Why Xiao Duo thinks Yinlou figured out he isnât a eunuch
After she ODed him (oops) and was putting away his âmedicineâ she smelled it. When she is cuddling up to him in bed she tells him âYou smell so good.â So, he thinks she figured out the purpose of the pills.
This is further bolstered by her naming the dog âEunuch Baâ. She is trying to tell him she doesnât care that he is a eunuch. He thinks she is trying to say she knows he isnât a eunuch.
The forged papers to get into Jinguan City âA merchant, Bu Fang Jiang and his wifeâ. He uses her last name and the nick-name she gave him as his forged identity!
We havenât seen these since Episode 8 when he said âSomeone once told me that cherries are sweet. When you eat them, the bitterness in our heart goes away,â and Yinlou popped one in his mouth. Guess he has only had sweetness since then.
Here she uses Buddhist scripture to tell him to do what he needs to do and then let his past (emotionally) go. She holds out a cherry and tells him âThere is only one [bitterness] leftâ and invites him to accept the sweetness. This time he chooses to take it.
I am kind of up in the air over who is going to confess first.
If it is Xiao Duo, I think he will do it in the form of a question (âYou want me to hit him again on your behalf?â, âHow do you know that I donât?â, âWhat do you want?â, âAre you worried about me?â, âAre you okay?â, âWhat do you want to do?â, âYou feel unfair for me?â, âWhy is she worried about me?â, âIsnât this moment with the moon above a peaceful river?â, âWhat about you? Do you need me?â, âYou donât feel reluctant to return to the palace anymore?â, âWho said that? [You have a home.â])
If it is Yinlou, I think she will do it after finding the madiao cards either in his room or on his person and that will be it for her (Ă la the silk pendant her mother made her father that he didnât appreciate and threw out)
These two have a remarkable amount of skinship. Xiao Duo has a habit of using his thumb to stoke her anytime he touches her (holding her in front of her motherâs grave, catching her from falling in the heated pool at Dream House, when he helps her out of the carriage) He takes her by both hands when he is inspecting that she is okay after the replacement bride issue. She falls asleep in his lap. He holds her in his arms when they ride the same horse.
She feeds him a cherry. She takes him by the arm when he draws his sword to protect Prince Rong. She touches his chest when he draws his sword on Li. She grabs his arm all the time (when he impersonated Prince Fu, when she drags him away to spend the day playing, honestly, there are way too many examples) She slaps him. She hugs his knees while sitting on the floor. She kisses his ring. They wrestle over who has the madiao card.
He takes her arm when he goes to show her the tree. He takes her hand when he leads her away from the crowd at the Lantern Festival. She strokes his hand when he is giving her cherries. He removes a flower from her hair.
I am not understanding the comments that they have a lack of physical intimacy. They are very comfortable with each other. In fact, they touch each other so frequently that her not letting him look at the bruises on her hands (Episode 10) and pulling away from him guiding her back to her room (Episode 11) are used as anomalies in their dynamic to illustrate her being upset with him.
All that being said, I suspect the next few episodes will make those clamoring for a kiss very happy. This boat trip is going to be all about ramping up their relationship.
Honestly, I feel like whatever I could hope to get, the director is going to give me more. Given how physically affectionate they are already I imagine this will increase sustainably after they admit their feelings to each other. I also expect a rather liberal comfort level of sexual exploration from her given 1. How much she trusts him. 2. He has established he will follow her lead on issues surrounding physical intimacy, abstract intimacy, consent (a huge difference from Prince Fu who has always called her Yinlou, as opposed to Xiao Duo who waited for permission) and power dynamics. 3. The fact that he will be her First Love. 4. The fact that I foresee her being a rather randy teenager, given her personality and 5. Given her perspective of the absolute sexual safety of him given that he is a eunuch.
The director is going to have to push the evolution of their relationship rather quickly, because the second they get off that boat in Western Shu there is going to be a shift of emotional focus. Up until this point we have been dominantly focused on Yinlou. That is going to flip.
Narrative demands that we dump a cold bucket of water on Xiao Duo.
When they meet her family, this is going to cause 2 problems.
The first is that they exist at all. Letâs think about our FLâs greatest fears: being placed in an unmarked grave, not having a home to go back to, lack of liberty of agency and now with the void provided by the death of her mother, the lack of family that has her back.
Previously, he was the one negating each of those fears and fulfilling each of those desires. Doubts and insecurities are going to completely overtake him. Why would she choose him?
On top of that, her allegiance to her family will make him question if she now has divided loyalties.
