Episode Summaries

Maomao observes her father tending crops in a field. She then encounters a young girl who leads her away. Maomao discovers several people who are severely ill and require her assistance. She helps others tend to the injured. After stating the patients are now stable, her female helpers leave to prepare tea. Alone, Maomao examines the area for clues.

The young girl returns with charcoal for Maomao. Maomao writes on a text plate and asks the girl to summon her father. He arrives with herbs, and they plan to mix these with Maomao's charcoal concoction. They proceed to administer the medicine to the injured. The women feed the medicine to the patients while Maomao and her father discuss what may have happened.

Maomao and her father visit an elderly woman for tea. While contemplating the situation, Maomao sees the young girl outside the women's quarters and follows her. Maomao finds the girl with a knife, attempting to kill one of the injured men. They struggle until a woman intervenes and asks to speak with Maomao privately. The woman explains the injured man was a womanizer and that the girl's older sister was his victim; the girl sought vengeance.

After speaking with them, Maomao returns home with her father and acknowledges the danger of the girl's actions. At home, Maomao reflects and realizes the incident was a murder attempt, not a double suicide. Later, in town, she visits a bathhouse to unwind. There, she meets Meimei, and they converse about life.

The next day, Maomao returns to the palace with Lihaku. She finds Jinshi infuriated. He requests her presence in the parlor, where he expresses displeasure that she does not understand the significance of hairpins and that she chose Lihaku as her escort. Maomao tells Jinshi she offered Lihaku a night of blissful dreams, leading Jinshi to believe they were intimate. Maomao leaves, and Hongniang bonks her on the head. The episode concludes with Gyokuyou laughing.