[Cathy]
Starting off in episode 23, the ladies of the Imperial Harem are at the Empress Dowager, 太后 (Empress Dowager)’s, Palace for the customary rituals for the LaBa Festival. 太后 (Empress Dowager) takes a liking to 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) and requests that she copy Buddhist sutras. Pretty harmless right?
[Karen] Is it though? I don’t think so. When I saw this scene, I took it to mean that 太后 (Empress Dowager) was testing 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) and also taking the opportunity to see 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) for the first time. Copying buddhist sutras can some times be seen as a passive aggressive way to punish someone because you are literally telling them to copy pages of text. On the other hand, copying buddhist texts are seen as a way to show your devotion to Buddha and will help you get karma. So it’s two fold. I feel like 太后 (Empress Dowager) was seeing whether or not 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) would complain for having to do such a tedious task and when 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) did not, 太后 (Empress Dowager)was pleased. You’ll also remember that WAY back in the beginning of the drama, 太后 (Empress Dowager) didn’t care to meet 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)。 She said she’ll meet 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) when she becomes a 嫔, so a level above what 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) currently is. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) has made quite the impact on 后宫 (Palace Harem) such that even 太后 (Empress Dowager) wants to meet this woman.
[Cathy]
太后 (Empress Dowager) knows full well of 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s favor. She’s using this excuse to remove 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) from the harem and frees the Emperor to “spend time with other ladies”. Doesn’t matter who, but someone else. She even says as much in this coded message – the heavy snow has broken all of the tree branches. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is the snow and she’s covering up all of the other concubines. She needs to find some more peace and calm while here in 后宫 (Palace Harem). 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) takes this advice? Warning? To heart which is why she suggests that the Emperor check in on the rest of the Imperial harem. Hey – at least she listens. This puts her in good favor with the Empress Dowager too. Let’s see here – we now know that despite what it seems, the Empress Dowager very much pays attention to what his son is up to in the 后宫 (Palace Harem).
After this scene…the ladies are at the Empress 皇后 (Empress)’s palace for their daily greetings. We haven’t focused on these for a while. For once, it’s relatively cordial. 淳儿 (Chun’Er), the cute bubbly girl, is joking around, saying that she needs to stop eating. 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) gets all jealous of 淳儿 (Chun’Er) because 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) remembers all the food that 淳儿 (Chun’Er) is eating and doesn’t do the same for her。
We don’t spend too much time on this because…富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) drops a big bombshell. She’s pregnant! Everybody’s face falls. Her? How? Does anyone even remember who the heck 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren)is??? I don’t think I remembered her the first time I watched this drama. She entered the palace with 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) and company but has had very little presence in the drama thus far. She’s in the background here and there so it’s just as surprising to hear that she is pregnant!
欣常在 (Xin Chang Zai) – another attendant makes some snarky comments. This is hilarious because 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) doesn’t get it. 欣常在 (Xin Chang Zai) says “I know the Emperor is very busy. He only visits you once every few months and you got pregnant!” She then says “Not everyone has the fortune of being blessed with a son”. 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) is all pleased with her pregnancy and doesn’t get the insult. She just thinks that 欣常在 (Xin Chang Zai) is jealous. I love the close up on 华妃 (Hua Fei). She is furious. She’s thinking,
How can this woman get pregnant before her??”
[Karen]
A KEY piece of information here is that we here from 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) that she is only a few months pregnant and so her pregnancy is not stable. This is important!
[Cathy]
Unsurprisngly, 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is also little bit disappointed at the news because, like 华妃 (Hua Fei)，she’s surprised that 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) is pregnant. Outside of the Empress 皇后 (Empress)’s palace, she’s called back by 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) who tries to rub some salt to the wound. How is it that the Emperor visits you the most and there’s still no news? Rude!
However 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) clever deflects it and turns this against 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) by asking forgiveness from 华妃 (Hua Fei). She says 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s the one who’s seen the Emperor the most. I’m sorry if 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) offended you. After hearing this, 华妃 (Hua Fei) immediately pushes 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) away and snidely says if I get pregnant, it’ll be a boy. A daughter’s useless. Ouch. But nice job 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)! You’re learning to play the game.
华妃 (Hua Fei) and 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) are still fuming about news of the pregnancy when 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s Eunuch 周宁海 (Zhou Ning Hai) hastily rushes in to break the news. There’s a plague in Beijing! This is a huge deal. Everyone in the Imperial Palace is scrambling. Interestingly, the first place with the plague is actually in 翊坤宫 (Yi Kun Palace). 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s palace. That’s odd don;t you think? My theory is that 华妃 (Hua Fei) has too many ppl coming in and out of her palace with all the bribes she’s getting and that’s why ppl in her palace contracted the disease.
