Episode Summary
A car crash reveals a skeleton inside a statue. Hiker Gao Feng returns home to find his adoptive father dead. He suspects foul play despite his family claiming suicide. A mysterious woman tips him off that there is more to the story. Gao Feng uncovers secrets about a potential mistress and his own birth mother, leading him to a cryptic clue at the site of the skeleton.
Spoiler Alert
A Skeleton in the Closet (Literally)
We start in 2018 in Binchuan City. Things get messy immediately. A car crashes right into a stone lion statue at Penglai Square. The statue belongs to the Penglai Group. The impact cracks the stone open. Inside, there isn't just rubble. There are old human bones. The police identify the driver quickly. But the motive is a blur.
The Prodigal Son Returns
Gao Feng is an orphan with a serious case of wanderlust. He spends eight months a year hiking and climbing mountains. He finally comes home from a trip. He expects a normal welcome. Instead, he learns his adoptive father, Gao Dahua, is dead.
His adoptive mother claims it was an illness. Gao Feng doesn't buy it. He goes straight to Su Min. Su Min is a captain in the Economic Investigation detachment. He is also Gao Dahua’s godson. Gao Feng wants the truth. Su Min shuts him down. He says there was no foul play.
Suicide and Secrets
Gao Feng pushes his mother for answers. She cracks. She admits Gao Dahua didn't die of natural causes. He drank Paraquat one night to end his suffering from illness.
This reveals the cracks in their family foundation. Gao Feng and his dad didn't get along. Gao Feng is obsessed with finding his biological parents. He even wanted to join the police academy to help his search. Gao Dahua forbade it. Gao Feng believes his dad knew the truth about his birth mother and hid it. He held a grudge for years. He stayed away from home because of it.
The Mystery Woman
Su Min tells Gao Feng to let the dead rest. Gao Feng can't do that. A specific melody haunts him. He is sure his birth mother used to sing it. The older he gets, the louder the song plays in his head. It pushes him to keep digging.
One night, a taxi pulls up to his apartment. A woman is inside. She drops a bomb on him. She says Gao Dahua didn't die from illness. Then she leaves. This confirms Gao Feng's gut feeling. His mom is lying. Su Min is lying. Everyone is hiding something.
The Funeral Confrontation
Gao Feng sets up a hidden camera at his father's wake. He watches the footage. Everyone looks normal except Dongzi. Dongzi looks nervous. Gao Feng corners him. Dongzi spills the beans. On Monday, the day the skeleton was found, he drove Gao Dahua to Songjiang Garden.
Gao Feng tries to trick the truth out of them. It doesn't work. His mother changes the narrative again. She tells Su Min that Gao Dahua had a mistress. She claims he was scammed out of 100,000 yuan.
Gao Feng laughs at this. His dad spent his life working over a stove. He wasn't the type to have a mistress. Gao Feng has a different theory. He thinks the "mistress" is actually his birth mother. He thinks the money was for her. His mother slaps him across the face. She forces herself to calm down.
Later, Gao Feng stands alone with his father's body. He wants to say something meaningful. He wants to call him "Dad." The words get stuck in his throat. He cares, but the resentment is still there.
The Chase
After the funeral, Gao Feng spots something odd. A taxi is parked at Songjiang Garden. It's been there too long. He grabs Dongzi and they chase it. It’s raining hard. They catch up, but the passenger is gone.
The driver is useless. He took money to keep his mouth shut about the passenger's looks. But he hands Gao Feng a cake box. He delivers a message. Gao Feng needs to go to the stone lion at Penglai Square. The same place where the skeleton appeared.
