That guard is a dead man walking. Not only did he club Lakan's daughter, but given the way every single one of them was bowing and covering their faces when Jinshi walked by, it is confirmed he is high royalty and will be absolutely pissed. Truthfully he probably should be killed, she said there was a threat to the Royal Person and he ignored it when he could have passed on the message. Even if you think she's crazy it should have been investigated, there is a reason why the Secret Service investigates every threat, no matter how trivial. I think the reason the column fell at exactly this time is that during the ceremony they light a fire in the brazier beneath it, which made the metal soften as we saw in the metal worker episode. I really don't think Lakan was involved.

To be fair, if someone just had a concussive damage to their head, you're not supposed to rock them too much. Gotta be gentle to prevent further brain damage. Hence the slow walk is better.

I don't think Lakan was behind it, it wouldn't make sense for him to be as Maomao's father and after pointing Jinshi to it all. I think Lakan is a master strategist and himself is keeping tabs on all the things going on in the palace and country as a whole so he might have known about a plot to assassinate Jinshi and was trying to tip Jinshi off subtly without showing his hand, as if Jinshi is a pawn to him and he has more use for him alive.

I think Lakan is not the mastermind at all. The reason we are wierded out that Lakan is surprised with all of this is that he is genuinely innocent. He was merely pushing these cases to jJinshi because he personally does not have the power to investigate things, in the same authorization as Jinshi and his staff. He's investigating a third party. He was pushing for Jinshi to be saved here, with intentions for Maomao to really stop the ceremony. He does not even know that the pillar will fall. His surprise was that she got hurt. That was not in his plan. Well we'll know by next week probably. But damn, this episode makes me itch to spoil myself and read the manga.

I think the reason why Lakan looked terrified is simply because he thought Maomao was dead.

Lakan was shocked because Maomao got more hurt with savings jinshi. Note that this attempt to kill Jinshi had been going for a year now with the death of Master Koumen

I don't think Maomao fought so hard to stop the assassination attempt because she knew it was Jinshi or because in the end it would be her head... it's like the narrator says in the first episode. Maomao just can't hold back her sense of justice, especially when a live are at stake.

What if, assuming Lakan knows who Jinshi is, Lakan is shocked that Jinshi himself is going out of his way to princess carry Maomao showing just how much Jinshi cares about Maomao.

"Don't speak based purely on conjecture" - Luomen

She wasn't bleeding out, she was just bleeding.

or... lakan was just shocked seeing his daughter hurt

What makes you think Lakan is involved in this plot at all? He has only shown up during the investigation of the incidents, not the causing of the incidents. More like a neutral party saying "You might want to look into this", instead of a conspirator.

I think it wasn’t shock that Jinshi survived. I think he was shocked with how badly Maomao was injured.

I don't want to be asshole but... I'm going to be. The theory of Lakan wanting to kill Jinshi makes literally zero sense. If he really wanted him dead, then why in the world would he keep dropping to ask him for investigations all the time? And it started before even Maomao was in inner palace iirc. If Lakan really wanted Jinshi dead, then he would just be quiet and watch the world burn. The face Lakan had when Jinshi was taking Maomao from the ceremony place would pretty much indicate shock at how severe were her wounds from both beating by the guard, and what she sustained saving Jinshi.

Lakan actually specifically said that the metalworker could create a simple tool and if used on a ritual utensil it would look beautiful then they showed what it was which is literally the metal box that was holding up the banner He basically outed that he knew Jinshi is royalty by bringing up the utensils because even Jinshi comments that the rituals would have nothing to do with him in his current position so honestly Lakan is in my opinion a secret MVP in all this not the antagonist. Note: All the incidents were sent Maomao's way indirectly or directly by Lakan. Lakan saw the pipe and left it on the ground for someone to put two and two together that it was smoked and the flour caused the explosion, Lakan told Gaoshun about the seaweed and the metalworker was of course Lakan and these were all shown in the anime btw no manga spoilers

