Introduction
Usually, I don’t write recap articles for mystery or crime contemporary dramas, because not only are they short but also revealing the mystery through a recap takes away the excitement of watching such genre. However, The Embers is long, with 28 episodes, which is unusual for typical Chinese crime/mystery contemporary dramas that usually range from 12 to 24 episodes long. Moreover, the story has many twists and turns with many characters. Some of them are three-dimensional characters. I decided to write two parts of recap articles for The Embers to help watchers who get confused at some point.
If you don’t want to be spoiled, you can read the review article with no to minimal spoilers (with tags): The Embers: Out of the Deep Darkness, The Ashes Glow.
Warning: because this is a crime drama, some images may be disturbing to some watchers.
Episode Recap
Episode 1
2019, Bu He City, Overseas. A girl’s head is found inside a stone at Jade and Gemstone Market. She’s Liao Si Yuan’s classmate, Lai La. Captain Shu He arrives. Si Yuan is not happy seeing Captain Shu He. They know each other from the arson case 10 years ago. The police called Si Yuan over since Lai La kissed Si Yuan 3 days ago and guessed he had a special relationship with her. Moreover, Si Yuan was the last person to see her before her death. Si Yuan said he was just classmates with Lai La. She ordered a pain med from his family pharmacy and he delivered it. They said there was a pharmacy downstairs, why did she order it from him? Si Yuan guessed probably there as someone she didn’t want to meet at the pharmacy. Zhi Bai stopped by the police station. He encouraged Si Yuan to forget the past. Ten years ago there was a fire at the house, Young police trainee Shu He at that time wrapped up the case and announced Zhi Bai, a police cadet who was a drug user, burned down the house. Since then, little Si Yuan hated Shu He.
Oh, wait, what we see is Si Yuan’s hallucination??? Zhi Bai is dead! Since the fire, Si Yuan can see Zhi Bai all the time by his side!
At night, Si Yuan’s classmate Ma Luo asks Si Yuan to come over for a drink and complains about Lai La kissing Si Yuan the other day. He likes Lai La, but Lai La likes Su Yan.
Shu He investigates Song En, the pharmacy owner downstairs. He denies knowing Lai La, though by coincidence it was his stone at Jade and Gemstone Market that contains Lai La’s head! He lied to Shu He that the pharmacy was closed the day when Lai La died and he was drunk after the party. The police found it was opened. Song En asks his nurse to investigate Si Yuan.
The next day Si Yuan is called by the teachers. Lai La’s parents see the school asking for financial compensation but the school argues that Lai La didn’t die at school. Si Yuan accused Lai La’s parents of using the daughter to extract money from her.
Now Song En knows that he and Si Yuan come from the same Yong An village. Si Yuan is the Liao Family’s second son and suspects Si Yuan is coming after him. There is a blood feud between him and the Liao family!
Episode 2
Zhi Bai told Si Yuan that there are two possibilities as to why the killer beheaded Lai La’s head: to challenge the police or his fetish habit as a serial killer. Classmate Jia Song said Lai La was picked up by a doctor that day and Zhi Bai suspects it was Song En. Si Yuan goes to Song En clinic to ask around. Song En was not in on that day Lai La was murdered. Si Yuan tries to leave when Song En comes but fails. Song En reminds Si Yuan that he used to run a clinic in Yong An, Si Yuan’s home village.
Zhi Bai takes Si Yuan to the riverside because Song En’s shoes were stained with soil that came from this area, and incense plaster from nearby temples. Song En is hiding behind a tree and wants to kill Si Yuan, but the police arrive. Forensic pathologist Qi Xia told Shu He about the same incense plaster found in Lai La’s nasal cavity. Si Yuan doesn’t want to tell Shu He why he was there.
Qi Xia did an autopsy and found some facts: First, Lai La was beheaded after death. Second, Lai La suffered from physical abuse. Third, Lai La died from a drug overdose, and an unknown toxin was found in her body. Fourth, Lai La was pregnant! In Lai La’s clothing, there is a lighter from a hotel. Si Yuan goes to the hotel and threatens the front desk staff about punishment for prostitution. He is allowed to go to the room hotel Lai La was there and after spraying the Lumilo reagent, there was a lot of blood. It seems Lai La was drugged and killed in the room. Suddenly the room is full of fire and smoke and Si Yuan jumps out of the balcony.
