Queen Dugu Episode 11 Recap, Plot

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Jialuo stood by the lake, upset after being unjustly accused and insulted. Yang Jian approached her, offering a sugar man to cheer her up. He told her that as a child, candies used to make his troubles disappear, and asked if she still considered herself a child. Jialuo said the candy was sweet and she felt better, noting that Yang Jian was the only person in the house who seemed to care about her.

Yang Jian dismissed it as sympathy, but then pointed out that her outburst at the banquet had taken attention away from her sister's returning banquet. He advised her, as an adult, to be patient and learn to retreat in order to move forward, rather than taking seriously the words of a drunk person. Later that evening, the returning banquet for Banruo and Yuwen Yu concluded. Yuwen Yu, noting the late hour, prepared to leave with Banruo.

Dugu Xin, however, requested a private word with his daughter, and Yuwen Yu respectfully waited at the door. Alone, Dugu Xin urged Banruo to focus on her married life with Yuwen Yu and avoid involvement in government affairs, deeming it unsuitable for women. Banruo, however, asserted that her responsibilities had broadened to include not only the Dugu family but also the Ningdu family, and that she had her own way of doing things, assuring her father not to worry.

She then left him to rest, promising to visit another day. Meanwhile, Mantuo's nanny, determined to have Mantuo marry Cheng, devised a "fait accompli" plan. She deliberately sent away the maid Qiuci and secretly placed aphrodisiac incense in a room she believed to be Cheng's. She also held leverage over Jialuo's personal maid Xiage, threatening her into framing Jialuo.

Mantuo expressed hesitation, fearing for her reputation, but Nanny reassured her, claiming that in the morning, everyone would believe Jialuo had orchestrated the incident because she didn't want to marry Cheng. However, once inside, Mantuo discovered to her horror that the person in the bed was not Cheng, but Li Bing, Cheng's father. Mantuo fled in panic, but left her clothes behind.

Nanny, realizing her mistake but seeing no other option as the incense was already set and Xiage and Qiuci were prepared as part of the original scheme, pressured Mantuo to go back. She argued that becoming the Duchess of Longxi County, even to an older man like Li Bing, was a better outcome than facing exposure.

Mantuo resisted, crying, but Nanny threatened to expose her if she didn't comply, emphasizing that with the incense and clothes as evidence, they were already in too deep. Faced with ruin, Mantuo reluctantly returned to Li Bing’s room, and under the influence of the incense, the two consummated their relationship. The next morning, Li Bing woke up to Mantuo’s cries, startled to find her in his bed.

Mantuo ran out of the room, distraught, with Li Bing calling after her, alerting the household staff. Back in her room, Mantuo, following Nanny's instructions, prepared a white cloth to stage a suicide attempt, feigning extreme shame. Dugu Xin, alerted to the commotion, rushed in and saved her just as she was hanging herself. Mantuo tearfully begged her father to do her justice. Nanny then burst in, kneeling and accusing Jialuo.

She fabricated a story, claiming she and Mantuo were knocked unconscious the previous night, and she overheard "the culprit" plotting to ruin Mantuo’s reputation because Jialuo didn't want to marry Cheng. Jialuo vehemently denied the accusation. Mantuo, instructed by Nanny, sobbed that Jialuo was responsible. Dugu Xin was conflicted. Nanny then called for Xiage, Jialuo’s personal maid, to corroborate her story.

Xiage, under duress, falsely implicated Jialuo, claiming Jialuo had ordered her to use the aphrodisiac incense and that the recipe for it, in Jialuo's handwriting, could be found in her cosmetic box. Yang Jian and Cheng, hearing this, condemned Jialuo as cruel. Jialuo, heartbroken by their accusations, insisted she had been in her room all night and was being framed.

When the recipe was found and confirmed to be in Jialuo’s handwriting, Jialuo, cornered and despairing, tried to kill herself with a hairpin to prove her innocence, but was stopped by Dugu Xin and Yang Jian, sustaining an injury. Dugu Xin ordered her to rest, promising to investigate thoroughly. Upon hearing the news, Banruo returned to the Dugu mansion.

Disregarding Cheng’s protests against using violence, Banruo ordered Xiage to be subjected to clamping sticks, threatening her family if she did not confess. Under torture, Xiage broke down, revealing the truth: Mantuo’s nanny had coerced her into framing Jialuo by using Xiage's secret affair with her cousin and her subsequent pregnancy as blackmail, which Nanny discovered when Xiage was buying medicine. She also confessed that the recipe in Jialuo’s handwriting had been forged.

Unaware of Xiage’s confession, Mantuo and Nanny were in their room, discussing how to keep Xiage silent, confident that her personal secrets would ensure her cooperation. Suddenly, Chunshi, Banruo’s maid, entered. Chunshi informed them that Xiage had confessed under interrogation, and that Banruo, out of consideration for their sisterhood, was offering Mantuo a choice: either Mantuo takes responsibility, or Nanny does.

Chunshi warned that if they refused, Banruo would report the matter to the Capital Magistrate (Jing Zhaoyin), and the punishment for such a scheme and affair could be drowning. Faced with this grim choice, Mantuo pushed Nanny forward, choosing her own survival. Nanny, resigned, begged Mantuo to look after her children before she was taken away. Nanny was brought before Dugu Xin, Yang Jian, and Li Bing.

She confessed to everything, but then, in a desperate attempt to deflect blame and create more chaos, claimed that the entire plot was orchestrated by Taishi Yuwen Hu, who sought to disrupt the alliance between the Dugu, Yang, and Li families. Before Dugu Xin could question her further, Nanny bit her tongue and collapsed, dying, taking her secret with her. With Nanny dead and the situation still murky, Li Bing proposed a solution to Dugu Xin.

Acknowledging that he had taken Mantuo's innocence, he offered to marry Mantuo himself and make her the Duchess of Longxi County. He believed this would nullify Yuwen Hu's plot by uniting their families and allow Mantuo to escape the scandal by moving to Longxi. Cheng strongly objected to his father marrying Mantuo, arguing it would mess up the family's generational order, but Li Bing silenced him, reiterating that this was the best way forward.

Yang Jian, with tears in his eyes, refused to accept this, as he had an existing marriage agreement with Mantuo. Dugu Xin, however, acknowledging the historical precedence in noble families of valuing status over strict generational rules in marriage, reluctantly agreed to Li Bing's proposal and asked Yang Jian to accept it for the sake of his father.

Li Bing stated that the wedding should happen quickly, setting it for three days later, and that the marriage between Cheng and Jialuo would be called off. Yang Jian, enraged and heartbroken, stormed out.

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