Story of Yanxi Palace Episode 3 Recap
> Story of Yanxi Palace Recap
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The Emperor, believing Wei Yingluo had disrespected the spiritual cypress tree, ordered her to be caned thirty times. However, Wei Yingluo cleverly claimed the tree had appeared in her dream, complaining of an itch and asking her to scratch its back. Though the Emperor initially found her story nonsensical, he was swayed by her insistence that a spiritual tree could indeed communicate through dreams and ultimately let her go.
After the Emperor left, Madam Zhang admonished Wei Yingluo for her audacity, then explained the tree's revered status: it was said to have magically shaded the Emperor during a hot summer, a sign of his divine connection. Wei Yingluo, however, scoffed at the notion, believing it was merely the Emperor's way of asserting his image as the Son of Heaven.
Fearing the Emperor might realize her deception, she hastily pulled Madam Zhang away, confident she would not be found among the identically dressed palace maids. Later, the Emperor visited the Empress Dowager, who expressed concern for his health. During their conversation, the Emperor found his thoughts drifting to Wei Yingluo's peculiar claim about the cypress tree, a faint interest stirring within him.
The Empress Dowager attempted to steer the conversation towards Noble Lady Shu, a new consort, but the Emperor, clearly uninterested, soon excused himself. As he departed, the Empress Dowager lamented that all women in the palace, no matter how clever or beautiful, eventually lose their distinctiveness and become like common "fish eyes." Soon after, the Emperor realized Wei Yingluo's story was a blatant lie. Enraged, he returned to the garden to punish her, only to discover she had fled.
He angrily kicked a nearby eunuch, blaming him for letting the Empress Dowager worry about his affairs, and sternly ordered him to find the "little palace maid." Meanwhile, in her palace, the Empress was furious upon learning that Ming Yu had turned away the troubled Noble Lady Yu. Ming Yu defended her actions, arguing that the Empress should not risk clashing with the powerful Noble Consort Gao for an unfavored concubine.
The Empress, asserting her duty as the "mother of the nation," insisted on intervening. Their tense exchange was interrupted by the Emperor's arrival. The Empress then informed him of Noble Lady Yu's pregnancy and proposed setting up a porridge kitchen to pray for the child, subtly blaming her maids for discouraging the idea due to her own delicate health. The Emperor, disappointed by the focus on harem matters, showed little interest and quickly departed.
The Empress later confided in Ming Yu that her priority was ensuring Noble Lady Yu's safe delivery, as investigating past schemes was now futile. Having learned from the Empress about Noble Consort Gao's harassment of the pregnant Noble Lady Yu, the Emperor dispatched a eunuch to deliver a "Diamond Sutra" to her. He ordered her to copy the 5,000-word text under the eunuch's watch to "calm her temper."
Incensed by this veiled punishment, Noble Consort Gao learned the Emperor had just come from the Empress's palace and correctly deduced who had reported her. She remained defiant, believing the Emperor would not interfere directly in harem affairs, as it would imply the Empress was incompetent at managing them. She interpreted the sutra merely as a subtle reminder to leave Noble Lady Yu alone.
Elsewhere, as palace maids gossiped about the handsome imperial guards, particularly the Empress's younger brother, Fuca Fu Heng, Wei Yingluo was secretly approached by Qing Xi, a guard and a former acquaintance of her deceased sister, Yingning. He expressed concern and urged her to abandon any thoughts of revenge. Wei Yingluo scornfully rebuffed him, questioning his right to interfere after he had abandoned her sister due to their differing social statuses.
She dismissed him as a coward unworthy of her sister. Having secretly observed this meeting, a jealous palace maid named Ling Long promptly reported to Madam Fang that Wei Yingluo was meeting a guard. Madam Fang, still holding a grudge against Wei Yingluo, stormed into a nearby storage room to apprehend her. However, Wei Yingluo had anticipated this. As Madam Fang burst in, Wei Yingluo feigned being accosted, shouting about being "peeked at" and striking out blindly in the dark.
In the ensuing chaos, Madam Fang's back was injured, and Wei Yingluo feigned innocence and concern, leaving her attacker defeated and vowing revenge. Wei Yingluo confidently told a worried colleague that Madam Fang's injury would keep her away for at least ten to fifteen days. After the commotion, Wei Yingluo discovered a distinctively knotted tassel on the ground, one she recognized as a gift she had given to her sister Yingning.
She cunningly questioned a maid named Bing Qing, who revealed the tassel was made by a former embroidery maid named A Man, who was expelled from the palace for an unknown crime. Deducing that Madam Fang knew more, Wei Yingluo's inquiries were soon reported back to the suspicious supervisor.
Finding the name "Wei Yingluo" unsettlingly familiar, Madam Fang summoned Ling Long and ordered her to spy on Wei Yingluo, threatening to expose Ling Long's own history of snitching if she refused. Later, two new consorts, Noble Lady Shu and First Attendant Qing, visited the Embroidery House. Noble Lady Shu, a "sister" of the disgraced Uya Qing Dai, immediately recognized Wei Yingluo from the "lotus steps" incident that led to Uya's expulsion and subtly warned her not to be presumptuous.
At the same time, Supervisor Li, under the Emperor's orders, arrived to identify the "tree-scratching" maid. He had all the embroidery maids line up and repeat the phrase, "I am scratching the spiritual tree." Wei Yingluo cleverly mimicked a clumsy, foolish maid and escaped detection, slipping back into the crowd just as Supervisor Li's eyes passed over her. Eager to advance her standing, Ling Long spotted Fuca Fu Heng nearby.
She feigned an emergency, handed her duties to Wei Yingluo, and prepared to orchestrate a dramatic fall in his path. However, as she moved to stage her accident, Wei Yingluo intervened, helping her up and preventing the spectacle. She quietly warned Ling Long that such schemes could cost her her life. Fuca Fu Heng, having observed the entire exchange, understood that Wei Yingluo had subtly saved him from an awkward situation. Intrigued, he approached her directly and, with a knowing glance, told her not to underestimate him.