I don't think Lakan is the culprit. Why would a master strategist who has literal direct access to his target set up such an elaborate scheme, only to drop hints and clues - in front of a witness even? He _may_ have put the pieces together and neglected to warn Jinshi, but I don't believe he had the exact same pieces of the puzzle Maomao had. Lakan's shock came from seeing his daughter get carried out, possibly dead, I think. It's also a big assumption Jinshi's exact rank is a secret. Although this might be the case, all we know kinda sure is that Maomao does not know. The same Maomao who seems to try extra hard to not pay attention to Jinshi, knows nothing of nobility and even in this episode says she didn't pay attention in her court lady lessons.

Funny how the thoughts of Lakan is either scared of Maomao safety or just simply pissed at the guard who struck her never crossed ur mind...

I think Lakan was just trying to mess up their relationship, by messing with Jinshi and inviting him to those places or suggesting him ask Maomao things that would upset her. I doubt he was the one behind the attempt at killing him. If he was I don't think he would have helped her enter the place. More likely he helped her enter the place thinking it would cause an embarrassment and thus ruin their relationship, I think he wasn't aware of the attack.

Lakan wasn't involved in the attempt on Jinshi. He may have had a suspicion, or he understood his daughter was on to something, but his reaction must have been regarding how horribly injured she was.

Seeing everyone speculating about lakan is so fun, can't wait for the reveal

The guard that hit MaoMao was stunned by Lakan's intervention because Lakan's is part of the inner Royal court - Lakan is basically the spy master of the Imperial palace and a high-ranking intelligence agent for the emperor. Lakan uses his intuition but does not rely as much on evidence like MaoMao because of the energy it takes to gather the evidence. MaoMao who was taught by her adoptive father LuoMen to base her actions on evidence because of the need to avoid getting people accidentally hurt without evidence - MaoMao works harder than Lakan to find the evidence because of LuoMen's lessons. Jinshi seeing MaoMao hesitancy to getting involved with inner court mysteries offers MaoMao a reward for solving it which pushes MaoMao forward to analyzing the recent mysteries that were occurring. This incentive gets Maomao to conclude via Venn Diagrams that multiple incidences the missing Ceremonial items was part of an assassination plan for a high royal member. MaoMao being trained to save lives by her adoptive father runs to save the royal she thinks is endanger - Probably knowing JinShi might be endangered, Lakan as an inner court member present at the ceremony gives MaoMao permission to enter the ceremony and save JinShi. Given that MaoMao just saved JinShi's life - Lakan is stunned realizing this event will make it harder for him to convince JinShi to let him take MaoMao (is long lost daughter). However, by helping MaoMao save JinShi's life, Lakan is now off the usual assassin suspect list. Part of the problem of knowing about the assassination plan is to admit knowing the motive of the assassination and admitting knowing the true identity of who Jinshi is - something that could get a commoner killed. So the way to save JinShi - is for Jinshi to save himself or atleast getting someone who is clueless and good hearted enough to do the saving .... and this is what MaoMao is being setup for. At least this is what the story is suggesting to me.

Of course Lakan didn't try to kill him. If he did, why would he bother keep giving him hints all these times? I think it's suirei also.

Jinshi is either the emperor's' brother from the dowager empress or (more interesting) his son from Ah Duo (which would explain why her dad was banished but not executed, he is part of the larger cover up). Just saying.

As a LN reader…so close….so close and yet so far!! Beautiful story, gorgeous animation…can’t wait to see more! 👍🏻😁😁

That guard was destined to be screwed. A lot of noble etiquette is posturing. The guard has to make a strong show of force to rebuff attempts to pass him. If it seen he held back to let.a.lowly servant by, he would not be fulfilling his role in noble society. This is enuff to lose his head. Then again, striking a Noble's daughter can have the same outcome, so this is why I pity the fool.

The entire episode was amazing. I have read this novel ans the next ones so I now the future, but even I was screaming run. So much tension, I am even questioning things I know to be confirmed.

