Recaps

Su Qiao arranged a marriage contract with Ye Lihan while managing political schemes involving Li Ruo, Huang Ling, and Li Sang. As Ye Lihan struggled to deny his feelings and prepared to return to Eastern Jin, Li Ruo’s actions led to a marriage settlement with Huang Ling.

• Su Qiao and Ye Lihan signed a contract for a marriage that would protect her from pressure to wed elsewhere and give him security, while they agreed to respect each other’s privacy and avoid intimacy.
• Su Qiao arranged Ye Lihan’s move to a neighboring residence, provided him with clothes and supplies, and continued political maneuvering in the palace as Huang Lan was made a prince.
• Su Qiao ordered Mu Rong to watch Li Ruo, who went drinking, slept with Huang Ling while drunk, and later admitted she had admired him for years.
• Su Qiao rescued Shang Shuheng on the road to the imperial temple and accepted his invitation to a poetry gathering, leaving Ye Lihan upset when she canceled their hunt.
• Ye Lihan insisted that his arrangement with Su Qiao was only a transaction and told a hidden guard to alert their allies, but he grew jealous when he believed she was spending time with Shang Shuheng.
• Su Qiao confronted Li Sang about Li Ruo’s proposed marriage to Huang Ling, then Li Sang questioned Li Ruo and learned that her actions had disrupted his marriage alliance with Su Qiao.
• Huang Ling arrived at Phoenix Palace and asked Li Sang to blame him rather than Li Ruo, after which Li Sang told Li Ruo to have her mother arrange their marriage.
• Su Qiao found Ye Lihan painting a figure he had modeled on her, while he tried to conceal his feelings and insisted on economizing to support his guards and private army.

Su Qiao weakened Li Sang’s court while drawing closer to Ye Lihan, who revealed his intent to destroy the Eastern Jin Imperial Family. As Huang Ying and Li Sang made plans against Ye Lihan, he voided his contract with Su Qiao, leaving her asking why.

• Su Qiao ordered Mu Rong to expose corrupt officials and replace them with Shang Yu’s followers, while Ye Lihan retrieved and kept her discarded portrait.
• As officials were arrested and Shang-connected replacements entered the court, Huang Ying and Li Sang grew suspicious of Prince Rui and Prime Minister Shang.
• Su Qiao admitted to Li Sang that she had targeted corrupt officials, dismissed his concerns about Shang Shuheng, and made him fear she no longer loved him.
• Su Qiao told Ye Lihan she intended to seize the throne, while Ye Lihan gave her a costly jade crown and grew jealous when she mentioned another man.
• Ye Lihan told Xiao Yuzi that Consort Yun had died from chronic poisoning and ordered the Eastern Jin Imperial Family wiped out after learning the Emperor had little time left.
• Li Sang warned Huang Ying that Shang Shuheng favored Prince Rui, while Huang Ying said the Eastern Jin Crown Prince would help them eliminate Ye Lihan.
• Su Qiao rebuked Li Sang in court, set Huang Ying and Shang Shuheng’s wedding date, and left before Li Sang could answer.
• After Ye Lihan learned Su Qiao wanted to test him, she went to see him, and he declared their contract void.

Su Qiao settled Huangming Kingdom’s court crisis, defeated Li Sang and Huang Ying’s schemes, and prepared to take the throne. After Ye Lihan secretly left for Eastern Jin, Su Qiao sent Mu Jin after him and readied an expedition to the border.

• Su Qiao arranged Huang Ying’s marriage to Shang Shuheng and Huang Ling’s marriage to Li Ruo, then told Shang Shuheng she had never returned his feelings.
• Su Qiao trained Huangming Kingdom’s soldiers and learned that Ye Lihan was the legitimate heir of Eastern Jin, whose rulers had killed members of his family.
• Li Sang and Huang Ying failed to remove Ye Lihan, while their conflict with Su Qiao deepened and Shang Shuheng was imprisoned after attacking Huang Ying.
• Su Qiao arranged for Shang Shuheng and his family to escape to Northwest Ruyang, then sent troops to seize control of the Imperial Palace when officials accused Ye Lihan of spying.
• Su Qiao confronted Li Sang and Huang Ying, exposed their schemes, and ordered them taken away while she prepared to ascend the throne.
• Ye Lihan secretly left for Eastern Jin with Su Qiao’s token, so Su Qiao sent Mu Jin to pursue him and help him.
• Su Qiao set her enthronement for three days later, ordered troops to secure the Dongzhou border, and announced that she would lead an expedition in ten days.

Su Qiao reconciled with Ye Lihan, secured peace between their kingdoms, and eventually spent her final years with him before moving to a modern world. There, she rejected Wang Zhiyao’s family’s demands and returned to her apartment after ending the relationship, then told her parents what had happened.

• Su Qiao prepared to attack Eastern Jin after Prince Ye took the throne without contacting her, but Ye Lihan crossed the border to apologize and discuss their future.
• Su Qiao and Ye Lihan agreed to a hundred-year truce, while Huangming’s weapons drove Northern Yao and Western Yu to withdraw and seek negotiations.
• Su Qiao demonstrated hand grenades to the Dongjin soldiers and challenged their belief that women were inferior to men.
• Su Qiao and Ye Lihan later handed power to their heirs, traveled together, and settled at the Summer Resort Villa, where Ye Lihan stayed with Su Qiao as she died.
• Su Qiao entered a modern world and learned that the original owner had been mistreated by Wang Zhiyao and his family, while 444 warned her that cameras were installed in their home.
• Su Qiao rejected Mrs. Wang’s marriage arrangement, which expected her to shoulder expenses and give up work while the house remained in the elders’ names, and offered instead to pay for everything if Wang Zhiyao married into her family.
• Wang Zhiyao refused Su Qiao’s proposal and demanded that she apologize to his mother, so Su Qiao ended their relationship and left.
• Su Qiao told her parents that Wang Zhiyao’s family looked down on her background and had suggested aborting a girl, and Su Mama asked whether Wang Zhiyao had defended her.