Episode Summary
Qu Tong manipulates her way out of a sanatorium by pretending she has moved on from her daughter's death. Once home, her relationship with her husband, Su Muxin, is filled with paranoia, culminating in him making her taste soup for poison. On the day of a new factory opening, Qu Tong fakes an illness and sneaks into a specific workshop. Later, a body is found in the river. While the cause of death links to Muxin's company, Qu Tong is unnervingly calm during the identification, and the timeline doesn't match his disappearance. A clue involving underwear purchased by Muxin's mistress adds another layer of confusion for the police.
Spoiler Alert
Qu Tong's Big Performance
Getting Out of the Sanatorium
So, we start with Qu Tong still in the sanatorium. Her husband, Su Muxin, comes to visit. She tells him she wants to see their daughter Su Momo for her birthday. He shuts that down hard. He says Momo is gone, and they all have to accept it.
Then, his mother, Shen Jing, shows up and gets the same request from Qu Tong. She gives the exact same answer as her son. It's clear they just want Qu Tong to move on. So, Qu Tong changes her strategy. She starts repeating their own words back to them. She says she understands they need to let go. She even tells Shen Jing she wants to have another baby with Muxin. This little performance works. Muxin agrees to take her home.
A Sad Birthday
Muxin brings Qu Tong back to their house. The first thing we see is that Su Momo's room has been completely emptied out. Qu Tong just smiles and says she understands their "good intentions." It’s a chilling moment. You know she doesn't mean it.
Later, she goes to Su Momo's grave. She's all alone with a birthday cake. She lights the candles and then blows them out herself. It's just a really sad, quiet scene that says a lot about her state of mind.
Back Home, But Not Really
The Poison Test
Qu Tong tries to play the part of the dutiful wife. She brings homemade chicken soup to Muxin's office. He immediately gets suspicious. He asks her if she ran into anyone on her way there. She promises him she won't go to the police station or talk to anyone. He then tells her she should probably stay home more often, just to be safe.
Then comes the real kicker. He won't drink the soup. He's worried she poisoned it. He only takes a sip after she tastes it first to prove it's safe. There is zero trust left in this marriage.
The Factory Plan
We learn a new factory is about to have its opening ceremony. Muxin says he's going to be there. Qu Tong puts on a show, crying about her past "crazy" behavior and saying she wants to make up for it. Muxin tells her the opening ceremony is the perfect opportunity.
On the day of the event, Qu Tong suddenly says she has a stomach ache. Muxin has to go to the site by himself. The second he's gone, Qu Tong gets up. She looks at the factory's floor plan on the wall. Then she quietly slips out and heads to the metal parts cleaning workshop.
A Body in the River
The Morgue Visit
Five days after Muxin's disappearance, a body is found floating in the river. It’s too decomposed to identify, but the body type is similar to Muxin's. The detective, Zhou Mi, calls Qu Tong down to the station to identify it. Zhou Mi gets straight to the point. She says Su Momo's death is the real reason Qu Tong's marriage fell apart. Qu Tong just repeats that her daughter's death was an accident.
At the morgue, they show her the clothes from the body. She says she doesn't recognize them. They tell her the body has no obvious identifying marks. Then they show her the body itself. Her reaction is... nothing. She is perfectly calm. Her partner, Wu Dong, is convinced the body isn't Muxin, but Zhou Mi isn't so sure. Later, Shen Jing asks Qu Tong about it, and Qu Tong just says she couldn't tell.
Conflicting Clues
This is where things get messy. Wu Dong notices the corpse is wearing expensive underwear. He gets the idea to check the store's purchase records. The records show that Shi Yue, Muxin's mistress, bought them.
So now Zhou Mi is stuck. She's sure the body is Su Muxin. The cause of death was industrial sodium cyanide poisoning, and Muxin's company, Zhuo'er Jewelry, uses that chemical in its production process.But the medical examiner's report says the time of death doesn't line up with when Muxin disappeared. Her boss, Gao Bo, warns her that it's all just circumstantial. There is no direct evidence proving the dead man is Su Muxin.
