Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花 - Episode 22 (Recap)

kakashi: Li Yuan and his stupid rebels make it necessary that Ye Hua leaves the Nine Heavens for more than half a year and that doesn't help, you know, things. The other ship makes a tiny bit of progress though. There is a kiss! On an unlikely place. 
JoAnne: I'm sorry, I just keep staring at how smooth their hair is and how even their complexions are.

Episode 22

Damn, the Scarlet Flame Golden Lion has been sighted in the North, in the rebel army camp! Heavenly Fucker sees a need to tell Ye Hua how disappointed he is in him. Striaght away, Ye Hua offers to lead the army against the rebels in the north, to redeem himself. Heavenly Lord calls it his "last chance" - and even if everybody calls him Crown Prince, he isn't properly yet. Just keep that in mind, Ye Hua *barely masked threat*. 
Cool! Don't be CP! Go away and live quietly with Su Su, in that case. Problem: solved.
Heavenly Lord wants Uncle Three to go too. Since he did so well back when Ye Hua almost died on the battlefield. He can protest all he wants, go he must. That means Su Su will be without any allies, doesn't it. Seems like this is Heavenly Lord's plan. 
Seems like Uncle Three realizes that.
Heavenly Lord then says he will change out and interrogate ALL the maids of Xiwu Palace - seemingly because he wants to take Su Su's accusation that she was framed seriously and this could be a security risk for the Crown Prince too. In truth, he is just taking away everyone Ye Hua could trust.
Can he not just sneak her out of Heaven and hide her somewhere?
Nai Nai has the brilliant idea to have Su Su deliver a tonic to the Crown Prince. Su Su remembers she's been grounded, but the maid thinks it's fine to stay within the confines of Xiwu Palace. Yeah, it actually seems to be. Still, Nai Nai is just as naive as Su Su, this isn't good. Two naive women do not cancel out naivety. 
Yeah, it's more like naivety combustion.
It could be another of Su Jin's evil machinations or it could be it is unrelated, but as soon as Su Su has set foot outside her place, she hears Su Jin's voice in the mirror she carries with her all the time. Su Jin pretends to be begging the Crown Prince for leniency! To be the one who is risking her life to save Su Su. And she makes it sound like the Crown Prince only married a mortal to punish Su Jin for marrying his grandfather. She is MESSED UP. The meanest thing she says is "You call her Su Su only because there is also a "Su" in my name, right?"
She is flat out crazy. And yet, that doesn't inspire any sympathy. I just hate her more.
No tonic is delivered after that, of course ... Su Su is deeply depressed. So she believes now that Ye Hua never truly loved her? She seems to be getting more apathetic the longer she stays in the Heavens.
I'm frustrated that she would believe ANYthing coming from Su Jin, but whatever.

