Introduction
By the end of A Dream Within A Dream: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 10, we saw a big mess with the so-called plan to assassinate Nan Heng with the help of himself aka Li Shi Liu. The following episodes are the aftermath of that mess, the ‘love triangle’ between Nan Heng-Song Yi Meng-Li Shi Liu, and the second couple’s romance kicks in.
The above image is taken when Li Shi Liu rescued Song Yi Meng/Xiao Lu during the fire. The days (or episodes) of romance between Li Shi Liu and Song Yi Meng are numbered. Once his identity is exposed, their romance will be over. Therefore, I documented their romantic iconic scene in this article’s featured image.
Recap Episodes 11 to 20
Episode 11
To save children, Li Shi Liu overcame his childhood fears. He was locked in the cold palace, where a fire had broken out, and he was trapped by the eunuchs.
Like a superhero, Li Shi Liu jumped out of the fire carrying the kids.
Chu Gui Hong wanted to arrest Li Shi Liu for his attempt to assassinate Nan Heng. They fought, but Chu Gui Hong’s sword broke in two (remember, it had been replaced last time!). The Night Wanderers arrived, led by Shang Guan He, to put out the fire.
The next day, news of Nan Rui starting a fire spread throughout the capital. Xiao Yu didn’t believe the news because the script indicated that Nan Heng was the one who started the fire. She guessed Li Shi Liu caused the plot twist. The public was enraged, but the Emperor only gave Nan Rui a scolding. Song Yu De called his daughter about the rumor that her fiancé had plotted with Nan Rui to kill Nan Heng. The Emperor believed that Nan Heng spread this rumor. So, His Majesty summoned Nan Heng and Nan Rui. His Majesty was suspicious of Nan Heng and Li Shi Liu’s connection and ordered Chu Gui Hong to investigate the matter.
Xiao Yu felt bad that Nan Heng became a victim of the emperor’s favoritism. She came to see Nan Heng to apologize because she had planned the assassination, while Nan Rui started the fire, but Nan Heng was to blame. She begged Nan Heng to spare Li Shi Liu, because Li Shi Liu was her ‘man.’ Nan Heng was amused by her words. Next, Li Shi Liu and the Night Wanderers repaired the houses damaged by fire.
Episode 12
Chu Gui Hong also came to the fire disaster area with his Qianju army and was unhappy seeing that Li Shi Liu had already worked on fixing the houses with the Night Wanderers. The two groups ended up competing in fixing the place. Li Shi Liu noticed that Song Yi Meng had a soft spot for him. She defended him against Chu Gui Hong, Nan Heng, and even Fu Gui! (She thought that Fu Gui was against Li Shi Liu.) Li Shi Liu didn’t understand why Song Yi Meng defended him. She explained that although Li Shi Liu was a hero, he was only a supporting character. She was the protagonist and had plot armor (she can’t die), so she should protect him. With that, Xiao Yu put a halo on top of his head, lol!
At home, after the maids listened to their mistress talking about Li Shi Liu, they concluded that their mistress should break off her engagement with Chu Gui Hong and marry Li Shi Liu instead. But Xiao Yu argued that she just wanted to get rid of Nan Heng. Now, Nan Heng started to get uneasy with Song Yi Meng’s misunderstanding of his persona, always thinking that he was the villain. So, the next day, he visited Song Yi Meng and asked about what she thought about him. Poor Nan Heng, he had no clue when Xiao Yu talked about the script. Feeling wronged, he could only confide and urge her not to believe what outsiders said about him and see him with her heart.
Chu Gui Hong was saved by Li Shi Liu while working on the project fixing houses, but Li Shi Liu was hurt. Chu Gui Hong gave him medication, and they spent some time talking. Later, while talking to Shang Guan He, we understood Nan Heng’s background. The Emperor, dissatisfied with Nan Hang due to Chancellor Gao’s influence, had always been harsh to him; only Empress Chu Yu Run, Chu Gui Hong’s aunt and Nan Rui’s mother, treated Nan Hang sincerely. But on one hunting trip back, while riding in the carriage with Nan Heng, the Empress was stabbed multiple times and killed. The Emperor hated Nan Hang even more, publicly beat and scolded him, and later imprisoned and tortured him in the cold palace. No one believed Nan Heng’s explanation. Nan Heng and Chu Gui Hong were close when they were little. Because of the incident, they turned against each other. Although Nan Hang explained that he was not the murderer, Chu Gui Hong was blinded and repeatedly opposed him afterward.
