A League of Nobleman Episode 4 Recap
> A League of Nobleman Recap
Wang Yan thanked Lan Jue for his help that night, but Lan Jue deflected the praise, stating that the resolution of the crisis was primarily his own doing. Lan Jue explained that Li Niang's second blood letter was key, as it revealed her background and allowed him to pinpoint her as the true culprit.
The blood letter, delivered by a beggar on behalf of a young woman, contained phrases like "secret letters with the enemy," "hidden evil intent," and accusations against Lan Jue's father. The letter claimed his father had colluded with the enemy, leading to the total destruction of the Army for Southward Crusade. Lan Jue reasoned that anyone still harboring such deep resentment over this event after so many years must be connected to that army.
Checking the troupe members' credentials, they discovered a dancer from Jiannandao who was a descendant of the Southward Crusade Army. This woman, Li Niang, had apparently been plotting revenge for a long time, waiting for an opportunity. Li Niang's scheme began with stealing the bead, murdering Xie Hao, and sending the blood letters, intending not only to kill Lan Jue but also to first ruin his reputation.
Lan Jue anticipated that someone who planned with such meticulousness would not allow her efforts to be in vain. This insight gave him the idea to use her plan to his advantage. He arranged for Han Yan to temporarily confess to the crime. Knowing Han Yan was not the real killer but had confessed, Li Niang would be compelled to quickly retrieve the bead, believed to contain Lan Jue's secret letters, to expose him and turn the situation around.
Lan Jue instructed Xu Dong to keep a close watch on her, ensuring she would be caught red-handed with the evidence. Speaking to Wang Yan later, Lan Jue acknowledged that if Li Niang's actions hadn't unfolded exactly as he predicted, his plan that night would have failed. He considered the attempt to retrieve the bead as Li Niang's final move, with no other options left for her.
However, Lan Jue faced a new problem: the case needed to be closed that night, but he could not hand over Li Niang for conviction. This necessitated a different plan involving Han Yan. To gain Han Yan's cooperation in a staged scenario, Lan Jue first needed to reveal Guo Yun's true nature to her. Lan Jue noted that Guo Yun's own cruelty towards Han Yan was the source of their leverage.
Despite Han Yan's initial resistance, Lan Jue, upon examining the anti-miscarriage medicine, realized that the callous Guo Yun, constrained by fear of his father-in-law and unwilling to offend his wife, would not genuinely care for his mistress's pregnancy. He deduced that Guo Yun had tampered with the medicine.
Lan Jue revealed to Han Yan that what she believed was ginger specifically added by Guo Yun was actually mostly Bletilla striata (白芨), which resembles ginger but causes miscarriage when taken by a pregnant woman. He presented this as proof that Guo Yun had effectively killed her baby. Han Yan initially refused to believe him, but Lan Jue challenged her to taste the medicine herself.
Witnessing her subsequent grief and anger after confirming his words, Lan Jue offered her the chance to punish Guo Yun that very day and promised to help her leave the city and start anew afterward. To make the staged confession believable to the Empress Dowager, Lan Jue instructed Han Yan to accuse Guo Yun with a dramatic, heart-wrenching performance. This intricate plan still required one final step, which Zhang Ping inadvertently helped complete.
Lan Jue knew the Empress Dowager had become suspicious of him that night. Only by having an outsider uncover the culprit could he dispel her doubts. While Zhang Ping was questioning the troupe owner, Lan Jue arranged for Xu Dong to tamper with the Fire Bead. Zhang Ping later followed the clue from the bead and located Han Yan.
Simultaneously, Xu Dong replaced the secret letter inside the Rhino-Horn Bead with a fake one and placed it in Han Yan's room. Han Yan then confessed before the Empress Dowager according to their agreed-upon story, falsely accusing Lan Jue of treason and revealing the location of the bead under her bed. Wang Yan remarked to Lan Jue that without his quick thinking and Zhang Ping's unwitting assistance, the situation that night would have been perilous for him.
Considering Han Yan a pitiful person, Lan Jue asked Wang Yan to handle her affairs, and Wang Yan agreed to arrange for her to be sent out of the city. After Wang Yan departed, Lan Jue intended to take Li Niang back to his residence. Zhang Ping pursued the carriage but discovered that Lan Jue and Li Niang were gone, finding only an unconscious Xu Dong. Zhang Ping woke Xu Dong, who realized the gravity of the situation.