Su Jin kept staring at the mirror for the longest time and quickly puts it away when someone approaches. That someone is Ye Hua and he saw what she just hid and/or he knows she has it. He looks at her like he wants to rip her head off. DO IT. and demands she return the copper mirror. He takes it from her and leaves without another word.
No punishment. No going to Su Su and saying hey, uh, Su Jin had the other mirror so... GAAAAH
He goes straight to Su Su - glancing at the new maids on his way in - and notices right away that something is off with her. She won't talk about it though. And he has come to say goodbye - he is leaving to the Far North. For at least a half year. She says she won't get out of bed to see him out, she isn't feeling well. She won't even let him touch her.
Speak UP, Ye Hua.
I'm posting this gif of his confused face so that we can go back to it later to feel sorry for him:
'Girl, I know I lied to you about who I was, leave you alone too much, plucked your eyes out, and have a crazy stalker doing her best to make you believe I love her, but why are you so upset?'  Ye Hua, you are stupid.
And then, they go to war again - this time, with the Ghost Lord Li Jing's army as allies. He may be busy with a harem of 3'000 women, but he also inspires loyalty in his men, who are ready to support him against his older brother. Methinks the arrogant Celestials may have been wrong about him.
No, they're right. He has the potential to be a better man than he is, but he really is weak and ineffective.
Li Jing is gone and Xuan Nu is hellbent on giving birth to a dead child. Apparently, there is a special spell plus a herb, that allows for this birth and then the healing, but it's extremely dangerous. She doesn't care ("I don't believe in retribution, I only believe in myself!" .... ahahahahaaaa, what?) It's quite horrible. Without this child, she thinks, she's nothing in her husband's eyes. Less than nothing.
Even with the child, that's the case.
We're in the military camp and hear that the Far North is characterized by many waterways, perfect places for the rebels to hide. Plus, they have no maps. Okay, so, before starting this war, they need maps. And who has them? Fourth Brother Bai Zhen! Whose residence (the one he never goes to because he likes to hang at Peach St. is up here.
They sure are chummy, it's true.
Ye Hua goes to see him straight away and it's super funny: he calls Ye Hua young and hasty, says he has a bad temper and would have kicked anyone out a long time ago. But for his sister's sake, who is his betrothed, he'll get a topographic map within three months. He also utters a warning: if Ye Hua harms his sister in any way in the future, he will not be let off lightly.
Oh, if you only knew.
Haha, he totally enjoyed being nasty to the Crown Prince! He has a good laugh about it with Zhe Yan afterwards. While eating PPL nuts. I, too, bought nuts today. I think the PPL is helping! "Hmm, these nuts are good. They're crunchy and savory." The two speak about Bai Qian a bit too - she's still not been found despite so many people searching for her - but Zhe Yan says there is no need to worry, he looked into the stars and saw she is fine. In fact, she is in love with someone, somewhere out there. My definition of "fine" is different though. Su Su, now with a much bigger baby bump, is the opposite of fine.
Yeah, Zhe Yan, were you looking at the stars on a cloudy night, maybe? You're missing a lot.
The nine-tailed red fox is still trailing Dijun wherever he goes - Fengjiu feels slightly guilty about deceiving him - and there is that one day he gets a bit drunk. A perfect opportunity to ... kiss his nose. Why.Would.You.Kiss.His.Nose?!
So people don't scream about forced kisses and sexual assault?
Of course, he isn't that drunk and also not asleep.
And it wouldn't have been forced or assault, but that's neither here nor there.
She is mortified, but not really, because first chance Fengjiu gets, she brags about the kiss to Chen Yu. Who tells the exciting girl that Dijun has clearly developed feelings for her and let it happen. Oh dear. We later realize that Dijun can read minds - he knows exactly what silly thoughts the fox is having!
Oh boy.
Ye Hua has been gone for months - during which Su Su only cried - and now, he isn't writing to her or anything. Fengjiu in fox form visits her from time to time and Su Su talks to it about her woes. She has come to the conclusion that all things considering, Ye Hua must have liked her a little bit, if he was willing to spend time with her on Mount Junji. And even for just a little bit, she is willing to stay by his side. One day, she says, she will be able to move his heart just as much as he has moved hers.
Which, if you think about it, puts her on a continuum with Su Jin - at least in thought process.
Su Su asks the Fox about cultivation and whether she could do it to become an immortal and Fengjiu later asks Si Ming and Chen Yu about it. She almost gets caught in human form! Dijun is displeased to find them in his study.
It seems rude to barge in when he's not there, but then again everything is so open to the street, it's a little confusing about public and private.
The "topographic" map of the North has been delivered (only, that's not at all a topographic map but never mind). Li Jing offers to be the vanguard. He needs three months to finish this. His only request is to be handed Li Yuan when they catch him.
We end the episode with Ye Hua in the dark, staring into the copper mirror and Su Su in the palace, slightly stroking hers. They do not speak. Crown Prince tells himself that even now, he is still making her wait, day after day.
Yep. Open your mouth.

Comments

This was a bit boring. Maybe it's time to discuss Su Jin? I am fascinated by her. She is a classical telenovela villain, but she isn't black and white, fortunately, there is something about her that makes her interesting. I think it is the intensity of her obsession with this man who treats her like shit. Every single time they meet, she is kicked down. Every single time, she smiles a hopeful smile again when she sees him. She is unable to hate him back and it is almost painful to watch how much she tries to get his affection. Because she basically degrades herself every single time, she also has quite a lot of vulnerability. It means I hate her, but I also pity her. Does that make sense?
It makes sense, but I stopped pitying her long ago. Wanting someone to love you doesn't automatically translate into torturing the competition.

Xuan Nu is similarly starved for affection and is also borderline insane. In an act of pure desperation, she wants to give birth to a child with no heartbeat and then nurture it back to health? I mean ... are you listening to what you are saying, woman?! She, too, is becoming more and more pitiful, the less she gets to do horrible stuff to other people.
She's horrifying. She approached Li Jing under false pretenses and the only time she's ever successfully gotten affection from him is when she pretended to be Si Yin. Yet she's hurt that he doesn't love her for herself. If she hadn't been modified to look more like Bai Qian to begin with, he'd never have even glanced at her.

Dijun and Fengjiu: Yay, I guess? I am getting a bit impatient with them. This has been going on for ages and she kisses his nose?!
Yes, I'm in danger of losing interest. He should be more overt about secretly liking her, if he does.

Last, but not least, our main couple. It is very alarming to see Su Su so listless. Ye Hua should have been far more concerned when she did not want him anywhere near him. And of course, Su Su won't say anything about what she heard from Su Jin, because he is no longer Ye Hua, the man who cooks for her, but Ye Hua the Celestial Crown Prince. She doesn't trust him anymore. She thinks it's a one-sided love. Noooooooooo! Ye Hua, you should return quickly.
And start talking.