Recaps

Qiaoju took Cui Wan out to lift her spirits, but Cui Wan remained troubled by her strained relationship with Chu Moqi and refused to buy anything. When she heard street idlers slander Chu Moqi and Tang Xiang, Cui Wan confronted them, and they harassed and injured her before fleeing from an outraged crowd.

• Qiaoju persuaded Cui Wan to leave the residence and help choose winter fabric for Qiaoju's mother.
• At Flowing Cloud Pavilion, Cui Wan admired the jewelry but declined to take anything from the household shop.
• Cui Wan refused Qiaoju's offers of food and asked to return to the residence.
• Cui Wan heard idlers spread rumors about Chu Moqi and Tang Xiang, then shouted that they were lying.
• The idlers surrounded Cui Wan and Qiaoju, shoved Cui Wan to the ground, and fled when bystanders intervened.
• Qiaoju helped the sobbing, injured Cui Wan back to the residence.

After Cui Wan was injured defending Chu Moqi and his sister-in-law from slander, Chu Moqi scolded her, then gently treated her wounds and secretly punished the men who had attacked her. He spared the men but forced them to crawl out of Orchid Courtyard, and ended the night looking toward Cui Wan’s darkened room.

• Cui Wan returned to Orchid Courtyard injured and tearful, and Yan Qin and Yan Huai told Chu Moqi that someone had bullied her.
• Chu Moqi demanded the truth from Cui Wan, scolded her for confronting the men, then returned with medicine and carefully bandaged her hand.
• Chu Moqi told Cui Wan that the men had been in the wrong and warned her not to recklessly stand up to them again.
• That night, Chu Moqi had Yan Qin and Yan Huai beat the four men who had slandered and hurt Cui Wan.
• Chu Moqi threatened the four men with mutilation, then spared them on the condition that they crawl out through the dog hole and keep silent.

After seeing Cui Wan endangered by street thugs, Chu Moqi secretly assigned Changfeng to protect her. Changfeng posed as a penniless young woman so Cui Wan would take her in, and waited as Cui Wan went to ask Chu Moqi for permission to let her stay.

• Chu Moqi ordered Yan Qin to fetch Changfeng from the Shadow Guard Camp, while Yan Huai revealed Changfeng had once beaten him after mistaking him for Yan Qin.
• Chu Moqi instructed Changfeng to stay by Cui Wan's side and protect her without revealing that he had sent her.
• Five days later, Cui Wan found Changfeng pretending to have fainted outside the residence and brought her into Orchid Courtyard to warm her.
• Changfeng claimed she was an orphan rejected by her relatives and begged Cui Wan to let her stay, while Qiaoju questioned her story.
• Cui Wan said she needed to ask Chu Moqi before taking Changfeng in, then left to find him as Changfeng recognized how kind and vulnerable she was.

Cui Wan pleaded with Chu Moqi to let Changfeng stay, and he agreed after she coaxed and massaged him, then hugged him in delight. Changfeng began serving Cui Wan, while Chu Moqi privately cherished the embrace and remained unaware of Yan Huai’s hint about a change in his body.

• Cui Wan brought Chu Moqi soup and nervously asked him to let Changfeng stay at the residence, and he feigned anger before giving in to her pleading and massage.
• Cui Wan excitedly hugged Chu Moqi after he agreed, then fled the study in embarrassment while he sat smiling at the memory.
• Qiaoju objected to Changfeng’s stiff manner as she helped Cui Wan prepare for bed, but Cui Wan defended her and Changfeng adjusted her movements.
• Chu Moqi practiced turning over and suffered leg spasms, while Yan Huai massaged him and teased him about his good mood and bulging diaper.
• Yan Huai hinted that Chu Moqi should keep his diaper from getting dirty the next morning, but Chu Moqi did not understand, then drifted back to thoughts of Cui Wan’s embrace.

