Resumo do episódio 14 de The Heir
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Upon arriving at Li Ink, Li Zhen was met with a barrage of hostile accusations. The handwritten copy of her painstakingly restored ancient lacquer-soot ink recipe had been leaked and was spreading quickly across Sibao Street. Li Jingdong and Jiangyue immediately turned on her, claiming she was the only one with a motive to sabotage the family.
Li Zhen fiercely defended herself, arguing that the recipe was her own blood and sweat, and she had nothing to gain from leaking it. When she pointed out that Li Jingdong and Sixth Grandfather also had access to the recipe, Li Jingdong brought up the past misdeeds of her Eighth Branch, challenging her to swear an oath before their ancestors.
Li Zhen coldly replied that oaths were meaningless without trust, and her branch had been removed from the ancestral hall long ago anyway. Jiangyue seized on this, accusing Li Zhen of turning her back on her ancestors and betraying the family that had given her opportunities. She insisted that no leaks had ever occurred before Li Zhen's arrival. Seventh Old Madam silenced the bickering, declaring that they needed to solve the problem rather than assign blame.
She ordered Li Jingdong to compensate the merchants immediately and sent Sixth Grandfather to handle the Literary Association and Lord Yan. Though Seventh Old Madam expressed her belief in Li Zhen's innocence, Li Zhen refused to leave in disgrace, vowing to hunt down the true culprit and clear her name. Meanwhile, Qi Jiu learned of the chaos at Li Ink from his assistant, Xiao Qi.
Recognizing that the leak was a calculated move to ruin Li Zhen, Qi Jiu ordered Xiao Qi to keep a close eye on the unfolding situation. Determined to find the culprit, Li Zhen sought out Manager Shao at the workshop. Though he was hesitant to let her in due to orders from the young master, Li Zhen persuaded him to let her examine the workshop's historical employment registers.
She had noticed a highly distinct quirk in the thief's handwriting on the leaked recipe: the horizontal strokes slanted upward, and the vertical strokes lacked a proper return. Since every worker personally signed the registers upon joining, she hoped to match the script. After a meticulous search, she found a match belonging to Ge Laoliu, a worker dismissed five years prior for theft and laziness.
Manager Shao confirmed that Ge Laoliu was a notorious scoundrel and gambler who frequented the local streets. Li Zhen and her brother, Li Zhengliang, tracked Ge Laoliu to a nearby tavern, where they found him drunk and picking fights with the staff. Zhengliang told Li Zhen to wait safely at the old workshop while he handled the rogue. However, Zhengliang underestimated the drunkard's strength and nearly found himself overpowered.
Just as Ge Laoliu brandished a weapon, Qi Jiu and Xiao Qi arrived in the nick of time, easily subduing the thug. While Qi Jiu offered to handle the rogue on his own, Li Zhen insisted on conducting the interrogation herself to personally wash away the slander. Qi Jiu agreed and helped carry the unconscious man back.
Using Qi Jiu's military saber as a terrifying prop, Li Zhen prepared to break Ge Laoliu, while Qi Jiu and Xiao Qi watched the show from behind a door. When Ge Laoliu woke up, he arrogantly mocked Li Zhen, declaring that women should stay at home and serve men instead of striving for power. Zhengliang struck him for his insolence, but Li Zhen remained remarkably calm. She told the rogue that his insults only proved his own inferiority.
She warned him that his accomplice in the Li family had simply used him as a disposable pawn, and threatened to hand him over to the authorities. When Ge Laoliu stubbornly claimed he had merely found the recipe on the street, Li Zhen drew the saber. She spun a chilling tale, telling him the blade belonged to her business partner, Qi Jiu, a ruthless man associated with Marshal Qi.
Since the leak threatened Qi Jiu's business interests, she warned that he was waiting behind the door, ready to draw blood if Ge Laoliu refused to talk. Terrified by the threat of a violent end, Ge Laoliu broke and confessed that Sun Baiyi had paid him and provided the recipe for him to copy. Behind the door, Qi Jiu could not help but admire Li Zhen's cleverness.
