Xue Wu asks her husband to search for Xiao Dong (when she should be asking him to stop wearing those stupid feathers).
The Queen Dowager confides in Xiao Cui that she's not just here to help get Xue Wu pregnant. Grandma Fu has heard Zheng Er is now part of the household and Granny doesn't like it. She orders the troublesome maid to be brought before her.
To Xiao Cui's confusion, Grandma Fu acts all warm and fuzzy towards Zheng Er. She thanks the maid for saving Chang Gong from the horse and forgives Zheng Er for her part in framing the prince. Fu then goes on to say Zheng Er is too lovely and talented to be wasting her life as a maid. She should be married off to a fine family. Zheng Er is like, "Oh no, I'm perfectly happy working here at the manor. Please don't trouble yourself." Now the Queen Dowager is all cold and offended that her gracious offer has been rebuffed and dismisses the girl.
Zheng Er goes to the kitchens (where there are tomatoes!) and slips a little something into the tea being brewed for the Queen Dowager. When Fu wakes from her nap, Xiao Cui goes to fetch a cup of tea. Fu takes about two sips of the tainted concoction and faints dead away. As Xue Wu rushes to the lady's bedside, the household staff start to wonder if this is a sign of the Taoist monk's prediction coming true. Perhaps the master should get a concubine.
As Fu wakes back up, she asks that this incident be swept under the rug. Zheng Er advises Xue Wu that perhaps it would be better for the Queen Dowager to return to the palace and her own doctors. Fu won't hear of it. She'll be fine. Chang Gong dares to jump Xue Wu's case for not being there for his grandmother when this all went down. (Xue Wu was at the Veteran's Village.) Chang Gong, you're needing a slap upside the head.
Chang Gong continues to be an ass. I continue to want to knock his block off. Men. Can't live with them, can't kill them without the risk of going to jail.
While Xue Wu is off tending to the Queen Dowager, Zheng Er gets all so helpful and comfy with the prince. She claims to have an idea on solving the budget crisis but it will involve Chang Gong taking Zheng Er with him to the palace tomorrow.
Xue Wu leaves the manor early to go wrap things up at Veteran's Village so she can spend more time caring for her grandmother-in-law. The grateful, and now self-supporting, villagers give her a small pot with the first sprouts they've grown. Xue Wu takes it back to the manor house and leaves the pot on Chang Gong's desk. Also, Grandma Fu is up out of bed and on the mend. You'd think things are going to work out.
You'd think wrong.
Meanwhile at the palace. Zheng Er's grand idea is to squeeze the royal concubines for all they're worth. Really? That's your plan to replenish the treasury? (Also, if these are the royal concubines, I feel sorry for the emperor.)
Whatever, it seems to work. Chang Gong reports back to his father how all the concubines were willing to donate their jewelry and now Qi has a surplus. The prince goes on to give credit where credit is due and acknowledges Zheng Er as the one who came up with the idea. Chang Gong asks his father to formerly pardon the woman.
Xue Wu cooks all of her husband's favorite dishes for dinner and waits for him to come home. And waits and waits and waits.
It's late by the time Chang Gong and Zheng Er return home. She presses him to accept a jade pendant as her thanks for asking the emperor for a pardon. Then seeing that Xue Wu has seen them, Zheng Er suddenly throws her arms around the prince.
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