This is particularly problematic given who her family is and he now has to make a choice, because further pursuing his vengeance means targeting her family, which means hurting her.
The best way to magnify the potential for betrayal/abandonment and insecurities is to make him 100% certain in that relationship and her commitment to it when they step on those docks.
So, rest assured. Narrative demands you gonna get your kiss scenes, so calm down - okay?
The Emperor and the nightmares I am going to have tonight (A love letter to Peter Ho)
Okay, I called that one with a 10 foot pole. That man is psychotic.
Episode 11 seems to exist solely for the purpose as a follow-up for my commentary yesterday about violence vs. danger and willingness to participate in violence as a compass of intention.
In this episode we have Xiao Duo in 2 fights, the first at the Lantern Festival and the second after Yinlouâs very special legitimate mother attempted to use her as a replacement bride for her sister.
At the Lantern Festival we see him use hand-to-hand to subdue a Western Shu agent that has infiltrated the festival. The end of the episode sees him using the scabbard of his duo swords to neutralize 10 bridal entourage guards (there has to be a limit to how many guys he can take on sans weapons, right?)
Both of these are situations where I donât really feel most people would have begrudged him unsheathing his weapon to handle the situation more efficiently and he is still choosing not to.
Now, let's look at the other end of that spectrum, shall we (choosing to unnecessarily participate in and stage violence)?
Subdued, disorientated, unarmed and surrounded by the leader and lieutenant of the Zhaoding Bureau, in addition to two Imperial guards which have their blades at his actual throat is a spy of Prince of Nanyuan.
Awesome, letâs take him in for questioning. I love spies. The last one we interrogated gave us extremely vital information concerning Prince Yawenâs jade and how to contact/command these rebel forces.
Alright guys, take him to the priso-Oh, oh God, whatâs happening?
18 strokes to the face/head. I counted.
Peter Hoâs facial expressions here are masterful: the resolve, the impotence, the frustration, the realization of the pleasure he derived from it.
âYinlou! (This is a very disturbing âMommy, look at me! Look what I can do. Look what I did!â moment) I wonât allow anyone to hurt you! (He wasnât even trying to hurt her) I can protect you now. (Oh, this is not good.) Only I can protect you! (Nope. Nope. Nope. Iâm out.)
The level of staged manipulation here is beyond blatant.
And the amount of contrived emotional intimacy he is so in-synch with Eunuch Sun in manufacturing goes far beyond ensuring that your date is going in the right direction. The fact that he painted his nickname on the lanterns is so disrespectfully manipulative and literally serves no other point than getting her to ask what the characters are so he can pry her nickname out of her.
This emotional tag-teaming with Eunuch Sun actually makes me wonder if that attack was step-up by the two of them to ingratiate the Emperor to Yinlou. What are the statistical chances of that happening the same night the Emperor âsnuck outâ? It also seems odd, given that Xiao Duo gave a special order concerning the security of the Lantern Festival. That place should have been locked down. Even more so, with the additional presence of the Imperial Guard. He seems to have come out of nowhere (look at how flustered and baffled Qilang is) with the express purpose of drawing attention to himself and his attack.
I think we really need to take a moment to appreciate Peter Hoâs craft here. The reactions he is eliciting in me are quite good. He is disturbing and eerie and makes me feel quite uneasy. All while making my emotions oscillate between disgust, pity, fright, forgiveness, rebellion, suppression, hope. And because you canât quite pin down what your reaction is (aside from bad) is what makes it so potent. It is rather difficult to guard against what you canât define.
So, yes - seriously letâs take a moment to give credit to Peter Ho for his acting chops here.
Why it matters that Yinlou grew up in West Shu. @AmeliaPond @lenggonice (LONG)
A father who seems to loathe her mother a disproportionate amount. I mean even if she was a commoner or a whore you elevated, the fact that you can afford a concubine speaks to the status and prestige of your family. An entire family very focused and dedicated on making Yinlou vanish, almost like she was incriminating evidence. They sent her off to join the Imperial Harem only when the Emperor was sick, vastly increasing the chances she would not have time to get pregnant and become a Tribute Girl. Then, while everyone is clamouring to cash in favors to get their nieces and cousins and daughters off the list, they visit the Palace to bribe the eunuchs to kill her. They didnât just ignore her and abandon her to the fate of the list, they ensured she was on it and stayed on it.
