Luoyang Episode 11 Recap
> Luoyang Recap
Liu Xiang offered Gao Bingzhu tea, then admitted to being a member of the Four Season Clan and confessed to killing Baili Yan and others because they had obstructed his path to wealth. He mocked Gao Bingzhu for relentlessly pursuing truth while facing imminent death, telling him to instead observe the world, which was on the brink of collapse.
Gao Bingzhu, understanding that Liu Xiang would die now that the Riverside Resort was exposed, stated his only interest was in finding and killing the man who used a polearm to avenge his fallen comrades. Liu Xiang claimed he could not help with that, then laughed and declared that life and death were his to decide before taking his own life. Liu Ran, increasingly disturbed by her uncle Liu Xiang's strange words and behavior, returned to the Liu Mansion.
Baili Hongyi and Wu Siyue also arrived there. Liu Ran recounted Liu Xiang's peculiar actions that day. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Baili Hongyi rushed into the room, finding Liu Xiang dead with Gao Bingzhu still at the scene. Liu Ran collapsed over her uncle's body, crying uncontrollably. Both Baili Hongyi and Wu Siyue immediately accused Gao Bingzhu of murder. Despite Gao Bingzhu's insistence that Liu Xiang had committed suicide, they refused to believe him.
Wu Siyue berated Gao Bingzhu for his continued solitary pursuit of revenge, questioning if his vengeance was the only one that mattered. Gao Bingzhu acknowledged his single-mindedness, stating he was a lone ghost who trusted nothing but his own sword. Wu Siyue, disheartened, declared she would never trust or assist him again. Gao Bingzhu apologized and left.
Liu Ran then pressed Baili Hongyi for answers, asking if they had been investigating her uncle and if Liu Xiang was responsible for her father Baili Yan's death. Baili Hongyi confirmed that Liu Xiang was indeed connected to his father's death. Wu Youjue reported to the empress that the Interior Guards had discovered smelting furnaces and counterfeit coins during their raid on Riverside Resort, confirming Liu Xiang's appropriation of Mount Lian copper.
He further reported Liu Xiang's suicide, acknowledging the Duke's self-inflicted death to escape justice. The empress expressed concern that such findings suggested widespread corruption among her officials and sought counsel on how to sentence the case. Some officials advocated for the harshest penalties, including the death penalty for Liu Xiang, a 100-stroke caning, confiscation of his property, and the reduction of his entire clan to commoners, banning them from holding office.
Others argued against such severe measures for Liu Xiang's relatives, citing the Liu family's status as a respected noble clan, fearing it would destabilize the court. When prompted, Gao Sheng, who had been feigning sleep, reasoned that since Liu Xiang had already committed suicide, further discussion of his sentence was pointless. He suggested that confiscating the family's property would suffice as punishment and that reducing their relatives to commoners would be unwise, potentially causing turmoil.
Convinced by his logic, the empress assigned the case to the Grand Court under Gao Sheng's full authority. Gao Sheng oversaw the sealing of the Liu Mansion, with his subordinates meticulously documenting all confiscated items. Pei Jian seized the opportunity to remind Gao Sheng of his promise to unseal the Unwelcome Well once Baili Yan's killer was identified. Gao Sheng granted his request. Pei Jian personally led the team to unseal the Unwelcome Well.
Wang Dengcheng, the well officer, expressed profound gratitude to Pei Jian, who in turn credited Gao Bingzhu for bringing the plight of the Unwelcome Well to his attention. Despite Liu Xiang's death and the apparent avenging of Baili Yan, Baili Hongyi remained troubled. His aide, Shen Fei, tried to comfort him and suggested he return to the Ministry of Works to fulfill his father's wishes.
Baili Hongyi mused about the meaning of "usefulness," wondering if his father had been right all along about what truly held value. Later, Baili Hongyi, walking the streets with Shen Fei, recalled Liu Ran's famously over-seasoned spicy soup. He instructed Shen Fei and others not to hold any resentment towards Liu Ran for her uncle's actions. He then observed a street vendor weighing copper coins with a copper scale, learning that many counterfeit coins were circulating and were often underweight.
Intrigued, Baili Hongyi took the scale for further examination. Wang Dengcheng found Gao Bingzhu at the graves of his deceased friends to share the good news about the Unwelcome Well's unsealing. However, Gao Bingzhu showed no joy. He lamented that Liu Xiang, his most significant lead in five years, had taken his own life before he could extract more information, bringing his search for the polearm killer to an abrupt halt.
Feeling like a failure, Gao Bingzhu acknowledged his vengeance was far from complete. He asked about Liu Ran's well-being. Yunzhi reported that Liu Ran remained confined to her room. Later, Yunzhi brought black chicken soup to Liu Ran, urging her to eat, as Liu Ran had been refusing food. Yunzhi empathized with Liu Ran's grief, recalling Baili Hongyi's own struggle after his father's death.
Liu Ran confirmed she had seen Baili Hongyi outside her door and understood his hesitation to approach her, just as she felt unable to face him after learning of her uncle's involvement in Baili Yan's death. Gao Bingzhu later reported to King of East River about the raid on Riverside Resort.
He expressed disbelief that only 33,000 strings of counterfeit coins had been seized from such a large smelting workshop, which could produce 50,000 strings daily, especially given the vast amount of Mount Lian copper that had been stolen. Gao Bingzhu pointed out that the seized counterfeit coins were strangely heavier than official currency, which made no sense for a profit-driven counterfeiting operation.
He suspected that Liu Xiang's death was merely a ruse by the Four Season Clan to conceal a far larger conspiracy, with Liu Xiang serving as a disposable pawn. King of East River found this highly suspicious, noting that even the Intelligence Services had been unable to locate the missing copper.
He also mentioned that Baili Yan's death by Shachi Venom and the previous murders of a father and daughter, who were silenced before they could speak, suggested a deeper plot, possibly linked to the resurfacing Four Season Clan, which was thought to have been eradicated five years prior.
They agreed that locating the massive copper supply was paramount to uncovering the true scope of the scheme, despite the extensive searches conducted by the Interior Guards and Grand Court across the capital. Gao Bingzhu suggested the copper might be hidden in plain sight. Pondering the mystery of the unnaturally heavy counterfeit coins and the untraceable copper, Baili Hongyi began to consider the Unwelcome Well as a potential location.
He ventured there alone and observed impoverished children fighting over a piece of flatbread. He retrieved the bread and returned it to them. A young boy, recognizing Baili Hongyi's affluent appearance, approached him to beg. Baili Hongyi bought him a flatbread and inquired if many outsiders had been visiting the Unwelcome Well. The boy confirmed that both wealthy individuals like Baili Hongyi and others dressed in common attire had been seen recently. Baili Hongyi then noticed a group of people hurrying past. He covertly followed them down a narrow passage, which led him to a vast, hidden weapon casting workshop.