I think Laken was shocked because it was Jinshi and Jinshi is the one carrying her out. Why isn't another servant carrying her? Laken now knows Jinshi will never let Mao Mao go.

When Lakon talks about Maomao's Mom for the first time with Jinshi, he mentions that she could always beat him in Go or Shogi. I wonder if he was investigating these things and couldn't find the common thread. When he found out Maomao was smart like her mom, maybe she could figure out the pieces. It's possible that Suirei was moved to the guard shack so Lakan could keep an eye on her. The guy at the desk when she's picking up meds says something like a Court Lady shouldn't be doing this. So where she's placed isn't a typical court lady position. Either way, I can't wait to see what's next. That episode blew me away. So good!

15:00 Couldn't he have been shocked just because Maomao was hurt more and her life is in danger?

Mao poor brains were so rattled from that hit that her force of will carried her to save who ever. but couldn't quite grasp that Jinshi was there. but the bozer was still i her shattered mind. Truth be told, Maomao may never have to worry about being beautiful again. That hit should have shattered her facial bones. it makes me sod to think about how bad that hit was. Even Jinshi was in shock he noticed her face before he realized he just almost died.

Unravel in Jinshi head

It is hilarious to me that everyone assumes Lakan is evil, when all he did so far was talk and spread breadcrumbs, all people are working with are assumptions.

Lakan is weird. That’s fact. But I don’t think he is the mastermind behind the assassination attempt since he has no gain in Jinshi’s death. He tried to tip Jinshi off so many times with Maomao and the metal workers thing. 2 motives, first is to get him off Maomao his precious jewel, second is to signaling to Jinshi that boy I think you’re about to get killed. Lakan’s face is terrifying. His daughter was clubbed in the face, actually saved the noble but now got another injury to her leg, and Jinshi princess carried her away. IMO, Lakan’s assumption was that Jinshi sees her as another plaything which would explain why he was so worked up and wanted to ruin their relationship. Not expecting Jinshi to care for her this much to carries her away in front of all the ceremonial big position people even though she is just a lowly servant. But Jinshi bro I hope you run after you are outside the ceremonial place. That guard dude gonna have his head chopped off by the next episode, rightfully so. Now that the assassination plot has come to light, all the coincidences are coming together, with two(?) more bread crumbs to pick up, I hope to see more of them getting unraveled in the next few episodes. I’m real curious about how the real mastermind was able to pull this off. I have my own theory about the identity of the mastermind but it will take more time to confirm the theory. If the theme still holds up then it could narrow down to 1 person. What is left is the motives. DONT SPOIL ME I want to have the my knee slapping moment next few weeks 😂

7:47 The metal worker is the most important ingredient to the plan. By taking out the old metal worker, no one was able to make a new apparatus with the required strength to hold the beam. By now you can guess what ceremonial equipment was stolen. So, the office of rites has to replace the stolen parts, but the metal work brothers could not produce the same quality as their dad's. And so, that part naturally fails as we saw.

His rank is why Jinshi had to walk. He has to be grateful and dignified at all times. By carrying her himself, he’s sending a powerful message. “She belongs to ME, and she is precious. Touch her at your peril.” Otherwise he would have gotten someone else to carry her. Just thinking…

Lakan is not the bad guy. He is just good at smelling out trouble. No Suiri (sp?) Is not in love with Lakan. Read the light novels there is a whole underlining plot going on. Each book gets deeper and deeper. Has me so hooked because of the plot interplay.

From last week, I've been thinking that Laklan might be sending money to support Maomao's mother, hence y she can still keep a room to herself. Or, the money from his visits is allocated to her.

With that hit in the head, no, don't run ...

Despite his "intelligence," Lakan's earlier attempt to get the object of his desire ends with a broken woman. Whatever his role in this current sceme was, his intent is to get Maomao, his current fixation. And when he sees her so badly hurt, I think he thinks he's screwed it up and broken this one too.

