comprehensive CHARACTER PLOT SUMMARY (no LN)

theworldisinperil January 23, 2025 10:59 am

ok so this is more for me since ts is SO good yet SO confusing. correct me if i’m wrong:

1. empress regent gave birth to former emperor. former emperor was a SICK PEDO; two of his young victims were Empress Dowager (Anshi) and Taihou (a servant).

2. Taihou gave birth to a girl, and ER covered the story up by saying the father was some random dude worker and banished the girls. the daughter ended up having an affair with Shi clan leader/tanuki (or he had an affair w her since he was married) and out came sui ren (formerly known as shi sui). tanuki, with his actual wife (the witchy bitch) had Lou Lan (alias shi ren).

3. sui ren was first a maid, “died,” and hid as a eunuch. it is implied she was the one who shot at jinshi/xiaomao before (which led to the infamous frog scene). loulan was a consort who used many lookalikes to practically imitate her 100% of the time so she could be shi sui. the sisters met near the bathhouses to discuss plans/steps.

4. back to anshi; she gave birth to the current emperor at age 11 (wtf). when the FE started losing interest in her after assaulting/harassing her childhood, she got pissed cuz like, wtf she went thru all of that just for nothing. so she raped him and conceived the imperial brother.

5. by this time, CE is the crowned prince. he alr had his first consort (also his first love, cute) ahdo. ahdo conceived a child, and by unfortunate events, both she and the DE (to the imperial prince) were giving birth at the same night. the obgyn at the time, luo men (xiaomao’s daddy) had to prioritize, so he chose the DE cuz higher status.

6. imperial brother born safely. when he returned to ahdo, he had to do c-section otherwise she would die. both she and the baby (jinshi) lived, but her womb needed to be taken out, so she was infertile since then (that’s why she started losing power later cuz couldn’t produce heirs).

7. ahdo smart cuz she realized how she was 2nd in priority, so to protect jinshi, she asked DE to sway babies. if anything happened, jinshi (now the DE’s baby) will be prioritized first. the DE agreed cuz she hated how the imperial brother was conceived due to her rape, which she regretted cuz that’s what happened to her as a child albeit from the same man.

8. jinshi is the CE actual son, but believes he is his brother.

9. later on, ahdo accidentally killed her baby (actually the imperial baby) with honey bc it was unknown to be poisonous. luo men was punished (knee cap) and banished for letting a consort’s baby die.

10. he ended up raising xiaomao (who was a tiny little girl at a brothel) as his adopted daughter. xiaomao’s mom turned out to be a sex worker there who was inflicted w a very serious STD and therefore stopped working/doesn’t show herself/lwk waiting to die. the man that impregnated the mom was the fox from the imperial court. he genuinely loves the mom, but due to shitty circumstances and timing, they couldn’t rlly live the life they envisioned with xiaomao. xiaomao knew abt all of this.

11. in the current time, why is this all happening, with the shi clan, maids, etc. the main accomplices are the maids and servants who were victims of the FE (who couldn’t go home, marry, etc after him) so they rlly hate him. jinshi is targeted cuz he looks sm like the FE. idk why the tanuki wants to do this tho, maybe for war and to become emperor himself but knowing this series, it’s likely deeper than that.

12. idk what the envoys get out of this, but they’re the ones who brought the feifa (gun) over here for the rebellion. fox’s adopted son mentioned the inexplicable growth in grain/metal prices, and it’s bc of the manufacturing of the feifas.

Responses
    icry January 23, 2025 12:17 pm

    I love you

    Fey January 24, 2025 4:39 am

    I actually didn't realized the part in point two like i didn't know there was a connection too damn thanks

    benzbeo January 24, 2025 2:29 pm

    i have been confused about who is jinshi really is until now thank you...so the handsome consort is his actual mother huh omg

    RJKav January 28, 2025 9:45 am

    Actually I disagree with number 7, I might be wrong but I read on a manga pannel that the dowager empress allowed rumors to surround her baby, specially that he was switched at bird and that he got his face burnt... etc.

    theworldisinperil January 29, 2025 8:57 am
    Actually I disagree with number 7, I might be wrong but I read on a manga pannel that the dowager empress allowed rumors to surround her baby, specially that he was switched at bird and that he got his face bur... RJKav

    her baby meaning the switched one aka jinshi right? maybe it’s cuz she didn’t want any unnecessary competition with the cp plus jinshi would’ve lived a life that was less stressful since if he’s like, disabled or smth, there wouldn’t be many supporters on his side. a win-win?

    Ashlyn February 5, 2025 1:20 pm

    I would like to correct a few things.
    9. It was Ahduo's maid who killed the baby that's why she (the maid) tried to kill Lishu.
    10. Maomao's mum is not a sex worker but a courtesan. It is mentioned that if the courtesan becomes impure her value drops to the half or more and if she gets pregnant her value becomes almost nothing. That is why Maomao's mum got pregnant, because she has feelings for Lakan and didn't wanted to get soled to other man. Even Maomao said that her mum had the methods to not get pregnant but she wanted to. Also I believe she don't really want to die, she is just desperate that Lakan didn't come back after 6 month as he promised, I believe that is why she sent the little fingers.

    theworldisinperil February 5, 2025 1:25 pm
    I would like to correct a few things. 9. It was Ahduo's maid who killed the baby that's why she (the maid) tried to kill Lishu. 10. Maomao's mum is not a sex worker but a courtesan. It is mentioned that if the ... Ashlyn

    for 10), that makes smmsmsms more sense. it adds so much for depth to the mom’s character, choosing to get preggo in order to avoid getting sold to another man. and thanks for correcting the courtesan part.

    for 9) who’s lishu again and to clarify, the maid accidentally killed the baby right?

    Ashlyn February 5, 2025 9:03 pm
    for 10), that makes smmsmsms more sense. it adds so much for depth to the mom’s character, choosing to get preggo in order to avoid getting sold to another man. and thanks for correcting the courtesan part. f... theworldisinperil

    Lishu is the Virtuous Consort, the little girl, who was at first the former emperor's consort.
    Ah Duo maid, Fengming's family are beekeepers, that is why they had a lot of honey and she was feeding the baby honey in hope the he will grow up strong and healthy, she just didn't know that some flowers nectar can be poisonous, that is how the baby died. Than Fengming came to know that Lishu, as a kid, almost died eating honey and that is why she tried to poison her on a banquet, afraid that Ah Duo will realise the baby's was her fault if she knew about it. The food was eventually swapped by one of Lishu's maid to prank Lishu and Maomao was the one who tasted it.

    Also I love Maomao parent's relationship, I cried when they reunited and Lakan bought Maomao's mum. I just can't hate Lakan, he is just so smitten for his wife and daughter.

    Ikuryo February 6, 2025 1:41 am

    Sui Rei.
    Sui Ren is Jinshi's maid/Currently Empress Dowager's ex maid.

    theworldisinperil February 6, 2025 4:54 pm
    Lishu is the Virtuous Consort, the little girl, who was at first the former emperor's consort. Ah Duo maid, Fengming's family are beekeepers, that is why they had a lot of honey and she was feeding the baby hon... Ashlyn

    oh my god, yes, the prank where maomao was deducting lishu’s position in the court (seeing how the maid had “power” to bully and pull the strings behind the consort) and where maomao tasted the poison omg it MAKES SM SENSE NOW WHY THAG SCENE WAS SO IMPORTANT.

    stop it’s just so well-written because you can’t hate anyone completely like i rmemeber that scene when maomao was a tiny child holding her dad’s hand near the brothel, and lakan saw her as he was on the ground and reached OJT FOR HER UGH.