Stand By Me Episode 3 Recap
> Stand By Me Recap
Masked assassins ambushed Qi Yan at the Cai Tavern, but Cheng Ruoyu and Yan Zhi bravely and effortlessly fought them off, leaving Qi Yan unharmed. Immediately, Qi Yan questioned Yan Zhi about her potential involvement, prompting Yan Zhi to retort, accusing him of suspicion and asking how the assassins knew their precise location. The two women began to bicker, each suspecting the other, until Qi Yan ordered them to return to the palace.
Back at the Ziyi Bureau, Cheng Ruoyu reported the assassination attempt to Cheng Xi and pleaded for the antidote to restore her strength. Cheng Xi informed her it would take three days for the medicine to fully work and advised her not to leave the palace unless absolutely necessary. Cheng Ruoyu asked if Cheng Xi believed Yan Zhi's claims of innocence.
Cheng Xi firmly stated that not a single word from Yan Zhi should be trusted, suspecting that Yan Zhi orchestrated the attack to gain Qi Yan's trust. Meanwhile, Yan Zhi, also investigating the assassins, dismissed the idea that Cheng Xi could be behind the plot, reasoning that Cheng Ruoyu’s martial arts skills were completely lost, making it an inopportune time for the Ziyi Bureau to stage such a show.
Yan Zhi concluded that a mastermind behind the scenes was stirring up trouble, planning a significant event, especially with Chou Ziliang's upcoming 59th birthday. Chou Ziliang sent Gao Ping to Qi Yan with a request for the Ziyi Bureau maidens to perform a sword dance at his birthday celebration. Cheng Ruoyu vehemently opposed, angrily calling Chou Ziliang a "household slave." Qi Yan quickly intervened, silencing Cheng Ruoyu, and agreed to Chou Ziliang's request.
Afterward, Yan Zhi reprimanded Cheng Ruoyu, explaining that Gao Ping was Chou Ziliang's spy and would report every word. She stressed that Cheng Ruoyu’s impulsive actions endangered Cheng Huaizhi, Cheng Xi, and placed Qi Yan in a vulnerable position. Yan Zhi advised Cheng Ruoyu that as "prey," she should learn to hide when weak and strike only when the "hunter" is exhausted.
She then instructed Cheng Ruoyu to tell Cheng Xi to prepare a dance that would satisfy Chou Ziliang and ease Qi Yan's situation. Cheng Ruoyu realized her mistake and informed Cheng Xi, who then ordered the Ziyi Bureau maidens to begin dance practice. Still seething, Cheng Ruoyu proposed using the opportunity to assassinate Chou Ziliang during the performance. Cheng Xi was furious, scolding Cheng Ruoyu fiercely and confiscating her Ziyi Bureau waist token.
Cheng Xi explained that attempting such a risky act would be a futile sacrifice for Cheng Ruoyu and would only give Chou Ziliang a perfect excuse to eliminate the Ziyi Bureau. Later, Cheng Xi confided in her trusted aide, Li Rong, lamenting Cheng Ruoyu’s rashness after eight years of carefully hiding her identity. Li Rong agreed that the timing was not right for such a move.
Cheng Xi reflected on her own failed assassination attempt against Chou Ziliang in the past and stated her belief that only the Emperor's power, once fully ignited, could truly defeat him, revealing this long game as her ultimate strategy. Cheng Ruoyu recalled Cheng Xi's earlier words about the heavy price paid by those who dared to defy Chou Ziliang.
The night before the banquet, Cheng Ruoyu woke in a cold sweat from a disturbing dream where Qi Yan and Chou Ziliang were trying to kill her, finding it absurd. A visual flashback then showed a voice advising a young Qi Yan to endure, to remember the "Morning Dew" and the bloody Heng’an City, as he was "the last hope" on a "sinner's path."
The next day, on Chou Ziliang’s birthday, Qi Yan arrived at the Ziyi Bureau with his officials, followed shortly by Chou Ziliang and Yan Zhi. As Cheng Ruoyu and the other maidens performed the sword dance, Chou Ziliang observed intently, appearing outwardly detached but secretly assessing Qi Yan.
He remarked to Yan Zhi that Cheng Ruoyu had potential, but it was a pity she belonged to the Ziyi Bureau, and he looked forward to Yan Zhi eventually taking control of the bureau. Suddenly, one of the dancers, A-Wu, lunged at Chou Ziliang with a sword. Cheng Ruoyu quickly intervened, grabbing the blade, and blood immediately flowed from her fingers. Chou Ziliang revealed he was wearing soft armor and was unharmed.
