Stand By Me Episode 6 Recap
> Stand By Me Recap
Cheng Ruoyu confronted Yan Zhi, demanding to know Aunt Cai’s whereabouts. Yan Zhi chillingly revealed that Aunt Cai was already dead, poisoned while in detention, and insisted she was not the killer as she still needed information from her. Yan Zhi then presented Cheng Ruoyu with three questions she wanted answers to: why Qi Yan visited Aunt Cai’s tavern, why assassins attacked there twice, and who silenced those assassins.
She then divulged that the people responsible for Aunt Cai’s murder were hiding in Yuzhen Workshop, handing Cheng Ruoyu a document about the place. Cheng Ruoyu, suspicious of Yan Zhi’s motives, questioned why she was sharing such crucial information. Yan Zhi stated that Cheng Ruoyu owed her a favor, and finding the assassins, who were linked to the A-Wu case, would be the repayment.
Qi Yan, practicing archery, expressed to Cheng Xi his frustration with his stagnant skills, seeking a way to improve. Cheng Xi suggested using living targets, proposing death row prisoners. However, Qi Yan, seemingly in a fit of pique, countered by suggesting the thirty-six women of the Ziyi Bureau as sparring partners.
He declared it would be a dual benefit for both his archery and their training, adding that if they couldn’t even dodge his arrows, they were “mediocre” and "might as well be dead." Cheng Xi was visibly alarmed and pleaded for them, emphasizing the years of arduous training invested in them, but Qi Yan remained unyielding. He decreed that the Ziyi Bureau would serve as his sparring partners starting the very next day.
Later, Cheng Xi and Li Rong discussed the Emperor’s order. Cheng Xi deduced that the masked man who had followed Cheng Ruoyu the previous night was, in fact, Qi Yan, who must have overheard their conversation and was now testing them. Fearing that Qi Yan would uncover the three hundred operatives secretly trained at Yuzhen Workshop, Cheng Xi immediately ordered Li Rong to evacuate them swiftly and erase all traces.
A eunuch presented Qi Yan with his recent hunting expense reports. Qi Yan was astonished by the unexpectedly large sum, particularly a significant expenditure on wine, which he found unusual as he did not recall drinking that much during his hunts. Visibly frightened, Cheng Huaizhi, the eunuch, knelt and confessed that he had falsified the accounts. That night, despite her annoyance with Yan Zhi’s indirect methods, Cheng Ruoyu decided to investigate Yuzhen Workshop using the provided information.
Meanwhile, Cheng Huaizhi discovered that Qi Yan was not in his bed, even though he had retired early. He rushed to Cheng Xi to report this, also revealing that Qi Yan had checked both the Ziyi Bureau’s accounts and his own hunting expenses, specifically the suspicious wine expenditure. Cheng Huaizhi, fearing Cheng Xi's involvement, asked if she had tampered with the accounts. Soon after, Cheng Xi received an urgent report that two individuals were attempting to break into Yuzhen Workshop.
She immediately deduced that it was Qi Yan, realizing that the evacuation of the operatives was not yet complete. She grew panicked, knowing Yuzhen Workshop had a strict "death order" to kill any trespassers. Unbeknownst to them, Yan Zhi, upon learning Cheng Xi was "caught in the trap," ordered her troops to prepare, declaring the matter of great importance and that she would accompany them.
Cheng Ruoyu arrived at the address, which appeared to be a ‘Moon Dance Pavilion,’ but found it deserted. She shouted for anyone present, and when met with silence, she grew furious, cursing the “cowardly turtles” for daring to kill but not face her, vowing to find the murderers. Qi Yan, still masked, then revealed himself.
Cheng Ruoyu, recognizing him as the masked man who had previously saved her at Wang Yang’s old residence, immediately attacked him, determined to defeat him this time. Their intense fight led them onto a large central compass on the floor. The compass slowly activated, triggering an Eight Trigram Array, causing surrounding lanterns to spin and countless swords to fly out. Qi Yan, while dodging the incoming swords, shielded Cheng Ruoyu and was struck in the leg by a sword.
Suddenly, a bell chimed, causing the compass and the array to abruptly halt. Yan Zhi and her men arrived shortly after, but just as they appeared, the compass platform collapsed, dropping both Cheng Ruoyu and Qi Yan into a deep pit below. Cheng Ruoyu was overcome with a splitting headache. Qi Yan quickly removed his mask, revealing his true identity to a stunned Cheng Ruoyu, and then administered a pain-relieving medicine to her.
He then pulled the sword from his leg. Together, they began to search for an escape route from the underground trap. Above ground, Yan Zhi, finding the courtyard empty, dismissed the idea of a ghost ringing the bell and ordered her men to "dig up the ground" to find the mechanism and those trapped beneath. While searching, Yan Zhi accidentally triggered a mechanism that caused countless swords to shoot out, killing many of her Xiangqi Camp guards.
She quickly found the 'life gate'. Below, Qi Yan and Cheng Ruoyu continued their search for an exit. Qi Yan attempted to pry open a stone wall with his Qingguang sword, but the tip broke, much to Cheng Ruoyu’s dismay. He promised her a hundred more swords and continued searching for the formation’s core.
Cheng Ruoyu then questioned if they had been tricked, and Qi Yan confirmed that they had both “fallen into a trap” orchestrated by Yan Zhi, and that he needed to leave immediately to avoid being discovered. Cheng Ruoyu, believing Yan Zhi would not kill her, offered to stay and hold them off. As they continued their search, Yan Zhi’s troops, having located the entrance to the secret passage beneath the collapsed compass, began firing projectiles into it.
