Key to the Phoenix Heart Episode 14

Confronting the Cuis

Jin Yu is trying to find divorce decree and finds her hair ribbon tucked away in a keepsake box. WuYi denies knowing where it is and says he tossed it. Mao is collecting concubines like butterflies. He sees his path to JianYu thru becoming the top power. At least he and WuYi both recognize her need for freedom if they want any hope of gaining her true affection. Mao is already changing as power never had anything to do with making JiaYu happy. She is traveling with her mentor and they are ambushed. She finds herself at the Cui’s mansion and introduced to the master of the house tho he’s far from impressed with her looks. 😝🙄 At Beifu Fort, they are seeing a breakout of what looks like a rabies epidemic. The source has been planted in the grain and spread to water supply. It effects humans and animals with dangerous violent behavior among other symptoms. The official is being interrogated for hiding evidence and killing witnesses. JiaYu has figured out it is associated with mine. WuYi also receives intel about the mine and that JiaYu has been captured by the Cuis. He boldly heads right to the residences as an envoy. He rescues JiaYu but Lady Cui recaptures them. In a two prong attack Prince Ji is in charge of Beifu troops to confront the father and get evidence and Lady Cui gives JiaYu her mother’s pendant. She was captured trying to get help for the girls in the mine. Tutor Xie is involved peripherally as he predicts the downfall of the Cui family. LingFeng fort and mine will be investigated for illegal activities and epidemic coverup. It is hard to tell who will fall permanently, but swift changes are taking place. The only thing I question is having his sister hold the token to strike down the steward. Is he steering her course or is this what she wants as protection? After all the crap she has endured because of Empress Dowager, it kinda makes sense. But it seems out of character for her. I also hope the next time she has a chat with her brother she won’t keep calling brother before every sentence.

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Reunion, mysterious disease and the Cui family

Jiayu found the red ribbon nicely hidden among Wuyi's stuff, even though he had told her it was lost. Oh, you man! Were you planning to keep it as a keepsake and never give it back? 😏Mao, however, kept all of Wuyi's dancers because one of them looks a lot like Jiayu? And then to say that Jiayu would eventually return to him and stay at the palace? That sounded quite selfish... Oh, Mao... His facial expression alone in that scene, at one point, gave me some villainous vibes. 😟😬And then we got a few months' time skip! I guess it's reasonable, considering Jiayu left Wuyi to travel with her master, and Wuyi returned to the border... But those first events after the time skip for a moment felt like a completely different show — a mysterious disease, with people biting each other — to be fair, it looked more like rabies than anything else. 🫣 And all the focus went to the Cui family and the introductions of their family members — Cui Shaoan and Cui Lingyi (Prince Qi's betrothed) — and Cui family's link to the Beifu disease.But I absolutely loved Jiayu and Wuyi's reunion and all the encounters they went through together after that. 🥰 Lady Cui turning out to be an ally was a very pleasant surprise, but Mao getting a hold of Prince Jing'an's troops somehow leaves me uneasy... What if he doesn't return the token that controls them and uses them against Wuyi later? 🤔

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