Introduction
The image below is the whole picture I used for the article featured image. Another one with Zhuang Han Yan holding a knife, lol! This girl is crazy, indeed. Yes, even in an episode to come we will see that Zhuang Han Yan still intends to kill. In the other hand, Fu Yun Xi is holding white flowers. I do not recognize the little white flowers in the left (are they possibly orchids?), but the big white flower in the right is definitely a Chinese white peony (Paeonia lactiflora). In Chinese culture, white peonies symbolize purity, innocence, shyness, and are often used to convey apologies or to express sympathy. White peonies may also symbolize young love or new beginnings. I think these attribute are what symbolize Fu Yun Xi’s offer to the vengeful Zhuang Han Yan. The awkward Male Lead sincerely respects and sympathizes with what the Female Lead has been through, that bloom to a young love. On the contrary, the Female Lead still has trust issue towards people, hence she’s holding a knife.
Now that you read the previous The Glory: Drama Recap Episodes 7 to 14, lets find out more what The Glory ( 雁回时 ) offers in the episodes below.
Drama Recaps Episodes 15 to 22
Episode 15
It’s Lantern Festival now and there are banquets held around the Capital. Han Yan receives an invitation that requests the mother and daughter come together. She knows it’s a trap to humiliate Madam Zhuang and/or her. She wants to go anyway to take advantage of it, and manages to convince her mother to attend with her. The whole episode is about the banquet, and I’m not interested to detail the war of the bitches. However, there are two important things in this episode I will summarize: one is the appearance of a new character, Noble Consort Miao, and the other is the (accidental) kiss between Han Yan and Yun Xi… yay!
Noble Consort Miao is Madam Zhuang’s bestie when they were young and single. Although they don’t meet anymore, she sent a gift to Han Yan’s pinning ceremony. Han Yan has hope her mother will rekindle her friendship with Her Highness. She wants Consort Miao to persuade her mom to get a divorce. So, if Master Zhuang turns out to be Lord Pei’s adopted son, her mother will not be punished with the Zhuangs. She asks Yun Xi to arrange the attendance of Noble Consort Miao at the banquet. Her Highness attends the banquet, but pretends to be no longer friends with Madam Zhuang and mocks her. During the banquet, Yu Shan releases her wrath towards Han Yan to hurt her mother. She stains Madam Zhuang’s handkerchief with mad horse grass juice to make her horse go berserk and run amok at the banquet. Noble Consort Miao happens to hold Madam Zhuang’s handkerchief, so naturally, the horse aims towards her. Han Yan, who got horse training from Chai Jing back in their days, manages to jump onto the horse and steers it outside. However, a crazy horse is not easy to control. Yun Xi sees her and chases her with another horse to rescue Han Yan from the crazy horse. Yun Xi and Han Yan fell, and he lands on top of her. When she pushes his arm, he falls, and below is this accidental kiss!
Episode 16
In front of the guests, Noble Consort Miao asks why the horse is crazy. Yun Xi takes out the handkerchief and explains what happened. Since it belongs to Madam Zhuang, it means the culprit means to harm her, not Noble Consort Miao. Madam Zhuang declines Her Highness to investigate the matter since it’s a family matter. She doesn’t want to point out to Yu Shan, although she, Han Yan, and Yun Xi know Yu Shan did it. Since Han Yan sacrificed her life to save Noble Consort Miao, Her Highness gives Han Yan the jade bracelet she won from Madam Zhuang during a polo match back in their days. She returns it to the rightful owner, since Madam Zhuang deliberately lost to Her Highness. After the banquet, Madam Zhuang and Her Highness have a private chat while drinking tea. Apparently, they are frenemies. They were besties before getting married though they love to compete with each other. Madam Zhuang let Noble Consort Miao win to be selected by the Emperor, causing her to be separated from her family. The once free-spirited girl is trapped in the palace so she hates her friend. However, Madam Zhuang’s life is not happy either.
Her Highness sends her private imperial physician, Tan Yun Xian, to check on Madam Zhuang. After examination, Physician Tan states that Madam Zhuang’s disability can be cured. Seventeen years ago, Master Zhuang invited famous physicians who all said Madam Zhuang is forever disabled. Apparently, he bribed the so-called great physicians to conceal Madam Zhuang’s real condition and lied that she could never walk again. Physician Tan claims that with proper exercise and treatment, Madam Zhuang can walk again. Madam Zhuang is so excited to hear that, even Noble Consort Miao cries.
