Episode Summary

Chen Jianghe returns to Kulu County as a reopened case forces him to confront his mentor Ge Dajie’s tragic quicksand accident. While investigating old coworkers (including suspiciously innovative boiler-room engineer Wang Liang) and prison inmate Ding Baoyuan — whose wife hides a lavish double life — Chen uncovers eerie inconsistencies in the decades-old mystery.

Spoiler Alert

"Sandstorm" Episode 2: Buried Secrets & Suspicious Smiles

Chen Jianghe returns to Kulu County with ghosts of the past clinging to his boots. The once-familiar faces of old colleagues have climbed the career ladder, but their promotions feel hollow compared to the emotional gut-punch waiting for him: the provincial high court’s decision to reopen that case. Cue the flashback trauma!

Eight years ago, Chen and his mentor Ge Dajie were driving through a remote village when Ge’s car plunged into a sinkhole of quicksand. Chen scrambled to find rescue teams, but it was too late — Ge Dajie slipped into a coma and never woke up. Now, Chen visits his vegetative former mentor, whose wife has spoon-fed him liquid meals via feeding tube for nearly a decade. The sight of Ge’s motionless body? Let’s just say it hits harder than a sandstorm to the face.

Chen’s self-imposed exile to the rural outpost (where he traded career prospects for guilt-ridden solitude) gets a jolt of intrigue when detective Luo Yingwei drags him back to the old boiler room. Enter Wang Liang, the former coworker turned boiler room hero. Wang’s upgraded the coal-shoveling grind with a genius automated system — odd for a guy whose résumé once read "minimal education, maximum sweat." Chen’s impressed, but Luo’s side-eye says it all: "Why didn’t these two hear any commotion during the alleged midnight body-dumping? Suspicious much?"

The plot thickens faster than desert mud when Chen investigates Liu Sancheng’s daughter, a tight-lipped nurse caring for a leukemia patient, and prison-bound Ding Baoyuan — a man who’s spent years obsessively rereading the novel Sandstorm (subtle, showrunners). But the real twist? Ding’s wife. After teary prison visits where she coaches their son to punch bullies ("Dad’s in jail? Throw hands, kiddo!"), she swaps her dowdy coat for a designer number and slides into a chauffeured luxury car. That’s not a redemption arc — that’s a "someone’s funding this melodrama" red flag.

Spoiler Snacks:

  • Ge Dajie’s coma backstory = emotional anchor
  • Wang Liang’s suspiciously convenient engineering skills
  • Ding Baoyuan’s Sandstorm fixation: foreshadowing or ironic decor?
  • Ding’s wife’s Jekyll-and-Hyde wardrobe change: villain origin story incoming?

Chen Jianghe’s quiet detective work simmers beneath the surface, but Episode 2 leaves us craving answers like a desert wanderer craves water. And that final shot of Ding’s wife grinning in her plush ride? That’s not just a cliffhanger — that’s a whole sand dune crumbling beneath our feet.