The Princess's Gambit Episode 18 Recap
> The Princess's Gambit Recap
Jiang Taohua arrived just in time to stop Yang Wanqing from killing Prince Wuxia. She argued that committing the act there would immediately arouse Shen Zaiye's suspicion, leading him to uncover Lan Boutique and ruining Empress Lv's many years of planning in Qi, which would enrage the Empress. Jiang Taohua suggested using the Soulsever Incense that had been partially burned during the incident at the Imperial Library, claiming it would kill Prince Wuxia quickly and avert suspicion.
Yang Wanqing believed Jiang Taohua and agreed to stand guard outside until the incense finished burning. However, she warned that if she did not receive news of Prince Wuxia's death by the next day, she would report Jiang Taohua to the Empress, implying dire consequences for Jiang Taohua and her brother, Prince Changjue. After Yang Wanqing left, Jiang Taohua opened a window, relieved that Prince Wuxia was unharmed.
Before Yang Wanqing's arrival, Jiang Taohua had secretly mixed flour into the Soulsever Incense to reduce its toxicity, ensuring it would not be fatal while still appearing potent. Jiang Taohua used a dagger to cut the ropes binding Prince Wuxia. As she did so, a handkerchief fell from his sleeve. It bore the character "Xie," which Jiang Taohua recognized as being identical to one she had found in Shen Zaiye's hidden compartment.
This discovery, combined with Prince Wuxia's previous mention of his brilliant cousin, led Jiang Taohua to conclude that Shen Zaiye was the cousin Prince Wuxia held in such high regard. Suddenly, Shen Zaiye arrived with his men. He had been alerted to Prince Wuxia's disappearance after going to the tea house at Jiang Taohua's invitation and the presence of Yang Wanqing there.
Seeing Jiang Taohua holding a dagger next to the unconscious Prince Wuxia, with the Soulsever Incense burning, Shen Zaiye concluded she was attempting to murder him. Jiang Taohua claimed she was trying to save Prince Wuxia, but Shen Zaiye, confronted with the circumstantial evidence, did not believe her and ordered his men to take her to the interrogation room. Despite Shen Zaiye's questioning, Jiang Taohua refused to reveal who was behind the plot against Prince Wuxia.
Shen Zaiye offered her leniency if she confessed, but Jiang Taohua pointed out his lack of trust, highlighting that he imprisoned her despite her claims of saving Prince Wuxia. She then provocatively exposed Shen Zaiye's calculated actions during the hunting grounds incident, revealing that she knew he deliberately allowed himself to be shot as part of a scheme to frame Prince Wugou.
She revealed that she had anticipated his move and placed a piece of porcelain beneath her clothes to protect herself, meaning she wasn't truly sacrificing herself to save him as he believed. Jiang Taohua suggested his readiness to believe she was genuinely protecting him indicated a lifetime devoid of true sincerity from others. Angered by her defiance and perceived coldness, Shen Zaiye admitted she was more ruthless than he and ordered his men to torture her to extract the information.
When the interrogator failed to get any information from Jiang Taohua, he resorted to whipping her. Shen Zaiye, who had turned to leave, abruptly stopped and looked back. Seeing Jiang Taohua covered in whip marks, he showed clear distress. He immediately ordered the guards to cease the whipping and instructed them to take her back to Zhengchun Boudoir, stating he would interrogate her himself.
To lure out the real culprits, Shen Zaiye ordered his men to spread news that Prince Wuxia, having recovered, would be going to Yugui Mountain the next day for a leisurely outing, planning to use this as a trap. Upon learning about Shen Zaiye's plan, Jiang Taohua recognized it as an opportunity. She wrote a divorce letter to Shen Zaiye, expressing her wish for them to part ways amicably and each seek their own happiness.
The letter enraged Shen Zaiye, who came to Zhengchun Boudoir to confront her. He demanded to know if she regretted marrying him. Jiang Taohua replied that she did not regret her decisions, comparing their marriage to a game of chess where losing the game doesn't mean regretting having started it. She asserted that their relationship, marked by mutual suspicion, was unsustainable and only caused suffering, referencing Meng Zhenzhen's fate as an example.
She poured him a cup of farewell wine, but he refused it and knocked it to the floor. Determined to make him accept the end of their relationship, Jiang Taohua took the wine into her mouth and then forcibly kissed Shen Zaiye, transferring the wine to him, compelling him to swallow it. Overcome, Shen Zaiye kissed her back, and they became intimate. Jiang Taohua had applied a sedative to her lips before Shen Zaiye arrived, believing it would incapacitate him.
