The First Jasmine Episode 17 Recap
> The First Jasmine Recaps
Ye Li and Mo Xiuyao were escorted into a private room at Jinbao Zhai, where the steward was exceptionally eager to present their finest celadon. Ye Li grew suspicious, believing the steward must have recognized her as the owner of the rival Shende Xuan and was attempting to intimidate her with his treasures. When the steward left to fetch more wares, Mo Xiuyao told her to select whatever she liked without worrying about the cost.
Mo Xiuyao then revealed that he was the actual owner of the shop, which had previously been managed by Feng Zhiyao. Ye Li was delighted when he offered to hand the shop and other properties over to her to manage, realizing that Prince Ding's Mansion possessed a substantial hidden fortune. In Huaixi, the imperial investigator Gongshu Yang had been stirring up trouble.
By utilizing anonymous accusations among the local elite, he had caused immense panic, eventually forcing them to offer up Guard Qiu—Marquis Muyang's former confidant—as a scapegoat. Qin Cang reported these developments to Zhou Jing, the Marquis Muyang, noting that Guard Qiu was unlikely to survive long enough to reveal anything useful to the investigator. During their conversation, Qin Cang inquired about his pending appointment as the Adjutant Commander of Zhechong Prefecture.
Zhou Jing dismissed the matter, claiming the position had been given to someone else, and promised to find him a post elsewhere. Later, Zhou Tianyang, the Marquis's legitimate son and heir, mockingly confronted Qin Cang. Zhou Tianyang gloatingly revealed that he was the one who had blocked Qin Cang's military appointment just to ease his burden. Qin Cang, who was also Zhou Jing's son but bore a different surname, was deeply frustrated by his half-brother's petty interference.
Looking to uncover the whereabouts of the critical testamentary edict, Zhou Tianyang and Qin Cang discussed Dowager Consort Qin. They realized she would not easily reveal its location. However, Qin Cang noted that during her time in the palace, she had been extremely close to Zhou Xiankun, an observatory officer from the Bureau of Astronomy. Though Zhou Xiankun was long dead, his disciple, Ye Wenshen, was still alive and might hold the key to finding the edict.
Ye Li returned to Prince Ding's Mansion only to find her uncle, Ye Wenshen, packing his belongings to leave. Steward Cui was helping him move out. Determined to speak with him, Ye Li traced him to Changsheng Fang. There, a servant tried to turn her away, claiming Ye Wenshen was unwell and refused to see any outsiders. Ye Li remained steadfast, stating she had an urgent matter and would wait outside until he opened the door.
Once inside, Ye Wenshen expressed his resentment. He did not blame Ye Li for Ye Wending being stripped of his post over Yanlu's murder case, nor did he blame her for Ye Wenhua's descent into madness, viewing those as their own karma. However, he could not forgive her for the death of his mother, Old Madam Ye.
Ye Li calmly explained the truth of that fateful night: Old Madam Ye had attacked her with a blade, intending to murder her just as she had killed Ye Li's mother, Xu Wanzhou. Ye Li argued that her actions were purely self-defense, and that Old Madam Ye's death under the very tree Xu Wanzhou had planted was a fitting act of fate. Relenting, Ye Wenshen asked her true motive for seeking him out.
Ye Li confessed that she was determined to clear the names of the late Mo Xiuwen, the Heiyun Cavalry, and Prince Ding's Mansion. She felt a profound duty to repay the debt owed by her mother and the Lishan Academy, as the fateful imperial edict had been stolen from Xu Wanzhou's hands. Ye Li asked what kind of person Dowager Consort Qin was, hoping to find a way to make her surrender the edict.
Ye Wenshen recounted how his master, Zhou Xiankun, first met Dowager Consort Qin when he escorted her from Nanyi as a marriage envoy. During a terrible three-year drought in Nanyi, Zhou Xiankun painted a magnificent dragon that seemingly brought down the rain, earning Dowager Consort Qin's lifelong devotion. Years later, when Zhou Xiankun was falsely implicated in the Eastern Palace fire case and sentenced to death, Dowager Consort Qin tried desperately to save him but failed.
Ye Wenshen explained that getting the edict from her would be incredibly difficult, but Ye Li remained composed, believing that the right opportunity would present itself. Meanwhile, Zhou Tianyang continued to torment Qin Cang's guards, forcing them to undergo grueling physical punishments.
Qin Cang arrived to intervene, but Zhou Tianyang merely mocked him before being called away by a servant, who announced that Registrar Tan had returned with a letter and delicacies from his mother in Lingnan, and that Marquis Muyang was waiting for him. Back at Tuisixuan, Mo Xiuyao was practicing walking.
Feng Zhiyao was initially disgruntled about Mo Xiuyao handing over Jinbao Zhai and the estate in the west of the city to Ye Li, complaining that these lucrative assets could support hundreds of private guards. However, his complaints vanished instantly when he witnessed Mo Xiuyao stand up and take a few steps on his own. Overjoyed, Feng Zhiyao wanted to celebrate, but Mo Xiuyao cautioned him to keep his recovery a secret. They turned to business.
Feng Zhiyao reported that Gongshu Yang's investigation in Huaixi was causing chaos, and it was only a matter of time before he uncovered the military weaponry scandal. He reminded Mo Xiuyao that their ultimate goal was not just bringing down Marquis Muyang, but finding the evidence needed to clear the names of Mo Xiuwen, the Heiyun Cavalry, and Prince Ding's Mansion.
To keep his recovery hidden, Mo Xiuyao instructed Ye Li that only a select few servants—including Qingyu, Tao'er, and Xing'er—should be allowed into Tuisixuan. When Ye Li asked why her close maid Qingshuang was excluded, Mo Xiuyao was taken aback. He had already investigated her background and found that Qingshuang did not exist. Ye Li, however, called out to the empty space behind her, leaving Mo Xiuyao deeply unsettled.
Mo Xiuyao reviewed the detailed report of Ye Li's descent from Lishan. The records showed she traveled completely alone, penniless and assisted only by sympathetic mountain guards, before taking a bumpy ox cart to the capital. Recalling her frequent habit of talking and gesturing to an invisible companion, Mo Xiuyao consulted a physician. The doctor explained that such hallucinations were not madness, but rather a psychological coping mechanism.
Having suffered severe trauma and isolating loneliness after leaving her mountain home and finding no warmth in her maternal family, Ye Li had conjured the illusion of her childhood maid for solace. The physician advised that there was no quick cure; instead, she needed constant companionship and care from her family to heal her heart. Determined to support her, Mo Xiuyao received some hot ginseng soup that Ye Li brought for him.
As she wrote a letter to Lishan, Mo Xiuyao sat close to her, trying to keep her company. He gently asked if she still felt lonely living in the mansion. Before she could answer, urgent news arrived: a massive fire had broken out at Prince Li's Mansion during the night, and Prince Li had died in the blaze.
