Key to the Phoenix Heart Episode 9

Brother truths, growing friendship and accommodating distasteful guests

Episode starts with WuYi landing hard and head hitting brick from target. Fortunately the blindness was temporary. JiaYu’s stories of the handsome Mao just thrilled him to tears.🤣😂😝she is concerned for his well being but has no concern of his feelings nor considers them a couple. He bears this in mind with the promise he has made to her mother. His mother visits with medicine but still won’t talk to him. JiaYu tries to convince her to visit and when that fails asks to be taught how to make chicken soup. They argue about her prying into his family affairs and she later explains what happened in context. I like that Mao got to be on the receiving end with how excellent his friend choices are and that she will make every effort to protect WuYi who is a pillar for the people. Interesting how similar the friends’ pouty faces are. 🤣😂 The northern general is doing his best to be as insufferable as possible. He brings a lame hound as a gift for WuYi’s brother. Tho angry he let the general know that one never knows when they can assist in the battlefield. I would have that dog trained to that general’sscent to bite him in the arse before the competition. All’s fair and all that. After his visit there, the general grabs Mao to visit WuYi. Somehow he already knows of WuYi’s injury and testing to see to what degree. His sadistic tale of using slaves for target practice or in the front lines if survived that. 🤬 There was great satisfaction for me when WuYi took his arrow and splintered that bastard’s tossed one at the dancer. His brother learns that WuYi wanted him back in the saddle and his mom was the obstacle. The idiot went out and got drunk instead of trying out the stirrups and practicing. It is interesting that JiaYu trusted WuYi enough to reveal her orphaned status. She even describes in great detail the one who killed her parents. She also has this dreadful habit of ruining the few nice things she says to him with a zinger at the end that completely unravels the pleasant sentiment. She still has every intention of taking off with Mao once the contest is over. I enjoyed his quip about the north sending a princess to them. The northern general wasn’t expecting the onus to be from his side. It also clarified to JiaYu and Mao that he had no intention of selling out the sister for some political alliance strategy. At the end of the episode we see the man that agreed to make JiaYu his apprentice. He does not appreciate being the backup plan but will work for liquor. 😝WuYi is truly a masochist with all the Mao stuff thrown in his face and the resentment from his brother when he wasn’t the cause. I respect that he looks out for her best interest and is even providing a mentor to help her skills improve. Both curious and fearful to see the contest and whatever stunts that depraved general brings to the table.

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Growing closer and deceiving together

This episode worked perfectly as a bridge for Jiayu to learn more about her husband and see him more like a friend now, rather than an enemy. 🤗The way they get mad at each other already shows how much they actually care for each other, yet they don't want to admit it — or maybe in her case, she doesn't even realise it yet. 😌 But her helping him hide his blindness was all I needed — deceptive together against everyone else... Beautiful! ❤️And why did she tell Mao about Wuyi's blindness? I am not sure if that was smart — best friend or not. Wuyi said no one should know, so I'm not sure if he would want Mao to know... 🤨 I hope this won't bite them back when Mao sees Jiayu falling for Wuyi. I hope Mao stays a true friend to Wuyi till the end, but we all know how everything can turn out when someone can't get what they want. 😟 Also, I think Mao was actually already a little bit jealous when he heard Wuyi had stayed the night with his second consort. And maybe that's the reason why he asked Jiayu if she doesn't hate Wuyi anymore? 🤔In this episode, the pace disappointed me a little bit, because I would have loved to see a more detailed shift between some events. Some characters were realising or learning things offscreen, without even showing us all the information that made them connect the dots. But I guess that's because the focus was mostly on our main characters and how they grew closer. 😔And, hey, she told Wuyi she was an orphan and she remembers Northern Qin men killing her parents... I really want to know who her parents were and if they were anyone of high status? 😩

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