Be Reborn Episode 25 Recap
> Be Reborn Recap
Ye Jia successfully reverse-tracked Zhuang Wenjie's location using a ceramic locator, pinpointing him on Linjiang Road. Although Jiang Hao expressed doubts about the location's accuracy, noting the area was mostly wasteland or an unfinished building, Luo Jian dismissed his concerns, convinced that Zhuang Wenjie would not intentionally mislead them and might be in danger. Luo Jian, after opening Zhuang Wenjie's phone and seeing an unsent message, decided to call Zhuang Wenjie's positioning watch, taking full responsibility for the action.
Zhuang Wenjie, gagged and bound in the trunk of a car sinking into the river, desperately answered the call. Unable to speak, he made sounds that Luo Jian interpreted as "distress" and "water entering." Luo Jian heard the water sounds through the phone and immediately directed his team to search the riverside near Shiyan Bridge on Linjiang Road.
Remembering his father, Zhuang Yaobo's, childhood training about holding his breath underwater and conquering fear, Zhuang Wenjie calmed himself and, with his last strength, kicked out the car's taillights. The floating fragments alerted Luo Jian, who bravely jumped into the river. He managed to open the submerged car door and rescued the unconscious Zhuang Wenjie, administering emergency first aid before he was transported to the hospital.
Upon regaining consciousness, Zhuang Wenjie requested to see Luo Jian and was taken to the interrogation room by Liao Shuang. Meanwhile, during an earlier case analysis, Su Ying and Luo Jian discussed the situation. Jiang Hao reported discovering a secret room in Xu Zhengqing's clock shop, filled with forged IDs and two Central Asian passports, suggesting Xu Zhengqing planned to flee the country.
Su Ying theorized that Xu Zhengqing used Zhuang Wenjie to steal Luoshen from Monsieur, but their exact relationship remained unclear. In the interrogation, Zhuang Wenjie urged Luo Jian to find Dai Mengde, owner of Jinbaozhai, who arranged their auction identities. Zhuang Wenjie confirmed Xu Zhengqing was his father's senior and that they conspired to steal Luoshen, believing Monsieur killed his father 12 years prior.
He explained Xu Zhengqing claimed Luoshen contained a message from his father, which, if given to the police, might expose his father's whereabouts. Luo Jian, frustrated by Zhuang Wenjie's distrust, reasserted that his father was dead. He then showed Zhuang Wenjie hotel surveillance, revealing Monsieur deliberately waited at the elevator, checking his phone, before encountering Zhuang Wenjie. Luo Jian suggested Monsieur received information and precisely timed the meeting.
Zhuang Wenjie realized Xu Zhengqing was the only one who could have known his elevator timings, leading him to suspect Xu Zhengqing was working with Monsieur. Jiang Hao reported Dai Mengde's company was empty and he was unreachable, confirming him as Xu Zhengqing's accomplice, prompting Luo Jian to issue a wanted notice.
Zhuang Wenjie, connecting the dots, proposed his "absurd guess": Xu Zhengqing and Monsieur were a team, and their elaborate plan was not just for Luoshen itself, but for something more. Su Ying's team later identified Jiang Taigong, Luoshen's consignor, as Monsieur via convenience store surveillance. Luo Jian showed Zhuang Wenjie a 12-year-old video from the Old Taste of Golden Valley restaurant, taken three days before the Luoshen incident.
It showed Zhuang Yaobo arguing intensely with a person whose back was to the camera. Luo Jian theorized this individual, not Ding Shenghuo, forced Zhuang Yaobo to steal Luoshen and kept the painting. Combining this with Su Ying's findings, Luo Jian concluded this person was Monsieur. Zhuang Wenjie, observing the video closely, recognized a subconscious wrist-turning habit, confirming the person was Xu Zhengqing. This revelation—that Xu Zhengqing was the true Monsieur and had misled him—caused Zhuang Wenjie to collapse.
After recovering, Zhuang Wenjie discussed the incomplete chess game on Luoshen with Luo Jian. He believed Luoshen had always been with Xu Zhengqing, who, with Monsieur, used him to uncover its secret before silencing him. Xu Zhengqing, in a separate conversation with Dai Mengde, confirmed this, explaining he overheard his master Zhuang Yaoting confiding in Zhuang Yaobai about southern migration cultural relics hidden in Luoshen.
Xu Zhengqing suspected the Zhuang family, despite Zhuang Yaoting's public donation of Luoshen, intended to keep the secret for themselves. He described how Zhuang Yaobai foiled him by rigging the painting, necessitating this elaborate plan involving Zhuang Wenjie. Zhuang Wenjie further revealed that after he was sent to an orphanage, Xu Zhengqing visited the old Zhuang residence and found materials for invisible ink, realizing Zhuang Yaobai had added four pieces to the chess game on Luoshen to obscure the truth.
Zhuang Wenjie recalled his father forcing him to memorize a chess game a week before his death; this version had four more pieces than the original on Luoshen but four fewer than the eight pieces revealed by a polarizer. He deduced his father added four pieces to mislead Xu Zhengqing and protect the real information. Xu Zhengqing confirmed he used Zhuang Wenjie to discern which pieces were original and which were added to unlock the secret.
Luo Jian then speculated that Xu Zhengqing also desired the Tears of Moon Goddess necklace for a hidden secret, not the jewel itself. Zhuang Wenjie agreed, noting the necklace was "stolen" but returned intact. Luo Jian mentioned finding numbers behind the Tears of Moon Goddess but couldn't decipher their meaning, similar to the Luoshen chess game. Xu Zhengqing, reflecting, realized Zhuang Yaobai outsmarted him.
He recalled seeing young Zhuang Wenjie arranging chess pieces at Zhuang Yaobai's house, suspecting Zhuang Yaobai had passed the secret to his son. He found it odd only the layout, not its meaning, was conveyed, possibly due to Zhuang Wenjie's age, which allowed him to execute his elaborate scheme. He also credited Ding Shenghuo for reminding him of Luoshen's secret after his prison release, preventing him from letting the secret sink with Zhuang Yaobai. Luo Jian pondered the deeper connection between the two artifacts.