Xu Dong instructed a colleague to notify Wang Yan at the Ministry of Justice to bring reinforcements to the Sentry of Loyal Spirits, the cenotaph of the Army for Southward Crusade, while Xu Dong himself hurried ahead to rescue Lan Jue. Lan Jue awoke at the Sentry of Loyal Spirits and understood Li Niang's purpose. He asserted that his father would never have committed treason. Li Niang revealed her father was Liu Wen, the Military Governor of Jiannan.
She recounted growing up in the army, seeing the soldiers as family. When the southern border was threatened, her father led tens of thousands of soldiers to battle, but none returned. She blamed Lan Jue's father for this tragedy, describing how she found the battlefield covered with hungry wolves devouring the soldiers' dismembered bodies, leaving her unable to find even one intact body and only able to gather clothes and items to bury in the cenotaph.
That day, she intended to use Lan Jue's blood as a sacrifice to honor the souls of the fallen soldiers. She summoned wolves, wanting Lan Jue to experience the horror of being abandoned in a wasteland and eaten by them. As the wolves approached at Li Niang's whistle, Zhang Ping also arrived, drawn by the sound. He immediately questioned who had applied the nail polish to the Fire Bead.
Lan Jue admitted that he had instructed Xu Dong to do it. He explained that to escape that night, he needed to present a false culprit to the Empress Dowager, and only by having Zhang Ping solve the case could his own suspicions be cleared. Zhang Ping understood the complexities but insisted that even if Lan Jue was at fault, he should be judged by the authorities, not killed by private vengeance.
Zhang Ping then ignited pine resin he had spread, using the fire to drive away the wolves. This angered Li Niang, who intended to kill both Lan Jue and Zhang Ping. Zhang Ping shielded Lan Jue and was injured. At that critical moment, Wang Yan arrived with reinforcements, saving them. Li Niang was shot and killed. Later, Lan Jue buried Li Niang at the cenotaph, stating that they were both victims.
He asked Wang Yan and everyone present to keep the events at the Sentry of Loyal Spirits a secret, and Wang Yan agreed. Afterward, he brought Zhang Ping back to his residence. The following day in the Xuanzheng Hall of the Imperial Palace, Dou Fang, the Minister of Justice, presented the evidence of Guo Yun's crime, stating that Guo Yun, the Vice Minister of Rites, had framed and murdered his colleague, Lan Jue. The evidence was deemed conclusive.
The Empress Dowager decreed that Guo Yun be dismissed from his office, exiled to his hometown as a commoner, and permanently disqualified from any future appointments. Xuan Ji, the Chief of Imperial Astronomy, then reported on his design for an unparalleled astronomical instrument called the Hunxiang Instrument.
Despite concerns about the expense and labor required for its construction, the Empress Dowager ordered its construction and appointed Xuan Ji to oversee it, instructing the Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Works to provide full support. Wang Yan advised Lan Jue to temporarily cease investigating his father's case until the current situation subsided. However, Lan Jue stated that his decade-long career in the imperial court was solely aimed at uncovering the truth behind the incident.
He explained that his interactions with Nandong's Ministry of Rites were intended to draw out those involved in the past events. He mentioned that rumors spoke of an exotic woman who traveled south with his father, described as a spy from Nandong, but he had no recollection of her. After the defeat twenty years ago, trade with Nandong ceased, and only the Minister of Rites was authorized to lead tribute missions there.
Lan Jue declared that having chosen this path, he would face it without regret, viewing his current official position as unexpected and any potential future hardship as his true destiny. Wang Yan urged him to stop speaking ill fortune, and Lan Jue responded lightheartedly, asking if Wang Yan wasn't still there by his side. Shortly after, Xu Dong reported that Zhang Ping's condition had suddenly worsened.
Despite only suffering a sword wound, Zhang Ping appeared critically ill, baffling the doctor who had never seen such symptoms and suggested preparing for his funeral. Lan Jue, saddened by what seemed like Zhang Ping's imminent death, offered to arrange and fund a proper burial for him. Looking at the seemingly lifeless Zhang Ping, Lan Jue confessed his true reason for stealing the bead, admitting it did contain a letter he wrote to the Nandong Ministry of Rites.
However, he insisted he was not colluding with the enemy but seeking the truth about the events twenty years ago, explaining he had his own difficulties. He acknowledged that although Zhang Ping had repeatedly put him in danger, he had also, by chance, saved his life. Lan Jue described Zhang Ping as an inflexible and honest man, advising that in the afterlife, he hoped Zhang Ping would be less rigid, noting that water too clear supports no fish. As Lan Jue spoke, Zhang Ping suddenly sat upright, startling everyone present.