And if he hated this woman so much why did he go out of his way to bring her and his illegitimate daughter home? While she was drunk she tells Xiao Duo that the journey from where she and her mother went on to join her fatherâs family was long. Xiao Duo mentions she lived with her mother in Western Shu until she was 12. (Not sure on their actual age difference, but that sounds to be around the time Xiao Duoâs brother was getting killed)
This sounds to be like an exceeding amount of effort to claim a woman he didnât like (who was not yet his concubine and society would not have cared if he abandoned) and to claim an illegitimate daughter. Illegitimate daughter. Illegitimate daughter. We have had this fact thrown in our faces over and over.
Why the heck would he claim an illegitimate daughter? Not the daughter born of a concubine. An illegitimate daughter. Not even an illegitimate son, which would make sense to carry on the family name, as he only had a daughter. An illegitimate daughter. You only do that if you truly love the mother (which he clearly didnât) or if there is a clear benefit to doing so.
It is also the reason why the tides turned so quickly for them. It is almost like the fatherâs favor depended on something completely external to their deportment.
Like being members of a dynastic line that once brought prestige, but now brings shame or could even get you labeled as traitors?
Funny how that happens in reconstruction periods post civil wars and annexation.
OhhhhhhâŠ.you mean like the one between Shu and Western Shu/Nanyuan?
This also explains why Prince Fu is so obsessed with her opinion of him. Not with her. With her opinion of him.
Xiao Duo cares if Yinlou is angry. The Emperor asks if she is angry with him. Xiao Duo honestly couldn't care two figs about Yinlou and is wrapped up in his guilt about being unable to keep his promise and protect Prince Rong. The Emperor puts on a show of mourning and asks Yinlou if she can forgive him. Xiao Duo cares if Yinlou is frightened and kneeling on the ground. The Emperor wants to make certain she sees him as her savior.
Why is he so obsessed with her liking him? Maybe because he needs her to like him. Because he knows when her real identity comes out, a marriage by force wouldnât stick. He needs her to like him because he needs her to choose to marry him. To choose to stay when better options or simply another choice (freedom to leave) become available.
When I realized this, my brain connected the dots from that scene in Episode 9 where they both save her from Eunuch Liu (the one I replayed maybe 7 or 8 times trying to figure out why it stood out to me)
Xiao Duo has never hidden who he is or what he does from Yinlou. Heck, their first intimate conversation was about how ruthlessly efficient he was and how that stood as proof that he did not commit this particular murder. Not that he wasnât a murderer, not that he wasnât capable of murder, not that he hadnât murdered hundreds of people, that he hadnât committed this murder.
He has never hid that from her. But he does make an effort to not expose her to violence unnecessarily, so she is not frightened.
The danger, the politics, the intrigue, the scheming, the strategy - he makes no attempts to hide those from her vision. Yes, he tries to protect her, when they go too far, but never remove them from her vision. He is a realist and knows to do so would actually be cruel. She needs to see those things so she can navigate and manipulate and survive. On top of that she is actually intelligent enough to do so (again from a story character perspective it is fascinating to see a younger woman be able to somewhat intelligently navigate court life, usually we see that reserved for older female characters)
The degree to which he does not hide this part of his life from her is highlighted when his godson is surprised she does not yet know who the hostage Prince is.
In Episode 9 we see the Emperor come in and rescue her and order the men be flogged right in front of her. Then he is all âDonât be afraid. I am here to protect you.â Meanwhile, Xiao Duo charges right past him, his priority to get her off the ground where she is huddled like a frightened deer. He also makes sure she knows who is touching her and helping her up by putting his sword right in front of her face (because for goodness sake if you are surrounded by people getting flogged and someone touches you to pull you up and you donât know they are a âsafeâ person, that would freak you out) He also, does not merely help her up, but steers her body just slightly so she is faced away from each of the beatings. His next order of business: get the beatings to stop or shall we say relocate. She is not an idiot. She knows his men are going to beat those guys up, most likely do some light torture and then ultimately kill them. But there is literally no reason to expose her to that.
This is the difference between saving someone and staging a rescue. This is the difference between caring about how someone is feeling and attempting to manipulate how they are feeling.
I have also noticed when he is around her and needs to âfightâ he prefers defensive moves and subduing, using the scabbard of his swords - rather than opening it. I am wondering how the Emperor would handle an opportunity to use violence to stage being her savior?
