More secrets revealed

This episode was interesting because of Yang Yi.  Poor Yang Yi.

1)We open to the wedding night.  Miss D is seen reaching for her knife, as if she will cut anyone who tries to touch her,and is surprised to see Master Lei there.  He burns her veil, insisting it bothers him so she falls back into her role (they essentially go back and forth trying to one up the other) so she wonders out loud about his clan being responsible for offending the crown.  Their talk turns serious and she admits that she agreed to this marriage because she wants to know who killed Yin Xue.  Master Lei admits that he wanted to stop the wedding, leaving her speechless (does that count as a confession?)

2)A bunch of drunk men try to break into the bridal chamber.  She hides Master Lei under her bedding--under her bed would have made more sense, but then audience we would not have them in the same bed and he would not have an excuse to hide behind her and touch her--Ji then comes to the rescue and reminds them that the bride has a temper so back off, which irritates Miss D.  He gets them to leave with the promise of a round of drinks.  

3)Miss D and Master Lei hang out on the bed and pass their time eating and talking.  The seeds on the bed seem to represent good luck reproducing.  She tells Lei to leave but he instead confronts her and asks her why she did this because Dark Palace is behind Yin Xue's murder--marrying into the flame villa only helps them.  She tells him she has her reasons, but she can;t share them because it involves her brothers.  He promises to help her, then he tricks her AGAIN proving she is adorably (and consistently) gullible (somehow it does not annoy me, perhaps because she is strong but not too strong) and he knocks her down, tells her she is a beautiful bride, and seems ready to kiss her.  Audience, we all know that she could pummel him into oblivion.  She instead puts up a very contrived girlish struggle showing that this is a rare, unprecedented time when a female lead really doesn't mind being kissed in spite of what she says--men of the world watching, if an angel of death chooses not to kill you in a similar situation then I might believe you when you says she may have wanted that kiss--she even puckers up, but he instead tells her that he is happy to know that she is not in love with Feng'er (another confession?) and then he pulls away.

4)Elsewhere, Ge'er hangs out on a bridge looking supremely elegant, and a super drunk Feng'er moseys on up.  Without looking at him she reminds him that he should be with his bride.  He wants to know if she is afraid of him, after all, she seems to have become timid lately--is she afraid that if she comes to his side she won't be able to leave him (what does that even mean?).  She tells him to not provoke her, be direct.  She wants to know if he ever loved Yang Yi, since she was the reason for their broken engagement.  She thought perhaps he wanted power since he decided to marry Miss D but that made no sense, since Ge'er is ranked higher.  So she finally realized, do you hate my father?  Feng goes from drunk to serious really fast, making me wonder if he was faking, and he tells her that isn't the case, that he came here to tell her that she should give up her bid for the villa, and she asks him if the villa is so important, and he says it is his everything.

5)The next morning, Miss D watches Lei sleep and decides he really is attractive.  She slaps him awake and tells him he has to go.  Lei tells her that he will be in the Bamboo palace for a few more days but he cannot stay here.  She asks him why he is never in a hurry to escape when he is in danger and he arrogantly says he always finds a way out, and she makes him promise to stay alive.

6)MEANWHILE Lord Thunderclap is bound in chains, second madame standing over him.  Niang unleashes a ton of secrets after he asks her how a Dark Palace Maid could not be happy in her position.  She tells him she is actually the third lady of Dark Palace, Anye Jue, ergo, she is a witch.  He is surprised, and says evil and good cannot be together, and he divorces her.  He laughs at his lot--the person he has trusted for half his life is his enemy--and says it is all in fate's hands.  He says do what you want.  She tells him out of respect to their marriage she will allow him to die with dignity.  He is about to ask her something but she answers him--she admits she never loved him and merely used him to learn the secrets behind his clans explosives.  He begs her not to harm his son, and she says she won't, since she raised him.  She then orders that the boat be sunk, and that the official report be that assassins did it and that she barely managed to escape and will be seeking out the killer.

