A Splendid Match Episode 17

Squashing a rebellion

Once the emperor died the city was under martial law. Fu had everything in place to frame the Marquis with the Senji Battalion. He wanted Chen to protect the crown prince even with his life. Chen knows what his mentor is and that he has to protect himself as well as crown prince. Ye Xian was still under house arrest but still communicated via his guard. JinZhao told her aunt that the only way to save the Marquis household from Xiao traitor was to use YeXian’s palace token to warn the Marquis. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and the Shenji Battalion used firearms to decimate the Marquis and his guards when they came in to try to save the new emperor. Chen had a plan to save the Marquis but it involved YeXian being willing to sacrifice himself for the crown prince. He planted a decoy that had the rebel prince think the crown prince was an easy target. Ye Xian protected him and used his needles to kill the rebel prince. Fu was not happy that YeXian’s actions made the charges against the Marquis look ridiculous. Chen managed to keep everyone alive. Ye Xian killed his mentor and then confronted Chen. He had no clue how fed up Chen is with his mentor. He was reminded that he and his father were still alive and that was the most Chen could do for them. Chen strongly suggested he find a way to make himself useful and build up his own house. Fu’s gleeful reaction to the injuries the Marquis sustained and how long he would need to heal was rather heinous. What was even more disgusting he received a huge promotion and is right at the top to get the new emperor’s ear. He is annoyed that YeXian is now in charge of the penal colony and close to the new emperor because that is a power source the emperor can be in charge of exclusively. This job is quite suitable for YeXian’s skills. Fu has even more plans by not letting the Marquis be a station given by birth. He is wanting control of the military. Fu is getting more and more brazen with his plans. Chen is fortunately a good counter balance. He pretends to be his most faithful disciple to stay in good graces, but it takes every effort he has not to choke the man he once considered mentor. YeXian greets JinZhao and almost collapses. He tells her the story of the mentor that took such good care of him when growing up. When he learned the truth he again used his needle crossbow to kill his mentor. With his dying breath Xiao told him to his face he was only a pawn. He asked JinZhao to share a drink with him. She ended up drinking for him. He thanked her for her help and when she passed out he tenderly covered her and left. He is slowly changing into a young man instead of staying the petulant noble determined to always get his own way. He is already making adjustments in the penal colony and has already made his first enemy — the one formerly in charge. Fu is now pushing for Chen to get married and his mother is more than happy to get onboard with that. She has three she likes the best and the Gu girls are not going to be anywhere close to acceptable. Chen has other plans and invites JinZhao over. This episode focused on the next stage of Fu’s ambitious plans. He has set up reforms to get the most taxes possible from the people and now he has achieved even more power with a very young emperor to ‘mentor’. This is one area where Chen and YeXian can agree to work together. Planning the downfall of Fu.

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