After the airing of the final episode, it was announced that the series would be receiving a second season.
Lakan is challenged by his daughter Maomao to a game of Chinese chess , with her living with him should he win, much to Jinshi's shock; but him buying out an aging courtesan from the Rokushoukan should he lose.
A stipulation that the winner takes one of the cups of hard liquor spiked with a drug that turns into poison after three sips and lets the loser drink its contents is added, with abandonment being considered as a defeat. Maomao lost twice in a row, meaning she could have drunk two of the three poisoned cups; but won on the third, which Jinshi thinks was Lakan losing on purpose. He falls after drinking the contents of the cup.
Jinshi, thinking he has been poisoned, hears from Maomao that Lakan abstains from alcohol, "the king of medicines", thus making him easily drunk. That made him easier to be taken to the Rokushoukan. Lakan finds himself awake inside the Rokushoukan and tended to by Meimei, Fengxian's former attendant She also left him a dried blue rose in a wooden box. The palace prepares for the arrival of a diplomatic delegation, part of a trading caravan , and Gyokuyou is expecting three new ladies-in-waiting to assist during her pregnancy and counterbalance Loulan's, as well as the others', excessive staff.
Checking Gyokuyou's haul of new dresses from the caravan stalls, Maomao notices looser dress designs that could reveal Gyokuyou's pregnancy and alerts her. Meanwhile, Maomao reflects on the palace's peculiar lack of amenities despite its excellent sanitation system. On the caravan's last day, when discounts abound, Maomao shops with Xiaolan and encounters Shisui, the servant girl who caught her cat.
