tries to show he is filial by bringing medicine to the emperor but chief eunuch explains the coughing was because of his anger at his godson (also a eunuch) (these hats...are hard to get used to...it took me a while to get used to them in kdramas so i will just bear with it) --my understanding is that there is an unspoken alliance with chief eunuch and 4th prince

 9.4th prince meets the girl who set the fire in the woods (very pretty, red lanterns everywhere) and she is surprised/or more like grateful that he remembers her birthday---it is revealed that they've known each other for three years and he tells her she will be able to enter the palace as a maid (i would imagine not an easy thing to do given the glass structure, so he had to pull some strings i bet to get his spy in)  

10.this girl is clearly in love with 4th prince and happy to do whatever he wants so I want to know how he managed to obtain such devotion

 11.our leading lady watches the palace maids going into the palace (apparently they are all selected from servants within the palace so they are familiar with the rules, etc)(makes sense)...they have some unique hairstyles....anyways these girls have to show their skills ranging from sewing, coking, etc to see where they will be placed

 12.godson hands off a note to chief eunuch with the name 'suyan' on it who just happens to be 4th prince's spy girl 

13.Suyan is assigned to the West Court--it seems her cooking was tampered with--by who or why, i don't know

 14.Mr. Merchant wants to spend his time making new styles of clothes//mom disagrees--it seems he also has an eye for our leading lady but she does not feel the same (poor guy)(he's good looking, not in the palace so not involved schemes...but then we wouldn't have a long drama if she wound up with him i bet)--she rejects this marriage proposal and runs off to deal with her feelings 

15.SOME NINJAS APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE AND KIDNAP OUR LEAD LADY AFTER SHE REJECTS MR>MERCHANT. yup.  and she wakes up in the garb of a palace maid 

16.it seems the noblewoman she failed to sell clothes to is behind this kidnapping--she is Concubine Xi to the emperor--our leading lady is scolded for not showing her the proper regard...and she is told she was kidnapped because she said she knew hot to keep a man's heart...and if she fails to help her she will undoubtedly be killed...yup....that just happened....

 17.with little choice, she agrees to help her--Qingchuan is really good at rolling with these punches given everything that has happened--

 I give this episode an 8.5 because it had me thoroughly engaged and I am curious to see what will happen next.  The acting was good.  Music was good.  Not sure how I feel about the female lead just yet.