Spring of The Blade Episode 27 Recap
**SPOILER ALERT**
Table of Contents
TL;DR (Quick Overview)
Chunzhi takes up his father’s bow and helps Shen Run crush Hu Xing’s faction, as the Emperor forces Eunuch Xia and Hu Xing to their deaths. Before dying, Hu Xing reveals that Xie Shu forged the evidence that destroyed the Shen family to protect a secret, and a dying Madam Hu finally tells Qingyuan the truth: Xie Shu is an impostor, and Madam Hu herself killed Xia Yingying.
A Bow Taken Up Again
Chunzhi is still mourning his father when Qingru brings him the bow she has carefully rewrapped. Since she married him, she tells him, she will always be by his side. Remembering how his father respected his choices, Chunzhi takes up the bow again, determined to avenge his father and finish what he started.
Soldiers Against Their Own
Violence erupts in Hengtang as the late Marquis’s soldiers turn on civilians. The villagers cry out that the Marquis has barely died and his own soldiers are massacring the people. Didn’t these men come from the people too, with families and parents of their own? Is their courage only good for slaughtering their own kin? Zhou Pei’an is killed for speaking out.
The villagers rally and fight back. Shen Run rides in with Chunzhi and orders everyone to stop, announcing that he, Shen Run, is here with the Marquis of Danyang, and asking who dares to act so insolently. Together, they bring the fighting under control and move against Hu Xing’s faction.
A Bowl of Ginseng Soup
At court, the Emperor confronts Eunuch Xia. He’s heard Eunuch Xia served the late Emperor for decades without a single mistake, so how is it that he can’t even hold a bowl of ginseng soup properly for him? Eunuch Xia drops to his knees, saying he deserves death and begging forgiveness, promising to obey every edict from now on and never act without permission.
The Emperor reminds him that hundreds of officials have impeached him today, and that the men he took under his wing have made a mess of Hengtang. Peasant uprisings have signalled a dynasty’s downfall since ancient times. If the Emperor forgives him, will the people forgive the Emperor? He orders Eunuch Xia to drink the soup himself.
A Grand Enough Arrest
Shen Run visits Hu Xing alone. Hu Xing complains that Shen Run made a huge scene arresting a mere county sheriff, yet came alone for the dignified Commissioner Hu, which hurts his pride. Shen Run points out that the public is furious and officials at court are impeaching him, so isn’t that scene big enough?
Hu Xing admits defeat and asks to be escorted to the capital. There’s no need, Shen Run says. Hu Xing has been drinking aged wine since the late Emperor’s reign, so it’s time for a change. He presents wine bestowed by the Emperor. Hu Xing calls it a brilliant move.
How Hengtang Was Bled Dry
Before Hu Xing drinks, Shen Run lays out how his faction exploited Hengtang under Eunuch Xia’s protection. Officials invented excuses to raise taxes and labour duties until ordinary people lost their land. Noble families seized that land and expanded their estates, then hid how much they owned to pay less tax, while officials protected each other until Hengtang became impenetrable.
His father’s Equalization Law would have resurveyed the land and taxed it by the mu. Those with more land would pay more, those with less would pay less, and those with none would pay nothing. Money from the noble families would go to disaster relief, and the burden of taxes and labour would be shared fairly, closing the absurd gap between rich and poor.
Hu Xing agrees it’s a disruptive policy. Shen Run says it only disrupts the lives of corrupt officials and noble families. Hu Xing asks if he’s considered how many noble families’ pockets it would empty. No matter how many, Shen Run says, they still have to pay. His father was benevolent and never got to enforce his plan on a single noble family, so Shen Run will strike first, starting with Commissioner Hu.
Whose Homes Are We Defending?
Hu Xing warns that the late Emperor lacked the resolve for this, and even if the new Emperor wants it, extending it from the capital to Hengtang will meet enormous resistance. Shen Run’s father failed, so does he really think he can succeed? Shen Run says once Hu Xing falls, the Emperor will see the court’s resolve and hear the people’s cries, and after the first strike will come a second and a third.
