Episode Summary
Lu Chang supports Jian Mingshu's quest for revenge against Prince Yu but suggests a less self-destructive method: exposing the Prince's illegally funded private army, evidence of which Lu Chang has found. A key hidden in a bracelet leads Jian Mingshu to further proof concealed in a Guanyin statue in her ancestral hall. Teaming up with Su Tangli, they devise a plan to lure out an assassin and later a bandit leader, Jiao Ye, using themselves and a story of hidden Jian family treasure as bait. Meanwhile, Jian Mingshu's unwanted wedding to Song Qingzhao is scheduled, adding pressure. Jian Mingshu successfully drugs the Lin household, retrieves the crucial evidence, and confronts Old Mrs. Lin with the truth about her family's crimes. A violent confrontation erupts when Jiao Ye's bandits clash with Cao Hai's soldiers at the Lin residence. In the chaos, Jian Mingshu personally kills Cao Hai, avenging her family. Tragically, Zhou Yiniang dies after her baby is stillborn.
Spoiler Alert
"Serendipity" Episode 38 Recap & Spoilers
Lu Chang's visit wasn't to persuade Jian Mingshu to abandon her quest for revenge. Instead, he wanted to show her that there were other ways to bring Prince Yu to justice. He assured her that he would stand by her no matter what she chose to do, his only concern being that she might take a path of no return and regret it later. Lu Chang had discovered that Prince Yu might have ordered Cao Hai to secretly maintain a private army. This was a severe transgression in the eyes of the Emperor, an offense for which even his eldest son, Prince Yu, would not be pardoned. As for the imperial edict ordering her marriage, Lu Chang promised to find a solution. Jian Mingshu gave Lu Chang a bracelet. She had suspected it might hold a secret, but couldn't find anything. Lu Chang noticed a small hole on the bracelet. Pressing it revealed a hidden key. Jian Mingshu immediately remembered that the Guanyin statue in her ancestral hall also had a similar hole, leading her to believe her father had hidden evidence there.
Lu Chang and Jian Mingshu informed Su Tangli that they had found evidence of Cao Hai's private army, hoping to postpone their previous plans. Su Tangli agreed, willing to cooperate as long as it ensured Prince Yu's downfall. Lu Chang also found out that one of the men Cao Hai had ordered to silence the Jian Family had luckily escaped and had recently been committing crimes. This man was now targeting a couple who had made money and were preparing to return to their home country. Lu Chang advised the real couple to travel back by waterway, while he and Jian Mingshu would disguise themselves as the couple. Hearing that the husband in question was known to be very afraid of his wife, Jian Mingshu quickly understood her role.
Dressed in foreign attire and carrying a significant amount of gold and silver, Jian Mingshu and Lu Chang checked into an inn, quickly attracting the attention of bandits. However, when the bandits ambushed their carriage, they found the chests filled with stones instead of treasure. Before they could escape, Lu Chang and Jian Mingshu intercepted them. Jian Mingshu proposed a major deal to the bandit leader, Master Jiao: ten thousand taels of gold in exchange for his help in her revenge. She explained that Cao Hai was Old Madam Lin's source of wealth and had taken the Jian Family's assets, amounting to roughly ten thousand taels of gold, to the Lin household. Cao Hai was expected to return soon for Old Madam Lin's birthday celebration, which would be the perfect time to strike. After some thought, Master Jiao decided to investigate her claims.
Prince Rui and Song Qingzhao rushed over upon receiving news. Seeing Lu Chang and Jian Mingshu reconciled, Song Qingzhao felt a pang of jealousy. The Ministry of Rites had already selected an auspicious date for Jian Mingshu and Song Qingzhao's wedding, set to take place in a month. Only then did Jian Mingshu realize that her attempt to refuse the marriage had been a foolish move. Lu Chang suggested that successfully exposing Prince Yu might earn them a special dispensation from the Emperor.
Jian Mingshu kept Old Madam Lin company. When Old Madam Lin invited her to eat, Jian Mingshu declined, saying she wasn't hungry. Soon, Old Madam Lin and her maidservant fainted, followed by everyone else in the Lin household. Jian Mingshu went to the ancestral hall and retrieved the evidence from the Guanyin statue. She and Su Tangli looked on coldly at the unconscious men and women in the house; Jian Mingshu was the sole survivor of the Jian Family. Old Madam Lin kept insisting her son wasn't responsible for the Jian family's demise. However, Jian Mingshu revealed that the Guanyin statue Old Madam Lin prayed to daily was actually sculpted in the likeness of Jian Mingshu's mother by her father. The person she had been kowtowing to every day was not Guanyin, but Jian Mingshu's own mother. "Though," Jian Mingshu added, "you weren't wrong to kneel. Your entire family should be kneeling to the Jian Family." She berated Old Madam Lin for her hypocrisy, questioning the supposed good deeds and merits accumulated through her vegetarian diet and Buddhist chants.
Master Jiao indeed found a large amount of treasure at the Lin residence. Just as he was about to load it onto his carts, Cao Hai arrived with imperial soldiers, and a fight broke out. Hearing the commotion, Concubine Zhou, unwilling to await her fate passively, grabbed her meager savings and tried to slip away. At that critical moment, she suddenly went into labor. Jian Mingshu and Su Tangli watched dispassionately as the two groups of villains slaughtered each other in the courtyard. Prince Yu ordered Cao Hai to take Master Jiao's head. Just then, Prince Rui, Song Qingzhao, and Lu Chang arrived and apprehended everyone. Cao Hai prepared for a desperate last stand but was killed by Jian Mingshu, who held the knife, declaring that he would now pay for the thirty-seven lives of the Jian Family.
Concubine Zhou's baby was stillborn, and she herself succumbed to excessive blood loss, beyond saving. Aware of her deep sins, she quickly ended her own life.
