Xue Hanmei locks Li Changming in her room. He doesn’t intend to hurt her, but he can’t let her leave to report in him to His Majesty. Keeping her in her room is only for the time being. He knows that if he held Li Changming inside without her showing up for long periods, it would become suspicious. With his men either dead or missing in action, staying in Great Sui was no longer possible. He needed to find a way to escape.
Xiang had suggested killing Li Changming. Her thought is that with attendants dispersed, it would allow Xue Hanmei to sneak away more easily. A sharp glare crossed Xue Hanmei’s face when he heard this suggestion. Fortunately for Xiang, he let the suggestion pass and explained that keeping Li Changming alive was more useful. She can act as a hostage, and this will allow them to leave Great Sui more smoothly.
However, taking her out of Great Sui won’t be easy with Chu Yu and Wei Yun watching. Xue Hanmei was going to spread rumours about their relationship to create chaos and divert their attention as they deal with public opinion.
Shen You, who’s been revealed to be one of Xue Hanmei’s elite agents, has stayed put at the inn the whole time and is holding out on making a move to see Xue Hanmei whilst being closely watched by Wei Qiu. He’s been pretty good at keeping the identity of the person behind him a secret for a good number of days until he ran out of the antidote that keeps him from being in pain. This pain is caused by a poison which Xue Hanmei appears to have made Shen You take to ensure loyalty.
Unable to stand the pain, Shen You sets the inn he’s been staying at on fire in order to create the chaos needed to escape the watchful eye of Wei Qiu.
Wei Qiu doesn’t miss Shen You despite him being covered by a blanket. He gives chase and manages to catch up to Shen You.
Whilst Shen You was making his escape, he had knocked into Wang Lan, who was pregnant and was actually on her way to see him to keep up appearances of not knowing who he was. The fact was Wang Lan had already been told Shen You was a spy from North Qi, but with her not wanting to appear strange, she thought to check on him after learning about the fire that was raging at the inn.
The knock caused Wang Lan to fall to the ground in pain, and she had held Shen You there beside her. This elite agent actually has a bit of a soft/good heart. He first let go of Cui Yi at the village in Dingfeng Valley in Episode 19. Now he stays put, despite being chased, remembering the kindness from Wang Lan when he was injured.
When Wen Qiu shows up, that’s when Shen You takes off. With Wen Qiu by Wang Lan’s side, Shen You didn’t need to worry about leaving Wang Lan.
With Shen You managing to escape, Wei Qiu and Wei Yun lose their only lead to discovering the mastermind is none other than Xue Hanmei.
City gates are ordered to be closed by the Emperor.
Meanwhile, Xue Hanmei’s plan to create the distraction required to exit Huajing City with Li Changming appears to be in the form of a book based on a romantic relationship between Wei Yun and Chu Yu. Rumours start flying around the streets as the book gains popularity.
Jiang Chun approaches Chu Yu wanting to find out when things started between her and Wei Yun. She didn’t bother to clarify whether the rumours were true because she’d already seen the two acting quite close to each other during the Sheri Festival. After Chu Yu’s clarification that her feelings didn’t start whilst Wei Jun was still alive, Jiang Chun tries to have Chu Yu reconsider the relationship. She tells her that even if she believes her, others may not and that she needs to think about her own reputation and the reputation of the Wei family first.
Chu Yu is resolute. She tells Jiang Chun that she loves Wei Yun, that she wants to be with him and feels that these feelings haven’t let down others, because she only values reason, not ritual teaching. She tells Jiang Chun she understands the things she’s worried about and will give her an explanation. She leaves the Marquis of Zhenguo’s Mansion and will head back to the Chu Mansion but was going to continue seeing Wei Yun when she wants to.
Failing to get Chu Yu to turn back, Jiang Chun tries speaking to Wei Yun. He’s reminded of the brother-sister-in-law relationship he has with Chu Yu, which Wei Yun predictably doesn’t acknowledge. “There was never any true relationship,” Wei Yun says. Chu Yu wasn’t his real sister-in-law. Wei Yun tries to get Jiang Chun to see that he tried hard to keep his feelings to himself, enduring it until he realised he couldn’t do it. He truly loved Chu Yu.
In yet another attempt to get Wei Yun to reconsider, Jiang Chun brings up the sacrifice his late father and elder brothers made to achieve the family honour they had and how important reputation was to the family. She reminded him of how his late mother chose death over disgrace. Then Jiang Chun has Wei Jun’s tablet brought out. With it, she gives out punishment as if it were from Wei Jun.