Chu Moqi teased Cui Wan by saying she had gained weight, and she avoided him for two days. After Yan Huai explained why she was hurt, Chu Moqi awkwardly tried to make amends, and Cui Wan forgave him, laughing as she ran toward the dining hall and invited him to chase her.

• Chu Moqi told Cui Wan she had put on weight, and she left lunch upset.
• Cui Wan avoided Chu Moqi and ate little for two days, while he assumed she would soon get over the joke.
• Yan Huai explained that Cui Wan was hurt by Chu Moqi's remark and urged him to apologize and coax her.
• Chu Moqi entered Cui Wan's room and found her worrying that she was fat, then asked her to eat with him.
• Cui Wan said Chu Moqi must dislike her for being fat, and he awkwardly insisted she was cute and not fat.
• Cui Wan laughed, ran toward the dining hall, and told Chu Moqi to chase her; relieved, he followed in his wheelchair.

Cui Wan played in the snow while Chu Moqi watched from his study, remembering his family and the life he had lost. When he eventually came outside and got stuck in the snow, Cui Wan freed his wheelchair, and the two ended the afternoon playfully holding hands.

• Cui Wan and Qiaoju played in the snow while Chu Moqi watched from the study window and dismissed Cui Wan’s invitation to join them as childish.
• Chu Moqi called Cui Wan back to warn her not to catch a chill, then remembered playing in the snow with his late father and elder brother.
• Chu Moqi came outside in his wheelchair and got stuck in the snow, and Cui Wan pushed him free despite his embarrassment.
• Cui Wan threw a snowball at Chu Moqi, who retaliated by dropping snow down her collar.
• Cui Wan caught Chu Moqi’s hand to stop him from fighting back, and he let her hold it as she laughed against his chest.

Cui Wan discovered that Chu Moqi had a high fever and severe leg spasms after playing in the snow, and she cared for him through the night, including changing his diaper when he begged her not to leave. By dawn, Chu Moqi woke humiliated and despairing, while Yan Huai concealed Cui Wan’s involvement and let him believe she had only appeared in a fever dream.

• Cui Wan found Chu Moqi burning with fever and suffering violent leg spasms, so Yan Qin treated him while Yan Huai fetched medicine.
• Chu Moqi shivered and clung to Cui Wan, who discovered his soaked diaper and changed it when he begged her to stay.
• Yan Huai arrived with the medicine and saw the aftermath, while a mortified Cui Wan begged him not to tell Chu Moqi before retreating to her room.
• Chu Moqi woke at dawn, realized he had wet himself, and erupted in shame and self-loathing.
• Chu Moqi asked whether Cui Wan had visited, and Yan Huai falsely claimed she had been turned away and that Chu Moqi must have dreamed of her.

On New Year's Eve, Cui Wan coaxed the withdrawn Chu Moqi into joining the household reunion dinner and watching fireworks with her. Though the evening briefly warmed him, Yan Huai's careless remark about Chu Moqi's disability revived his despair, while Tang Xiang watched them and remembered A-Lei.

• Chu Moqi secretly practiced using the chamber pot alone, fell, and withdrew further from Cui Wan as his shame and despair deepened.
• Cui Wan waited for Chu Moqi before the reunion dinner, then pushed his wheelchair toward the main hall and asked why he had been ignoring her; he agreed to let her walk beside him.
• At dinner, Tang Xiang left the seats of Chu Moqi's deceased family members vacant, encouraged Cui Wan to serve him a ruyi roll, and gave the couple New Year's money and her blessing.
• Cui Wan urged Chu Moqi to watch fireworks with her, and he reluctantly agreed after Tang Xiang teased them about being alone together.
• When Yan Huai pointed out that Chu Moqi could not run from a lit firework, Chu Moqi felt like a burden, though Cui Wan continued enjoying the fireworks beside him.
• Chu Moqi watched Cui Wan's happiness in the firelight, while Tang Xiang secretly watched them and remembered A-Lei and their child.