He wakes up on a hospital bed and Qi Xia comes over angrily. Oh, so she is Si Yuan’s adopted sister. Qi Xia is suspicious that Si Yuan is targeted by the killer. Awww, apparently Qi Xia is Zhi Bai’s fiancee. After Zhi Bai’s death, Qi Xia found little Si Yuan at the orphanage, still interacting with Zhi Bai. After the accident, her mother adopted Si Yuan.
The doctor who takes care of Si Yuan told Qi Xia that when Si Yuan’s brain is tested some neural circuit damage is found that causes hallucinations and Si Yuan also doesn’t remember jumping off the fifth building. The doctor thinks it can develop into DID and suggested a full brain test. Qi Mei Hua, Si Yuan’s adoptive mom, and Qi Xia’s mom rushed over. After the fire accident, she adopted Si Yuan.
Episode 3
A suitcase belonging to Song En was found with Lai La’s body parts. Shu He and another police come to interrogate Song En. He said the suitcase was stolen. He acknowledged knowing Lai La and went with her to the hotel (because of the hotel surveillance) but they did BDSM so the suitcase was full of fetish stuff. But he was drunk and passed out. Song En said Shu He could not arrest him since he was not a citizen of that country, and there is no evidence for arrest.
Si Yuan goes to Song En’s clinic and it’s closed. He enters through the window. He sees a lot of medical records that look like resumes with prices. He thinks Song En runs a prostitution ring. One of the resumes belongs to Cai Na, a schoolmate who committed suicide some time ago.
Song En is back and Si Yuan turns on his phone for a live video to explore a killer’s home. Song En has a gun. Song En will sue Si Yuan for defamation but he lets Si Yuan go. Song En burns all the resumes and is afraid. He calls Liu Hai Xun who gives the phone to their Boss. The Boss tells him to become a live bait to lure someone out.
Si Yuan meets Cai Na’s ex-bf Mike who doesn’t know why Cai Na killed herself. He doesn’t know. Why they broke up? Mike said after Cai Na became close to Lai La, she borrowed a lot of money from him. Si Yuan then goes to Cai Na’s house. Cai Na and Lai La were very close. Cai Na’s mother suspects her daughter didn’t kill herself. Si Yuan saw a medical record that Cai Na had surgery for egg retrieval and tube removal. Si Yuan and Zhi Bai think that the records they saw at Song En’s clinic are egg harvesting and illegal surrogacy.
Meanwhile, Qi Xia finds out that Lai La’s child isn’t related to Lai La. Shu He ordered everyone to check out the missing girls’ report and check Song En’s financial record. The police then searched Song En’s house and found a room full of pregnant girls!
Episode 4
Song En orders some bad guys to kidnap Si Yuan but they mistakenly kidnap Ma Luo who borrows Si Yuan’s motorcycle to pray for Lai La. Song En calls Si Yuan threatening him of killing Ma Luo. Si Yuan called the police and Shu He led an operation to catch Song En. Si Yuan reaches the rooftop top and Song En calls him. He wants Si Yuan to jump but discovers the police put up an inflatable mattress. Song En orders Si Yuan to jump for another side. The public is watching and the reporter reports a student jumps off the building. Ma Luo is rescued and blames himself for Si Yuan’s death.
Song En reports to his boss that Si Yuan is dead. Liu Hai Xun tells him to leave the country, but Si Yuan is hit by a truck. He’s not dead. A mysterious man comes over and tells Song En he put something in his belly and starts torturing Song En with burning embers. Si Yuan is not dead, but Ma Luo thinks he sees a ghost. The police trick Song En by switching the public surveillance and a prepared dummy as if Si Yuan jumped down the building.
Shu He interrogates the nurse Fish. She acknowledges their operation is both prostitution and surrogacy, but Lai La isn’t interested. She comes only for Cai Na, so Song En puts Cai Na’s child in Lai La’s body. But the nurse thinks Song En didn’t kill Lai La, he was also shocked when hearing she died.
Si Yuan wonders why Song En told him that he framed Song En. Zhi Bai thinks Song En didn’t kill Lai La. Si Yuan asked Qi Xia for help and she said the police found a syringe with Song En and Lai La’s fingerprints. If Song En did it he should’ve destroyed the syringe. Seems like they want the police to find it and suspect Song En. Si Yuan, Qi Xia, and Zhi Bai go to Song En’s house and find blood under the carpet. Zhi Bai offers another possibility that Lai La killed herself.