Shortly after their encounter, she left, presuming he was unconscious. However, immediately after she departed, Shen Zaiye summoned Zhan Lu. He instructed his men to proceed with the plan at Yugui Mountain and ordered that anyone who dared to go up the mountain should be killed without mercy, stating that only those intending to harm Prince Wuxia would be present. Jiang Taohua then went to see Yang Wanqing, realizing that Wuyin was also present nearby.
She explained that her attempt on Prince Wuxia's life the previous day failed because Shen Zaiye arrived unexpectedly and rescued him, resulting in her being whipped for her failure, displaying her injuries as proof of her loyalty under duress. Seeking to protect Prince Wuxia and her brother, and to regain trust, she strategically revealed that she knew Wuyin was the one who killed Eunuch Ren, implying that she was the one who witnessed it that day, not Prince Wuxia.
She asked Yang Wanqing to relay this information to Wuyin, hoping the truth about the witness would dissuade him from wanting to kill Prince Wuxia. Yang Wanqing, while still cautious of Jiang Taohua, acknowledged her resilience under torture. However, she firmly stated that Prince Wuxia still needed to die for the sake of Prince Changjue's safety.
Despite Jiang Taohua's efforts to change his mind via Yang Wanqing, Wuyin, after she left, overheard the conversation and remained determined to kill Prince Wuxia. His reasoning, which Yang Wanqing relayed, was that after Prince Wugou's deposition, he had considered Prince Wuxia harmless as he largely stayed out of political affairs. However, Prince Wuxia's newfound closeness with Shen Zaiye now made him a significant threat to Wuyin's own ambitions.
Wuyin concluded that Prince Wuxia must die, regardless of the validity of Jiang Taohua's statements. Meanwhile, Prince Wuxia woke up, disoriented. His attendant incorrectly told him that Jiang Taohua had tried to kill him with Soulsever Incense and Shen Zaiye had saved him. However, Prince Wuxia retained vague memories of Jiang Taohua cutting his ropes and realized she had been saving him, and that Shen Zaiye had taken her away as a result.
Worried about her, he insisted on getting up to find Shen Zaiye despite still feeling weak. He made it outside a flower shop before collapsing from his weakened state. Yang Wanqing and Jiang Taohua traveled to Yugui Mountain together, ostensibly to carry out the assassination plot against Prince Wuxia. However, Jiang Taohua's true intention was to use Shen Zaiye's trap to kill Yang Wanqing.
Jiang Taohua had discussed this revised plan with her maid, Qingtai: they would lure Yang Wanqing to a dangerous spot on the mountain, kill her, blame Shen Zaiye, and thus protect Prince Wuxia. As they rode in the carriage, Jiang Taohua urged the driver to speed up. When the carriage reached a perilous section near the cliff, Jiang Taohua abruptly pushed Yang Wanqing out.
To Jiang Taohua's surprise, Yang Wanqing landed unharmed and revealed that Wuyin had already suspected Jiang Taohua's betrayal and planned for it. Just then, a carriage arrived carrying the unconscious Prince Wuxia. Yang Wanqing explained that after Prince Wuxia had collapsed outside the shop, her men, who had been keeping him under surveillance, had found him and brought him to the mountain as part of their own trap.
Meanwhile, Qingtai, following Jiang Taohua's plan, pretended to scout ahead towards the summit and was discovered and captured by Shen Zaiye's forces lying in wait. As Shen Zaiye watched the carriage carrying Prince Wuxia and the two women approach the cliff edge, believing Jiang Taohua was about to kill Prince Wuxia, he ordered his men to unleash a volley of arrows towards the carriage.
From where she was held, Qingtai cried out, protesting Princess Chengping's innocence and claiming she was framed, but Shen Zaiye dismissed her pleas, stating that Jiang Taohua's presence there was proof of her guilt. As the carriage neared the cliff edge, Yang Wanqing activated a mechanism that opened one of the carriage doors outwards towards the sheer drop, intending to send both Jiang Taohua and Prince Wuxia plummeting to their deaths.
Shen Zaiye, watching the scene unfold, saw Prince Wuxia in the carriage. Jiang Taohua desperately clung to Prince Wuxia's clothes, struggling to prevent him from falling. Just as the carriage began to roll precariously towards the edge, Shen Zaiye reacted swiftly, throwing a sword with force. The blade struck and lodged in the carriage wheel, halting its fatal momentum and preventing it from plunging over Yugui Mountain's cliffs. Yang Wanqing stood nearby, declaring that neither Jiang Taohua nor Prince Wuxia would leave the mountain alive.
