Lost Track of Time Episode 15 Recap
> Lost Track of Time Recap
Mu Chuan brought Lu Anran to the Peace Granary on its closing day, asking her to inscribe words for the occasion. Lu Anran wrote "Peace Granary" and expressed her hope for "peace and food security," wishing that the people of Great Han would live without hunger, echoing Mu Chuan's own desire for a Dahan free from famine. Lu Anran felt genuinely happy, remarking that this place, devoid of schemes and conspiracies, was a world apart that brought her joy.
Mu Chuan affirmed that this utopia would always be open to her. Lu Anran noted that the National Granary plan was no longer just on paper and inquired if Mu Chuan had considered leaving Hanjing. Mu Chuan explained that once the water conservation project in the suburban area, a complement to the granary plan, was complete, he intended to leave Hanjing to escape its conflicts.
Lu Anran then revealed her own decision to leave Hanjing first, which made Mu Chuan happy, not because she was leaving, but because she was finally willing to extract herself from Hanjing's mire. Mu Chuan then asked, referring to an earlier conversation, if his wait was over. Lu Anran playfully reversed their roles, stating it was now his turn to wait for her.
Declaring it would be "once for each of us," she set a condition that Mu Chuan happily accepted. Lu Xinran brought Mu Ze a bowl of ginger soup. Mu Ze questioned her presence and told her not to waste time on such pointless efforts. Lu Xinran acknowledged that in his eyes, she was merely an "accident of alliance" with the Lu family and an "object of adornment."
Despite this, she insisted that as Prince Qing's wife, she must fulfill her duties. She referenced her sister not becoming his wife and how she, by chance, became the "tie that connects the royals and the Lu family," emphasizing that a tie merely keeps to its duties. Mu Ze, recalling his birth mother's unrequited love for the Emperor and her tragic end, felt a pang of pity for Lu Xinran.
He drank the soup she offered, which she claimed was to ward off the cold. However, the soup contained a potent drug, intended to help her conceive a child. Feeling the effects, Mu Ze angrily confronted Lu Xinran, who confessed to adding "medicine for strengthening the body." She pleaded with him, explaining her desperation as a woman in a cold household, needing a reason to survive and begging for a child.
Mu Ze, enduring the drug's effects, vehemently refused to touch her and called for guards to drag her away, ordering them never to let him see her again. Mu Chuan visited Mu Ze, who greeted him with the knowledge that the "absurdities in the family" had finally found him, referring to Lu Xinran's actions, and implied he was aware of people laughing at him behind his back.
Mu Chuan expressed concern that with Mu Ze constantly navigating imperial court conflicts, the added schemes and jealousy within his own household would only bring more annoyance. Mu Ze responded that royal marriages were merely tools to secure status and that seeking true love within them was asking too much. Despite Mu Ze's cynical view, Mu Chuan wished him happiness and the simple joys of a normal family life, where he could come home, lower his defenses, and speak heart-to-heart.
Mu Ze admitted that Mu Chuan was perhaps the only one who would say such things to him, but maintained that love was an "illusional" bubble, while power offered true security. Mu Chuan countered by asking about the "end of power," suggesting that "solitude comes with high status." Mu Ze then promised that if he were to meet someone who truly loved him, he would "try to taste the worldly joy" Mu Chuan described.
Mu Chuan then informed Mu Ze that the first batch of Peace Granary warehouses had closed, presenting him with the ceremonial seal. Mu Ze, recognizing the handwriting was not Mu Chuan's, learned it was Lu Anran's, and although he forced a smile, his displeasure was evident. Lu Anran's maid, Danqing, relayed news from Cuicui: Lu Xinran had attempted to drug Prince Qing. The incident was widely known throughout Prince Qing's Mansion, and Lu Xinran was now confined to her room.
Danqing remarked that Lu Xinran had lost considerable face and could no longer boast her title as Princess Qing. Lu Anran, hearing this, expressed a desire for "all the absurdities to end soon." The next morning, the sound of gongs and drums filled Prince Qing's Mansion, signaling the joyous wedding day of Mu Ze and Xiao Jingque. Lu Xinran, confined in the back courtyard, listened with sorrow, realizing she had never experienced such a grand wedding.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jingque, despite being a concubine, deliberately wore a double-headed phoenix hairpin, typically reserved for a principal consort, to assert her status as the true mistress of the household to all of Hanjing's aristocrats. Lu Xinran was mistreated by the servants, receiving sour and meager meals. When she learned that Xiao Jingque was hosting a grand feast for the city's noblewomen, establishing herself as the mansion's hostess, she was consumed by envy and indignation.
Provoked by her maid, Cuicui, who declared Lu Xinran the "only true mistress," Lu Xinran, dressed lavishly, stormed into the banquet. She publicly chastised Xiao Jingque for starting the feast too hastily and proceeded to entertain guests as the rightful Princess Qing. She then presented Xiao Jingque with a "gift" of a tree branch, sarcastically suggesting it was a "golden branch" for Xiao Jingque to rest upon, a thinly veiled insult about Xiao Jingque's ambition to climb the social ladder.