We also have the whole hostage Prince Yuwen subplot, which serves no purpose. And yes, after the whole âentertainersâ sneaking him poison I was 100% down for Xiao Duo sneaking her out of the mausoleum to the Southern Villa and 3 musketeers shenanigans to ensue between those two and Princess Hede/WanWan. It looks like I am going to be getting a different version of that, but still get it. Still the plot makes no sense from a narrative perspective except to acquaint her or reacquaint her with the royal family of Western Shu/Nanyuan. (I am not quite following the bloodlines as well as I would like - but there seemed to be an indication that he [the elder of the two Princes] was eligible to become Regent over Prince Rong)
And Prince Yuwen is already dropping stories about his childhood. I will start to laugh hysterically if these stories include a cousin who vanished in the war or a sister who died of illness. (Edit: Nevermind, they are literally already calling each other âBrotherâ and âSisterâ. And that is the only way you are retconning that to make it okay that he is watching her practice the rather on-the-nose entitled âLove Choiceâ dance.)
(This also makes Xiao Duoâs comments that âYou are the most valuable thing in this roomâ and that âThe remnants of Western Shu canât stop causing troubleâ unintentionally hilarious.)
1 
This is further bolstered by her naming the dog âEunuch Baâ. She is trying to tell him she doesnât care that he is a eunuch. He thinks she is trying to say she knows he isnât a eunuch.
Here she uses Buddhist scripture to tell him to do what he needs to do and then let his past (emotionally) go. She holds out a cherry and tells him âThere is only one [bitterness] leftâ and invites him to accept the sweetness. This time he chooses to take it.
If it is Xiao Duo, I think he will do it in the form of a question (âYou want me to hit him again on your behalf?â, âHow do you know that I donât?â, âWhat do you want?â, âAre you worried about me?â, âAre you okay?â, âWhat do you want to do?â, âYou feel unfair for me?â, âWhy is she worried about me?â, âIsnât this moment with the moon above a peaceful river?â, âWhat about you? Do you need me?â, âYou donât feel reluctant to return to the palace anymore?â, âWho said that? [You have a home.â])
If it is Yinlou, I think she will do it after finding the madiao cards either in his room or on his person and that will be it for her (Ă la the silk pendant her mother made her father that he didnât appreciate and threw out)
How do you guys think this will manifest?
She feeds him a cherry. She takes him by the arm when he draws his sword to protect Prince Rong. She touches his chest when he draws his sword on Li. She grabs his arm all the time (when he impersonated Prince Fu, when she drags him away to spend the day playing, honestly, there are way too many examples)
She slaps him. She hugs his knees while sitting on the floor. She kisses his ring. They wrestle over who has the madiao card.
He takes her arm when he goes to show her the tree. He takes her hand when he leads her away from the crowd at the Lantern Festival. She strokes his hand when he is giving her cherries. He removes a flower from her hair.
I am not understanding the comments that they have a lack of physical intimacy. They are very comfortable with each other. In fact, they touch each other so frequently that her not letting him look at the bruises on her hands (Episode 10) and pulling away from him guiding her back to her room (Episode 11) are used as anomalies in their dynamic to illustrate her being upset with him.
All that being said, I suspect the next few episodes will make those clamoring for a kiss very happy. This boat trip is going to be all about ramping up their relationship.
Honestly, I feel like whatever I could hope to get, the director is going to give me more. Given how physically affectionate they are already I imagine this will increase sustainably after they admit their feelings to each other. I also expect a rather liberal comfort level of sexual exploration from her given
1. How much she trusts him.
2. He has established he will follow her lead on issues surrounding physical intimacy, abstract intimacy, consent (a huge difference from Prince Fu who has always called her Yinlou, as opposed to Xiao Duo who waited for permission) and power dynamics.
3. The fact that he will be her First Love.
4. The fact that I foresee her being a rather randy teenager, given her personality and
5. Given her perspective of the absolute sexual safety of him given that he is a eunuch.
The director is going to have to push the evolution of their relationship rather quickly, because the second they get off that boat in Western Shu there is going to be a shift of emotional focus. Up until this point we have been dominantly focused on Yinlou. That is going to flip.
Narrative demands that we dump a cold bucket of water on Xiao Duo.
When they meet her family, this is going to cause 2 problems.
The first is that they exist at all. Letâs think about our FLâs greatest fears: being placed in an unmarked grave, not having a home to go back to, lack of liberty of agency and now with the void provided by the death of her mother, the lack of family that has her back.
Previously, he was the one negating each of those fears and fulfilling each of those desires. Doubts and insecurities are going to completely overtake him. Why would she choose him?
On top of that, her allegiance to her family will make him question if she now has divided loyalties.
