Rebirth For You Episode 25 Recap
> Rebirth For You Recap
Li Qian arrived with his troops, warning everyone that any instigators of the unrest would be arrested. Later, he gently tended to Jiang Baoning's wounds, reassuring her that he would uncover the mastermind behind the charity house incident, despite her apology for causing him trouble. He advised her to rest at home and avoid going out while he investigated. Meanwhile, Jin Xiao noticed Cai Shuang acting suspiciously and followed him.
He saw Cai Shuang meeting Zhao Xiao, where the military pay was mentioned. Jin Xiao reported his suspicions to Li Qian, highlighting Zhao Xiao's arrogance and Cai Shuang's furtive behavior, suggesting a secret between them. Li Qian, concerned about the delayed military pay affecting troop morale, asked Jin Xiao to investigate Cai Shuang's background, to which Jin Xiao enthusiastically agreed. Jin Xiao's continued surveillance led him to observe Cai Shuang entering a draper with a large sum of silver.
Dong Shanhu, feeling guilty about Jiang Baoning's injury from the charity house incident, visited her. While Shanhu felt the refugees were ungrateful, Baoning empathized with the mother who lost her six-year-old child. Baoning explained her oversight in managing the charity house, noting that purchased and donated supplies were mixed, making it difficult to trace the source of the moldy rice and cotton with sand.
Unable to go out herself, Baoning asked Shanhu to visit the charity house and also investigate a lead from Nanny Tian about merchants and officials in Jinxi secretly operating illegal money houses. Shanhu, who had already heard rumors of such illicit activities and their detrimental impact on legitimate businesses, was given Baoning's full support to pursue her leads without fear of alerting the culprits.
Coincidentally, Jin Xiao, fleeing his father's attempts to force marriage upon him, met a subordinate who had discovered an illegal money house in Jinxi run by a powerful woman, not news about Cai Shuang. Jin Xiao immediately led his men to the draper he'd seen Cai Shuang enter. There, he found Dong Shanhu burning account books and, assuming she was the mastermind destroying evidence, arrested her.
Shanhu vehemently denied it, claiming the owner had fled and the account book wasn't hers. Jin Xiao, unconvinced, ordered her taken away. In custody, Shanhu defiantly challenged Jin Xiao, questioning his authority and lack of evidence. Jin Xiao presented his "case," citing her renowned business acumen as proof of her capability to run such an illegal operation, which Shanhu found insulting and false. Angered, she grabbed his collar, urging him to catch the real criminal instead of wasting time.
Just then, a subordinate announced that Commandery Princess Jia’nan personally demanded Shanhu's release, forcing Jin Xiao to comply. Li Qian and Jiang Baoning invited Jin Xiao and Dong Shanhu to their home. Baoning clarified the misunderstanding, explaining she had asked Shanhu to investigate the charity house. Li Qian instructed Jin Xiao to apologize to Shanhu, which he did grudgingly.
Their subsequent bickering amused Li Qian and Baoning, who observed them as if flirting, much to Shanhu and Jin Xiao's mutual annoyance. The four then discussed the illegal money house. Shanhu recounted her earlier visit to Fengtai Draper. She had noticed the shopkeeper, Ms. Lu, acting suspiciously and, after pointing out the counterfeit nature of the "official embroidery" Ms. Lu tried to sell her, was rudely driven out. Shanhu suspected it was an illegal establishment.
After she left, Ms. Lu frantically began burning the account books, but Shanhu rushed back in, salvaging a partially burned ledger before Ms. Lu fled. Examining the ledger, Baoning quickly identified an entry for brocade purchases at an inflated price, confirming false accounting. This, she noted, could be used to trace the suppliers. Li Qian proposed that Jin Xiao arrest the managers involved, isolate them for interrogation, and encourage them to expose each other to find the true mastermind.
Meanwhile, Zhao Xiao instructed his subordinate to secretly monitor Li Qian and Jin Xiao's activities. Madam Zhuang, fearing exposure of her illegal money house after the draper's closure, sought Gao Miaorong's advice. Gao Miaorong calmly suggested that Commandery Princess Jia’nan was responsible for the investigation and advised Madam Zhuang to write to her brother-in-law, Zhuang Li. As a favored student of Chief Councilor Wang Jidao, Zhuang Li could influence Wang Jidao to impeach Commandery Princess Jia’nan before the Emperor.
Consequently, Wang Jidao and Zhuang Li accused Baoning of abusing her status in Bingzhou to run a corrupt charity house and supply moldy rice to refugees, demanding an imperial investigation. The Grand Empress Dowager, hearing the false accusations, confronted the Emperor, who assured her of Baoning's safety. She then fiercely questioned Zhuang Li's baseless accusations and Wang Jidao's motives for targeting Baoning, contrasting his current actions with his past silence during a national crisis.
Empress Han Tongxin arrived unsummoned, accusing the Grand Empress Dowager of favoritism towards Baoning over the populace. When challenged for proof, Han Tongxin asserted her right as Empress to judge Baoning. The Emperor, growing angry, ordered her to withdraw. Han Tongxin, unwilling to relent, further inflamed him by mentioning Baoning's marriage, arranged by the Grand Empress Dowager. Enraged, the Emperor slapped her.
In a fit of pique, Han Tongxin attempted to confine the Grand Empress Dowager due to her age, causing the elderly woman to faint. Later, in her chambers, Han Tongxin blamed Baoning for everything, but was eventually persuaded by her palace maid to apologize to the Grand Empress Dowager. The Grand Empress Dowager accepted her apology but advised her to become a competent Empress to earn the Emperor's affection.
Baoning learned of the Grand Empress Dowager's illness, caused by Han Tongxin after Zhuang Li's impeachment. While Qingke suspected Madam Zhuang was behind the impeachment, Baoning believed there was a deeper, more urgent reason for Madam Zhuang's desperation to harm her. To alleviate the Grand Empress Dowager's worry, Baoning wrote a reassuring letter, which Li Qian promptly dispatched to the capital.
Li Qian then revealed that Sun Laosan, an arrested shop manager, had confessed that Ms. Lu, the Fengtai Draper shopkeeper, used various small, seemingly legitimate shops to operate a clandestine illegal money house for money laundering. He also revealed Ms. Lu's hideout: Fortune Inn. Li Qian was preparing to arrest her. Baoning, however, suspected a powerful mastermind behind Ms. Lu and feared a direct arrest would alert this person.
Li Qian, anxious to clear Baoning's name after the impeachment, wanted to act quickly. Baoning, determined to protect her loved ones, proposed using herself as bait to draw out the true culprit. Despite Li Qian's initial objections for her safety, she convinced him, and he agreed to accompany her, disguised as a servant, for protection. At Fortune Inn, Baoning deliberately used specific code words and offered a large sum of silver to prompt a meeting with the owner.
Ms. Lu, recognizing Commandery Princess Jia’nan and impressed by her knowledge of the inn's secrets, agreed to do business. Baoning then demanded to meet Ms. Lu's "supervisor," who turned out to be Cai Shuang. Realizing his scheme was exposed, Cai Shuang fatally stabbed Ms. Lu and fled. Li Qian immediately pursued him, but Zhao Xiao suddenly appeared, apprehended Cai Shuang, and declared that Cai Shuang was under his jurisdiction, warning Li Qian to stay out of it.
As Li Qian and Zhao Xiao brawled in the street, Cai Shuang escaped. Baoning, after sending her servant for reinforcements, chased after Cai Shuang and incapacitated him with a tranquilizing drug.
