Episode 25 recap: The newlywed couple played a deadly game.
Di Ren Jie was very grateful for Xiao Xiaowei's assistance, but he believed that public matters should be kept separate from private ones. He openly expressed that Qingchuan should not continue in this way and proposed two options: either relocate the people of Qingchuan and establish complete military control, or have the people of Qingchuan directly governed by Lanfang, with military control under Xiao Xiaowei. Xiao Xiaowei happily stated that Qingchuan has always been under the jurisdiction of Lanfang, and he has been acting on behalf of it for many years. Now that Di Ren Jie is in charge of Lanfang, he willingly takes on more responsibilities.
Xiao Wei is a good child. Now that her stepfather has been arrested and her mother has died, she has become homeless. Di Ren Jie entrusted her to Mr. Hulu, and from then on, they lived a nomadic life, but no one dared to bully them. Xiao Wei was willing to follow Mr. Hulu, but she wanted to bring along her mother's favorite red dress. Di Ren Jie gladly agreed, which made her very happy, and they embarked on a journey to wander the rivers and lakes with Mr. Hulu.
Di Ren Jie set out on his journey back, traveling alone on horseback through the desert. At this moment, he carefully contemplated Mr. Hulu's words, unsure whether or not to submit the list to the court. If he did, innocent people on the list would be implicated. However, if he didn't, it would go against his principles as an official. That night, he fell asleep holding the list, vaguely recalling how his father scolded his elder brother for reading a book that involved one thing falling for another. Afterward, his brother was even driven out of the house. He remembered his brother saying before leaving that he would definitely come back.
When Qiao Tai woke up, the room was empty. He was very thirsty and struggled to get out of bed to find water. Ma Rong was extremely worried when Qiao Tai didn't wake up even after three days had passed. Suddenly, she saw Qiao Tai smiling at her, which filled her with excitement. She approached him and threw a punch, realizing that she had hurt him. Then she remembered that Qiao Tai was still weak at the moment and hugged him tightly to express her joy at his recovery.
Qiao Tai had no idea what had happened to himself. Seeing Ma Rong's expression, he couldn't help but smile foolishly. Hong Liang was extremely relieved when he saw the scene of the two siblings embracing each other. After careful consideration, Di Ren Jie ultimately decided to burn the clothes with the list, in order to prevent further bloodshed.
Under Di Ren Jie's governance, Lanfang had changed significantly. The people could safely walk the streets, and everywhere was thriving. However, Di Ren Jie knew that amidst this prosperity, there were hidden dangers lurking in some dark corners.
The transfer order for Di Ren Jie was already on its way. Hong Liang advised him not to overthink and to hand Lanfang over to the next magistrate when the time comes. Di Ren Jie inquired about Hong Liang's opinion on the Black Flame gang. Hong Liang stated that they were just a group of villains gathered together, but Di Ren Jie had already eliminated the Lanfang gang and found no close ties between them and the Black Flame gang. He suspected that the Black Flame gang was just one person.
Hong Liang couldn't believe it, considering that Di Ren Jie was clearly surrounded by a group of people during the Baekje Gold case. But Di Ren Jie had this kind of intuition. The wedding of Di Ren Jie and Cao An was scheduled, and everyone hurried to make preparations and choose an auspicious day for the ceremony. On that day, Di Ren Jie, Cao An, Ma Rong, and Qiao Tai went to light sky lanterns to make wishes. Suddenly, they saw an unmanned carriage approaching the city. The people were filled with suspicion. Di Ren Jie immediately took Ma Rong to investigate and found a paper figure in the carriage with a real human skull inside. Someone with sharp eyes recognized the mask on the paper figure, but quickly kept quiet and refused to admit recognizing the route.
Di Ren Jie observed carefully and noticed a red thread from his horse. He remembered that the newlyweds who got married today were riding this tall and majestic horse. Now, no one claimed the horse, so Di Ren Jie knew there was something behind it. He untied the horse and followed it for nearly a night, using the method of "an old horse knows the way," until they reached their destination.
Ma Rong thought it was not appropriate to knock on the door late at night, considering that they were attending a wedding today. However, Di Ren Jie insisted, so she approached the door. To her surprise, the door opened easily with a push. Just as Ma Rong was about to enter, Di Ren Jie noticed bloodstains on the ground and quickly stopped her. They entered the house and saw the newlywed couple lying in a pool of blood, with a chessboard in front of them. Every chess piece was stained with blood, and there was a knife next to them.
Ma Rong was chilled to the bone upon seeing this scene, and Di Ren Jie asked her to go and fetch help while he carefully examined the scene. He imagined a scenario where the couple killed each other, but couldn't understand how two people who just got married and loved each other could turn into murderers. Di Ren Jie had Qiao Tai and Ma Rong role-play as the newlywed couple and play a game of chess, trying to figure out the intricacies. He speculated that someone had threatened the couple to play chess and then forced them to kill each other, ultimately intending to extract their once-loving hearts.
News arrived from Hong Tingzi that Long Tuhu had encountered an incident. Di Ren Jie rushed there to confirm that Long Tuhu had castrated himself. A Yao noticed that Long Tuhu had a peculiar expression before his death and saw a person dressed in black with a mask on the second floor. The person quickly disappeared, and she couldn't see clearly.
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