This is particularly problematic given who her family is and he now has to make a choice, because further pursuing his vengeance means targeting her family, which means hurting her.
The best way to magnify the potential for betrayal/abandonment and insecurities is to make him 100% certain in that relationship and her commitment to it when they step on those docks.
So, rest assured. Narrative demands you gonna get your kiss scenes, so calm down - okay?
Episode 11 seems to exist solely for the purpose as a follow-up for my commentary yesterday about violence vs. danger and willingness to participate in violence as a compass of intention.
In this episode we have Xiao Duo in 2 fights, the first at the Lantern Festival and the second after Yinlouâs very special legitimate mother attempted to use her as a replacement bride for her sister.
At the Lantern Festival we see him use hand-to-hand to subdue a Western Shu agent that has infiltrated the festival. The end of the episode sees him using the scabbard of his duo swords to neutralize 10 bridal entourage guards (there has to be a limit to how many guys he can take on sans weapons, right?)
Both of these are situations where I donât really feel most people would have begrudged him unsheathing his weapon to handle the situation more efficiently and he is still choosing not to.
Now, let's look at the other end of that spectrum, shall we (choosing to unnecessarily participate in and stage violence)?
Subdued, disorientated, unarmed and surrounded by the leader and lieutenant of the Zhaoding Bureau, in addition to two Imperial guards which have their blades at his actual throat is a spy of Prince of Nanyuan.
Awesome, letâs take him in for questioning. I love spies. The last one we interrogated gave us extremely vital information concerning Prince Yawenâs jade and how to contact/command these rebel forces.
Alright guys, take him to the priso-Oh, oh God, whatâs happening?
18 strokes to the face/head. I counted.
Peter Hoâs facial expressions here are masterful: the resolve, the impotence, the frustration, the realization of the pleasure he derived from it.
âYinlou! (This is a very disturbing âMommy, look at me! Look what I can do. Look what I did!â moment) I wonât allow anyone to hurt you! (He wasnât even trying to hurt her) I can protect you now. (Oh, this is not good.) Only I can protect you! (Nope. Nope. Nope. Iâm out.)
The level of staged manipulation here is beyond blatant.
And the amount of contrived emotional intimacy he is so in-synch with Eunuch Sun in manufacturing goes far beyond ensuring that your date is going in the right direction. The fact that he painted his nickname on the lanterns is so disrespectfully manipulative and literally serves no other point than getting her to ask what the characters are so he can pry her nickname out of her.
This emotional tag-teaming with Eunuch Sun actually makes me wonder if that attack was step-up by the two of them to ingratiate the Emperor to Yinlou. What are the statistical chances of that happening the same night the Emperor âsnuck outâ? It also seems odd, given that Xiao Duo gave a special order concerning the security of the Lantern Festival. That place should have been locked down. Even more so, with the additional presence of the Imperial Guard. He seems to have come out of nowhere (look at how flustered and baffled Qilang is) with the express purpose of drawing attention to himself and his attack.
I think we really need to take a moment to appreciate Peter Hoâs craft here. The reactions he is eliciting in me are quite good. He is disturbing and eerie and makes me feel quite uneasy. All while making my emotions oscillate between disgust, pity, fright, forgiveness, rebellion, suppression, hope. And because you canât quite pin down what your reaction is (aside from bad) is what makes it so potent. It is rather difficult to guard against what you canât define.
So, yes - seriously letâs take a moment to give credit to Peter Ho for his acting chops here.
And if he hated this woman so much why did he go out of his way to bring her and his illegitimate daughter home? While she was drunk she tells Xiao Duo that the journey from where she and her mother went on to join her fatherâs family was long. Xiao Duo mentions she lived with her mother in Western Shu until she was 12. (Not sure on their actual age difference, but that sounds to be around the time Xiao Duoâs brother was getting killed)
This sounds to be like an exceeding amount of effort to claim a woman he didnât like (who was not yet his concubine and society would not have cared if he abandoned) and to claim an illegitimate daughter. Illegitimate daughter. Illegitimate daughter. We have had this fact thrown in our faces over and over.
Why the heck would he claim an illegitimate daughter? Not the daughter born of a concubine. An illegitimate daughter. Not even an illegitimate son, which would make sense to carry on the family name, as he only had a daughter. An illegitimate daughter. You only do that if you truly love the mother (which he clearly didnât) or if there is a clear benefit to doing so.
It is also the reason why the tides turned so quickly for them. It is almost like the fatherâs favor depended on something completely external to their deportment.
