Butterflied Lover Episode 8 Recap
> Butterflied Lover Recap
Tang Qianyue felt as though ages had passed, as if she had awakened from a long dream, realizing how much had transpired between her and Ling Changfeng. With her identity as a dienu now exposed, she apologized to Ling Changfeng for her prior concealment, explaining that it was he who taught her how to be a normal person. Knowing that dienu were being dealt with in the city, she offered to depart to spare him any difficulty.
However, Ling Changfeng had long considered her his wife and refused to let her go. Tang Qianyue, believing he intended to execute her, pulled out his sword and offered herself to his judgment. Ling Changfeng, unable to harm her, instead kissed her, telling her that she had taught him about the warmth and rhythm of human life, something he had never experienced before.
He then closed the door, embracing her and carrying her to their bed, firmly declaring that no one, not even she herself, could take her away from him. The next morning, as Ling Changfeng was drawing her brows, Tang Qianyue expressed her fear that she might one day harm him. Though he dismissed her concerns, vowing to find a way to restore her to normalcy, Tang Qianyue remained perplexed.
She recalled being a dienu before, yet she had never been uncontrollably drawn to blood. However, when Princess Bao Zhu had a mere nosebleed, Tang Qianyue found herself struggling to maintain self-control. Ling Changfeng theorized that her change might be due to him saving her with Kirin blood when she was in peril, as he had heard that Kirin blood nourishes the butterfly poison and that the poison is solely attracted to it.
This led him to suspect that Princess Bao Zhu might possess Kirin blood. Ling Changfeng visited Bao Zhu in the palace, feigning concern for her recent nosebleed. An attendant revealed that Bao Zhu had sustained another injury a month prior, causing a significant amount of blood loss, to which Bao Zhu downplayed it as a minor scratch. Ling Changfeng then pressed her about any past injuries, specifically five or six years ago.
Bao Zhu recalled that when she was young, her father had once unexpectedly cut her palm with a dagger while she slept. Ling Changfeng realized that the Kirin blood he had sought from the late emperor five years ago to save his elder sister was, in fact, Princess Bao Zhu's.
Hiding his true thoughts, he urged Bao Zhu to be careful and avoid further injuries, also advising her not to visit his mansion, claiming Tang Qianyue had caught a cold and Bao Zhu, being delicate, should keep her distance. Meanwhile, Ling Changjin, known as Prince Wu'an, sent repeated requests to burn the captured dienu, prompting a guard to summon Ling Changfeng.
Ling Changfeng arrived and spoke with Ling Changjin, who accused him of being soft-hearted for wanting to spare the "remnants of the Yilan Clan." Ling Changfeng presented records from five years prior, detailing how 48 villagers from Dongqian Village had vanished during a bandit attack. He suggested these missing villagers, like his elder sister, might have been exploited by the Yilan Clan.
He argued that it was crucial to identify them to distinguish innocent citizens from true Yilan remnants and locate the leader who orchestrated their involvement. Ling Changjin, whose elder sister had been forced into a political marriage with the Yilan Clan and subsequently transformed into a dienu by butterfly poison, agreed to spare the prisoners for now. However, he fiercely vowed to personally execute any dienu confirmed to be a Yilan remnant.
Privately, Ling Changfeng worried about the dire consequences if his father or Ling Changjin discovered Tang Qianyue's condition, making him even more determined to find a way to restore her to normalcy. In a hidden chamber, Ling Changjin watched over his ailing elder sister, consumed by hatred. He had previously confronted the captured Yilan Young Master, who mockingly revealed that Princess Bao Zhu was the source of Kirin blood, as she was "guileless and benevolent" and had been easily bled.
Ling Changjin had released the Young Master in exchange for this vital information, declaring that he couldn't wait five years to exact his revenge. Now, he fed the Kirin blood he had obtained from the Yilan Young Master to his sister, vowing to save her, believing her butterfly poison could be nourished by it.
He bitterly reflected that the Yilan Clan had originally sought Bao Zhu's Kirin blood for a political marriage, but because she was a princess, the late emperor sent his sister in her place. Ling Changjin concluded that Bao Zhu owed his sister a debt she could not escape, and to claim her blood for his sister's recovery, he resolved to seek an imperial marriage.
To accomplish this, Ling Changjin went to the palace and requested the young Emperor Zi Yan to draft an imperial decree. Bao Zhu, who was overseeing Zi Yan's studies, attempted to write the decree on his behalf. Ling Changjin then formally requested an imperial marriage, asking the Emperor to bestow Princess Bao Zhu upon him, as promised by the late emperor for his role in eradicating the Yilan Clan.
Bao Zhu, unaware of Ling Changjin's true intentions, found her heart stirred by his request and wrote the decree as commanded. After handing the imperial decree to Ling Changjin, she ran all over the city tower just to get another look at him. A servant later tried to comfort a visibly upset Bao Zhu, sensing her unhappiness about the forced marriage despite her earlier feelings.
Meanwhile, Ling Changfeng sought out Ling Changjin, his elder brother, to obtain the "Poisons Collection" that Ling Changjin had confiscated during the Yilan eradication. Despite no longer holding his official post, Ling Changfeng went to the department where the book was kept and instructed the literate guards to meticulously examine it, word by word, for any mention of "butterfly" or butterfly poison, in his desperate search for a cure for Tang Qianyue.
