Royal Feast Episode 16 Recap
> Royal Feast Recap
Following Yao Zijin's revelation about the Empress's misdiagnosis, Zhu Zhanji brought her to the Tai Hospital's pharmacy to find a specific medicine for "disharmony of qi and blood"—clams from Liaodong, as recommended by Sheng Taiyi. He stated his lack of full trust in his Royal Guards, valuing Yao Zijin's superior ability to distinguish medicinal materials. Yao Zijin quickly located a locked item she identified as the correct medicine.
After Zhu Zhanji instructed them to wait for a while before leaving, one of his guards was apprehended for an unspecified misdeed. Zhu Zhanji sternly ordered the guard taken away, highlighting his rigorous discipline and emphasizing his reliance on Yao Zijin. The Empress's health continued to decline. Despite her weakened state, she insisted on seeing Emperor Zhu Gaochi, pleading with him to allow Sheng Taiyi to continue treating her.
The Emperor hesitated, influenced by a past incident where Sheng Taiyi's diagnosis had nearly caused a royal heir harm. Guo Bianfei further fueled his fears, vehemently insisting that the Empress’s condition was a "happy pulse," or pregnancy, a diagnosis reportedly confirmed by multiple imperial doctors. She implied the Empress was selfishly jeopardizing the royal heir by trusting Sheng Taiyi, contrasting it with her own willingness to sacrifice her life for a royal child.
The Empress vehemently denied being pregnant, describing her immense pain and expressing her fear of dying within three days if not properly treated. Zhu Zhanji attempted to mediate, asking his father to forgive his mother's distraught words. The Empress, emotional, reminded the Emperor of her decades of loyalty and service, pleading for his trust just this once to allow Sheng Taiyi to save her life.
However, the Emperor, swayed by Guo Bianfei and his own fears about a potential royal heir, disregarded her pleas, ordering her back to Kunning Palace and summoning all imperial doctors for a joint consultation. The Empress, heartbroken and in pain, retreated. The Emperor later reflected on the Empress's uncharacteristic behavior, finding her arbitrary and irresponsible. Upon returning to Kunning Palace, the Empress was soon followed by Zhu Zhanji.
He brazenly brought Sheng Taiyi into the palace concealed in a sack, having his guards hold a sword to Pan Siyao’s neck to silence her protest that the Emperor had banned Sheng Taiyi from the palace. Zhu Zhanji dismissed the rules, prioritizing his mother's life. Sheng Taiyi swiftly diagnosed the Empress, determining her condition was not pregnancy but rather blocked meridians and stagnant blood, and emphasized that without immediate treatment, even Hua Tuo could not save her in three days.
He explained that the previous nourishing treatments were dangerous and prescribed potent remedies to invigorate blood and dispel stasis. However, Dai Yuan Pan and other imperial doctors fiercely opposed Sheng Taiyi’s diagnosis, calling him a "quack" and his prescribed remedies dangerous, especially to a potential royal heir. They insisted that the Empress's symptoms, including four months of amenorrhea and a fluctuating slippery pulse, conclusively indicated pregnancy.
Zhu Zhanji held his mother's hand, empowering her to make the final decision regarding her treatment. He promised his unwavering support and protection, even pledging to remain by her side within her palace. He reminded her of her own teachings about decisiveness and contrasted her past unwavering support for his father's bold decisions with the Emperor's current lack of trust in her judgment. Moved by his support, the Empress instructed Sheng Taiyi to administer the medicine.
Dai Yuan Pan and the other imperial doctors promptly reported the situation to the Emperor, exaggerating the danger. The Emperor, enraged, rushed to Kunning Palace and confronted Zhu Zhanji, accusing him of rashness and endangering the Empress and a potential heir. Sheng Taiyi, having already made a life-or-death pledge before Zhu Zhanji, boldly challenged the other imperial doctors to make a similar pledge.
Zhu Zhanji calmly stood his ground, defending his mother's right to choose and reminding his father of his own past defiance for principle, which his mother had always supported unconditionally. Despite the Emperor's threats against Sheng Taiyi and his entire clan, the Empress took the prescribed medicine. Soon after, she passed a significant amount of blood stasis, and her condition visibly improved, validating Sheng Taiyi's diagnosis and treatment.
