When last we left our Handsome Stranger and the Pig Butcher, Changyu’s uncle was murdered!
The killer was skilled with a blade! It must have been Changyu!
But everyone testifies she’s been there since morning.
Despite that, the Magistrates… henchmen? I don’t know how yamen work. Anyway, this jerk suggests they imprison Changyu and search her house.
The Constable is already at Changyu’s place, where there are dead guys in black scattered around. But no Yan Zheng or Ning. When Changyu finds out, she persuades the Constable to set her free to find them.
Yan Zhen and Ning have fled into the forest, and unfortunately, so have an endless number of bad guys. Yan Zheng is injured and trying to shield Ning from the violence. His bird helps, but there’s only so much a bird can do.
Ning blows a whistle that Changyu gave her for when she’s in trouble. Then she’s grabbed and dragged away by a bad guy, but Changyu stabs him!
Yan Zheng tells Changyu to run, and she does, leaving the injured Yan Zheng to die.
Of course not, she gets Ning to safety, then returns to help.
Changyu bashes the bad guys rather than killing them
Yan Zheng helps her fight. It’s very romantic.
She asks one of the guys why they attacked her family. The guy meets Yan Zheng’s eyes, then slits his own throat on Changyu’s blade.
Yan Zheng collapses, and Changyu piggybacks him through the snow again. She begs him to stay awake, thanks him for saving Ning, and passes out. She wakes on the ground, in his arms, and cries for him to stay awake while barely conscious herself.
But Ning and the Constable find them!
Yan Zheng wanders through a dream world. His father dies, and his mother gives him osmanthus cake before hanging herself, leaving young Yan Zheng to find her.
He wakes up. Changyu has medication and sweets to help it go down. Not Osmanthus, because he sleep mumbled that he didn’t want it.
Yan Zheng has … A Clue?
I guess he found a … necklace in the snow? And it means these guys were working for the Wei. But, they weren’t after him. I don’t know how he knows that.
For some reason, Changyu thinks this was Yan Zheng’s first time killing someone, like her. She comforts him to comfort herself. She has a bitcher’s killing aura. If she stays near him, he won’t have nightmares.
Nonsense as it is, he’s touched, takes her hand, thanks her, and OST happens. She falls asleep curled up on his bed. He strokes her hair. My Heart.
Don’t forget about Changyu’s dead Uncle
The Constable is here to arrest… Yan Zheng!
Yes, it’s all about the papers. The new ones aren’t good enough. Yan Zheng needs to be beaten into confessing he’s a murderous bandit.
Yan Zheng doesn’t want to be beaten and knocks everyone back. Changyu and the chorus of villagers are Very Upset. The Magistrate can at least get rid of Changyu by sending her to jail for leaving jail last time.
Before the Magistrate gives Yan Zheng one last chance, Yan Zheng gives the Magistrate one last chance. He fights off court goons and declares he’ll handle the Magistrate his way. They’re shaking but–
Here’s Sun, that headmaster from a few episodes ago, with Yan Zheng’s “real” papers. When he learns Yan Zheng attends a rich kids’ school, the Magistrate’s attitude changes. Suddenly, Yan Zheng isn’t a bandit.
And there’s no proof Changyu killed her uncle, so she’ll be released.
Court dismissed! Sun says it’s good he arrived when he did, and smacks Yan Zheng on the back. Yan Zheng spits blood, tells Sun to take care of Changyu, and passes out.
Sun wants to know: Who’s Changyu?
Once he finds out, he has a series of problematic visions of Yan Zheng being forced to marry a pig butcher. Then he meets Changyu, and… Did he just fall in love?
After Yan Zheng wakes, he tells Sun he was secretly investigating the 16-year-old Jinzhou case. On the battlefield, he got struck by a “hidden arrow”, but was able to sneak away as white-caped men came to kill everyone.
He fell into a river, drifted downstream, got out, and fell again. Into the snow. Where Changyu found him.
