Joy of Life Season 2 Episode 35 Recap, Plot

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> Joy of Life Season 2 Recap

Fan Xian learned from Haitang Duoduo that the “Tianyi Dao Heart Technique” was left behind by his mother, Ye Qingmei, and Ku He was merely returning it to its rightful owner. Haitang Duoduo casually asked about Fan Xian’s married life, and Fan Xian brushed it off, saying it was going well. Haitang Duoduo explained that she asked on behalf of Si Lili.

Li Chengping and Shi Chanli exchanged a knowing smile, surprised that in addition to Haitang Duoduo, Fan Xian also had Si Lili as a close confidante. Fan Xian didn’t offer an explanation. Fan Xian went to the Ming family to wait for the investigation results and happened to witness the Ming matriarch adopting Ming Qingda’s cousin and summoning his cousin’s four children to attend the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Ming Qingda accused his cousin of being a traitor bribed by others. He had privately issued a reward for the assassination of the imperial official Fan Xian and even asked Fan Xian to execute him personally. Fan Xian realized that Ming Qingda and his mother were putting on a show to intimidate him. He insisted on taking the adopted son back for interrogation.

The Ming matriarch advised her adopted son to cooperate and promised to take good care of his four children. Just as Fan Xian was about to take him away, the man suddenly rammed his head into a pillar and died on the spot. Once again, Fan Xian experienced the cunning and viciousness of the Ming matriarch and was filled with rage. Ming Qingda needed more than ten corpses.

Desperate villagers came to the Ming family voluntarily, willing to die for them. Ming Qingda publicly swore to take care of their families, watched them drink poisoned wine one by one, then had their bodies hauled away to cover up the truth from Fan Xian’s investigation. Ming Qingda secretly met with Xie Bian and swore eternal loyalty to Li Chengze and Li Yunrui. Xie Bian boasted that Fan Xian would be dead in two days.

Ming Qingda deliberately stalled for time, chatting idly with Xie Bian while drinking tea. The Ming matriarch hosted a banquet for Fan Xian, promising to donate 200,000 taels of silver for disaster relief. She claimed the Three Great Workshops were internal treasury consignment products for Li Yunrui, yet they lost money every year—implying that Li Yunrui was making illicit profits. Fan Xian saw through her act of pretending to be poor but did not expose her.

The Ming matriarch agreed to transfer the Three Great Workshops to the Internal Treasury Transport Division as soon as possible, on the condition that the Ming family retain their management rights. Fan Xian exposed her lie on the spot—if the workshops were losing money year after year, why would the Ming family still want to manage them? The Ming matriarch claimed it was to serve the country.

When a fire broke out at the Three Great Workshops' warehouse, Ming Qingda rushed to report to Fan Xian. Fan Xian suspected it was set by the Ming family, but both the Ming matriarch and Ming Qingda had alibis and denied involvement. Fan Xian was staying at the Jiangnan branch of the Baoyue House. Li Chengping was curious why he chose that location—it turned out Fan Xian was using Baoyue House to gather intelligence.

Wang Qinian went to investigate the fire; all goods were reduced to ashes, and all warehouse workers were found dead. Wang Qinian discovered the bodies were burned postmortem and sensed something suspicious. Fan Xian suspected the warehouse had long been emptied by the Ming family and the fire was set to cover it up. Shi Chanli was deeply saddened, recalling how his hometown Shijia Town had also been burned. Fan Xian comforted him.

Sure enough, just as Fan Xian suspected, the fire had been pre-arranged by Ming Qingda, who had also prepared an equal number of corpses to replace the workers. Ming Qingda planned to bring both the goods and workers back to the warehouse after Fan Xian returned to the capital. The Ming matriarch praised him to his face but secretly feared he would usurp her and take control of the Ming family.

Ming Qingda was determined to preserve the Three Great Workshops at all costs. To him, it was a treasure trove and the center of the world’s most profitable crafts—glassmaking, sugar refining, cotton weaving, and perfumery. Fan Xian wanted to make these technologies available to the entire nation. Li Chengping advised him to report to Qing Di first.

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