Spring of The Blade Episode 11 Recap
**SPOILER ALERT**
Table of Contents
TL;DR (Quick Overview)
Qingyuan persuades Yan Rui to lift the house arrest and free Zhengjun, while Shen Che cuts down Lord Wei’s assassin. Hiding from Lord Wei, she strikes a new bargain with Yan Rui: access to the Marquis of Danyang in exchange for finding Cui’er, the one witness who can clear her mother’s name.
A Concubine’s Tears
Xie Shu goes to Concubine Mei after her threat to tear Liuhua Courtyard apart. She meets him in tears, laying it on thick. Everything is her fault, she sobs. She never should have defied her parents to become his concubine, nor counted on him to shield her and her sons from life’s hardships. Xie Shu bristles, asking whether she’s saying she was blind to marry him.
She pleads that whatever Zhengjun has done, he’s still Xie Shu’s own flesh and blood, and his father can’t simply leave him to fend for himself in prison. Xie Shu reminds her that everyone knows she’s his favourite, which is the only reason he tolerates her constant scenes. If he didn’t care about the boy, why would he have gone to the prison himself to give him seventy lashes?
Concubine Mei cries that seventy lashes might as well have killed him. He calls her short-sighted. Without those lashes, would that man surnamed Yan ever believe Zhengjun had been framed? He saved his son’s life, and seventy lashes is letting him off lightly. She refuses to listen, insisting he get Zhengjun out or she’ll die in front of him. Xie Shu tells her to go ahead.
The Eldest Son Returns
The household announces that the Eldest Young Master, Xie Zhenglun, has come home. He rushes straight to his mother, Concubine Mei, kneeling before her and telling her he’s thought of her every day.
She tearfully remarks on how tall he’s grown and begins to tell him about Zhengjun. Watching from the corridor, Qingyuan sees her eldest brother for the first time, the one everyone talks about. It’s clear to her that he is Concubine Mei’s greatest weakness.
A Gamble With Lives
Elsewhere, Lord Wei seethes that Xie Shu wants him to take the fall for the corruption alone, while Yan Rui wants to trade his life for merit. If that’s how it is, he decides, he’ll gamble with their lives once more. Second Young Master Xie’s time has come.
An assassin slips into the prison to kill Zhengjun, who screams for Lord Yan to save him. The attempt fails, and the assassin flees with Yan Rui in pursuit through the streets. The assassin dives into the canal and climbs out on the far side, only to be cut down by Shen Che. Yan Rui shouts for him not to kill the man, but it’s too late.
Shen Che Comes Home
Yan Rui cooks Shen Che a bowl of noodles himself. Shen Che teases that his skills have slipped, and Yan Rui laughs that a corrupt official living a life of pleasure can hardly keep up with him. He tells Shen Che it must have been hard being alone in the capital and urges him to eat slowly.
Since he’s back, he should stay a few days, and Yan Rui has already prepared a room for him. Yan Rui has some things to attend to, so he tells Shen Che to rest early once he’s done.
A Night Escape
Qingyuan calls Yan Rui out late at night. He reminds her he ordered that no one may enter or leave the Xie residence during the lockdown, and she thanks him for doing her the favour anyway. He notes she’s now using his authority to throw her weight around and demands to know why she’s come.
If she can’t give him a convincing reason, he’ll escort her home himself. She mentions she hasn’t tasted osmanthus candy this rich since leaving Chen’s Tea House. He asks whether she really escaped just to trick him out of sweets.
When he asks what she wants, she tells him she missed him, and that there’s also something she needs to say. She asks him to withdraw his troops. He sighs at the letdown. He put on such a big show just so he could see her every day, and withdrawing the troops would only put him further away from her.
A Stage, and a Mother She Never Heard Sing
They pass a stage, and Qingyuan grows quiet. Her father told her that when he first saw her mother, she was singing the Tale of the Pipa, her water sleeves dancing like a butterfly. Qingyuan never once heard her mother sing, and she wonders if it was truly as beautiful as he described. Her mother once said she longed for a love that never wavered.
But for as long as Qingyuan can remember, her mother had become someone else, a woman without desires. The inner court held so many women, and her mother was just one of them, her smiles, tears and dreams all buried within those walls.
Teary, she asks Yan Rui whether he has ever loved a woman. He asks what kind of question that is. She says she just wants to understand under what circumstances a man would give up the woman he loves. To protect her, he answers.
Qingyuan presses her point and asks him to let her second brother go. He knows perfectly well, she says, that Zhengjun is the smallest shrimp in Hengtang’s murky waters. What Yan Rui really wants is the big fish behind him. Unseen, Shen Che listens to the whole exchange from the side.