7)MEANWHILE Die Yi gets the info from Zhongli, passes it on to her mistress, and Ge'er confronts Yang Yi alone.  She tells Yang Yi that it is foolish to waste one's life on revenge for love, and tells her no one will help her but Ge'er.  She can reject Ge'er's help and not tell her the truth, how she managed to sway Feng, and be at the mercy of the many who want her dead, or she can accept her help.  Ge'er tells her that she knows she has had an extremely painful life--her parents sold her when she was 5, and at 11 she was forced to begin seeing clients in a brothel.  Worse, the pimps were very sadistic and beat her so badly for fun that she nearly died 4 times.  However, at 15, she learned martial arts, as if by magic, she became the owner of the brothel, and those bad men killed themselves. her change in life coincided with the appearance of a veiled woman....HMMM......so Niang helped her.  Ge'er offers her a chance at a new life if she would trust her.

8)Outside, Feng'er arrives with a ton of soldiers but is stopped by Yu's soldiers.  Yu comes outside and let's Feng in, and Feng'er asks for his woman.  Yu says he cannot allow that because she is recovering, and Ge'er is the one who offered her protection.  Feng'er becomes more aggressive and insists that she belongs to him.  Yu is calm and rejects this,and Ji pops in to mediate, saying that everyone respects the rules that the bamboo villa is like the palace, and urges Feng to ask nicely.  L

9)Inside, Yang Yi accepts the olive branch.  She explains that Niang is actually the third mistress Anye Luo and then asks Ge'er if she is aware of the rumors around Fengs' parents death.  The official story that the flame villa pushes is that his father killed himself, and then right after giving birth to Feng, his mother killed herself out of love.  But this makes no sense as Feng Tian was at the top of his game, only thirty, and leading the most powerful pugilist clan.  Yang Yi was told by Niang that the flame lord wanted the villa entirely for himself so he killed Feng'er's parents.  No one dares to question it out loud, but this is the only rational explanation even though there is no evidence.  Because Ge'er believes in her father whole heartedly, Feng left her, and her father all but confirmed his guilt when he chose to leave the villa to her, his blood daughter, instead of the boy he treats like a son, the same guy he only kept around out of guilt.  Naturally Ge'er rejects this as a plot of the Dark Palace and insists that she believes in her father, but even she seems to show, at least on her face, that this is odd.

10)Tension is high between Yu and Feng, but ultimately diffused when Yang Yi and Ge'er emerge.  She seems to have chosen to return to be with Feng.  Feng brings her back and Miss D coldly reminds him that she had better begone in the morning. Feng'er tells her she will be safe here but Miss D says she trusts no one but her sword :D Alone with Yang Yi, he tells her that she will be taken away tomorrow by his men. Yang Yi throws her arms around him and again confesses her feelings and begs him to stay just for tonight since she may never see him again alive but he is stoic and says we were never meant to be and leaves her.  

11)Back in the bamboo villa, Ge'er reveals to Yu what she has learned from Yang Yi, which begs the question, why did Niang heal him?  Yu considers if they should keep Yang Yi on their side, but Ge'er states she is only  a pawn and cannot help them. Plus, she has a promise, and asks Yu to help her.  Alone, Ge'er cannot seem to stop thinking about what Yang Yi said about her father.  A fire breaks out, but Yang Yi is calm.  They use the fire as a fake suicide and Hueng helps Yang Yi escape.  She gets a fresh start and some silver, and the carriage will take her wherever she wants.

12)The next day the soldiers find something that confirms Yang Yi is dead.  He orders his soldiers to bury it.  He then goes to see Yu and it really looks like Feng knows the truth, that Yu helped her escape, but he says nothing.  Ji shows up and states that he and the others support his bid for the villa because everyone doubts Ge'er's ability to lead.  Feng grins and supports him, and so our episode ends...

Closing Words:
I felt bad for Yang Yi.  She was used her whole life, and easily discarded.  The only person who showed her an ounce of respect is the same person she hates.  It really sucks to be helped by your foe, but she wasn't so stubborn that she would follow Feng into death, which I respect her for.

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