Resumo do episódio 27 de The Heir
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After Li Jingdong returned in time to defend Li Zhen and guarantee her innocence, the hostile clan elders finally left. Alone together, Li Zhen warmly thanked her uncle for standing up for her. Li Jingdong expressed regret for coming back too late and letting her suffer. He noted that the clan elders were quick to cause trouble but entirely useless when it mattered.
Deeply touched, Li Zhen noted that this was the first time he had openly addressed her as his niece in front of others. Li Jingdong replied that he should have done so long ago. Li Jingdong urged her not to hold a grudge against her eldest aunt, Sun Wanyi, who was normally reasonable but had been instigated by Li Decai and Tian Jiangyue. Li Zhen agreed, noting that Tian Jiangyue was almost certainly the one who fanned the flames.
They decided that their immediate priority was to capture the isinglass dealer for his testimony and quickly purchase raw materials to replace the damaged ink. Meanwhile, Tian Jiangyue and Li Decai had sent a secret message to Tian Benchang, urging him to help the isinglass dealer escape and secure a way out for Li Decai. Despite the request, Tian Benchang ordered his men to withdraw.
When his brother, Tian Bensheng, questioned this move, fearing they might lose everything if the dealer was caught, Tian Benchang explained that with the autumn imperial exam approaching and Huizhou scholars involved, the matter would only grow larger. Tian Benchang insisted they steer clear of the trouble, playing a slow chess game instead. He proudly showed Bensheng a sudden influx of orders for their Suhe oil ink.
Having already bought up all the available isinglass on the market, Tian Benchang knew Li Ink would fail to deliver on time, allowing them to raise their prices and maximize their profits. At the Li residence, Seventh Grandmother Wang Rujun lay unconscious as Li Choupo watched over her, praying for her to wake up because the household was in complete chaos and the burden on Li Zhen was too heavy to bear. Suddenly, Wang Rujun opened her eyes.
That night, Wang Hua'er quickly brought Li Zhen to the bedside. Seeing her grandmother awake, Li Zhen wept tears of joy and embraced her. Wang Rujun comforted her, saying she could not leave before seeing the new ink she created. Li Zhen blamed herself for not managing the family well, but Wang Rujun gently took the blame, admitting her body had failed her and she had collapsed before clarifying things with the eldest aunt.
Li Zhen shared her suspicions about Tian Jiangyue and Li Decai, vowing that while she had run away from adversity in the past, she would not take a single step back now that she held the responsibility of managing the household. Relieved, Wang Rujun assured her that no one would bully her again. Li Zhen added that she was no longer alone, with Li Jingdong helping with production and Qi Jiu hunting down the isinglass dealer.
Wang Rujun instructed everyone to keep her recovery a secret so Li Zhen could handle the family affairs more resolutely. Panic-stricken, Li Decai cornered Tian Jiangyue, demanding to know why the Tian family had not responded to his messages. He had waited all day at their gates and only managed to be brushed off by Tian Bensheng. He warned that if Qi Jiu captured the dealer, they would both be ruined.
When Tian Jiangyue tried to distance herself from the plot, a desperate Li Decai reminded her that she was the one who instructed him to tamper with the barrels and leak the news to the Tians. Cold and unyielding, Tian Jiangyue denied any involvement and threatened to expose the secret of his mistress in Suzhou to Third Brother if he pushed her further, before driving him out.
At the docks, the anxious isinglass dealer returned under the cover of night to check on his valuable fish. However, Qi Jiu and Jixiang were waiting in the shadows. Qi Jiu casually sat eating grilled fish, refusing to let the merchant leave. When the dealer tried to claim the transaction was final and that he was just an honest businessman, Qi Jiu pressed him.
After a swift display of force and a terrifying threat with his blade, the terrified merchant crumbled and confessed everything. He revealed that over a month ago, Li Decai had promised him a substantial sum of silver and a ten-year supply contract with Li Ink to tamper with the bottom of the barrels. Qi Jiu returned to report to Li Zhen, confirming that the dealer was now locked up under Gou'er's watch.
He explained that Li Decai had planned this a month ago to force Li Zhen to step down. Recognizing that Li Decai lacked the intellect for such a deep conspiracy, they deduced there must be a mastermind behind him. Qi Jiu also revealed that Li Decai's mistress in Suzhou had been secretly brought back to Huizhou by Tian Benchang.
Knowing that Tian Benchang held a deep grudge but could not have orchestrated this alone, Li Zhen realized that her fourth aunt, Tian Jiangyue, was the true mastermind behind the entire plot. Realizing his scheme had been exposed, Li Decai desperately tried to flee. Li Zhen, prepared for his escape, had her men ambush him.
