Against The Current Episode 47 Recap
**SPOILER ALERT**
Table of Contents
TL;DR (Quick Overview)
As the Retired Emperor returns, Han Liang freezes to death outside the Imperial Study as punishment, and Jinqi escorts his widow home before returning to Jinling for good. Years of peace follow as Jinqi raises his children and teaches Zhangcheng to fight, until, not yet fifty, he binds himself to Lanxiang with a red thread, speaks her true name, and dies in her arms. Lanxiang lives on to old age, writing plays for the women of her era and The Chronicle of the Shen Family, and 113 years after her death, the Shen family’s name is finally cleared.
New Year’s Eve Without Him
Fireworks light up the sky as the children chase each other through the courtyard, shouting that it’s New Year. Zhangcheng comes to Lanxiang and says she misses Father. The bad men have all been driven away, so why isn’t he back yet? Her birthday is just over two months away, and surely he’ll be home to celebrate it with her. Lanxiang tells her that Father misses them very much too, and will come home as soon as he can.
Lanxiang gathers the children to stay up and play Toss for Fortune. At the fifth watch, they toss the red-tied door bolt high into the air, chanting for the God of Wealth to visit and for ingots big and small to find their way in, each child insisting they’ll throw the highest and become the richest. Then snow begins to fall. Lanxiang smiles that a timely snow promises a bountiful year.
Snow Outside the Imperial Study
In the capital, the same snow falls on Han Liang. A eunuch tells the returned Emperor that it’s the Hour of Zi and he should rest. The Emperor asks whether Han Liang is still outside the Imperial Study. The eunuch says that since the Emperor hasn’t given him leave to go, he naturally doesn’t dare.
He reminds the Emperor that the moment he fell into Wona’s hands, Han Liang rushed to install a new emperor, which alone proves his disloyalty. And now that the Emperor has regained the throne, Han Liang remains unrepentant, criticising him for trusting eunuchs who would follow him unto death. The Emperor is far too merciful and should make an example of him. The Emperor simply tells him to get some rest.
Han Liang stands outside through the night as the snow piles up around him. In the morning, a eunuch angrily asks who would dare build a snowman outside the Imperial Study. Another looks closer and realises it isn’t a snowman. Han Liang has frozen to death.
At the theatre, a performance reflects on how the late Emperor’s successors shaped the realm, and how many emperors were wise and how many foolish.
In Jinling, the women hear that it wasn’t just Minister Han. Several officials who followed him in supporting the new Emperor have been framed by Eunuch Cao on various charges, some dismissed and others imprisoned.
Someone laments that with emperors constantly changing, the capital is in chaos. Xiulai recalls how eager she once was to buy land and houses in the capital, and how Lanxiang not only refrained but talked them out of it. Someone says they simply happened to avoid disaster. It’s already June, and as long as Jinqi isn’t home, they can’t rest easy.
Home at Last
Xiulai’s children run in shouting for Aunt Lanxiang. Uncle Jinqi is back, already at the side gate. In the courtyard, Jinqi shows Zhangcheng a sword he’s brought her, and she declares it heavy but she loves it. Zhangrun runs to tell his father that Mother is coming. Zhangcheng proudly shows Lanxiang the sword and says Father is going to teach her swordsmanship.
Lanxiang tells her to be careful not to hurt anyone, and Jinqi reassures her the blade hasn’t been sharpened yet. Once Zhangcheng masters the sword, they’ll have it sharpened. Zhangcheng drags her little brother away to play by the pond, telling him their parents haven’t seen each other in over half a year and he shouldn’t get in the way.
Jinqi tells Lanxiang he’s home, with arms wide open as they have a long awaited embrace. She says she has waited so long for him.
What Took Jinqi So Long
He explains the delay. He could have been home for New Year, but they had to welcome the Emperor back, and leaving would have seemed disrespectful. Then he hoped to be home for Zhangcheng’s birthday, but when the Emperor reclaimed the throne, he resolved to leave no matter what.