Episode 13
Gao Chang Rong, Nan Heng’s mother, pretended to be sick, so Nan Heng visited her. Nan Heng felt nostalgic for his friendship with Chu Gui Hong when little. So, before leaving, he wanted to get his childhood belongings. One of them was a book, and after scrolling, Nan Heng found a secret formula, which he thought was the secret weapon formula. The smartest master, Shang Guan He, couldn’t decipher the formula, so Nan Heng tasked Song Yi Meng to decode it, since she usually talked strangely, and she promised to find the method. However, Shang Guan He had to monitor her.
Shang Guan He invited Song Yi Meng to work on the formula, stating that Li Shi Liu had found it and wanted to use it to free her from Nan Heng’s control. According to the script, the forging method was a royal secret; Xiao Yu was surprised that commoners like Night Wanderers could obtain the formula. Alas, Xiao Yu graduated in liberal arts and was bad at chemistry in school. She tried, tho, and ended up blowing up the laboratory because of the chemistry experiment gone wrong, haha! Li Shi Liu went to visit Song Yi Meng, but she was too embarrassed to show up because of her injuries. Li Shi Liu forcibly pulled back the blanket, and upon seeing her appearance, couldn’t help but laugh. Xiao Yu blushed when he applied medicine to her, creating a romantic moment.
Episode 14
In Episode 13, while working on the formula, Xiao Yu wrote down a chemistry pickup line for fun: Mg + ZnSO4 = MgSO4 + Zn. The decoding was like this: “Your magnesium (mei) stole from my zinc (xin),” translates to “your beauty (mei) stole my heart (xin).” Somehow, the formula landed on her father’s desk. Rumors circulated that this was the secret weapon formula. Xiao Yu was embarrassed seeing that chemistry equation and explained it to her father. Song Yu De used this chance to push his daughter to marry Chu Gui Hong soon, because he heard rumors about her and Nan Heng. The rumors were started by Fu Gui, who wanted to win his master’s favor. He hired ghostwriters to write romantic stories about Nan Heng and Song Yi Meng. Song Yu De didn’t like Nan Heng. Although Xiao Yu didn’t like Nan Heng, she didn’t like Chu Gui Hong, either.
Nan Heng heard about the news that Song Yu De wanted to hasten the marriage between his daughter and Chu Gui Hong. He wanted to use the upcoming musical banquet to make Chu Gui Hong lose face in front of everyone so that Song Yi Meng would no longer be willing to marry him.
Nan Heng held the musical banquet at Canjiangyue Hall, and everyone was invited. Fu Gui led the Xuanjia Army, Shang Guan He led the Night Wanderers, and Yao Qian led the scholars. They made every effort to organize this banquet well. Xiao Yu attended with her maid Ying Qiu and wanted to use this occasion to tell Chu Gui Hong that she didn’t want to marry him. She was slightly disappointed when she found out from Shang Guan He that Li Shi Liu was out for business. Shang Guan He, as the host, seated Nan Heng and Song Yi Meng together. To make Chu Gui Hong jealous, Nan Heng deliberately said loudly that Song Yi Meng had dined at his mansion. Xiao Yu had never done that, so she protested. The audience behind them seemed to read the copy of either “Illusory Dream” or “Exceptional Love,” written by those ghostwriters. They were eager to find out the continuation of the romance. Even Nan Heng’s mother, the Royal Consort Gao Chang Rong, was in tears reading the story. When Nan Heng and Chu Gui Hong started challenging each other, Xiao Yu declared that she was not interested in either of them.
