GTY fights with his dad & the girls Kneel for 3 days

SPOILERS AHEAD

1)GTY wishes to have his nursemaid return. This is all reasonable but his father is against this. GTY has a sound argument prepared: all the other family members do this so why can't I? his father over reacts and has the court yard sealed, and his elder brother takes this opportunity to report that GTY has a commoner as a mistress.

2)This is a big deal. His father is actually very right to be angry--a noble's son to have a mistress before having a legitimate wife is a terrible idea because who would want to marry such a person? who would send their daughter into a situation like that, unless they were desperate? GTY is caned, and while he is being caned his father focuses on the health of this elder son.

3)Eldest son begs GTY to concede. GTY is emotionless as he says (great line) 'why should I apologize when I have a brother like you'---he clearly says, loud enough for his father to hear, that elder brother pretended to stop the fight but used it as a chance to expose an even bigger problem, his mistress to sow discord. he also accuses him of colluding with the other houses. his father ignores this entire argument. after, GTY is very direct with his elder brother which provokes him into a coughing fit.

4)Back at the Sheng house, in a parallel sitution , Ming Lan is bowing in the shrine of the ancestors (this is sort of the most extreme punishment for a lady) for 3 days. She tries to help Rulan (who is angry with her for not standing up totheir father) see that she was silent because she did not want to incite their father to a harsher punishment, but Rulan is adamant that she has her pride (Rulan is unable to see that Ming Lan can't afford to have that kind of pride because she does not want to worry her grandmother).

5)It is a windy knight, and Big Madame cannot sleep for her worry of Rulan keeps her up. She goes to the shrine to check on her knees (they are going to be bruised terribly). She does not check on Ming Lan (the screen shot for when they open the shrine doors is actually kind of cool). Big Madame after is surprised that Old Madame has not sent someone to check on Ming Lan. She concludes that this is because she is not a blood relative (in truth, if Old Madame sent someone over, she would probably complain that she does not dote on her daughter enough I think)

6)In a rather shocking display that is really not seen at any other time (maybe because she is young) Mo'er is quite rude to the Big Madame and implies that Rulan should be punished so that she does not shame the family by having a premarital affair (an extremely, extremely rude thing to say to anyone, especially the legitimate wife) earning her a slap. the sad thing is that the legitimate wife has lost so much face and her power so usurped by concubine lin that she really has no recourse to punish her or complain

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7)Master Sheng goes to see his concubine first for a meal (see how quickly he has forgotten his mother's instructions to go to the legitimate wife first) he proceeds to compliment her on how well she has taught Mo'er and explain he must be harsh with rulan for her own good (in fact this is actually true as we will later see because in spoiling Mo'er bad things happen).

8)While Big Madame endures the humiliation of being seen second and waiting for Master Sheng, Old Madame receives a report on Ming Lan. She knows Ming Lan is trying her best and she quite adorably tries to appear strict but can't. Back to Big Madame, Master Sheng treats her very differently from Concubine Lin. He is more reserved, although he makes a show of acknowledging the effort she put into the meal. Big Madame chooses to act a little out of character and take a page out of Concubine Lin's book by fawning first over the minister and then fake crying--its just that Concubine Lin is much better at it and it is totally inconsistent with her character--it works at first but she can't back down

9) He becomes angry at her--'how do you not understand' we finally learn that his punishment of the girls actually has a deeper meaning--he cares less about the incident and more about who saw it--Ming Lan and Ru Lan were the ones who (for all intents and purpose) offended, and in front of a countess--the family would look bad if they don't receive a strict punishment. this shows how big madame is a bit short in her role as big madame because she is so short sighted. she can't do her responsibilities well, but Master Sheng is also wrong for neglecting her (but that is a separate issue) and that neglect has created a big divide between the two wives, hence it makes things worse

10)Big Madame seeks out grandmother and uses Ming Lan as her bargaining chip--she's weak, please help her--but that fails, so she brings up Hu'er and her problems. Luckily, Old Madame has it figured out. First she will have the imperial physician visit when her childhood friend who trained the concubines in the palace visit--the physician can check Hu'aer when she visits, and the friend can give the two girls lessons. This is a huge deal, because not just anyone can receive lessons from Momo Kong

.11)Ming Lan's knees are covered in bruises, and medicine is applied as she learns about her upcoming lessons with Momo Kong. She won't go to school (its a big deal that they have gone to school a lot of women can't read or write).

12)Yuan Ruo tries to find out from Second Son what happened to the girls--he brushes him off until he finally says they are being punished

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