Episode Summary
In this episode, Bao Yan breaks up with Tang Bei after discovering his deception. Her father, Su Shilun, masterfully sets up his wife, Wang Yayin, to take the fall for a fraudulent real estate project, leading to her arrest. Feeling he has lost everything, a vengeful Tang Bei kidnaps Qin Yuebai, and Lu Li rushes to save her from a dangerous situation.
Spoiler Alert
Double Fugue Episode 18: Spoilers
The episode picks up with Bao Yan, heartbroken, confronting Tang Bei. She can't believe the man she fell so deeply in love with was not only deceiving her but is also connected to her stepmother. Tang Bei tries to explain that he never knew what love was before he met her, but his words are cut short by a slap from Bao Yan. She declares it's over between them, wanting nothing more to do with him. As she turns to leave, the emotional toll becomes too much, and she faints. Su Shilun, her father, rushes to her side and angrily warns Tang Bei to stay away. In a strange turn, Su Shilun sees his wife, Wang Yayin, and calmly tells her to wait for him in the study, despite just learning from Qin Yuebai at a board meeting that Wang Yayin had been illegally transferring company assets.
Later, Su Shilun joins Wang Yayin for tea. He doesn't mention the asset transfer. Instead, Wang Yayin hints that she has leverage over him, suggesting his successful art gallery was built on the suffering of others. Su Shilun, who despises being threatened, forces a smile and tells her he trusts her completely. As a sign of this "trust," he puts her in charge of his new Yong'an Real Estate project.
Wang Yayin naively believes she's been forgiven and looks forward to her new role. However, her hopes are shattered when news breaks that the Yong'an project has imploded. Qin Yuebai and Lu Li realize Su Shilun's cunning plan: he never intended to forgive Wang Yayin but instead used her as a scapegoat to take the fall for the failed project. Witnessing how ruthlessly Su Shilun discarded a woman he'd been married to for decades, Qin Yuebai grows fearful. She wonders why he hasn't targeted her yet and suspects the reason might be hidden in the last painting her mother ever created.
Facing the reality of a long prison sentence, Wang Yayin is devastated. In a final, desperate act, she puts on her favorite opera costume, applies elaborate makeup, and walks blankly into a busy street, oblivious to the blaring car horns around her.
With Wang Yayin arrested, Tang Bei loses the only person he ever considered family. It was Wang Yayin who took him from an orphanage and raised him, and he feels an immense, complicated loyalty to her. Blaming Qin Yuebai for Wang Yayin's downfall and heartbroken over his breakup with Bao Yan, Tang Bei is consumed by rage. He kidnaps Qin Yuebai from a parking garage and takes her to an abandoned warehouse.
Lu Li receives a distress message and a location from Qin Yuebai and races to find her. At the warehouse, Tang Bei taunts him, saying he wants Lu Li to feel the same powerlessness he feels, knowing how much Lu Li cares for Qin Yuebai. Lu Li tries to reason with him, reminding him that Wang Yayin manipulated him for years and that Qin Yuebai is innocent in this. But Tang Bei is beyond listening. Aware of Qin Yuebai's severe claustrophobia, he torments her by locking her away in one of the dark, abandoned shipping containers as Lu Li frantically searches for her.
