Resumen del episodio 19 de The Heir
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Sixth Grandfather, Li Jinhe, visited Li Zhen to ask her to return to Li Ink and temporarily manage the workshop while he went into the mountains to find new pine wood. Due to the devastating pine wilt disease and the upcoming Tribute Ink selection, Li Ink desperately needed a trustworthy leader to stabilize the situation. However, Li Zhen firmly refused.
She reminded him of the painful past: she had worked tirelessly to restore the ancient lacquer-soot ink, only to be driven out of the family and framed for leaking the formula. While she held no grudge against him personally, she wanted no part in the toxic internal politics of Li Ink. Determined to help, Seventh Grandmother walked along Sibao Street, begging local merchants for any spare pine wood.
Watching her elderly, frail grandmother struggle and get turned down by every shopkeeper, Li Zhen felt a deep pang of sorrow. That evening, Wang Hua'er rushed to Li Zhen with bad news: Seventh Grandmother had fallen ill from exhaustion after her failed search. Li Zhen hurried to her bedside, gently chiding her for neglecting her health. Seventh Grandmother brushed off her illness, expressing concern instead for Li Zhen's noticeable weight loss since opening her own small ink workshop.
She encouraged Li Zhen to ignore the main family's troubles, focus on her own passions, and gave her the private savings she had quietly set aside for Li Zhen since her broken engagement, moving Li Zhen to tears. Deeply moved by her grandmother, Li Zhen changed her mind.
Seeing Sixth Grandfather pacing anxiously outside her workshop, she stepped out and agreed to his request under strict conditions: her stay would be temporary, the entire workshop must unite, and she would show no mercy to anyone engaging in scheming or factionalism. Li Jinhe readily agreed. Worried that his son, Li Jingdong, might try to sabotage her, Li Jinhe tracked down his grandson, Li Zhengshen, who was passing himself off as a street fortune teller.
After buying out all of his grandson's wares, Li Jinhe instructed Li Zhengshen to keep a close watch on his father and prevent him from making trouble. Before Li Jinhe's departure, Qi Jiu, a shareholder of Li Ink, demonstrated his commitment to the business. He arranged for experienced hunters who knew the paths of Mount Huang to guide the expedition, along with Jixiang and a highly skilled martial artist named Master Xiao to protect them from wild beasts.
When Seventh Grandmother praised Qi Jiu for his generosity, he humbly revealed that it was actually Li Zhen who had personally visited him to request the assistance. Li Zhen officially assumed control of the Li Ink workshop and immediately implemented radical changes. Addressing the assembled workers, she outlined a dual strategy: fully support Li Jingdong's development of the Tribute Ink while practicing strict conservation of their limited pine wood.
Analyzing the production records, she publicly promoted Qi Donghai, a third-class worker, to second-class with double pay for achieving an outstanding eighty percent pass rate in lampblack production. When Manager Shao objected that promotions traditionally required a two-year probation, Li Zhen argued that rigid rules were merely shackles. She announced that promotions would now be based entirely on merit and efficiency, winning over the initially skeptical workers, who apologized for their past prejudices and pledged their full support.
To reduce their reliance on pine wood, Li Zhen consulted with Manager Shao about persuading long-term clients to convert their pine soot ink orders to ancient lacquer-soot ink. While Shao agreed, Li Zhen noticed another troubling issue in the ledger: the supply of raw lacquer from the Sixth Branch had drastically declined over the past two months. When Shao suggested a public investigation, Li Zhen insisted on keeping the matter quiet to prevent their clients from losing trust.
She later discussed the transition with Li Jingdong, who defensively stated that the raw lacquer harvest had been excellent and accused her of assuming the worst of him. His reaction confirmed to Li Zhen that he knew nothing about the missing supply. Li Zhen visited her aunt, Chunhua, bringing cured pork ribs from her mother. When she asked about her uncle, Li Decai, Chunhua claimed he was away on a delivery in Suzhou.
Pressed about the raw lacquer shortage, Chunhua nervously claimed she had privately sold the surplus to external merchants to earn extra income for the household, showing Li Zhen a ledger of transactions. Sensing something was amiss, Li Zhen met with Qi Jiu to ask for lacquer merchant recommendations. At Qi Jiu's shop, she witnessed a woman pawning a gold hairpin, raising her suspicions further.
Shortly after, she ran into Li Zhengshen and asked him to go to Suzhou to investigate Li Decai's business dealings. Later, Li Zhengshen returned with shocking news: every merchant listed in Chunhua's ledger was completely fabricated, and Li Decai was secretly selling Li Ink's raw lacquer at low prices in Suzhou. He had established a second household there with a mistress named Mrs. Su, with whom he shared a child and accumulated heavy debts.
Li Zhen joined Chunhua and her young cousin, Run, to pick persimmons for the boy's birthday. Listening to Run talk about how much he missed his father, Li Zhen gently confronted Chunhua with the truth of the Suzhou investigation. Chunhua broke down and admitted she had known about the mistress for a long time but kept quiet and helped cook the books just to keep her son's family from falling apart. She begged Li Zhen not to expose the scandal.
Moved by her aunt's plight but bound by her duty to protect Li Ink, Li Zhen agreed to keep the secret on two conditions: Chunhua must never smuggle raw lacquer again, and she must stop fabricating the accounts. Seeking to resolve the root of the problem, Li Zhen traveled to Suzhou with her men.
They located a residence registered under the name of "Wang Residence" and burst through the doors, catching a stunned Li Decai, who was living under the alias of Mr. Wang, alongside his mistress, Su Yunniang.
