The Sword and The Brocade Episode 15 Recap
> The Sword and The Brocade Recap
Seeking to get back into Qiao Lianfang's good graces, Concubine Wen went to buy a valuable painting, but her maid, Qiuhong, spotted Mrs. Zhang purchasing a large quantity of rice vinegar. The purchase, along with a later incident where a kitchen servant snatched a bowl of porridge back from Qiuhong, convinced Concubine Wen that the grain for the soup kitchen was tainted.
She knew that although washing rice with vinegar could mask the smell of mold, it could not remove the lethal toxins. Recalling the late Yuanniang’s kindness to her family, Concubine Wen decided to leak the information to Shiyi, trusting Yuanniang's sister to handle the crisis. She had Qiuhong recount the porridge incident to Nanny Tao, whose suspicions were immediately aroused. Nanny Tao investigated the granary and confirmed the rice was indeed moldy.
Nanny Tao immediately reported her findings to Shiyi, who remained calm and insisted on seeing the evidence for herself. Meanwhile, Qiao Lianfang discovered the truth: the scheme was orchestrated by her servant, Mrs. Zhang, who confessed to secretly swapping in moldy rice for two days to pay off her son's gambling debts.
Panicked because the scandal would inevitably trace back to her, Qiao Lianfang immediately sent a servant to her family's home to borrow fresh rice, hoping to replace the tainted supply before Shiyi arrived at the soup kitchen. Shiyi arrived at the soup kitchen and demanded to inspect the granary, but Qiao Lianfang appeared and tried to block her path. Qiao Lianfang's forceful resistance only confirmed Shiyi's suspicions.
Just as Shiyi prepared to force her way in, a servant reported that the rice borrowed from the Qiao family was lost in an accident en route. With her plan foiled, a panicked Qiao Lianfang could do nothing as Shiyi entered the granary and witnessed the moldy rice firsthand. Shiyi confronted Qiao Lianfang, who feigned ignorance.
Setting aside the argument to deal with the urgent crisis, Shiyi ordered Qiao Lianfang to gather all available rice from the mansion and its villa. She then halted the porridge distribution, declaring that cooking would only resume with fresh rice. With the soup kitchen temporarily closed, the disaster victims grew restless, but Shiyi stepped forward and successfully calmed them, assuring them that new porridge was being prepared.
Her investigation traced the moldy rice to Jiang's Rice Shop, which had ties to the Ou family, the Xu family's sworn enemy. Shiyi suspected the Ou family was behind the scheme and that their plot was far from over. Meanwhile, Amber scoured the capital for rice but found all grain shops depleted. Shiyi instructed her to keep trying and asked Qiao Lianfang to borrow more rice from her family.
Qiao Lianfang claimed her family had no more to spare, and Shiyi suspected the "accident" with the first delivery was no coincidence. The moldy rice incident was indeed orchestrated by the Ou family. Master Lixing of the Ou family learned that Shiyi had discovered the problem but was unconcerned, believing she could not possibly find enough replacement rice to fill an entire granary. Elsewhere, Xu Lingyi was busy with disaster relief efforts.
During a break, he looked at the boots Shiyi had embroidered for him. Though they were damp, the sight of them brought a smile to his face, a clear sign that he missed his wife. The Ou family sent agitators to the soup kitchen, who claimed the porridge had made them sick and demanded to inspect the rice. Shiyi tried to calm the crowd, but the instigators riled up the victims, who stormed the granary.
To their surprise, they discovered the rice was perfectly fine and realized they had wrongly accused the Xu family. Shiyi had anticipated such a move. She had sent Dongqing to exchange her personal land titles for grain. This was a significant personal sacrifice, as her deeds, part of her dowry, were valuable enough to be exchanged for twenty "dan" of rice. Shiyi's decisive handling of the crisis impressed Master Lixing, who admitted he had underestimated her.
However, knowing most of the rice in the capital had been bought up, he was confident she could not hold out for long. Shiyi shared this worry. Amber, having failed to buy any rice and being thrown out of shops, was found by Lin Shixian, who was returning to the capital.
Learning she needed rice for disaster relief, he escorted her to a grain shop, subtly revealed his influential status to the owner, and ensured the Xu family could purchase rice at the standard market price. As the new supply of rice ran out, the disaster victims at the soup kitchen grew anxious again. Shiyi appeared and promised to wait with them for the next delivery.
While most were persuaded, an agitator incited the crowd by claiming the Xu family was hoarding good rice to sell for profit. Overcome by hunger, the crowd disregarded Shiyi's warnings about the contaminated grain still in storage and stormed the granary to seize it. In the chaos, Shiyi was pushed to the ground, and the heavy plaque above the entrance loosened, threatening to fall directly on top of her.
