The Legend of White Snake Episode 2 Recap
> The Legend of White Snake Recap
Bai Suzhen, from Snake Valley on Mount Emei, swiftly defeated Xiao Qing, who had significantly less cultivation. Bai Suzhen demanded an antidote, accusing Xiao Qing of poisoning Mrs. Yu. Xiao Qing insisted on her innocence but then recalled a recent incident. A woman, Mrs. Yu, had visited the Nuwa Temple to pray for a safety charm for her son, Changsheng.
In a moment of desperation due to her family's poverty, Mrs. Yu had taken some offerings, including an apple that Xiao Qing had bitten. This apple, tainted with Xiao Qing's venom, was the cause of Mrs. Yu's severe illness. Understanding it was an accident, Bai Suzhen apologized for her impetuosity and requested a drop of snake bile. Xiao Qing, despite being beaten, willingly provided the demon's blood-laced antidote, thinking Bai Suzhen a "stupid snake."
Meanwhile, Fahai, investigating reports of missing "only children" in Lin'an City, became convinced a demon was lurking. As Bai Suzhen hurried back with the antidote, she noticed a strong, bloody demonic aura emanating from the bottle. Realizing Xiao Qing had deceptively added demon's blood, Bai Suzhen used her powers to purify the medicine. The dissipation of the demon blood caused Fahai's Exorcism Cane, a hundred paces away, to spin rapidly, alerting him to a demon's presence.
Fahai confronted Bai Suzhen, accusing her of being a demon. Despite her attempts to explain, Fahai was resolute in subduing her, leading to a chase that ended in Xu Xian's room at the Jishi Clinic. At the Jishi Clinic, a renowned pharmacy, Ruyi, the quirky daughter of Xu Xian’s master, was deeply infatuated with Xu Xian.
Her father, however, strongly disapproved of Xu Xian, a man of humble origins, becoming his live-in son-in-law, despite Xu Xian being a talented doctor learning under him. Ruyi had even previously pretended to be an incompetent doctor to showcase Xu Xian's skills. Now, desperate to secure their marriage, she sought to force her father's hand.
She decided to lie improperly dressed on Xu Xian's bed, hoping her father would consent, much like the famous story of Cui Yingying and Mr. Zhang. Just as she settled, Fahai burst in, pursuing Bai Suzhen, who had transformed into a small white snake and hidden under the bedclothes. Ruyi’s terrified screams and the resulting commotion startled Fahai, providing Bai Suzhen a chance to evade capture. Xu Xian rushed into the room and, seeing the small, weak snake, felt pity.
Despite his master's order to kill it for medicine, Xu Xian secretly released the snake by the river, explaining that other herbs could replace snake gallbladder and that even a small snake deserved to live. Watching him, Bai Suzhen, still in her snake form, realized he was not as bad as she had initially thought. Bai Suzhen, now in human form, arrived at Mrs. Yu’s house with the purified antidote.
Xu Xian, who had been struggling to cure Mrs. Yu, was astonished as she immediately awoke after taking Bai Suzhen’s elixir. He felt ashamed, admitting his earlier methods were to merely "play for time" and that he had been overconfident in his skills.
They shared a meal, with Bai Suzhen playfully questioning his cooking (as "Gentlemen are far away from the kitchen") and how he knew she released the white snake, to which she vaguely replied she had observed it from afar. When a fire flared in the kitchen, Xu Xian instinctively protected Bai Suzhen, making her wonder if he always protected people with such kindness, just as he had protected the snake.
She also challenged his previous pretense of being an almighty physician, and he confessed that he had to use such tactics to afford expensive medicine to keep Mrs. Yu alive while he figured out the cause. Bai Suzhen then explained Mrs. Yu's illness as a rare poisonous bug bite from her native Shu (Sichuan), treated by "counteracting the toxin with another."
Their previous wager about who could cure Mrs. Yu was declared a draw by Bai Suzhen, acknowledging Xu Xian's role in keeping Mrs. Yu alive. Xu Xian was impressed by her uprightness and confessed his previous misunderstanding. Meanwhile, Xiao Qing, left alone in Lin'an City, felt a pang of loneliness during the festive Lantern Festival, a time for family reunions, lamenting her mother's century-long absence.
At a restaurant, a waiter's suggestion of a "snake feast" enraged Xiao Qing, who was a snake demon herself. She attacked him, leading Fahai to intervene once more. As Fahai prepared to subdue Xiao Qing with his Zijin Bowl, Bai Suzhen arrived and rescued her. From that moment, Xiao Qing, now calling herself Xiao Qing, clung to Bai Suzhen like a shadow, childlike and carefree, forgetting her recent peril.
Bai Suzhen, still new to human society, found Xiao Qing's street smarts helpful, especially with understanding concepts like money. While shopping for clothes, Bai Suzhen, trying to avoid looking "dowdy," chose an outfit identical to Ruyi’s. This led to a brief, humorous altercation with Ruyi and her maid, Yin Xiang, before Xiao Qing stepped in to cover Bai Suzhen’s lack of money. Elsewhere, Xu Xian, still pondering Mrs. Yu's recovery, was reluctantly persuaded by Ruyi to attend the Lantern Festival.
He was uninterested in the general festivities until a lantern riddle caught his eye. He answered it with a riddle of his own, impressing the crowd, and asked the vendor to give his riddle-lantern to the mysterious woman who had posed the original. Moments later, Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing arrived at the same lantern stall. Bai Suzhen noticed her original riddle-lantern was gone.
The vendor then presented her with Xu Xian’s lantern, explaining it was a return riddle from the man who had solved hers. Bai Suzhen immediately understood the answer, a moment of unspoken connection between them. However, a sudden demonic wind swept through the crowd, scattering people.
In the ensuing chaos, Xu Xian, momentarily disoriented, saw a figure in white, mistaking her for Ruyi, and reached out to grasp her waist, only to find himself looking into Bai Suzhen's bright, spirited eyes.