What if lakan is close to the perpetrator but is unable to do anything for fear of his life? So he kept trying to help jinshi and maomao. But he was still incredibly surprised that maomao figured it out and what she was willing to go through to save him. You also have to remember that lessers are not allowed to look the royal family in the face or eyes. She lakan might also be scared that he will be killed for not bowing his head. This also explains why no one knew who jinshi really was except very high people.

There is also a possibility that there is someone above Lacan who told him to get Jinshi killed. Also, Lacan can't know how much Maomao knew about those incidents.

She really needed some of that rare medicinal ingredient bait for her Court Lady test.

im 99% suke that it wasnt lakans(i didnt remember his name for some reason) plan and that the shock on his face was a combi of how high of a noble jinshi was and the passed out haevy wounded daughter of his in his arms. the 1% that it was lakkans plan is cause he planed to kill "the kings brother" and the shock is the reveal of jinshi...

Lakan wanted MaoMao to see Jinshi die to break her. His shock was seeing Jinshi carry her out despite all the machinations he put in place leading to ulitmately him losing MaoMao in that instant.

Loumen would carry Maomao faster with one broken knee bone😭 Jinshi SIR👏 PLEASE U NEED TO RUN👏👏 Jokes aside, good god who knew Maomao can take a freaking beating and fight to NOT lose her consciousness long enough to save someone's life! BRAVO indeed!! PS: Consort Loulan looked real pretty in the previews!! Can't wait to meet her again next week aaaaaa

Seaweed was also brought by Lakan, through Gaoshun

I don’t think Lakan was behind the whole thing. I think he suspected something was going on but wasn’t sure. I think the court lady is the mastermind. She may even be in line to the throne if Jinshi dies, maybe she is his sister from another concubines and if Jinchi dies she gets te position of next in line to the emperor.

In episode E7, Jinshi receives a hairpin that only special individuals can wear. Gold with a red orb. It looks suspiciously similar to the one Suiren wears daily

I think Just like he would play strategy games with maomaos mom, he wanted to play a game with her. He left all the clues on purpose to see if she could beat him. He stopped the guard because he was interfering in their game.

Off with that guard's head! That guard is a dead man walking since Jinshi is sooooooo going to be pissed upon seeing Maomao's injury.

I think Lakan is innocent. He keeps an ear out for any mysterious and if there is a one that he thinks Maomao would like he send it to Jinshi for Maomao to figure out since her mother and him both enjoy puzzles. The seaweed mystery was brought to her by Geoshun, the warehouse by Lihaku (Lakan, left the pipe for Maomao to solve, if she got involved), the Alcohol Salt was from Jinshi and Metal works was from Lakan. Lakan heard of all the mysteries that she solved and sent the metal works as an indirect gift. Lakan helped Maomao into the Ceremony in hopes that once she discovered it was Jinshi it would destroy their relationship and then he could get her. The reason Lakan looked the way that he did at the end was that he either thought she was dead or serious injured (the loud thud of the post) and the realization that he might have lost her forever. Or that Jinshi was carrying her (a servant being carried by the prince) in front of everyone now he can’t discretely try and get Maomao. Jinshi was walking and not running to make it seem like Maomao was dead. To give them time to figure out who was behind the assassin attempt. Also royalty don’t run, they are always in control of their emotions and have to portray themselves as such. I think that Suirei was sent to the military for Lakan (or someone else) to keep an eye on her. If you remember when Maomao was at the apothecary the guy mentioned that a court lady should not be at the military.

I think Lakan was shocked because Maomao got hurt. Also, are you sure he’s the one who set this up? I know he seems shady, but I don’t get that from him at all.

Im loving your analysis and speculations. I thought the trigger for maomao to piece everything together was when she remembered Lihaku saying about stolen items during the fire.. thus the need for a replacement.. but all who knows about the quality of that metal died.. so the 3 brothers who created the replacement dis not know that the metal will be near candles (heat) I thinks Lakan was shocked because he did not expect MaoMao to be hurt like she’s half dead.. I think he just wanted to help her to solve mysteries to be close to her and maybe to reveal to her Jinshi’s true status.. plus a noble will be carrying his servant like he doesn’t care.. Lakan is not against Jinshi to the point of murder.. Yes! Im thinking, Jinshi run! Why are u walking like you’re in a park?! Hahahaha 😁

Please do not run carrying someone that passed out with a concussion though. She wasn't bleeding enough for her to risk dying of blood loss with the short distance there is from that place to whichever place he brought her to be treated anyway.