He asks if Hu Xing has ever tasted the wine of the Northern Frontier. There, Shen Run only drank two kinds. One on freezing nights to dull unbearable pain, and the other to send off brothers who died before his eyes in battle.
He often wondered whose homes they were defending with their lives. The homes of corrupt officials and noble families who feed on the people? Foreign enemies are hard to fight off, but parasites must be eliminated too. His father is dead, but countless people like him have helped Shen Run in secret and paved his way to the new Emperor. His father’s ideal, their ideal, is nearly achieved.
Cut Off at the Tail
Shen Run adds that he must thank Hu Xing’s good brother-in-law. Without Xie Shu, things wouldn’t have moved so fast. Xie Shu handed over all the evidence of Hu Xing and Eunuch Xia’s crimes, sacrificing his tail to save himself. Hu Xing once got Xie Shu to frame Shen Run’s father, and now Xie Shu is repeating his old trick to bring down Zuixian Tavern. It’s the ending Hu Xing deserves.
The Truth About Shen Zhibai
Hu Xing admits Shen Zhibai was truly innocent and incorruptible. Hu Xing spent over a month fabricating crimes, but the late Emperor didn’t believe any of them. It was Xie Shu who personally forged the evidence that Shen Zhibai, as Jiangnan Transport Commissioner, profited from canal transport. That finally enraged the late Emperor and led to the Shen family’s extermination.
Shen Run says that once Zuixian Tavern falls, the Xie residence is next. Hu Xing offers one last reminder. Does Shen Run really think Xie Shu turned on his father just for a promotion? Couldn’t his father have known some enormous secret about Xie Shu? While investigating Shen Zhibai, Hu Xing learned that just before his interrogation by the Censorate, Shen Zhibai told that secret to Jin Chunqing.
Shen Run remembers going with his father to Yunya’s home with New Year gifts, Chunqing protesting that he’d brought too much, and his father saying he was just passing by. He realizes that visit was about far more than gifts.
Hu Xing says he’s told him what he should. He remarks on the exquisite wine cup and what a pity it is that it holds this. Shen Run asks whether, looking back, he regrets the path he took. A defeat is a defeat, Hu Xing says. What is there to regret? He drinks in defeat.
A Farmer’s Life
Qingyuan visits Mei Yinghua at the Xie family’s country estate. Zhengjun greets her warmly and insists on showing off his cooking. When she teases him about opening a restaurant, he says maybe a tavern someday. He’s living a good life now, tending the farm, feeding the chickens, eating simple meals, and he neither knows nor cares about Xie family matters.
He was never cut out for them anyway. Mei Yinghua says she’s hungry, and he serves her lovingly. Still lost in her madness, Mei Yinghua asks if Zhenglun is still studying and tells them to call him to eat. Zhengjun plays along, calling for his brother as if he were there.
Qingyuan watches with sadness as Mei Yinghua talks to an empty chair. Qingyuan asks Mei Yinghua whether anyone in the Xie residence is named Lu Lingshu. Mei Yinghua repeats the name over and over, then looks at Qingyuan and asks if she isn’t Lu Lingshu?
Two Blocks of Wood
With Hu Xing’s followers sentenced to death, Pei Yuting congratulates Shen Run on finally avenging his father after ten years in hiding. His trick of faking his death fooled everyone, and she admits defeat.
She asks if he knows what it is to love someone. It’s wanting to make love to them and share the world’s beauty, wearing flowers in spring, boating on summer nights, climbing high in autumn and warming wine by the stove in winter. He and Qingyuan are two blocks of wood with only revenge in their hearts. What else is left besides hatred? She asks if he’s come to see her off.
Shen Run tells her about Hu Xing’s final moments. Hu Xing remarked that his dear Yuting loves exquisite vessels like that wine cup, and lamented that he’d never again be able to give her fun, beautiful things. But he had wiped away every trace of the matters she handled.
