Judge Dee's Mystery ep 15 recap/spoilers

Episode 15 recap: Di Renjie identified the true culprit and went to Lanfang to take up his post.

Di Renjie identified the true culprit and went to Lanfang to take up his post.Di Renjie arrived at Zhongji Pawnshop and saw that not only had the shop changed hands, but it was also being cleaned. He asked the assistant to check the receipt of the dagger and recognized it as Zhong, the shopkeeper's handwriting.

He learned that Zhong and Lin, another shopkeeper, had a dispute in the house, and Zhong had an accident afterward. In Zhong's room, Lin caressed the wooden carving and muttered to himself, "How good would it be if Lin didn't believe in the Rain Master's story?" Di Renjie's sudden appearance startled him, and he instinctively covered the wooden carving with a cloth, pretending to be busy organizing account books. Di Renjie couldn't understand why Lin cherished the account books so much when he believed that Zhongji Pawnshop had already closed down and the books were useless. This remark made Lin somewhat excited, explaining that he had poured twenty years of effort into the pawnshop and couldn't bear to let it go.

Lin recounted how he had followed Zhong as an assistant for twenty years and worked hard to establish Zhongji Pawnshop. Only he knew the bitterness behind it because he was an assistant who had to greet people with a smiling face every day, no matter how difficult the customers were. He had to find ways to please them and successfully expand the shop. Just as he was joyfully preparing for a new store in another place, where he could run it successfully with money, he discovered that the money in the pawnshop had been taken by Zhong and given to Huang Ying'er. Lin couldn't accept this and advised Zhong not to continue his relationship with Huang Ying'er as the Rain Master, as Huang Ying'er loved the Rain Master, not the shopkeeper behind the mask. Unexpectedly, this angered Zhong, who slapped Lin fiercely. At that moment, Lin, who had endured so much for twenty years and saw his chance to rise in the world being destroyed by Zhong, decided to kill him. The knife he used was the one he had pawned from several young soldiers at the camp. This successfully diverted Di Renjie's attention and led him on a detour, ultimately helping him discover the true culprit.

Lin's life was ruined, and he admitted to killing Zhong. He was taken to the execution ground, and along the way, many people threw rotten vegetable leaves at him, filling him with guilt as if he saw Zhong walking toward him alive. Wang Sanlang had taken the blame for killing Zhong because he saw Huang Ying'er stabbing Zhong. To protect the woman he loved, Wang Sanlang threw Zhong's body into the marsh. When Di Renjie discovered him, Wang Sanlang admitted to killing Zhong, but he claimed that both stabs had the same force. Based on this, Di Renjie deduced that there was another true culprit. Now that the truth was revealed, Di Renjie exposed Wang Sanlang's infatuation with Huang Ying'er and sighed at his unattainable desire.

Ma Rong rowed the boat and complained about the three men in the case who were afraid to confess their love, believing that they lacked courage. This reminded Di Renjie of his own situation, so he went to Ming Le Fang to find Cao An, hoping that Cao An would accompany him to Lanfang. However, nobody answered the door, so he had to return disappointed.

The next day, Di Renjie hoped that Cao An could come along, so he started walking towards Lanfang. Ma Rong was puzzled and suspected that Di Renjie intended to walk all the way to Lanfang. However, Penglai and Lanfang were far apart and it was simply impossible to reach there on foot. Cao An had already been waiting in the teahouse and immediately appeared when Di Renjie arrived. Di Renjie was thrilled to see her, but Ma Rong found it unexpected. After all, in her opinion, Cao An, being insignificant, shouldn't have come along. The group passed through the desert, which was where Qiao Tai, Ma Rong, and Di Renjie had met in the past. Reflecting on the past, Di Renjie vividly remembered the time when he was exhausted and collapsed in the desert. It was then that Qiao Tai and Ma Rong appeared to rob him. Due to days of not eating, their legs were weak and they had no strength to fight. Seeing that Di Renjie had food and water, they took the opportunity to approach him and devoured it greedily. If it weren't for the difficult times, they would not have resorted to robbery. Di Renjie immediately asked them to follow him, and Qiao Tai agreed without hesitation. From then on, the three of them stayed together. A sandstorm suddenly swept through the desert, and the guide quickly led everyone to take shelter behind rocks. Due to the hurried movement, the briefcase containing the case files fell, scattering the documents everywhere. As soon as the sandstorm subsided, Di Renjie immediately got up and retrieved the case files. Unexpectedly, while searching in the sand, he found a wooden sword that was identical to the one he carried when Di Zhixun jumped into the water to commit suicide. Di Renjie had always considered the wooden sword as a talisman, and now finding the same sword in the desert seemed to be a forewarning of the danger in Lanfang.