Beauty at War

During the reign of Emperor JIAQING, the decline of the Qing Empire occurs after the continuation of an era of prosperity in the reigns of Emperors KANGXI, YONGZHENG and QIANLONG. Soon after Emperor JIAQING brings along his Empress RUI away to his summer resort in Rehe, an undercurrent of tension starts lurking in the imperial harem. NIOHURU YUE-YUET, who gave birth to Prince MIN-YU, has won the Emperor's favor, however, she is also targeted by the rumors. Based on the hearsay, she is a wicked woman, which is not only a hot topic during those after dinner chats but also draws attention of bigwigs in the palace. BUYAMUCI BA-CHA, who makes a living by collecting evidence against the rumors in exchange for money from others, tries to probe into it for profit.… ...

LAU-FEI refuses to attend the banquet arranged by Master KIU – the son of a businessman, instead he indulges in gambling, and even pays the gambling debt for a man called LUK PING. LAU-FEI once got into trouble during his performance in the KIU's Residence while trying to seduce a songstress, YUEN-CHING there. As a result his boss, KUK-SANG, has no choice but to bring his son-in-law WAN TSAU-YIN, who is also LAU-FEI's partner, to attend the banquet in his stead. CHUN-LAM, under the influence of the flute music echoing in the Forbidden City nightly, embroiders clothing for the imperial guard – her unrequited love-object, but she gets a strong telling-off from SEUNG-LING. TSAU-YIN does not mind to socialize or even clean up problems for LAU-FEI, however, his wife YING-KAM is entangled into a dilemma due to LAU-FEI's love affair. What's more, she has been unwillingly receiving the letters from YUEN-CHING on behalf of LAU-FEI.… ...

SEUNG-LING knows that Prince MIN-YU has made good progress in playing Go, which is a great comfort to her. CHUN-LAM reports that TUNG-SHING has caught the flautist and the palace maid. She suspects the two were meeting on the sly at the gate tower. The flautist turns out to be the demoted fortune-teller TUNG KAT-HOI, also MUK-DO-YEE was caught in that spot. TUNG-SHING dares not to do anything to MUK-DO-YEE for fear of her position, so he has to give KAT-HOI a thrashing to vent his anger. KAT-HOI is advised by the former Imperial Astronomer TUNG HUNG-NGAI that MUK-DO-YEE is his Lady Luck, so he takes every opportunity to entangle her. Lady YUEN-SAU's handmaiden YEUK-KWAI is approaching 25 and ready to leave the palace, so she is eager to find her successor. However, in view of the slow-witted little maid YAU-HEUNG, Lady YUEN-SAU is advised to find a more quick-witted replacement for serving her.… ...

With NAM-MUNG reporting that the whole troupe has been reserved by the beggars, who are hired by Master KIU, the troupe members are scheming to sever their ties with the Cheung Wo Troupe. LAU-FEI goes to relax at a Manchu young man HA-TO's residence, where he gets to know Eunuch MA SUN-MUN from the palace. TSAU-YIN returns to the troupe, unexpectedly, seeing SUN-MUN alone there in the reserved theatre. Ahead of that, SUN-MUN has already taught Master KIU a lesson. SEUNG-LING plays Go with Prince MIN-XIN, who is so happy that he also reveals to SEUNG-LING that he is worrying about his fifth brother's condition. CHI-HEEN reports to Lady YUE-YUET that Prince MIN-YU's skin rash has been soothed, though he is still running a fever. Prince MIN-YU's gums suddenly start bleeding and it just won't stop, therefore, CHI-HEEN performs acupuncture to stop the gums from bleeding in spite of violating the prohibition.… ...

With NAM-MUNG reporting that the whole troupe has been reserved by the beggars, who are hired by Master KIU, the troupe members are scheming to sever their ties with the Cheung Wo Troupe. LAU-FEI goes to relax at a Manchu young man HA-TO's residence, where he gets to know Eunuch MA SUN-MUN from the palace. TSAU-YIN returns to the troupe, unexpectedly, seeing SUN-MUN alone there in the reserved theatre. Ahead of that, SUN-MUN has already taught Master KIU a lesson. SEUNG-LING plays Go with Prince MIN-XIN, who is so happy that he also reveals to SEUNG-LING that he is worrying about his fifth brother's condition. CHI-HEEN reports to Lady YUE-YUET that Prince MIN-YU's skin rash has been soothed, though he is still running a fever. Prince MIN-YU's gums suddenly start bleeding and it just won't stop, therefore, CHI-HEEN performs acupuncture to stop the gums from bleeding in spite of violating the prohibition.… ...

All the theatrical restaurants in Beijing City refuse to let the Cheung Wo Troupe perform for fear of MA SUN-MUN's power. In order to make a living, KUK-SANG agrees to train the eunuchs of the Forbidden City in response to the invitation of the Theatrical Office, but LAU-FEI does not agree with it. All the senior members of the Cheung Wo Troupe envy another red-hot troupe, Kam Hing Troupe, for their ostentatious extravagance, plus their leading actor Master CHU demonstrates a more skillful performance than LAU-FEI does. SUN-MUN uses the excuse of handing back the embroidery to see SEUNG-LING, who instead sneers at him. SEUNG-LING, on behalf of YEE-HO, returns the Sutra to SU-LAN, persuading her to help Lady YUE-YUET, but SU-LAN adopts a strong attitude towards the matter, refusing to do so. While providing tactics to Lady YUE-YUET, SEUNG-LING states that CHI-HEEN is the key point to alleviate the rumor.… ...