Against The Current Episode 10 Recap
**SPOILER ALERT**
Table of Contents
TL;DR (Quick Overview)
With Jinqi finally free of the Zhao family, life at Zhichun Hall begins healing on every front, the maids settling into real futures, the household reconnecting with Congyi’s family, and Chinese New Year bringing genuine warmth after episodes of political scheming. Beneath the celebration, though, real political consequence looms as the Zhao family’s power only continues to grow.
A Deadline Set
Jinqi presses Registrar Dai further over the missing winter supplies, warning plainly that an uprising among the barracks over the holidays would be impossible to cover up, word would reach the Emperor himself regardless of how it’s smoothed over. He gives Dai three days before the office closes for the New Year to see the supplies actually delivered.
Rather than wait, Jinqi pulls three hundred fifty taels from his own personal funds to buy live sheep outright, determined to give his men one proper hot meal to fight off the cold that night.
An Invitation Home
Jinqi tells Congyi his mother’s eager to finally meet him, and invites him over for a simple family dinner that evening.
Choosing Their Futures
Back at Zhichun Hall, Yuchan gathers the maids to hear their decisions. Bao Gai chooses to keep managing the tearoom, drawing on years of familiarity with tea leaves and refreshments. Gantang, raised by her mother tending First Madam’s flowers and plants, asks to take charge of restoring Zhichun Hall’s long-neglected garden.
Xiaolian, flustered and self-deprecating, finally admits plainly that what she’s actually good at is eating, and wanting to eat, prompting Yuchan to reassure her there’s nothing shameful in that, food matters to everyone, and assigns her to learn Jinqi’s meal preferences with an eye toward eventually running the private kitchen.
Lanxiang admits she can cook, clean, and sew only at a basic level, nothing special, but reveals she can read, something Young Master Lin already knew before she ever entered the household, and something Zhao Xingtang once dismissed outright as unimportant.
Yuchan asks if she can write too, and Lanxiang explains she learned copying sutras at the convent, admitting her handwriting isn’t particularly elegant. That’s enough. Yuchan assigns her to the inner study, the most important space in the entire hall, warning her plainly that any mistake there invites severe punishment.
A Family Dinner, and a Small Deception Revealed
Jinqi brings Congyi home to properly meet his mother, the man who had once saved Jinqi’s life and one whom he considers a brother. The family share a warm meal built around Five Willow Fish and Braised Double Duck.
When Congyi mentions offhandedly how rare it was to get even a simple bowl of hot meat soup in the army, Madam Qin realizes with amusement that her son’s clearly been exaggerating the barracks’ comfort to spare her worry all these years.
She welcomes Congyi warmly as family, promising his sister will be treated as a true daughter of the Lin household once she moves in. Congyi, having raised his sister alone since their parents’ deaths, is genuinely moved by the kindness.
New Neighbours
Outside, Lanxiang learns some genuinely wonderful news, Xiaolian’s mother and grandmother are moving into the neighbourhood right next door to her own parents, meaning the two families will finally be proper neighbours, and both girls are thrilled at the prospect.
Xu Guihua cooks a warm meal to welcome them and starts regularly sending food their way too, a quiet exchange for all the message-passing Xiaolian’s mother has done on Lanxiang’s behalf over the months.
That same night, Wanquan and Guihua celebrate his promotion to second shopkeeper, a position that opened up after Shopkeeper Liu abruptly left for the countryside, amid rumors that his own ties to Young Madam Zhao were exactly what brought about his downfall.
A New Assignment
Young Lady Du arrives at the residence, and Xiaolian is assigned to attend her for a full year at Luxue Lodge. She’s reminded she still represents Zhichun Hall in this role, expected to follow proper protocol and report back on anything worth noting.
A Festive Visit
As the household prepares for Chinese New Year, Du Cuique pays the Lin ladies a visit, bringing loquat paste as a gift, and is formally introduced around the extended family. The family present include Second Madam Wang Lingxiao, Madam Qin’s daughter Lin Xiushu, Madam Wang’s daughter Lin Xiuwan, and Lin Xiurui, daughter of Changzheng’s concubine.
Du Cuique joins the younger girls making festive decorations while the elder women talk quietly among themselves.
A Delicate Question of Marriage
Madam Wang remarks that had the Du siblings come from a more noble family, they’d have made wonderful matches for her own children. First Madam Lin admits she can’t seriously consider marriage prospects for Jinqi until the Zhao matter is fully settled, while Madam Wang, worried her own daughter’s already nineteen, hopes to find her a suitable match soon too.
