Episode 21 – Recap
Ou Lixing snuck the moldy rice into the military provisions. Lingyi and Fu Linbo find the moldy rice and report it to the emperor during morning court. Marquis Jingyuan had to sacrifice a spy that he placed in the Ministry of Revenue to protect his son, Ou Lixing. Marquis Jingyuan berates Ou Lixing for his mistake, and we find out that Marquis Jingyuan seems to favor his illegitimate son, Ou Yanxing.
Lingyi is still awkward around Shiyi. He updates her on the situation about the moldy rice, hints at her frequent outings, and suggests sending Wan Daxian with her to protect her. Shiyi is about to tell him the truth that she’s been going to Xianling Pavilion to teach embroidery, but Lianfang interrupts at this time and successfully invites Lingyi to eat dinner with her using her birthday and Madame Xu as excuses.
Nanny Tao sees this and reports it to Madame Luo, who then orders Amber to seduce Lingyi.
Amber struggles with this for a long time. She wants to see her sister, but she doesn’t want to betray Shiyi either. After talking with Master Jian, Lin Shixian, and Shiyi, Amber realizes that she can’t betray Shiyi no matter what. So she devises a plan to get herself kicked out the Xu manor, but Shiyi realizes something is up and stops her in time.
Recap by Vanilla Muse. Please read this on vmnovels (dot) com
Amber finally reveals that she has an older sister to Shiyi, and says that even if she never sees her sister again she still cannot betray Shiyi who has always been such a kind master to her. Shiyi reiterates that she does not see Amber and Dongqing as her servants and the three women have a moment together. [I teared up at this part. Gosh, I just love this female friendship trio of Shiyi, Dongqing, and Amber.]
The wife of Marquis Zhongshan is holding a banquet and invited all the ladies in the capital. Madame Xu brings Shiyi with her to introduce her. Madame Xu is pleased with Shiyi’s performance and conversely disappointed in Lianfang’s reaction.
At the banquet, Ou Lixing’s wife and Erniang try to make trouble for Shiyi over the name of a flower. They exchange verbal banter and Shiyi is winning before Madame Xu steps in to deliver the final blow against the other two.
The episode ends with Shiyi taking notice of the embroidery work on the sleeve of Ou Lixing’s wife. Cue the dramatic music to hint that this has something to do with her mother’s death.