Song En is still alive but is crazy, hearing Lai La’s voice. He surrenders to the police. Someone put, not insects, but Lai La’s phone with a recording of her voice. After Song En had surgery, he was wheeled out by the police and saw Qi Xia’s mother Qi Meihua. Song En tells her who she is and Qi Meihua goes berserk because Song En almost killed her son.
Si Yuan puts together puzzle pieces from Lai La’s belongings, given by Cai Na’s mother. After putting it together, voila, Lai La’s drawing of several scenes is on the back of the puzzle. That’s where she hides the truth! Si Yuan guesses based on the drawings. At that time, Cai Na’s bf Mike wanted to study abroad so Cai Na wanted it too and Lai La gave her money. Cai Na went to Song En clinic the so-called charity organization to help girls study abroad and ended up on the surgery table to sell her eggs. But she was videotaped so she wouldn’t call the police. Mike saw the videotape too (probably Song En wanted to extract money?) Mike and Cai Na fought and Cai Na fell from the rooftop. Lai La killed herself. Si Yuan goes to see Mike and beats the crap of him.
At the end of the episode, we see how Lai La died. Yes, she killed herself. A masked man, the same as the one torturing Song En, helped her with all the details to avenge Song En. He also put something inside Mike’s drink who’s dancing at the bar. After drinking it, Mike falls and dies.
Episode 5
Shu He is not happy when he hears that Song En’s case is concluded. He thinks there is a big organization behind Song En. Deputy Director Lei Nuo argues that Song En is crazy now so his statements can’t be used. Besides, the buyers can’t be considered criminals, there is no law against them. Instead, Lei Nuo wants Shu He to take Si Yuan to do police investigations. Since Si Yuan seems to be connected to Song En, whether he is guilty or not Shu He can monitor him or protect him.
Hmmm… although I’m happy that Si Yuan and Shu He will work together in cases, I’m suspicious of Lei Nuo’s decision. The bigger organization seems to have power over the police or Lei Nuo is one of them!
Si Yuan visits Song En at the mental hospital to find clues about what happened 10 years ago. When he talked to Song En on the rooftop, Song En mentioned the past incident. Si Yuan ends up throwing up because of the triggered memory. Shu He comes over and reminds Si Yuan to cooperate with the police. But Si Yuan doesn’t trust him. After Shu He leaves, a girl is seen watching them. Her name is Nu Na.
Si Yuan stops by the police station to help Shu He with the case, although Qi Xia is not happy with the arrangement. Qi Xia is suspicious her adopted brother developed DID and Zhi Bai is his other persona. While Si Yuan checks Song En’s victim info, one of them is Nu Na! Zhi Bai thinks Nu Na can be Song En’s first victim because Nu Na is his niece and the psychopath’s first victims are usually close to them. Indeed, she is her own uncle’s first victim. He sold her to a man who later raped her!
Awww… Nu Na is dying, she has Stage 3 Melanoma. Most of all, Nu Na knows Si Yuan. 10 years ago, she took care of little Si Yuan’s wound at the clinic (owned by Song En?). He gave her a wish coupon. She was also there during the fire, but someone covered her mouth when she was trying to pull out Si Yuan.
Nu Na stops by Si Yuan’s family pharmacy looking for him. She thanked him for catching Song En. Nu Na asks Si Yuan to meet her at the bar tonight she has some info on the past fire incident. Besides, someone has been following her. Si Yuan comes to the bar, but Nu Na never shows up. Of course, she’s dead! Her shop assistant A Jing found her dead body inside a wedding dress in the front display! And again, Si Yuan is a suspect because the surveillance camera showed him at Nu Na’s wedding shop the night of the murder! After she didn’t show up at the bar, Si Yuan went to look for her and saw Nu Na ran out.
Qi Xia’s autopsy finding is that Nu Na has cancer and is also poisoned. She sent the poison to the lab to identify it.
Zhi Bai deduced the woman Si Yuan saw in front of Nu Na’s bridal was not Nu Na since she was already dead based on the medical report. Most likely Si Yuan saw the murderer!
