Episode Summary
Haunted by a past encounter with corruption, a betrayed Li Shande nearly gives up on the lychee mission after his plans are stolen by Attendant Yu. To seek revenge for her father, A Mi Ta proposes a risky alliance: she will return to Lingnan as Li Shande's official assistant to gather evidence against their enemies, a plan that requires them to secure an official writ. Meanwhile, suspicions escalate in Lingnan between Zhao Xinmin and the undercover Zheng Ping'an. With all other doors closed, Li Shande makes a final, desperate gamble, mortgaging his family home to the influential Seventeenth Lady in exchange for her help in passing a message to the powerful Right Chancellor.
Spoiler Alert
The Litchi Road Episode 26 Recap & Spoilers: The Price of a Message
In an episode that dives deep into the corrupt heart of the empire, Li Shande is pushed to his absolute limit. A painful memory reveals why he's so wary of his fellow officials, while in the present, a devastating betrayal forces him into an unlikely alliance with A Mi Ta. With enemies closing in and time running out, Li Shande makes the biggest gamble of his life, putting the very roof over his head on the line for a single chance to be heard.
Recap: A Bitter Lesson and a Desperate Alliance
The episode opens with a flashback to a decade earlier, when a much younger Li Shande began his career at the Imperial Gardens Department. Tasked with stocking a pond with prized carp, he witnesses his superior, Song Qing, secretly poison the water with Chinese toon sprouts. When the naive Li Shande reports the crime to Bureau Chief Liu, he’s condescendingly let in on the scheme: officials routinely kill the tribute fish to embezzle government funds for "replacements."
Unwilling to accept this corruption, Li Shande pushes for an investigation. In a masterclass of bureaucratic gaslighting, his colleagues quickly swap the dead fish with a live one, unanimously claiming Li Shande is mistaken. For his integrity, he is punished with the loss of a month's salary. This memory serves as the foundation for his deep-seated disillusionment with the system he now finds himself trapped in.
Back in the present, that disillusionment turns to despair. After being double-crossed by the eunuch Attendant Yu, who has stolen his meticulously crafted lychee transportation plan, a broken Li Shande declares he's done. He regrets ever taking on the impossible mission and is ready to accept his fate. A Mi Ta finds him in this state and, over some Hubing flatbread, shares her own story of powerlessness in seeking revenge for her father, Hai Hu.
This shared desperation sparks a new plan. A Mi Ta decides to return to the Lingnan region to help Yun Qing find the evidence that could bring down both the local governor, He Youguang, and his powerful patron, the Right Chancellor. Knowing Lingnan is He Youguang's territory, she proposes a brilliant gambit: she will go as Li Shande's officially appointed "Lychee Mission Assistant." The official title would grant her a layer of protection, a "talisman against death," making it much harder for He Youguang to eliminate her.
To make this happen, A Mi Ta seeks out Lu Huan, pleading with him to help Li Shande secure the official documents for the mission. Lu Huan is initially hesitant, knowing that if the mission succeeds, the glory-hungry Right Chancellor will take all the credit. But A Mi Ta sways him by appealing to his sense of justice for the honest Li Shande and revealing her strategy: she believes Governor He's secretary, Zhao Xinmin, holds the key evidence and plans to turn him once she's in Lingnan. Seeing the potential, Lu Huan agrees to help and points her toward a surprising avenue to the Right Chancellor.
Shadows and Suspicions in Lingnan
Meanwhile, in Lingnan, the web of intrigue tightens. Zhao Xinmin's unease grows after he spots Zheng Ping'an—currently undercover as Ma Guiyun—at Yun Qing's bookshop holding a delicate folding fan clearly meant for a woman. This solidifies his suspicion that Zheng is not a simple scholar but a trusted agent of the Left Chancellor. While his wife urges him to report his findings to He Youguang, years of humiliation and abuse at his master's hands have soured Zhao Xinmin. He begins to consider using the incriminating evidence he possesses to turn the tables and save himself.
Aware that he's under suspicion, Zheng Ping'an is under pressure from Yun Qing to find the proof of He Youguang's crimes left behind by the deceased A-Tu. Learning that A-Tu's lover was a woman named A-Chai, Zheng immediately seeks out A-Tong to ask for help in questioning her aunt.
A Final, Costly Gamble
Back in the capital of Chang'an, a desperate Li Shande tries to track down Attendant Yu through an old classmate, but to no avail. The path seems blocked at every turn. However, Lu Huan gives A Mi Ta a crucial piece of intelligence: the city's most influential courtesan, the Seventeenth Lady, is secretly financed by none other than the Right Chancellor, Yang Guozhong.
Elsewhere, Attendant Yu strong-arms officials from the treasury and Ministry of War to approve the funding and papers for the lychee mission. When one official from the Ministry of War refuses to budge, the eunuch brings in a mysterious enforcer, Zhou Sanlang, whose quiet threats are enough to ensure immediate compliance.
Armed with the new information, Li Shande takes his last, most desperate shot. He approaches the notoriously difficult Seventeenth Lady, begging her to pass a message to the Right Chancellor. She flatly refuses and tells him to focus on paying back his debts to her. With no other options, Li Shande pulls out the title deed to his family home and offers it as collateral. Seeing the deed, the Seventeenth Lady's demeanor changes slightly. She accepts the property and agrees only to "pass on a word." As the episode closes, she takes the deed and departs into the night to find Attendant Yu, leaving Li Shande with nothing but the faint hope that he hasn't just lost everything for nothing.
Lingering Questions
With his home now on the line, has Li Shande's gamble paid off? Will the Seventeenth Lady honor her vague promise, or has she simply stripped him of his last worldly possession? As A Mi Ta prepares to return to the viper's nest of Lingnan, can she secure her official cover and find the evidence she needs before the shadow war between Zhao Xinmin and Zheng Ping'an explodes into the open?
