I just rewatched the first five episodes...I feel like he might have been a guest at the flower banquet...but I'd have to pause it to look closely at everyone's face. ..though like you my impression was that he was new to season 2.
There was no incident like that in the novel. The episode is for it is out though (ep 5 &6)
So the clip is of her playing the pipa in front of the mansion burning not her garden...that's why I was asking...was thinking something else burnt outside of the garden.
They are the outlaw, doing that and yet gone away unpunished. The current Emperor has no authority or power.😓
It's not that he doesn't have authority or power, his brother had placed so many of his people in power it's made it hard for him to maneuver - remember he wasn't supposed to be emperor, another brother was but he died. So he's young and he plays dumb so he can move against Ning and clean the court and get rid of all the bad apples.
So it looks like they are doing what I didn't want them to do and drag their relationship issues out to midpoint of the second "season". Totally unnecessary. You don't *have* to wait until midseason to have someone kiss. And if this is supposed to be looked at as a 56 season show then this should have been resolved in the first 32 or in the first 5 of this season at the latest. We know from the synopsis they get separated again at some point so why drag things out like this???? It's okay for couples to be together for more than a few episodes. Geez.