Episode 6
While Shu He is interrogating Si Yuan, Qi Xia finds a photo taken in front of the wedding shop with the bride’s mannequin indicating Nu Na is already dead when Si Yuan stops by her wedding shop. So Si Yuan is innocent. After being released he cannot forget about Nu Na and wants to help her. Zhi Bai details the difference between Nu Na’s physique and the woman Si Yuan saw last night. Si Yuan and Zhi Bai go to find A Jing and coincidentally find out that A Jing and Nu Na’s husband are having an affair. Si Yuan recorded their meeting and questioned them about the night of the murder. A Jing said they were having a rendezvous that night when they felt they were being watched and discovered the body together. Cha Peng left first to avoid the suspicion.
Si Yuan interrogates Cha Peng and A Jing. Cha Peng says that his first wife was killed in a two-car collision and Nu Na was in the other car driven by her friends. The women were bar escorts. A Jing tells Si Yuan that some bridal gowns have been missing. Cha Peng remembers overhearing a convo between Nu Na and her friend Man Ni and another woman about Nu Na’s guilt of not telling the police about an incident that happened 10 years ago to a 10-year-old boy. Nu Na was talking about Si Yuan!
Si Yuan wants to meet Man Ni but too late, Man Ni is dead on top of the elevator, wearing a wedding gown and money scattered all over the elevator. Police briefing shows a third woman Lan Xiao Tang who hit someone (Cha Peng’s wife) and police found a wedding gown in her car.
Si Yuan pretends to look for an apartment in the apartment building where Man Ni lives and hears gossip about Man Ni. Si Yuan checks the elevator and finds a footprint belonging to a woman. Si Yuan and Zhi Bai find a woman who works at the building wearing a convenience store uniform and finds her name is An Ni. Si Yuan goes to see An Ni pretending doing a college survey. When he’s looking around An Ni’s house, she appears behind him with a stick!
Episode 7
Phew!!! Luckily the police came at the right time! Qi Xia saved her adopted brother again. She tells Shu He about Si Yuan’s deduction, so Shu He and other police follow Si Yuan. An Ni is taken to the police station. An Ni pleads guilty, although DNA found inside Man Ni’s fingernails is not hers. An Ni says since she had criminal records before, even if she’s innocent they would’ve suspected her anyway. She attacked Si Yuan because she suspected he was up to no good with his questions.
Cha Peng finds an old photo in Nu Na’s belongings and calls Si Yuan to meet. However, before they meet someone hits Cha Peng from behind and steals the photo. Si Yuan finds Cha Peng unconscious and wakes him up. Cha Peng says in the photo there is Nu Na, her uncle Song En, two other people he doesn’t know, and fire in the background. Cha Peng reports total number of missing wedding dresses is four. Two were worn by Nu Na and Man Ni so he guesses there would be two more victims. He also says Nu Na always complained about being poor but she withdrew 2M. Nu Na’s debts are cleared before she dies.
Si Yuan goes to the bar where he is supposed to meet Nu Na. It was also the bar where Nu Na, Man Ni and other women were escorts. A psychic who knows Nu Na talks to him. Before Nu Na died she met the psychic and showed her the fire photo, talking about making an atonement. There are two more women: Lin and Xu Man. Zhi Bai worries that the two women left would be the next victims based on the four missing wedding dresses.
The drug components inside Nu Na and Man Ni were found out, it was AH7 and the same drug Zhi Bai was suspected of inhaling ten years ago. The drug was supposed to disappear 10 years ago but no reappears. Since the cases are closely related to Si Yuan, he cannot be involved in both cases now. Si Yuan finds Lin, but she’s already dead. Shu He, who has to tell Si Yuan he can no longer investigate the cases, finds him there. They start arguing and after a scuffle, Shu He accidentally pushes Si Yuan and he hits a drum and passes out. Si Yuan wakes up at the hospital. Dr. Bian Ming, Si Yuan’s psychiatrist gives him the same sedative med given several years ago. Si Yuan lies that he hasn’t seen Zhi Bai for a long time. Shu He apologizes to Qi Xia for pushing her brother but he also worries that Si Yuan acts more and more like Zhi Bai.
Si Yuan’s friends Ma Luo and Li Zhi help him with his investigation. They find out that Xu Man is in town! They arranged for Si Yuan to be Xu Man’s substitute driver. Xu Man has been in town for 10 days but never received a wedding dress. Li Zhi breaks the hot water pipe at Xu Man’s hotel and explodes, giving a chance to Si Yuan to fix the pipe.