Then Minister Han died. The Han family has few relatives, and Madam Han was left alone with her children. Since Jinqi and Han Liang were both disciples of Scholar Shouyi, he couldn’t look the other way. He escorted Madam Han and the coffin back to Suzhou and saw Han Liang laid to rest in his ancestral grave. By the time it was all done, it was this late.
Lanxiang asks whether Madam Han will return to the capital. Jinqi says she is strong willed, and if she stayed, she’d clash with the eunuchs sooner or later. At the urging of her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, she has settled in Jinling, in Han Liang’s former residence on Wenchang Street. Lanxiang reflects that when Madam Han was still Young Lady Dong, she killed Dai Rui with her own hands to avenge her father. If she didn’t have children, she might risk her life to kill Eunuch Cao.
Jinqi tells her that Scholar Shouyi had already retired, but when he heard his prized disciple had died unjustly, he had his grandson carry him from place to place, rallying renowned scholars across Jiangnan to submit a memorial. It declared that the founding Emperor wrongfully condemned Grand Secretary Shen and his sons, and petitioned for their names to be cleared.
Lanxiang knows it won’t be approved. The sages teach that a son should not speak of his father’s faults, and the founding Emperor was considered a diligent, wise ruler. Jinqi confirms the Emperor didn’t approve it, but after receiving it, he released all the other officials held in the imperial prison.
Lanxiang understands. Scholar Shouyi saved them by drawing attention elsewhere, making the eunuchs wary of going too far and reminding them that integrity still lives on in the written word. She reflects that petty disputes can spiral out of control, just as an anthill can bring down a dyke.
Jinqi promises that from now on, he’ll stay by her side with the children and live a peaceful life.
A Father’s Lesson
The years pass, and Jinqi never leaves again. Instead of confining Zhangcheng to needlework, he personally teaches her swordsmanship. At sixteen, she trains under his watchful eye, insisting she’s neither tired nor hot as he drills her through strikes, sweeps and thrusts. He tells her she’s every bit as good as he was at her age, and she laughs that he’s flattering her again.
Jinqi tells her that apart from a very few exceptionally gifted women, most women aren’t as physically strong as men. If she can avoid a fight, she shouldn’t fight. The best strategy is to outthink the enemy, the next best is diplomacy, and only then should she resort to force, because winning without bloodshed is best. Zhangcheng asks if that means she should learn more from Mother. Jinqi says he may be clever, but her mother is truly wise, so of course she should.
But once she has to draw her sword, she must show no mercy. Either she dies or the enemy does. Above all, she must remember that her parents want her to live. Zhangcheng promises she would never dare make them grieve. Jinqi then says it’s getting late, and he still has to hurry to the Matchmaker Temple to offer incense, leaving his daughter puzzled.
The Red Thread
That night, Lanxiang finds Jinqi still awake, and he asks her to sit with him a while before bed. She says Zhangcheng told her he went to the Matchmaker Temple, and asks whether he was praying for a match for their son. Zhangrun is only thirteen, so isn’t it a little early? Jinqi tells her he was praying for a match for himself.
In their next life, he wants them to be husband and wife again, and the Matchmaker God has already granted his wish. He ties a red cord around their wrists. He tells her that if he’d known he would marry her, he would have taken better care of himself back in Jinzhou.
They speak of the saying that when no debts remain in this life, there will be no meeting in the next. He says he has thought about it for a long time and owes her so much in this life, so in the next, she must come and find him and make him repay her.
If she doesn’t come, he’ll follow the red thread until he finds her, as he continues to wrap it around them. No matter how fate entangles them, in the end, they are meant to be husband and wife. Lanxiang tells him one lifetime is enough. They reflect on how fate brought them together, and how one of them gave everything to save the other, a fool’s act of love.
Jinqi says he has already made a deal with the Matchmaker God. When he became engaged to his wife, her name was Shen Jialan. When he married her, her name was Xu Lanxiang. The red thread has always bound him to the same person.
As his strength fades, he pleads with the Matchmaker God not to get it wrong. With his head resting on her shoulder, Jinqi breathes his last, not yet fifty years old. Lanxiang nestles against him and sits in silence for a long time.