Han Yan privately warns Yu Shan that she knows Yu Shan is the handkerchief culprit. The reason she doesn’t want to expose Yu Shan at the banquet is because of Han Yan’s affection for her family. But Yu Shan is ungrateful, she accuses Han Yan of snatching everything from her. In the last episode, while Han Yan is at the banquet, Yu Shan sees Yun Xi’s love poem to Han Yan hanging in the tree, and he rejects her on the spot.
Lantern Festival is also the Chinese Valentine’s Day. In ancient China, the Lantern Festival provided an opportunity for unmarried women to leave their homes and interact with men, leading to the festival’s association with romance and courtship. Uncle Yu Wen uses this opportunity to bring the wedding gift list and proposal letter he planned to use for a formal proposal to her in the past. He confesses his love again and wishes to be together. Han Yan sees them from afar and feels sad. While Han Yan is contemplating her mother and Noble Consort Miao, who married the wrong people and lived an unhappy life, she herself gets a love confession from Yun Xi. When he asks if she wants to get married or stay forever with the Zhuangs, Han Yan says that for her, marriage is not about romance or growing old together, but is more about finding a place where she can settle down and live peacefully without being humiliated, tortured, or suffering from wandering. Yun Xi quietly says that he’s willing to give her the life she wants. At this moment, the fireworks explode in the sky. It’s romantic, alright, but because of the noise, Han Yan doesn’t hear clearly what he said, so she asks, “What did you say?” Yun Xi becomes shy and misunderstands that she is challenging him, making a threatening statement. So he says “Nothing”, changes the subject, and leaves. Actually, Han Yan heard what he said!
The news of Han Yan’s bravery taming a crazy horse to save Noble Consort Miao, and being gifted the royal jade bracelet is everywhere. Influential families send visitation requests and matchmakers to check on her. She wants to be with her mother forever, but Madame Zhuang lectures her about the beauty of love. She then asks about Han Yan’s relationship with Yun Xi. Has he developed feelings for her? Han Yan doesn’t know, since he’s unpredictable she can’t figure out what’s in his mind. Does she have feelings for him? Han Yan says maybe, but also within those feelings are gratitude, fear, and even hatred. Her mother says maybe there won’t be much time to figure out what her feelings toward Yun Xi are, because her father is concerned about Han Yan’s marriage now. He sees her daughter’s interactions with Yun Xi as risky since he takes the Lord Pei’s case. Moreover, since Han Yan’s relationship with her mother is good now, Master Zhuang may be afraid that mother and daughter will work together to avenge him. In the end, Master Zhuang will use his daughter’s marriage as a bargaining chip to promote his position. Madam Zhuang and Han Yan plan to test what Yun Xi’s intention towards her is.
Yun Xi sabotages Master Zhuang’s attempts to marry off Han Yan, as well as the contenders who approach her. Han Yan provokes Yun Xi here and there to find out his feelings for her. When Master Zhuang signs a marriage agreement between Han Yan and He Wen Sheng, the scholar who is involved with Yu Chi’s case, Yun Xi even brings up to Master Zhuang the engagement between him and Han Yan twenty years ago. Han Yan rejects He Wen Sheng on the spot. She then deals with Yun Xi and straightforwardly asks him why he did all this. Instead of a love confession, Yun Xi offers Han Yan a marriage deal.
Episode 17
The prologue is how Yun Xi, the Fu Family’s adopted son, marries Yu Qin (Han Yan’s half sister). Wait… he is an adopted son? Dun dun dun… who is his real parents??? One year later, Yu Qin accidentally drank a poisoned wine and died. Yun Xi blames her death on his fault since he has many enemies in the Capital.
Back to the present time. Yun Xi says if she marries him, he will make her the noblest lady in the Capital within a year and he’ll be her strategist. He’ll give her everything she wants in a marriage, as she said during the Lantern Festival. Han Yan asks why he chooses her. Basically, he’s looking for an ally; his mother is getting old, and Ling Zhi is still young. He’s looking for someone who can protect his family, and he won’t take her virginity and will raise her position in society. Han Yan is disappointed that he doesn’t have feelings for her, so she rejects Yun Xi’s proposal.
