Unchained Love Episode 28 Recap
> Unchained Love Recap
Rong'an, having uncovered Xiao Duo's true identity, confronted him with her discovery. She revealed she knew he was not the real Xiao Duo, but rather his older twin brother who had impersonated him six years prior after the younger brother, a eunuch, disappeared from the palace. She threatened to expose him for deceiving the Emperor and committing illicit acts in the palace, consequences for which he would be "walking proof." She demanded he kill Bu Yinlou with his own hands.
Rong'an, now in Zhaoding Bureau prison with Xiao Duo, presented a cup of poisoned wine for Bu Yinlou. She presented Xiao Duo with a grim choice: either he personally administered the poisoned wine to Bu Yinlou, making it appear as a suicide, or she would expose his true identity, leading to his demise. Effectively, it was a choice between Bu Yinlou's life and his own.
Bu Yinlou, present for the exchange, asked Xiao Duo if her life was not thousands of times more important than his. Xiao Duo, with a pained expression, stated that his purpose in the palace was within reach, and he could not abandon it, apologizing to her. Incredulous, Bu Yinlou slapped him, bitterly telling him she never wanted to see him again, not in this life or any future lives.
A servant prompted her to drink, and heartbroken, Bu Yinlou consumed the poisoned wine. Watching Bu Yinlou succumb, Rong'an gloated, believing her rival was finally dead. She mused about the fleeting nature of deep affection in the face of life-or-death choices, concluding that Xiao Duo, like herself, would always prioritize self-preservation.
She then asked Xiao Duo to comb her hair, reminiscing about the first time he had done so when he was clumsy and inexperienced, expressing a lifelong wish for only him to do her hair. As Xiao Duo tended to her, he presented her with rouge, which he revealed he had specially sourced from Qiongshui Pavilion. Rong'an, realizing his trap, was shocked.
She quickly accessed a hidden compartment in her bed, retrieving and consuming an antidote to the poison in the rouge. Before she could react further, Xiao Duo struck her, rendering her unconscious. Murong Gaogong soon arrived, and Xiao Duo explained the truth behind the "fox demon" case. He revealed that Rong'an had orchestrated the entire scheme, sending palace maids to use poisoned rouge that caused hallucinations and heart palpitations, all to frame Consort Duan.
Xiao Duo presented the rouge shop owner's confession, identifying Rong'an as the mastermind, and the antidote found in Changqing Palace, arguing that Rong'an, as a palace lady, could only possess such a unique antidote if she were the culprit. With clear human and physical evidence, Murong Gaogong decreed that Empress Rong'an, for causing chaos and harming people, would be imprisoned in Changqing Palace and executed on a chosen date. He also ordered strict surveillance to prevent her from speaking out.
Murong Gaogong initially offered Xiao Duo a reward for solving the case, which Xiao Duo humbly declined. The emperor then confronted Xiao Duo about giving Bu Yinlou poisoned wine. Xiao Duo explained it was a necessary risk to make Rong'an drop her guard and expose herself.
Murong Gaogong warned Xiao Duo that his life would have been forfeit had Bu Yinlou not survived, but Xiao Duo asserted that the emperor's command to solve the case within three days was his top priority, above all else. Murong Gaogong then tested Xiao Duo's loyalty, calling him a "good dog" for his absolute obedience.
Despite Xiao Duo's actions against Bu Yinlou, Murong Gaogong spared his life due to his contribution to the case, but stripped him of his title as the Chief Eunuch of Zhaoding Bureau. After Xiao Duo left, Murong Gaogong revealed his true indifference to the actual culprit, stating that as long as Bu Yinlou was safe, he did not care about the truth or who the real murderer was.
He reaffirmed his power as the Emperor, believing that anyone, including Xiao Duo, should serve and die for him. Xiao Duo rushed to find Bu Yinlou, who had awakened but remained silent. He desperately apologized for deceiving her, explaining the sudden necessity of the deception and offering to let her hit him, scold him, or even poison him in return. Bu Yinlou finally turned, revealing a playful triumph rather than tears.
