Episode Summary
Ye Ping’an investigates Hai Yan’s erratic behavior at the Hai estate while Du Liang kidnaps her aunt Gu Erniang as leverage. Through art therapy, Ye uncovers Hai Yan’s connection to a flower-tattooed woman tied to her traumatic past. Yuan Shaocheng proves loyalty to Hai Yiping by exposing military fund corruption, while flashbacks reveal Ye’s vengeful motive: witnessing Zheng Yuan’s atrocities against women years earlier.
Spoiler Alert
Ye Ping’an visits the Hai residence to deliver a message on behalf of Wu Sheren, requesting pearl powder. A servant ushers her inside, where she notices Taoist priests performing an exorcism ritual. During her meeting with Hai Yiping, the Minister of Revenue, Ye learns his younger sister Hai Yan has grown increasingly reclusive and "abnormal" since a fire ravaged the estate. The family matriarch believes Hai Yan is possessed, hence the monthly rituals. Intrigued, Ye volunteers to assess Hai Yan herself. Meanwhile, Qi Junshan reports Ye’s movements to Du Liang, who plots to kidnap her aunt Gu Erniang as leverage.
Gu Erniang is swiftly captured, though Ye remains unaware while bonding with Hai Yan through art. A misunderstanding erupts when the matriarch accuses Ye of exploiting Hai Yan—until the girl unexpectedly speaks in Ye’s defense. Ye explains Hai Yan struggles with complex communication but responds to patience and shared interests. Hai Yiping is shocked when Ye reveals Du Liang’s corruption, but she declines direct involvement, suggesting military investigator Yuan Shaocheng (a recent defector from Du’s faction) as an ally. Returning home, Ye is devastated to learn of her aunt’s abduction from Lu Danxin.
Du Liang summons Ye to a "celebration banquet," a thinly veiled trap. Yuan Shaocheng, now under Hai Yiping’s scrutiny, passes a loyalty test by gifting Hai stolen military payroll funds—a bold move to prove his allegiance to the rival Mei faction. Meanwhile, Gu Erniang’s nephew Gu Wenyu begs Yuan to rescue Ye. At Du’s estate, Ye defiantly resists his threats until Hai Yiping’s guards intervene, citing a fabricated medical emergency to extract her. Sheltered at the Hai estate overnight, Ye discovers Hai Yan has met a woman with a floral arm tattoo—a clue linking to Ye’s traumatic past.
Hai Yiping confronts Ye, revealing he manipulated Hai Yan’s drawings to confirm his suspicions: Ye’s vendetta against Du Liang and corrupt official Zheng Yuan stems from a horrific incident years earlier. Flashbacks expose Ye’s former identity as Gu Qing, a self-taught physician coerced by Zheng into luring women to a brothel. After a fire destroyed the building, she witnessed Qi Junshan execute survivors fleeing the flames. Haunted by guilt, Ye reinvented herself to destroy those responsible—a reckoning now dangerously close to unraveling.
key Spoiler: The floral tattoo belongs to a survivor from the brothel fire, suggesting Hai Yan may hold the key to exposing Zheng and Du’s crimes. With Yuan Shaocheng’s loyalty still volatile and Hai Yiping’s motives ambiguous, Ye’s carefully constructed facade teeters on collapse.