The Empress 皇后 (Empress) takes this very seriously and even requests 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s help in the matter.
[karen] However, I want to point out that we’ve seen in previous episodes the glimpses of how devious and manipulative 皇后 (Empress)is. While giving orders to 华妃 (Hua Fei), 皇后 (Empress) specifically tells her to not forget 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)。I personally think that 皇后 (Empress) did this on purpose. There was absolutely no need to do so but she knows that 华妃 (Hua Fei) hates 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) and wanted to use 华妃 (Hua Fei) as a way to kill 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) thereby removing another competitor in 后宫 (Palace Harem)。
华妃 (Hua Fei) is easily manipulated and while she is picking up the slack by making sure every place is sanitized with boiling liquor and burning herbs, she is reminded that 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) is still alive. The doctor involved in this whole fiasco, 刘畚 (Liu Bei), is too. What a perfect opportunity! Let’s, uh give her a used tea set from someone who just died from the plague. She’ll catch the plague, die, and no one will be the wiser. How convenient.
甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is visiting 安陵容 (An Ling Rong), again bringing her these medical sachets and checking up on her. They overhear an altercation outside between the pregnant 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) and some eunuchs. 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) orders all of the dried mugwort and atractylodes rhizome to be brought into her palace leaving none for 安陵容 (An Ling Rong). 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) hurries outside to argue with 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) about these medicinal plants. 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) gets all haughty – she’s the pregnant one, of course I deserve everything. 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) can just get her own. There’s a few back and forths but 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) doesn’t back down and demands everything be delivered into her quarters. Once again, 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) does this for 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) but will she value this? No…
[Cathy]
More and more people are dying due to the plague. One day, 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s head Eunuch rushes to deliver the news that 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) has also contracted the plague. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) rushes over to 敬嫔 (Jing Pin)’s to get the details. They confirm the news. Unfortunately none of the Imperial doctors are free to look after this lowly Second Class Female Attendant. It looks like 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) is left for dead. But wait! There’s an Imperial Doctor waiting in the wings. It’s a been a little while since we’ve seen 温实出。 He’s 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s childhood friend that is in love with 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) and wanted to marry in episode 1. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) requests for his help to attend 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang). Since he’ll do anything for 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)，he accepts and starts looking for a cure to the disease.
At the Imperial Infirmary, 华妃 (Hua Fei) is storming about trying to find a cure. It is quite funny seeing her try. But it looks like her fortunes may just now be up. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s people have found 刘畚 (Liu Bei)！He’s the slimy fake doctor that made 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) believe that she was pregnant and ran away when his job was done. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) immediately brings this doctor to see the Emperor where he confesses his crime. He finally admits that it was 华妃 (Hua Fei) who bribed him to fake 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)’s pregnancy! The Emperor orders 刘畚 (Liu Bei) to be imprisoned. With the culprit in custody, 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) spends some time going over the case with 皇上 (Emperor). There was no reason for 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) to fake the pregnancy. She couldn’t have known.
The Emperor 皇上 (Emperor) agrees and actually admits he wronged 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang). What! He immediately starts using a term of endearments – 眉儿 instead of her title 沈答应. He restores her title to Noble Lady with the name 惠 again Virtuous. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) tells him the truth about 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)’s condition. He grants her order to have the Imperial doctors immediately look after 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)。I’m impressed, the Emperor takes it a few steps even further. The Imperial Doctors who aided 华妃 (Hua Fei) in this plot are granted suicide and 华妃 (Hua Fei) is to be demoted to 嫔 or Concubine and stripped of her honorary title. This is HUGE! He’s ordering this despite the fact that her brother just came back from the front lines! Even the Emperor’s head eunuch 苏培盛 (Su Pei Sheng) is shocked at this.
Yay!!! Finally – some good news for 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang). However, the Emperor is a suspicious man. He makes his suspicions known to 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) and asks her if this is her plot to accuse 华妃 (Hua Fei). 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is thoroughly hurt by this accusation and defiantly tells him no.
This entire time – the Emperor’s facial expression is still the same. He says these things, demoting 华妃 (Hua Fei), promote 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang), kill the doctors. No change in voice or tone. He just does a lot of blinking. Truly an emperor to be afraid of.
News of 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)’s reinstatement travels to her quarters. Everyone is all teary eyed but of course, 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) is not conscious to hear the news. Somehow 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) gets wind of the news too and heads over to the 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)’s palace to congratulate her. Of course, she’s making this calculated move that she won’t actually be allowed in. Just the gesture is enough. The episode ends with 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) finding out 刘畚 (Liu Bei) was caught from the eunuch outside.
