The Princess's Gambit Episode 7 Recap
> The Princess's Gambit Recap
Shen Zaiye hadn’t expected Jiang Taohua to move through the gambling house as if it were unguarded, which made him all the more curious about this princess of Beiyuan. He couldn’t understand how a noble lady who seldom stepped outside could know so much. Shen Zaiye asked Jiang Taohua why she was willing to take such a risk for a servant. Jiang Taohua confessed that to her, Qingtai was not a maid, but family.
Perhaps moved by her words, Shen Zaiye offered to teach her chupu (a dice game). The next day, Shen Zaiye taught Jiang Taohua chupu and found her exceptionally gifted. While others thought she won by luck, she knew it was calculated from the previous round. Jiang Taohua thought she would surely win, but to her surprise, Shen Zaiye cheated.
He told her that while her tricks worked well against ordinary people, they wouldn’t be enough to deal with the people they were truly up against. Therefore, he required her to master chupu within three days—to be able to use wrist strength and hearing to detect the changes inside the dice cup. Despite practicing, Jiang Taohua couldn’t get a feel for it. Shen Zaiye held her hand to help her sense the force needed.
With his guidance, Jiang Taohua finally managed to shake out the result she wanted. Shen Zaiye reminded her that no matter how skilled her hands were, she couldn’t let her eyes betray her. Recalling the greed she saw in gamblers’ eyes, Jiang Taohua suddenly understood. Shen Zaiye told her that the heir was both a gambler and a lecher, so her previous tactics would work perfectly on him. Displeased by Shen Zaiye’s mocking tone, Jiang Taohua got up and left.
Shen Zaiye and Jiang Taohua entered the gambling house again. Before they went in, Shen Zaiye warned her it wasn’t too late to back out, but Jiang Taohua refused. On the boat heading to the gambling house, Shen Zaiye went over every step of the plan with her and assured her he would watch over everything from the shadows.
As soon as Jiang Taohua sat at the table, she started winning big, quickly drawing the attention of the heir, who came to crush her momentum. Shen Zaiye also gave Zhan Lu the signal to begin the operation. The second prince tried to rope in Mu Wuxia, but Mu Wuxia didn’t want to get involved in his and the heir’s feud. At that moment, Zhan Lu arrived and invited both of them to the gambling house to watch the show.
The second prince, thinking there’d be good entertainment, immediately went along. After Jiang Taohua beat the heir, she pretended to leave, but the heir wouldn’t allow it and insisted on continuing. Jiang Taohua’s goal was the jade pendant, so she proposed they wager it. The heir agreed and suggested switching to a game of “guessing high or low.” While casting the dice, Jiang Taohua exposed the peach blossom mark on her arm.
The heir was mesmerized by its beauty and wanted to make her his. Taking advantage of the distraction, Shen Zaiye quietly swapped the jade pendant. While Jiang Taohua was stalling the heir, Shen Zaiye used the jade pendant to enter the hidden chamber. He noticed bells hanging there and realized he had to avoid triggering the mechanisms if he wanted to go further.
Jiang Taohua kept an eye on the incense burn rate—they had agreed on the time of one incense stick—so she had to do everything she could to delay the heir. In the game of high or low, Jiang Taohua lost focus and began losing. Everyone believed her luck had run out. When she bet again on “high,” she worried that one more loss would cost her everything. Just as the heir demanded she concede, someone whispered something in his ear.
He immediately got up to leave, but Jiang Taohua stopped him by offering herself as a bet—fifty thousand taels of gold. The crowd was stunned. That amount was worth as much as an entire city. Being a lecher, the heir immediately agreed to one final round to decide the outcome. Up above, Mu Wuxia and his brother had been watching the game unfold. They didn’t believe the heir could possibly produce that much money.
Meanwhile, Jiang Taohua grew increasingly anxious, hoping Shen Zaiye would return soon. Just as she was unsure of her next bet, Shen Zaiye appeared behind her and whispered for her to bet on “high.” Jiang Taohua trusted him and followed his suggestion—and won. The heir, however, accused her of being in league with those who stole from the treasury.
Shen Zaiye suddenly knocked off the heir’s mask, revealing his face to everyone, and then pulled Jiang Taohua away in a swift escape. Furious, the heir ordered a thorough search to capture Jiang Taohua and Shen Zaiye. Meng Huaijin advised him to calm down, but the heir insisted Jiang Taohua hadn’t left yet and vowed to keep searching. Zhan Lu went to the prison and found Qingtai, bringing her food.
Meanwhile, the Du Fu district was in chaos, with soldiers searching everyone for a peach blossom mark on their arm. Jiang Taohua realized they were after her and decided to stay behind to cover Shen Zaiye’s escape. But Shen Zaiye suddenly remembered that his older brother had once said the same thing—telling him to flee—before dying in a sea of fire. Shen Zaiye couldn’t bear to leave Jiang Taohua behind and pulled her into hiding with him.
The two hid inside a wardrobe. Just then, the wife of the Marquis of Xinyang and the wife of General Weiyuan entered the room. Soon after, the heir followed and dragged out the wife of General Weiyuan from behind the wardrobe. He then kicked off the Marquis of Xinyang’s mask and warned him to behave or he’d be punished on behalf of the general. He ordered a continued search of the room. Jiang Taohua and Shen Zaiye, still hiding in the wardrobe, watched as the soldiers drew closer to their hiding spot.
