Episode 12 recap: The Xue family confronts the Yan family.
After the emperor regained consciousness, he casually asked Jiang Xue Ning, pretending to be nonchalant. He had heard that she was getting close to Xie Wei. Before Jiang Xue Ning arrived, Zheng Bao had informed her that Duke Xue Yuan had been frequently visiting the emperor, likely trying to sow discord between Xie Wei and the emperor. To prevent the emperor from suspecting Xie Wei, Jiang Xue Ning played dumb. When the emperor finished asking his question, she followed his lead and mentioned that Xie Wei had even called her to his place for private music lessons, intentionally making the emperor misunderstand that Xie Wei had taken an interest in her. Hearing Jiang Xue Ning's unfiltered words, the emperor felt regretful. Such a beautiful woman as Jiang Xue Ning turned out to be so carefree.
When Xue Yuan returned home, an arrow suddenly flew in and caught his attention. Upon examining the message on the arrowhead, Xue Yuan became ecstatic. The letter was precisely the one Yan Mu wrote to the Prince of Pingnan. Although only half of it remained, it was like a timely gift. After obtaining the letter, Xue Yuan immediately went to see the emperor and advised him to charge Yan Mu with treason.
The emperor summoned Xie Wei into the palace and showed him the letter, seeking his opinion. Xie Wei informed the emperor that the letter, being only half of it, lacked Yan Mu's official seal, making it insufficient to prove that Yan Mu was the author. However, they could wait until they found the other half before punishing him. Seeing Xue Yuan persisting, Xie Wei worried that the emperor might waver, so he reminded him that waiting a few more days wouldn't matter after waiting for twenty years. The emperor accepted Xie Wei's advice and ordered the Xingwu Guards to find the other half of the letter as soon as possible.
Xue Ye arrived at the Yan residence with his elite guards, displaying an air of arrogance. After receiving the imperial decree, Yan Lin saw that it instructed them to cooperate with the investigation and prohibited anyone from entering or leaving the Yan residence freely. Consequently, when Xue Ye attempted to search the mansion, his subordinates blocked the entrance. Hearing Yan Lin's reasonable and well-founded words, Xue Ye didn't dare to act recklessly.
Upon returning home, Jiang Xue Ning heard about the situation at the Yan residence. Her father recounted the story of Xue Dingfei once again. Jiang Xue Ning raised her doubts, and her father told her that nobody knew the truth of the matter. What he knew was that when Shen Lang ascended the throne, he was just a child, and the Empress Dowager ruled on his behalf. It wasn't until Shen Lang's grand wedding that Empress Xue handed over the governance to him.
Over the years, Xue's faction had spread throughout the court and the country.
Jiang Xue Ning didn't believe that the Yan family's disaster would be an unsolvable deadlock. So she sought out Zhou Yinzhi and warned him not to play both sides. Zhou Yinzhi, with a bitter expression, told Jiang Xue Ning that he also had a family to support. However, he assured Jiang Xue Ning that once he obtained the intelligence, he would inform her first and then pass it on to Xue Yuan.
Jiang Xue Ning understood Zhou Yinzhi's predicament. When she returned home, she thought about selling her jewelry. But her maid reminded her that it would be difficult to sell all the jewelry in a short time. Jiang Xue Ning then thought of You Fang Yin. She went to meet You Fang Yin, who had already earned six times the amount with Jiang Xue Ning's four hundred taels. You Fang Yin wanted to give all the money to Jiang Xue Ning and happily informed her that she had been learning business from Mr. Xu recently. Jiang Xue Ning took only half of the money, while the other half was to be invested in another business. Because of the silk incident, You Fang Yin had full confidence in Jiang Xue Ning.
After finishing her conversation with You Fang Yin, Jiang Xue Ning walked out of the inn and noticed that it was raining. When she looked up at the sky, she unexpectedly saw Zhang Zhe standing on the second floor of the inn, watching the rain. Jiang Xue Ning couldn't help but recall some of her past experiences with Zhang Zhe.
In order to resolve the crisis for the Yan family, Xie Wei arranged for Chen to pretend to have a dinner gathering with colleagues and bring Zhang Zhe along. Zhang Zhe was not good at socializing, but Chen asked him for a favor and requested him to stay for half an hour. When Xie Wei approached them, he felt uncomfortable seeing Jiang Xue Ning and Zhang Zhe locking eyes. Upon seeing Zhang Zhe, even before Xie Wei could speak, Zhang Zhe had already guessed his intentions and asked him not to bother explaining, as he would handle the case impartially. Helpless, Xie Wei reminded him to thoroughly investigate the matter, as otherwise, the tragic events from twenty years ago might happen again.
Comments(Episode 12)