Juniper
Episode 39 of “The Rebel Princess” starts off with Princess Wang Xuan’s (Awu) mother’s maid sneaking off to meet Pang Gui, the Wang family’s loyal bodyguard. She informs him that she found some dubious herbs in Awu’s daily tonic and upon consulting with a physician, she discovered that it’s contraceptives which if taken long term, will lead to infertility. She thinks Awu’s husband, General Xiao Qi doesn’t want any children with Awu because he doesn’t want any kids who’ll be half Wang. What she doesn’t know is that Xiao Qi did indeed request the royal physician to slip in contraceptive herbs but it’s not because he doesn’t want babies with Awu. It’s because Xiao Qi knows that Awu’s health will be endangered if she is pregnant (he was informed by the physician after Awu’s miscarriage). Couldn’t the woman just have asked Xiao Qi why contraceptives are in Awu’s tonic instead of asking Pang Gui to look into Xiao Qi?
At the door of this secret meeting, the Queen’s spy who happens to be one of Awu’s maid, Su Jin Er is eavesdropping. She will report everything to the Queen because she thinks the Queen will help her get back together with the Third Prince, Zi Dan who has gone off to guard the Royal Mausoleum (basically exile).
In court, the Hulan envoy, He Lan Zhen has requested the King to arrange a marriage between one of the noble families and He Lan Zhen’s brother. Of course no one from any of the noble families would have been happy to have their daughter married off to a far away land where she would most likely lead a terrible life. The King has no choice but to agree for the sake of peace, He Lan Zhen agrees to a truce if a marriage takes place. At the dinner for the envoy, girls from the noble families are invited (although we only see 2 girls, Awu’s brattish cousin and Cai Wei who has been picked by the King to marry the Hulan prince).
At this dinner, He Lan Zhen requests the King for a Wang family girl and the only Wang family girl eligible to marry is that cousin who had been brought into court by the Queen Mother to be one of the King’s concubines. He Lan Zhen is plotting to kill Xiao Qi but he knows the only way to get him killed is if Xiao Qi doesn’t go back to guard the Kingdom’s borders. He Lan Zhen is in league with the Xiao family, i.e. the Third Prince and the Queen. The Queen wants nothing more than to avenge her Xia family as her father’s death was caused by the Wang family.
Just about everyone in this drama is plotting Xiao Qi’s downfall. The Queen doesn’t care that if Xiao Qi were to lose power, her husband the King will be without a loyal advisor. Even when one of the courtiers from her family is arrested for corruption, she goes all out to protect him. The Queen wants her Xie family to be back in power so that they can call the shots.
Meanwhile, Awu’s cousin who is set to marry the Hulan prince is throwing multiple tantrums as she absolutely will not go to that far away land. She already had her heart set on becoming one of the King’s concubines. This cousin and her mother are such vile characters as they show zero gratitude to Awu for the Wang family’s hospitality (they are staying in the Wang family mansion) and they are just born trouble makers.