Episode 8
While Si Yuan repairing the pipe, he sees a necklace and two boxes of cash. Shu He visited Xu Man’s place offering protection but Xu Man thinks Shu He suspected her. After Si Yuan finished repairing Xu Man offered a drink but she put a drug in it. When she’s not looking Xu pours out the drink and takes another drink. After chatting, he still passes out anyway! Before he passed out, Xu Man asked why he approached her. Si Yuan mentioned the deaths of the other three and the fire incident 10 years ago.
Si Yuan wakes up, and yay, he sees Zhi Bai again! Zhi Bai says that Xu Man was a bar girl before, of course, she knew Si Yuan threw away the first drink. She also possesses a truth serum amobarbital to interrogate Si Yuan. Si Yuan remembers Xu Man called his name, it seems she knows who he is. Before leaving Si Yuan also found a gun and a wedding dress. He meets Ma Luo and Li Zhi. Li Zhi reports Xu Man went to a coffee shop last night, bought a cup of coffee, and filled out a questionnaire.
Si Yuan and Li Zhi meet with Ni Ke, Shu He’s subordinate, and persuade him to help them and tell him if he solves the case he might get promoted. Si Yuan shows him Xu Man’s necklace with a begonia pendant. He asks Ni Ke to find out about Xu Man and someone named “Tang”. Zhi Bai thinks that Xu Man might be the killer since the other three ladies have financial difficulties and they might blackmail Xu Man, who is a rich heiress, to help them. So she killed them.
Suddenly Xu Man calls Si Yuan wanting to meet. Ni Ke calls Si Yuan, the only woman named “Tang” and is related to Xiao Man which is Lan Xiao Tang. She was just released from jail after being sentenced to manslaughter a few years ago. Si Yuan and Xiao Man eat at a street food stall and she tells him that she and Lan Xiao Tang used to live on the street and waited for people to finish eating to eat the leftovers. She says Xiao Tang is killed by Nu Na and her gang, though she didn’t witness it. She then leaves after finishes eating.
Qi Xia is at home when Si Yuan comes home. She smells Xu Man’s begonia perfume and it was the same smell at Lin’s house when she was doing the forensic exam. Poor Lin wouldn’t have such expensive perfume. Si Yuan thinks it’s a piece of evidence so Qi Xia goes back to the police station to meet Shu He and tells him Xu Man was at Lin’s house. She’s ready to leave tomorrow morning.
Episode 9
The police rush to catch Xu Man and Si Yuan also comes over. Xu Man throws money from the balcony and shoots Si Yuan. Shu He slams him down to save him. During interrogation, Xu Man confesses that she did all by herself because they blackmailed her. When asked where she got AH7 from, Xu Man contacts her lawyer instead.
Si Yuan and Zhi Bai discuss the case and they think Xu Man’s case isn’t simple. They decided to investigate again starting with An Ni. Si Yuan visits An Ni to apologize. An Ni offers a drink, but when Si Yuan asks for coffee she says there is no coffee but juice. While An Ni is making juice, Si Yuan checks around and finds coffee so she lies. He also found androgen pills. Why does an old woman with a grownup son need them?
There is a drill for public safety in a mock wedding, with Qi Xia pretends to marry Ou Wen. Poor Qi Xia, she even starts seeing Zhi Bai, too! There are shootings and she feels Zhi Bai pulls her hand to safety but it was Si Yuan.
Si Yuan discusses the case with Shu He and Ni Ke and explains his speculations. He suspects the real killer is An Ni’s son Pei Jing and Xu Man is Lan Xiao Tang. After convincing the police, Ni Ke goes to search An Ni’s house but she cleans all the clues. Si Yuan also bravely questions Luo Si, the Police Deputy Director who is retired today, about the past car accident involving Lan Xiao Tang he handled. Luo Si also had a relationship with the deceased Lin. Xu Man is bailed out by her attorney and now she’s gone. Si Yuan says the real Xu Man is Pei Jing, An Ni’s son. Xu Man is Lan Xiao Tang. Sure enough, Pei Jing comes to the police station, confessing that he is Xu Man!
