Episode 21 recap: Hordes of disaster victims blocked Xue Fang Fei from returning to the capital.
Xue Huai Yuan was taken back to be executed, but Xue Fang Fei and Ye Ming Yu secretly rescued the prisoner, only to be stopped by the new official dispatched, who wanted to bring them back for questioning. Wan Ning learned that the gold mine in Huai County had been discovered, blamed Li Zhong Nan's poor handling of the matter, and tortured him with hot water to force him to find a solution. Fearing the consequences, Li Zhong Nan planned to personally deal with Xue Fang Fei and make the Jiang family pay.
They deliberately incited the disaster victims to obstruct Xue Fang Fei's return to the capital, hoping to cause her accidental death. After Xiao Heng returned to the capital, he hesitated whether to report this incident to the Emperor, as it involved many people. Early that morning, Xue Fang Fei was taking Xue Huai Yuan by carriage to the capital to seek justice, when they happened to encounter the carriage of Minister Wei from the Ministry of Justice.
Minister Wei, disregarding the Jiang family's reputation, angrily reprimanded them for rescuing the condemned prisoner. His purpose in coming here was to oversee the execution of Xue Huai Yuan, and he paid no heed to Xue Fang Fei's pleas. Xue Fang Fei acknowledged her recklessness, criticized Minister Wei for his indifference, and knelt down to request that she be arrested and taken to the Court of Judicial Review, hoping they would try her rescue crime and Xue Huai Yuan's corruption case together.
Minister Wei remained unmoved, mocking them for disregarding the law. Xue Huai Yuan's former subordinates offered to testify, but Minister Wei refused to listen to the explanations and had everyone at the scene arrested, determined to take Xue Huai Yuan away for execution. Suddenly, Zhang the butcher appeared with a knife, having been roused by Liu Shu to seek justice for Xue Huai Yuan.
Enraged, Minister Wei wanted to have him arrested as well. Auntie Chun Fang and Liu Shu also rushed over, hoping Minister Wei would show leniency in consideration of Xue Huai Yuan's kindness. Soon, the villagers all arrived, loudly demanding to testify in defense of Xue Huai Yuan. Seeing the growing crowd, Minister Wei had no choice but to desist and leave.
Wen Ji reported the situation to Xiao Heng, who knew that someone would not let Xue Fang Fei off easily. He sent two secret letters back to the capital. Xue Fang Fei wrote to Ye Shi Jie, informing him of the situation in Huai County and asking him to relay the message to Jiang Yun Bo.
Furious after reading the letter, Jiang Yun Bo was further agitated by Ji Shu Ran's words. Worried that Xue Fang Fei's actions would bring disaster to the Jiang family, he wished that Xue Fang Fei would not return safely. Ye Shi Jie was about to go to Ding Zhou to provide disaster relief, and Jiang Jing Rui loudly demanded to go with him, creating a commotion in front of the crowd.
Ye Shi Jie was at a loss for how to deal with Jiang Jing Rui's unreasonable behavior, and reluctantly agreed to let him join the trip. Reporting to the court, Li Zhong Nan informed the Emperor of the situation in the disaster area, and the Emperor entrusted the matter of the disaster victims to him. Jiang Yun Bo was anxious, as the Emperor had heard about Xue Fang Fei's efforts to seek justice for Xue Huai Yuan and wanted to personally meet her to understand the situation before taking action.
Li Jin knelt at the entrance of Wan Ning's residence, begging for forgiveness while beating himself. Li Zhongnan viciously beat him, pleading for Wan Ning's forgiveness. Wan Ning blamed Li Zhongnan for his incompetence, and intentionally scalded him with hot tea while serving him, accusing him of exposing the gold mine incident and threatening him with the power of the crown prince. Li Zhongnan begged for mercy, saying he had a plan to use this opportunity to overthrow the Jiang family, and he wanted to personally prevent Xue Fang Fei from returning to the capital.
Shen Yu Rong has not come to see Wan Ning recently, making her angry and eager to see him. Xue Fang Fei and the others arrived in Dingzhou but could not buy any food, learning that there was a famine in the area. Xue Huai Yuan had an episode of madness, but Xue Fang Fei's singing of a childhood song calmed him down.
Xue Fang Fei proposed that they separate from the Huaixiang civilians and reunite after leaving Dingzhou. On the way, Xue Fang Fei accidentally encountered Liu Su, who informed her of the food distribution and warned her about the unrest among the disaster victims. At night, a group of disaster victims came to Xue Fang Fei's lodging, begging her for food.
Ye Mingyu initially did not want to get involved, but his heart softened when he saw the pitiful children, so he gave them some steamed buns to stave off their hunger. Xue Fang Fei later learned of this and criticized him for giving them food, fearing they would gather there and be unable to leave.
Xue Fang Fei packed up and left in the middle of the night, but on the road, she encountered more disaster victims who had been incited to rob their carriage of food. Fortunately, Jiang Jingrui and Ye Shijie appeared, tempting the victims with buns, preventing them from robbing Xue Fang Fei's carriage. Xue Huai Yuan got out of the car and saw them trying to take the food, becoming agitated again.
Xue Fang Fei suspected someone was intentionally exposing their whereabouts to prevent them from leaving Dingzhou. She decided to stay behind to rescue the disaster victims, while Ye Shijie persuaded her to leave and find the Ye family first to alleviate the famine. The emperor learned of the gathering of disaster victims in Dingzhou, and Li Zhongnan deliberately made it seem difficult to handle, so that Jiang Yunbai would persuade Xue Fang Fei not to bring Xue Huai Yuan back to the capital. Li Zhongnan also used storytellers to widely publicize Xue Fang Fei's name, hoping to expose her true identity.
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