Xiao Jingque, not one to back down, retaliated by calling Lu Xinran a "daughter of a boatman" and an "unwanted wife" who was "trying to take my place." Lu Xinran retorted, reminding Xiao Jingque that she was merely a concubine who dared to wear a hairpin beyond her rank and affront her superior. Their public quarrel was interrupted by Mu Ze, who, upon arriving, expressed his displeasure to Lu Xinran.
He then publicly declared that Princess Qing was "ill and unsound" and instructed his guards to remove her. As she was escorted away, Lu Xinran defiantly proclaimed that even as an "unsound Princess Qing," she remained his true wife, the "only true mistress of the family," and that all other women were merely concubines whose children would have to call her mother.
She also boldly stated that Mu Ze would not kill her because she was the sole link between the Lu family and the Prince Qing's Mansion, implying that without her, Lu Anran would not continue to work for him. Cuicui, concerned by Lu Xinran's uncharacteristic silence after the public humiliation, sought out Cai Wangjin, fearing Lu Xinran might do something rash.
Cai Wangjin found Lu Xinran distressed, lamenting how Mu Ze viewed her as abominable despite her conviction that she was the rightful Princess Qing. She confessed her deep sadness that no one truly "saw" her, a feeling she had experienced since her time in the Lu family. Cai Wangjin tried to advise her to remain calm, reminding her that Mu Ze's feast was to honor the Xiao family.
However, Lu Xinran declared that she simply wanted everyone to know, just once, that she was "not nobody," nor an "unwanted concubine," but the "rightful Princess Qing." Cai Wangjin, seeing her despair, offered comfort, stating, "At least, I see you." Overwhelmed, Lu Xinran embraced him, regretting that she had "chosen the wrong person." At that very moment, Xiao Jingque, accompanied by a group of noblewomen, burst in, witnessing the embrace.
Lu Xinran was subjected to their scornful gazes and mocking comments about her shamelessness. Unable to bear the public humiliation, Lu Xinran's sanity fractured, and she descended into madness, with a sense of finality that "everything is finally over." The scandal involving Lu Xinran and Cai Wangjin had spread like wildfire across Hanjing, reaching even the imperial harem.
The Emperor, furious and feeling that the royal family's dignity had been gravely insulted, rebuked Mu Ze and ordered both Cai Wangjin and Lu Xinran to be beaten to death. Mu Ze pleaded with his father to reconsider, arguing that executing them would only validate the rumors and further disgrace the imperial family. He proposed an alternative: Cai Wangjin would be imprisoned, and Lu Xinran would publicly declare she was voluntarily leaving the family.
He fabricated a story that Cai Wangjin had assaulted the Princess, who fiercely resisted but, knowing the shame it brought upon the royal family, chose to depart due to her conscience. The Emperor, swayed by this logic, agreed to Mu Ze's plan. Cai Wangjin was subsequently dragged to prison, where he desperately begged Nanxing, a guard, to let him see Mu Ze, warning that "someone's behind it." Nanxing, however, scorned him and locked the cell door without looking back.
Meanwhile, Lu Xinran, now fully lost to her madness, incessantly repeated, "I'm Princess Qing. I'm the real Princess Qing." Lu Anran sought an audience with Mu Ze, who was visibly dejected. She acknowledged the humiliation he had endured due to Lu Xinran's actions and offered to withdraw all of the Lu family's businesses from Hanjing as compensation.
Mu Ze bitterly remarked that he and the Lu family were now equally "a laughing stock" in Hanjing, with their businesses already deserted and the full impact on their water transport unknown. He angrily questioned if she thought her family hadn't brought him enough shame. Lu Anran stated her understanding that as long as the Lu family remained in Hanjing, gossip would persist, reminding everyone of the scandal.
She promised to expedite the removal of all their companies and presence from Hanjing, including the capital port, believing that the rumors would eventually fade with their absence. Mu Ze approved her plan, then, with a cryptic tone, asked if she knew what he regretted "more than the Lu Family," but before she could inquire further, he dismissed her.
Lu Xinran was returned to the Lu family residence, where she remained in a state of delusion, refusing food and causing disturbances, convinced it was poisonous. When servants reported her refusal to eat, Lu Anran initially seemed to dismiss it but then decided to intervene, taking the food herself.
Lu Xinran still rejected the meal, but when Lu Anran stated that Prince Qing had personally ordered the cooks to prepare it, Lu Xinran's madness briefly subsided, showing a flicker of attention. However, she soon reverted to her delusional state, claiming everyone bullied her and no one cared.
Seeing her sister's condition, Lu Anran reflected on their strained sisterly bond, acknowledging that perhaps her own "past privilege blinded" her and caused Lu Xinran suffering, or perhaps Lu Xinran was "evil in nature beyond help." Regardless, she admitted that the Lu family's safe withdrawal from Hanjing was, in part, due to Lu Xinran's actions. Lu Anran resigned herself to the fact that their "problem will never be solved" and that they didn't "have to be forgiven in this life."
The scandal, having spread like a plague, caused the Lu family's reputation to plummet, earning them disdain from Hanjing's aristocrats. Lu Anran finally achieved her goal of escaping the imperial family's scrutiny, believing that the plan she initiated on the night of the Flower Festival in Su City had finally come to an end, allowing the Lu family to escape unscathed. However, unknown to her, fate had already planted seeds of danger that would unfold in unexpected ways.
