While we’re still dealing with the aftermath of the Shi family’s destruction, we now also have to deal with two new problems that have been laid out in front of us over the span of the past five episodes. The locust / grasshopper plague that’s ravaging the lands and only promising to get worse as well as the white snake woman who is able to fascinate the capital’s nobility while also seemingly handing out very addictive and damaging drugs to the most vulnerable population. We’re dealing with a combination of systematic destruction as well as natural disaster.

Yet life at the palace goes on as normal. Luomen has taken over Maomao’s spot with master Guen (the quack doctor) and has been a massive boon for the doctor. At least that’s what he thought as it looks like Maomao’s being summoned back to the palace. And it looks like a possible replacement for her duties down here is already in the works as Sazen is showing himself to be much more knowledgeable on medicine and herbs than Maomao expected. Despite falling, the Shi family continues to impress. If she can employ Sazen as her replacement while going to the palace, she has much more leeway. Sazen on the other hand seems to need some convincing. He doesn’t think too highly of himself, but he doesn’t quite realize that despite his humble upbringing, he can still be someone who makes a name for themselves. Your parents wealth is no indication of intelligence, only of means.

I do love that Maomao’s first instinct upon seeing the quack doctor is that he’s gotten himself fired. It turns out I was wrong in my prediction that Maomao is going to have to work at the palace, but I was right that she would be leaving. Herself, the quack doctor and Jinshi seem to be heading out together. At the very least the kids get a good laugh at Maomao sharing a name with the cat. Surely the fact that they’re bringing the cat along isn’t a sign that the cat will end up playing a valuable role in whatever business they’ll have at the village. Something, something, Chekov’s gun.

Here we once again see that my predictions based on the opening are often very wrong. Jinshi’s wound on his face festering seems to be less so a real thing but instead just a way to disguise his face. A running theme in this show that I really like is that whenever Maomao catches on to something on the political movings in the palace she quickly dismisses it because she really doesn’t want to bother worrying about it. Here she notices that Jinshi is being prepared for the possible role of emperor. But she also rightfully recognizes that there are still many boys in front of Jinshi when it comes to the royal line.

We end up traveling several days south-west to the quack doctor’s hometown where they grow rice and barley. We immediately realize something is amiss, as one of the farmers looks like he’s been through hell and back despite the crops seemingly doing well. Someone that isn’t doing well is Jinshi, who almost collapses his entire disguise when he hears even the slightest possibility that Maomao might be hitched to someone else at some point. And before we dive into whatever is plaguing the village, we look at it from more of a personal level.

Let me start naming Guen by name as calling him the quack throughout this arc will be quite mean. It looks like his relationship with his nephews isn’t exactly great, despite Guen taking over for his sister and going to the rear palace in his stead. And of course, he has greatly exaggerated his worth to his family. Don’t we all? They want him to make a request of the emperor and he immediately admits that this is beyond his limit. He doesn’t realize that the emperor’s little brother (actually his son) is sitting right there, and he has a lot more pull than anyone else in the room would have.

And here we get to meet one of the worst kinds of people that are out there, both in fantasy stories and in the real world. You’ve guessed it, landlords. After the passing of the previous holder of these lands, the established deals that allowed the family working here to buy the land over the span of twenty years seemed to be more and more abused to the point that payment is being hasted, presumably in an attempt to make the deal null and void and run off with both the land and the money spent on it so far.

It seems that there’s quite a bit at play in this village that goes beyond the simple greed of a landowner trying to make up for a lower profit margin. That’s always what it comes down to, right? Not a loss, but a lower profit. We can’t have that, less profit than the previous year might as well be the end of the world for the rich. But having Maomao, Jinshi and Basen present at the meeting should make it a lot more interesting. We’ll have to see what they get done in the next episode and I hope to see you all there again. Thanks for reading!