He has no solid evidence, but he thinks his Uncle, Chancellor Wei, who we met for a minute earlier, is involved. Even though he raised Yan Zheng after his parents died. Somehow, Changyu’s family is involved, but Yan Zheng doesn’t know how. It’s only because she saved him that he even came on this clue.
Later, Sun casually mentions leaving with Yan Zheng, and Changyu is taken aback. Even though she knows it was Yan Zheng’s original plan to leave.
Sun finds Yan Zheng being broody at night and asks if he has feelings for Changyu. Yan Zheng believes that him caring for someone would only bring them harm. But that’s not how feelings work.
Yan Zheng tells Sun to keep an eye on things for him. He can’t conceal his identity much longer with the whole war going on. Sun asks why he isn’t coming with him tomorrow and…
The next day, it’s Changyu’s turn to brood
The Magistrate has decided that bandits attacked Changyu’s family. Case closed. Changyu thinks there’s more to it. The Constable thinks she should sell everything and leave for her own safety.
But would Yan Zheng come too?
She learns that a fancy carriage stopped in front of her house and rushes home. It’s empty. There’s a note and some money. Ning confirms to her tearful sister that Yan Zheng left.
But he comes back. He was just helping a neighbor. The note and money were from Sun. He notices her tears, and she blames them on non-existent smoke.
Later, she tells Yan Zheng her plans to leave. She can draw up a divorce letter and give him money. He tells her not to worry about him, so she asks if he wants to come with her or stay and recuperate.
He’ll go with her. Then, he asks if her parents left her anything super important she’d need to take with her. Yes, her knives, the title deed, and her sister. This does not help Yan Zheng figure out why her family was attacked.
Changu checks on Grandpa during her Uncle’s funeral
Not the best timing. Grandpa is sad that his sons are all dead. He tries to talk to her about her father, but her Aunt is whining too loudly, so she leaves.
Suddenly, Changyu is invited to meet the landlord of a fancy restaurant. A woman who does art in her undergarments.
With more clothes on, Qian officially meets Changyu to ask to buy her braised pork. But Changyu is leaving after the Spring Festival. Qian really, really, really wants Changyu’s meat, and convinces her to supply the meat as long as she’s in town.
Then, Changyu’s annoying competitor arrives, stands on a table, and slanders Qian because she’s no longer buying HIS meat. He name-drops that cousin with the important job.
But his cousin is at the restaurant right now! In this empty room! Or not! Qian leaves him there to be taught a lesson by her people.
Changyu and Qian enjoy the restaurant’s entertainment, while that Li guy we met once watches. They seem to also be investigating Changyu now.
Changyu brings gifts from Qian to Mrs Zhao, who fills her in on how Qian first arrived in town, pregnant and alone.
Never mind that, Mrs Zhao wants Changyu and Yan Zheng to have sex. Mrs Zhao thinks that sex is a good reward for his help, and will motivate him to stick around. Ick.
Even worse, Mrs Zhao tries to force the issue by taking Changyu’s bedding to wash, so she has to share a bed with Yan Zheng. Instead, Changyu tries to sleep at the table.
Yan Zheng, in bed, tells her to come here!
The “let’s build a business” stuff never excites me
I hope Changyu enjoys gaining financial success and independence. I’d much rather watch fighting and flirting. But not people being pressured to have sex.
Luckily, the fight scenes are amazing, and we’re getting the high drama that I want in my Chinese dramas. I was anticipating small-town shenanigans. Instead, we’re already getting murder and dramatic fight scenes.
Injured Yan Zheng, ready to destroy the yamen, is Very Exciting. So is how he looks at her every time she rescues him or protects him.
The court drama stuff is still too vague and distant for me to care about.
Mostly, I’m glad it gives Yan Zheng an excuse to stick around and protect Changyu. He’s definitely catching all the feelings for her already, but it’s too early for him to admit it to himself. Plus, with that useless magistrate and no family, she could use some help.
But what is a “hidden arrow”? Are arrows usually more out in the open?
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