The Imperial Doctress Episode 39 to Episode 44

I’m much more interested in the first portion of this segment when they’re still in Mongolia. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say Qi Zhen and Yun Xian eventually return to the palace and so we’re going to have to say bye to Ye Xian and the Princess. That’s also when my recaps get shorter and shorter.

[Episode 39] Qi Zhen and Yun Xian are captured but only Qi Zhen is brutally punished (he’s about to be split into six pieces). Princess tries to stop the brutality by lying that she’s pregnant with Qi Zhen’s baby. Obviously Ye Xian is smart enough to immediately dismiss that. I actually freaked out a little. You never know when Cdramas will take these plotlines seriously.

Yun Xian can’t bear to see Qi Zhen dying before her eyes so she resorts to putting her newfound seduction skills to use. But we all know Liu Shi Shi's real skills are crying. Ye Xian can’t argue against her tears and believes her every word. She tells him she had convinced Qi Zhen to return to Mongolia because she trusts Ye Xian will keep his vows on returning Qi Zhen and most importantly she tells Ye Xian she loves him. Voila, marriage is to proceed. Ye Xian is one happy man right now.

But Princess is one angry girl right now. She sees through Yun Xian’s lies and confronts her. At one point in their argument, Princess slaps Yun Xian which makes Yun Xian furious (at the situation rather than the Princess). Yun Xian admits she’ll go to any lengths to save Qi Zhen “because she promised Empress Qian” even if it means she has to sacrifice hers. Princess’ anger melts a little but she still stomps off. Before she leaves, she bitterly tells Yun Xian she doesn’t understand her own heart. Princess is convinced Yun Xian loves Qi Zhen.

It’s not just the Princess, no one else is happy about the marriage because they think she's a spy. There was a Buddhist lady who called Yun Xian a devil but the lady messed with the wrong girl because Yun Xian’s an expert at scamming people with this spiritual stuff too. Within minutes, Yun Xian exposes the lady on the spot with calm and ease. Despite that, Ye Xian’s uncle is still against the marriage and attempts to poison her because he’s certain Yun Xian is lying about her love towards Ye Xian.

Actually Ye Xian knows it too. He knows Yun Xian just wants him to free Qi Zhen and his army. Ye Xian rather she lie to him forever. Apparently her tears melt his heart. I’m not being cheesy, that’s basically what he says in drama. Ye Xian’s not the only one with unrequited love here, his sister is a victim too. Oh these two. On one occasion, Princess had insulted Yun Xian in front of Qi Zhen and he slaps her for it.

Other things that happened in this episode: Mei Ling miscarriages. She thinks its karma.

[Episode 40] Whilst the marriage preparations were ongoing, there’s apparently a spy communicating with Yun Xian telling her of Qi Zhen’s condition. However, Ye Xian captures the mole and even figures out who the main culprit is but it’s not revealed to us. Instead he goes to another spiritual dude and asks for his advice on what to do with Yun Xian. The dude asks him what type of bird Yun Xian is. Is she a canary or a wild goose? If she’s a wild goose, keeping her locked up will eventually kill her anyways. Do not question the drama’s logic.

Later that day, Ye Xian takes her out to watch a sunset. It’s his last romantic moment with her. He asks her what type of bird she is. She chooses goose. With that, Ye Xian has come to a decision.

The next day is their wedding day. Once they exchange wines, they are officially husband and wife. And they exchange wine. So there you go, Yun Xian is actually married to Ye Xian. Everyone gets drunk but there’s something in the drink that makes them all faint over. Then there’s someone who helps Yun Xian escape and bring her all the way to Qi Zhen.

Qi Zhen's present to Princess

The spy helping them out was the Princess all along! I’m actually surprised. She’s so cool all of a sudden.

But… Ye Xian knew all along that everything was Princess’ doing, which meant he pretended to faint over from the drink. Ye Xian had set his goose free. So Yun Xian and Qi Zhen had a safe escape without knowing Ye Xian had loosened up all the security for them. Ye Xian is simply grateful Yun Xian is at the very least married to him. If he was going to set her free, why bog down her reputation? 

Qi Zhen had notified Zhou Qiang and his other soldiers (who have escaped before) to escort them back to court but they’re all killed. Zhou Qiang, with his last dying breath, tells Qi Zhen the mastermind was EDS. I really liked this guy. Such a pity he dies already. But I do think he overacted just a tad bit here. His last dying breath was too long.  

Qi Zhen and Yun Xian’s journey back to court is thwarted not only by assassins but also by the severe cold. They’re stuck in a tree hole now and Qi Zhen sacrifices his warmth to keep her warm by covering the tree hole with his jacket. Yun Xian starts mumbling nonsense and call Qi Zhen “Yun Bao” (his baby name). To keep her conscious, Qi Zhen continues to talk to her. Maybe he too think it’s there last moment as Qi Zhen confesses to her, “I love you.”

Ah, so is this a reversal of the beginning where it was Qi Yu on the run and now it's Qi Zhen. Qi Zhen had no part in planning Qi Zhen's death but I can't say the same for Qi Yu. I honestly don’t think EDS sent out those men. There is one thing similar in both their predicaments though, Yun Xian saves them both.