To aid the Empress's recovery, Yao Zijin dedicated herself to preparing medicated diets, spending sleepless nights meticulously crafting dishes designed to restore the Empress's qi and blood after her strong medicine. Though Yao Zijin poured her heart into these preparations, Hu Sishan consistently took credit for her work, having Yuehua present the meals to the Empress and reaping the rewards.
Yao Zijin's maid, Ziping, expressed her frustration over this injustice, but Yao Zijin saw it as an opportunity for more practice and believed that eventually, her irreplaceable skills would shine. The Empress enjoyed dishes like "longan medlar pigeon egg soup" and "Chicken with Bergamot," noting their unique flavors which contained special ingredients like "Tofu milk and glutinous rice wine." On another occasion, the Empress expressed fondness for "hot soup with fried dumplings," a street snack from her hometown, Yongcheng.
When asked about the soup's seasonal ingredients, the person presenting the meal (Yuehua) remained silent, leading the Empress to deduce that another person was the true cook. As the Empress largely recovered and regained her mobility, she smashed her long-used spinning wheel.
She told her attendants that this spinning wheel, a gift from the late Empress Renxiao, represented the traditional marital ideal of "male ploughing and female weaving" and "husband and wife harmony," which she had always diligently upheld throughout her marriage. However, during her recent life-threatening illness, her husband, Emperor Zhu Gaochi, prioritized an uncertain "royal heir" over their decades of marital devotion, leaving her utterly disillusioned and heartbroken.
Her act of destroying the spinning wheel was a powerful symbolic rejection of her former dutiful role; she even ordered it sent to the Food Bureau to be used as firewood. Guo Bianfei's favor with the Emperor continued to grow, causing increasing friction with the Empress and even within the Food Bureau.
The Emperor, who was unwell, dismissed his son Zhu Zhanji's advice about curbing the Royal Guards' power and investigating local corruption, complaining that Zhu Zhanji and his mother were working together to anger him. Meanwhile, in the Food Bureau, palace maids associated with the Empress and Guo Bianfei clashed over valuable medicinal ingredients, specifically black wolfberry, which was claimed for both the Empress and for the Emperor's heart condition on behalf of Guo Bianfei.
The argument escalated into a physical altercation, fueled by accusations of social climbing and unfair advantage. This led the Shangshi official to intervene. The official noted that the Emperor had reinstated an official named Meng, indicating that a fair competition would determine who could truly command respect within the Food Bureau.
Concurrently, the Empress received news of numerous honors bestowed upon Guo Bianfei's family: her brother, Guo Xuan, was made Marquis of Wuding, and her grandmother, Yan, and mother, Xu, received elevated titles, while the assets of a disgraced former imperial attendant, Huang Yan, were also given to the Marquis of Wuding. Despite the clear signs of Guo Bianfei's rising power, the Empress remained composed, calmly stating that "everything is planned before moving, being too impatient cannot achieve great things."
She dispatched her granddaughter, Guo Duansu, with a message to her grandmother, urging the Guo family to exercise caution and self-restraint to ensure their long-term stability and prosperity. She also sent valuable medicinal herbs, including thousand-year-old wild ginseng and ganoderma, for her grandmother's health and instructed Guo Duansu to closely monitor her grandmother's attendants. The Empress acknowledged that their elevation would cause discontent and that "disaster is not far away" if they were not vigilant.
The Crown Princess visited Zhu Zhanji in his study, "Solitude," which she noted as rudimentary. She attempted to rekindle his affections by presenting his beloved zither, "Solitude," which she had meticulously repaired after its silk strings broke, and offered to play for him and keep him company. Zhu Zhanji, however, remained distant, politely declining her offers of companionship and stating she need not attend to him daily.
The Crown Princess attempted to justify her presence by invoking the traditional duties of a wife, citing the example of his mother as the Eastern Palace concubine. Despite her efforts, Zhu Zhanji asked his attendant, Yuan Qi, to escort her away. Immediately after her departure, Zhu Zhanji inquired why Yao Zijin had not yet delivered his meal. His attendant explained that Yao Zijin had arrived earlier but, seeing the Crown Princess present, had discreetly left the food box and departed.
Displeased, Zhu Zhanji, gazing at the blooming peach blossoms outside, ordered his attendant to have the Food Bureau "redo" his meal, clearly intending for Yao Zijin to personally deliver it this time.
