General's Lady Episode 5 Recap
> General's Lady Recap
The morning after preparing for their wedding night, Shen Jin awoke to find Chu Xiuming gone, leaving only a letter of divorce and her jade pendant by her side. Outside, her maids, unaware of the situation, cheerfully speculated that the General and his Lady had a harmonious night. Their chatter was cut short when a furious Shen Jin stormed out to confront Chu Xiuming. At the main gate, Chu Xiuming, clad in armor, was preparing to leave.
Shen Jin rushed to block his path, demanding an explanation. She insisted his feelings for her were obvious, pointing out how his eyes, eyebrows, and nose all betrayed his affection. Chu Xiuming stoically replied that his intentions were clear in the letter, claiming a man with great responsibilities had no time for romantic attachments. Shen Jin countered, reminding him he had reciprocated her kiss in the study the previous night.
Scornfully rejecting his "lame excuses," she declared she was not someone he could simply discard. With a defiant flourish, she tore the letter to pieces, scattering them to the wind, and told him to go to his precious military camp, stating her own departure was none of his concern. With Chu Xiuming gone to the military camp for what seemed to be a long time, an incensed Shen Jin refused to accept being divorced.
As a wife wed by imperial decree, she vowed to find out the real reason for his actions. Heeding her maid's warning that she might be denied entry, Shen Jin resolved to find a way to sneak into the camp. At the camp, Leopard Head presented a new batch of recruits to Chu Xiuming for inspection. One recruit, however, swayed unsteadily and could not stand straight. Upon closer inspection, Chu Xiuming was stunned to see it was Shen Jin.
She declared herself a new recruit, arguing that the draft notice did not specify gender. Since Chu Xiuming was known for never breaking his word, he had no grounds to refuse her. He allowed her to stay but warned that she would have to pass rigorous tests to become one of his soldiers. The tests, however, were rigged in her favor.
During the first test, running with heavy sandbags, Leopard Head secretly swapped Shen Jin's bag with a lightweight one filled with cotton. For the second test, seizing a flag from Leopard Head, he easily dispatched other recruits with kicks and shoves. But when Shen Jin approached, he feigned a yawn and bent over, allowing her to grab the flag effortlessly.
Shen Jin later chided him for his blatant favoritism, but Leopard Head humbly explained he couldn't risk injuring the General's Lady. The remaining recruits, Shen Jin included, began training with small meteor hammers. Observing from a platform, Chu Xiuming grew concerned for Shen Jin's safety as recruits frequently injured each other. He called her up to spar with him personally. During their match, Chu Xiuming only dodged, refusing to retaliate, while an unrestrained Shen Jin attacked freely.
The "fight" ended with Chu Xiuming's uniform being torn, and Shen Jin feigned concern, cheekily advising him to be careful not to catch a cold. Meanwhile, in the Imperial City, an official warned the Emperor that Chu Xiuming appeared to have informants in the court, suggesting he was a potential threat. The wary Emperor ordered all communications to and from the General's Mansion to be cut off and had his agent Xiao Su put on standby.
The advising official was then secretly paid, revealing a deeper conspiracy. News of the severed communications soon reached Chu Xiuming, who wondered if the Emperor's sudden suspicion was related to activities concerning Prince Rui's Mansion. Back at the camp, Shen Jin eagerly chose a formidable spiked club as her weapon, but Chu Xiuming vetoed it and handed her a harmless broom instead. Later, finding the daily porridge too plain, she secretly added osmanthus sugar.
Chu Xiuming, suspecting the food had been tampered with, knocked the bowl from her hands, enraging her. The communal bathing also proved a major obstacle. Chu Xiuming offered her the privacy of his tent to wash and sleep, but she stubbornly refused, insisting that as a mere recruit, she should be treated like everyone else. That night, she was caught by patrolling guards while trying to sneak to the bathhouse and was mistaken for a spy.
The next day, Chu Xiuming summoned Shen Jin to his tent. She refused his offer of tea and demanded wine, promising to stop causing trouble if he complied. Knowing alcohol was forbidden, he took her to a secluded spot outside the camp. A tipsy Shen Jin complained bitterly about his cold and heartless behavior, accusing him of pushing her away despite everything she had done.
Suddenly, she spotted a lake and, ecstatic at the chance to finally bathe, threw down her flask, stripped off her outer clothes, and plunged into the water. A startled Chu Xiuming turned away, warning her of the danger of swimming while drunk. She taunted him, daring him to turn around and reminding him she was his legally wedded wife.
She declared she wouldn't get out unless he looked at her, forcing him to plead with her to come ashore for her own safety. In a private conversation, Chu Xiuming acknowledged to his deputy that Shen Jin was in the camp solely for him. He also pointed out the "not-so-small contribution" of the deputy and Leopard Head in secretly assisting her.
The deputy advised the General to feign ignorance of their help, reasoning that as a woman, she couldn't be treated like the other soldiers. Chu Xiuming agreed, confident he had the situation under control, and planned to explain the truth to her and send her back home when the time was right.