Shang Guan He opened the banquet by announcing that there would be performances, and the winner would win a rare hairpin. The opening performance was called “Pingrong Battle: Gui Hong Scouts the Camp.” Fu Gui choreographed it with him as Chu Gui Hong, and since it was meant to humiliate Chu Gui Hong, it was made super silly. The audience laughed, but not Nan Heng, Xiao Yu, Chu Gui Hong, and Nan Rui. Of course, as the subject of humiliation, Chu Gui Hong was very angry, and his cousin Nan Rui was not happy either. Nan Heng was completely unaware of it, since Fu Gui didn’t tell him about the performance. He whispered to Sang Guan He that he wanted to humiliate Chu Gui Hong, not the whole Qianyu army. Xiao Yu, even though she didn’t like Chu Gui Hong, thought that was not funny and accused Nan Heng of deliberately humiliating Chu Gui Hong. Xiao Yu then beat the warm drum to inspire them to fight. She was so enthusiastic that she tore the drumhead. The audience booed her. Nan Heng didn’t want Song Yi Meng to embarrass herself, so he flew over and joined her in beating the war drum, inspiring the performers to fight and earning the crowd’s applause. Shang Guan He declared that the two had won and instructed Nan Heng to place a hairpin on Song Yi Meng. Chu Guihong smashed the cup, believing that the prize for the champion was given too early. He wanted to personally perform with the Qianyu Army.
Nan Heng watched his rival’s performance and learned that during the Battle of Pingrong, the Qianyu Army had sent a message requesting support from the Xuanjia Army, but Nan Heng had never received it. He asked Fugui to investigate the matter. Chu Gui Hong received the first prize and took the opportunity to propose to Song Yi Meng. Xiao Yu wanted to refuse, but suddenly someone showed up uninvited and objected to the proposal. The person was none other than Royal Consort Gao Chang Rong!
News about the conflict at Canjiangyue Hall travelled fast, and the public was updated with the recent “Illusory Dream” and “Exceptional Love,” lol!
Nan Heng’s mother came bringing the betrothal gifts to Song Yi Meng. Nan Rui publicly mocked the Gao family, which angered Nan Heng. Xiao Yu was completely bewildered; she hadn’t expected the plot to change. At this moment, the emperor issued an edict to summon Nan Heng and Song Yi Meng! After the two entered the palace, they had to kneel outside and wait to be summoned. Xiao Yu was not used to kneeling that long, so Nan Heng placed his robe under her. Xiao Yu complained that she hadn’t done anything yet was punished by the Emperor.
Episode 15
Song Yi Meng was summoned first. The Emperor accused her of inciting conflicts between two princes, although she was already engaged. Lol, the Emperor read “Exceptional Love.” When he punished her for receiving twenty lashes, Nan Heng rushed in without being summoned and took the blame himself. He lied that he was the one who had been pestering Song Yi Meng. The Emperor accused him of harming Nan Rui. Nan Heng explained that Nan Rui had provoked and insulted his mother and the Gao family. The Emperor didn’t want to listen and ordered him to cut off his hand as a form of punishment. Just as Nan Heng was about to cut off his own arm, Xiao Yu rushed up to stop him. The Emperor said that it was just a joke, but he wanted to choke Nan Heng.
A eunuch came in with the news that Gao Chang Rong had fainted from illness. Now she was awake but delirious. She demanded to see Nan Heng and Song Yi Meng. The Emperor permitted them to see the Royal Consort. The two hurried to see her, only to find that the room where they were directed to was decorated with flowers. The eunuch locked them inside and urged them to rest. The Royal Consort had tricked them!
Xiao Yu guessed this was a part of the romantic plot, in which the couple was confined in one place to bond. So, she made herself comfortable and took off her layers of clothes. Nan Heng was uncomfortable seeing her being nonchalant. Xiao Yu asked if he intended to chop off his hand, but he said he just gambled with his life. As long as he was obedient and followed the rules, he would stay alive. Xiao You also guessed that was part of the plot, that the ML has to save FL. Nan Heng was disappointed that she thought so, and he went to sleep in bed and told Xiao Yu to sleep on the couch.
However, neither could sleep. Nan Heng woke up and gave her the ointment for her knees. She noticed that the ointment looked like the one Li Shi Liu put on her. When she mentioned Li Shi Liu, Nan Heng asked if she liked the man. He just wanted to know if she indirectly liked him, but they ended up arguing. Xiao Yu lamented that she was the object of his political agenda. Nan Heng apologized and let her take the bed.
