Lost Track of Time Episode 18 Recap
> Lost Track of Time Recap
Lu Anran adamantly refused to marry Mu Ze as a concubine, vowing she would die before agreeing. When Mu Ze questioned her apparent indifference to Lu Yun's fate in the military, Lu Anran reminded him that Lu Yun was only her half-brother, whose biological mother had tried to poison her and whose sister had repeatedly attempted to kill her. She declared herself a selfish person with no obligation to sacrifice her lifelong happiness for him.
While she had previously wished for Lu Yun to take a stable path out of a big sister's concern, she now believed everyone had their own destiny. If he truly wanted to be a soldier, she would not stop him, acknowledging that contributing to the nation was a good thing. Mu Ze noted her unexpected answers. Later, Lu Anran watched her father, Lu Qingzhou, mourn her mother, Shen Lanxi.
She urged Lu Qingzhou to take Lu Xinran and Shen Lanxi's ancestral tablet back to Su City, explaining that Hanjing was an unstable place and she did not want him to live in constant fear. Lu Qingzhou, convinced that they could not defeat their powerful adversaries, pleaded with Lu Anran to return with him to Su City to protect their family and live out their remaining years peacefully. Lu Anran explained that once one enters Hanjing, leaving is not simple.
She insisted she would only return after ensuring Lu Yun abandoned his ambition to join the army, so their family could be reunited. She asked her father to leave first for his safety, which would ease her worries. Lu Qingzhou, before departing, advised her to take care of herself and not sacrifice her well-being for others, promising to await her return in Su City.
The next day, as Lu Anran was seeing Lu Qingzhou off, General Xiao Ying's soldiers surrounded them. Xiao Ying announced they had received a report accusing Lu Qingzhou of close ties with Beilin and suspicion of treason and collaboration with the enemy. Lu Qingzhou vehemently denied the charges, but Xiao Ying ordered a search. The soldiers quickly uncovered a secret letter.
Xiao Ying then publicly listed Lu Qingzhou's alleged crimes: privately selling arms to Beilin, monopolizing salt and iron, and deliberately delaying military supplies while manipulating grain prices. He declared the evidence conclusive, the crimes unforgivable, and that the entire family should be executed. Lu Anran was horrified, but Lu Qingzhou, maintaining his composure, told her not to intervene, claiming that "a clean hand wants no washing" and urging her not to worry about him as he was led away.
Lu Anran immediately suspected that Lu Xinran was the mole in the mansion. Rushing to Lu Xinran's room, she found it empty, with a brazier still warm from recent use. A note was left behind, stating, "The next one is your brother." Fearing for Lu Yun, Lu Anran decided to head to the military camp. She instructed Lingxi to await news at the mansion and asked Holly to seek help from her brother and the Qinghe Gang.
However, Lu Anran was ambushed and abducted en route. Lingxi later turned to Mu Chuan for help, who, along with Shen Changqing and Holly's gang, launched a widespread search. They confirmed Lu Yun was still at the military camp, realizing the note was a diversion. Meanwhile, Lu Anran woke up to find herself trapped in a coffin, facing Lu Xinran, who had orchestrated her kidnapping.
Lu Anran accused Lu Xinran of faking her insanity, which Lu Xinran admitted to, stating she had to act like a fool to escape her shame and avenge her biological mother. She then confessed to killing Shen Lanxi, Lu Anran's mother, explaining that she had exploited a wharf riot—caused by Mu Ze's illicit salt dealings which Lu Anran had inadvertently exposed her to—to commit the murder.
Lu Xinran bitterly expressed that Lu Qingzhou, the servants, and even Lu Yun, all favored Lu Anran, claiming that all her own malevolent actions were "forced by you." She further lamented that even as Prince Qing's Princess, Mu Ze's attention remained solely on Lu Anran. Lu Xinran then put Lu Anran in a red dress, vowing to bury her alive and curse her to never reincarnate or see her mother again, before ordering the coffin to be covered.
Lu Xinran returned to Prince Qing's Mansion, where Mu Ze praised her for framing the Lu family but questioned her loyalty. Lu Xinran suggested she could remarry him under Lu Anran's name. When Mu Ze learned she had buried Lu Anran alive, he was enraged and furiously demanded to know the location. After he threatened to disfigure her, Lu Xinran pretended to agree to lead him there but only stalled for time.
She confronted him, claiming they were both the same—only ever loving themselves. Seeing his desperation, she realized he truly loved Lu Anran. As her final act of revenge against him, she refused to tell him where Lu Anran was and committed suicide by jumping from the city wall. Trapped, Lu Anran struggled for survival. In her final moments of despair, she regretted her contentious last encounter with Mu Chuan.
She reflected on how fate had given her a chance to relive her life, questioning why she had been so obsessed and unable to abandon everything to be with him. Meanwhile, Mu Chuan, investigating Lu Xinran's room, found burnt paper scraps. Deducing a clue, he consulted a geomancer, who identified a sinister location. Recalling a faint cry he might have heard earlier in that vicinity, Mu Chuan ordered his men to dig. They frantically uncovered the coffin.
Mu Chuan, with his own hands, tore open the lid and rescued the barely conscious Lu Anran. Mu Ze arrived a step too late, seeing Lu Anran safe in Mu Chuan's arms, and left without approaching. Mu Chuan took Lu Anran back to the Lu mansion. Holly informed him of the false accusations against the Lu family.
Mu Chuan promised to help clear their name before the Emperor, acknowledging the difficulty, as the framer, Lu Xinran, was now dead, making it a complex dispute. He instructed Holly to tell Lu Anran not to worry, for he would handle everything. Before heading to the palace, he reiterated that no matter what happened, he would be there for her. Despite Holly's attempts to stop him, Mu Ze burst into Lu Anran's room.
He watched the unconscious Lu Anran, hesitating as Lu Xinran's dying words echoed in his mind: "You obviously love Lu Anran, but you torture her and suspect her. In front of her, you feel inferior like a dog." When Lu Anran awoke, startled, Mu Ze quickly masked his concern, accusing her of setting him up and seducing Mu Chuan.
He then threatened her with her father's fate, revealing Lu Qingzhou was suffering a relapse in prison and that his life depended on her choice. Lu Anran denounced his despicable methods, but Mu Ze retorted that all means were justified. He demanded she become his concubine, threatening to make her "the dog of Prince Qing's Mansion" if she refused. He declared his hatred for her, vowing to torment her with the methods she despised most.
He gave her three days to consider, but Lu Anran defiantly declared she would never marry him. Mu Ze grimly warned her that even as a ghost, she would belong to Prince Qing's Mansion.
