Previously…
Although reunited in Pursuit of Jade: Drama Recap Episodes 20 to 25, Xie Zheng had to continue lying about his identity to Fan Changyu. Everyone else who knew him had to lie, too. How far would this go? Let’s continue!
Recaps Episodes 26 to 33
Episode 26
Qi Shu showed up and told the military court that she had to be punished, too. She knew that Changyu went to find Sui Yuanqing, but didn’t report it. The princess-in-disguise even knelt in front of the nervous “marquis”, pleading for a punishment. Luckily, Gongsun Yin saved the day. He arrived and told them that the enemy general, Shi Yue, had sent people to rescue Sui Yuanqing in the cave. Had Changyu not moved him, they would most likely have succeeded. Mrs. Fan deserved a merit, not punishment. Everyone was relieved. After this, Changyu’s reputation soared high. The Jins told everything she did and then some. People added one story upon another.
When Changyu brought the hot meal to Xie Zheng’s tent, he carefully asked her if, in the future, he was promoted to, for example, a marquis or a lord, what would she think? She said she would be happy to be his lady marquis. Gongsun Yin interrupted their intimate moment for the nth time. Sui Yuanqing was no longer a valuable hostage to delay the war. Prince Changxin had been gathering his main forces to battle. His generals, Shi Yue and Shi Hu, would launch a full-scale attack tomorrow.
Everyone was nervous about this upcoming battle, including Changyu. She feared that her husband was still too frail to fight and wouldn’t survive. So, y’know what she did? She drugged his medicine, knocking him unconscious! She donned a soldier’s uniform and positioned herself as a swordsman. Xie Wu, the vice general, was shocked by the swap. Not much time left to wake up Xie Zheng, Xie Wu could only order her friends to protect her at all costs.
The battle scene was really cool, and the enemy, especially the generals, were terrifying. Changyu ended up facing General Shi Hu. Her butcher knife couldn’t penetrate Shi Hu’s body because of the heavy armor. She used his strategy, and he lost his giant mace. Changyu took it and hit Shi Hu repeatedly to death. With their general dead, the enemy retreated. Just when Changyu and the rest celebrated the victory, Xie Zheng appeared riding his horse majestically. When he was half awake, he cut himself to wean off the sleeping drug. The soldiers cheered him as Marquis Wu’an. Shocked, Changyu realized that Marquis Wu’an was none other than her husband, Yan Zheng!
Angry and scared, Changyu couldn’t do anything but turn around and run as fast as she could. But Xie Zheng, riding his horse in fury, was faster. He picked her up and rode away from the battle scene! Her facial expression? Priceless!
Episode 27
Xie Zheng took her into the forest, and Changyu dismounted angrily. He had lied to her the whole time. Xie Zheng explained that he had been set up and pursued by enemies before she rescued him in the snow. He kept his identity secret so she wouldn’t be harmed. Xie Zheng kissed her on the forehead, but she punched him and left.
In the evening, Xie Zheng tried to talk to Chang Yu again. He explained why he had concealed his identity in the first place, but Chang Yu said they had never been together. The man she married was Yan Zheng. Now that Yan Zheng was fake, the agreement didn’t happen. Changyu realized there was a social status gap between them, so she didn’t accept his marriage proposal. Xie Zheng went to find his teacher Tao Yi, begging him to accept his commoner wife as his goddaughter. Finally, Tao Yi found out that his wife was Chanyu.
At night, both Xie Zheng and Changyu couldn’t sleep. She met him at the waterfall. To ease tension, he invited her to spar with him. Once finished, they felt better and had a night snack. Xie Zheng tried to woo Changyu again. He confessed that he had the happiest time in his life while he was in Lin’an.
Episode 28
In the morning, Tao Yi visited Changyu. He expressed his desire to adopt her as his goddaughter. Changyu realized that this must be Xie Zheng doing, having found out Tao Yi was also Xie Zheng’s teacher. She was not interested in social climbing. Tao Yi said that although Xie Zheng never looked down on her, he just wanted one more person to protect her. Besides, he was getting old and didn’t have a child. Realizing how Tao Yi sacrificed his life for her by swapping the lot last time, Changyu accepted his kind offer. Tao Yi gave her the name “Shanjun,” which meant both a virtuous person of the mountains and a mighty tiger.
