Recaps

Xie Huizhou concealed his identity after sleeping with Zhang Lanhe and used the Spring Hunt to turn Xie Tingchun’s assassination plot against him. Zhang Lanhe became Xie Huizhou’s appointed tutor while searching for his elusive lover, and a picture book finally linked his quarry’s artwork to the Ninth Prince.

• Xie Huizhou fled after sleeping with Zhang Lanhe and discovered a silver snake mark on his waist while Zhang Lanhe searched for the unidentified youth.
• Xie Huizhou learned that Consort Yu's hidden guards had concealed his tracks and decided to attend the Spring Hunt despite suspecting Xie Tingchun’s invitation was a trap.
• Xie Huizhou overheard Xie Tingchun’s assassination orders, abducted and humiliated hostile nobles, and arranged to turn the attack against Zhang Lanhe.
• Zhang Lanhe caught the disguised Xie Huizhou, recognized his lover by the snake mark, and declared him his fated one before Xie Huizhou escaped while claiming to serve the Eighth Prince.
• Xie Huizhou’s men drove Xie Tingchun’s forces toward Zhang Lanhe, who killed the prince’s Shadow Guards and demanded that he surrender the elusive youth.
• The emperor appointed Zhang Lanhe to tutor Xie Huizhou, who resisted moving into his residence and agreed only to regular visits.
• Zhang Lanhe inspected Xie Tingchun’s Shadow Guards and realized that the youth had lied about serving the prince.
• Zhang Lanhe seized a picture book from Li Xu and recognized its artistic style as matching Xie Huizhou’s paintings.

Xie Huizhou changed the Imperial Examination to expose a fraud scheme while Zhang Lanhe secretly protected him and revealed his feelings. After the Eighth Prince died and Xie Huizhou learned rumors about his parentage, Zhang Lanhe took him to the National Preceptor's Residence to recover.

• Zhang Lanhe recognized Xie Huizhou as the vanished youth after studying Spring Studio Hermit's paintings, then resolved to protect him without revealing that he knew.
• Xie Huizhou confronted Wei Hu when the man blocked his carriage, and Zhang Lanhe helped him kill Wei Hu after he attacked them.
• Zhang Lanhe brought Xie Huizhou to the National Preceptor's Residence, where Xie Huizhou found his own drawings and received appointment to preside over the Imperial Examination.
• Xie Huizhou changed the examination questions and exposed the Ministry of Personnel's fraud scheme, but a masked captor seized him after he celebrated.
• Zhang Lanhe discovered Xie Huizhou had been poisoned for years and used his snake demon powers to ease the poison, while hiding that it was worsening his own condition.
• At the Qionglin Banquet, Xie Tingchun tried to kill Xie Huizhou but drowned in the Lotus Pond after Zhang Lanhe intervened, and the emperor ruled the death accidental.
• Xie Huizhou investigated Suowu Palace, where Xie Wangqiu told him that Consort Yu had been forced into the palace and that rumors questioned whether the emperor was his father.
• Xie Wangqiu's revelations triggered Xie Huizhou's poison, but Little White Snake protected him and Zhang Lanhe promised he would never abandon him before taking him to the National Preceptor's Residence to recuperate.

As Xie Huizhou and Zhang Lanhe uncover the emperor’s plot and prepare to confront the Pingzhou plague, their growing affection turns into an open confession. The arc ends with Xie Huizhou embracing Zhang Lanhe and preparing to give him his answer.

• Ye Changfeng diagnosed Xie Huizhou with severe poisoning and warned Zhang Lanhe that drawing out the poison could kill him, while the emperor learned Xie Huizhou was Zhang Lanhe’s weakness.
• The emperor ordered Xie Huizhou, Zhou Yanqing, and Fang Yuanke to deal with the Pingzhou plague, and Fang Yuanke revealed that he was Xie Huizhou’s eldest brother.
• Wuzi mistook Xie Huizhou for a woman and proposed to him, while Xie Huizhou began suspecting that the persistent snake demon was Zhang Lanhe.
• Zhang Lanhe attacked the emperor after learning he had destroyed the antidote, and the emperor collapsed, leaving Xie Huizhou to suspect Zhang Lanhe was responsible.
• Xie Huizhou and Li Xu organized illustrated plague-prevention pamphlets and supplies, while the Spring Studio Hermit’s books stirred anger among the princes.
• Ye Changfeng left for Pingzhou with Zhou Yanqing and Fang Yuanke, and Xie Huizhou attended the peace-talk banquet in disguise with Zhang Lanhe.
• Wuzi recognized Xie Huizhou at the banquet and pursued him, prompting Zhang Lanhe to take Xie Huizhou through a secret passage and reveal his true snake nature.
• Zhang Lanhe confessed his love and promised he wanted to spend his life with Xie Huizhou, who embraced him and said he had made up his mind.

Xie Huizhou traveled to the Borderlands to learn how to save Zhang Lanhe and uncover the truth behind his imprisonment, then returned to Capital City after binding their lives together. Xie Wangqiu took the throne, and Xie Huizhou accepted an invitation to a gathering he believed could free Zhang Lanhe and expose a plot against him.

• Xie Huizhou and Zhang Lanhe confessed their love, but Xie Huizhou urged them to elope while Zhang Lanhe warned that he might never escape Capital City alive.
• Xie Huizhou left for Guanjun Mountain to seek answers and a way to save Zhang Lanhe, who remained trapped beneath the Golden Dragon Hall as the princes fought over the throne.
• Xie Huizhou encountered Wuzi and captured him with Zhang Lanhe’s help, then met the priests of Qingfeng Temple and learned that Zhang Lanhe was a dragon vein whom the Xie Clan’s ancestor had used to secure the throne.
• Xie Huizhou learned that sharing his life with Zhang Lanhe could keep him alive, and the two performed a ritual that linked their hearts, senses, and fates.
• Xie Huizhou returned to Capital City despite an imperial order, evaded the guarded gates, and reunited with Zhang Lanhe at the National Preceptor’s Residence.
• Zhang Lanhe told Xie Huizhou that Xie Wangqiu had taken the throne and that karmic retribution was making him ill, then revealed where his seal lay in the palace.
• Xie Huizhou accepted Xie Wangqiu’s invitation to a painting-viewing gathering, suspecting the emperor planned to kill him there and intending to use the occasion to free Zhang Lanhe.