Glory Episode 8 Recap
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Rong Shanbao was incensed upon learning that Lu Jianglai had been poisoned during his duel with Yang Dingchen. She immediately summoned Yang Dingchen to confront him. Arriving at the scene, Yang remained arrogant, dismissing the situation as a trivial matter involving a mere servant and complaining about his own shoulder injury. However, Rong Shanbao silenced him by clarifying that the household held no indenture contract for Lu Jianglai; as a free man, he deserved full legal protection.
Doctor Zhao was brought in to examine the sword used in the fight, confirming that the blade had indeed been poisoned. Facing this physical evidence and the condemnation of those present—including Yan Bailou, who pointed out that attempted murder was punishable by execution under the dynasty's law—Yang Dingchen became frantic, claiming he was being framed. Sensing an opportunity to resolve the crisis strategically, Lu Jianglai acted magnanimously.
Knowing the Yang family’s influence, he offered to drop the charges to preserve the friendship between their houses. Rong Shanbao agreed to let the matter rest only after forcing Yang Dingchen to pay a significant sum for Lu's medical expenses. The scandal left Yang Dingchen in a rage. Back at his quarters, he began brutally punishing the servant responsible for his sword, accusing him of the poisoning.
Yan Bailou intervened, stopping the violence and suggesting that the true culprit remained at large. Meanwhile, Rong Shanbao returned to Lu Jianglai’s room. Though he appeared to be at death's door, she remained skeptical of his condition. She suspected he had deliberately allowed himself to be poisoned as part of a "self-sacrifice" strategy to eliminate his rivals. Lu eventually admitted he had anticipated the plot and prepared by taking a longevity pill to neutralize the toxin.
Rong Shanbao warned him that her grandmother, Lady Rong, despised men who used such underhanded schemes to stir up trouble. The situation moved to Chongxi Hall for a formal inquiry led by Lady Rong. Yang Dingchen brought forward his servant, who confessed that he had been manipulated into poisoning the blade by He Xingming. He Xingming had hoped to kill Lu Jianglai and frame Yang Dingchen simultaneously to clear his own path to becoming the Rong family's son-in-law.
Lady Rong saw through both men: she viewed Yang Dingchen as a reckless fool and He Xingming as a wicked plotter. She promptly ordered both to be expelled from the Rong residence. Consumed by bitterness over the loss of his family's tea business to the Rongs, He Xingming refused to leave quietly. Deep in the night, Rong Shanbao was jolted awake by a terrifying nightmare.
Driven by her "Tea Bone" intuition, she rushed to the tea garden, fearing an attack on the Dragon Eye well. This well was the vital source of water for the century-old Tea King Tree, which produced imperial tea for the Emperor. At the garden, she found that Lu Jianglai had already intercepted He Xingming just as he was about to poison the well.
Caught in the act, He Xingming showed no remorse, shamelessly demanding to share Rong Shanbao's bed in exchange for the antidote to the poison he had already scattered. Repulsed, Rong Shanbao ordered her men to tie him up and gag him, leaving him in the pouring rain. To save the garden, she ordered all estate wells sealed and directed that irrigation water be brought in from outside.
As the crisis was averted, Lu Jianglai comforted her, noting that her intuition was a good omen for the upcoming Tea Ancestor Festival, the most important day for the tea farmers.