The next day, there were a bunch of people who came to save them. Firstly, Fu Gui, disguised as a palace maid, lol, wanted to rescue his master. Next, Chu Gui Hong also sneaked in to rescue Song Yi Meng. Knowing that his fiancée spent the night with Nan Heng, he confronted Nan Heng. However, before it escalated, Xiao Yu heard her father’s voice. The others didn’t have a choice but to hide in bed. Song Yu De, disguised as a eunuch, wanted to take his daughter out. Right before they left, suddenly, the Emperor’s arrival was announced. Song Yu De didn’t have any other choice to hide in bed, together with the rest.
The Emperor came to check the two but only found Song Yi Meng. Being from a modern world, Xiao Yu stayed standing, so the eunuch ordered her to kneel. Right before Xiao Yu was about to kneel, the Royal Consort arrived and ordered her not to kneel. The Emperor and the Royal Consort ended up arguing in front of everyone. Gao Chang Rong exposed how the Emperor had forcefully married her in the past, although she was already betrothed to another prince by the decree of the late Emperor. But Nan Xu, the current emperor, wanted to have heirs and to keep her Gao family under his control. Now, she absolutely wouldn’t let His Majesty harm her son Nan Heng and her daughter-in-law Song Yi Meng. Before Gao Chang Rong listed the injustice that His Majesty did to Nan Heng in front of Song Yi Meng (and others), the Emperor stomped out furiously. His Majesty and Xiao Yu were surprised to see Gao Chang Rong being feisty. According to the script, she was quiet and weak.
After the Emperor left and was now calming down, Song Yu De quickly asked his audience to appease his anger and let his daughter live. Everyone was saved and went home.
Song Yi Ting looked up to her half-sister Song Yi Meng now, since Xiao Yu refused both Nan Heng and Chu Gui Hong. Yi Ting thought that her big sister was the same as other ladies in the capital who dreamed of marrying powerful men. Yi Ting herself had refused her mother’s pestering her to marry Prince Nan Rui, who liked her. Yi Ting warned her sister that their father wanted to marry Song Yi Meng off next month!
In panic, Xiao Yu went to see Chu Gui Hong and persuaded him to break off their engagement. She returned the betrothal jade pendant. However, Chi Gui Hong was persistent, even ready to delay their wedding if she was not ready to marry him. He showed her all their love letters. Xiao Yu tried to tell him that she was not Song Yi Meng, but he didn’t believe her. Besides, her father also decided on the marriage together with His Majesty. If the couple went against the imperial edict, they would be punished. Xiao Yu couldn’t say anything anymore; she could only run away… to Canjiangyue Hall looking for Li Shi Liu!
Episode 16
Nan Heng met his uncle Gao Chang Yin, who suggested he marry Song Yi Ting if he wanted to win over the Song family. However, Nan Heng rejected that idea. Shang Guan He disrupted their meeting because Song Yi Meng had shown up at the door of Canjiangyue Hall! Nan Heng hurriedly changed to Li Shi Liu. While helping Nan Heng change in a rush, Shang Guan He’s long hair got stuck on Nan Heng’s gloves. Xiao Yu pushed the door open and was shocked to see the two men looking intimate. Xiao Tu thought Li Shi Liu was gay; even when the other masters reported some news to them, it sounded gay-coded, lol. She pretended to understand, but she was heartbroken. She remembers the things those guys at Canjiangyue said, that Li Shi Liu didn’t like women. No wonder…
Li Shi Liu worried about Xiao Yu, so he visited her at night. She was alone, sitting on the rooftop, and drunk. He explained that he was not gay. Xiao Yu confessed to Li Shi Liu. Moved by her confession, he closed her eyes, removed his mask, and kissed her. After the kiss, Xiao Yu fainted. Li Shi Liu returned through the same means, flying. Yi Ting happened to play the guqin in the courtyard and poured her sorrows to the moon because of her mother’s insistence on marriage. Yi Ting saw Li Shi Liu fly over the rooftop and fell in love at first sight.