[Episode 41] Qi Zhen is out looking for food or basically anything to save them while Yun Xian is hugging herself in the tree hole. She’s a little out of it as she hallucinates that Qi Yu is here to save her but instead of getting all romantic with him, she begs him to save Qi Zhen instead. Her imaginary Qi Yu doesn’t budge from her so she resorts to pushing him out until she’s the one that stumbles out of her tree hole. Nearby merchants hear her cries and saves her. When she regains her consciousness, she lies to the merchants that her “husband” is out there too and begs them to find him. Eventually they find Qi Zhen but he has hypothermia. Again, no need to fear when there’s Yun Xian to the rescue. Omg guys, Yun Xian refers to the merchants as “Ahjussi” and her pretend-husband as “Jagiya” (= honey/dear). That’s totally Korean! This is a joke, right?

Yun Xian: "Jagiya~". Qi Zhen: "Yeah?"

There's a cute romantic moment here: When Qi Zhen realizes Yun Xian had lied to the merchants that he’s her husband, he asks her to repeat that affectionate title she referred to him as, which is “Jagiya”. It’s all a ploy to get her to call him darling so he can answer to it. These cute moments are so rare.

Since Yun Xian and Qi Zhen are being hunted down, they’ve got to secretly make their way back to the palace. Miraculously, she ends up meeting Doctor Liu! See! I told you he didn’t die! He calls her out for sacrificing her health to care for Qi Zhen’s. Yun Xian cutely tells him it’s only after she sees him she realizes she’s sick. Even though Doctor Liu is out and about, he’s still got some connection with the palace (he’s not returning back because he’d rather be free plus the court officials were investigating who was responsible for Yun Xian’s fake death). Doctor Liu manages to find Shi-Tai, General Yu and this other general in time before Yun Xian and Qi Zhen succumb to another ambush.

Shi-Tai isn’t just some plain priest, she’s one of the ex-Emperor’s (Qi Zhen’s daddy) consort who was wrongfully banished. She was supposed to be the Empress but EDS obviously played dirty. Even so palace people still highly respect her. They’re supportive in Qi Zhen’s quest to restore his rule, especially the other general who tries to persuade Qi Zhen to sneak into the palace and launch his coup d’état. But no words are stronger than Yun Xian’s.

Doctor Liu walking in at the wrong moment. 

[Episode 42]Yun Xian convinces Qi Zhen to enter the palace grandly and to believe in Qi Yu that he will hand over his reign to Qi Zhen. But guess what? Qi Yu doesn’t. He continues to call himself Emperor. For some reason Qi Zhen seems to have a lot of supporters inside and outside of the court. Has Qi Yu been doing a terrible job?

Empress Qian interrupts their rendezvous and immediately Qi Zhen notices something is terribly wrong with her health. Within seconds she faints. And that’s when Yun Xian makes her grand appearance. She wants to help Empress Qian but Qi Yu holds her back and they spend some alone time in his royal carriage while Qi Zhen and Empress Qian go back to their ward.

But something has gone terribly wrong. Empress Qian’s baby is kidnapped. This is all General Wang and Qi Yu’s mother’s plan to threaten Qi Zhen to voluntarily give up on his resurgence. Qi Zhen has no choice but to obey. No one else knew about his baby being kept hostage, including Empress Qian and Yun Xian.

[Episode 43] EDS is furious at Qi Yu for harming his brother but Qi Yu claims he had no involvement with attempting to murder Qi Zhen or kidnapping his son. It is the truth but here I’m wondering what happened to the smart Qi Yu in the beginning of the drama who could have easily figured out General Wang would want Qi Zhen dead. EDS calls him lesser than Qi Zhen because Qi Zhen would never do anything so lowly.

[Episode 42] Qi Zhen has given up on his pursuit to the throne for his baby and also for his country because any inner feud would only benefit the Mongolians. His decision makes General Yu respect him and stay loyal to him.

Yun Xian tearfully apologizes to Qi Zhen for convincing him to believe Qi Yu. Qi Zhen comforts her and reminds her at least she’s fulfilled her goal: to see Qi Yu again. Uh. No. She wanted to restore your position, Qi Zhen. Yun Xian cries a little more. Qi Zhen wipes her tears and the jealous Qi Yu spots it.

Feeling threatened and jealous, Qi Yu removes all servants from Qi Zhen’s ward and blocks off any outside contact. And once again Yun Xian doesn't know anything. When Empress Qian finds out Qi Zhen was threatened with their baby, Qi Zhen also tells her not to reveal it to Yun Xian.

[Episode 43] From here on Qi Yu’s mood swings like a pendulum. When he feels like being nice to Yun Xian he lets her reopen her medical office (Yun Xian’s also hiring females to produce female heirs to her legacy) and when he feels like being mean to her he yells at her and punishes her servant. Qi Yu’s anger is set off whenever Yun Xian mentions Qi Zhen and whenever he's angry he finds comfort in Mei Ling. Qi Yu should just stick with Mei Ling and everyone will be happy. And then whenever Mei Ling’s jealous, she'll think of ways to threaten Yun Xian.

[Episode 44] Mei Ling’s latest not-so-upgraded plan is to send someone to try to murder Yun Xian and then warn Qi Yu that Yun Xian’s life is in jeopardy. Uhh?? To make herself appear more gracious, Mei Ling urges Qi Yu to quickly take Yun Xian in as his consort and so Yun Xian will become Consort Han. Meanwhile Mei Ling has been sending detectives to find anything that can harm Yun Xian’s reputation during her time in Mongolia (i.e. Her marriage to Ye Xian).

Mei Ling is also helping Qi Yu target EDS. Qi Yu is actually grateful Mei Ling would do anything for him but he doesn't know Mei Ling is resorting to chronically poisoning EDS (e.g poison her bit by bit over a long period of time). 

Related Posts: 
The Imperial Doctress Episode 45 to Episode 49
The Imperial Doctress Episode 33 to Episode 38