—–
[Karen]
Really quickly before I recap episode 24. 刘畚 (Liu Bei)’s caught, 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) is restored to a Noble Lady, and 华妃 (Hua Fei) is about to be demoted to a Concubine. Pretty simple – 华妃 (Hua Fei) will finally get some comeuppance right? Let’s see what happens.
安陵容 (An Ling Rong) is turned away from 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)’s palace. She’s heard the news of 刘畚 (Liu Bei)’s capture. She comes up with the brilliant plan to rub it into 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s face. According to her logic, once 华妃 (Hua Fei) hears the news, she will run to the Emperor and beg for forgiveness, annoying him even more, resulting in further punishment. Yes, that’s what I should do. She has her maid run along to tell the guards of 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s palace.
Ugh, I am SO mad at her! We have here on display 安陵容 (An Ling Rong)’s blatant selfishness and idiocy. She doesn’t think that there’s other alternatives for 华妃 (Hua Fei)! Her idiotic gesture just so happened to give 华妃 (Hua Fei) an easy out! Let’s see this play out.
华妃 (Hua Fei) hears about 刘畚 (Liu Bei)’s capture and is indeed frightened. However, she immediately starts thinking of next steps, informing her brother, pretending to be ill, and ordering the two Imperial doctors to stay quiet. 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) however provides the best strategy. Give the Emperor what he most needs right and all will be forgiven. What does he need right now? A cure for the plague!
华妃 (Hua Fei) rushes to see the Emperor the next morning with the two Imperial Doctors implicated in the case. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) just so happens to be there. The edict for 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s demotion hasn’t been given yet so no one says anything as of yet. 华妃 (Hua Fei) presents a cure for the plague and has the two doctors confirm that they’ve experimented with some eunuchs in the palace.
What wonderful news! The Emperor immediately tells the doctors to make more doses for the rest of the place an 惠贵人 (沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang)’s restored title). 华妃 (Hua Fei) reacts to the restored title by congratulating 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) too. Then, in a stroke of genius, she begs for forgiveness for any of her past discretions, she wants to make sure the Emperor is ok. Well the Emperor can’t say anything now. She just found a cure! He can’t punish her now. He even uses the two words 爱妃 – my loving consort. Definitely not demoted.
Upon seeing this, 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) quietly slips away. The head eunuch 苏培盛 (Su Pei Sheng) asks if the edict still needs to be delivered. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan), crestfallen, says no. It won’t be demotion, more like a promotion.
[Cathy]
Some time later, the Emperor comes to 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s place to console her. He must look at the bigger picture. 华妃 (Hua Fei) and the Imperial doctors have done a great service for the Empire. He cannot ignore this. He leaves, leaving 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) utterly disappointed. This is not how she envisioned the end of this case. Yes, 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) has her title restored but nothing happened to 华妃 (Hua Fei). The Emperor killed the doctor 刘畚 (Liu Bei) so there are no more witnesses. All was for naught. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is disenchanted with the results and more so to the fact that the Emperor suspected 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) of doing this to win favor.
[Karen] And this drama, no matter how popular it is and how glamorous the clothes and food are, shows us how terrible it was to be a woman in this system. You are constantly fighting over the favor of one man and it only matters if this man believes you. If he doesn’t believe you, you have no future. It’s quite a sad existence.
[Cathy]
Let’s return to 安陵容 (An Ling Rong). Everything would have been in the bag, so to say, but she just had to blab her mouth. Her timely news gave 华妃 (Hua Fei) the time to think of a plan and avoid punishment! Here’s the difference between 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) and 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan). Upon hearing that 华妃 (Hua Fei) delivered a cure, 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) does not bring up the case. There’s no point to draw any ire onto herself in this situation. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is constantly leveraging the costs and benefits. 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) makes no such calculation. She was so dumb to think that 华妃 (Hua Fei) would just let everything happen. She’s only thinking about self gratification, to see someone else suffer. She doesn’t think about the grand scheme of things, timing, just who 华妃 (Hua Fei) is. 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) thought that 华妃 (Hua Fei) would suffer even more humiliation but what happened NOTHING. Just UGHH.
[Karen] I don’t know though. I wonder if 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) knew that this is going to hurt 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) instead.
It is pretty suspicious that 华妃 (Hua Fei) was able to find a cure in such a short time. We do get a quick scene with the Imperial Doctor 温实初 (Wen Shi Chu). There’s something funny with that cure. We’ll get back to it later.