Cheng Ruoyu selflessly shielded Qi Yan, taking a blow to her back and sustaining an injury. Qi Yan was deeply moved by her sacrifice and expressed his concern for her well-being. After the main compass mechanism was fully pried open, Qi Yan carried the injured Cheng Ruoyu through a newly revealed secret passage. As they escaped, Cheng Ruoyu claimed the pain medicine made her too sleepy to continue, needing to rest.
Initially, Qi Yan urged her to keep moving, but seeing the relative safety of their surroundings, he agreed to let her rest. While resting, Cheng Ruoyu wondered who had rung the alarm bell and allowed them to escape, expressing a desire to thank them. Qi Yan retorted that this same person had also nearly gotten her killed, expressing his frustration over the proliferation of hidden factions like the Xiangqi Camp and Yuzhen Workshop.
He then pressed Cheng Ruoyu for details, asking how she had learned about Yuzhen Workshop and what else Yan Zhi had told her. Cheng Ruoyu explained that Yan Zhi believed A-Wu was manipulated by someone who saved her, sent her into the palace, and then forced her to assassinate. Cheng Ruoyu then challenged Qi Yan, asking why he prevented her from investigating A-Wu's case and the various assassination attempts against him.
Qi Yan confessed that investigating A-Wu (referring to her as Zheng Wu) would unearth events from eight years prior and admitted that he had intentionally let her go back then. When Cheng Ruoyu asked if he was also responsible for sending A-Wu into the palace, Qi Yan denied it, stating he never imagined she would return "seeking death" and was clearly "manipulated" by an unknown party.
As Cheng Ruoyu pressed further to identify the manipulator, Qi Yan sharply warned her to stop asking, stating, "the more you know, the quicker you'll die." Before he could finish, Cheng Ruoyu lost consciousness and fainted, prompting Qi Yan to pick her up and carry her away, muttering "What a fool." Unbeknownst to them, Yan Zhi observed their escape from afar. Yan Zhi and the Xiangqi Camp guards returned empty-handed.
Chou Ziliang was enraged by their failure, demanding answers about the three hundred swords found at Yuzhen Workshop, their origins, and purpose. He berated his men as “useless fools” for being completely unaware of such a significant operation under their very noses, reminding them of his own arduous rise. As punishment, he ordered one of them to receive thirty strikes. Meanwhile, back at the palace, Cheng Huaizhi was distraught upon seeing Qi Yan and Cheng Ruoyu gravely wounded.
He tearfully implored Qi Yan never to sneak out of the palace again, expressing his fears about the dangers Qi Yan faced. Qi Yan confirmed he was indeed in peril. Due to the clandestine nature of his outing, Qi Yan deemed it unsafe to summon an imperial physician. After quickly bandaging his own leg wound, he went to attend to the still unconscious Cheng Ruoyu.
He personally cleaned and bandaged her back injury, reminiscing about her broken sword and her earnest desire to be his sword-bearer, while instructing Cheng Huaizhi to stand guard at the door and prevent anyone from entering. Cheng Ruoyu eventually regained consciousness, startled to find Qi Yan tending to her injuries and almost crying out, but Qi Yan quickly silenced her.
He teasingly dismissed her nervousness, remarking that there was "nothing much for her to see" and that her body was "frail and fragile." Meanwhile, Cheng Xi and Li Rong reviewed the situation. Li Rong noted the exposed Yuzhen Workshop had left behind too many traces, but Cheng Xi credited the timely alarm bell for the safe evacuation of the operatives, acknowledging Yan Zhi’s clever trap.
Concluding that denying the truth would only result in losing Qi Yan’s trust, Cheng Xi decided to proactively confess to him, presenting him with the actual roster of the Ziyi Bureau. She explained the coded document: the "thirteen frets of the guqin" represented "十三人" (thirteen people), and the "finger techniques indicated their actions." She gave an example, "名十勾四" (Ming Shi Gou Si), meaning "the person at the tenth fret killed four people."
Qi Yan realized that Cheng Xi had been secretly maintaining a covert faction of the Ziyi Bureau. Cheng Xi clarified that she was following the late emperor's decree, issued after the Chao Lu Incident when he was under Chou Ziliang's soft imprisonment, to rebuild the Ziyi Bureau by training martial arts-talented girls outside the palace to avoid Chou Ziliang’s notice, as the Changming Palace was rife with spies. Qi Yan questioned why she had kept this secret after his ascension.
Cheng Xi explained the late emperor's instruction: if the new emperor had "great ambitions," she should assist him, but if he "sided with traitors" or was "weak and incapable," she should "establish a separate course of action." She denied any disloyalty, stating her silence was due to the late emperor's command and her current operatives' lack of skill compared to Qi Yan or even Cheng Ruoyu.
She then informed Qi Yan that the three hundred operatives had safely retreated to Mount Qi and confirmed that the previous night's events at Yuzhen Workshop were Yan Zhi’s "scheme to sow discord." Satisfied, Qi Yan told her to rise. Unbeknownst to them, Qi Chen had orchestrated part of this outcome. His subordinate reported that the three hundred operatives from Yuzhen Workshop had safely reached Mount Qi.
Qi Chen's subordinate expressed concern about the Ziyi Bureau's long recovery, but Qi Chen revealed that he had anticipated Yuzhen Workshop's exposure since Zheng Wu first revealed the Ziyi Bureau. He had secretly sent someone to observe and ring the alarm bell, thereby saving the operatives. Despite this success, Qi Chen lamented that Qi Yan remained "vulnerable" and unable to effectively confront Chou Ziliang.
His subordinate cautioned him against getting involved, citing Empress Dowager Guo's suspicion, Qi Yan's potential distrust, and Chou Ziliang's constant watch. However, Qi Chen declared that his ultimate goal was "to bring prosperity to the world and peace for all," with other considerations being secondary.