He submitted a memorial claiming the wealth amassed over the years was his alone, that Pei Yuting was upright and prudent, and that she only acted under his threats. He took all the blame, saying she was young and still had plenty of time. Because of it, His Majesty has ordered Shen Run to escort her back to the capital. She weeps in sorrow.
A Mother’s Last Instructions
Gravely ill, Madam Hu summons Qingrong. She and Xie Shu have agreed to send Qingrong to the capital to visit relatives. Her birth mother’s family, the Xia family, can still look after her. Qingrong protests that she can’t leave while her mother is sick. Madam Hu says that’s exactly why they can’t delay.
Qingru is already married, and Qingrong is the only one she still worries about. She once wanted to marry Qingrong into the Pei family and even resented the third branch for a while when Qinghe got there first. Qingrong says Pei Guanling and Eldest Sister truly loved each other, and Mother should be happy she didn’t marry him.
Madam Hu admits she looked into the Mr. Zhou that Qingrong likes. He’s devoted, studies hard, and would have been a good match. She tells Qingrong not to be sad, because she’ll meet many people in the capital. Background and family status don’t matter. She must find someone who leaves her with no regrets.
She’s smart and clear-headed and has always known what she wants, so she won’t end up like Madam Hu. She’ll live a good life. Then her instructions turn stern. In the capital, Qingrong must be only Xia Yingying’s daughter, with nothing to do with the Xie family or with Madam Hu. She must start over and never return to Hengtang, and she mustn’t worry about Madam Hu.
Qingrong weeps that she could never abandon the woman who raised her and who is her real mother in her heart. When the medicine spills, Madam Hu reassures her it’s fine, and sends her off to brew another bowl, saying she wants to drink the medicine Qingrong makes.
It’s Time to End This
A maid tells Madam Hu that Fourth Lady wants to see her. Madam Hu says it’s time to put an end to this, and has Qingyuan wait in the main hall. Qingyuan asks if she’ll finally say who Lu Lingshu is.
Madam Hu says Qingyuan is clever indeed to have uncovered the mirror’s secret, but what does Lu Lingshu have to do with avenging her mother? Didn’t she want to kill Xie Shu? Why hasn’t she? Madam Hu’s brother is dead and the Hu family destroyed, yet Xie Shu still lives. Qingyuan says of course she can kill him, but she wants to understand why her mother died.
Power, Beauty and Money
Madam Hu asks if anything in this world can truly be understood. She’s lived her whole life without understanding love. She thought that if she married Xie Shu and loved him wholeheartedly, he’d surely love her back. But the only time she ever saw Xie Shu look at a woman the way Shen Run looks at Qingyuan was with her mother.
To him, Xia Yingying, Mei Yinghua and Madam Hu were merely power, beauty and money, stepping stones for his climb. Her mother was nothing, yet Xie Shu loved her with all his heart. They all hated her, hated her to death, so driving her out of the Xie residence was an unspoken decision they shared. Qingyuan is too young to understand. Everyone seeks love, but when survival is at stake, everyone abandons it.
Xie Shu Is an Impostor
Qingyuan remarks that even this sick, Madam Hu remains every inch a noble of the Hu family, elegant and graceful. Nine years ago she came to Qingyuan’s home wearing that hairpin, which looked stunning in the sun, and Qingyuan thought the woman wearing it was extraordinary.
What did she say to her mother that day? What does Lu Lingshu have to do with her mother’s death, and what is the great secret? Madam Hu says that since she’s been Qingyuan’s mother for a while, she should tell her something useful. Xie Shu is an impostor. Everything in the Xie residence is fake.
Shen Zhibai’s Confession
Madam Hu recounts her visit to Jin Chunqing. Chunqing told her that two days earlier, before Shen Zhibai was summoned by the Censorate, he came to see her, looking torn. Just before leaving, he confessed that he’d kept something from her for over ten years and didn’t know whether it had helped or harmed her.