The Siege Lifted
Yan Rui orders his guards withdrawn and returns Zhengjun to the Xie residence. Xie Shu thanks him and tells Zhenglun to take his brother to rest. Zhenglun remarks that a trip to the Criminal Justice Office has taken a heavy toll, since Second Brother has never suffered such indignity.
Yan Rui mentions that Zhengjun survived an assassination attempt the day before and suggests calming herbal soups. Xie Shu is startled. Yan Rui explains that with the case close to being solved, someone made a last desperate move, but Zhengjun escaped with only minor injuries and a little hardship. Xie Shu says the hardship is his own fault.
Yan Rui agrees. Zhengjun is young and naive and fell for Guo Baofeng’s tricks, reselling the relief grain. He’s guilty, but he isn’t the mastermind, and the money has been repaid. Xie Shu draws his attention to the lotus seed tea beside him, brewed by Qingyuan herself to clear heat and ease worry. Yan Rui praises it and suggests closing the case after autumn so everyone can be satisfied.
When Xie Shu thanks him, Yan Rui says the thanks belong to Fourth Lady, whose persuasion settled the matter so quickly. Xie Shu replies that he owes the most thanks to himself for having such a wonderful daughter, and tells Qingyuan to choose a day to visit the Yan residence and thank Lord Yan formally. Yan Rui adds that the Eighteen Scholars camellias at his residence are in full bloom, and she’s welcome whenever she’s free.
An Imperial Decree
Once the women have left, Xie Shu kneels before Yan Rui, ready to receive the decree. Yan Rui feigns surprise, remarking that Lord Xie seems to have known the Emperor would do this, and that Commissioner Hu’s influence at court is clearly not to be underestimated.
Xie Shu expresses his deep gratitude for the Emperor’s grace. Yan Rui hands it over. Since the Emperor trusts Lord Xie so much, he says, he’s sure Xie Shu won’t disappoint in resolving the disaster relief, and Hengtang’s corruption and famine will soon be dealt with. He hopes Lord Xie will lend him a hand. Xie Shu agrees without hesitation.
A Plea for His Mother
Zhenglun kneels before Xie Shu, asking him to lift Concubine Mei’s detention. Second Brother has already been punished, he argues, and his mother only loves her son and meant no disrespect. Zhengjun still needs her care. Xie Shu asks whether the residence is short of maids and nannies, and whether that good-for-nothing mother of his is really needed to nurse the injured. Zhenglun says his mother has been proud all her life, and it’s pitiful to treat her this way.
Xie Shu scoffs that she brought it on herself, and only a fool like Zhenglun would be taken in by her tears. How many times did he tell him at the Northern Frontier that a man must never be soft-hearted? With Lord Yan about to leave, Xie Shu asks how it would look for him to find Zhenglun kneeling here, and whether he means to embarrass his father. Zhenglun says he wouldn’t dare. Xie Shu tells him to get up.
Caught Listening
Yan Rui catches Qingyuan, who has overheard the decree being delivered. He remarks that the Fourth Lady has always been bold, but now she’s even eavesdropping on imperial secrets. She counters that he knew she was there and said nothing, which means he allowed it, so it isn’t eavesdropping at all. He accuses her of twisting the truth. She insists she only came to tell him his belongings are loaded on the carriage and he can leave whenever he likes.
He asks whether she’s already burning bridges, so eager to throw him out after citing law after law to make him stay. She asks why a magnanimous lord would bicker with a weak woman like her. He tells her he isn’t magnanimous at all and nitpicks everything. When she asks what he wants, he tells her to wait for his word. There will be times he needs her.
A New Mistress at the Pharmacy
Qingyuan takes over the pharmacy on South Street, and the shopkeeper is unhappy about it. When a hundred-tael order of notoginseng powder comes up, he sneers at the idea of a little girl meddling in such a deal and asks whether she can even tell a twenty-head grade from a forty-head.
Qingyuan identifies it at once as Wenshan notoginseng, its main root shaped like a lion’s head and its cross-section like a chrysanthemum, though she notes it’s been overtreated with sulphur, enough to turn the copper scale pan green.
Rattled, he tests her on the difference between two kinds of fritillaria, warning that a careless mistake with medicine can be deadly. She explains the top grade has a crescent shape in the middle, while those uneven in size are lower grade.
Then she turns the tables. Just as he delivered five taels of bird’s nest to the Xie residence and logged it as eight, did he really think fake bird’s nest made of rice paste would go unnoticed? Second Madam’s recommended man is capable indeed, she adds, judging by how fat his face has grown on the extra profit.
The shopkeeper cries that it’s all baseless, accusing her of persecuting him because she’s always been at odds with Second Madam. Qingyuan lays it all out for everyone to hear. Besides the substandard herbs, there’s a drawer full of fake donkey-hide gelatin, and on the third shelf in the warehouse sit twelve bags of Sichuan pepper waiting to be cut with sawdust.
