My Heroic Husband Episode 25 Recap
> My Heroic Husband Recap
Lou Shuwan's father, along with his son, offered Lou Shuwan to Bao Wenhan, hoping to gain tax exemptions and business opportunities for their cloth trade. Bao Wenhan promised they would receive whatever they desired if Lou Shuwan pleased him that night. Meanwhile, the Su family’s Second Master and his son arrived at the closed city gate of Linan, exhausted and starving. They decided to wait until morning to avoid disturbing anyone and risking execution.
A guard on duty, surprised to see people entering the city instead of fleeing, questioned if they were desperate enough to risk their lives. The Second Master explained they were searching for relatives: Su Tan'er and Ning Yi. The guard, astonished, revealed that Ning Yi was the Military Counselor of the Badao Camp.
The Second Master and his son found this hard to believe, thinking it must be a different person with the same name, a notion the guard shared, remarking that Ning Yi would be humiliated by having such shabby relatives. The Second Master insisted their family was wealthy merchants from Jiangning, prompting the guard to inform them that all merchants had been killed days prior, so their nephew-in-law was likely dead.
Upon hearing this, the Second Master and his son cried, lamenting not Ning Yi’s death, but the family fortune they would now not inherit. Liu Xigua, feeling conflicted about a dinner invitation from a friend, sought advice from her aunt, Fang Qiong. Fang Qiong, realizing Liu Xigua's interest in the person, enthusiastically insisted on dressing her up for the occasion.
However, when Liu Xigua arrived at the East Garden Restaurant, she found Chen Fan and other men already present, much to Chen Fan’s surprise given her dressed-up appearance. Everyone at the table was celebrating the successful grain price initiative. Chen Fan lauded Ning Yi for thwarting Bao Wenhan’s plans and proposed a toast, declaring them good friends. Meanwhile, outside the same restaurant, the Su family’s Second Master and his son, desperate for food, were rudely turned away as beggars.
Ning Yi heard the commotion but paid it no mind. Later, while sitting on the street lamenting their recent misfortunes and blaming the carriage thief, they spotted Lu Hongti fleeing from bandits in their stolen carriage. Believing they could recover their belongings, they chased after her. In an alley, they found their carriage with their money still intact, but their brief moment of relief was cut short when they were mistaken for assassins by the pursuing bandits and apprehended.
Inside the restaurant, while everyone else became drunk, Liu Xigua’s aunt-in-law, Shao Xianying, brought a new blind date, Yang Dalang, for her. Liu Xigua, resolute in not marrying until her father's revenge was achieved, tried to refuse. Chen Fan, in a drunken haze, attempted to defend Liu Xigua, only for Ning Yi to quickly escort him upstairs.
There, Ning Yi administered what he claimed was "destiny-altering medicine" to Chen Fan (in reality, knockout powder), advising him to take five more doses for full effect, especially with alcohol. As Liu Xigua was occupied with her unwanted suitor, Ning Yi and the Four Male Virtues, who had been feigning intoxication, seized the opportunity to slip away one by one, using bathroom breaks as an excuse.
When Liu Xigua’s aunt-in-law revealed that Ning Yi had personally arranged the blind date, Liu Xigua realized she had been used and that Ning Yi had fled. Furious, she immediately pursued him. Ning Yi and the Four Male Virtues were heading for the heavily guarded city gates. Feng Yuan, one of the brothers, had tried to disguise Ning Yi, but the new hairstyle only made him more conspicuous.
Just as they were about to make their escape, Ning Yi spotted Xiao Chan in the bustling city. Abandoning their escape plan, Ning Yi and the Four Male Virtues rushed to her. Xiao Chan, distraught and weeping, asked Ning Yi why he had taken so long to return, revealing that she had "lost" Su Tan'er.
