Wei Yun had gotten quite close before Chu Yu shot up and left the room. In the end, it appears she couldn’t give in to the feelings she is looking more and more to have but is reluctant to accept. She takes a moment outside to gather herself after she tells Wei Yun that she’ll go out and get an extra quilt.
She returns to the room where Wei Yun sits at the table patiently waiting for her. There was no awkwardness and no pressure to talk about what happened before. However, Wei Yun does ask about the thoughts on her mind. When she spoke about the Song brothers and Gu Chusheng and whether they had successfully returned to Huajing City, Wei Yun tried to work out whether Chu Yu’s feelings were still with Gu Chusheng or that it was because she didn’t trust Song Wenchang and Song Shilan.
Chu Yu denies having any feelings for Gu Chusheng. She also denies not trusting Song Wenchang and Song Shilan. She explains that it’s because Gu Chusheng is carrying critical information and she worries about it not getting back safely.
Chu Yu was quite serious in answering Wei Yun’s question. She didn’t suspect that it was about her Gu Chusheng that he was looking to hear about. It was one after she finished answering, she picked it up.
Wei Yun didn’t admit to it when she asked, though. He pretended not to be all that curious about it when he was actually very curious. Seeing as Wei Yun only admitted to being just bit curious, Chu Yu decides to annoy him by getting up to leave and not tell him. She wanted to see him give in before she told him.
Give in, Wei Yun does. He doesn’t admit it in words. He just holds her back with a hand. “Tell me,” he says in a tone which seems to say, “You know I’m very curious and you know I really want to know. Do I really need to say it for you to know?”
Chu Yu lets him go, sitting back down. She tells him that she definitely no longer has feelings for him because once she stops, she won’t look back. She had also suggested that her feelings for Gu Chusheng were the kind that could be gotten over relatively easily. She was looking for someone who would care about her (which she lacked from her mother) and for someone who truly loved her. She equates it to how her sister Chu Jin acts out to get Chu Linyang’s attention. In short, Chu Yu is suggesting her feelings for Gu Chusheng didn’t run too deeply. When Gu Chusheng went his own way, her feelings for him ended.
With the question about her feelings for Gu Chusheng answered, Wei Yun moves to ask about her feelings for him, which she in a way avoids by talking about the first time she met him. She talks about meeting him around the age of 16 and watching his triumphant return with his family at the time. She claims to have heard all the young ladies at Spring Breeze House praise his impressiveness and the people in the city calling him the young man in white who “pacified the North with a spear”. She told him that he looked so good on his horse that she spotted him in an instant.
She thought of Wei Yun so positively even back then. If only the details she mentioned matched up to the timeline of events. Wei Yun’s first battle was at 17, not 16, and the reputation of being the young man in white who “pacified the North with a spear” was given after he defeated North Qi invaders at 18 and not at the time she claimed to have first met him. The story about spotting him from above, in a room at a teahouse as he rode on his horse through the city gates after returning from the battlefield, was also unbelievable. He couldn’t think of a room inside any teahouse where she could do that.
Wei Yun concluded it was a story she told to make him happy. Chu Yu tries to change the subject by treating him like her puppy, Xiaoqi, by asking for his hand—which he offers—and then praising him for being obedient. Wei Yun calls her up on it, which has her tell him more honestly. She tells him that she did see him, but at the time, she was too blind to see how outstanding he was. She tells him that if given a second chance she’d take a good look at him, which leads Wei Yun to ask whether she’d take a good look at him now and in the future.
Chu Yu leans in, as if to take a good look at him. But as she gets close, she suddenly backs out, claiming to be too sleepy and that her sight is too blurry and can’t see clearly. She was mischievously playing with him again, seemingly attempting to avoid answering him seriously. When she had leant in, it looked as if she were going to stare into Wei Yun’s eyes to take a good look, but her gaze had lowered midway. The action looked like she was going to kiss him, but her line of sight under the lowered lids was off to the side. She never intended to answer his question. Wei Yun knew and took the sudden exit with a smirk. Chu Yu had sidestepped in answering him again.