And his grandson’s tuition at a private academy in the south of the city has been paid from the Xie family’s accounts. Who approved that? When he accuses her of coming to make trouble, she calls the guards and tells him to take his employment contract and get out. He storms off, complaining that he’s been ganged up on and swearing she’ll regret it.
A Mother Relents
The Marchioness visits Chunzhi, locked in his room and following through on his threat to starve himself. She tells him his father has agreed to let him out and the Xie family is safe. If he truly loves the Fourth Lady and won’t marry anyone else, she won’t stand in his way any longer. She only begs him to stop tormenting himself, and tells him to wash and change, since he can’t go to see the one he loves looking anything less than his best. He thanks her.
Not the Right Owner
Chunzhi finds Qingyuan, who tells him a few pearls fell from the hairpin he left at the Xie residence, so she’s had it repaired and will send it back to him once it’s fixed. He asks if she doesn’t like it. She says she doesn’t. Not because the hairpin isn’t lovely, but because it deserves an owner who will cherish it. Every lady in Hengtang calls him the best match in the city because he’s outstanding, she says, but liking someone has nothing to do with being outstanding. It’s simply a matter of liking them.
Chunzhi says he likes her, and that since the Shangsi Festival he’s been set on marrying no one else. He asks why she keeps pushing him away and whether he’s done something to make her hate him. She says she doesn’t hate him, but that doesn’t mean she’ll ever like him.
He asks whether being at ease with someone isn’t what matters most. Qingyuan admits she’s a concubine’s daughter of the Xie family, who wandered in exile for years and must tread carefully just to survive in that house.
But living in such a place doesn’t mean she needs a man or a marriage to rescue her. Like the beam of light falling between them, she says, it means nothing to her. Chunzhi tells her it’s fine. He’ll always be by her side, and one day she’ll see how he truly feels.
A Knife in His Hand
Watching from a distance, Yan Rui and Shen Che break off their discussion of the ledger. Shen Che asks who the pair on the bridge are. Yan Rui tells him it’s the Fourth Lady of the Xie family, and that she’s a knife in his hand. Shen Che warns him not to let the knife cut his own hand. Yan Rui says he knows what he’s doing and won’t let her disrupt their plans. Then he adds a warning of his own: Shen Che is not to lay a finger on her.
Sweets at Grandma Chen’s
Yan Rui and Qingyuan visit Grandma Chen, who sends them off with candies, sugar pastry for joy and lotus seed candy for many sons and blessings, before heading off to make syrup. Yan Rui tells Qingyuan she isn’t allowed to eat the lotus seed candy, and she jokes about whether Grandma Chen poisoned it.
He asks whether he deserves some reward for meeting her in the middle of the night, then admits he needs a favour, one that requires Li Congxin. Qingyuan asks him to pick something else, since she has no pull with the Marquis of Danyang’s household. Yan Rui says that with her intelligence and her bond with Young Master Li, it should be easy.
When she insists they aren’t close, he reminds her that this supposedly distant young man rushed to propose the moment the Xie family was in danger, which even moved him. Qingyuan replies that Young Master Li is simple and honest and hides nothing, a good match indeed, and certainly better than certain old foxes with a dozen tricks up their sleeves, who can’t even sit down for tea without testing each other.
Hiding From Lord Wei
Lord Wei walks into the shop, loudly asking what snacks are on offer and mentioning he’s heard even the Imperial Advisor, Lord Yan, is a regular. Yan Rui pulls Qingyuan behind a wall, teasing her about what her father’s colleague would think if he caught them meeting here at night. Grandma Chen steers Lord Wei toward the front hall to pick out poria cakes and other treats.
Pressed close together in hiding, the two keep whispering. Yan Rui tells her she has a captivating charm that gives him butterflies, and she tells him he talks nonsense. When she tries to slip away before Lord Wei has gone, he asks whether she’s afraid he’ll eat her.
She points out that she’s only his weapon, so why does he care so much how a weapon feels? He admits he does have special feelings for her. Softening slightly, she asks why he’s afraid of Wei Changyan if that’s his plan. He denies ever being afraid.
Since he’s called her a fox, she says, she won’t disappoint him. What he’s asking concerns the safety of Hengtang’s people, so she’ll do her best. But she has a favour of her own. She wants him to find Cui’er, the drug-testing slave sold to the Xie family twenty-eight years ago. He asks whether she still means to overturn her mother’s case. She tells him she lives for nothing else but clearing her mother’s name. He agrees to help.
