Episode 17 recap: The Qi Qiao Festival (Seventh Night Festival) - Nan Gong Yao brings a surprise.
Mei Yu Shan had not attended class for several days, and Nan Gong Yao inquired with Eunuch Song, only to learn that she had been summoned to the Huacai Palace by the Empress to learn etiquette in preparation for becoming a consort. The Empress assigned an embroidery task, and although Xiao Dou Zi completed it rather haphazardly, she ended up sharing a lot of common knowledge about how to distinguish male and female mandarin ducks, which the Empress found unimpressive.
To practice etiquette, the Empress instructed Xiao Dou Zi to balance a precious jade vase on her head, but Xiao Dou Zi was unable to stand steady and ended up shattering all the vases. When the Crown Prince came to visit the Empress, he stood next to Xiao Dou Zi. Hearing that Mei Yu Shan was skilled in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, the Empress asked her to demonstrate one. Xiao Dou Zi thought she couldn't do any of them well, so with Nan Gong Yao's subtle cues, they chose the easiest one - Go. The two continuously exchanged glances, which the Empress noticed, and in the end Xiao Dou Zi, not understanding the implication, simply made a big joke by moving her opponent's pieces.
In class at the Chongwen Academy, Nan Gong Yao wore the same white robe as Bai Ye, because Xiao Dou Zi always mentioned Bai Ye. Three days before the Qi Qiao Festival, Nan Gong Yao had Nan Bei prepare in advance to give Xiao Dou Zi a big surprise. Bai Ye had divined the celestial signs and calculated that the Western Kingdom would be overthrown and the Crown Prince exiled. Even so, to protect Xiao Dou Zi, Bai Ye did not intend to let a third party know. If they wanted to keep the Crown Prince and Xiao Dou Zi safe, the only option was to secretly kill the maidservant. Lingxiao knew of Bai Ye's feelings for Xiao Dou Zi and was willing to take on the assassination task.
On the night of the Qi Qiao Festival, Lingxiao purposefully kidnapped Xiao Dou Zi and separated her from Mei Yu Shan. He found a child to lure Mei Yu Shan to a secluded area to attack her. But as Mei Yu Shan was walking, she saw Xing Shi passing by mysteriously, so she dismissed the child and followed Xing Shi.
Xiao Dou Zi was thrown into another street, but was unharmed. As she got up and walked towards the marketplace, she encountered three of her sworn fathers, who revealed that this was all arranged by the Crown Prince, including the merchants and people on the entire marketplace street. Xiao Dou Zi could hardly believe it. Soon, Nan Gong Yao appeared and led Xiao Dou Zi away from the sworn fathers to watch the fireworks. Xiao Dou Zi was overjoyed to feel so valued for the first time, and Nan Gong Yao took the opportunity to further express his feelings, and they embraced and kissed passionately.
Mei Yu Shan followed Xing Shi to the outskirts and overheard his conversation with some of his former Sheng Dong subordinates. Seeing Xiao Dou Zi's companion Little Sparrow with Xing Shi, Mei Yu Shan became suspicious of Xing Shi's identity. Soon she realized that Xiao Dou Zi was actually the Princess of Sheng Dong. When Mei Yu Shan accidentally stepped on a branch and was discovered by Xing Shi, he did not hide anything and revealed his true identity as the young general of Sheng Dong, whose father had killed the Emperor of Xi Guo in battle years ago. After the war, he was tasked with hiding the princess, and has been searching for her for years, using a position in the East Palace to aid in his search, with Little Sparrow being one of his subordinates.
Xing Shi planned to secretly take both Xiao Dou Zi and Mei Yu Shan back to Sheng Dong, and also confessed his feelings for Mei Yu Shan. Although tempted, Mei Yu Shan felt it was not appropriate, as she was the daughter of the Xi Guo Prime Minister. She only wanted to return to the East Palace to find Xiao Dou Zi, so Xing Shi escorted her out. As the two walked out of the courtyard, they were spotted by the hidden Lingxiao.
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