Episode Summary
Lu Jingxiu sabotages disaster relief efforts, framing Shen Jiangli for faulty medicine, which leads to her imprisonment. This damages Lu Jingming's reputation and puts him under house arrest. Chu Ya proposes marrying Lu Jingming to leverage her family's power, save Shen Jiangli, and help Lu Jingming counter Lu Jingxiu. Lu Jingming reluctantly agrees for Shen Jiangli's safety, devastating her upon her release when she learns of the impending wedding. Meanwhile, Chu Ya secretly investigates and discovers Shen Jiangli's medicine was deliberately tampered with, pointing suspicion back to Lu Jingxiu's ruthless tactics.
Spoiler Alert
My Destined Consort: Episode 26 Recap & Spoilers - Things Get Complicated... Fast.
So, remember how things were already tense? Well, Lu Jingxiu decided to crank the villainy up to eleven. He secretly sabotaged the relief efforts, causing many of the already sick disaster victims to take a turn for the worse, putting their lives in danger. Naturally, rumors immediately started flying around the disaster zone, blaming Shen Jiangli's medicine formula. People were saying her cure was what was actually hurting everyone. Talk about a setup!
The governor of Dong Zhou, feeling the pressure and needing to maintain order (or at least the appearance of it), does the politically expedient thing: he orders Shen Jiangli arrested and thrown in jail. Ugh.
This whole mess immediately splashes back onto Lu Jingming. He gets put under house arrest, basically sidelined while his rival runs wild. But even stuck inside, he gets a crucial piece of intel from his men. Remember how Shen Jiangli was trying to figure out where Lu Jingxiu was hiding all the money he'd clearly embezzled? They found it. Turns out, Lu Jingxiu has been officially requesting huge sums of money supposedly to "deal with mountain bandits." Surprise, surprise – these "bandits" are actually Lu Jingxiu's private army. This guy is playing a seriously dangerous game. With Shen Jiangli jailed and his own reputation tanking among the common people, Lu Jingming is losing ground fast and has no real way to fight back against Lu Jingxiu right now.
Enter Chu Ya. She shows up, assesses the absolute dumpster fire of a situation, and proposes a pretty radical solution: Lu Jingming needs to marry her. Her logic? An alliance with her, backed by the power of Xi Zhou, is the only way Lu Jingming can regain enough political clout to make a move. Plus, she argues, with a big wedding officially announced, Shen Jiangli would likely be spared any immediate harm (like, you know, execution) while awaiting the nuptials.
Lu Jingming is obviously not happy about this idea. Marrying Chu Ya while he's clearly in love with Shen Jiangli? Rough. But, thinking about Shen Jiangli's safety and his larger goals to eventually take down Lu Jingxiu, he reluctantly agrees. He manages to sneak into the prison to see Shen Jiangli. It's a heartbreaking scene – she's asleep on the floor, looking like she's lost weight from the stress, and she's murmuring his name in her sleep. Man, that's gotta hurt. This just steels his resolve to get her out. Chu Ya, meanwhile, goes directly to the Dong Zhou governor to pitch the marriage idea.
The governor is a bit taken aback, especially since Lu Jingming publicly rejected Chu Ya's advances before. He calls in Lu Jingming and his mother, Lady Shu, probably expecting Lu Jingming to refuse again. But Lu Jingming confirms he's willing. So, the governor agrees to grant the marriage. Chu Ya immediately uses this leverage, asking for less bloodshed (good call!) during the wedding preparations and, most importantly, for Shen Jiangli's release. Chu Ya even suggests making Shen Jiangli a "ping qi" – essentially an equal wife. However, the governor pushes back, suggesting Lu Jingming should just divorce Shen Jiangli entirely to give Chu Ya the proper, sole primary wife status. Oof.
Shen Jiangli is released from prison! Her first thought is to rush back to her residence and get back to work on finding a real cure for the epidemic. But when she arrives, the place is completely decorated for a celebration, clearly a wedding. She's totally confused. Her servants quickly fill her in on the shocking news. She can barely believe it – she was locked up for maybe two days, and Lu Jingming is already marrying someone else?!
She confronts Lu Jingming, probably praying it's all some terrible misunderstanding. But he acts calm and collected, confirming that yes, he intends to marry Chu Ya. You can see the pain in his eyes as he watches her heartbreak, but he seems convinced that pushing her away is the only way to keep her safe now that Lu Jingxiu is clearly willing to play dirty and endanger anyone close to him.
But wait, there's a twist! Chu Ya, proving she might be more than just a political player, secretly brought in a renowned pharmacist from her own region. This expert examines Shen Jiangli's original medicine formula and confirms... it was perfectly fine! The real problem? Someone deliberately sabotaged the medicine batches by adding horse feed (yes, really!), which completely messed up its effects.
So, who would do such a thing? Lu Jingming thinks it through. Lu Jingxiu has tried to get rid of him multiple times over the years. Seeing Lu Jingming finally gaining their father's favor must have pushed him over the edge. He realized he could use the disaster victims – treating their lives like disposable pawns – to frame Shen Jiangli and deal Lu Jingming a devastating blow. Cold. Blooded.
And that's where Episode 26 leaves us! Shen Jiangli is heartbroken, Lu Jingming is making a huge sacrifice (or a huge mistake?), Chu Ya is making power moves (and maybe solving crimes?), and Lu Jingxiu is proving just how ruthless he can be.
