Ripe Town ep 2 recap/spoilers

Episode 2 recap: The Old Case of the Lu Family Fire.

The Old Case of the Lu Family Fire.In the capital city, there are five gangs known as the "Two Rats and Three Wolves," collectively calling themselves the "Five Marquis Manor." They are well-informed about various news and rely on officials and influential connections for their business dealings.

Their main influential connection is Cold Wujin. One day, a strong man accidentally broke a jug of wine, which belonged to Liu Lao Er. One of his companions pretended to be a passerby and testified against Liu Lao Er, forcing him to compensate for the damages. Later, a person named "Qian Mo" volunteered to compensate on Liu Lao Er's behalf. Liu Lao Er, grateful for the favor, insisted on creating a promissory note with Qian Mo, even if he couldn't read or write. At that moment, Qu San Geng arrived, and the passerby immediately fled. Qu San Geng learned that Liu Lao Er also relied on his granddaughter for survival, and they only had three thatched cottages and a small piece of farmland. His granddaughter was also over ten years old.

Qu San Geng informed Liu Lao Er that this group of people had been watching him for a long time. Qian Mo, who wanted to escape, had no choice but to pay his respects to Qu San Geng. However, Liu Lao Er realized that this promissory note, accumulating interest over time, would eventually result in him losing his house and granddaughter to the other party. Cold Wujin had established a rule that prohibited the trafficking of children. Qu San Geng came this time to conduct some business but had the real intention of finding the leaders of this group. However, every time he sought them out, they would disappear, claiming they wouldn't be at home as long as Qu San Geng showed up.

Qu San Geng returned once again and revealed that they had captured a secret prostitute, who claimed that her son was the leader of their gang. The mother advised Qu San Geng not to pursue his role as a constable since there was no one as powerful as Cold Wujin to protect him anymore. He remembered a conversation with his master when he aspired to become an accomplished constable in front of him. The master warned him that in this world, he might not be able to afford the price. Qu San Geng's mother worried that if someone as formidable as Cold Wujin had died, their son would not be able to overcome his enemies.

Qu San Geng's father used to be a constable but retired and became a night watchman. Unfortunately, he died in a fire. Song Dianshi gave Qu San Geng a broken tooth, and he asked if Qu San Geng had been to Cuihua Tower. It was revealed that Lin Si Niang had a previous relationship with Cold Wujin, but Qu San Geng lied, claiming to be unaware of this matter.

Yi Butou forced all the members of the Quick Response Team to leave. Shi Cong was concerned that Yi Butou would take personal revenge against Qu San Geng and accompanied him back to the constable's office. Qu San Geng handed a broken tooth to Yi Butou as a token of their connection. Yi Butou, aware of Song Dianshi's identity, hesitated to take action. He gave Qu San Geng a three-day deadline to identify the culprit; otherwise, he would be dismissed from his position. Qu San Geng assured him that he didn't need three days and immediately revealed that the culprit was Cui Shun, a guest of the Cui Family Village. The stolen jade bottle from their house was obtained through tomb robbery. Cui Shun's expression betrayed his panic, and he was apprehended on the spot. Yi Butou found that he couldn't control Qu San Geng and resorted to punishing Shi Cong instead by dismissing him from his position.

When Shi Cong didn't want to slaughter a pig, he became a constable. During a drunken conversation, he encountered "Qian Mo." Qu San Geng beat him up, claiming that he was stalking him. "Qian Mo" was beaten by Qu San Geng and thrown into jail while trying to escape. In the intoxicated state, Qu San Geng sat in the jail cell and saw his master in a daze. His master told him that justice is a long and winding road. Qu San Geng cried and asked his master who killed him, as his master was a good person.

On his way back, Qu San Geng noticed that the night watchman hadn't lit the candles. He learned that the night watchman's family was in financial difficulty and had taken the candles to exchange for money. Qu San Geng returned the money to the night watchman and discovered that many people were doing the same thing. Leng Gui Er arrived at the tavern and saw Qu San Geng drinking alone. She advised him that as a constable, he shouldn't be there at that hour. She followed him to his master's house, and he was splashed with cold water by Leng Gui Er when he arrived. It immediately sobered him up.

Leng Gui Er gave Qu San Geng her father's clothes to change into and took him to the basement. Inside, there were hidden ten thousand taels of silver in coffins. Leng Gui Er said that her father's wages couldn't account for all the silver ingots, and they all had inscriptions on them. She suspected that her father was involved in dirty dealings. There were also many case files in the coffins, with detailed records of the Lu Family fire that occurred twenty years ago. There was a prescription from twenty years ago as well, written by a doctor named Cheng Yizhi.

Qu San Geng deduced that the silver ingots were not stolen money but evidence. Ten thousand taels of silver was a significant amount. September 7th was the anniversary of Qu San Geng's father's death, and he asked his mother where his father was fighting the fire. Qu San Geng's mother recalled that it was at a person named Lu's house on Tie Shizi Street. Upon learning that his master had a testimony, Qu San Geng's mother immediately guessed something. Although they had no relationship during his father's lifetime, Cold Wujin visited multiple times after his death. Qu San Geng initially thought it was out of concern for his colleague, but it turned out they had a previous connection.

Qu San Geng began questioning the eyewitnesses from twenty years ago, hoping to extract valuable information. Throughout the day, everyone mentioned that the fire was fierce, and they discovered that the testimonies were all false. There were rumors surrounding the Lu family. Qu San Geng intentionally blocked Cheng Yizhi's path at Leng Gui Er's door, showing him the prescription he wrote twenty years ago. Cheng Yizhi vaguely remembered it was for treating minor ailments. Qu San Geng noticed that Cheng Yizhi was deliberately hiding something based on his reaction.

At night, Feng Ke Zhui urgently found Qu San Geng and took him to Wu Lei Zhai. Feng Ke Zhui's uncle, who was a teacher at the academy, had met with an unfortunate incident. The corpse had peculiar movements, holding a copper ruler in its hand. Feng Ke Zhui had never seen him use this ruler before, and it had inscriptions of the characters "Child" and "Six or Seven People." Qu San Geng dug out a chicken feather from the corpse, which the teacher had finally pulled out.