Episode 10
Xu Man and Lan Xiao Tang are best friends. They were both abandoned by their parents when little, for Xu Man because she is an androgyny. Later when adults, they also became good friends with the other girls. Then the car accident driven by Lan Xiao Tang happened. The other girls shirked responsibilities and blamed Lan Xiao Tang. Xu Man rescued her bestie by bribing Luo Si and sent Xu Man to her parents pretending to be Xu Man. While Lan Xiao Tang was overseas, Xu Man was jailed and met An Nie who took care of her like her own child. She changed her gender and name to a man named Pei Ji.
Si Yuan came to visit Xu Man in jail, asking about the AH7 drug. She doesn’t know who the person who sold her AH7 is. Si Yuan seems to lose track of the past incident. However, we see that there is a new character named Tie Xin who meets Liu Hai Xun (remember, the one Song En, from the first case, called frantically?). He wants Liu Hai Xun to send Si Yuan away cos he’s in the way, find who leaked AH7, and find Zhi Bai’s classmate Bai Han in five days. Now we have two new characters: Tie Xin and Bai Han.
Xu Man was taken away by two policemen who released her for medical parole reasons. But Xu Man never applied for medical parole!
Episode 11
Xu Man is brought to Liu Hai Xun who demands about the person who leaked AH7 and was threatened with Lan Xiao Tang’s life. Xu Man doesn’t know who he is, only can describe his face. Liu Hai Xun figures out who the person is.
Si Yuan and Zhi Bai discuss the recent case and Si Yuan feels the case is not over yet. However, Zhi Bai asks him not to investigate anymore for Si Yuan’s safety. Song En and Nu Na from the previous cases were both witnesses of the past fire incident. Song En was framed and Nu Na was killed. Si Yuan keeps having nightmares of the fire incident (PTSD), so as long as he lives he will keep investigating it.
Shu He and Qi Xia discuss about Si Yuan. Qi Xia says he was diagnosed with DID, and created Zhi Bai persona. Only by finding out the truth of what happened in the fire incident, Si Yuan will recover and get closure. If not, he will go crazy, especially when Zhi Bai persona disappears before the case is solved.
Si Yuan checked the surveillance video and found Bai Han’s place. He goes to the gallery. Zhi Bai says he doesn’t know Bai Han who claimed he was Zhi Bai’s classmate. Si Yuan confronts Bai Han, who acknowledges for instigating Lai La and Pei Jing to target Song En and the women. Bai Han wanted to shoot Si Yuan but luckily the police came. Bai Han escapes, but Si Yuan manages to take the fire photo from Bai Han’s hand. Shu He tells Si Yuan that Bai Han was one of Zhi Bai’s classmates who were fired since they took drugs together. Zhi Bai tells Si Yuan the other man in the photo besides Song En and Nu Na is Tai Shu. Si Yuan comes home and asks Qi Xia about Bai Han. She went to look for him after the incident but Zhi Bai’s friends disappeared. Qi Xia and Si Yuan decided to go to Yong An village together to look for Tai Shu.
Episode 12
Qi Xia, Si Yuan, and Li Zhi go to Yong An Village. They have a collision with a car belonging to a local named Ji En, and Qi Xia’s car crashes into the River God’s statue. Li Zhi looks for help at the gas station and runs into Su Pa, a local woman who knows Si Yuan. There is also Na Wa, a mechanic who knows him. Na Wa invites them all to stay. Ah, the collision is not a coincidence. Ji En calls someone reporting that he couldn’t stop them. Zhi Bai is suspicious to him, too.
Li Zhi tells the rest about seeing a strange woman she saw at the gas station. It’s Su Pa’s mom Ke Xin, who like Qi Xia and her mom Qi Mei Hua, moved into Yong An Village some time ago. Ke Xin then becomes crazy and Su Pa runs the gas station now. Si Yuan asks Na Wa about Tai Shu. Na Wa is Tai Shu’s older brother. Tai Shu ran away from debt collectors several years ago. Si Yuan and Qi Xia go to the bus company. The teller checks the record and Tai Shu bought a ticket but there is no more surveillance camera. Si Yuan shows Tai Shu’s photo and the teller recognizes him from his fake eye.
Since Tai Shu doesn’t live in Yong An anymore, there’s no point in staying and they’ll leave the next day. The night before departure, Si Yuan and Zhi Bai go to their old house. Ruin rocks fall onto Si Yuan. Zhi Bai and Si Yuan think someone is watching them.
