Episode Summary
At a party designed to cover up his crimes, Gao Susheng forces the captive Xia Mo and Tang Zhenyun to watch him manipulate officials. His underling, Gao Fei, murders a witness, and his familiar shoes link him to the victim, Hongxiu.Later, Gao Ying recruits Xia Yingqi to the investigation, and the four of them discover a lead at a black market: a shopkeeper with an identical corpse puppet mask.
Spoiler Alert
Rosefinch: Episode 5 Spoilers
The episode kicks off at the lavish Gao residence with a movie screening hosted by Gao Susheng, the head of the Gao family and the formidable Qingzhu Gang. The event is a strategic charade, designed to corner guests like Deputy Director Yang Zezhi and Chamber of Commerce President Tang Boju into helping him cover up his criminal activities. All the while, the Xia siblings and Tang Zhenyun are tied up, forced to watch Gao Susheng manipulate the law to his will.
In a brutal move to eliminate witnesses, Gao Fei murders a subordinate who had been delivering meals to a woman named Hongxiu. As Gao Fei walks past the captives, both Xia Mo and Tang Zhenyun notice his shoes seem disturbingly familiar—they look just like a pair from Hongxiu's shoe cabinet. Understanding the Gao family's cruelty, Tang Boju slaps his nephew, Tang Zhenyun, in front of everyone, commanding him to apologize to Gao Susheng to save his skin.
The tense standoff is broken when Xia Yingqi successfully picks her handcuffs. Her defiance captures Gao Susheng's attention, leading him to issue a chilling ultimatum: she has five seconds to free her brother, or he will shoot. At the last possible moment, Gao Ying fires a shot, not at them, but at the cabinet beside Xia Mo's head, a shocking act that indirectly saves the pair.
Changing his approach, Gao Susheng frames his next move as a "life-and-death test of potential," ordering Xia Mo and Tang Zhenyun to hunt down the killer responsible for creating "corpse puppets." He then announces that his Zhuque Hall (Rosefinch Hall) will be hosting a "Movie Queen Beauty Pageant."Once the guests depart, Gao Susheng has Gao Fei whipped as punishment, but Gao Ying intervenes, managing to keep Gao Fei's larger secrets under wraps for the time being.
The next day, Tang Zhenyun continues his investigation into Hongxiu's death, eliminating a couple of suspects.Gao Ying then appears at the police station, bribing Xia Yingqi with silver to join the case, claiming she has a special talent for distinguishing authentic "corpse puppet masks" from fakes. This new alliance leads the four of them on a nighttime excursion to the black market for funerary objects. There, they encounter a deceitful shop owner who claims to know Gao Ying and another who possesses a mask identical to the one used by the killer.
