Joy of Life Episode 17 Recap
> Joy of Life Recap
After Si Lili was taken to the Investigator's Office, Fan Xian's investigation into Teng Zijing's assassination hit a dead end. With most clues exhausted and Ye Ling’er unwilling to reveal what she had witnessed, Fan Xian realized only one path remained. He sought out Ye Ling’er, pressing her about what she saw on the boat during the incident. Although she initially claimed to have seen nothing, she eventually admitted that someone was indeed present.
However, she refused to disclose the individual's identity, explaining that the person wielded enormous power, and revealing their name would jeopardize the entire Ye family. She urged Fan Xian to abandon his investigation, but he understood her difficult position and the grave danger she faced. Later, as Fan Xian leisurely ate in his courtyard, Wang Qinian scaled the wall, complaining good-naturedly about the vats obstructing his usual entrance.
Fan Xian playfully retorted that if the vats were moved, he wouldn't know when Wang Qinian, who always sneaks in, had arrived. After a brief banter, Fan Xian handed over the promised banknotes and assured Wang Qinian that the ox, land, and ten pigs he had requested were being arranged. Shifting the conversation, Fan Xian abruptly inquired about Si Lili's whereabouts. Without hesitation, Wang Qinian revealed she was held in the Investigator's Office's heavily fortified dungeon.
Fan Xian then requested a detailed map of the dungeon's entrances, exits, and defensive arrangements. Recognizing the extreme danger, Wang Qinian complied but not without a grave warning that historically, no one who infiltrated the dungeon had ever emerged alive. While Wang Qinian worked on the map, Fan Ruoruo came to speak with Fan Xian. She explained that she had gone to the Eastern Palace to assess the Crown Prince, suspecting he might be behind the assassination attempt.
She found him to be far from the weak figure rumor depicted; instead, he was cunning and adept at concealing his true nature. While she couldn't definitively discern if he harbored an absolute intention to kill Fan Xian, she discovered a secret: his study contained numerous lifelike portraits of women, all lacking facial features. She speculated that this suggested a deep, hidden affection for someone whose identity he wished to keep secret, possibly Si Lili.
Due to Si Lili's identity as a Beiqi secret agent, the Crown Prince could not openly pursue her and, out of jealousy, might have sought to kill Fan Xian, believing he had spent a night with her. Fan Xian found this theory "too dramatic." That night, with Wang Qinian's map, Fan Xian, dressed in a nocturnal costume, prepared to infiltrate the dungeon.
Unexpectedly, Wang Qinian appeared, offering his prized stealth tools, including a grappling hook with a rope made of hair and spider-web, dizzy incense, and cotton-soled shoes. Fan Xian politely declined, stating he had his own skills in climbing and poisons, and more importantly, explaining that his capture would inevitably implicate Wang Qinian. Arriving at the Investigator's Office, Fan Xian paused at the inscription left by his mother, Ye Qingmei.
He now understood why she desired to change the world: a man's life had been taken, and no one cared because the deceased was "just a guard," his status rendering his life irrelevant to the powerful. This injustice deeply angered Fan Xian and solidified his understanding of his mother's intentions. Inside the heavily guarded Investigator's Office, Fan Xian used the map to swiftly enter the dungeon during a perceived gap in the patrols.
Unbeknownst to him, the guards who had seemingly left their posts immediately returned, making it appear as though his entry had been intentionally facilitated. Upon finding Si Lili alone in her cell, Fan Xian proposed a deal, but she told him to turn around. To his surprise, Yan Ruohai was already waiting inside. Yan Ruohai handed Fan Xian the key to the cell, declaring him the chief interrogator.
He revealed that his earlier public dismissal of Fan Xian was a protective measure, fearing the true mastermind would target him. Yan Ruohai affirmed that the Investigator's Office would support Fan Xian's decisions completely. Si Lili, witnessing this, was bewildered by Fan Xian's true identity and the Investigator's Office's profound deference to him. Outside the dungeon, Zhu Ge confronted Yan Ruohai, questioning his protection of Fan Xian.
Yan Ruohai calmly stated it was the Head's directive, revealing that he and the Head had been in secret communication and he was simply "following orders." Fan Xian then told Si Lili that her fate rested entirely in his hands and demanded she reveal the full story of the Niulan Street assassination. With no choice left, Si Lili confessed.