Armed with this irrefutable proof, Li Zhen returned to Li Ink and presented Sun Baiyi's draft to Seventh Old Madam. Seeing the unmistakable handwriting, Seventh Old Madam ordered Sun Baiyi's immediate arrest. Sensing the shift in tide, Jiangyue began executing her own defensive scheme. She approached Sun Wanyi, reminding her that Sun Baiyi was her cousin and had always been close to her son, Li Zhengyou.
She pressured Wanyi to intervene before the punishment became too severe, while secretly gathering Master Sun's apprentices to create a crowd to pressure the family matriarch. Faced with the duplicate warehouse keys found on his person, Sun Baiyi collapsed in tears, confessing his guilt. Seventh Old Madam declared that Li Ink had survived for centuries on integrity, and such betrayal could not be tolerated.
Manager Shao read out the standard punishment: confiscation of earnings, the severing of both hands, and permanent banishment. Just as the guards stepped forward, Sun Dahe threw himself to the ground, begging to take the hand-severing punishment in his son's place. The apprentices and Sixth Grandfather joined in the plea, citing Master Sun's decades of loyal service and his critical role in maintaining the workshop's production. Wanyi also knelt, begging for mercy for her cousin.
Seventh Old Madam turned the final decision over to Li Zhen, the one who had suffered the most. Remembering Wanyi's past kindness to her and the Eighth Branch, Li Zhen requested that Baiyi's hands be spared, though his other crimes still demanded punishment. Relieved, Seventh Old Madam commuted the hand-severing to flogging and ordered both father and son banished from the workshop forever. But Jiangyue was not finished.
She stood up and sharply accused Li Zhen of being the true villain, claiming she was ungrateful and cold-hearted for refusing to show absolute mercy when the whole family had pleaded for Baiyi. Jiangyue claimed that Li Zhen’s ultimate goal was to take over the Li family assets and drive out Wanyi and her son, Li Zhengyou. She argued that Sun Baiyi had only stolen the recipe to protect Zhengyou's future as the rightful heir.
The crowd, swayed by Jiangyue's instigations, began chanting to have Li Zhen expelled. Even young Zhengyou stepped forward, hitting Li Zhen and shouting that she was not his sister and could not steal their home. Though Wanyi quickly scolded her son and had him taken away, the damage was done. Disgusted by the relentless internal warfare and backstabbing, Li Zhen realized that she no longer wanted any part of this toxic legacy.
She informed Seventh Old Madam that she would not sign the partnership contract. Turning to the hostile crowd, she declared that she was leaving of her own free will because she refused to align herself with people who distorted the truth and engaged in such filthy schemes. Severing all ties with the Li family, she turned her back on them and walked away.
Upon returning home, Li Zhen was welcomed by her family with a comforting feast, featuring a large mandarin fish her grandfather, Li Jinshui, had specially bought for her. When she announced that she had returned the contract and decided to use her prize money from Qi Jiu to open her own independent shop, Xiao Li Ink Workshop, Li Jinshui’s face darkened.
He warned her that running a business was incredibly difficult, especially for someone who had only studied the craft for a few years. When Li Zhen asked if his opposition stemmed from a lack of faith in her or simply a stubborn desire to keep her in the main family, Jinshui angrily retreated to his room and locked the door.
Standing outside, Li Zhen poured her heart out to him, explaining that while she knew he wanted her to return to the orthodox Li Ink lineage, the main household was broken and plagued by greed. She refused to remain in a place where she would constantly be framed and targeted, vowing instead to build a peaceful, honest life for their own family. Sometime later, Qi Jiu and Xiao Qi spotted Li Zhen on the streets scouting shop rentals.
Xiao Qi jokingly suggested they invest in her venture. Qi Jiu playfully agreed, telling Xiao Qi that they would use his salary to fund the investment. Back at home, Li Zhen happily announced that she had secured a shop for the Xiao Li Ink Workshop. However, her joy was short-lived when she saw her grandfather with his bags packed, ordering Zhengliang to pack his things immediately.
Her mother explained that Zhengliang's uncle in Wuyuan had offered him a role in the inkstone business. Upon hearing that Zhengliang wished to go, Jinshui had stubbornly packed his bags to accompany him. Despite the family's deep worries about his frail health, Jinshui remained silent and unyielding. Realizing she could not change his mind, Li Zhen quietly handed her brother medicine for their grandfather and watched them depart into the distance.
