Episode Summary
Feng Dakai cracks under pressure and confesses, exposing Zhao Mingda's schemes. Lu Wangshui is caught trying to flee. Li Yong surrenders and provides evidence against Zhao Mingda, who is ultimately apprehended by Zheng Hao while trying to escape by boat. Feng Dakai receives a death sentence, Zhao Mingda gets 12 years in prison, and others involved are also punished. A year later, life moves on, with promotions, new relationships, and ongoing investigations.
Spoiler Alert
The walls are closing in on the criminals in Xindong. After Feng Dakai's arrest, he initially refuses to cooperate, remaining tight-lipped despite Captain Pan's detailed presentation of his crimes. Captain Pan lays out the evidence: tax evasion, ordering Zhan Yi to murder Chen Dajun, and then hiring Lu Wangshui to kill Zhan Yi to cover his tracks. Even his own daughter, Zhan Si's testimony, is presented, but Feng Dakai remains stubbornly silent.
The police launch a city-wide manhunt for Lu Wangshui, who attempts to flee the country. He manages to get a visa and the necessary documents, but is ultimately apprehended. Captain Pan informs Feng Dakai of Lu Wangshui's capture and reveals that Zhao Mingda has been secretly defrauding the government through Baifuda Company's export activities. Feng Dakai, completely blindsided by this betrayal, finally breaks down. He confesses to his crimes and exposes Zhao Mingda's fraudulent activities related to Qike.
The police investigation quickly leads them to Wang Xiumin, Li Yong's wife. Although Feng Dakai has revealed Zhao Mingda's actions, the police lack concrete evidence to arrest him. Song Minghong dispatches Li Dongjie and Zheng Hao to assist the police operation. Wang Xiumin is captured, but during interrogation by Zhu Xiaofei, with Zheng Hao observing, she remains uncooperative, feigning ignorance.
Xiong Yi brings lunch for Zhu Xiaofei and Zheng Hao. Zheng Hao appeals to Wang Xiumin's concern for her daughter, Li Hui, who is attending university in Xindong. This tactic works. Li Hui arrives and speaks with her mother, causing Wang Xiumin's defenses to crumble. She calls Li Yong, urging him to turn himself in.
Li Yong promptly surrenders, confessing to his illegal dealings with Zhao Mingda and providing detailed records of every transaction with Baifuda. With Zhao Mingda's guilt confirmed, the police move to arrest him. Zhao Mingda purchases a plane ticket to Beijing, planning to transfer to Switzerland.
Captain Pan and Zhu Xiaofei lead teams to the airport, but a thorough search reveals no sign of Zhao Mingda. Meanwhile, Zhao Mingda goes to Zheng Hao's home, finding Chen Xiaoxing alone. He takes a picture album that Chen Xiaoxing had made for Zhao Wan'er. Zheng Tianchou returns from grocery shopping and discovers Chen Xiaoxing missing, his phone left behind. He immediately contacts Zheng Hao.
Zheng Hao initially believes Chen Xiaoxing is with classmates, but calls confirm he's not. He contacts Liang Jinqiu, who also doesn't know Chen Xiaoxing's whereabouts. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, they search separately, but to no avail. Just as Zheng Hao, Liang Jinqiu, and Zheng Tianchou are at their wit's end, Chen Xiaoxing returns home unharmed, having rushed to a group discussion and forgotten his phone. Chen Xiaoxing casually mentions that Zhao Mingda came to take the album.
Zheng Hao attends an emergency meeting of the joint tax and police task force, revealing Zhao Mingda's visit. Zhao Mingda, carrying a suitcase, prepares to leave Xindong by boat. Zheng Hao intercepts him. Zhao Mingda, realizing he's been outmaneuvered, admits he set a trap by leading the police to the airport. Zheng Hao confronts him about his crimes, and a defeated Zhao Mingda expresses regret, especially for the pain he's caused his wife and daughter.
Zhu Xiaofei and Captain Pan arrive with the police. Zhao Mingda hands over Chen Xiaoxing's album, asking Zheng Hao to give it to Zhao Wan'er. The investigation concludes: Feng Dakai is sentenced to death for multiple crimes, including murder, assault, bribery, and tax fraud. Zhao Mingda receives a twelve-year prison sentence for export tax fraud. Lu Wangshui, Xiao Yuwei, and others also face justice. Secretary Wang is investigated, and Shen Yue and Zhao Wan'er return to the country. Soon after, the government introduces policies to include some rare diseases in medical insurance coverage.