As Wei Yun and Chu Yu prepare to retire for the night again, they receive news that the North Qi soldiers have broken into the village. Even though Cui suspects Chu Yu and Wei Yun to be not who they say they are, he and Shen still help hide them. Cui explains that he had been in such a situation before, and it was Shen who had helped hide him. Now he will help hide them, seemingly out of understanding through his own personal experience.
Cui’s true identity is revealed during the intrusion. Coming face to face with the North Qi commander Shen You, his identity as a former North Qi spy gets exposed. Cui’s full name is Cui Yi, and he was a former North Qi spy who had fled from the battlefield and ran away from his post.
Cui pleads for the villagers to be spared. In exchange, he’ll go back with him willingly and take any punishment. Shen You isn’t interested in taking Cui back. Nor is he going to punish Cui or the villagers. His sole goal is locating Chu Yu and Wei Yun.
Shen You kicks Cui aside. As Cui and Shen’s place is the last one they need to search, Shen You suspects Chu Yu and Wei Yun to be in there. Chu Yu and Wei Yun are hiding in the room, inside a closet or by a side wall, but Shen You doesn’t make a move to search the room thoroughly. His focus is on Shen. She is found hiding behind a post of the bed, looking scared. Shen seemed to be enough reason for Shen You to explain Cui being so protective of the place.
Cui was about to marry Shen, a Great Sui woman, the next day, yet Shen knew nothing about his true identity as a former North Qi spy. This matter, as well as the fact that Shen You sees Cui as a “mere runaway spy” who he doesn’t need to capture, was enough to have Shen You leave him be. He also took Cui’s past contributions into consideration for leaving him a chance to live, believing that although he is allowed to stay alive, it won’t be without punishment. He predicted that, because he’s from North Qi, he’d struggle in agony from the looks Shen would give him. This was punishment enough.
With Cui spared, Shen You leaves Cui a flare and an instruction to set it off should he happen to see the people from his drawing—they being Chu Yu and Wei Yun.
The villagers learn of Cui Yi being a person from North Qi. It has them worried, fearing Cui’s identity might bring them trouble. Shen, who’s kneeling beside Cui, shouts and defends him, revealing her thoughts about Cui. Her response to him wasn’t at all what Shen You had predicted. She didn’t care where he was from because, in her eyes, he is a good man.
Cui tells the villagers that he’ll leave the village the next day. He’ll leave with Wei Yun and Chu Yu, who the North Qi were looking for. Falling to his knees, Cui pleads with the villagers not to give Shen a hard time for the sake of their past, presumably after he leaves.
The response from the villagers is again not as predicted. The sight of Cui’s sincerity and the mention of his past in this village has the villagers remember his good deeds of helping them around the village and saving them from bandits. They express having not seen Cui do anything to hurt them. They express that they do see him as a good man. With the villagers all agreeing, they tell Cui to stay.
To settle the worries of the villagers, Wei Yun moves to reveal himself as the Marquis of Zhenguo and assures the villagers that they will be safe with him and Chu Yu around. One of the villagers reveals himself as a centurion of the 13th Battalion of the Wei Army, Zheng Zhi. He confirms the token Wei Yun holds to prove his identity to be true, relieving all the villagers’ worries.
With the concerns of the villagers taken care of, Wei Yun, Chu Yu and Cui move inside to talk about delivering a letter to Chu Linyang to have him and Lu Qiba come to the village to give them a hand with a trap set to catch Shen You. Cui was also told to tell Shen You that Wei Yun and Chu Yu were expected to be at the village to attend his and Shen’s wedding ceremony.
Chu Linyang, Lu Qiba and their men make it to the village. They replace the villagers, and instead of Cui and Shen getting married, Wei Yun and Chu Yu take their place. The wedding ceremony starts.
The wedding may be an act, but for Wei Yun, he was going to treat it as if it were real, so his vows to her were all genuine. In front of everyone, the vows Wei Yun made were short to keep in line with the fact that this was all an act and so it didn’t need to be lengthy and too deep. He tells her he’d be her husband and love her always.
His hopes and intentions were all said and done before the ceremony. Privately, Wei Yun made her a flower garland and had given it to her to wear on her head. On a previous occasion, Chu Yu had given him some flowers, and it had made him happy, so the garland was to symbolise his hope that she’d always be happy and safe from this point onwards. Then, he asked her whether she could give him a chance.