Pretty sure he was shock and scared because of his daughter is hurt. You did mention Lokan cares for his jewel

Lakan shock might be because jinshi shows himself to everyone there/ people he wasn't supposed to. Also maybe jinshi is walking because she got a head injury (probably not but maybe)

For Lakan's reaction, how would you react if your child was carried out of a building unconscious and bleeding by lets say the president of the US and the secret service has their weapons drown and moving them to a vehicle? you would likely be shocked dumb and unable to act because they will kill you if you tried to approach. Jinshi is a high noble and can not be touched and is carrying the bleeding unresponsive body of his daughter after hearing a loud crash. On top of that Jinshi almost never shows his emotions aside from when he is with Maomao and the look he had was very clear he was PISSED. This would scare a good number of people bad enough to freeze up on the receiving end of that look. In my opinion Lakan is going to become an Oni after he wakes up from his stupefied state as will Jinshi over what happened to Maomao. It's just a question of who is going to be the bigger demon.

Running with someone that's suffered blunt force Trauma to the head is a profoundly terrible idea. Also Jinshi is still surrounded by people of obviously lower social standing than him (as they're all bowing to him) so he can't afford to look panicked. It's already scandalous enough that he's carrying a *servant girl* in his arms.

If he's the one who had this planned(he is smart enough to pull off sth like this but still) what's the point of giving clues by having Jinshi and Maomao solve those cases? You'll get my logic next episode when they(Jinshi & Maomao) examine how this happend

I think lakan is shook cause mao mao got hurt. If you see right after she got hit, he pulls up and all the guards are terrified cause they know when lakan is angry.

1. It would have been a TERRIBLE idea to run. She has a concussion. 2. However, I will say that in the Square Enix Manga, he runs. I don't remember about the other version of the manga. This scene doesn't exist in the Web Novel and I believe it didn't make it to the "Novel." It IS in the Light Novel and it's implied he walks then too. Maomao describes it as a gentle swaying. 3. The guard is beaten up by Lakan (according to the author.) But he isn't fired and definitely not killed. Two years later he gets a promotion because he's competent at his job. 4. I honestly didn't think this would come up so much in people's reactions 'cause it seems obvious but Lakan wasn't involved. You can pretty much understand Lakan's personality by understanding Maomao's. Both of them really only try hard, or care, about things they find interesting. This episode makes it explicitly clear that Maomao gets involved in these situations because she's roped or bribed into them. Lakan, however, isn't in a position to be vulnerable for either. He more or less gauged the situation and gave the hints to have someone ELSE step in (remind you of anyone?) but he doesn't care enough to intervene directly.

I violently winced when Maomao was hit with the club.

I watched it thinking the shock on Lakans face is that Jinshi made his mind up. Lakan could prolly only interfere to some degree because a firm stance was not taken by someone much higher than himself. For the longest time he’s (Jinshi) stood in the back and let Maomao have nearly free rein, but now he has exposed himself to the population with her in his arms after she was brutally hurt. I think Lakan viewed that as Jinshi saying, “enough, this is now my stance. Ef off weird monocle man 👋 “

I was sreaming at him to RUN, too!!! LOL!

You also miss the point where mama links the link links the lady she met At the pharmacy That smells like medicine

Actually, Jinshi not running is a good thing. When somebody has a head, neck, or back injury you should not move them until the professionals arrive, as you can cause secondary injury. You don't know whether something is dislocated or a bone might be sticking somewhere it shouldn't. This is a common way people who survive the actual injury unharmed, still end up paraplegic. So, Jinshi running might have caused more harm than good.

