Resumen del episodio 12 de A Splendid Match
> Resúmenes de A Splendid Match
While tending to Chen Yanyun’s wounds, Gu Jinzhao noticed several old scars on his body. Chen Yanyun, concerned by the heavy rain, questioned why her family would allow a young lady to venture out alone in such weather to search for someone. Jinzhao explained that with her mother bedridden and her father occupied at the yamen, she had to take charge herself to ensure any critical decisions could be made immediately.
After she finished dressing his injuries, Chen Yanyun expressed his respect for her resolve. The next morning, Gu Jinrong was safely returned home. Gu Jinzhao learned that it was Chen Yanyun’s own guards who had tracked the boy to a village ten miles away. When Jinzhao offered her thanks, Chen Yanyun told her not to be so formal and assured her that she could always turn to him if she encountered trouble in the future.
Meanwhile, Ye Xian was nursing a hangover when his subordinate informed him that his master, the renowned Physician Xiao, had returned to the capital. Seeing an opportunity to help Jinzhao’s ailing mother, Ye Xian immediately brought his master to the Gu residence. Physician Xiao examined Lady Han’s pulse and reviewed her previous prescriptions. Although the formulas were correct, he was puzzled by her lack of improvement until he inspected the dregs of her medicine.
There, he discovered the presence of rhubarb. He explained that rhubarb is a potent herb used to purge heat, but because Lady Han was weak and suffering from a "cold" stomach, the herb’s properties were the exact opposite of what she needed. Long-term consumption of such a medicine would eventually prove fatal.
Realizing someone was tampering with the medicine, Jinzhao ordered Nanny Zhao to keep the discovery a secret, even from her father and brother, to avoid tipping off the culprit. Ye Xian offered the services of his men to investigate, but Jinzhao decided to find the perpetrator herself first. Her maids eventually caught Liuxiang and Luo Liu, servants from Concubine Song’s quarters, secretly adding the rhubarb to the decoction.
Jinzhao had the pair sent to Ye Xian for interrogation, where they quickly confessed. However, the Marquis of Changxing was furious to find his son, Ye Xian, conducting an unauthorized tribunal for what he considered a "low-class household" plagued by internal strife. Disappointed in his son’s choice of companions, the Marquis placed Ye Xian under house arrest. At the Chen residence, Old Madam Chen discussed a marriage proposal with Chen Yanyun.
Madam Mu had visited, explaining that her son, Mu Zhidi, had been smitten with the Gu family’s second daughter, Gu Lan, since a banquet the previous year. However, the Mu family deemed a concubine's daughter unsuitable and instead set their sights on the legitimate eldest daughter, Jinzhao. Chen Yanyun was visibly displeased by the suggestion, sharply telling his mother that the match was entirely inappropriate.
He instructed her not to mention the matter to the Gu family, leaving the Old Madam confused by his sudden anger. Back at the Gu house, Gu Dezhao was presented with the servants' confessions. Gu Lan, realizing the danger, warned her mother, Song Miaohua, to deny everything to protect their future. When the household was gathered, Nanny Zhou, the wet nurse, took the full weight of the blame, claiming she acted alone out of a personal grudge.
Although Jinzhao argued that the servants had no motive to kill without orders, Gu Dezhao chose to protect Concubine Song due to a lack of direct evidence. He sentenced Liuxiang and Luo Liu to forty strokes and hard labor, while Nanny Zhou was sentenced to sixty strokes and banished to a remote estate—a punishment that was likely a death sentence for a woman of her age.
Lady Han was devastated by the betrayal, realizing that Song Miaohua had truly intended to kill her. Jinzhao asked her mother if she had ever considered a divorce, suggesting they return to Tongzhou to live a peaceful life away from the rift in the Gu family. Lady Han, however, refused to consider it.
She feared the social stigma would ruin the marriage prospects for both Jinzhao and Jinrong, as no respectable family would want to marry into a household broken by divorce. Despite her own suffering, she insisted that they must endure for the sake of the children's futures. Chen Yanyun, having heard of the chaos at the Gu mansion, initially considered having Gu Dezhao impeached for failing to manage his household.
However, he hesitated, realizing that a public scandal would damage Jinzhao’s reputation and potentially worsen her mother’s illness. Instead, he visited the Gu residence in secret. He presented Jinzhao with a whistle, explaining that he had many skilled subordinates who could protect her. He told her that if she ever found herself in danger again, she only needed to blow the whistle and help would come. As he left, he mentioned that he would be visiting Baoxiang Temple for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival.