Speak of the Devil
Lord Wei leaves, and moments later Chunzhi calls out to Qingyuan. Yan Rui murmurs that her perfect match has arrived. Chunzhi explains that Zhenglun has some premium Yuanhong tea and invited him for a drink, and asks if she’d like to join. As he is talking she makes it obvious she is not alone.
Yan Rui has no choice but to reveal himself, much to Qingyuan’s amusement. Yan Rui breezily explains that he came for snacks, ran into her, and she’s been telling him so many nice things about Young Master Li. Perhaps the Fourth Lady should tell him herself. Qingyuan says she’ll go back with Chunzhi, and Yan Rui bids them farewell.
As they walk away, Chunzhi insists on carrying her parcel and presents her with a flower he’s picked. Qingyuan keeps glancing back at Yan Rui, perhaps to see if he’s jealous, and perhaps to show him she’s already working on the favour he asked.
Shen Che, who has been waiting outside, observes that no matter how sweet the candy, if there’s someone you want but can’t have, it all tastes bitter. Yan Rui tells him he’s overthinking it. He has no feelings for her and only needs her to do a few things for him, and he asks whether Shen Che isn’t tired of following him around all day.
Shen Che says it had better be true. If Yan Rui lets romance get in the way of their grand plan, he’ll kill her first to prevent trouble. He warns that Wei Changyan knows Yan Rui has evidence of his crimes and won’t sit waiting for death, while Yan Rui has no bargaining chips of his own and should be careful not to stumble. Yan Rui cuts him off and asks how grain prices are holding up.
Tea and Teasing
Zhenglun, Chunzhi and Qingyuan gather for drinks. Zhenglun remarks that he’s rarely back in Hengtang after years at the border, and never expected to play a part in bringing the two of them together. Spotting the lotus seed candies from Chen’s Tea House that Qingyuan received, he jokes they’d make fine wedding sweets.
Chunzhi admits that his proposal that day was rash. He saw how dire things were for the Xie family and only meant to force Yan Rui to back down, and since he never had Qingyuan’s agreement, they should treat it as a joke. Zhenglun says that with feelings like his, Qingyuan might be moved one day.
She asks them both to stop teasing her. With her humble status, she says, she’d never presume to link herself to the Marquis’s household, but she’ll never forget that Chunzhi stood up for her when she was in danger. She raises her cup to him with a sincere heart.
Chunzhi accepts, but asks her to forget his title and his name from now on. All she needs to remember is that his heart for her shines brighter than the moon, and that he would give his life for her.
An Uninvited Sister
Before he can drink, Qingru bursts in and tells him to stop. If Baoxian hadn’t let slip that they were drinking here, she says, Qingyuan would have gotten her way. She warns Chunzhi not to let this wicked woman fool him. Zhenglun scolds her for attacking her own family.
Qingyuan calmly says she has never lied to Qingru or to Young Master Li, and asks whether there’s been some misunderstanding between them. Qingru says she doesn’t even want to mention the ugly things Qingyuan has done. Since childhood, everyone knew she and Chunzhi were closest. But ever since Qingyuan appeared, he’s always taken her side, and even wanted to marry her.
Chunzhi asks Qingru where this is coming from. He has always been kind to her because he sees her as family, like his own little sister. He truly has feelings for Qingyuan. Qingyuan steps in, saying she has no wish to come between Second Sister and Young Master Li. She apologizes to everyone for overstepping and causing offence, and excuses herself so she won’t disturb them any longer. Chunzhi calls after her as she leaves.
Spring of the Blade Episode 11 Recap: My Thoughts
I’m not sure why Qingyuan asked Yan Rui to end the house arrest and release Zhengjun from prison. It seems to have been prompted by Second Madam’s distress when Zhenglun returned, but that feels like an unlikely reason. Nevertheless, her power over Yan Rui is evident here, as he does exactly what she asks. But we also know Yan Rui wouldn’t do anything that didn’t benefit his own cause.
In this episode we have a new deal: the Marquis of Danyang in exchange for Cui’er. Why Yan Rui wants an audience with the Marquis remains unclear, but I’m sure it’s all about disaster relief and rooting out corruption. If they really do find Cui’er, she would be a key witness to the whole tragedy.
Their close proximity behind the wall of the tea house was interesting! It was a sensual yet high-stakes scene. He tells her she gives him butterflies and that he likes her, all while still bargaining with her as Lord Wei scours the shop. She tried to resist, but she was clearly flustered and affected.
Chunzhi continues to pursue Qingyuan hard. While she has no feelings for him and is now going to use him to get to his father, I believe she has a soft spot for him, knowing he’s a good man. But she isn’t attracted to him at all.
I enjoyed this episode, as we see the leads move one step closer to possibly becoming a couple. I have to admit, though, I’m not sure whether his confession was merely him goading her or whether it was sincere. I feel like it was both, a confession dangerously masked.
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