Resumo do episódio 23 de The Heir
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Qi Jiu and Jixiang decided to remain at the Li Ink Workshop to help with the physical labor. Jixiang questioned why they were staying with a declining business, but Qi Jiu explained his deep conviction. He believed that while many would gladly offer praise during times of prosperity, true allies who provided support in dark times were rare. Since Li Zhen had stepped up to help him in his moment of need, he felt duty-bound to return her kindness.
More importantly, he knew that reviving Li Ink was his only viable path to raising the necessary military funds to atone for his past errors, reclaim Yihousheng, and ultimately return to serving under Marshal Qi. He vowed to stand by the Li family to settle his scores with the Tian family. Meanwhile, Li Zhen's efforts to reach out to local ink merchants suffered a heavy blow.
She had sent Doggie to deliver visiting cards to various merchants, only for him to return with every single card rejected. Doggie explained to a flustered Li Zhen and Li Jingdong that the merchants had actively avoided him, claiming to be sick or out, and some even drove him away the moment they heard he represented Li Ink.
Through persistent questioning of the servants, Doggie discovered that rumors had spread about the Li family mortgaging their estates and running on empty. Li Jingdong immediately suspected Tian Jiangyue of leaking the secret, but Li Zhen stopped him from starting a confrontation. She noted they lacked concrete proof and argued that their immediate priority was rebuilding the merchants' trust in Li Ink.
Nearby, a smug Tian Jiangyue celebrated her successful sabotage, confident that without orders, Li Zhen would never be able to cover the mortgage deficit. Determined to find a solution, Li Zhen sought out Qi Jiu. She found him at the construction site, where Xiao Qi explained that Qi Jiu had worked through the night in the mud to ensure the approaching rain wouldn't delay the workshop's repairs.
Waking up from a brief nap, Qi Jiu listened as Li Zhen explained the crisis. Knowing that their business was suffering from a massive breach of trust, Li Zhen proposed that they team up and play a double act to win back the merchants. Jixiang was skeptical, wondering how they could ever hope to defeat the Tian family now that they held the Tribute Ink monopoly and enjoyed imperial backing.
Qi Jiu calmly compared the Tian family to a hibernating snake, noting that the best time to catch a snake is when it has eaten its fill. Jixiang complained that Qi Jiu was swallowing his pride to beg merchants he once ignored, but Qi Jiu remained confident that his name still carried immense weight.
To prepare for the feast, Qi Jiu sent Jixiang to Wang Cuiqiao to borrow Qi Jiu's own expensive silver-fox-fur-trimmed overcoat, knowing that he needed to project absolute wealth and prestige. Dressed in his finest attire, Qi Jiu hosted the local ink merchants in an elegant garden. As the merchants complained about the devastating pine wilt disease and the soaring prices of pine soot ink, they begged Qi Jiu to point them toward a profitable workshop.
Qi Jiu played hard to get, claiming he had found an exceptional workshop but that its limited output was barely enough to support his own needs. Eager for a piece of the profit, the merchants pleaded for a partnership, and Qi Jiu reluctantly agreed to show them the facility after they finished eating. He led the skeptical group to the Li family's old workshop. Recognizing the location and seeing Li Zhen, the merchants grew uneasy and tried to leave.
However, the unexpected appearance of the legendary Eighth Master, Li Jinshui, changed their minds. Respecting his presence, the merchants agreed to stay for a guided tour. Li Zhen led the merchants through the dragon kiln, demonstrating that the workshop was fully operational.
She explained that their Yiyuan Ink required far less pine timber than ordinary pine soot ink, and that their current supply—hand-delivered from Mount Huangshan by her Sixth Grandfather—was of such high quality that it could sustain half a year of production without being affected by the soaring prices of the pine wilt epidemic. She then guided them through the oil soot and lacquer soot sheds, introducing them to the veteran craftsmen and showing them their premium supreme-grade lampblack.
