Wei Yun doesn’t get his answer to whether Chu Linyang will help clear all obstacles or stand in his way when Chu Yu thinks things through. Tuantuan drops by and has been dropping by daily, wanting to see him but has been refusing to see her. His reason for not seeing her appears to be more than just going back to Fengling City to get back what he lost. He had said he didn’t want her to waste her youth on someone like him, which points to a different concern of his that he’s not willing to share with Tuantuan.
It’s not going well between Song Wenchang and Chu Jin either. Last episode, he was stood up by her for breaking his word about not going into battle. This episode, Song Wenchang explains that although he understood Chu Jin’s reason for not wanting him to go into battle (because she didn’t want to worry about him), he didn’t want to be a good-for-nothing his whole life. He wanted to be a man she could be proud of. He wanted to earn military merits and bring glory to his family. He wanted to contribute to the great cause of Great Sui. He liked the feeling he got when he was able to help Great Sui and the commoners, and so if he had to do it again, he’d go into battle again.
This had Chu Jin tell him she wanted to take a break. At least it’s not a full-on rejection.
Meanwhile, at the Duke of Ning Mansion, a confrontation between Gu Chusheng and Wang Jingzhi ends with Wang Linlang freeing Gu Chusheng by divorcing him. Her father had once again threatened to kill him for going against him when he helped the Wei family get back up and cleared the Chu family’s name.
Wang Jingzhi doesn’t appear to be a threat to Great Sui. He opposes the Wei and Chu families because they are military factions which oppose the faction he’s a part of, and that’s the civil faction. Wang Jingzhi is suggested as having a personal grudge, which gets in the way of seeing right from wrong because of it. He seems to be after political gain by weakening the military faction rather than destroying and betraying Great Sui.
The confrontation gets heated when Gu Chusheng brings up the assassination attempt. Wang Jingzhi doesn’t confirm or deny. He just picks up a sword and thrusts it towards Gu Chusheng.
This is the point Wang Linglan appears to stand in front of the sword, daring her father to kill her instead. To save Gu Chusheng from being destroyed, she tells her father that he’s not a good enough match for their family and wants a divorce. To make sure her father doesn’t go after Gu Chusheng after the divorce, Wang Linlang tells her father that he must stay respectable; otherwise, people will talk about her having once married someone unworthy.
Wang Linlang spares Gu Chusheng for Wang Linlang’s sake. Wang Linlang moves to sign the divorce paper, letting him go.
While everyone is breaking up, Chu Yu’s finally thought it through and has decided to be with Wei Yun despite the possible backlash they’ll get from people.
During her visit to the Eldest Princess’ Mansion, the small note Chu Yu got from Gu Chusheng is handed over to Li Changming to look at in hopes that maybe she could recall something about the red floral pattern that was on it. Nothing comes to mind. However, it somehow gets Li Changming thinking about the intensity of feelings when falling in love and giving the advice of being brave so that one doesn’t regret it later on when it all just becomes a memory. Perhaps Li Changming was thinking about her own feelings for Hanmei and how, despite knowing she could be going into something dangerous where she could get her, she didn’t want to live regretting anything.
Li Changming’s words about not regretting anything had Chu Yu make up her mind to return home to the Marquis of Zhenguo’s Mansion after running into Wei Yun and his niece (who he took out specifically to see Chu Yu) after leaving the Eldest Princess’ Mansion.
Being the Sheri Festival, the next morning, Wei Yun jumps the walls of Xiaoyao Temple to beat everyone outside in hopes of getting to hang their prayer plates first. It’s believed that being the first ones can be a good omen.
Amidst the focus on the four couples, there was a small development with regards to a new spy within Li Changming’s people. Her maid is looking like she’s working for someone from North Qi. When Chu Yu showed Li Changming the note about the supplies arriving in North Qi, the maid was shocked and had knocked over tea while serving it. She claimed it was a lack of sleep that caused her to make this rare mistake. It sees Li Changming putting her on her watchlist.
Another scene that was a little suspicious is the one just before Chu Yu visits the Eldest Princess’ Mansion. Li Changming was seen complaining about (what sounds like) chronic headaches. She’s been receiving medicine for it, and in the past the medicine helped. However, the current dosage is no longer effective, and now she’s requesting a stronger one, which Hanmei arranges.
Hanmei is still very much a suspicious character. Being someone who works around herbs that can be poisonous, he’s made to look like he might just be slowly poisoning Li Changming.
