Overview:
Maomao does her best to navigate the complex social situations at the garden party, including meeting the other Upper First rank concubines. But once she settles down to do her work as a food taster, she discovers a surprise in a bowl of soup.
Gaoshun goes to Maomao to get her help in resolving the events of the garden party. Later, Xiaolan explains the purpose of the hairpins Maomao was gifted, and Maomao makes a deal with Lihaku to finally visit home.
Our Take:
I was fully prepared to go on this rant about how I prefer natural beauty to makeup. While I still feel that way and believe me I understand how beauty standards have always been a part of human culture, I feel lied to. I might have missed it in a previous episode but finding out that Maomao’s freckles are fake felt like a betrayal! I’m exaggerating a bit but I was going to say how Maomao looked a lot better when she wasn’t wearing makeup but then it turns out she kind of does that every day.
We’ve come to learn that Maomao had a bit of a masochistic streak but I didn’t know quite how bad it was. While tasting food for the garden party, Maomao looked like she was the most aroused she’d ever been. A soldier who had gifted her a hairpin earlier in the day looked upon her and thought it was odd how excited she looked as she could have potentially ingested poison.
Speaking of the man who gave her a hairpin, his name is Lihaku and while he seemed nice it turns out he’s kind of dick. I wasn’t exactly surprised but it was a bit disappointing, the hairpins have a special meaning. Maomao uses it to her advantage to take a return trip home. It seems like Maomao’s father might know more than he lets on.