Episode 5 recap: Rong'er accidentally discovered precious treasures while trying to catch a thief and losing her equipment.
Aunt Shou Xi advised Rong'er to be more restrained, to prioritize her own safety first, and to maintain her inner kindness and perseverance. However, Rong'er did not agree, believing that when faced with injustice, one should stand up and take action, even if it means taking risks to do what is right.
Rong'er encountered Li Qi and was resentful that the Emperor wanted to apologize to her and send her medicine, but Li Qi not only did not apologize to her, but also frowned at her. Suddenly, Rong'er slipped and was about to fall, but Li Qi rushed to catch her. Rong'er hit him and told him to let go, and when he did, she fell down. Rong'er angrily accused Li Qi of bullying her, but Li Qi said he was just trying to save her, and that she was ungrateful and turned the tables on him, even though he had saved her. Rong'er said that if she had a mother, she would not have been sent to the palace and would not have been bullied like this.
Liu Er and Lu Qiutong told Rong'er they would find an opportunity to rescue her from the palace. Wu Tian wanted to steal books from the palace, but with the increased patrols due to Rong'er's incident with the Emperor, only Li Qi could leave the palace unscrutinized. Wu Tian stole Li Qi's palace pass to try to take the books out, but was discovered by Li Qi, and they fought, with Wu Tian dropping the books and getting injured while fleeing.
Rong'er happened to find the dropped book while trying to escape the palace. She met with Liu Er and Lu Qiutong, who gave her a package to change her clothes so they could smuggle her out, but they were caught by Aunt Shou Xi, who said there would be a palace search for the theft, and Rong'er should not risk escaping and implicating others.
Li Qi discovered that the book thief was the murderer of the late Mr. Shen, and informed the Emperor that the culprit was right there in the palace. To find the thief, Li Qi conducted a massive search, and to avoid detection, the eunuch Sun had all the servants severely beaten, leaving everyone injured and making it impossible to identify the true culprit. Seeing the servants being punished, Rong'er felt empathy and brought ointment for the injured Wu Tian.
Rong'er went to thank Aunt Shou Xi for taking care of her. Aunt Shou Xi said that she had only grasped part of the meaning of the lotus seed porridge. Although the lotus flower cannot choose the environment in which it grows, it can still produce lotus seeds no matter where it is. Since Rong'er cannot go out of the palace now, she wants to learn cooking well. So she can learn cooking well in the palace.
The imperial consorts of various palaces gathered together to prepare for a family banquet. After discussing the menu, they decided to hold the family banquet in half a month, which would be jointly organized by the Taijipu Palace and the Chonghua Palace. The Emperor sent Rong'er many rewards in order to seek her forgiveness.
Rong'er was still resentful and refused to accept the Emperor's rewards, saying that she should be punished for leaving the palace without permission. Eunuch Yu scolded Rong'er, saying that the Emperor's rewards could not be rejected. Rong'er then distributed all the rewards to the other maids.
The Imperial Consort of the Chonghua Palace wanted to find some smart and clever maids to help with the family banquet, and thought of Rong'er, who had previously begged for forgiveness due to her eyebrow mishap. She asked Aunt Shou Xi to arrange for Rong'er to help.
Because of the Emperor's rewards, Rong'er suddenly became very popular. Even Eunuch Sun, who used to have a poor attitude, came to curry favor with her and Qing'er when he saw them walking the dog, wanting to give them good assignments for the family banquet. Rong'er deliberately played a trick on them, telling Taihe to bite Eunuch Sun, making the two men flee in embarrassment.
Eunuch Sun and the other man were covered in injuries. They felt that Rong'er had become arrogant and conceited because of a few rewards, and that it was not certain she could become an imperial consort, and being an imperial consort was not as easy as that. They planned to cause trouble again.
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