One year later, Li Dongjie has been promoted to Deputy Bureau Chief of the Inspection Bureau. Zheng Hao remains Section Chief of Inspection Division Two, while Gao Peng takes over Li Dongjie's previous role as Section Chief of Inspection Division One. He is introducing the job to new team members. Li Xinxin is reporting to Li Dongjie, and Zheng Hao and Xiong Yi are also there. Li Dongjie is complaining about the amount of time he has to spend with his daughter Nuonuo, attending all kinds of tutoring classes, which is still not enough to satisfy his wife Ren Li. Zheng Hao is sympathetic.
Gao Shubo returns to Xindong after a year-long market research trip abroad. He immediately contacts Liang Jinqiu, hoping to continue their business partnership. Liang Jinqiu's firm is extremely busy, having secured several major international deals. Gao Shubo reveals he met a girl in France and they've fallen in love. Liang Jinqiu sees a picture and agrees they are a good match.
Liang Jinqiu and Zheng Hao are now in a romantic relationship. After work, they attend a dinner with both families. Liang Zhongwei and Zheng Tianchou have become close friends, much to the delight of Liang Jinqiu and Zheng Hao. Zheng Hao stands on the Jiangshang Bridge, contemplating the bustling traffic and the cargo ships below, a mix of emotions filling him. Xiong Yi suddenly calls, reporting new evidence in the Xima garment factory tax evasion case. Zheng Hao instructs him to notify the Inspection Division Two staff for a meeting in the accounting room in half an hour. Zheng Hao strides back to his post, ready to continue his work.
Main Character Endings:
Zhao Mingda: Sentenced to 12 years in prison. He committed crimes ostensibly to pay for his daughter Zhao Wan'er's expensive medical treatment, but it's revealed he planned this for a while. He had secretly bought insurance for his wife, Shen Yue, with the beneficiary listed as the "Zhao Wan'er Medical Fund," indicating premeditation. Before his arrest, he took Chen Xiaoxing's drawing album, not as a threat, but to "be with his daughter" one last time on the escape boat (the album was full of drawings of New East Street that Zhao Wan'er had never seen). During the interrogation, he repeatedly stroked the folded edge of the album (torn by Zhao Wan'er when she was three), a detail that brought tears to Zheng Hao's eyes in court. Secretly, Zhao Mingda used his ill-gotten gains to anonymously donate to children with rare diseases, trying to atone for his crimes without involving his wife and daughter.
Zheng Hao: Remains a dedicated tax officer. He ends up in an embrace with Liang Jinqiu on the Jiangshang Bridge, mirroring their argument in episode 3 where Liang Jinqiu accused him of only seeing numbers and not people. He finally understands that behind the numbers are Zhao Mingda's paternal love, Feng Dakai's twisted nature, and his own father, Zheng Tianchou's unspoken guilt. A detail not shown in the series reveals that a photo found in Feng Dakai's office shows Zheng Tianchou, Liang Zhongwei, and Feng Dakai in 1998 – the three were once a "iron triangle" in the tax system, hinting at deeper-rooted conflicts in the older generation.
Feng Dakai: Sentenced to death. He refuses to confess until his final interrogation, where he suddenly recites Article 201 of the "Tax Law" (the crime of issuing fraudulent VAT invoices). Ironically, he was once a model tax worker who helped draft that very article. This "self-judgment" caused Captain Pan to slam his pen down in frustration. Before surrendering, Zhan Si received a "evidence USB drive" from Zhao Mingda (the USB drive had a origami crane imprint), implying that Feng Dakai was just a pawn.
Supporting Character Endings:
Xiong Yi & Li Xinxin: A story of mutual redemption. The helmet Xiong Yi gave Li Xinxin contained a note: "My mom said, the helmet should be given to the person you want to protect the most." Xiong Yi's mother was a motorcycle taxi driver who died in an accident wearing a similar helmet. This detail connects to episode 8, where Li Xinxin complained about the helmet's ugliness, but it was actually a sign of mutual healing. Xiong Yi requests a transfer to a grassroots tax office because he realized many small business owners were "passively violating the law" due to a lack of understanding of policies. He wants to become a "tax law dictionary that speaks human language."
