The Confidant — Season 1, Episode 20: Episode 20
Drama • 45 min • 1 season, 33 episodes
Episode synopsis
Emperor TONGZHI decides to confer BAO-YIN as his empress, which is faced with CIXI's objection on all kinds of grounds. Refusing to bend to CIXI's will, Emperor TONGZHI insists that LIAN-YING and SAM-SHUN should help him make BAO-YIN his empress, leaving the two in a dilemma. Having heard that CIAN commenced a fasting and said a prayer for her at the Grand Temple, CIXI gets even more antipathetic towards CIAN. She then overhears that Emperor TONGZHI criticizes her in front of CIAN, which makes her so angry that she requests LIAN-YING to disclose CIAN's evil-doing. Following the sudden death of a eunuch during a body check, SHEUNG-HEI and imperial doctors conduct an autopsy and are greatly astonished when they discover that there is no total removal of that eunuch's penis……
About The Confidant
"The Confidant" depicts how a group of eunuchs survive in the weakening Qing empire, and closely traces imperial eunuch Li Lianying's early life from the first day he entered the imperial palace to become one of the most powerful political figures in the latter years of the Qing Dynasty. The drama also follows Li's relationship with Empress Dowager Cixi, and how he eventually becomes her closest confidant.