Jinshi is not a high-born noble. He's royalty. There was a shot that focused in on the dragon emblem on his clothes. During those times, anyone who wears a dragon symbol and is not royalty is thought to have committed treason against the emperor. Also the fact that he was the one doing the ritual to pray to heaven proves he's royalty.

Lakan's shocked face may be an Anime only scene, as while as Jinshi's walk out of the area. In the manga, the scene actually ends after Maomao collapses. Not sure about the light novel though.

Luomen always warned her about conjecture, and her bias shows through in this episode. There is no evidence to implicate Lakan at all so her conclusion isn't based on logic. We know that Maomao hates Lakan and that Jinshi doesn't trust him, and together this influences our opinion on Lakan. He sent her to investigate the metalworker case, possibly because he was already investigating it and was testing her skill? He picked up the pipe after the explosion, so that is also possible evidence that he is investigating the events. The relavent facts are: 1) He directed her to the metalworker case and 2) he happened to be there. There are so many possible explanations for why Lakan introduced her to the case and nothing implicates him. In this episode she assumes that he is guilty because he is merely there at the right time, but keep in mind that Lakan stalks Mao anyway. I think Mao has a clear bias against him and it's affecting her judgement and obscuring the facts of the case. I'm starting to become very interested in Lakan as a character!

Hmm. Lakan is not at fault for this incident. If he knew and intended to kill Jinshi, he wouldn’t have brought all those incidents to his attention in the first place. All he had to do was stand back and let Maomao get beaten unconscious, or called for a doctor. Then Jinshi splatters into chunky salsa on his own. So I think maybe he’s just bad at social skills? What does he stand to gain from making sure Jinshi dislikes him? Isn’t it clear that Jinshi likes Maomao? If Lakan just wanted Maomao, letting Jinshi die would give her to him. She’s just a lowly servant girl, and her master is dead. He’s the grand strategist or something with the emperor’s ear. Then he claims Maomao as his daughter to shield her from accusations during the subsequent investigation.

I'm even more convinced now that Jinshi is not a eunich.

14:57 Lakan's shocked expression is not one of someone who is surprised his plan did not go through. He is Terrified, it's the look of someone who screwed up. because Maomao got injured. and it's also the surprised look of a "Oh, so that's how it is..." because this highblood person is carrying Maomao in his arms, meaning that he must care for her deeply. we know that for Lakan people are nothing more than pawns, with very few exceptions, Maomao being one of the exceptions. He had just proposed to buy Maomao from Jinshi because he never supposed their relationship was more than master servant. But this scene here changes it all, there's no way Jinshi is going to sell her after this.

Lihaku explained another related incident that happened a year ago, way before Jinshi bought Maomao and before Lakan would learn that she is in the palace. So, I believe this is all unrelated to her, which means Lakan no longer has any known motive, and he may not be involved at all.

I think Lakan's motivation for giving clues to Jinshi was to challenge Maomao to a strategy match (as he did with her mother) and to force her to expose talents publically. Successfully murdering Jinshi would mean he won the match and could take Maomao as his prize. He's in shock because he realizes Maomao is even more formidable than he realized and that he's likely made an enemy out of one of the brightest and most well-connected members of the royal household.

The thought I had watching this episode was that perhaps Lakan was not _behind_ this incident, but rather, he _knew_ (or at least suspected) about the incident, and purposefully nudged cases relevant to the incident towards Maomao for the sole purpose of ensuring that on this particular day, in this particular moment, Maomao would be forced (by her own smidgen of justice) to be in this particular place and away from anyone who could keep Lakan from approaching her. And then his shocked face afterwards was more along the lines of, "Oh crap, was that _still_ going too far? Did I break this one too? I was really trying to be more careful this time, and yet..."

In my opinion, Lakan is not the one behind thr murder attempt on Jinshi. It wouldn't make sense that he basically brought all those previous incidents to Jinshi to give to Maomao. It would be him ratting out his own plans.