There is a shortage of a certain medicine for Madam Zhuang, so Physician Tan asks Han Yan to borrow some from Yun Xi. Han Yan finds out that during the Lantern Festival, Yun Xi was not only suspended because of Duke Shun Ping’s case but was also canned. She feels guilty because to help her, Yun Xi let his secret of killing Duke Shun Ping by accident out. She goes to the clinic where Yun Xi is treated and overhears the convo between Yun Xi and his aide. Not accidentally, because his aide sees her sneaking in, so he deliberately brings up Yun Xi’s relationship with Han Yan.
Madam Zhuang can finally walk! Suddenly, she’s full of vitality and thinks about her old flame, Uncle Yuwen. She wants to divorce Master Zhuang, but of course, he won’t divorce her. Han Yan offers to help her mother. Later, she goes to find Yun Xi and agrees to marry him under two conditions: to be honest with each other when there’s doubt, and a divorce letter from Master Zhuang to her mother. It’s not easy because Master Zhuang pretends to be humble and peaceful. However, Yun Xi was once invited by Lord Pei and one dish is called Blessing and Longevity with a unique and intricate taste. Last year, when he stayed with the Zhuangs, he tasted the same dish. No matter how many restaurants he tried that dish, the taste is never the same. Han Yan says that her father loves to cook with homemade Jinhua wine. Let’s use the wine to trick him. Later during dinner, Master Zhuang finds a favorite dish he didn’t prepare. He’s suspicious and makes everyone leave, and finds a secret letter in the dish. Someone wants to meet him secretly. It’s Lord Huang, a man who seemed to be killed on the spot by Yun Xi in Episode 1. He was Lord Pei’s messenger. Lord Huang and Yun Xi made an agreement: Yun Xi pretended to kill Lord Huang and let him go, to catch the big fish behind him. Lord Huang wants to take back the money from Master Zhuang. It’s confirmed that Master Zhuang is Lord Pei’s adopted son. Lord Huang’s appearance is planned by Yun Xi and Han Yan. When cornered by Yun Xi and Han Yan later at home, Master Zhuang remains calm. He already knows that Lord Huang is not dead. Moreover, he reveals a shocking secret to the two: Lord Pei has several adopted sons, not only him but also Fu Yun Xi!
Episode 18
Prologue: Zhuang Qing Liang, Master Zhuang’s father, or Han Yan’s grandfather, was threatened by Eunuch Pei (Lord Pei) to hide his money from corruption and misconduct. Grandpa wanted to report it to the Emperor, but Master Zhuang killed his father. Master Zhuang then becomes Eunuch Pei’s adopted son. He was entrusted with the Eunuch’s wealth and money-laundered it to lands and properties. He slowly poisoned the Eunuch till death, and the rebellious gang fell.
Now we’re back on the present. Yun Xi acknowledges to Han Yan that he’s the other Eunuch’s adopted son. He was undercover to gain the Eunuch’s trust. He carefully planned everything, even using Han Yan in the beginning as his puppet. He gave Duke Shun Ping’s body to Han Yan to cover up his bigger secrets. He resigns from the Judicial Review. So the only punishment he received was just the canning. Although he reveals to Han Yan that he later started developing feelings for her (so no longer uses her as his scheme), and gave Duke Shun Ping’s body for her to save her family. Master Zhuang continues to add fuel to the fire and says that he meant to poison Yun Xi, but his daughter drank the wine instead. Yun Xi indirectly killed his own wife because of his investigation of Master Zhuang.
Han Yan is extremely heartbroken. She is sick of these two liars and leaves them. She pours her heart out to Chai Jing. Chai Jing concludes that Han Yan falls for Yun Xi. Han Yan makes up her mind to leave the Capital and live in seclusion and peace with Mom and Chai Jing. Yun Xi follows Han Yan and overhears her decision, but he doesn’t try to keep her. He’s drowned in his sorrows, drinking alone at home.
Han Yan uses her father’s secret as an exchange for the signature of the divorce letter. Master Zhuang panics when he finds out that Madam Zhuang can walk now. Another crime that he concealed was Madam Zhuang’s condition. So he agrees to the divorce. Aunt Zhou is happy with the divorce since she has a chance to be Madam Zhuang now. From now on, I will change Han Yan’s mother’s name to Ruan Xi Wen, Xi Wen, or Mom. Uncle Yu Wen picks up Xi Wen. Han Yan picks up Chai Jing. They agree to meet up later. Yun Xi comes to see Han Yan. He tries to clarify the misunderstanding, but she doesn’t want to hear it. She thanks him for the Danzhou case and for releasing Chai Jing and leaves him.