Cui Wan tried to receive Chu Moqi’s visiting relatives, but they insulted her and demanded control of the household’s property until Changfeng intervened. Chu Moqi arrived, drove them away, and comforted Cui Wan, leaving the two of them to return together.

• Yan Huai told Chu Moqi that the collateral relatives had come straight to Orchid Courtyard, and Chu Moqi initially refused to see them.
• Cui Wan persuaded Chu Moqi to let her receive the visitors, and he insisted that Changfeng accompany her.
• The relatives questioned Chu Moqi’s health and Cui Wan’s ability to bear an heir, then demanded that she let them manage the family’s shops and fields.
• When the relatives berated Cui Wan, Changfeng stepped forward and warned them to watch their mouths.
• Chu Moqi entered the hall, reminded the relatives that they had abandoned the family during its hardships, and ordered them never to return.
• Cui Wan cried behind Chu Moqi’s wheelchair, and he comforted her before inviting her to return with him.

On Lantern Festival, Chu Moqi refused to accompany Cui Wan to see the lanterns, so she went with Changfeng and encountered Li Yuezhou, who questioned her about her imprisoned father and escorted her home. Chu Moqi confronted Li Yuezhou at the residence gates, and after the man left, his suppressed fury erupted.

• Cui Wan asked Chu Moqi to attend the Lantern Festival with her, but he refused and told her to go with Changfeng.
• Cui Wan met Li Yuezhou in the crowded streets, and he offered vague reassurances when she asked about her father, Cui Minghai, and the old case.
• Li Yuezhou won Cui Wan a rabbit lantern and insisted on escorting her back to the residence, while Changfeng watched him warily.
• Chu Moqi waited outside the gates past nine and confronted Li Yuezhou when Cui Wan returned with him.
• Li Yuezhou criticized Chu Moqi for restricting Cui Wan, and Chu Moqi warned him to observe proprieties before Li Yuezhou departed.

Chu Moqi’s jealousy over Cui Wan’s time with Li Yuezhou drove him to destroy her lantern and forcibly kiss her, leaving her frightened and driving her away. Three days later, he sent candied hawthorns as an apology, and Cui Wan went to his study and coaxed him into sharing them.

• Cui Wan returned happily with the rabbit lantern Li Yuezhou had won, and Chu Moqi crushed it before wheeling away in anger.
• Cui Wan followed Chu Moqi to Orchid Courtyard and explained that she had asked Li Yuezhou for help saving her father, but Chu Moqi’s jealousy and insecurity grew worse.
• Chu Moqi dragged Cui Wan onto the bed and forced a kiss on her until she bit his lip; he then told her to leave, and she went away in tears.
• Three days later, Changfeng delivered candied hawthorns from Yan Huai as an apology for the broken lantern, and Cui Wan carried them to Chu Moqi’s study.
• Cui Wan offered Chu Moqi a candied hawthorn and said she would not accept his apology unless he ate with her, so he took one and they sat together.

After Emperor Yongchang’s death, Chu Moqi learns that his wife Cui Wan’s father, Cui Minghai, is expected to be freed under the general amnesty. A mysterious note invites Chu Moqi to meet Cui Minghai before the release, and Chu Moqi decides to go despite knowing it is a trap.

• Emperor Yongchang died, and Crown Prince Xiao Ling'an ascended the throne as Emperor Kangshun and declared a general amnesty.
• Chu Moqi saw that Cui Wan hoped her father, Cui Minghai, would be released from prison the next day.
• A black-clad intruder shot an arrow into Chu Moqi’s study, but Chu Moqi pinned the intruder’s clothing to the wall with a hidden mechanism, and the intruder escaped.
• Yan Qin removed a note from the arrow inviting Chu Moqi to meet Cui Minghai at Spring Breeze House that night.
• Chu Moqi recognized that the invitation was a trap but decided to go and told Yan Qin not to inform Cui Wan.

