The Empress Bows Her Head

Spoilers Ahead

1)Empress Dowager takes the initiative in punishing Consort Zhou for her actions. 50 slaps to the face. The General attempts to intervene but the eunuch falls, and accuses him of interfering with justice. Later, he reports to the Dowager and informs her that the Shen house acted as predicted.

2)The court wants blood. The emperor was the matchmaker for General Shen, hence he bears responsibility. General Shen allowing his household to act this way reflects poorly on the crown. The empress believes that Duke Ying will see this through because it involves his only child. ..

3)Ming Lan meets with her friend, Madame Shen, Ming Lan tries to assess the situation with the general (her husband). Madame Shen explains she has turned her husband away and she praised the empress dowager for personally visiting her. Ming Lan now sees where this plot is coming from

.4)Ming Lan visits the empress. Only after all the ladies who have come to fawn leave does she (the empress) delay Ming Lan under the pretext of asking about her pregnancy and she asks Ming Lan what she thinks. Ming Lan is frank. After they discuss the salt issue (and she learns her husband almost died for the first time) she explains she would protect her husband no matter what (see where this is headed now....?) The empress afraid that they will lose the support of the Duke of Ying to the empress dowager. The purpose of the marriage with the general was to merge with old subjects. So Ming Lan tells her what she thinks: she tells her a story of the three kingdom period in which in which a subject punished themselves to show loyalty and to basically undermine the enemy. (she is telling the empress she needs to bow her head and take the blame).

5)The empress makes a difficult choice. She takes a crown of hers and takes an enormous pear off of it. She She has it sent to the Ducal Zhang family in order to apologize to them for sending Consort Zhou to the General's House, leading to him favoing her. Then she removes everything so that she is only wearing a white robe, and walks by everyone (servants) in this garb (it is humiliating when you think about it) to beg forgiveness as she was the matchmaker. Her hair is even unbound, which is a huge deal....

6)The Emperor is listening to the prime minister update him on the latest of empress dowager's work. They are trying to figure out a soution in the face of her attacks, because he must do something in order to avoid appearing biased--and that is when the empress appears, head bowed, begging publicly for forgiveness not as an empress but as a member of the shen clan; she is apologizing on behalf of her kin.

.7)In her apology, the empress states she has failed the state her family and the teachings of dowager empress. the emperor helps her to her feet and says 'you are my empress' and 'your mistake is my mistake' and tells her that together they will beg the empress dowager for forgiveness (it is great because the empress has to forgive them now this kind of behavior is unprecedented)(in destroying her pride the empress has won this round and the empress dowager must forgive them).

.8)General Shen loses a year's salary and will be confined for a brief amount of time in his home to reflect. His Consort is sentenced by empress dowager to be slapped 50 more times (her face is already tore up) and to be forced to live her remaining days in a simple room. Her brother is to be caned 30 days and pay the Duke of Ying 10,000 taels which will be promptly handed over to the daughter. Her other brother is to be exiled for a separate crime. (bye bye consort)(this is called getting off light I don't know what they were thinking).

9)The daughter of Duke Ying is lucky. Her parents have a plan: she could go live in a convent for a bit and when this has died down return, if she doesn't want to go back. MW Consort Zhou is dragged away in front of her surviving sister on the same day that a party is being held to showcase the shen couple as 'together' Ming Lan takes care of this issue for her friend quietly and explains that while this is unfortunate, at least her family and children can still have a future

..10)Ming Lan lectures the general like Momo Kang. She spells out his mistakes: 1)You favored Zhou too much as she was your wife's sister 2)You took her in as a concubine 3)As a result of all of this, not even the empress can scold her because of the service her sister provided . Ming Lan reminds the younger sister of the general to think about how this incident if not contained would have destroyed so many lives. This is the best result.

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