On the way to pick up Chai Jing, Han Yan finds something wrong, her father hired a coachman for her carriage. The other coachman is with the other carriage. Where is the other carriage and coachman? She immediately rode a horse to find her mother. Sure enough, something is very wrong! Master Zhuang poisoned the food that Uncle Yu Wen and Xi Wen ate. Knowing that they are poisoned, they proceed with the marriage ceremony right away. They decide to be a couple underworld to stay together. Uncle Yu Wen dies first. Xi Wen knows Master Zhuang is close by. She curses him. He walks in and tells her that when he was young, only Xi Wen was nice to him, so he wanted to marry her. But Xi Wen loves Yu Wen Chang An, so after marrying her he broke her legs so she wouldn’t leave him. Master Zhuang offers an antidote in exchange for her life, but Xi Wen refuses and rather dies with Yu Wen Chang An. Master Zhuang killed Xi Wen’s maid and set the house on fire. Han Yan arrives while her mother is dying, and her mother says goodbye to Han Yan and tells her to live well in the future. The featured image for this article is the last scene of the mother and daughter.
Han Yan comes back to the Capital with a full revenge mode. Not that her father hasn’t already anticipated this! He burned down his maps and books for the Imperial projects to create the Comprehensive Encyclopedia and World Map. When the scholars come to see the Emperor to report the loss and ask for the Emperor’s mercy, Master Zhuang offers himself to work day and night using his memory to recreate those two projects. However, for safety and security reasons, he asks the Emperor to order Fu Yun Xi to protect him!
Episode 19
Yun Xi knows Master Zhuang killed Xi Wen and Uncle Yu Wen, but he doesn’t dare to disobey the Emperor’s order to protect Master Zhuang. He easily subdues Han Yan and locks her up. He then talks reason with Han Yan. He says, Master Zhuang’s biggest fear now is that Han Yan and Yun Xi join forces. Han Yan is helpless now with her father’s imperial protection. Han Yan has one condition: she asks Yun Xi about his real connection with Pei Party. Yun Xi explains that six years ago, the Chief Minister Wen sent him with a secret mission to infiltrate the Pei Party and gained Eunuch Pei’s trust that he adopted Yun Xi as his son. Chief Minister Wen was killed, so nobody knew about this mission. Only by handing over evidence collected in the past few years to the Emperor can Yun Xi prove his innocence. Later, there was a big chance, and the Emperor strictly investigated the remnants of the Pei Party. Once he reports the evidence of his crime, he may be suspected of protecting himself and framing others. He then requests to investigate the gang to which Pei Party is related. The gang boss says there is a certain Eunuch Pei’s adopted son who manages the Party’s property. Only by capturing that person can Yun Xi prove his innocence. Later, during the investigation, the clues slowly point to Master Zhuang. Yun Xi used the scheme of Xi Wen and Uncle Yu Wen to execute Master Zhuang, but Han Yan interfered with their plan, so all plans failed.
Han Yan agrees to marry Yun Xi, to join forces to bring down Master Zhuang. She comes home as if nothing happened but declares she will marry Yun Xi tomorrow. Yu Shan throwsa temper tantrum upon hearing that her idol is going to marry Han Yan. Master Zhuang is scared, so he goes all over the Capital, tries to marry off Han Yan even as someone concubine. Yun Xi finds out about this and decides to marry Han Yan tonight. When he comes to fetch the bride, he’s blocked by Master Zhuang’s servants. Because Yun Xi’s entourage is no match with the Zhuang’s servants, Yun Xi can easily walk in. Yu Chi wants to take off Han Yan’s wedding attire for his sister. He and Han Yan fight, and Yu Chi accidentally hits a long nail on the wall and dies on the spot. When Master Zhuang and Aunt Zhou run in and they mistakenly think that Han Yan killed Yu Chi.
Episode 20
Zhuang Han Yan and Fu Yun Xi get married that night. Chai Jing sees the wedding carriage, and she cries and leaves. Since she is permanently injured from the torture, she can no longer protect Han Yan. Chai Jing decides to go sailing overseas, as they promised together in the past. She leaves a farewell letter to her bestie. Han Yan manages to run all the way wearing her wedding attire to the dock to see Chai Jing for the last time.
