Resumo do episódio 25 de The Heir
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One evening, Eighth Master Li Jinshui visited Third Master Chen, bringing carpentry tools to help his old friend pass the time. Chen had been utterly demoralized since his family's Chen Ink lost the Tribute Ink selection to the Tian family. Jinshui urged him to look at the bigger picture, reflecting on his own lifelong rivalry with his brother, Li Jinhe.
Now that Jinhe's portrait hung in the ancestral hall, Jinshui realized his brother had outdone him in the end, making their past competition meaningless. Jinshui pointed out that Chen still had a son, whereas his own son, Jingfu, had passed away years ago. Chen's son, Junshan, entered the room carrying ancient ink-making books. He explained he was studying glue-mixing methods to understand how Tian Ink had won.
Junshan believed the Tian family only succeeded because of a meddling Taoist and because Chen Ink had not outperformed them by a wide margin. He vowed to refine their ancestral heritage to surpass Tian Ink's use of Styrax resin. Impressed by the young man's clarity, Jinshui reminded Chen of their shared duty to keep their families from ruin.
Revived by his son's determination, Chen promised that once he finished carving a set of chess pieces in a couple of days, he would play Jinshui and defeat him in Jinhe's honor. Meanwhile, Tian Benchang was inspecting his newly acquired pine wood when his father, Tian Huai'an, rushed in with devastating news. The Li family had delivered the timber, but they had immediately dug up pine resin oil under the tree roots at the transferred Linxi pine yard.
Huai'an explained that pine resin oil could easily replace pine timber for making ink, revealing they had been completely outsmarted by Li Zhen. Furious, Benchang rushed to buy another local pine yard from Mr. Sheng, desperately raising his offer to a hundred and twenty taels. However, he arrived too late; Qi Jiu had already signed the acquisition contract, leaving Benchang utterly humiliated. Shortly after, Qi Jiu met with Li Zhen to prepare for work at the Linxi pine yard.
Before they set off, he playfully demanded three hundred taels of silver. He presented her with contracts for multiple surrounding pine yards. Seeing how overwhelmed she had been with family matters, Qi Jiu had quietly inspected all of Huizhou's pine yards and negotiated excellent deals with retiring owners. Li Zhen was overjoyed, praising him for always thinking ahead.
At the pine yard, Uncle Jingdong and the workers successfully dug up a massive supply of pine resin oil, securing enough raw materials to sustain the ink workshop for the next three to five years. Looking at the old, dilapidated cottage on the grounds, Qi Jiu became lost in thought, remembering when it belonged to the keeper of his family's pine yard.
He told Li Zhen that if he ever rebuilt his fortune, he would buy the place, renovate it, and use it as a quiet retreat. Sensing his deep connection to the land, Li Zhen decided to put him in charge of managing all of Li Ink's pine yards, a role previously held by her Sixth Grandfather.
Lacking a formal contract on hand, she handed him a ball of pine resin to seal the deal, promising to draw up the paperwork later. The narrative briefly flashes back to years prior, when a young boy named Wenqian and his older brother visited their aunt at the Linxi pine yard. During their visit, their aunt taught Wenqian about amber, explaining how pine resin fossilizes over a thousand years.
She served them Weighing Rod-Shaped Candy and Songluo tea, comforting Wenqian when he complained about his father’s strict demands for academic success. She gently encouraged him to study hard so that he could eventually choose his own path in life. With the workshop fully restored after the devastating fire, the day arrived to unveil the new plaque. Li Jingdong insisted that Li Zhen must be the one to do the honors.
When Eighth Master Li and the rest of the family arrived, Jingdong stood before them and publicly apologized. He confessed his past stubbornness, admitting he had spent years trapping himself in his own narrow world while repeatedly mistreating Li Zhen and the Eighth Branch. He declared that since he was the one who had burned down the workshop, he had no right to unveil the plaque.
Li Zhen stepped forward and pulled the red cloth, revealing the words "Li Ink" boldly inscribed by Mr. Dongtu. That evening, the family held a grand Mid-Autumn feast to thank the loyal ink makers who had stood by them. Li Zhen's mother prepared a lavish spread, including winter bamboo shoots, ham, steamed pork, kudzu root dumplings, and her favorite rock tripe and chicken soup.
However, burdened by her duties as the head of the workshop, Li Zhen found herself constantly targeted for toasts. To avoid getting drunk, she slipped away from the banquet with Qi Jiu to enjoy the festival lanterns. As they walked through the bustling streets, they stopped some bullies from harassing a young boy who had his fish lantern broken. Li Zhen kindly gave the child her own lantern to settle the dispute.
While she waited, Qi Jiu slipped away and returned with a beautiful fish lantern he had purchased just for her. Li Zhen then challenged Qi Jiu to the festive custom of "Mo Qiu" (Harvest Eve foraging). As Qi Jiu stood watch, they spotted a massive pumpkin in a field, but their mischief was quickly discovered by a shouting farmer. Laughing, they fled across a small stone bridge.
Resting after their escape, Li Zhen confessed how exhausted she felt constantly pretending to be a serious manager, admitting that this was the happiest she had been in a long time. Feeling their mutual affection, they shared mooncakes and talked late into the night, with Qi Jiu expressing how peaceful and secure he felt ever since she had taken him in.
Far away in Donghai, a woman named Cuiqiao raised a glass to the same bright moon, sending quiet wishes to her husband and hoping he wouldn't worry about her. The grand reopening quickly bore fruit. Using the newly harvested pine resin oil, the master ink makers created a superb new product. Through a clever arrangement by Li Zhen and Lord Yan, the Education Official was invited to test the ink.
Highly impressed by its rich black color and affordable price, the official praised it and named it Shize Ink, symbolizing academic success and benefit to the people. Orders poured in from local academies, and even Tutor Zhang, who had close ties to the Tian family, placed an order. With dozens of contracts secured, Li Ink had officially overcome its crisis. On the other hand, the Tian family was in turmoil.
Tian Benchang received a letter from his sister, Hua'er, urging him to repent, return the pine wood, and make peace with Li Zhen. Benchang dismissed her words as arrogant nonsense, believing she was too simple-minded to understand that their alliance with Sage Qing He was purely driven by mutual profit. Shortly after, Tutor Zhang arrived to cancel his business deal with the Tian family, citing the superior quality and official endorsement of Shize Ink.
Benchang angrily urged him to be patient, promising to deliver a satisfying product directly to his academy soon. Seeking a way to strike back, Benchang visited his cousin-aunt, Tian Jiangyue, who was mourning her late husband, Jingqi, by embroidering a new pair of shoes. Having avoided him for years, Jiangyue finally agreed to cooperate, united by a shared hatred of the Li family. She demanded that Li Zhen be driven out and that the Eighth Branch be ruined permanently. Benchang agreed to her terms, accepting her instructions to travel to Suzhou the following day to track down a certain mother and son.