Not wanting to rely on Xie Zheng, Changyu decided to leave the camp to find Qianqian and Bao’er. She asked Qi Shu to bring Changning and Mr. Zhao back to Lin’an to reunite with Mrs. Zhao. Changyu then left with the Jins and gave a short note to Xie Zheng that she had something to do. Xie Zheng rushed to find her, and she explained about her mission to rescue Qiaoqiao and Bao’er. She knew he bore a heavy burden as the marquis, but he couldn’t share it to her. She would rather rely on herself for now. Xie Zheng advised that those who took Qiaoqiao were not ordinary people, but Changyu was resolute. After spending the night together, they parted with a kiss. He also ordered his secret guards to protect her.
Changyu didn’t know that Bao’er was actually ran away with the nanny’s son named Zhao Xun. Sui Yuanhuai was currently hunting him down. Not only was he with Bao’er, but he also held the East Palace seal. Xie Zheng realized they must find Zhao Xun before Sui Yuanhuai did, to uncover the mystery of the East Palace fire from sixteen years ago. Luckily, Xie Zheng found him and Bao’er. While questioning Zhao Xun, he revealed that the fire at the East Palace years ago had been set by the former Crown Princess herself to create a chance for her son to escape. This son, whose original name was Qi Min, was the true Imperial Grandson. He was now Prince Changxin’s eldest son, Sui Yuanhuai!
Episode 29
Through Zhao Xun, we got to know what happened during the fire. Princess Changxin, Sui Yuanhuai’s mother, went to the palace with her son to visit the Crown Princess. When the fire happened, to save Qi Min, the Crown Princess swapped him with Sui Yuanhuai. She disfigured Qi Min’s face with fire, so he wouldn’t be recognizable later. While Qi Min ran away with his nanny, the Crown Princess perished in the flames with Sui Yuanhai. Qi Min was raised by Prince Changxin, but deep down, the prince felt he was not his real son, and they never bonded. Prince Changxin appointed his second son, Sui Yuanqing, as his heir. Sui Yuanhuai lured Sui Yuanqing to massacre Lin’an with the hope that Xie Zheng would kill him, thus he would be Prince Changxin’s heir.
Qianqian finally managed to drug Sui Yuanhuai, and ran away. Luckily, she ran into Changyu and her friends. Sui Yuanhuai chased after them. Xie Qi, who was secretly ordered by Xie Zheng to protect Changyu, brought General He Jingyuan and his army. Sui Yuanhuai withdrew. The group then followed General He to Lucheng. General He revealed to Changyu that her father was a military man and his comrade. He promised he would tell her more about her father after the battle of Lucheng and gave her a custom-made armor. Changyu was also accompanied by the twin blades forged by Xie Zheng and sanctified by his blood. Her butcher knives were broken when she killed Shi Yue last time.
Xie Zheng sent the relieving message to Changyu and Qianqian and sent Bao’er, who was the Imperial Great-Grandson, to Lin’an to reunite with Changning. When she was about to escort Qianqian back to Lin’an, she changed her mind to fight with the others in the battle of Lucheng, and led a troop.
Episode 30
Changyu took over Li Huaian’s troop because he was gravely wounded. When he refused to give his army to Changyu, she had Jin Yuanbao knock out Li Huaian. Changyu seemed had a knack in stealing someone’s army! Changyu reunited with Xie Zheng on the battlefield. They decided to split their forces. Xie Zheng would fight Sui Tuo, the Prince of Changxin, while Changyu would fight with Sui Yuanqing. Sui Tuo ordered his son to go and reinforce the city. Xie Zheng had no other choice but to chase Sui Yuanqing, leaving Xie Wu to protect Changyu. She was face-to-face with Sui Tuo. While fighting, he noticed her way of fighting and told her only two people knew how to use this movement: He Jingyuan and Wei Qilin. Changyu combined the movement taught by Xie Zheng, General Wei, and the butchering style of her father, and finished off the Prince of Changxin. However, something was bothering her. Before death, Sui Tuo revealed that Wei Qilin was a traitor!
With the death of Prince Changxin, the battle was over. Unfortunately, General He Jingyuan was killed, and so was Man Di, Changyu’s fellow pig butcher squad. General He left a letter to Changyu, mentioning that Wei Qilin was her father. Changyu questioned Xie Zheng about the Battle of Jinzhou from seventeen years ago. Xie Zheng only remembered that Wei Qilin was once his father’s most trusted and loyal ally.
Episode 31
The memorial day of Xie Linshan, Xie Zheng’s father, and the funeral of General He Jingyuan fell on the same day. The mourners ended up getting angry and blamed Wei Qilin. Changyu tried to defend him, telling the crowd that Wei Qilin was not a traitor, without revealing that she was his daughter. She ended up arguing with them. Xie Zheng had to intervene and let Changyu pay homage to General He and his father.
