A Love Never Lost Episode 21 Recap
> A Love Never Lost Recap
The powerful explosion triggered a fire, leaving both the first and second floors in ruins. Xie Shuhong escaped with Wu Tianbai and Yu Bugu but was unable to save the business she had worked so hard to build. After the Tokyo police extinguished the fire, they took Xie Shuhong in for questioning regarding the explosives.
The law strictly prohibited the manufacture and use of explosives, and the Tokyo police drafted an indictment, intending to prosecute Xie Shuhong as the owner of the photography studio. Wu Tianbai took Yu Bugu to find Wanshan and stayed temporarily at his place, while Xie Shuhong was detained at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
With Wanshan’s mediation, a policeman accepted a bribe and agreed to re-sample and re-test the site of the explosion, but he advised that Wu Tianbai and the others be sent back to China as soon as possible. Soon, the three of them bought tickets for their return to China.
Before leaving Tokyo, Xie Shuhong went to the bank to withdraw her savings and handed over all the account books from the past two years of business transactions between the two households to Wanshan. As she said, the home was gone, but the accounts must not be forgotten. Wanshan admired Xie Shuhong even more for this.
Even though she returned to China, he was still willing to continue doing business with her—especially now that Xue Qing had opened an electronics store in Shanghai. Xie Shuhong and Wu Tianbai returned to Shanghai by ship with the child. Yang Yifan and his wife came to Wharf No. 16 to pick them up. Wu Tianbai was deeply concerned about the progress of their plan, while Yang Yifan thought it was too risky and still hadn’t made up his mind.
The two had a disagreement, and Wu Tianbai felt it necessary to correct Yang Yifan’s thinking. The court intended to hold autumn military exercises. These exercises were particularly significant—Yuan Shikai had voluntarily resigned his command over the Beiyang Army’s Four Garrisons, with Fengshan taking over leadership. A Manchu general commanding Han soldiers posed a serious challenge for Fengshan.
Because Yuan’s foundation within the Beiyang Army remained strong, Fengshan had to break protocol and promote Liang Xiang to be the chief referee. From the autumn exercises onward, the aim was to gradually eliminate Yuan Shikai’s influence over the Beiyang Army. Liang Xiang went to great lengths to bring Yang Kaizhi to the capital, but Yang Kaizhi avoided seeing Liang Xiang for several days and instead made rounds to curry favor with various people.
He paid visits to King Qing and Prince Zai Zhen, then went drinking at Li Renjun’s place. He claimed he wouldn’t flatter Liang Xiang just because of a transfer order. As for the autumn exercises, Yang Kaizhi advised Li Renjun not to take them too seriously. In his eyes, the outcome of the exercise had already been predetermined in secret—it was all for show.
The Northern and Southern armies had a serious dispute over the distribution of tents, prompting Yang Kaizhi to finally seek out Liang Xiang. Liang Xiang assigned him to handle the coordination. True to form, Yang Kaizhi quickly and efficiently persuaded the parties involved to sign the agreement.
When Wu Tianbai saw the newspaper article about Liang Xiang becoming a rising star among the Manchu generals, he told Xie Shuhong to bring Wang Han over and silently resolved to have Wang Han assassinate Liang Xiang. He already had the bomb prepared. On the autumn exercise command train, Yang Kaizhi was having a pleasant conversation with the others, but as soon as Liang Xiang arrived, everyone left.
Yang Kaizhi reminded Liang Xiang that the exercise was modeled after the Japanese army’s Battle of Mukden, but the real target was the former commander of the Beiyang Army. The autumn exercise was nothing more than a performance, with both sides competing in terms of financial power. Even for someone like Fengshan, who held overall command, as long as the money was in place, both Manchu generals and Han soldiers would obediently sit in rows and eat their fruit.
Wang Han brought the bomb to Zhangde, Henan—the site of the autumn exercise command. However, the hotel he intended to stay at had already been reserved by the command office, so he had to get a room at a small hotel across the street. When Liang Xiang and his group arrived at the hotel, Wang Han used a photo to confirm Liang Xiang’s identity.