Chu Moqi met Cui Minghai, who questioned whether Wanwan truly loved him and announced that he would take her to her parents’ home. Believing he had no right to stop her, Chu Moqi agreed, then collapsed from violent leg spasms and asked Yan Qin to hide his condition from Wanwan.

• Chu Moqi secretly left home in a wheelchair to meet Cui Minghai at Spring Breeze House, and Yan Qin carried him up the stairs to the private room.
• Cui Minghai questioned Chu Moqi’s identity and release before revealing that he intended to take Wanwan home.
• Cui Minghai challenged whether Wanwan loved Chu Moqi or merely felt gratitude and dependence, and questioned whether Chu Moqi could care for her with his impaired legs.
• Chu Moqi agreed that Cui Minghai could take Wanwan home the next day, saying he would not stop him.
• After Cui Minghai left, Chu Moqi collapsed as his legs spasmed violently, and Yan Qin carried him downstairs.
• Chu Moqi asked Yan Qin to make sure Wanwan did not see him in that condition when they returned.

After Cui Minghai was released from prison, Cui Wan joyfully reunited with him and agreed to visit her parents, while Chu Moqi hid how deeply he dreaded her leaving. As her carriage departed, Cui Minghai quietly asked whether Chu Moqi had treated her well, and Cui Wan praised her husband without reservation.

• Cui Wan dressed in her best clothes and eagerly told Chu Moqi that her father could leave prison, while Chu Moqi struggled to eat.
• Cui Minghai arrived at the residence, and Cui Wan introduced Chu Moqi as her husband and assured her father she was happy with him.
• Cui Minghai invited Cui Wan to visit her parents, and Chu Moqi reluctantly agreed despite wanting her to stay.
• Chu Moqi embraced Cui Wan and praised her appearance before she left with Cui Minghai in a carriage.
• After Cui Wan departed, Chu Moqi mourned that he had not told her he loved her, while Cui Minghai asked her whether Chu Moqi had treated her well.

After Cui Wan left, Chu Moqi sank into despair and neglected his health, while Tang Xiang urged him not to reject Wanwan if she returned. Back at her family home, Cui Wan was imprisoned by Cui Minghai and realized the divorce agreement he gave her was forged, leaving her desperate to reach Chu Moqi.

• Chu Moqi refused treatment and care for his aching legs and worsening bedsores, and he ordered Yan Qin and Yan Huai not to invite another physician.
• Tang Xiang confronted Chu Moqi about driving Wanwan away and urged him to care for himself in case she came back.
• Cui Wan asked Cui Minghai to return to the marquis's residence, but he called Chu Moqi a cripple and forbade her to go.
• Cui Minghai locked Cui Wan in a woodshed and gave her a divorce agreement that appeared to be in Chu Moqi's handwriting.
• Cui Wan noticed the agreement lacked Chu Moqi's distinctive strokes and realized that Cui Minghai had forged it.

Yang Xiu gave Yue Niang the Ministry of Works activity records and urged her to help Cui Wan escape and take the paper to Second Young Master Chu to save Cui Wan's father. After discovering the message hidden in a pastry, Cui Wan realized Yue Niang had drugged the guards and fled toward A-Qi.

• The man threatened Yang Xiu and Cui Wan to force Yang Xiu to surrender the Ministry of Works activity records, then told her Cui Wan had been divorced by the Chu Family.
• Yang Xiu slipped the paper to Yue Niang and told her to get Cui Wan out and deliver the message to Second Young Master Chu so he could save Cui Wan's father.
• Yue Niang brought pastries to Cui Wan in the woodshed, secretly hid the paper inside one, and shared drugged pastries with the guards.
• Cui Wan found her mother's note, discovered Yue Niang and the guards unconscious, and escaped with the message hidden in her robe.
• Cui Wan ran away in the opposite direction, following her mother's instruction to return to A-Qi.

