Youthful Glory Episode 2 Recap, Plot

> Youthful Glory
> Youthful Glory Recap

At the banquet, Jiang Xu held a memorial for the soldiers who had died in the chaos of war, which made Liang Qiwei look even more embarrassed. Trying to steal the spotlight, Liang Ronger stood up to perform, but Jiang Xu didn’t show her any kindness and told her not to make a fool of herself. Liang Qiwei quickly stood up to apologize, but Jiang Xu embarrassed him as well.

Feng Zhao, who had always harbored ill intentions toward Ming Tan, then stood up and mentioned that the capital’s top zither artist was also at the banquet. Ming Tan, known throughout the capital as the foremost talent in zither playing, should perform a piece for Jiang Xu. Ming Tan said she didn’t bring her instrument, so Feng Zhao offered to send someone to the Empress Dowager’s palace to fetch it.

Jiang Xu couldn’t help but interject, saying he hadn’t returned to the capital to listen to such indulgent music. Jiang Xu then said he had brought someone back with him for the emperor to see. A guard carried in a corpse, shocking Ming Tan and Bai Minmin—they hadn’t expected the legendary General of Dingbei to be so violent and rude, just as the rumors said. Seeing this, the Empress led the ladies away from the banquet.

Liang Ronger cried nonstop along the way, and Li Lingyi comforted her by saying the General of Dingbei was just using this as a pretext to cause trouble. Ming Tan deliberately asked why the General of Dingbei was targeting the Duke’s manor—could something have happened? Li Lingyi quickly distanced herself from the issue. In the grand hall, Jiang Xu lifted the white cloth covering the corpse—it was the county constable who had tried to search Hanshan Temple that day.

Jiang Xu explained that he had returned to the capital to investigate collusion between some officials and mountain bandits, but this constable obstructed him in every way. When Jiang Xu went to arrest him, he was already silenced. The real perpetrator behind it had accepted bribes and committed injustice, disregarding the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers of the Dingbei army.

Jiang Xu fixed his gaze on the Duke Ling and Marquis Cheng'en; the two were so frightened they began to stammer. After the banquet, Shu Jingran and Lu Ting hurried to catch up with Jiang Xu to reconnect—they had been his longtime friends. Jiang Xu asked Lu Ting to lend him some men; his target was Duke Ling. Su Wenchun, upon learning that the illicit silver had fallen into Jiang Xu’s hands, lost his calm demeanor and became anxious.

Jiang Xu was a man who never gave up until his goal was achieved. Liang Qiwei worried that Su Wenchun might abandon him because of this, but Su Wenchun reassured him otherwise, as he had left him the Marquis Jing’an’s manor as a life-saving trump card. Therefore, the marriage between Liang Zixuan and Ming Tan must not go wrong. Li Lingyi feared that Ming Tan might become suspicious and discover the truth about Zhu'er.

Liang Qiwei considered Zhu'er a liability that had to be eliminated as soon as possible. In a restaurant, Ming Tan and Bai Minmin were discussing the marriage with the Liang family, while in the next private room, Jiang Xu, Shu Jingran, Lu Ting, and Zhang Huaiyu silently listened in. Ming Tan was certain that the Liang family was rushing the engagement to drag the Ming family into the mess.

If she could leverage the power of the General of Dingbei, maybe breaking off the engagement wasn’t impossible. Jiang Xu hadn’t expected the matter to involve the Ming family either, and it was precisely because the Ming family hadn’t retaliated against the Liangs that he refrained as well—after all, a broken engagement could damage a woman's reputation.

Ming Tan said that if she could successfully break off the engagement, she would choose her husband herself and not allow others to interfere again. Bai Minmin thought there were few in the capital who could match her—Shu Jingran, for example, had both status and looks. But after hearing all of Ming Tan’s criteria, Bai Minmin concluded that only one man matched them: the General of Dingbei.

However, Ming Tan thought the General’s conduct was too violent and reckless, his character questionable—he even publicly embarrassed Liang Ronger and implicated innocent family members, though she did find it quite satisfying. In short, the General of Dingbei was not an ideal husband for her. Shu Jingran and the others tried to defend Jiang Xu, but Jiang Xu said that not being Ming Tan’s ideal match was actually his good fortune.

When Zhang Huaiyu heard that Ming Tan and Bai Minmin were going to visit the flower street parade, he said he wanted to go take a look, but immediately set eyes on Bai Minmin, who was laughing and talking. Upon learning of their plan to go lantern viewing, Liang Qiwei and Li Lingyi decided to take some actions to make the engagement irreversible. Over the years, Jiang Xu had brought back many orphans and handed them over to Zhang Huaiyu.

Zhang had taken care of them without complaint, but now he wanted to stop. On the road, Ming Tan and Bai Minmin ran into Liang Zixuan, who called them “sisters” repeatedly. Bai Minmin quickly pulled Ming Tan away. Suddenly chaos erupted in the street, and Ming Tan was pushed into the water by Liang Zixuan’s men. To solidify the engagement, Liang Zixuan jumped in to “rescue” her.

Bai Minmin realized something was wrong and shouted for several swimmers to dive in—they must not let Liang Zixuan get close to Ming Tan, and under no circumstances could people know it was Ming Tan who had fallen into the water. Jiang Xu had just finished capturing someone when he saw a woman calling for help in the water. He pulled her out and discovered it was Ming Tan again. Jiang Xu sent Ming Tan to Zhang Huaiyu’s restaurant.

Zhang told Jiang Xu about the Liang family’s plans, and Jiang naturally would not allow the marriage to go through. Jiang Xu ordered someone to send Ming Tan’s hairpin to the Ming residence as a cover, claiming she had returned home, and sent someone to the pier to cover the situation. Bai Minmin was anxiously searching for her when Lü'e suddenly told her that Ming Tan was waiting at the residence.

Bai Minmin quickly caught on, and together they successfully smoothed over the incident. When Ming Tan woke up, she saw Zhang Huaiyu telling Jiang Xu that he was the one who saved her, and she looked very displeased. No matter why Jiang Xu saved her today, they would both pretend nothing had happened. Seeing their tense exchange, Zhang Huaiyu was curious about what had occurred between them.

Just as Ming Tan was about to leave, she saw men and women outside the door and quickly shut it—it turned out they were at Zhang Huaiyu’s Huayu House. Unable to leave, Zhang Huaiyu had Shui Ying stay to take care of her. Someone came to report to Jiang Xu that there was movement at the Liang residence. Ming Tan immediately perked up her ears. Bai Minmin came to Huayu House to find Ming Tan.

Zhang Huaiyu eagerly tried to impress her but got punched by Bai Minmin. He took her to Ming Tan’s room, but Ming Tan was no longer there. She had overheard that Liang Qiwei had sent Zhu’er out of the capital overnight. Ming Tan questioned Jiang Xu about why he was investigating the Liang residence. Regardless of his reason, they were now in the same boat. Jiang Xu refused to let her come along, citing concerns about her reputation.

Su Wenchun hadn’t expected Liang Qiwei to have such sinister thoughts. Luckily, Ming Tan was unharmed—otherwise, their whole family would have to be buried with her. Liang Qiwei didn’t understand why Su Wenchun was so anxious. Only then did Liang Qiwei reveal what had happened between Liang Zixuan and Zhu’er. To avoid further trouble, Su Wenchun told him to silence Zhu’er.

Episode 1 Recap

Episode 3 Recap

Related Posts