ep 10 spoilers ahead

10/96!
Every 10 episodes I will do this. Just to recap:

Able Consort Liu and her unborn child (miscarriage/suicide), Zheng Wanyan (poisoned), a cat (poisoned), and a servant of crown prince who helped instigate a plot to slander him (suicide) have perished.

In addition to the people listed in my episode 1 summary, we can add:

Minister Wei/Minister of Defense: Uncle to Noble Consort Wei
Li Zhe: Son of Emperor
Chengxin: Saved the life of Crown Prince; may also be Crown Prince's Lover
Dai Qing: Trusted Adviser of the Emperor/He calls him brother/Heads the Grand Court
Wei Zheng: The Crown Prince's tutor, respected by the emperor for his honesty and piety (historically he actually colluded with Li Shimin's brothers but Li Shimin respected his loyalty and kept him as a minister)
Su Mei: Crown Princess, wife of Crown Prince
Yin Hongzhi: a supporter of Prince Qi

Notable Promotions: Zheng Wanyan was posthumously promoted to Jieyou; Xu Hui was also promoted to Jieyou

1.We open with Ru Yi rescuing (the kind of unrealistic but beautiful rescue that only happens in a drama) Li Zhe; the sword swung by Wu cuts her hair clip (but not her hair) and it falls down free. She looks like Aprhodite.

2.Then, the emperor conveniently shows up and has seen everything. His sons are humiliated by their behavior and endure a lecture from the emperor. Ru Yi stands up for Wu and explains that he would never hurt the crown prince, that it was an accident. The emperor does not punish them but declare Wu the clear winner, making the crown prince angry.

3.The emperor encourages his children to work together (pot, meet kettle). The emperor seems to ignore her and she leaves, dejected but he turns and glances at her. Xu Hui observes this and seems uneasy (I hope she doesn't turn victim to jealousy).

4.Meanwhile, Ke (prince Wu) visits his mother (Yang). He reports he failed to throw the fight, as they planned. She is very upset and tells him that he must not give in to the crown prince's provocations and avoid conflict. He says he insulted her, and when he mentions Cairen Wu stood up for him, she immediately tells him to not get involved with her (....strange...what is she going to do to Ru Yi?)

5.Meanwhile, Changxin tells the crown prince to be wary of the other princes. This seems to feed into the crown prince's growing insecurity and paranoia about the stability of his position, making me wonder if Changxin is there to stir up trouble.

6.Elsewhere, Ru Yi is in the library when the emperor shows up. He is clearly fishing for her attention and they have an unguarded discussion. He asks her why she is so quiet and she says she does not want to offend him, to which he replies Yeting was a good training for her ( I cannot tell if this is a joke or not/or if he is saying she has learned her place). He confides his sons are a disappointment (prophetic) to which she replies at least he has Li Zhe (super prophetic). They talk about preparations for the glass banquet but he seems more interested in watching her rather than really listening (I think he is increasingly becoming mesmerized by her). She learns from him that the Grand Assembly is a great way to ensure people are loyal without going to war i.e. vigilant, even at peace time.

7.Elsewhere,an astronomer is visited by Zheng gong-gong. He reports that Consort Yin has seen shooting stars in a strange way, and the astronomer at first thinks nothing of it until Zheng mentions 'isn't this similar to 626' (come on, a toddler could see through this manipulation!) causing the astronomer to panic

8.Following this scene, Qi and Yin Hongzhi receive a message from Zheng gong-gong that basically says the stage is set. Hongzhi says 'Venus rises when emperor star falls'--hmmm

9.Next we go to Taiju Hall and the Grand Assembly begins! It is a very cool scene, as the princes wait out front to greet the ambassadors. You can tell it is a lavish display meant to show power and authority. The Crown prince notes that the Mutu (Mongolia) are late, which is meant to be rude. he addresses this but the Mutu ambassador says his horse was hungry and ate slowly (bwahahaha) and then he tries to go into the banquet with a weapon (forbidden). This event is smoothed over by Prince Wu who confiscates the dagger and promises to return it.

10.Meanwhile, Consort Yang meets with Consort Yin, Xu hui, and Ru Yi, and thanks them for their assistance. We learn that the banquet is very important because if they lose, others can use it to humiliate the emperor (insulting his women folk) and provoke a war. They must win. The ladies prepare for the competitions....

11.Meanwhile, the emperor is meeting the ambassadors from Japan. They have sent a jade chess set and their best jade player, to partake in the glass banquet (unheard of, except this man is extremely lovely and favored by the empress). However, only a woman can play against him. The emperor selects Xu Hui, and she wins (yay!)

12.Consort Yang wants Ru Yi to use the enamel fan in a competition, in spite of her protests (this has to be another set up). Ru Yi agrees but then lends the fan to Xu Hui, telling her it matches her outfit perfectly (it does). Ru Yi is tasked with solving the puzzle: an ambassador reports to have an Indian relic, left by a god, that cannot be destroyed. She visits the astronomer who tells her that this a peddler telling lies; it is made of carbite, and can be broken with antlers horns)

13.For reasons unknown, but likely related to Consort Yin's conveniently timed observation, he asks how old the girl is and when she entered the palace--she is not yet 20 and new to the palace--making the astronomer hesitate...

14.The series ends with a note delivered to the emperor (we don't know what it says) and the music competition being sabotaged as someone replaced the instrument with one that injured the musician selected....

--I am not overly fond of the 'vision' plot but will wait and see if it is executed well

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