Episode 5

T1 E5: Painter Castiglione comes to do portraits in the palace. Ruyi chats with him and hears that marriage is monogamous in the west. A woman may also choose to leave her husband. Ruyi is stirred by this knowledge and brings it up to the emperor. But he tells her not to let her thoughts run wild, and to abide by the ethics. Ruyi leaves in a huff. Langhua sees that the emperor and Ruyi are having a tiff, so she arranges for other concubines to serve him. But the emperor is distracted regardless who he is with. He keeps thinking about Ruyi. The emperor and Ruyi draw a small portrait of each other. They reconcile upon seeing each other's drawings. The empress dowager is displeased that the emperor and Ruyi are so close. She reminds him to distribute his attention equally between the ladies. The emperor is forced to neglect Ruyi for a while. As winter arrives, Langhua asks the harem to be more frugal. Expensive fabric is not to be used for clothing, charcoal for fire is to be allocated, and the slaves attending to the children are to be reduced by half. The concubines are unhappy but no one dares to speak up. The emperor cannot hold back from visiting Ruyi at the Palace of Extending Happiness. He tells her to bear with it for now, and gives her the words "Prudence Brings About Commendation" as a gift, which means to hide their affection for each other. He arranges for an inscribed board to be put up in the Palace of Extending Happiness.