Guard Geng then appeared, kneeling and blaming himself for Su Tan'er's disappearance, but Ning Yi reassured him that it was not his fault and promised they would find her together. Ning Yi learned of Su Tan'er's disappearance. He reassured a self-blaming Guard Geng that it wasn't his fault, emphasizing that finding Su Tan'er was paramount.
Guard Geng recounted that after Ning Yi had sent them away on a boat, Su Tan'er insisted on returning to search for him, fearing for his safety. They disembarked, found no sign of Ning Yi among the deceased, and decided to reside in a secluded house in Linan, continuing their search before eventually returning to Jiangning. Xiao Chan corroborated that Su Tan'er diligently searched the streets daily with a portrait of Ning Yi, but to no avail.
Guard Geng further explained that they once saw Ning Yi with bandits, and though Su Tan'er wanted to approach, he restrained her, fearing the dangers. Su Tan'er, however, firmly believed Ning Yi was merely feigning allegiance and began gathering intelligence on the bandit camp. Ning Yi’s faint impressions of calls at the city gate were, in fact, Su Tan'er and Guard Geng trying to get his attention.
Guard Geng then described how, recently, upon learning Ning Yi was selling grain on the street, Su Tan'er eagerly went to him but was abducted. During his struggle with the abductor, Guard Geng managed to cut the assailant's right arm with a dagger. Recognizing that such an opponent must be an extraordinary fighter, Ning Yi surmised the abductor was likely within the Badao Camp.
The Four Male Virtues, along with Guard Geng and Xiao Chan, pledged their unwavering support, insisting on returning to the camp to aid Ning Yi in his search, citing the strength in numbers and their loyalty. Meanwhile, Right Chancellor Qin, while enjoying preserved egg porridge with Left Chancellor, shared exciting news: Ning Liheng, using Qin's personal knife, had remarkably gathered 500 dans of grain from Qingde County and other areas and brought it into Linan overnight.
Qin saw this as a providential intervention, believing Ning Liheng could significantly aid General Dong's approaching army in winning their first battle and subsequently advancing north. Ning Yi and the Four Male Virtues returned to the Badao Camp. Liu Xigua, seeing them calmly drinking tea and hearing that they hadn't left the city, assumed she had misunderstood Ning Yi's intentions and told Chen Fan to cease the search. Ning Yi then took Guard Geng to the camp's dungeon.
The jailer offered assistance, but Ning Yi declined, stating he was handling business from the Holy Master. After searching the single dungeon in the camp and finding no trace of Su Tan'er, Ning Yi concluded she must have been abducted by another camp and decided to proceed to the drill ground. Unbeknownst to Ning Yi, the Su family’s Second Master and his son, still imprisoned, vaguely heard his voice but dismissed it as another hallucination.
Meanwhile, Bao Wenhan presented 50,000 taels of gold to the Holy Master, Fang Tianlei. Fang Tianlei’s wife, Shao Xianying, immediately questioned the small sum, knowing the vast wealth of Linan's merchants. Bao Wenhan defensively stated that despite torture and extensive searches, that was all they found, and blamed Badao Camp for thwarting his plans to exploit the poor through grain sales.
Fang Tianlei, aware of Bao Wenhan’s rampant ambition, calmly dismissed him and reassured his wife that he had his own plans. At the drill ground, Ning Yi instructed all men to roll up their right sleeves. Chen Fan arrived, having been informed by Liu Xigua that the earlier misunderstanding was cleared. Ning Yi revealed that his wife had been abducted.
Surprised to learn Ning Yi was married, Chen Fan immediately rallied his brothers to cooperate fully, vowing to punish anyone who dared to abduct his "brother’s wife." However, after inspecting all the men, they found no one with the distinctive dagger wound Guard Geng described.
Chen Fan suggested that Badao Camp rarely abducted married women, raising the strong possibility that Bao Wenhan's Xuanying Camp was responsible, as Bao Wenhan was a notorious lecher who frequently ordered the abduction of women from the streets. Chen Fan expressed grave concern for Su Tan’er’s fate.