The Women of the Lin Residence
In the years that follow, Lanxiang says farewell to those around her one by one. As the camera passes over the women of her life, their words echo through the years: that life is short and should be spent doing what you love most; that a woman who can write, keep accounts and run a business can become a shopkeeper herself; that as the eldest sister, she should lead the way; that she wants to start over and live a better life, and hopes everyone else can too; that each year should be better than the last; that learning to read made the road ahead wider and brighter; that she will learn to ride, travel far and wide and see all the wonders of the land; that she no longer wants to live in fear; that she wants a life of wealth and privilege; and that as long as her brother is safe and her mother happy, she has everything she needs.
Tanniang
Lanxiang grows old and white haired. One day, her great-granddaughter finds her standing alone in the courtyard and asks where the maids are. Lanxiang says she wanted some time to herself and sent them away. As they walk back together, the girl says she has seen all of Lanxiang’s plays, and asks why every woman in them is named Tanniang.
Lanxiang explains that Tan comes from the udumbara flower. The wondrous Dharma is like the udumbara, which blooms only once in a great while. There is a deeper meaning in each play, and the listener must discover it for themselves.
Tan also evokes something fleeting. In this world, how many women can soar like an eagle or become a female general? For most women, such things are a beautiful dream, as fleeting as the udumbara. But the udumbara flower being rarely seen doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Throughout those years, Lanxiang kept writing plays. At first she only meant to preserve her memories of life with the Shen family, but her work grew to tell the stories of other women of her era. She never stopped writing about the Shen family, hoping their name would one day be cleared. After finishing The Chronicle of the Shen Family, she lies in bed holding her sachet, closes her eyes, and dies peacefully of old age.
One hundred and thirteen years later, an emperor finally clears the Shen family’s name. The women of the family are honoured for their chastity and steadfast courage, their remains are returned to their ancestral home, and tombs and a memorial shrine are built in their memory.
Against the Current Episode 47 Recap: My Thoughts
What a stunning drama, and what a beautiful ending. While we never want to watch our leads pass away, it was a realistic ending. None of us are on this earth forever, but it’s what we do with our time that counts, whether the journey is shorter than expected or, if we’re blessed, long enough to leave the legacy we wished for.
There were so many beautiful and heart wrenching moments, with the writers layering in echoes of the past and words from the plays Lanxiang wrote, all woven together poignantly for the finale. The New Year scene followed by the foreboding snow, and the opera playing as Han Liang died, were perfect examples. His death was devastating. He didn’t deserve such a lonely end, but it was the final proof of how murky court politics had become, and it completely vindicated Jinqi’s decision to leave the capital.
I loved that Jinqi had another decade after the second rebellion. Their hope of being husband and wife again in the next life was so beautiful, binding each other symbolically with a thread never to be broken. I loved that he finally said her real name out loud, and that after so many years of Lanxiang not forgiving him at the start, he finally received her deep love.
Her reply that one lifetime is enough has sparked plenty of debate. Some find it distant, but to me it shows her emotional maturity. Romantic love was never her single obsession. They lived their one life to the fullest, and whatever he owed her has been repaid.
The scene that pans across every significant woman in the residence brings us back to female empowerment, as each of them gets to live the life she wanted and reach beyond the confines of womanhood in that era. This has always been the backbone of the drama, right down to Jinqi teaching his daughter to fight, having learned from his wife that a woman can do anything she sets her mind to.
I also loved how the show handled justice for the Shen family. Instead of a quick political fix, it acknowledged that clearing a family’s name under an absolute monarchy can take generations. Lanxiang didn’t rely on a man or royal favour. She used her own intellect and art to keep their memory alive until history finally vindicated them. And when we get that bird’s eye view of Jinling at the end, it feels like Lanxiang has become Tanniang, the eagle free of her cage, set free alongside the Shen family, finally cleared of wrongdoing.
Thank you, Against the Current. You will stay with me for a very long time.
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