Episode Summary
In this intense episode, Song Yimeng awakens in a time loop and tries to prevent a tragedy she has already witnessed.Despite their efforts to change fate, Chu Guihong outmaneuvers them, capturing Song Yimeng's family and killing the screenwriter. The episode culminates in a tragic confrontation at the Song residence, where Chu Guihong murders Song Yude. Nan Heng arrives and sacrifices himself to kill Chu Guihong, leading Song Yimeng to take her own life once more.
Spoiler Alert
"A Dream within a Dream" Episode 38 Spoilers
The episode kicks off with snow falling as time rewinds to the moment Song Yimeng wakes up.
When Shangguan He arrives, Song Yimeng reveals her premonition: Chu Guihong plans to poison the Emperor, frame Nan Heng, and seize power.Song Yimeng suspects her death is what triggers the time loop and is prepared to die again if necessary. Nan Heng forbids it, planning to keep her away from the city tower while sending Shangguan He to rescue Song Yiting.
Meanwhile, Chu Guihong gets wind that Nan Heng has gone to the palace early and decides to move against Song Yiting and her mother first. In the palace, Nan Rui is about to feed the Emperor an orange when Nan Heng intervenes, declaring it's poisoned as part of Chu Guihong's frame-up.The Emperor trusts him and agrees to recall his troops to the capital.
Chu Guihong's forces act swiftly. Shangguan He arrives outside the city only to find Song Yiting and her mother have already been captured. Following their tracks, his group is led into a cave and ambushed with explosives. Elsewhere, Song Yiting is wounded by Chu Guihong when she refuses to cooperate with him.
Nan Heng goes to the Chu residence and makes a grim discovery: the screenwriter is dead, and Chu Guihong is gone. A threatened Zhou Xueyi is forced to deliver a message to Song Yimeng, luring her to the Song family home alone. Chu Guihong, fully aware he's in a script world, has taken her entire family hostage. He confronts Song Yimeng, strangling her and revealing he knows she isn't the real woman he once knew.
Nan Heng arrives at the ambush site to find his men, including Ye You Shen, A Long, and A Hu, caught in the explosion. He then receives a message from Chu Guihong, who uses Song Yimeng as leverage to demand his presence at the Song residence. There, the scene is tense. When the maid Yinzhu speaks up, Chu Guihong kills her without hesitation. He demands the Tiger Seal from Nan Heng, declaring his ambition to be king. Even after Chu Guihong exposes Song Yimeng's secret—that she's from another world—her family stands by her.
In a desperate move, Song Yude frees himself and tries to attack Chu Guihong, but he is struck down and killed. Devastated, Song Yimeng decides the only way to end this is to kill herself, resetting the loop. Just as she raises a blade to her throat, Nan Heng bursts in. He stops her and engages Chu Guihong in a final, fatal battle, intending to take him down with him. As Song Yimeng watches Nan Heng get fatally stabbed, she doesn't hesitate and takes her own life.