Later, Li Zhen hosted a grand feast to toast the merchants, treating them with the same business-minded respect her grandfathers once did. While Master Zhou admired her efficiency in restoring production, he remained deeply concerned about the risks of doing business with a workshop that had mortgaged its land. To put their minds at ease, Li Zhen presented a bold proposal: a shareholding contract for Xiao Li Ink Workshop.
She promised that if Li Ink failed to deliver their orders on time, the merchants would automatically become shareholders in her workshop, receiving substantial annual dividends. Qi Jiu, as a major shareholder himself, backed her claims. Moved by Li Zhen’s absolute resolve and the financial guarantee, Master Zhou, Uncle Ji, and Uncle Jiang happily signed the contracts.
With the deals successfully finalized, Qi Jiu and Li Zhen returned to the table to finish the remaining wine, resulting in Li Zhen getting thoroughly drunk. The next morning, she woke up with a pounding headache. Her mother lovingly brought her a bowl of hangover soup, gently scolding her for drinking so much but feeling immensely proud that she had secured an order for a hundred sticks of ink.
In the Tian household, preparations were underway for Tian Ronghua to return to the capital with the Tribute Ink. Her family urged her to use her influence to secure more benefits and find wealthy matches in the capital, but she remained cold and departed to meet Sage Qinghe. After she left, Tian Benchang revealed to his father that he had secretly promised Sage Qinghe a supply of rare, century-old pine soot ink.
To acquire the necessary premium timber during the pine wilt epidemic, Tian Benchang had used the Sage's influence to force Magistrate Yan into signing an official requisition order for the Li family’s Mount Huangshan pine timber. Armed with the official document, Tian Bensheng arrived at the Li Ink Workshop with a group of men, demanding to see Li Zhen and arrogantly declaring that they were requisitioning five thousand units of the Li family's pine timber.
Steward Shao fiercely confronted them, and the workers drove the intruders away. However, Tian Bensheng left them with a severe warning: they had seven days to deliver the timber, or the workshop would be sealed and they would be imprisoned for obstructing imperial duties. When Li Jingdong heard of this, he was outraged.
Vowing that the Tian family would only get the timber over his dead body, he brought his bedding to the warehouse, determined to sleep there and guard it himself. The pressure on Li Ink mounted as Steward Shao reported that the Tian family had already forcefully seized pine timber from several other local workshops. Li Zhen found herself trapped in a terrible dilemma.
If they surrendered the pine timber, they would be unable to fulfill the pine soot ink contracts they had just signed, ruining their hard-won reputation. But if they refused, the workshop would be sealed. Qi Jiu stepped in to offer help, promising to visit the merchants to see if they could negotiate a delay or convince them to switch their orders to lacquer soot ink. Exhausted, Li Zhen went to visit the comatose Seventh Grandmother.
There, she met Seventh Grandmother's old friend, Granny Li (known as Li Choupo), who had been tenderly caring for the patient. Granny Li offered Li Zhen some warm red date porridge to help her regain her strength. Inside the room, Li Zhen noticed a soothing scent of pine soot. Granny Li explained that she had brought pine rosin oil from the Li family temple to burn in the lamps, as Seventh Grandmother had always found the fragrance comforting.
Meanwhile, Li Jinshui visited the warehouse to find Li Jingdong stubbornly guarding the timber. Li Jingdong passionately argued that the pine was the only remaining proof of his father's lifelong devotion and hard work for the family business, and he could not bear to see it desecrated by the Tian family.
Li Jinshui gently urged him to be clear-headed, asking whether it was better to die for the wood or to live to fulfill his father's ultimate dream of preserving the legacy of Li Ink. Joining them, Li Zhen comforted her uncle, declaring that Sixth Grandfather's true legacy was far greater than a physical pile of timber.
As the family head, she proposed hanging his portrait in the ancestral hall alongside their legendary ancestor Li Tinggui, ensuring he would be honored by the family's incense offerings for generations to come.
