Seeing that Xiao Dong is an obstacle to her plans, Zheng Er sets about to find his weakness. She guesses that the lowly peasant is in love with Xue Wu. Xiao Dong denies it but one has to wonder. He warns her to keep her mitts off the prince.
As Xiao Dong is getting onto his horse, Zheng Er makes a move to spook the animal. Right at that moment, though, Chang Gong is walking near when the horse starts to rear. Zheng Er pushes the prince out of the way only to be struck by the horse's hooves herself. The doctor assures the prince that she'll recover with time. Chang Gong now feels responsible for Zheng Er's injuries since she was saving his life.
Xiao Dong tries to open Xue Wu's eyes to Zheng Er's evil but the divine sorceress refuses to see. A guilty Chang Gong insists on nursing Zheng Er himself, leaving his new wife all alone.
Cracks start to develop in their relationship.
The next morning the prince leaves early for work. Xue Wu goes in to check on a supposedly sleeping Zheng Er. As Xue Wu checks the girl's pulse, Zheng Er murmurs Chang Gong's name. Pretending to wake up fully, Zheng Er apologizes as she thought the prince had come back to warm her hands like he did last night. Xue Wu struggles to keep the faith.
With Xue Wu and Xiao Dong gone to visit Veteran's Village, Zheng Er sets out to create more havoc. For one thing she snoops around Xiao Dong's (rather large) room and discovers one of Xue Wu's handkerchiefs. Next she goes to the marketplace (always a hotbed of gossip and rumor) and puts out the word that she is Han Xiao Dong's long lost wife. She weaves the story that Xiao Dong abandoned her so he could stay close to Xue Wu.
Later in the day Xiao Cui goes to the market and of course hears the story. She storms back to Lan Ling Manor and right into Zheng Er's room. By this time Zheng Er has gotten back and is acting all sick in bed again but Xiao Cui isn't fooled. She knows somehow Zheng Er is behind this latest scandal.
Xiao Cui yanks off Zheng Er's bed covers to reveal the sick woman is still in her street clothes. Chang Gong happens to be walking by (he's been doing that a lot in this episode) and comes to see what all the ruckus is about. When he asks Zheng Er why she's been up and about since she's so sick, she comes up with this story that she wanted to get treatment on her own as it isn't right for the mighty prince to be nursing a lowly maid. Chang Gong checks his brain at the door and totally buys her excuse.
Xue Wu and Xiao Dong return home to find it in an uproar. When asked, Xiao Dong laughs off any idea of him having a wife anywhere. But when asked if he's got one of the princess consort's handkerchiefs, Xiao Dong must confess he does. He explains it was the very handkerchief soaked in antidote that Xue Wu sent back from Zhou to save Chang Gong's life. Xiao Dong kept the cloth as this adventure was the first time in his life that he felt he had accomplished something major and great. Chang Gong seems to accept this explanation. Seems to. (I don't. We all know very well Xiao Dong kept the handkerchief because he's in love with Xue Wu.)
The cracks widen.
In order to protect Xue Wu's reputation from any further damage, Xiao Dong agrees to leave Lan Ling Manor. (Oh Cute Boy, I hope this isn't the end of you on the show.)
Grandma Fu drops in to give the "Have a baby before I die" speech. To make sure the work gets done, Fu decides to stay at the manor. Zheng Er sees this as just another obstacle in her path. I'm not worried about Grandma, though. I think Fu has enough experience that she can handle Zheng Er.
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