She was a Beiqi secret agent, empowered to command her colleagues in the capital and subject only to orders from the Beiqi imperial family. Someone discovered her identity and had also captured Cheng Jushu, secretly bringing him to the capital. Si Lili reasoned that only high-ranking Beiqi figures knew Cheng Jushu's whereabouts, implying her identity had been leaked by Beiqi's high command.
This individual then came to Joy Tsin House and coerced her into surrendering her secret agent token, which Cheng Jushu was bound to obey. At the time, she was unaware that the target was Fan Xian. She also recalled a woman eavesdropping outside, who was attacked by two disciples of Si Gujian and fell into the Liujing River. After hearing about the Niulan Street assassination, Si Lili burned her boat and fled, only to be apprehended by Fan Xian.
Fan Xian pressed her for the mastermind's identity, but Si Lili refused unless he guaranteed her safe passage out of the city. Recognizing her training and resilience to physical torture, Fan Xian opted for psychological pressure. He declared he wouldn't harm her but would instead have a tiny, soundless, and lightless dark room dug beneath the dungeon, where she would be confined in endless darkness and silence. Si Lili grew visibly tense but defiantly claimed she would rather die.
Fan Xian smiled, tossed her a bottle of poison, and told her to take it if she wished. He observed her hesitation and noted that she had tidied her hair in the dungeon, concluding that someone so concerned with her appearance would not truly embrace death. He told her that hope was "the most horrible thing in this world."
Under his relentless psychological assault, Si Lili’s defenses crumbled, and she tearfully revealed the mastermind's name after securing Fan Xian's promise of safety, no torture, and no humiliation. Fan Xian then instructed Si Lili to conceal the true mastermind's identity from others and only provide the names of other Beiqi agents if questioned. Meanwhile, Wang Qinian, worried about Fan Xian, had followed him into the Investigator's Office and was caught by Zhu Ge.
Wang Qinian feigned distress, explaining he had returned to retrieve banknotes hidden within official documents on his desk, as his wife's thorough searches forced him to find creative hiding places. Zhu Ge, skeptical, sent someone to verify his story. After the interrogation, Fan Xian handed Zhu Ge a list of Beiqi agents in the capital, claiming it was all he had found.
He informed Zhu Ge of his promise to Si Lili: she would be spared, not tortured, and merely imprisoned. When Zhu Ge challenged his authority, Yan Ruohai intervened, affirming that Fan Xian held this power, as it was "the Head's decision." Seeing Wang Qinian, who had risked much by returning, Fan Xian remarked, "Wang Qinian, you're a good man."
The next day, Fan Xian arranged for Fan Sizhe to lead a noisy procession with drums and gongs to the imperial residence, intending to make a grand and public visit to Lin Wan’er. Upon hearing this, Lin Gong, Wan’er's second brother, was enraged. Interpreting this as a deliberate provocation, he ordered his seventh-dan masters to ambush and kill Fan Xian the moment he entered the courtyard. Wan’er, distressed, secretly dispatched a maid to warn him.
At the gate, after Fan Sizhe's boisterous group attracted attention, Fan Xian entered and was met by Wan’er’s maid, who whispered a desperate warning: "The Second Young Master is going to kill you! You should leave!" Just then, dozens of hidden guards surrounded him. Outnumbered, Fan Xian skillfully evaded them and scaled the wall to escape. Relieved by his escape, Wan’er was confronted by Lin Gong, who told her to abandon any hope for Fan Xian.
He revealed that their father, the Prime Minister, was preparing a memorial to the Emperor to annul their engagement. Wan’er confessed she loved Fan Xian despite his flaws, praising his sincere eyes. Lin Gong insisted that Fan Xian's character no longer mattered, warning her that he shouldn't have come to the capital, as many powerful people were watching him. After leaving, Fan Xian sought out Ye Ling’er.
He revealed that he knew the mastermind was Lin Gong, Wan’er's second brother, and that his investigation showed Lin Gong was a staunch supporter of the Crown Prince. Ye Ling’er, seeing he had uncovered the truth, pleaded with him to drop the matter. She urged him not to endanger the Fan family for the sake of "just a guard," warning that offending the Crown Prince would put even the Ye family, despite having a Great Master, at grave risk.
Fan Xian, angered by the repeated dismissal of a guard's life, reaffirmed his understanding of his mother's desire to change a world that so readily disregarded the lives of the less privileged.
