Two mysteries down, and many more to go!
With the arrivals of the envoys from the West, Jinshi is left scrambling trying to figure out how to arrange the banquet to entertain them. He needed to figure out what’s the secret behind the so-called fabled “Moon Fairy” story that was passed down the previous envoy’s family.
As it turned out, the “Moon Fairy” was actually Maomao’s gran from Verdigris House. Fifty years ago, she performed for the envoys, and impressed them so much she even got a portrait painting gifted to her. The problem is that nobody knew the secret behind what made that performance as enchanting as it was.
Well frankly, it wasn’t anything that was intentionally planned in advance. It was a combination of the old lady not being dissuaded by those who tried to sabotage and make her performance unpleasant. Basically those who were jealous of her had smeared bug carcass on her gown, which attracted a whole bunch of moths that ‘glittered’ and ‘glowed’ under the moonlight. It was such an enchanting display, the envoys had believed at the time she was a “Moon Fairy”.
So Maomao’s and Jinshi’s job was to carry out the performance of the “Moon Fairy”. Thanks to Shusui’s help and expertise on insects, Maomao was able to solve the mystery behind the “glowing lights”. The answer: Rubbing scents of the moths onto the outfit to attract more moths who sought to mate. Yuck. Bearing that in mind, the fact the madam was able to carry out her performance as if it was originally part of the show is certainly something to be admired for. Not everyone can stomach being swarmed by bugs.
Unfortunately this meant the successor of that very performance would have to go through the same. And that was of course none-other than Jinshi. He was undoubtedly the best fit for the role, and carried it out with splendour, but considering he had to wear a gown with the moth caresses on it, get swarmed by them and then to top of that, after disappear into the cold lake and swim to the other side in the heavy gown- of course he’d be all grumpy about it.
Though there was one silver-lining… For us at least haha. Thanks to this, we finally got the opportunity to see the Jinshi’s unparalleled beauty that we didn’t see in the first season when Maomao jokingly applied some lipstick on him while she was applying his peasant disguise. He was so breathtakingly beautiful, that it made the envoy’s jaws drop after being bored by the main performance. Well, he certainly knocked them off their high-horse.
Speaking of the envoy’s egos, Alya, proven to be quite brazen when it came to expressing her interest in the Emperor and his brother (absent) in front of his concubines. The posturing certainly irritated them, but fortunately Aylin had pulled her back before she pushed it too many buttons. The Emperor himself didn’t look particular impressed either, but I digress.
With the “Moon Fairy” case closed, Maomao’s back to trying to figure out who’s behind the attempt to poison Gyokuyou again.
And while they haven’t quite figured out specifically who was attempting to bring harm to Lady Gyokuyou, they were able to finally able to uncover the root of the problem in the Crystal Pavilion. The one responsible for that was none other than Lady Shin, Lady Lihua’s cousin and head lady-in-waiting. Consumed by jealousy and spite over the fact that despite excelling in everything, she was not chosen by the Emperor. She always had it in her head that she was the most fit to be Empress, and she craved for that position and power. So she was the one behind in-directly killing Lihua’s first born, and was now attempting to cause her losing her second child by having everyone wear the poisonous combination of essential oils.
But unlike Shin, Lihua is different. She’s not the ambitious type to covet for the position for the sake of the title. She simply loves the Emperor. And unfortunately for Shin, regardless of her credentials, one of the main thing she lacks is simply not being the Emperor’s taste. As Maomao pointed out many times before, and again this week… The Emperor has a tendency to gravitate towards those who have larges busts, and arguably those who are more sweeter and earnest in nature.
I must say though, it was a delight to see Lihua stand up for herself. She was so sick and depressed the last time Maomao had to treat her, that she was in no position to do what she is doing today. She gave one hell of a slap to Shin, and was ready to give her a real beat down if that alone wasn’t enough to kick her out. Lihua has always been a kind spirit at heart, so despite the fact Shin has and continued to attempt to bring harm to her and her babies, she didn’t want her killed. After-all, bringing harm to the Emperor’s children is simply a death sentence. So it’s been resolved with Lihua and Jinshi arranging it so that Shin has been banished from the palace.
However the one pressing issue remains: Who is the one spreading the knowledge of how to brew poisons within the Inner Palace? That’s the next concern and mystery Maomao and Jinshi must tackle. They can do everything they can to try avoiding the products that can be combined, but as Maomao pointed out: It’s almost impossible to do that when simple things like the flower shrub by the shed ironically could be used to create an abortive medicine. It just comes down to whether the average individual knows how to create it or not…
Oh and one last thing: The salamander tail bit, had me cracking me up. Maomao saying she’s looking to make a medicine that can help “grow it back”. KEKEKEKE, Oh Maomao!
Eva, that was just the old lady of the Verdigris House’s take that nothing about the performance was planned in advance. That they were taking into account the phases of the moon suggests that somebody high up (Luomen?) knew about the moths, which was why her outfit was smeared with the carcasses. The show has gone out of its way to state that Shishou, Loulan’s father, was a favourite of the previous Empress Dowager, so he should’ve been around 50 years ago and was made privy to the secret, which may be why Shisui, if she is indeed Loulan in disguise, was looking for the larvae of the moths and went out of her way to tell Maomao about them.