Lakan drew all the attention to those strange deaths, but people (I've seen several) assume for some reason that he is behind this stuff. Really?

I think LaCrazy thought it was highborn but didn’t expect how high

i thought about this haaard- but i dont think this was lakan's plan. i feel like he was there at the perfect moment b/c he figured it all out just like maomao did- we can still argue on why he seemed so pissed seeing jinshi carry maomao, but my idea is that he really didnt want this girl he wanted to buy for 10+ years/his kin to be hurt like that- i dont think its coming from fatherly love but possessiveness- also like the idea everyone was so shocked seeing a noble carry a servant girl which is NOT done ever

the real issue was not him walking, but them showing MaoMao in the preview for next episode

You cat run in ritual thing. So that attack on ghoul kaneki walking through just make sense.

You don’t bounce the head of a concussion victim for no reason. As someone said, she is not bleeding out, she has a deep laceration that needs stitches. Do you have kids, when they get hurt it is shocking.

My thoughts is that lakan was trying to reveal jinshis true identity to maomao

You're seeing some sort of connection between Lakan and Surei that isn't there....

Somebody in a comment section said you shouldn't run while carrying a injured person due to blood vessels popping and her head trauma affecting her brain.

In an emergency situation, walk fast. Running will raise your heart beat and panick. Walking casually is too slow.

But what if Lakan has nothing to do with everything?

For all those who believe that Lakan may be the culprit; bear in mind that he found out Maomao was purchased by Jinshi much later than Kounen died. Also, I don't think it's wise to run while carrying someone who received a hit to the head. Edit: Correcting autocorrect

I don't think Lakan is one caused all of this, it is likely anime intentionally misleading us. I think he is after Maomao because she is her daughter, but that is about it. And he can be genuinely shocked by Maomao's state (he doesn't even know is she alive or not)

I think you focus way to hard on Lakan. He might be a shady guy, but until now he didn't really do anything Evil. He is supposed to play the guy who seems like the obvious bad guy, but this just seems way to superficial.

Did anyone not expect her to get hit by the club? I expected her to get slapped but hit with club? What if that killed her and the ceremony ended and there was dead servant girl on the stairs or blood stains?

Maomao likely has a bad concussion so running might not actually be a good idea

Amazing episode, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions. Yes, Lakan is number one suspect of the incident, but there are just too many head scratchers. He pointed the iron workers, he know she investigated the pipe fire and even backed her while truing to save the noble in the cerimony. For now, seems like there’s a guilty third party. Lakan dislikes Jinchi but he’s target is them

What if Surei is related to Lakan, like a neice n is aware of maomao's existence?

I think Lakan is behind it. He said he can't mess with Jinshi, so why not make it look like an accident? He planned this for a long time, so I am sure he knew Jinshi would be there. Why I think Lakan let Maomao in is because of his nature. People do not change easly. He broke her mother too much, hence he said he would not do it again. But at that moment, he saw another opportunity. What better way to have her for himself than to let her in there and see Jinshi die in front of her, possibly breaking her spirit while taking away her guardian? The surprise came because she saved him, and I believe an even bigger surprise is that, because of his action, he almost repeated his past mistake, where he would have lost what is most important to him. I think, at least for me, that would be the most logical conclusion to this.

I think lakan made that face because he didn't realize who exactly jinshi was (I think confirmed by jinshi in the last episode iirc)

Lakan is a strategist. he plan the while thing. not by himself, but using bit and pieces, causing the whole accident to be set in motion. he was mad because the guy trying to flirt with his daughter. he will never do anything by himself, always keep his hand clean. he simple nudging someone to set thing in motion

I know it is easy to blame Lakan, but please wait a bit longer. The man is not that bad.

In that scene he ran in the novel, but they dramatized the ending by a lot, also we are given a culprit and bro stills tries to put it on lakan

Lakan knows Maomao is his daughter. He's been helping her all along. I think he knew of the plot, not a participant. It was to help Maomao. I think it never occurred to him that Maomao might be hurt.