Being the head of the family, despite the presence of Wei Jun’s tablet, Wei Yun didn’t listen to Jiang Chun. He initially moved to go to Chu Yu, but Jiang Chun’s demand that he stop and not make it hard for her did halt him. He was going to take the punishment, but he had no intention of backing down. He was going to see her even if Jiang Chun was going to have him killed.
Before ordering the punishment himself, he lets her know that Wei Jun actually knew everything (that is, Wei Jun knew about the feelings Wei Yun had even before Wei Yun was aware of them to admit and that Wei Jun and Chu Yu’s relationship was an act from the beginning). Then, ordering Wei Qiu, the whip is brought out and cracked across his back as he admits his mistakes. He admits developing feelings for Chu Yu as his first mistake, not being able to restrain them and wanting to disturb her as his second mistake, and admiring her and not being able to protect her as his third mistake. However, he won’t admit loving Chu Yu and wanting to be with her as a fault of his.
Wei Yun’s last statement has Wei Qiu whip him repeatedly despite feeling pained doing it. Jiang Chun also couldn’t watch it go on and stopped the whip. She tries one last time to get Wei Yun to understand the severity of his choice. She compared gossip to fatal knives. She tells him these fatal knives in the form of harsh words don’t only appear on the battlefield and that they can also kill Chu Yu.
It doesn’t change Wei Yun’s mind. He gets up and tells her that he can’t be stopped. He will love her with dignity and integrity before he leaves to go to Chu Yu.
When Wei Yun arrives, the public have already gathered outside the Chu Mansion. The point about gossip being as fatal as knives in the battlefield is played out for Wei Yun to see and for Chu Yu to feel.
Vegetables are pelted and in is splashed.
Without knowing the story behind Chu Yu’s actions or the truth behind her marriage to Wei Jun, Chu Yu is scolded for making them suffer this humiliation, while Xie Yun scolds Chu Yu for bringing disgrace to the family. Then, to make things worse, the instigator of the angry crowd—Master Sun—demands for the Chu family plaque that hangs at the top of the door to be brought down.
For those in the know, Wei Yun and Chu Yu’s relationship is not indecent, but to those who are unaware, it’s filthy and a disgrace.
Chu Linyang puts an end to the demands by actually bringing down the plaque. It’s not an admission that the Chu family has been disgraced, though. It’s that he won’t rely on the reputation of the Chu family on a simple plaque. The court and the people are where their reputations lie. They know all the sacrifices and contributions the family has made, and that’s what their reputation will be based on.
When the crowd finally leaves, Chu Linyang reiterates the similar points made by Jiang Chun to Wei Yun. Public opinion is no different from a hanging for a woman.
He tells Wei Yun that the impact on his family is less than the impact on him. Wei Yun’s family has a reputation that spans a century. He can extricate himself from this but not Chu Yu because she’s a woman. The slander and rumours hit her most.
He has Wei Yun see that the world doesn’t care about the truth. They only care to join in on the commotion. Wei Yun had mentioned having the ability to protect her for a lifetime. Chu Linyang can’t see how Wei Yun can. He can’t see how Wei Yun could kill every piece of gossip. As Chu Linyang had mentioned earlier (and as Wei Yun had acknowledged seeing when Chu Yu watched the crowd accuse her of disgracing her father and her family name), the rumours and slandering of her family had hurt her.
Inside the Chu Mansion, Xie Yun is distraught over Chu Linyang’s actions. Being in the dark about Chu Yu’s goals, she continues to believe in Chu Linyang’s actions as he spoils Chu Yu.
After Chu Linyang finishes speaking with Wei Yun, Chu Linyang sees his distraught mother to fill her in on everything. Being in the dark about Chu Yu’s reason for everything she’s done, Xie Yun continues to believe Chu Yu’s reasons were selfish and Chu Linyang’s actions were him spoiling her. This is when Chu Linyang makes a move to reveal the investigation Chu Yu was doing for their family and how not saying anything about it was to avoid getting Xie Yun and Chu Jin from getting implicated in the investigation.
Chu Linyang cryptically tells his mother that if there wasn’t the burden of the fact that Chu Yu is the widow of Wei Jun and then had fallen in love with Wei Yun, which has implicated their family, the relationship between Chu Yu and Wei Yun could be considered normal. This has Xie Yun tell Chu Linyang to tell her everything that’s happened.