The next day, as usual, Xiao Yu woke up and didn’t remember what had happened last night. Chu Gui Hong brought his army to Canjiangyue and wanted to arrest Li Shi Liu for questioning. He said he had trespassed into the Song residence last night and demanded an explanation. When Li Shi Liu heard that Song Yi Meng wanted to cancel her engagement to Chu Gui Hong, he secretly rejoiced. Chu Gui Hong said that no one could interfere with his marriage to Song Yi Meng. However, Li Shi Liu made a bet that Chu Gui Hong would voluntarily withdraw from the marriage in ten days!
Nan Heng visited Song Yi Meng and brought Li Shi Liu’s mechanical glove to threaten Song Yi Meng to break off the engagement. Xiao Yu threatened Nan Heng not to hurt Li Shi Liu and admitted that she liked the latter. However, breaking off the engagement officially was not easy to do. She begged her father, but her father threatened to kill himself. So, she didn’t have any choice but to seek Nan Heng’s help again. He suggested they give her a horse ride in the royal palace that was close to Qianyu’s training ground. When seeing Chu Gui Hong, Nan Heng deliberately hugged Xiao Yu. Chu Gui Hong was angry and wanted to shoot an arrow at Nan Heng!
Episode 17
Of course, the arrow hit Nan Heng, and he was wounded. Nan Rui took Chi Gui Hong to plead to His Majesty for mercy. On the other hand, Yao Qiun brought people to kneel outside the palace and demanded that the Emperor severely punish Chu Gui Hong. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu was with Nan Heng, but she was not happy that Nan Heng let himself get hurt to break off her engagement. The Emperor and the Royal Consort arrived to see Nan Heng. Xiao Yu pretended to care about Nan Heng’s wound.
Although the Emperor visited his son, he remained indifferent and questioned his intention. Nan Heng argued that although he didn’t intend to challenge Chu Gui Hong, the law stipulated that harming a prince warranted an execution. Nan Heng suggested that if the Emperor annulled the marriage between Chu Gui Hong and Song Yi Meng, he would publicly declare that the incident was a misunderstanding. Xiao Yu added that she had no feelings for Chu Gui Hong. The Emperor finally agreed to annul the marriage publicly. However, he pretended to care about the Song family, so he demanded that Song Yi Meng marry Nan Heng. However, after the wedding, Nan Heng would be sent to a remote area.
Of course, Xiao Yu was not happy with the sudden change of having to marry Nan Heng. She couldn’t sleep at night and walked in the courtyard. Yi Ting was drinking to her sorrow and invited her sister to join. They both lamented the complicated life. Xiao Yu saw that Yi Ting was not the sister she knew from the script and praised her for being broad-minded. Yi Ting revealed that she had someone she liked, but her case was complicated. Xiao Yu thought Yi Ting liked Nan Heng because in the script it was like that, and Nan Heng ended up cheating on Song Yi Meng with Song Yi Ting. Yi Ting said she didn’t like Nan Heng, and Xiao Yu was surprised.
I love the heart-to-heart convo between the sisters.
Lol, Shang Guan He would give Nan Heng big trouble! Yi Ting, after falling in love with the flying hero at first sight, sought info about him and found out that he was Li Shi Liu from Canjiangyue. She went to Canjiangyue Hall but was harassed by some thugs. Shang Guan He, disguised as Li Shi Liu, saved her. She praised him and confessed her love, and left the painting of the hero. Now, Shang Guan He could only give the painting to Nan Heng, who had no idea how Song Yi Ting, who had never seen him, could fall in love with him. Shang Guan He hesitated and explained about his disguise.
The next day, the Emperor sent an edict to the Song household for the marriage between Nan Heng and Song Yi Meng. Song Yu De disagreed and wanted to ask to Emperor for an audience. Xiao Yu, under the control of the scriptwriter, reenacted the script plot, in which she begged her father to marry Nan Heng. The Emperor was very angry when Song Yu De defied the imperial edict and was punished by the Emperor. Nan Heng and Chu Gui Hong rushed over to save Song Yu De; both of them were willing to take the punishment for Song Yu De. The Emperor challenged that anyone willing to give up ten thousand soldiers would be allowed to substitute for the substitution of punishment. After thinking it over, Nan Heng agreed to the condition.