Despite disbelief that her father was a traitor, Changyu kept her distance from Xie Zheng and called him “Your Lordship” instead. Xie Zheng seemed to know what burdened her heart, so he let her be. General He Jingyuan recommended Li Huaian to succeed him, but Changyu was also promoted to fifth rank cavalry as a commandant. The Jizhou army’s power was shared between Li Huaian and Changyu. Her promotion made her a target between the Li and the Wei factions.
Episode 32
The Jizhou Army, led by Changyu, and the Yanzhou Army, led by Li Huaian, fought war prisoners. To appease the argument, Li Huaian and Changyu became sworn siblings, lol.
The Emperor of the Great Yin, Qi Sheng, who was actually a puppet emperor controlled by the Wei and the Li factions, wanted to marry off his sister Qi Shu to the Marquis of Wu’an. Initially, she was betrothed to Li Huaian. But the Emperor saw that Xie Zheng was way more powerful than Li Huaian, and His Majesty wanted to secure his power. Of course, Qi Shu disagreed, but the marquis completely ignored the edict and even cut a eunuch’s ear off. Xie Zheng would rather have the lil Bao’er, who was now in Lin’an with his mother, to be the future emperor.
While investigating Sui Yuanhuai, Xie Zheng met Changyu. He reassured her that he didn’t have any intention to be a prince consort. His heart belonged only to her. Xie Zheng promised to help her uncover the truth behind the Jinzhou tragedy that branded her father as the traitor.
Sui Yuanqing tried to attack the Yanzhou camp but was captured. Devastated, his mother confronted Sui Yuanhuai. She and her husband knew that Yuanhuai was not their real son, so Yuanhuai killed Princess Changxin. He faked his death, but Zhao Xun, who was now with Xie Zheng, was able to identify that the body was not Yuanhuai’s. To lure him out, Xie Zheng sent Zhao Xun to meet Sui Yuanqing, to help him escape. Zhao Xun told Yuanqing that Yuanhuai was not his real brother but Qi Min, the royal imperial grandson. His parents knew about it, and Yuanhuai killed his mother when she confronted him. When Yuanqing asked why Zhao Xun betrayed Yuanhai, he coldly said that Yuanhai killed his mother, the nanny who had followed and raised him.
Episode 33
Of course, Yuanqing knew where to find Yuanhuai, but he couldn’t bear to kill his “brother”. On the other hand, Yuanhuai stabbed Yuanqing with lifelong hatred. He went away, and guess what… Li Huaian colluded with Yuanhai! I would call him Qi Min for now, since the Suis were dead. Qi Min ordered Huaian to kill Bao’er and take Qianqian to him. He also threatened Huaian that if he didn’t help him to regain the throne, his Li family would perish.
Yuanqing was still alive when Shi Sanniang, the former bandit leader of Qingfeng Stronghold, found him. She asked if he ever had feelings for her, but he denied it. He gave her the Tiger Seal of the Sui’s army and told her to give it to Changyu, so she could have a better life. If she didn’t trust Sanniang, let her bring his head. Then Yuanqing killed himself by chopped his head off.
Gongsun Yin finally confessed to Princess Qi Shu. He felt inadequate to be with the princess because of the rise and fall of the Gongsun family. He promised that after helping Xie Zheng take down the Wei and the Li factions, he hoped Qi Shu would accept his proposal and marry him. The princess finally accepted it. Yay!
During the party in Lin’an, which also invited Gongsun Yin and Qi Shu, Changyu got drunk. Xie Zheng sent her back to her room. Changyu called him “Your Lordship,” which angered him. He demanded her to call with another name, and she called him “Yan Zheng”. They ended up kissing passionately by the window.
TL;DR
- Changyu found out that Yan Zheng was Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an.
- Qianqian and Bao’er were rescued and returned to Lin’an.
- Changyu’s fame rose after killing the enemy’s general and Prince Changxing. She was promoted as commander and had her own army.
- Changyu found out about her origin and the possibility that her father was a traitor. She distanced herself from Xie Zheng. He promised to investigate the truth together
- Qi Min killed Sui Yuanqing.
- Gongsun Yan confessed his feelings to Princess Qi Shu and proposed to her. She accepted.
- Plot twist: Li Huaian colluded with Qi Min!
How would everything end? Let’s continue to the last part!
逐玉, Zhang Linghe, Tian Xiwei