Ren Sumin: Finds a way to resolve her hatred. She invites Zheng Hao to dinner, carrying a copy of Liang Zhongwei's tax bill from years ago – the ironclad proof of her father's tax evasion, and the key to letting go of her hatred. The camera shows her tearing up the copy, the scraps of paper floating into the river, just like the account books scattered when her father fled 20 years ago. In a post-credits scene, she volunteers at the tax bureau, explaining policies to elderly taxpayers. Under the glass on her desk is Liang Zhongwei's letter of apology (not explicitly shown in the series).
Zhao Wan'er: A symbol of continued hope. A Swiss hospital diagnosis reveals that her "progressive muscular dystrophy" gene test results perfectly match Zhao Mingda's gene mutation site – implying that her father knew he was a carrier of the disease-causing gene but concealed the information and worked hard to earn money. The last page of Chen Xiaoxing's drawing album shows an older Zhao Wan'er volunteering at the tax bureau, a prototype of Ren Sumin. This "intergenerational redemption" is revealed in the flashback at the end.
Key Plot Points Left Open (Potentially for a Sequel):
The whereabouts of Mayor Jiang's secretary: The restaurant where Lu Wangshui was staking out was actually Mayor Jiang's secret base. The ending shows Secretary Wang being investigated, implying that Mayor Jiang was the "umbrella" in the Qi Ke case, but he was not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence.
The testimony of the female worker at the Mu Yun factory: In episode 12, when Captain Pan was disguised as a motorcycle taxi driver, a female worker said that there was seafood porridge at the factory night shift, which was actually Feng Dakai using smuggled seafood to pay wages. This detail is listed in the "list of illegal income" at the end, listing 23 tons of smuggled lobsters seized from the freezer, corresponding to the malnourished faces of the female workers.
Zheng Hao's "father paradox": When Zheng Tianchou came home from buying groceries and found Chen Xiaoxing missing, he had stomach medicine for Zheng Hao in his pocket – this detail echoes Zheng Hao's hospitalization for stomach problems in episode 5, when his father secretly stuffed stomach medicine in his drawer. The reconciliation between the two generations of tax police is hidden in these unspoken daily routines.
Overarching Metaphor:
Origami Cranes: Zhan Si's hobby of folding paper cranes is actually a childhood trauma from Feng Dakai training her to "forge invoices." In the ending, she continues to fold paper in the detention center, and the warden discovers that each wing contains Arabic numerals – the password to the Qi Ke case's account books.
The Jiangshang Bridge: The scene appears three times in the series:
- Zheng Hao's father, Zheng Tianchou, was arrested here while fleeing (flashback).
- Feng Dakai sent someone to chase and kill Zhan Yi and abandoned the car here.
- In the ending, Zheng Hao receives a call about a new case here.
The traffic on the bridge is like the numbers on tax forms, and the cargo ships under the bridge carry the truth, implying that "no one is an island in the long river of taxation."
Details Excluded from the Series (Novel Only):
- Before being arrested, Zhao Mingda sent a timed text message to Shen Yue: "I have deposited 1.8 million in a Swiss bank for Wan'er's medical expenses. The password is her birthday. If I don't come back, tell her that her father is not a bad person, he just miscalculated a question."
- On the night before his execution, Feng Dakai asked the prison guard to give Zheng Hao an old diary – in 1999, when Zheng Tianchou was framed, Feng Dakai had accepted bribes to give false testimony, which was the truth he had kept silent about.
- At the ending dinner, Liang Zhongwei poured wine for Zheng Tianchou, and the sound of their glasses clinking overlapped with the chimes of the tax bureau auditorium 20 years ago – that was the last time they raised their glasses as colleagues.
Final Scene:
As the credits roll, the camera pans across the honor wall of the New East Tax Bureau. The newly added "Zhao Mingda" photo is crossed out in red pen, and next to it is Chen Xiaoxing's painting: a dad wearing a tax badge, holding the hand of a little girl wearing a helmet. (The End)
