Episode Summary
Following her rescue by Big Foot Feng, Ning Xiuxiu returns home only to face a devastating betrayal: her fiancé has married her sister. In an act of combined gratitude and defiance, she impulsively agrees to marry Dajiao. She proceeds to disown her family, inadvertently ruining the schemes of Dajiao's father to acquire their land. Dajiao accepts the marriage out of a long-held, secret affection for Xiuxiu, even as he discovers she still dreams of the man she lost.
Spoiler Alert
The episode opens with a heroic act as Big Foot Feng single-handedly ventures into a bandit stronghold to rescue Ning Xiuxiu. In the process, he successfully draws away the bandit Hu San and also saves a severely wounded Du Chunlin.
After her near-death experience, Xiuxiu flees back home to Rooster Ridge, dreaming of marrying her fiancé, Fei Wendian. Her world is shattered when she finds him already married to her younger sister, Ning Susu. The ultimate blow comes when she learns her father, Ning Xuexiang, refused to sell land to ransom her. Heartbroken and betrayed, Xiuxiu falls into a deep despair, refusing to eat or drink, wishing for death.
Seeing an opportunity, Big Foot Feng's father, Feng Er, sends a matchmaker to the Ning family to propose a marriage between his son and Xiuxiu. Filled with gratitude for her savior and defiance toward her family, Xiuxiu accepts the proposal on the spot. She ignores the pleas of her parents and sister-in-law, Lian Ye, and immediately departs with the matchmaker for the Feng family's home.
The departure is marked by intense conflict. Xiuxiu's mother demands a dowry of fifteen mu of land from her husband. Before the matter is settled, a furious Xiuxiu makes three solemn vows: she will never step foot in the Ning home again, she will never eat a grain of their rice, and she disowns Ning Xuexiang as her father. She leaves without a backward glance just as her sister Susu arrives, who breaks down in tears. When Fei Wendian tries to intervene, Xiuxiu coldly informs him that marrying Big Foot Feng is her own choice, leaving him utterly stunned.
At the Feng household, Feng Er's initial joy quickly sours. His primary motive for the marriage was to acquire land from the wealthy Ning family. When he learns that Xiuxiu has not only come without a dowry but has also completely severed ties with her father, his scheme falls apart, and he is filled with regret.
Meanwhile, Xiuxiu waits for Big Foot Feng, who has yet to return. Feeling abandoned once more, she begins to lose hope. Big Foot Feng's mother and a neighbor, Tietou's motherg, console her, bringing her hot noodle soup, which she devours hungrily. Relief comes when a messenger reports that Dajiao is safe and has gone to the county town.
Upon his return, Big Foot Feng is shocked to learn he now has a wife. After his parents explain the turn of events, he agrees to accept Xiuxiu. He stands firm against his father's greedy insistence that they go to the Ning family to demand land. When Tietou brings up the possibility that Xiuxiu was harmed by the bandits, Dajiao confesses that he has secretly loved her since they were children but always felt he wasn't good enough for her. Now that she is willing to be his wife, he cares about nothing else.
Later that night, Dajiao quietly enters his room and finds Xiuxiu asleep. As he sits watching over her, he hears her murmur the name of her former love, Fei Wendian. The next morning, the tension is palpable as Feng Er, annoyed by Xiuxiu's more refined habits, continues to plot how he can get his hands on the Ning family's land.