After learning that Cui Wan had escaped her father’s woodshed and disappeared in East Street, Chu Moqi searched for her despite his injuries. He rescued her from attackers, and she recognized him before fainting; he carried her away while refusing to let Cui Minghai take her.

• A Cui Family servant told Chu Moqi that Cui Wan had been locked in a woodshed, escaped, and vanished in East Street, so Chu Moqi ordered a search.
• Chu Moqi searched East Street with Yan Qin, Yan Huai, Changfeng, and Shadow Guard members, then confronted Cui Minghai and warned him to take responsibility if Wanwan was harmed.
• Chu Moqi and Yan Huai found Cui Wan being assaulted in a dilapidated house, and Chu Moqi killed the gang leader with a hidden weapon while the Shadow Guards seized the others.
• Chu Moqi covered Cui Wan with his cloak and comforted her until she recognized him as A-Qi, clung to him, and then fainted.
• Cui Minghai tried to claim Cui Wan, but Chu Moqi ordered him away and had the guards take Cui Wan back to the manor for a doctor.

After Cui Wan woke from her ordeal, Chu Moqi comforted her and reassured her that the papers from her mother were safe. He investigated the papers while pushing through severe injuries, then collapsed after ordering protection for Yang Xiu and Yue Niang and learning the attackers had all been killed.

• Cui Wan woke beside Chu Moqi, remembered her abduction, and clung to him as she cried.
• Cui Wan panicked over the two papers her mother had given her, and Chu Moqi told her Qiaoju had found them in her inner garment.
• Chu Moqi went to the study despite his worsening wounds and read Yang Xiu's papers, learning that the current Cui Minghai was an impostor and that an official record implicated him in a deadly waterworks disaster.
• Chu Moqi ordered Yan Qin to secretly protect Yang Xiu and Yue Niang and to watch Cui Minghai.
• Yan Huai told Chu Moqi that the men who attacked Cui Wan had all been killed, and Chu Moqi collapsed while clutching the papers.

After Cui Wan recovered enough to take her medicine, Chu Moqi went to the Censorate to accuse Cui Mingjiang and Cui Minghe of murder and impersonating an official. The court sent Chu Moqi and both defendants into custody pending a joint hearing, and Chu Moqi was carried from the hall in humiliating view of the crowd.

• Yan Huai treated Chu Moqi’s wounds, then told him Cui Wan had briefly woken and asked where he was.
• Chu Moqi visited Cui Wan, fed her medicine with candy, and told her to rely on Qiaoju or Changfeng while he was busy; Tang Xiang promised the Tang Family and the Marquis of Ningyang’s Residence would support him.
• Two days later, Chu Moqi arrived at the Censorate and formally accused Cui Mingjiang and Cui Minghe of conspiring to murder and impersonating an imperial official.
• Cui Mingjiang denied the charges, accused Chu Moqi of forcing his daughter into marriage, and claimed Chu Moqi had caused her to lose her chastity.
• Chu Moqi presented Yang Xiu’s statement and records of the Ministry of Works accident, while warning Cui Mingjiang to stay away from Wanwan.
• He Tan ordered Chu Moqi and both Cui brothers taken into custody for a joint hearing; Chu Moqi stopped Yan Qin from resisting and was carried out of court by bailiffs.

Chu Moqi was summoned from prison to meet Emperor Xiao Ling'an, who sentenced the Cui brothers but warned Chu Moqi against challenging the throne. After returning to Orchid Courtyard, Chu Moqi faced the humiliation of needing Yan Huai to clean him after nearly two days without care.

