Resumo do episódio 2 de Fate Chooses You
> Resumos de Fate Chooses You
Lord Song’s inquiry hung in the air of the prison cell, but Lu Huai’s answer remained a flat refusal. Despite the case being handled by the Court of Judicial Review and the verdict being set in stone, he claimed there were no grievances to declare and no desire to appeal. Meanwhile, Xin Mei reflected on her visit to the Lu residence to retrieve the "Hidden Heart Orchid" Lu Huai had mentioned.
The house was strikingly empty and simple, far from the lair of a man who supposedly embezzled fortunes and drove up grain prices to the point of mass starvation. Her childhood friend, Xiao Pang, warned her that as a member of an immortal sect, she should stay detached from worldly matters to avoid damaging her moral sense. However, Xin Mei couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
In a local restaurant, she witnessed a group of scholars cursing Lu Huai’s name, only to be interrupted by a scholar named Tang You. He mocked them for their ignorance, suggesting that if Lu Huai had truly been greedy, incompetent fools like them wouldn't have survived the great flood that devastated the region six months prior. As Lu Huai’s execution drew near, Xin Mei utilized her status as his new wife to visit him one last time.
She brought a set of new clothes she had made herself, following the customs of the western border to ensure he would have a dignified journey to the afterlife and avoid being reborn as an animal. When she asked him directly if he was truly guilty, Lu Huai remained enigmatic. He pointed out that with hundreds of memorials calling for his death and the public's hatred, there was no room for talk of injustice.
He warned her not to trust people so easily, noting that the human heart is far more treacherous and unpredictable than anything found in cultivation. After their final meeting, Xin Mei resumed her journey to find medicine for her master. She took shelter from a storm at the Fulai Inn, where she encountered Tang You once more, who was drinking himself into a stupor.
The inn was a trap run by a centipede demon known as Madam Flower and her young rabbit demon attendant, An. Xin Mei found herself fighting alongside Meishan Jun, the famed "Lord of Rust-Sword" and a bounty guard from Dongzhou Prefecture who had been tracking the demon. Together, they neutralized Madam Flower. While Meishan Jun wanted to eat the rabbit demon, Xin Mei insisted on letting her go, believing that the girl had never harmed anyone.
Once the danger had passed, Tang You revealed the hidden truth behind Lu Huai’s actions during the famine. While other counties had followed the imperial edict to cap grain prices at one hundred wen, merchants had responded by hoarding their supplies, causing widespread death. Lu Huai had defied the edict by allowing prices to rise to one hundred and eighty wen in Wei County.
This high price lured merchants from all over the region, and as the market became flooded with grain, the prices naturally stabilized within two months, saving the population. Tang You also noted that the speed of Lu Huai's trial was suspiciously fast, bypassing the usual lengthy appeals process for such a cruel sentence to make him a scapegoat. Deeply unsettled, Xin Mei rushed back toward the execution ground in the middle of the night.
Despite the torrential rain and her horse collapsing from exhaustion, she arrived too late. The execution had already concluded. Lu Huai had endured a thousand cuts without making a sound, leaving only a blood-stained platform behind. Overwhelmed by grief and anger at the injustice, Xin Mei’s spiritual energy triggered a heavy snowfall in the middle of summer. The sight left the local citizens in awe, as "June snow" was a traditional omen of a profound and grave injustice.
That night, Xin Mei stole Lu Huai’s body from the platform, where it was meant to be exposed for three months, and buried him near her own relatives. As she departed, she saw the two children, Jiu-jiu and Xiao Dao, bowing at the fresh grave. However, the grave did not remain occupied for long. A few days later, the bailiff Chu Ying resigned from his post and dug Lu Huai out of the earth.
Lu Huai was not a mere mortal, but a member of the War Ghost tribe (War Demons). To shed his demonic nature and be reborn as a human, he had to endure five brutal trials: the peeling of skin, the slicing of flesh, the stripping of bone, the purifying of blood, and the carving out of the heart. The execution had served as the first two trials.
Now resurrected and accompanied by Chu Ying, who was also a demon, Lu Huai (also known as Lu Qianqiao) prepared for the next stage of his transformation: the stripping of bone. Unaware of his true nature or his survival, Xin Mei remained haunted by the tragedy. Though she was supposed to be seeking medicine for her master, she decided she could not let the matter rest.
Convinced of Lu Huai’s innocence, she chose to head to the capital to appeal his case. When travelers warned her that the road ahead was difficult and blocked by landslides, she used her spiritual power to clear the path, determined to face whatever challenges awaited her in her quest for justice.
