The First Jasmine Episode 18 Recap
> The First Jasmine Recaps
Determined to spend more time with Ye Li to keep her from feeling isolated due to her illness, Mo Xiuyao actively seeks out her company. While she is writing a letter, he eagerly tries to help but ends up making a bit of a mess, prompting Ye Li to laughingly tell him to sit down and drink his soup. When Mo Xiuyao offers to have his aide A Jin mail her letter, she declines, explaining that Qingshuang will handle it.
Learning she plans to visit her mother's former shop, Shende Shop, to review the ledgers, Mo Xiuyao insists on accompanying her. At the shop, Ye Li goes over the records with her senior classmate, Wei Zhuang. Soon, Feng Zhiyao arrives and playfully teases them about Mo Xiuyao’s sudden devotion to "the family business," joking that Mo Xiuyao never once visited his own shops in six years.
Afterward, despite finding the prefecture office boring, Ye Li agrees to accompany Mo Xiuyao to the Jingzhao Prefecture. On the street, a heavy cargo crate falls and crushes a bystander's chest, leaving him suffocating on the ground with purple lips. Lin Tinglan, a passing woman skilled in medicine, pushes through the panicked crowd. She diagnoses the man with pneumothorax and warns that he will die if the trapped air is not released.
Ignoring the protests of conservative onlookers who find it inappropriate for a young woman to expose a man's chest, Lin Tinglan cuts open his robe and punctures his chest with her triangular knife, successfully releasing the trapped air. With the help of a bystander named Qin Cang, she has the man transported to a nearby clinic for further treatment.
At the clinic, Qin Cang notices Lin Tinglan's unusual triangular knife and recognizes it as a style from the southwestern Chishui River Valley. Surprised, Lin Tinglan explains she learned medicine from a local witch doctor there. They quickly realize they both stayed at the Qianxing Inn just outside the valley at different times. Lin Tinglan is thrilled to learn from Qin Cang that the innkeeper's mother safely delivered a healthy baby girl.
When the patient's grateful wife gifts them fresh melons, they share the sweet fruit, which Lin Tinglan cuts with the very knife she claims she once used to slay a pack of wolves. Before parting, Lin Tinglan shares a southwestern custom of a three-day pact for love at first sight, leaving Qin Cang with her address and name, promising they will meet again in three days if he still thinks of her.
Meanwhile, at the Jingzhao Prefecture, Mo Xiuyao reviews official documents while Ye Li studies astronomical texts, preferring scientific treatises like "Notes on the Armillary Sphere" and "Commentary on the Taichu Calendar" over romance novels. When she eventually dozes off, Mo Xiuyao quietly stands beside her, using his hand to block the harsh sunlight from her eyes.
On the carriage ride home, Ye Li finds Mo Xiuyao's extreme attentiveness unusual and asks if he was ever unkind to her in the past. Mo Xiuyao gently asks if she ever feels lonely at the mansion, but she assures him that her busy days at Lishan Academy kept her far too occupied to ever feel lonely. However, Mo Xiuyao notices red bumps forming on her neck.
Back at the mansion, Physician Guan diagnoses her with a food intolerance caused by eating Mumantou earlier that afternoon, advising her to avoid the food, drink plenty of water, and refrain from scratching. That evening, Ye Li playfully splashes her maid Qingyu in the bath. Later, both Qingyu and Mo Xiuyao warn her that scratching the rash will leave permanent scars.
When Ye Li mentions that her imaginary companion, Qingshuang, will sleep with her to keep her company, Mo Xiuyao—anxious to keep her from relying on her hallucinations—decides it is time to end their separate living arrangements. He explains that since his physical limitations are no longer an obstacle and they are husband and wife, they should finally share a room and consummate their marriage. Ye Li is surprised but consents.
During the night, Mo Xiuyao stays awake to gently hold Ye Li's hands whenever she tries to scratch her rash in her sleep. When she wakes, he promises that they will always be each other's family, ensuring she will never have to face the world alone again. Deeply moved, Ye Li asks to hear those words again once she is fully recovered.
At the prefecture office, a tense confrontation unfolds as Gu Zheng detains Qiu Xian, a military squad leader under Wang Suwu's command. Gu Zheng presents undeniable evidence of betrayal: Qiu Xian bought a large mansion in Anye Ward despite his meager salary and went missing for nearly an hour on the night they pursued the Red Fox in Penglai Alley. Furious, Wang Suwu turns on his subordinate, demanding to know who paid him.
Guided by Qiu Xian's confession, Wang Suwu leads a raid on an incense shop in the West Market owned by Chen Bing. Although they corner Chen Bing, the owner pretends to comply with their demands for a contact list only to poison himself and die on the spot. Mo Xiuyao is briefed on the raid.
Gu Zheng's investigation reveals that Chen Bing was actually a former registrar of the Eastern Palace's Catering Bureau who was supposed to have died in exile after the Eastern Palace fire eight years ago, directly linking Yuan Fang's murder to the Eastern Palace. Mo Xiuyao also suspects Deputy Prefect Zheng, who was present at the raid and had ties to the Eastern Palace, yet chose to feign ignorance of Chen Bing's identity.
Mo Xiuyao orders a close watch on Zheng and prepares to head to Prince Li's Mansion. Meanwhile, the news of Chen Bing's suicide quickly reaches Marquis Muyang, Zhou Jing. Realizing Mo Jingli killed Yuan Fang to drive a wedge between him and the Empress Dowager so the young Emperor could seize power, an enraged Zhou Jing orders his guards to march on Prince Li's Mansion. Sensing the danger, Mo Jingli orders his servants to burn incriminating documents.
He instructs Chief Secretary Sui to immediately escort his wife, Ye Ying, back to the Ye Mansion for her safety. Ye Ying stubbornly refuses to leave his side, but she is forcibly dragged away by her maids. Moments later, a devastating fire erupts in Mo Jingli's chambers. Ye Ying watches in horror as the flames engulf the building, screaming for someone to save him before she faints.
Zhou Jing, Mo Xiuyao, and the Jingzhao Prefecture guards arrive at the burning mansion, where Gu Zheng and Wang Suwu quickly seal the exits. When Zhou Jing tries to interfere, Mo Xiuyao firmly reminds him that the Emperor officially assigned the case to the Jingzhao Prefecture. Four badly burned bodies are recovered from the ruins.
The mansion's physician confirms Mo Jingli's identity by matching the corpse to his old injury and a missing left molar that had been extracted earlier that year. When Ye Li is informed of the tragedy, she is in utter disbelief, convinced that a cunning man like Mo Jingli would not die so easily. Meanwhile, at the imperial court, the Empress Dowager and her sister discuss Mo Jingli's apparent self-immolation.
Agreeing that his actions were a betrayal of their past mercy, they resolve to ruthlessly hunt down and eliminate any remaining remnants of the Eastern Palace to secure the stability of the state.