Ji En is visited by Ba Song from outside the village who likes Su Pa’s mother and wants to molest her. Someone with a River God mask attacks him and when Ba Song wakes up he is at the River God statue and his hand is decapitated!
Episode 13
Wait, what??? Qi Me Hua, Si Yuan’s adopted mother and Qi Xia’s mother, goes to see that bad guy Liu Hai Xun and offers more money than his boss paid him, as long as he doesn’t harass Si Yuan! She has a gun and a bunch of guys with her and of course a lot of money! She even threatens Liu Hai Xun that she’ll him if he does something to her adopted son.
Somehow I have a feeling this Qi Mei Hua is scary…
Ba Song died at the statue. The police want Si Yuan to stay for questioning since he came on the same day as Ba Song did. So Si Yuan stays with the others for the Water Lantern Festival. Ji En is very angry because Ba Song is his big business client. Since he doesn’t believe the River God he hits the statue. Later he curses Ke Xin. At night, when everyone was celebrating the Water Lantern Festival, Ji En died. His body floats on a decorated bamboo raft on the river.
Police are called and Qi Xia, who has a police badge, offers to do a forensic exam with the help of Si Yuan. Zhi Bai believes someone killed Ji En and blames the River God. Si Yuan asks Na Wa about Ke Xin. He tells him the village tradition that if a girl wants to marry someone, she wears red. Villagers saw Ke Xin wearing a red dress and wandered. She was found lying down in front of the River God statue then she went insane. The villagers believe she has become River God’s bride and nobody dares to bully her.
Shu He took a vacation and went to Yong An Village to investigate. The forensic finding is Ji En sucked a non-lethal AH7 dose before death. The murder weapon is most likely an arrow type. Si Yuan remembers when he was small seeing Tai Shu hunt with a crossbow. Police check Ji En ATM card and someone withdrew money from his card and the local police recognized Tai Shu’s face.
Police search Tai Shu. Shu He and Si Yuan go to Ji En’s factory that produces dried fruit. That’s in front, in the back it’s a drug production factory led by Liu Hai Xun. The police don’t finish their search because they get a call that the villagers are attacking Ke Xin. They think Ke Xin and Tai Shu are in cahoots taking advantage of their beliefs on River God. Qi Xia had to shoot in the air to warn them. The mob continues to the River God statue and smashes it. Police arrive when the mob is taking the statue down. That’s when they discover a skull inside it…
Episode 14
The skull and the skeleton attached to it, belong to Tai Shu, who has been dead for years. Huh, then who was taking money out using Ji En’s bank card? It seems Tai Shu’s body was buried inside when they repaired the River Good statue. Tai Shu’death is likely also with a sharp weapon similar to Ji En’s. The killer prepared Tai Shu’s body meticulously so nobody smelled the dead body.
Si Yuan and Zhi Bai discuss the murder cases. Si Yuan thinks Ji En saw the dead body when he hit the statue and caused a crack. He then blackmailed the killer. Si Yuan and Zhi Bai go to the river and find a device used for the meticulous plan to kill Ji En. While she is cooking, Li Zhi finds a crossbow at Na Wa’s house. She calls Si Yuan. Si Yuan tells her to leave and goes to Su Pa’s house. Su Pa finds out and goes to Na Wa’s house but he shoots her with the crossbow and runs away. Fortunately, she’s still alive and is taken to the hospital. Si Yuan and Li Zhi go to Na Wa’s house but are attacked by Na Wa. Shu He rescues Si Yuan. Na Wa admits he did all because his brother was a scumbag and stole all family’s money. When Tai Shu hit Na Wa, Ke Xin helped Na Wa. Tai Shu wanted to assault Ke Xin so Na Wa killed his brother because he loves Ke Xin. Same with Ba Shong and Ji En who wanted to attack Ke Xin.
Na Wa acknowledged he had taken the fire picture accidentally and didn’t know who the fourth person was besides Song En, Nu Na, and Tai Shu. When Si Yuan argues, the photo is found at Nu Na’s house, Na Wa says he blackmailed Nu Na.
Conclusion
Things get interesting, right? Especially since they seem to connect one with another, and the layers are peeled little by little to reveal the truth. Let’s continue to Part 2 of this article: The Embers: Recap Episodes 15 to 28.