Episode 18
For this episode, I will just summarize it, because, oh my God, how I hated this episode!!! And if you watched this episode or read this summary below, you would agree with me.
- The sadistic Emperor ordered the eunuch to publicly punish Nan Heng with 30 lashes to replace Song Yu De.
- Nan Heng ignored his injury and sneaked into the Song residence as Li Shi Liu to meet Song Yi Meng.
- Xiao Yu was still being selfish thinking about the so-called script. To save herself, Xiao Yu believed Nan Heng would rebel in the future. She wanted to sacrifice Nan Heng for the sake of the common people. Li Shi Liu said that she was more cruel and ruthless than Nan Heng
- Chu Gui Hong admitted the defeat since Nan Heng took the punishment. Still, he hated him because of the Battle of Pingrong. His misunderstanding was that Nan Heng never received the plea for help, so his help arrived late, and Chu Gui Hong lost the war.
- Lastly, a fight for a woman… was it worth it???
Episode 19
I’m still pissed off with Xiao Yu in this episode, so let me summarize what happened to her in this episode and focus on her sister’s love story with Sang Guan He, lol.
So, Song Yi Meng was invited by her future mother-in-law to the palace. Some incidents were unfavorable to her, but Nan Heng still defended her, despite his disappointment that she was cruel to him. OMG, this man was such a simp, lol!
Now, Song Yi Ting was hopelessly in love with Li Shi Liu, and she met ‘Li Shi Liu’ several times, aka Sang Guan He in disguise. The funny thing was, she despised the real Sang Guan He last time, because she misunderstood him being cheesy with two women when in fact he saved them. And the real Li Shi Liu, aka Nan Heng, never met her. Yi Ting painted many paintings of Li Shi Liu. Sang Guan He rejected her, but she was written with the female-chases-male-first trope. When Yi Ting accidentally bumped into Chu Gui Hong’s sword, which was used as a master for the secret weapon forge, she took it as leverage, haha! Yi Ting left a message for him to come to the Song Mansion to get the sword back!
The second meeting with ‘Li Shi Liu’ inspired Yi Ting to create 73 paintings!
Episode 20
Shang Guan He went to the Song Mansion as himself, lying that he was sent by Li Shi Liu. But Yi Ting wanted to meet the master and threatened to tell Chu Gui Hong about his sword. Shang Guan He had no choice but to disguise himself as Li Shi Liu. Yi Ting’s treatment was different, lol. For the exchange of the sword, Yi Ting asked them to get to know each other for three days.
In Episode 19, Xiao Yu accidentally heard the convo between Nan Heng and Gao Chang Yin, in which his uncle suggested that Nan Heng take Song Yi Ting as a concubine. At this moment, she worried about her sister, whom she had come to admire. But mostly, I guessed Xiao Yu started to grow some feelings for Nan Heng. Xiao Yu acted up, but Nan Heng and his mother saw through her act. Nan Heng decided to turn the tables by allowing her to serve him. However, he ended up feeling shy. When Xiao Yu wanted to feed him medicine, Nan Heng knew it was her trick and deliberately made her sit on his lap to feed her the medicine. Xiao Yu mustered up her courage to sit on his lap, leaving Nan Heng at a loss.
Meanwhile, Shang Guan He intentionally gave Yi Ting a bad time during their three-day dating event. However, he ended up feeling bad because he hurt Yi Ting’s genuine feelings. Po Yun Long and Duan Shan Hu comforted him, suggesting that it would have been better if they had met at a different time and place. Nan Heng overheard their conversation and learned that the sword was lost!
Conclusion
Hahaha, this Li Shi Liu, as mysterious as he was supposed to be, made quite a stir in A Dream Within A Dream ( 书卷一梦 ). Song Yi Meng, Song Yi Ting, Shang Guan He, and Chu Gui Hong were all entangled with him. How long will we enjoy him and his connection with those people? Let’s continue to the third part!
