Episode Title:
The Fox Village
Episode Description:
Jinshi searches for Maomao after her disappearance, Guen's memory of Maomao the cat's behavior allowing Luomen to uncover a hastily written, hidden message from Maomao, the characters for "shrine" and one that is unclear. At the Jade Pavilion, the ladies-in-waiting suggest the character might be for "jade", and Seki-u wonders if it might refer to Shisui, whose name shares the pronunciation. Jinshi recalls that Suirei's name was written with that character.
Suirei takes Maomao and Shisui by ship and boat to a remote hot spring village, where Maomao spots one of the foreign envoys. On the way, as Maomao exposes Shisui after she protects Suirei from a snake she tossed, she discovers they're sisters, and deduces how they had been in contact with each other in the rear palace. Suirei in return reveals she knows Lakan is her father, Maomao believing she was taken as leverage against him.
Investigation of the shrine near where Maomao's message was discovered reveals how Maomao was taken--through an old, abandoned waterway. Jinshi also receives a report of a missing eunuch, and that no maid named "Shisui" exists in the rear palace records. Gyokuyou goes into labor.
