American Perspectives: A Cancelled Marriage and Escalating Tensions ("Twisted Fate of Love" Ep. 28)

 

Dong Yue walks out of Feng Xi's room after yet another physician has visited.  Dao Le is anxious to learn the news.

Dong Yue is feeling dejected.  "It's just the same as last time, he couldn't find any issues.  The physician said he was just thinking too much, so it tired him out."  She further explains that the reason he was spitting blood was due to him putting too much pressure on himself, and it agitated him. "He wanted to remember the things he has forgotten."

Dao Le assures Dong Yue not to worry, that they'll figure something out soon.  That he should get better after resting for a few days.

Dong Yue expresses that being unable to determine any problem is the scariest. She tells him Feng Xi's moments of forgetting her have increased.

Dao Le suggests to start reminding him again.

Dong Yue is concerned that it might be forcing him, causing more health problems.

Dao Le is feeling frustrated because nothing seems to be working long term.

Dong Yue suggests focusing on recovery first, and figuring everything out later.

Once again, creepy Yu Rou is hiding in the shadows, listening in, waiting for an opportunity to move in on Feng Xi.

 

As Dong Yue heads to Feng Xi's room, Yu Rou is leaving.  The tension between the two women is thick, as Dong Yue's relationship is currently in a vulnerable spot.

Yu Rou, ready to play on Dong Yue's insecurities, asks, "Are you back to bring more peach flavored bird's nest soup?  It's too late," she smirks.  "The minister already ate."

Dong Yue pauses.  She sees through Yu Rou's feigned innocence and virtue.  "Perfect!  I have some things to say to him."

Yu Rou wants to know what Dong Yue has to say.  Then, Yu Rou delivers some really catty words in a very innocent sounding voice, "Do you want to remind him that he originally only liked to eat the things you prepared for him?"

Dong Yue smirks. She is very familiar with nasty girl games.  "Minister's appetite was always like that.  What's the need to remind him?"

Yu Rou smiles smugly.  "Then I don't know whether his taste changed, or whether his heart did today," she says innocently.

"Minister cares about friendships.  You did him a favor.  So, he definitely wouldn't let that go to waste," replies Dong Yue.

Yu Rou's attempted put downs and insidiousness aren't working, so she goes for the kill shot.  "If I hadn't known for a fact  that the minister already forgot you, I wouldn't have brought the soup today."

Dong Yue holds her composure.  She has way too much class to being playing those kinds of games. "I'm the actual person, could I just be forgotten because someone said so? I think you, Yu Rou, want that very badly, so you took it to be true."

Yu Rou smirks.  "The room was full of paper slips about your past with him.  Obviously, Minister is using them to remind himself."

Dong Yue smiles.  "I think you misunderstood.  It's my memory that isn't very good.  Those paper slips are used to remind me."

"You can lie to me, and you can lie to yourself," Yu Rou scoffs.  "However, did you consider that the Minister is very prideful? Every day you come here to remind him, making him remember that he is a person without all his memories intact.  You say you love him, but you're willing to watch him be tortured all the time."

"Yu Rou! Yu Rou!" Feng Xi calls from his room.

"Coming!" Yu Rou says sweetly.  She smirks at Dong Yue.  "I'm all done talking, but if you're determined to come, I won't stop you." Yu Rou slides the door open, and slithers in like the snake in the grass that she is.

Dao Le comes up behind Dong Yue, asking if she prepared the soup.  He tells her to bring it to Feng Xi.

Dong Yue is barely holding her composure after the mean girl strike down from Yu Rou.  She hands Dao Le the tray with the soup, and walks away.  He looks a bit baffled.

 

The next day, Feng Xi is wandering the manor, calling for Zi Yuan, inquring about Dong Yue.  He is very worried.  Neither one knows where she is.

While he is searching, he is intercepted by Zang Fei, the Left Prime Minister's personal guard.  They speak for awhile, and once again, he forgets about Dong Yue, which leaves Zang Fei currently baffled, as he's currently holding her hostage to get compliance from Feng Xi.  Feng Xi has absolutely no clue who he's talking about, and Zang Fei is sure he is faking.

 

Feng Xi arrives at the residence of Left Prime Minister.  Dong Yue is tied to a chair, and she desperately asks Feng Xi to leave quickly.

Feng Xi looks at her, completely confused.  "Left Prime Minister, what show are you putting on?"

Dong Yue looks completely baffled.

"This is not it," says Left Prime Minister.  "Today is not my show, but yours."

"As a dignified Left Prime Minister, you even used such a tactic on a weak woman.  Aren't you afraid of others laughing at you?"

"That will depend on if you cooperate with me.  As long as I hear the answer I want, I can guarantee her safe departure."

"Feng Xi, don't listen to him," Dong Yue begs.  "Quickly leave now!"

"Gag her!" Left Prime Minister orders.

"Feng Xi, don't listen to him. Leave quickly!"

Zang Fei approaches her, and ties a gag over her mouth.

"Enough!" says Feng Xi.  "How can this be difficult?  I can answer you right now."

"Let's talk somewhere else," says Left Prime Minister.

Feng Xi looks over at Dong Yue.  Not a single hint of recognition.

They move to another room, and Feng Xi still has no clue about Dong Yue's relevance to the situation.  He doesn't know Emperor is hiding behind a screen while Left Prime Minister is questioning him.  Feng Xi admits to being responsible for the death of Duke An and Yin Shi.  He is asked if he's the remaining survivor of "The Evil Ming Family."

