Resumen del episodio 40 (final) de Pursuit of Jade
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The truth behind the Jinzhou tragedy was far more sinister than anyone had imagined. Seventeen years ago, during a private gathering at the Eastern Palace, the idea of the Emperor’s abdication was whispered among only five men: Crown Prince Chengde, Xie Linshan, Grand Tutor Tao, Wei Yan, and Li Xing. Driven by an obsession with power, Li Xing betrayed this secret to the late emperor.
The late emperor, a paranoid and senile tyrant who feared his son’s growing virtue, saw this as an opportunity to eliminate the threat to his throne. He deliberately propped up the Jia family and the 16th Prince to create internal strife and ensure the Crown Prince’s downfall. To trap his own son, the late emperor gave Lord Changxin a hollow promise, convincing him to withhold reinforcements during the crisis.
He even invited the enemy "wolves" into the borders just to destroy his own bloodline. Knowing the deep affection between Wei Yan and the Consort Shu, Qi Rongyin, the emperor forged her handwriting to lure Wei Yan back to the capital while he was en route to Jinzhou. This calculated betrayal ensured the massacre of the Crown Prince and Xie Linshan. Wei Yan eventually staged a palace coup to stabilize the empire and prevent it from falling into total ruin.
After Qi Rongyin’s death, he forced the late emperor to sign the abdication decree. Before his initial return to the capital years prior, Wei Yan had entrusted the real Tiger Seal to his most loyal subordinate, Wei Qilin, to seek reinforcements, but the emperor’s trap was perfect; the seal was deemed a fake, and help never came. To save the Wei family from execution, Wei Yan was forced to frame Wei Qilin as a traitor.
Years later, when Xie Zheng reopened the case, Wei Yan even sent assassins after Wei Qilin’s family to protect his bond with his nephew. Listening to this confession from the shadows, Xie Zheng and Fan Changyu were overwhelmed with grief.
Fan Changyu told Wei Yan that he should strive to be a "good pig" in this life so he might have a chance to be a good person in the next, though Wei Yan resigned himself to the belief that his soul was destined for hell. The fallout of the rebellion left the former royal family in shambles.
Qi Sheng, the weak and cowardly emperor, descended into total madness, failing to recognize his own sister, Qi Shu, as he cowered behind the throne babbling about morning court. Meanwhile, Qi Min was held in the dungeons awaiting his end. Yu Qianqian brought him a final bowl of soup she had simmered herself. Knowing it was poisoned, Qi Min drank it willingly, even asking her to feed him.
He confessed that she was the only person who never feared his face and that he truly loved her, though he hoped they would never meet again in another life. As the poison took hold, he died in her arms, leaving Yu Qianqian to mourn the man he might have been if not for his obsession with the throne. In the 18th year of Yongping, a new era began.
Yu Bao’er was officially recorded in the royal lineage as Qi Yu and ascended the throne, marking the start of the Yongxing era. Yu Qianqian was honored as Empress Dowager Mingde with the right to govern behind the curtain. Xie Zheng was appointed Prince Regent, taking full command of state affairs, while Fan Changyu was promoted to Grand General of Huaihua and granted the title of First-Rank Lady Defender of the State.
Posthumous honors were also granted to Wei Qilin and Meng Shuyuan for their loyalty. Despite his new status, the young Emperor Qi Yu remained a child at heart, sharing pastries with Changning behind the dragon throne. He even made a pinky swear to make her his Empress one day, promising the entire world as her betrothal gift.
The Li family sought to make amends by donating their entire fortune to the state, helping to replenish the treasury emptied by the wars with Beijue. Li Xing, now stripped of all power, was left to rot in regret, while Li Huai’an requested a demotion to the bitter cold of the frontier to spend his life in redemption. Fan Changyu finally returned to Lin’an Town accompanied by Xie Zheng and Changning.
Dressed in simple clothes, she reunited with Mister and Madam Zhao, officially calling them her foster parents and promising to care for them. While the rest of the group returned safely, they carried the heavy grief of losing Man Di, who never made it back from the battlefield. As another heavy snow fell, it was time for Wei Yan’s execution.
Xie Zheng provided the poisoned wine himself, an act of mercy to spare his uncle from the agonizing death of a thousand cuts. Wei Yan drank the wine and ended his life without pain, leaving his legacy to be judged by history. Five years later, the peace was shattered by another Beijue invasion. Fan Changyu, now a mother of two but with her skills undiminished, donned her armor once more.
She and Xie Zheng prepared to ride out together as legendary generals to defend the nation they had fought so hard to build. In another reality—one where the Jinzhou tragedy never occurred—Xie Zheng grew up as a hardworking young swordsman under the watchful eyes of his parents. His mother and "Auntie Meng" joked about a betrothal between Xie Zheng and the child Meng was carrying, whom they decided to name Changyu.
In that peaceful world, they might have met as strangers in a restaurant in Lin’an, feeling a soul-deep familiarity. There, a young prince might have felt a strange, inexplicable nausea at the sight of a specific soup—a lingering shadow of a tragic destiny that, in this reality, they were finally able to escape.