Gao Ping brutally attacked A-Wu, demanding to know who sent her. A-Wu, battered and defiant, loudly accused Qi Yan. Cheng Ruoyu was stunned and vehemently denied A-Wu's claim. Chou Ziliang ordered Yan Zhi to handle the case. Cheng Ruoyu, despite her bleeding hand, insisted on co-interrogating, arguing that A-Wu's actions, as a Ziyi Bureau maiden and an accuser of Qi Yan, required their full involvement to clear their name. Chou Ziliang agreed. Soon after, Cheng Ruoyu fainted from blood loss.
Cheng Xi approached Qi Yan to discuss the matter, but Qi Yan, concerned about Cheng Ruoyu, insisted on waiting until she woke up. Ignoring pleas from others, Cheng Ruoyu, upon regaining consciousness, immediately rushed to the prison to see A-Wu. She found A-Wu severely beaten and barely clinging to life. Yan Xiu, one of Yan Zhi's subordinates, informed her that A-Wu had at most twelve hours to live. Cheng Ruoyu was heartbroken.
Yan Zhi then offered Cheng Ruoyu a painkiller for A-Wu. A-Wu, in immense pain, begged Cheng Ruoyu to kill her. Qi Yan then arrived to personally oversee the interrogation. Cheng Ruoyu forced the painkiller into A-Wu, explaining the dire consequences for the Ziyi Bureau if the truth wasn't revealed, and then compassionately urged her to speak up. Cheng Ruoyu recalled seeing A-Wu secretly mourning in a side hall, realizing A-Wu's motive was revenge.
Yan Zhi's subordinates retrieved an ancestral tablet, confirming A-Wu's father was Zheng Lu, a man branded a traitor eight years prior. A-Wu tearfully protested her father's innocence. Cheng Ruoyu pleaded with Qi Yan to reopen the old case. Qi Yan, however, ordered A-Wu's release. As she was being unbound, A-Wu suddenly drew a hidden blade and took her own life.
Qi Yan immediately declared the case closed, reaffirming A-Wu as the sole assassin, and instructed Yan Zhi to report the outcome to Chou Ziliang. Cheng Ruoyu furiously confronted Qi Yan, demanding to know why he allowed A-Wu to die and refused to reopen the old case. Qi Yan coldly stated that Zheng Lu was a "rebel remnant" who deserved his fate, and A-Wu's assassination attempt, regardless of her reasons, warranted death a thousand times over.
He then rebuked Cheng Ruoyu for her failure as a sword-bearer, reminding her that a sword is meant for killing and that her duty was to swiftly eliminate the assassin. Yan Zhi then emerged, pointing out numerous inconsistencies in the rushed conclusion: how Zheng Wu (A-Wu) escaped the massacre of her family, who forged her flawless identity documents to allow her to enter the palace, and why she chose to act now when success was clearly impossible.
Yan Zhi declared herself "not satisfied" with the official closing of the case and resolved to investigate further. Cheng Ruoyu returned to the prison, cradling A-Wu's lifeless body, performing a small ritual, expressing her wish for A-Wu to "leave beautifully" to her next life. She then carried A-Wu's body back to the Ziyi Bureau. Cheng Xi was alarmed, but Cheng Ruoyu explained A-Wu's identity and tragic end, reiterating that Qi Yan had closed the case.
Recalling Cheng Xi's past words about the Chaolu Rebellion's victims being loyal, Cheng Ruoyu insisted on investigating the mastermind behind A-Wu, believing someone had manipulated her. She emphasized the unlikelihood of a twelve-year-old A-Wu escaping and infiltrating the palace without aid. Cheng Ruoyu then had an internal vision, accusing Qi Yan of being a "bad person."
Cheng Xi then finally revealed the full truth of the Chaolu Rebellion: after the rebellion, Zheng Lu and other officials attempted to assassinate Chou Ziliang but failed, leading Chou Ziliang to execute their families. Qi Yan, Chou Ziliang's adopted son and favored general, personally led the raid on the Zheng family. This act secured Qi Yan's position, leading Chou Ziliang to install him as emperor after the late emperor's death.
Cheng Ruoyu was devastated, horrified that the man she had sworn to protect was a "tyrant" who had forced her friend to such a desperate end. Cheng Xi sternly reminded Cheng Ruoyu that the Ziyi Bureau's mission was to protect the monarch, regardless of right or wrong. She reiterated, "A sword-bearer must not think, must not question right from wrong, nor distinguish truth from falsehood. Wherever the emperor points, that is where your blade must strike."
But Cheng Ruoyu defiantly declared that she was not just a sword-bearer; she was Cheng Ruoyu, and A-Wu was her friend, and she would ensure her friend left with dignity and grace.