She admitted she had guessed his plan the moment he offered the wine, explaining that she trusted him not to harm her. They playfully bantered, with Bu Yinlou teasing him about his cleverness and his future without his Chief Eunuch position. Xiao Duo confirmed his loss of status and power but reassured her that his loyal Zhaoding Guards and the bureau's vast intelligence network remained under his control, making him impervious to easy manipulation.
Bu Yinlou then questioned why Prince of Nanyuan would continue to protect Rong'an if she was indeed the killer and now a "useless chess piece," to which Xiao Duo speculated the Prince was still clinging to a deluded hope. Their conversation was interrupted by Cao Chun'ang, who burst in with urgent news: Tong Yun had been implicated as Rong'an's accomplice in the fox demon case by the Court of Judicial Review and sentenced to exile.
Bu Yinlou was distressed, but Xiao Duo calmly stated he already had a plan. Tong Yun was escorted by Zhaoding Guards, lamenting that no one, not even her mistress or Cao Chun'ang, had come to see her off before her exile. However, instead of exile, she awoke in a bridal chamber, dressed in wedding attire. Cao Chun'ang explained that Xiao Duo had arranged for an imperial decree from the Empress Dowager, fabricating a long-standing affection between him and Tong Yun.
Cao Chun'ang's merits in solving the fox demon case were then used to pardon Tong Yun's transgression, and their marriage was granted by this imperial decree. This "wedding" was a public charade, and he had brought her there mid-way to protect her reputation. He promised that once the situation settled, their lives would return to normal, and he would not hinder her future.
Unable to contain his true feelings, Cao Chun'ang confessed his deeper desires, describing a future where they would leave the Imperial City with Xiao Duo and Bu Yinlou, opening a restaurant where he would do all the work while she merely collected money, living a carefree life. Believing these were delusional fantasies, he turned to leave. Tong Yun, however, stopped him, confirming her own affection by saying she wanted to sit in the restaurant and be the cashier.
Cao Chun'ang, overjoyed and disbelieving, asked her to slap him to confirm it wasn't a dream. Tong Yun happily kissed him, promising they would live a good life together and officially marry once they left the palace. Later, observing a dead fish in a pond, Bu Yinlou contemplated its fate. She likened it to fish that, though meant to live freely in vast waters, were confined to small ponds by humans.
They were well-fed, yet their existence revolved around pleasing people and ruthlessly fighting their own kind for scraps, wasting their prime years in a savage existence. She mused on the absurdity of it all, wondering when such cycles would end and who would be the next to suffer. This reflection occurred as Xiao Duo arrived to oversee Rong'an's final moments under imperial orders.
In her final confrontation with Xiao Duo, Rong'an, helped by Xiao Duo to put on her last hairpin, acknowledged her comprehensive defeat. She admitted she had never lost in her life until him, recognizing his superior cunning. She realized Xiao Duo and Bu Yinlou's elaborate scheme had been solely to avenge the real Xiao Duo, his younger brother, who she confirmed was the young man killed in Ruyi Alley six years prior.
Rong'an then wickedly revealed that she was present during the murder but claimed the real culprit was Bu Yinlou's own biological father, Bu Yulu. At the same time, Bu Yinlou, troubled by Rong'an wearing a man's silk cord and questioning if Rong'an was truly alone in the carriage that night, examined a silk cord from her own jade pendant. She recognized the unique weaving as her mother's work, a pendant her father had worn and then claimed to have lost.
This discovery made her frantic, contemplating the horrifying possibility that her own father was the murderer and how she would face Xiao Duo if it were true. To confirm this unsettling revelation, Bu Yinlou immediately summoned her father, Bu Yulu, to her residence. Upon his arrival at her residence, Bu Yulu expressed concern about the impropriety of her summoning him late at night without imperial knowledge, fearing it might be seen as conspiring.
Bu Yinlou, cutting to the chase, asked him if he had been to Ruyi Alley on the seventh day of the sixth lunar month six years ago. She then presented the silk pendant, which her mother had handmade for him. Bu Yulu's eyes showed a flicker of surprise as he recognized it.