More than ten years ago, Xie Shu personally killed his own father. Chunqing couldn’t make sense of it, because Xie Shu was born only days before Old Master Xie died. How could an infant kill his father?
Then she realized the only possibility. Madam Hu taunts Qingyuan. She already guessed Xie Shu killed her mother, so why hasn’t she killed him? Is she scared because she’s never killed anyone, afraid of feeling a life slip through her fingers?
Two Threats Removed
Madam Hu recalls the day Xia Yingying confronted Chunqing in Qinyue Corridor, sneering that a lowly performer wasn’t fit to live in Danyue Pavilion. When Chunqing said the Old Madam had arranged the courtyard, Xia Yingying struck her in front of Xie Shu and gave her three days to move out.
Watching, Madam Hu saw her chance to get rid of both women at once while using Xie Shu’s secret to gain power over him. She told Xie Shu she knew he hated Xia Yingying but couldn’t touch her because of her great-uncle, and offered to help.
She had Mei Yinghua obtain drugs to induce a miscarriage and add them to Xia Yingying’s pregnancy tonic. A servant delivered it in Fourth Madam’s name, saying Fourth Madam would soon move out of Danyue Pavilion. But Xia Yingying didn’t die. When Madam Hu came to her, Xia Yingying was still alive and stabbed her with a hairpin, and Madam Hu strangled her in a moment of panic and fear.
A Child Spared
Stepping out, Madam Hu came face to face with little Qingrong. She meant to strangle her too, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she asked the child if she’d like some tangyuan soup and led her away, relieved she hadn’t gone through with it.
That’s how Qingrong became her daughter. Every day since, she’s burned Soul-Suppressing Mantras to keep Xia Yingying’s spirit from returning, terrified that it would tell her daughter what she’d done to her mother. Qingyuan says Madam Hu not only killed her mother but very nearly killed her as well.
Spring of the Blade Episode 27 Recap: My Thoughts
Yes, Chunzhi takes Shen Run’s hand! Those big fat tears… OMG. And yes, Qingru! She finally said something poignant and meaningful! Yes, Li Congxin, Marquis of Danyang!!! Make your father proud!
After 26 episodes of build-up to remove the filthy corruption in Hengtang, it was somewhat of a letdown that there weren’t more scenes showing how they actually did it. We went from Chunzhi killing the two generals to the Emperor making Eunuch Xia and Commissioner Hu drink poison. I felt robbed of the satisfaction of watching them fall into disgrace. They died easy, dignified deaths. If the Shen family was massacred, why wasn’t the Hu family wiped out?
The confrontation between Shen Run and Commissioner Hu was good. It was a long, drawn-out conversation in which Hu Xing accepted his defeat, and it seems he doesn’t regret a thing. We’re also told there’s a big secret about Xie Shu, which no doubt ties into whatever Qingyuan is trying to uncover.
Halfway through the episode, we return to uncovering the truth about Xie Shu. It seems the secret he murdered the love of his life to protect is also tied to the Shen family. Their fates are inextricably linked no matter what. And Mei Yinghua asking whether Qingyuan is Lu Lingshu is crazy! By the end of the episode, we’re still no clearer on what that actually means.
Miao Pu is truly is incredible. Watching her go from sickly and weeping in her bed to raging that Qingyuan hasn’t made a move on Xie Shu yet was fantastic. Her range and depth of emotion were so good to watch. Bravo to her!
Although a lot happened this episode, it didn’t feel fast-paced, as we were fed some slow, drawn-out dialogue. There were lots of flashbacks in the second half, with narration revealing secrets, to keep things moving.
It sounds like the secret involves a fake identity, which surely no one would have guessed, and which has been well kept for most of the drama. I give it kudos for making me believe the secret wasn’t anything this deep! I’m excited to find out exactly what it is!
Thanks for reading! Would love to hear your thoughts about Spring of The Blade recap and review. Let’s chat below!
Spring of The Blade: All Episode Recaps and Full Reviews
Where To Watch: iQIYI