Usually, when a drama genre is romance, I will put their wedding picture (if any) as the article featured image. But I don’t do it here. As you watched the previous episode, the situation surrounding the wedding is very sad. The death of her mother and the obsession with revenging her father lead Han Yan to marry Yun Xi. On the wedding day, her half-brother also dies. Nobody in the Zhuangs Family attended the wedding. No sweet wedding night, and no kisses. Below is the only wedding picture I captured for this episode.
Life is not easy for Han Yan since marrying into the Fu Family. She gets sick right after the wedding because of all that happened. Ling Zhi wants to hang out with her new mother, but Han Yan is still mourning the deaths of her mother and her stepfather (Uncle Yu Wen) and feels somewhat guilty about the death of her half-brother Yu Chi. She’s not in the mood to play with the little girl, causing Ling Zhito be sad, thinking Han Yan doesn’t like her. Han Yan’s mother-in-law is nice, but Yu Chi’s aunt, called Aunt Kou, who manages the household, is a pain in the a$$. She bullies Han Yan, who gracefully passes the family etiquette and household tests.
The Zhuangs also try to break the marriage by spreading malicious rumors about Han Yan. They let MIL and Aunt Kou hear about the barefoot ghost label on Han Yan. There is also an anonymous gift to the Fus of skinned geese. Han Yan calmly says she will make delicious food from the geese. Knowing that Han Yan and Yun Xi don’t sleep together, Aunt Kou advises Yun Xi to take a concubine. Han Yan doesn’t bother to respond to Aunt Kou’s taunting and agrees casually. Unexpectedly, Yun Xi refuses that vows that there will be only one wife, which is Han Yan. There is also another rumor stating that Han Yan is no longer a virgin. Han Yan purposely invites the Imperial Physician Tan, the one who cured her mother, to lecture the Fu in-laws. Han Yan doesn’t reveal to Physician Tan that her mother is dead. Han Yan also wants to find out about Noble Consort Miao’s situation through Physician Tan. But the physician declines to answer, stating the situation is complicated.
Yun Xi gives info on Noble Consort Miao’s situation. After the Empress passes away, Noble Consort Miao wants to adopt the little Crown Prince. She’s highly criticized, wants to be the Empress, and thus seizes the power once the Young Prince is on the throne. Although her situation is bad, Han Yan wants to use this to help Her Highness overcome it. Several ministers want to sign a joint petition to overthrow the Noble Consort Miao. Yun Xi and Han Yan will start with Deng Family.
Episode 21
I’ll be honest. I’m not interested in subplots with the noble families who are supposed to sign the joint memorial. For the Deng Family, I will just conclude that at the end of this episode, Mr Deng, the head of the Deng Family, reveals to Yun Xi and Han Yan that only one person wants to kill Noble Consort Miao. He is Grand Secretary Yao Zhi Dong; the rest just do paperwork. The Grand Secretary is very powerful amongst the scholars.
Episode 22
Persuading Yao Zhi Dong to withdraw the petition is playing with a crazy and abusive man. No, that man is not Yao Zhi Dong, but his son-in-law, Duke Qi. This crazy and abusive man marries his only daughter Yao Wang Shu. His daughter is miserable being abused, but her father cannot help her. He has married women who look like the woman in the painting. Ling Zhi happens to fight with a bully boy who turns out to be Duke Qi’s son. Yun Xi and Han Yan take this chance to come to see Duke Qi to apologize. Of course, to make the plot easy, Han Yan looks like the woman in the painting. Duke Qi is enthralled by her beauty. So the couple play act and pretend to quarrel to the point of separation. Han Yan invites Duke Qi for tea, and he thinks she likes him. Duke Qi writes a divorce letter to Yao Wang Shu and she’s free to return to her father. Since the petition has circulated, Yao Zhi Dong can only promise to delay the petition. When Duke Qi finds out it’s a scheme between Yao Wang Shu and Han Yan, he’s very angry. He goes to the Fu Mansion, demanding they divorce. Luckily, Yun Xi spread the news that Han Yan is busy saving Noble Consort Miao. She summons Han Yan to the palace, thus she’s saved from Duke Qi.
Conclusion
So much as we admire the astonishing Ruan Xi Wen, sadly we have to let her go. The veteran actress Wen Zheng Rong did a tremendous job portraying the character. With the join forces of Fu Yun Xi and Zhuang Han Yan into a marriage, will they be able to bring the criminal mastermind to justice? Will the power couple also achieve happy ending? Let’s continue to the final part of this drama recap series!
