Episode Summary
Exile Gu Pingyuan stops a violent clan war on a frozen river caused by a theft and a revenge killing. We learn the conflict started when a valuable ginseng root was stolen during an auction, leading an honest man to commit suicide and his son to murder the thief. While Gu manages to keep the peace, he faces pressure from a corrupt general and crosses paths with a new love interest and a mysterious female gambler.
Spoiler Alert
Legend of the Magnate: Episode 1 Recap
Welcome to the Frozen Hellscape
Let’s get one thing straight immediately. Ningguta is not a vacation spot. It’s the Qing Dynasty’s answer to a frozen nightmare. It’s where the Empire sends disgraced officials, fallen royals, and scholars who wrote the wrong thing. You walk thousands of miles to get there. If the wolves don’t eat you, the cold will. Once you arrive, you are a slave for life. There is no escape.
We drop right into this misery with a standoff on a frozen river. Two rival exile villages, the "Wu" camp and the "Huang" camp, are ready to slaughter each other. They have drums, weapons, and a whole lot of rage. The issue? A murder. Su Xiaohu, a kid from the Wu camp, killed a man named Liu Laosi from the Huang camp. The Huang guys want the body. The Wu guys refuse to give it up.
Just as blood is about to spill, our protagonist rides in. Meet Gu Pingyuan. He’s an exile too, sent here in the fifth year of Xianfeng’s reign. But he’s got brains, and he’s working for the local military boss, General Xu. Gu flashes General Xu’s official seal and tells everyone to cool it. He knows a mass brawl will cost General Xu his job, and Gu isn’t about to let that happen.
The Ginseng Heist
To understand why these people are ready to kill each other, we have to jump back three days. It all started at the Manchun Courtyard. This place is usually for drinking and girls, but this time it’s packed with wealthy medicine merchants.
Su Shuhe (the Wu camp dad) and Liu Laosi (the Huang camp dad) dug up a massive, thousand-year-old wild ginseng. This thing is worth a fortune. Su Shuhe wants to sell it to bribe officials and get his son, Su Xiaohu, out of Ningguta. He wants the kid to study and have a life, not rot in the snow.
The auction is intense. We meet Li Qin here. He’s a rich kid, the son of a massive pharmacy chain owner from the capital. He’s arrogant and thinks he owns the place. But the bidding war gets crazy, hitting 300,000 taels. An out-of-town merchant wins.
Here is the kicker. Su Shuhe hands over the box. The merchant opens it. It’s empty.
A Tragic Suicide
The room explodes. Everyone accuses Su Shuhe of stealing the ginseng back. The poor guy is honest to a fault. He strips naked to prove he isn't hiding it. Nobody believes him. The buyer is furious and leaves.
Su Shuhe, desperate and humiliated, does the unthinkable. He begs Gu Pingyuan to clear his name, then plunges a knife into his own chest. He dies right there to prove his innocence. It’s a brutal, gut-wrenching moment. Gu Pingyuan is horrified. He vows to find the truth.
The Detective Work
Gu Pingyuan isn’t just a scholar; he’s sharp. He starts digging. He confronts Liu Laosi, the partner. Liu claims he left the auction early because his son was sick. Gu doesn't buy it.
He presses harder. He finds out Li Qin, the rich brat, had his butler make a secret deal. Gu drags Liu Laosi into a corner and breaks him down. The truth comes out. Liu Laosi stole the ginseng before the auction. He sold it to Li Qin privately. In exchange, Li Qin smuggled Liu’s son out of Ningguta. Liu betrayed his partner to save his own kid.
It’s a solid mystery reveal, but it has immediate consequences. Su Xiaohu—Su Shuhe’s son—was listening in the shadows. He hears that his father died for nothing. He snaps. He rushes out and stabs Liu Laosi to death. That is the murder that started the frozen river standoff.
Politics and New Arrivals
Back on the ice, Gu Pingyuan manages to talk the widow down. He promises to help her son eventually if she disperses the mob. She agrees. Crisis averted.
But Gu has a bigger problem. General Xu is a snake. He doesn’t care about justice; he wanted a cut of that ginseng money. He’s also jealous that the locals respect Gu Pingyuan more than him. He gives Gu an ultimatum: find the missing ginseng, or else.
Meanwhile, fresh meat arrives at the gates. A horse caravan led by Chang Si shows up. His daughter, Chang Yuer, sees Gu Pingyuan commanding the troops and immediately develops a crush. Later, Gu helps her start a fire because she’s struggling with the damp wood. It’s a classic "meet cute" amidst the squalor.
We end with Li Qin. The rich idiot took his stolen ginseng money to the casino and lost it all. He gets kicked out in his underwear. Gu Pingyuan finds him and drags him back inside, where they spot a mysterious woman, Su Zixuan, dominating the gambling tables.