This question of Wei Yun’s weighed on Chu Yu’s mind when she walked down the aisle. She’s been avoiding answering Wei Yun and probably trying hard to not feel anything, but she clearly has feelings for Wei Yun but doesn’t want to face it.
Chu Linyang, who was the celebrant for the wedding, had even picked up on his sister’s feelings for Wei Yun. Her objection to a wedding tradition of giving the groom a few hits to make the groom promise to always love and care for his wife was not missed. Later in the scene, Chu Linyang even asks Chu Yu if she’s fallen for someone because she had also had him proceed with the part where she and Wei Yun bow to each other.
For a wedding that was not real, she didn’t have to have Chu Linyang proceed with the bow; yet, Chu Yu told him to proceed. It was as if she were also treating this wedding as real; or, she had wanted to indulge in this moment for a short time before reality returns, suggesting a desire that she is unwilling to act on.
Following Wei Yun’s vows, Shen You and his men finally make their appearance. All Shen You’s men are subdued without much effort with everyone’s skills. Cui, Shen and the villagers who were all supposedly evacuated even took down a few after returning to the village to help out.
Shen You was the only one who had made an escape. This was intentional on Wei Yun’s part. He figured that capturing him to force him to talk would only result in Shen You taking his own life to protect information from being let out. The better way would be to let Shen You go and have Wei Qiu stalk him to see if he could uncover his mastermind.
With the village no longer safe, Wei Yun lets Cui and Shen know he intends to have his troops escort him, Shen, and the villagers to somewhere that is absolutely safe. It’s an outcome which Wei Yun feels apologetic about. His and Chu Yu’s presence had resulted in them needing to relocate and start a new life. Shen assures Wei Yun it’ll be fine, as their home will be wherever they and the villagers are. As long as they are together, it will be fine for them.
Before everyone returns to Huajing City, Wei Yun tries once more to get an answer from Chu Yu about whether she’s willing to be with her. He can tell she has feelings for him. He’s also aware of her concerns (that being her being seen by the public as Wei Jun’s wife). He tells her that he will handle all the gossip and solve all the problems. He promises he’ll heal all that has hurt her and give her everything that she lost or failed to get.
He knew what worried her and what was keeping her from accepting his feelings. But it wasn’t enough. His words only brought her tears. Wei Yun had moved to wrap his arms around her from behind, so he didn’t know she had made her feel this way until a tear had dropped onto one of his hands.
Wei Yun retreated at this point, telling her that she can forget his words if his feelings made her uncomfortable. Chu Yu never tells him it made her uncomfortable or that she doesn’t feel the same way. She only tells him that she’s afraid of breaking his heart and letting him down if she can’t return to him the same passionate feelings that he has for her. She was not willing to accept his feelings because she wasn’t willing to pay a price for it.
It has Wei Yun let her go when she makes a move to leave but has yet to give up on her. Based on her response, she was afraid of the consequences they would both pay for love. Maybe she wasn’t so much worried about herself but about his reputation as well, and so she is holding back.
Chu Linyang, Lu Qiba, Wei Qiu and Wanyue return to Huajing City with Chu Yu and Wei Yun, successfully thwarting Yao Yong’s rebellion and rescuing Wei Yun and Chu Yu.
Over at the Wang residence, Gu Chusheng questions the Duke of Ning Wang Jingzhi over his involvement in all of this. Gu Chusheng’s reason for it is the suspicion that Wang Jingzhi was behind tipping off Gu Chusheng’s location on the day he went to Qinxi Valley to investigate the rebellion and was tracked down to his old residence. Wang Jingzhi denies any involvement in tipping off Gu Chusheng’s location. He points the finger at the many enemies Gu Chusheng’s made.
Wang Jingzhi expresses offence at Gu Chusheng for daring to question him on such a matter. In his eyes, Gu Chusheng was a mere minister of justice, which he gained through his help. It’s all meant to have Wang Jingzhi see that the reason Gu Chusheng is so bold as to question him is to show he is no longer under Wang Jingzhi’s control because he’s finally managed to earn a promotion through his own efforts. For his contribution in the latest case, he will soon become the minister of personnel.
