Resumen del episodio 36 de The Heir
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Tian Ronghua, pretending to accept her arranged marriage, inspected her lavish dowry with her mother. To keep her mother occupied, Ronghua requested to bring along her old clothes as a sentimental reminder of home, prompting her mother to leave and gather them. Left alone in the warehouse, Ronghua searched the chests and discovered a massive stockpile of contraband Ziji Dragon Light Ink hidden among the silks and jewelry. Shortly after, Tian Benchang entered the warehouse to inspect the goods.
Though Ronghua managed to deflect his suspicion and leave, Benchang noticed that the dowry chests had already been tampered with. Ronghua slipped away to a local tea room, commanding her maids to wait outside. There, she secretly met with Li Zhen and revealed that she had found over a thousand sticks of contraband ink—a crime punishable by death.
Fearing that Benchang's extensive web of spies in the prefectural office would catch wind of any premature report, Li Zhen urged against going directly to the authorities. Instead, noting their similar figures, Li Zhen proposed a daring plan: she would take Ronghua's place in the bridal sedan the following day.
Once the procession reached Sibao Street, she would stop the sedan, and Xiao Qi and Doggie would expose the contraband ink to the public, catching Benchang red-handed and voiding the marriage. Unbeknownst to them, Benchang and Tian Bensheng had trailed Ronghua and overheard their entire conversation.
Infuriated by his sister's betrayal, Benchang resolved to turn Li Zhen's trap against her, knowing they could not afford to delay the shipment and lose the lucrative foreign trade that would secure his post in the Directorate of Imperial Household. The next morning, as Li Zhen slipped into Ronghua's room to carry out the swap, Benchang and his men ambushed them.
Ignoring Li Zhen's protests, Benchang ordered his men to drag Ronghua out and force her into the bridal sedan, warning her that her compliance was the only thing keeping Li Zhen alive. Li Zhen was bound and left trapped in the room. Left alone with the captive Li Zhen, Benchang gloated over his victory. He mocked her failed scheme, noting that her accomplices on Sibao Street would find nothing but their own arrest for disrupting a wedding.
He taunted her that the half-month deadline for the Li family to clear their name was ending today, sealing their ruin. Driven by a sinister obsession, Benchang tried to touch her, offering to draw her eyebrows as they had once planned before their broken engagement. Li Zhen spat back in disgust, declaring that she would rather die.
She ridiculed his deep-seated inferiority and jealousy of Luo Wenqian's talent, noble character, and her love, calling Benchang a selfish hypocrite who did not deserve her. When Benchang boasted that his impending imperial post would force even Prefect He to bow to him, Li Zhen warned that a position bought by selling his own sister would only lead to a devastating fall.
Desperate to break her spirit, Benchang offered to spare the Li family and find a scapegoat if she submitted to him. When she refused, he lunged at her. Li Zhen managed to knock over a teacup, using a sharp porcelain shard to hold him off, daring him to kill her. Their standoff was interrupted by Bensheng, who arrived to report that the distraction at Sibao Street had succeeded and Ronghua's sedan had safely cleared the city.
Benchang ordered his men to keep Li Zhen fed and alive until they returned, then set off to secure the shipment. However, Li Zhen had already anticipated that the Tian brothers might tail Ronghua. After learning from Jixiang that they had indeed been followed, Li Zhen had modified her plan, choosing to play into Benchang's hands to lower his guard while secretly organizing a counter-strategy.
She had met with the prominent ink masters of Huizhou, including President Hu and Third Grandfather, who eagerly agreed to help dismantle the corrupt Tian family. While some of the ink masters protected Ronghua, President Hu and Third Grandfather successfully persuaded Prefect He to mobilize his troops. Hearing that the bridal sedan search had yielded nothing, Chen Junshan staked his own life and business to convince the Prefect that Benchang had simply rerouted the contraband.
Meanwhile, Benchang and Bensheng personally escorted the contraband ink toward the docks. Spotting Chen Junshan and his men on the main road, the brothers panicked and diverted their cargo toward Baixi Village, a nearby stronghold loyal to the Tian family. However, the ink masters spotted their escape and quickly blocked the exits. Cornered by a crowd of angry merchants, Benchang tried to bluster his way out by brandishing his status as an imperial merchant.
His threats were cut short when Prefect He arrived with his troops, accompanied by Ronghua and a rescued Li Zhen. Before the Prefect, Li Zhen and Ronghua formally accused Benchang of treason and illegal imprisonment, detailing how the Ziji Dragon Light Ink had been hidden in the dowry. Prefect He ordered a thorough search of the carts, and the constables quickly uncovered the contraband ink.
With the evidence laid bare, the crowd of merchants stepped forward to voice years of grievances, accusing the Tian family of murdering the Luo family to steal their ink recipe, driving other workshop owners to their deaths, and cheating during the tribute ink competition. Realizing he was trapped, Benchang immediately turned on his own brother. He claimed he had only just discovered the contraband documents at home and had chased Bensheng to Baixi Village to stop him from fleeing.
He urged the constables to search Bensheng, who was indeed found carrying the transaction deed. To make matters worse, Wu Xin was brought forward and confessed that Benchang had bribed and threatened him to frame the Li family. Bensheng screamed that he was only following Benchang's orders, but Benchang feigned deep remorse, painting himself as merely negligent. The constables also brought in three captured foreign trade accomplices from Baling Pavilion, who identified Bensheng as their primary contact.
Terrified, Bensheng begged his father, Tian Huai'an, to save him. But Huai'an, having already agreed with Benchang that Benchang was the family's only hope, cold-heartedly instructed Bensheng to take the blame and plead for leniency as a first-time offender. Devastated by his family's ultimate betrayal, Bensheng wept as the ink masters and Li Zhen protested the sham, pointing out that Bensheng was far too incompetent to run such an operation without Benchang's mastermind.
When Ronghua spoke out against her father and brother, Huai'an lunged forward to beat her in a rage. Li Zhen coldly reminded Benchang that his supposed ally, Commander Wu Ru, would never risk his own neck to save them now, as Prefect He prepared to deliver his final judgment.