In a final act of desperation, Li Decai fled to the front yard and grabbed young Li Zhengyou as a hostage, brandishing a weapon and demanding one thousand taels of silver, a carriage, and his mistress Yunniang and son Rongger to be brought to him. He threatened to kill the boy if anyone stepped closer.
Sun Wanyi begged him to spare the child, while Li Zhen bravely offered herself as a hostage instead, but Li Decai refused, knowing the boy was easier to control. Just as he grew bolder, Zhao Jin stepped forward with her blade, warning that she would not let him leave the Li residence if anything happened to her nephew. Working in unison with the household, they quickly subdued and bound him, dragging him to the woodshed.
In the woodshed, Li Zhen demanded a confession. Shameless to the end, Li Decai begged for mercy for the sake of his wife, Chunhua, and demanded to see her. To his surprise, Chunhua entered the woodshed. Instead of saving him, she presented a drafted divorce agreement, slapped him across the face, and declared he was unfit to be a father to their son, Run'er.
She told Li Zhen to punish him according to the family rules without any regard for her feelings, before walking away. Meanwhile, Eldest Aunt Sun Wanyi knelt before the newly awakened Wang Rujun, begging for forgiveness for her past mistakes. Wang Rujun comforted her, admitting she also felt guilty for expelling the Eighth Branch thirteen years ago, which had left the family fractured.
She explained that she wanted Li Zhen to take charge to revive the declining Li Ink before Li Zhengyou was old enough to inherit it. Sun Wanyi understood and promised to do her part. Li Zhen then arrived with the news that Li Decai had confessed to everything, pointing to Tian Jiangyue as the sole mastermind of the isinglass scheme.
She added that Gou'er was guarding Tian Jiangyue's quarters, but a servant suddenly rushed in to report that Tian Jiangyue had gone missing. Sun Wanyi realized that on this exact day for the past thirteen years, Tian Jiangyue always went to Yuliang Ferry to burn paper for her late husband, Jingqi. Gou'er soon arrived with the alarming news that the lock on the ancestral hall had been pried open and Jingqi's spirit tablet was gone.
At Yuliang Ferry, a desolate Tian Jiangyue clutched Jingqi's spirit tablet. Shivering in the autumn cold, she tearfully recalled how he used to warm her bed and prepare her tangpozi. She lamented that the family had fallen apart, and their enemy, Li Zhen, was now celebrated as the head of the household while everyone else had forgotten him. Resolving to join him, she prepared to throw herself into the river. Li Zhen and the family arrived just in time.
As Sun Wanyi begged her to step back, mentioning that Wang Rujun had awakened and wanted to see her, Tian Jiangyue bitterly refused, shouting that the family and the ink business were more important to her mother-in-law than her own son. She declared she would rather die than face their hypocritical judgment. Sensing her resolve, Li Zhen used reverse psychology, mocking her as a coward and a sore loser who was afraid to fight another round.
Incensed, Tian Jiangyue was momentarily distracted, allowing Gou'er and the others to rush forward and pull her safely away from the edge as she screamed Jingqi's name. Later, Wang Rujun insisted on visiting the main hall where Li Jingdong was keeping watch over Tian Jiangyue, ignoring Li Zhen's concerns about her health.
In the hall, a frantic Tian Jiangyue was screaming at Li Jingdong, calling him a coward and threatening to hang herself to show the world how the Li family drove its daughters-in-law to death. Upon entering, Wang Rujun ordered the family and servants to dismiss, leaving only Li Zhen by her side.
Wang Rujun gently spoke to Tian Jiangyue, promising to make her a brand new spirit tablet for Jingqi from the finest wood and place it properly in the ancestral hall. Tian Jiangyue bitterly accused her of only remembering her son now, while his killer stood right behind her. Wang Rujun took her hand, expressing gratitude to Tian Jiangyue for remaining a widow out of devotion to Jingqi.
She recalled how the young couple had once prayed to the Flower Goddess for a long, happy life together. Wang Rujun confessed that she had initially opposed their marriage, but relented after Jingqi and Jingfu knelt outside her room for two days and nights. When she first met Tian Jiangyue, she had been captivated by her sweet, proper demeanor and welcomed her as a daughter.
Wang Rujun gently pointed out that Jingqi had passed away only six months into their marriage. She asked Tian Jiangyue whether it was truly the Li family who had wronged her, or if her own ambition had driven Jingqi to his death by forcing him to compete for the dangerous task of escorting the Tribute Ink. Hearing this, Tian Jiangyue down in tears, frantically denying her guilt.
Wang Rujun urged her to let go of her self-destructive hatred and cherish her life. Turning to Li Zhen, the matriarch declared that as the new head of the household, the final decision on how to deal with Tian Jiangyue rested entirely with her.