Emperor looks up, to see what he will say.

"No," says Feng Xi.  He emphasizes that there is no connection.  He is able to smoothly side step the evidence, simply because he does not remember Dong Yue.

He continues to assert that he does not know Dong Yue, and therefore doesn't understand why they are using her to get to him. "Kill that woman if you want to, don't waste my time." He turns and exits.

Left Prime Minister is dumbfounded.

"Feng Xi," thinks Dong Yue. "Did you really forget me?"

Emperor is pissed that Left Prime Minister's questioning had back fired, and he also exits the manor.

 

It's nighttime at Feng Manor, and Dong Yue is walking along the bridge over the pond.  She's feeling emotionally and mentally exhausted.  Not only is she dealing with a "mean girl," she's dealing with being used as a pawn in a failed interrogation.  The love of her life can't even remember her for more than five minutes.

She is remembering the ugly things Yu Rou said to her the night before.  She wanders into Feng Xi's study, and sees many of the memories torn down.  Some of the memories even have blood stains on them.  She realizes the blood stains are from his overexertion when he tries to force the memories.  She feels like she's once again at her breaking point.

She sees Yu Rou heading to Feng Xi's room.  "If she wants him, she can have him," Dong Yue thinks.

Yu Rou stops and faces Dong Yue.  "Are you prepared to shed all pretense of cordiality?" snips Yu Rou.

"I'm not here to speak courteously to you," responds Dong Yue.

Yu Rou gives her a catty smile. "Prime Minister already forgot about you," she snipes. "You don't have the right to challenge me."

"Even if he only has short memories of me, I can still have you thrown out of here during the moments he does remember me, even out of the whole capitol."  Dong Yue reminds her.

Yu Rou quickly changes her posture.  Dong Yue isn't wrong, and Yu Rou still has limited options.  "What exactly do you want to say?"

"I want you to promise me one thing.  If you can do it, I'll give Feng Xi to you."

Yu Rou tries to hide her excitement.

After that unpleasant exchange, Dong Yue sits next to the Holly Flower tree with a small wooden chest.  She opens it up, and views the memories she removed from his study.  She doesn't want to put him through any more pain.  "This time, I must break the promise." She takes out a lighter and begins to burn the memories.  She is in tears, but she feels their relationship is going in a very unhealthy direction.  She feels she will be better at accomplishing her assigned task from Er Yu at a distance.

She holds her white jade flute.  She looks out over the pond.  She feels relieved he has forgotten her.  Being with someone like him is very stressful.  She holds her flute, and begins to play.  She begins to cry.  As stressful as he is, as relieved as she is, she's not heartless, and she's going to miss him.

After she leaves the garden, Feng Xi enters and watches from afar.  He sees her going into her room.  He stumbles upon one of the partially burned memories that was left on the ground.  It says: "Took a stab."

Yu Rou sees him pick it up.  She offers to take him back to his room.  He complies, and the memory blows away, falling into the pond.

 

The next morning, Dong Yue is surrounded by Feng Xi's guards who are dragging her out of the manor.  They throw her belongings at her, and throw her into the street.  A crowd of gawkers forms behind her.  Yu Rou appears at the top of the stairs.

"Li Yu Rou," says Dong Yue, "Feng Xi and I are engaged to be married.  Who gives you the right to throw me out of the Feng Manor?"

"Of course, I don't have the authority to do this," says Yu Rou.  "It's just that whomever Prime Minister Feng allows in the manor and whomever he wants to throw out, are entirely up to him."

Dong Yue pretends to be shocked, as this was a prearranged act between her and Yu Rou. "Is Feng Xi going to regret the marriage?"

"Yes," says Yu Rou.  She wishes.

Dong Yue demands to see Feng Xi.

Yu Rou refuses.  She has her servant read the marriage cancellation (written by Yu Rou), to Dong Yue.  They want to make sure the cancellation is public knowledge.

Yu Rou triumphantly hands the document to her.  Dong Yue's hands are shaking as she tears it to shreds.  She throws the shredded document into the crowd.

Yu Rou goes back inside.  Dong Yue looks behind her and sees Feng Xi in his jade colored Hanfu.

He doesn't recognize her when he asks Yu Rou who is outside.

"Just an unruly servant who was expelled from the manor by me," Yu Rou says dismissively.

He looks at Dong Yue as the doors close. Yu Rou attempts to redirect hiim. "My Lord, don't worry about such matters."

Dao Le and Zi Yuan arrive right after the door has been shut.  They tell the crowd behind Dong Yue to go away. They are shocked at the sight of her belongings at her feet.

Zi Yuan picks up a piece of the shredded marriage cancellation. Dao Le looks at it.  "That's not his handwriting," Dao Le points out.

Dong Yue tearfully picks up her clothes from the street.  Her heart is breaking.

They find a place for her to stay at The Lasting Abyss House.  Dao Le asks if it was all an act between her and Yu Rou.

Dong Yue confirms.  She admits to voiding the marriage.

Dao Le is dumbfounded.

Dong Yue is concerned she will only bring him danger.

Dao Le isn't having it.

But Dong Yue can't take Feng Xi's mental instability.  She tells them not to worry about her.  As she walks out the door, Zi Yuan tells Dao Le they should try to understand what she is struggling with.  Dao Le doesn't get it.  Zi Yuan explains that sometimes you have to distance yourself from someone you love, especially if more pain than necessary is being caused by the relationship.