Thousand Years For You Episode 9 Recap
> Thousand Years For You Recap
Qingquan Stronghold began selling Lu Yan's belongings at low prices on the street, and in no time, the items were all snatched up. Dahai, in the meantime, hired a theatre troupe to perform a play for the villagers, accusing Lu Yan of ingratitude. As Lu Yan walked through the streets, he was deeply troubled by these sights. To confirm whether Yu Dengdeng was truly Yun Xi, the second half of the "Collection of Thousand-Year Truths" was essential.
Given the Spirit Clan's hidden designs on her, Lu Yan felt he could not rest easy, confiding to Xin that her safety was his top priority. Xin suggested that Lu Yan should return the protective hairpin to her as the primary way to ensure her protection. Lu Yan followed Yu Dengdeng to a teahouse, where he noticed a suspicious individual. To avoid alerting anyone, he hid and observed. After a long wait, Gu Beixi had yet to arrive.
Instead, the theatre boss approached Yu Dengdeng, introducing a young actor named Lu as a potential companion. Feeling a need to distract herself, Yu Dengdeng decided to keep the actor and test him. She asked if he knew how to play morra. To her surprise, the elegant actor was familiar with the common game. Seeing this, the theatre boss quickly ushered everyone else out of the room.
As the actor, fueled by alcohol, began to make advances on Yu Dengdeng, Lu Yan subtly entered and used his powers to make the actor hit himself. Yu Dengdeng, seemingly having a revelation, began to recount a story to the actor about a "big dumb rabbit" and a "big white rabbit."
She described the big dumb rabbit as strong and revered, but one day, the good-looking, mysterious big white rabbit, whom she had brought home and cherished more than gold, peeled away her skin, ripped out her flesh, and grabbed her heart. It was then the big dumb rabbit realized she had been tricked. The big white rabbit revealed itself to be a wolf. Yu Dengdeng, in her intoxicated state, laughed heartily but privately acknowledged her profound sadness.
She expressed her deep hatred for the wolf, but even more so for her own blindness in not realizing its true nature sooner. As she drifted into a drunken sleep, the actor reached out to touch her face. Before Lu Yan could intervene, Gu Beixi suddenly appeared and beat the actor. Gu Beixi then gently carried the sleeping Yu Dengdeng to his carriage. In the carriage, Yu Dengdeng rested against him like a fragile kitten.
He noted to himself that he was a righteous man and wouldn't take advantage of her at that moment. As they rode into the forest, a strange fog enveloped them, and a commotion was heard. Gu Beixi, noticing the odd change, led his brothers to investigate. Mysteriously, they suddenly lost consciousness and began walking like automatons towards a cliff. Lu Yan, who had been observing, realized they were under an illusion.
He instructed Xin to rescue Gu Beixi and his men while he went to attend to Yu Dengdeng. As he approached the carriage, a butterfly flew by. Lu Yan struck it away with a palm, then reached out to place the hairpin on Yu Dengdeng. At that moment, she suddenly awoke. Opening her eyes to see Lu Yan, Yu Dengdeng instantly became wary. She pushed him away and leaped out of the carriage.
She confronted him, reminding him that after he took her life and she spared his, they were even. She told him that she didn't want to see him and demanded he leave, threatening him with her gun and recalling that she hadn't "blown his head off" last time. Her gun, however, failed to fire. Soon after, Xin, having rescued Gu Beixi and his men from the cliff, arrived with them.
Gu Beixi confronted Lu Yan, but Yu Dengdeng, unwilling to prolong the conflict, urged everyone to ignore him and quickly led her people away. Xin later reported to Lu Yan that illusory spirits possessed low energy but were adept at manipulating butterflies. The scales on these butterflies could create the most realistic illusions, easily affecting ordinary individuals without strong willpower, and were difficult to dispel. He added that these illusory spirits acted discreetly and were hard to detect.
Lu Yan reflected on the situation, noting that even a small place like Qingquan Town could attract such covetous attention from various Spirit Clan members. He reiterated that regardless of whether Yu Dengdeng was Yun Xi, her safety was paramount. He was even prepared to return her energy core if it meant fulfilling her aspirations, even if it cost him his life. Xin assured Lu Yan he would ensure no evil could approach Qingquan Stronghold.
Meanwhile, the butterfly Lu Yan had struck returned to Zhu Rong, who healed its injury and instructed it to continue monitoring the situation, acknowledging its feat of surviving Lu Yan. Back at Qingquan Stronghold, Yu Dengdeng's mood remained low. She confessed to Lu Er that she hated Lu Yan but also wondered if her initial actions of bringing him to the mountain were the cause of their current predicament.
Lu Er comforted her, assuring her that she was not to blame, describing Lu Yan as "heartless" and "without humanity," and affirming that she deserved the world's best man. Yu Dengdeng had developed a toothache, and Lu Er learned from a doctor that it was an "inflammatory condition" caused by her unresolved anger and sorrow, suggesting only happiness would truly cure it.
Lu Yan secretly entered Yu Dengdeng's room with glutinous rice cakes from Li's, noticing the many portraits of himself on the walls and feeling a mix of emotions. Just then, Dahai entered with a bag of glutinous rice cakes he had bought from another shop, as Li's had sold out. Before Dahai could notice, Lu Yan covertly swapped the bags, replacing Dahai's with his own.
Yu Dengdeng, seemingly sensing something, instructed Dahai to share the cakes among the others, claiming she had quit eating sugary foods due to her toothache, a subtle jab at Lu Yan. Xin later reported Yu Dengdeng's toothache to Lu Yan, noting her cheeks were swollen and urging him to visit. Lu Yan remained silent.
Xin persistently emphasized the severity of a toothache, stating it was "not a disease, but it hurts like hell," and that her cheeks were so swollen she might not be able to speak. Annoyed by Xin's chatter, Lu Yan eventually dismissed him. Dahai, seeing Yu Dengdeng's continued distress, privately encouraged Gu Beixi to pursue her and help her forget Lu Yan, urging him to change his clumsy, antagonistic style of courtship to one that was more direct with his affections.
Gu Beixi, though initially critical of Yu Dengdeng's weakness, agreed to try a new tactic. He tasked his subordinate, Wan, with finding his mother's ancestral jewel ring as a gift for Yu Dengdeng. During the search, an old engagement letter was discovered, formalizing a childhood betrothal between Gu Beixi and a Miss Bai from Yingdu. Gu Beixi, however, dismissed the document, declaring Yu Dengdeng as the only future wife for him, and ordered it burned.
Later that evening, he prepared a pear soup with ice to soothe Yu Dengdeng's toothache. Gu Beixi visited Yu Dengdeng in her room that night, offering the pear soup. He gently reminded her of their childhood, recalling how she would beat him and then tell his father, leading to further punishment for him. He playfully noted that her childhood assertiveness seemed to have vanished and joked about her swollen cheeks.
Yu Dengdeng found herself amused and thanked him for his kindness. However, his words soured her mood when he expressed a wish for Qingquan Stronghold to "always be in trouble," so he could remain by her side and care for her. Enraged by the suggestion that he harbored ill intentions towards her stronghold, Yu Dengdeng immediately began to kick and hit him, demanding he leave and accusing him of wanting to annex her territory.
As he retreated, Gu Beixi playfully threatened to take down Qingquan Stronghold the next day and make her his wife. When Gu Beixi finally left, Yu Dengdeng turned to find Lu Yan standing silently in her room.