Like being members of a dynastic line that once brought prestige, but now brings shame or could even get you labeled as traitors?
Funny how that happens in reconstruction periods post civil wars and annexation.
OhhhhhhâŠ.you mean like the one between Shu and Western Shu/Nanyuan?
This also explains why Prince Fu is so obsessed with her opinion of him. Not with her. With her opinion of him.
Xiao Duo cares if Yinlou is angry. The Emperor asks if she is angry with him. Xiao Duo honestly couldn't care two figs about Yinlou and is wrapped up in his guilt about being unable to keep his promise and protect Prince Rong. The Emperor puts on a show of mourning and asks Yinlou if she can forgive him. Xiao Duo cares if Yinlou is frightened and kneeling on the ground. The Emperor wants to make certain she sees him as her savior.
Why is he so obsessed with her liking him? Maybe because he needs her to like him. Because he knows when her real identity comes out, a marriage by force wouldnât stick. He needs her to like him because he needs her to choose to marry him. To choose to stay when better options or simply another choice (freedom to leave) become available.
When I realized this, my brain connected the dots from that scene in Episode 9 where they both save her from Eunuch Liu (the one I replayed maybe 7 or 8 times trying to figure out why it stood out to me)
Xiao Duo has never hidden who he is or what he does from Yinlou. Heck, their first intimate conversation was about how ruthlessly efficient he was and how that stood as proof that he did not commit this particular murder. Not that he wasnât a murderer, not that he wasnât capable of murder, not that he hadnât murdered hundreds of people, that he hadnât committed this murder.
He has never hid that from her. But he does make an effort to not expose her to violence unnecessarily, so she is not frightened.
The danger, the politics, the intrigue, the scheming, the strategy - he makes no attempts to hide those from her vision. Yes, he tries to protect her, when they go too far, but never remove them from her vision. He is a realist and knows to do so would actually be cruel. She needs to see those things so she can navigate and manipulate and survive. On top of that she is actually intelligent enough to do so (again from a story character perspective it is fascinating to see a younger woman be able to somewhat intelligently navigate court life, usually we see that reserved for older female characters)
The degree to which he does not hide this part of his life from her is highlighted when his godson is surprised she does not yet know who the hostage Prince is.
In Episode 9 we see the Emperor come in and rescue her and order the men be flogged right in front of her. Then he is all âDonât be afraid. I am here to protect you.â Meanwhile, Xiao Duo charges right past him, his priority to get her off the ground where she is huddled like a frightened deer. He also makes sure she knows who is touching her and helping her up by putting his sword right in front of her face (because for goodness sake if you are surrounded by people getting flogged and someone touches you to pull you up and you donât know they are a âsafeâ person, that would freak you out) He also, does not merely help her up, but steers her body just slightly so she is faced away from each of the beatings. His next order of business: get the beatings to stop or shall we say relocate. She is not an idiot. She knows his men are going to beat those guys up, most likely do some light torture and then ultimately kill them. But there is literally no reason to expose her to that.
This is the difference between saving someone and staging a rescue. This is the difference between caring about how someone is feeling and attempting to manipulate how they are feeling.
I have also noticed when he is around her and needs to âfightâ he prefers defensive moves and subduing, using the scabbard of his swords - rather than opening it. I am wondering how the Emperor would handle an opportunity to use violence to stage being her savior?
We also have the whole hostage Prince Yuwen subplot, which serves no purpose. And yes, after the whole âentertainersâ sneaking him poison I was 100% down for Xiao Duo sneaking her out of the mausoleum to the Southern Villa and 3 musketeers shenanigans to ensue between those two and Princess Hede/WanWan. It looks like I am going to be getting a different version of that, but still get it. Still the plot makes no sense from a narrative perspective except to acquaint her or reacquaint her with the royal family of Western Shu/Nanyuan. (I am not quite following the bloodlines as well as I would like - but there seemed to be an indication that he [the elder of the two Princes] was eligible to become Regent over Prince Rong)
And Prince Yuwen is already dropping stories about his childhood. I will start to laugh hysterically if these stories include a cousin who vanished in the war or a sister who died of illness. (Edit: Nevermind, they are literally already calling each other âBrotherâ and âSisterâ. And that is the only way you are retconning that to make it okay that he is watching her practice the rather on-the-nose entitled âLove Choiceâ dance.)
(This also makes Xiao Duoâs comments that âYou are the most valuable thing in this roomâ and that âThe remnants of Western Shu canât stop causing troubleâ unintentionally hilarious.)