Wherein Sidney Crosby gets laid, and Russian diplomacy saves the day.

Steven starts dating someone. The internet proceeds to lose its mind.

If you’ve ever believed me in anything, believe I want what’s best for Jin Ling, the first line of the letter reads. Jiang Cheng has to stop and take a moment before he continues on to the next line: You must come to Carp Tower as soon as you can and lavish praise on the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen.

Crumpled at the base of Koi Tower’s long stairs for the second time, Jin Guangyao presses his face into the stone, takes a deep breath despite re-broken ribs, and arranges his features as carefully as he knows how. Then he stands, moving carefully around the pain, and bows deep, arms held straight and true. The walk back up the steps to his father's side is painful enough to wipe the smile from his face; it is not painful enough to prevent him re-taking his place as seneschal, bowing again at the top of the steps. As he straightens, he prioritizes his plans for his father’s demise over all else.

Wang Zhi looked back -- more men. It was blocked. He lectured himself. He truly did deserve death for his carelessness. Incognito, Tang Fan had said. Clearly not enough if they were being targeted like this. The men at the ends of the alley advanced in. “Alright Huang Zhifeng,” Wang Zhi muttered, voice dripping irony over Tang Fan's pseudonym, “how are you going to write your way out of this one?”

Five years after the death of the Yiling Patriarch, Jin Guangyao calls Jiang Cheng to Carp Tower, to involve him in a plot. It doesn't go the way Jin Guangyao thinks it's going to go.

The Republic sends a combat photographer to be attached to the 212th until further notice, citing the need for a morale boost. The clones make up a fake clone, citing the absolute fact that it is very funny. Somehow, these two things save the galaxy.