Episode Summary
Ye Ping’an’s team secretly redirects stolen military payroll to Mangou slums, using ghostly illusions to mislead investigators. As ruthless official Li Jun chases decoy clues, Yuan Shaocheng suspects trickery and guards the river where the gold is hidden. Ye gains imperial authority as Zhangxinshi but struggles to outwit Yuan, while political factions clash violently—culminating in Yuan’s brutal torture by rivals questioning his loyalty.
Spoiler Alert
The ruthless official Li Jun wastes no time interrogating the captured soldiers escorting the stolen military payroll, but Yuan Shaocheng takes a different approach. He questions the head escort officer about suspicious activity during their journey. The officer reveals that while passing through Tongquan County, they overheard local children singing an eerie nursery rhyme referencing Yu Qian—the disgraced former censor who orchestrated a horrific arson massacre over a decade ago. After Yu Qian’s execution during the Zhaofeng era, rumors spread that his vengeful ghost now manipulates the spirits of women killed in the fire to haunt the mountains. Later that night, the convoy encounters fog-shrouded “ghosts” in the hills, causing panic before the soldiers mysteriously pass out and wake to find the payroll vanished.
While Li Jun tracks faint wagon wheel marks toward the mountains, Ye Ping’an’s covert team—including Lu Danxin and Cai Lian—reveal their scheme: The stolen payroll was never hidden in the hills but diverted to the impoverished Mangou slums. Yuan deduces the shallow tracks suggest a decoy, warning Li Jun they’re chasing empty leads. Back in Mangou, Ye Ping’an hides the gold in a riverbed and orders Lu Danxin to release jellyfish into the water, sabotaging Li Jun’s search party. Though Li Jun refocuses on the mountains, Yuan posts guards along the river, forcing Ye Ping’an to plan a risky fog-night retrieval under his watch.
The plot thickens when Wu Xian’er arrives with an imperial decree appointing Ye Ping’an as Zhangxinshi—a special envoy with investigative authority. Though Ye tries to misdirect Yuan by “leaking” clues, the shrewd official refuses to abandon his river surveillance, suspecting her game. Meanwhile, powerbroker Zheng Duliang grows wary of Ye’s new status, fearing her alliance with the Mei political faction. His mentor, Left Chancellor Mei Bowen, advises patience: “Haste breeds errors.” Undeterred, Ye plots to pit rival officials Qi Junshan and Zheng against each other.
Chaos erupts when Qi raids a gambling den linked to Zheng’s associate, seizing a stolen payroll ingot. Yuan, distracted while encouraging lovestruck constable Gu Wenyu to pursue a crush, gets ambushed by Zheng’s men. Brutally tortured for the payroll’s location, Yuan endures Zheng’s venomous contempt for his low-caste origins. As loyalties fracture and ghosts of the past resurface, Ye Ping’an races to outmaneuver enemies on all sides—but the river holds more secrets than gold.
