Episode Summary
Hongyao tries to hire a young man, A Jiang, to kill a soup shop owner named Zhang San. Her husband, Meng Buyi, suspects she is cheating and also seeks an assassin. Zhang San ends up dead in Meng's home, and the investigation begins. A Jiang is arrested and tells a complicated story, claiming he saw Meng, Hongyao, and a doctor named Yan Junxian at the house on the night of the murder. He says Hongyao stabbed the body after Zhang San was already dead. The episode ends with Meng Buyi escaping an attempt on his own life at the Ghost Market.
Spoiler Alert
A Messy Marriage Gets Messier
This episode kicks off with a weird storm. Hongyao is a musician. She's playing her pipa in public. Suddenly, a hailstorm sends everyone running for cover. She ducks into a nearby temple. A merchant named Qian Zheng shows up to meet her. You can tell this is a secret thing. But Hongyao isn't in the mood. She completely shuts him down and leaves alone in the rain. Qian Zheng is left standing there, totally confused.
A Job for an Assassin
Hongyao gets home and finds a strange man inside. He's a young guy with white hair. He calls himself A Jiang. He says he's a "house-sitter" who just crashes in empty homes while the owners are out. He swears he doesn't steal anything. Hongyao actually believes him. She gives him a silver ingot. Then she offers him another one to do a job for her. The job is to kill Zhang San, the owner of a local lamb soup shop.
A Husband's Suspicions
Now, let's talk about Qian Zheng, the merchant. He's still hung up on Hongyao's rejection. He hires a spy named Old Cat to follow her. He wants to know if she has a new lover. But here’s the twist. Old Cat is actually Hongyao’s husband, Meng Buyi, in disguise. Meng already thought his wife was cheating. Now, a supposed lover just fell into his lap. This pretty much confirms all his suspicions.
Later, Meng runs into an old classmate, Yan Junxian. The guy is now a fancy imperial doctor. He has a servant named Mingshi, and their relationship seems a little odd. Three days go by. Meng has been up all night writing ghost stories. A clerk tells him to go home to his wife. But Meng doesn't go home. He puts on a disguise and heads to the Ghost Market. He's looking for an assassin known as Tiger God.
A Body in the Courtyard
The show cuts to our favorite detective, Su Wuming. He’s busy helping out at a popular dessert shop. It's packed. Lao Luo rushes in with an urgent message from Lu Lingfeng. There's been a murder in the Qinglong district. All the local coroners are out of town. Lu needs Su's help with the body. Su loves this kind of stuff. He grabs Chu Yingtao and heads straight to the crime scene.
The Crime Scene
The murder happened at Meng Buyi's house. The victim is Zhang San, the soup shop owner. A crowd of neighbors is gathered outside. Qian Zheng is in the crowd, looking worried about Hongyao. Su Wuming spots the white-haired kid, A Jiang, but doesn't think much of it yet.
Inside, Su examines the body. He figures Zhang San was killed around midnight. The fatal wound is on his neck. It was made by a small, sharp weapon, something like scissors. Just then, Meng Buyi finally comes home. He claims he was at the Ghost Market buying special paper for his writing. He says he has no idea who Zhang San is. But Lu Lingfeng finds a few white hairs on a bed. This makes Su Wuming remember the boy in the crowd. He runs outside, but A Jiang is long gone. He tells his constables to find him. Hongyao is also missing. Meng acts frantic and begs them to help find his wife.
The Story Unravels
Xue Huan, one of Lu's men, starts putting the pieces together. He is sure Hongyao is at the center of this. He points out a bunch of things that don't add up.
The White-Haired Boy's Confession
It doesn't take long for the constables to find and arrest A Jiang. During questioning with Lu Lingfeng, he spills a wild story. He admits Hongyao hired him to kill Zhang San. But the plan failed. Zhang San was too strong. He fought back, took A Jiang's weapon, and even stole the silver ingot.
A Jiang says Zhang San was a thug. He knew the Meng family was rich, so he decided to rob them. He climbed over the wall to get into the house that night. A Jiang secretly followed him. He then saw Meng Buyi come home late. Meng also climbed the wall instead of using the front door. He left a few moments later with a paper scroll, forgetting to close the door behind him.
About fifteen minutes later, A Jiang saw Hongyao and the doctor, Yan Junxian, run out of the house. They both looked panicked. This made A Jiang curious. He snuck inside. He found Zhang San lying on the ground, dead, but with no wounds on his body. Later, he saw Hongyao come back alone. She was holding a pair of scissors. She stabbed Zhang San's body several times.
This whole story is just A Jiang's word. There is no proof. Lu Lingfeng orders him to be held in a cell while they investigate further.
A Desperate Move
The episode ends with Meng Buyi. He goes back to the Ghost Market, still looking for the assassin Tiger God. The assassin isn't there. So Meng tries to hire a different killer. He and the new guy argue over the price. The argument gets heated, and the assassin decides to just kill Meng instead. Right before he's killed, Xue Huan shows up and saves him. In the middle of the chaos, Meng Buyi manages to escape.