By now things seemed to have calmed down with the plague. The Emperor 皇上 (Emperor) receives a report that 年羹尧 (Nian Geng Yao)’s second son 年富 (Nian Fu) vanquished a revolt. He heads over to 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s place for lunch and she casually brings up the revolt. She starts asking the Emperor about 年富 (Nian Fu)’s reward, even requesting a knighthood for him and she is relentless in her request. The Emperor doesn’t show it but he’s pissed. He finally agrees but when he’s back in his study, he lashes out to 苏培盛 (Su Pei Sheng). Someone is sending messages between the Imperial Harem and the Imperial Court which is not acceptable. Otherwise, how would this news travel so fast? Remember that the harem should not be involved in court affairs.
Well obviously we know that this is the case. 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s entire bribery scam is propped up by her messages to her brother.
安陵容 (An Ling Rong) is summoned to the Emperors study. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is too but 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s matters are more serious. 赵之垣 (Zhao Zhi Yuan) has accused 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s father of disobeying the Emperor’s orders and bad manners in regards to 年羹尧 (Nian Geng Yao). 赵之垣 (Zhao Zhi Yuan) is the guy from the last episode that literally paid his way back into favor. He and 年羹尧 (Nian Geng Yao) are on the same team. The Emperor needs to thoroughly think this through and dismisses 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) who has been waiting outside in the cold for a while. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) tries to excuse herself but to no avail. Unfortunately, once again, 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) thinks 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) purposefully made her wait outside.
The Emperor decides to demote 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s father due to this indiscretion. 华妃 (Hua Fei) and 曹贵人 (Cao Gui Ren) are extremely pleased with the news. We find out that 华妃 (Hua Fei) told her brother about this meddlesome 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan). She’s pleased with 赵之垣 (Zhao Zhi Yuan)’s rapidity in this matter, though we as the viewers know that this is simply a trap.
[Cathy]
安陵容 (An Ling Rong) is preparing to spend the night with the Emperor. She has the gall to say, in a way, I’m happy that 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan)’s father got demoted. I feel closer to her now. We aren’t as distant! ARGH I can’t even. The Empress and Emperor have a conversation and after a suggestion from the Empress, the Emperor decides to summon 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) instead of 安陵容 (An Ling Rong). Once again, 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) thinks 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) purposefully did this. It doesn’t help that the pregnant 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) is right there laughing at her. 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) has this internal monologue – why do you have to steal what’s mine? I feel bad, I’ve been doubling down on 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) this entire time. She is in a bad situation but girl, you have to fight for yourself.
[Karen] – 皇后 (Empress), the empress is the one who caused this drama. She is SO slick. She’s not outright nasty like 富察贵人 (Fu Cha Gui Ren) or also 华妃 (Hua Fei). She likes to manipulate things into her favor. She purposefully brings up 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) and her father. She then coaxes him to spend more time with 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) instead of 安陵容 (An Ling Rong). She even says, they’re sisters. I’m sure 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) won’t mind. The Emperor of course doesn’t think any more of this and agrees. I however think this is all a clever ploy by the Empress! She’s intentionally creating these misunderstandings between the two ladies. 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) of course doesn’t know what’s happening and 安陵容 (An Ling Rong) just thinks that 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) is trying to steal all of her time with the Emperor. No one suspects 皇后 (Empress). Genius if I must say so.
[Cathy]
There’s a quick scene in which the Emperor restores 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s power in the Imperial Harem to manage the internal affairs. 敬嫔 (Jing Pin) is also promoted to 妃, from concubine to consort! Yay! This definitely is a reward for taking care of 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang). I’m genuinely happy for her! 华妃 (Hua Fei)’s facial expressions are hilarious. She’s super resentful.
The episode ends with 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) checking up on 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang). She’s recovering but it looks like she doesn’t care about her restored title and all of that pomp and circumstance.
There’s also this thread throughout the episode where 甄嬛 (Zhen Huan) constantly feels tired, is a bit lethargic, and overall doesn’t have a big appetite. What do you think is happening there? We’ll find out soon enough.
[Karen]
Now the interesting item in these two episodes is of course the disease that rocks Beijing. Throughout Chinese history, there have been records of various epidemics. Of course Chinese traditional medicine was used to treat patients as western medicine did really exist. 艾叶 or Chinese mugwort, which is a type of plant, is frequently discussed as something to burn to help ward off the disease. This plant is also supposed to help with menstruation and issues with infertility. Mugwort. Such a funny name. We’re not Chinese medicine experts so we can’t comment too much on the medicine that was used. At least, 沈眉庄 (Shen Mei Zhuang) is still alive and a cure was found.