Young Lady Du’s Visit
Young Lady Du visits Jinqi bearing handmade festive ornaments as a small token of thanks for taking her in, and admits she’s settled into Luxue Lodge far more comfortably than expected, the food, clothing, and daily comforts far beyond what she’d known at home. Jinqi remarks warmly that her openness explains exactly why Congyi always speaks so highly of her.
An Overheard Conversation
Yuchan sends Xiaolian and Lanxiang to escort Du Cuique out, asking Lanxiang to deliver the flower ornaments to Madam Han for the Festival of Man decorations along the way. Running into Bao Gai, who happens to be carrying the exact ink paste needed in the study, the two simply trade errands to save themselves the longer walk, Bao Gai taking the ornaments while Lanxiang heads back toward the study.
Returning, Lanxiang overhears Yuchan reporting to Jinqi, mentioning that Xiaolian genuinely knows nothing about what happened in the library, but Lanxiang, so quiet and discreet, might actually know something.
Jinqi’s answer settles the matter for good, the separation was handled quietly enough that nobody even knows for certain who initiated it, and as far as he’s concerned, the past should simply stay in the past, the girls left entirely alone. Relieved beyond words that her life’s been spared, Lanxiang deliberately spills ink on herself so she has an excuse to slip away unnoticed.
A Gathering, and a Growing Family
Jinqi tells Yuchan he’ll be spending the holiday with his grandparents, freeing the entire Zhichun Hall staff to properly enjoy Chinese New Year themselves.
Chinese New Year arrives with real, uncomplicated warmth, the maids playing games, exchanging small gifts, tossing the courtyard gate bolt for good fortune at the fifth watch in an old tradition meant to invite luck for the year ahead. Old Madam and First Madam send down New Year wine and sweet dumplings for the staff to share, and Jinqi personally sends gifts to his mother and the household in turn.
A Private Prayer
Amid the festivities, Lanxiang steps away for a quiet, private moment, offering fireworks and prayers to her birth parents and the Shen family ancestors, wishing them health and peace, silently vowing to care for them the way a devoted child should, even from this distance and under this borrowed name.
A Grandfather’s Wisdom
Old Madam Lin sends narcissus flowers to Grandfather Lin through Jinqi, who explains Aunt Lingxiao’s concern over Xiuwan’s stalled marriage prospects, hoping to quietly arrange a meeting with the Xie family during the Festival of Man without drawing obvious attention.
Jinqi acknowledges plainly that his own separation is the real reason for the family’s current caution, recalling how his own sister was once married off in haste under similarly strained circumstances, something Old Madam has regretted ever since.
Grandfather Lin shares troubling news from the capital, the Emperor intends to appoint Grand Secretary Zhao as chief compiler of the Compendium of Literature, meaning the family’s influence is about to grow considerably, and with it, the number of people eager to curry favour by making life difficult for Jinqi.
Jinqi accepts this calmly, having known the risk the moment he chose the military over a scholar’s path. His grandfather reminds him of an old lesson, misfortune may conceal good fortune, and good fortune may conceal misfortune. Jinqi replies that what seems like misfortune may yet prove to be a blessing.
Old Master Lin reflects on this and smiles and then asks Jinqi to write some words, seeing if he could still remember things he had learnt in his scholarly days. Jinqi pens, farewell to the old, welcome the new which makes Old Master Lin contemplate what his grandson is thinking. Jinqi raises Xiuwan’s marriage once more, worried his own situation is the reason it’s been delayed, admitting both he and his mother feel terrible about it.
Against the Current Episode 10 Recap: My Thoughts
What must it be like to live in happiness instead of constant fear? Yuchan’s appointment has clearly given these girls so much real hope. Lanxiang requesting the study and library feels like exactly the beginning of more meaningful interaction between her and Young Master Lin, and I was relieved he’s decided to spare both her and Xiaolian’s lives, since neither was actually present in the library when the affair was discovered. Phew!
We finally get to meet the rest of the extended family too, including the addition of Young Madam Du. I have a sneaky suspicion she’s going to play a more significant role in the episodes still to come.
Those Chinese New Year festivities were beautifully shot against the snowy courtyard backdrop. It was fascinating watching just how much power the family patriarch holds, even a grown man like Jinqi has to approach delicate requests with real care and subtlety within his own household.
The pacing continues to stay well balanced, never too slow, never too rushed to follow the schemes and politics unfolding. Some period dramas leave me rewatching scenes just to keep up, but this one’s stayed easy to track so far.
That said, we’re ten episodes in now, and I’m still waiting for something real to happen between our two leads. There’s almost no direct interaction between them yet, let alone even a hint of romance.
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