• Yan Huai lied to Cui Wan that he was massaging Chu Moqi's legs to keep her from discovering Chu Moqi was absent.
• He Tan told Chu Moqi that Xiao Ling'an wanted to see him and helped arrange for him to be carried to the audience.
• Xiao Ling'an made Chu Moqi kneel, then sentenced Eldest Cui and Third Cui to beheading and warned Chu Moqi to recognize the Marquis of Ningyang's diminished position.
• Yan Qin wheeled Chu Moqi back to Orchid Courtyard, where Chu Moqi stopped Yan Huai from fetching Cui Wan and asked to return to his room.
• Yan Huai discovered Chu Moqi had gone nearly two days without having his diaper changed and gently cleaned him while Chu Moqi trembled in silence.

Cui Wan watched Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang be executed, then learned that her mother Yang Xiu had taken her own life after her father’s wrong was avenged. As Chu Moqi supported her through the funeral, rumors about Cui Wan spread, and the chapter ended when he entered her room and saw something that made his pupils contract.

• Chu Moqi told Cui Wan that her father had likely died soon after being imprisoned and that Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang would be executed; Cui Wan decided to watch.
• Cui Wan visited her father’s unmarked burial place and watched Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang beheaded, while Changfeng struck down people spreading slander about Cui Wan.
• Yue Niang told Cui Wan that Yang Xiu had taken her own life, and Cui Wan returned to the Cui residence to find her mother dead and read her final letter.
• Cui Hong and Lady Li tried to drive Yang Xiu’s body out, but Chu Moqi arrived and took Cui Wan and her mother’s body back to the marquis’s residence.
• The marquis’s residence held Yang Xiu’s funeral while Cui Wan grieved, and rumors about her alleged assault spread through the city.
• Chu Moqi went to check on Cui Wan after she stopped eating and failed to answer him; he opened her door and froze at what he saw.

Chu Moqi saved Cui Wan from hanging herself and comforted her as she recovered, while she reassured him that she would keep trying to warm his feet. The chapter left them asleep together after Cui Wan sought comfort from a thunderstorm and a nightmare.

• Chu Moqi and Yan Qin rescued Cui Wan from hanging, and a doctor revived her after she nearly stopped breathing.
• Cui Wan told Chu Moqi that she had feared he would reject her after the East Street attack, and he reassured her that she was his wife and begged her not to harm herself again.
• Cui Wan gradually recovered while Chu Moqi stayed by her and began exercising harder to become stronger for her.
• During a thunderstorm, Cui Wan woke from a nightmare about East Street and asked to sleep beside Chu Moqi, who let her into his bed.
• Cui Wan pressed her warm feet against Chu Moqi's cold ones, and they both fell asleep together.

Cui Wan comforted Chu Moqi through his embarrassment and jealousy, then discovered him practicing how to stand on crutches. After he fell, she learned his legs were still numb and spasming, while Chu Moqi feared she would find him repulsive and useless.

• Cui Wan woke in Chu Moqi's arms, but he angrily covered himself when she saw his diaper, and Yan Huai revealed she had changed it for him during a fever.
• Chu Moqi searched the courtyard for Cui Wan and found her caring for a little girl named Nannan, whom he frightened by shouting.
• Cui Wan returned after taking Nannan home, and Chu Moqi complained that the child had called her big sister and him uncle before wheeling away in embarrassment.
• The next day, Cui Wan found Chu Moqi standing unsteadily on crutches in the study; he fell while trying to shield her from his weight.
• Cui Wan saw that Chu Moqi had strapped wooden slats to his numb legs for support, then undid them and offered to help him, while he feared she would reject him after seeing his spasms and smelling his incontinence.

Cui Wan discovered Chu Moqi practicing standing in the cloth shoes she had made, and he managed a small step before resting. Days later, Chu Moqi attempted to ride his horse to regain mobility and protect Wanwan, but a surge of traumatic memories forced Yan Qin and Yan Huai to carry him back.

• Cui Wan made soft blue-gray cloth shoes for Chu Moqi and found him practicing standing in them.
• Chu Moqi told Cui Wan he wanted to hold her while standing, and she embraced him before insisting he stop practicing for the day.
• Chu Moqi admitted his step had been only a small movement aided by wooden splints, while Cui Wan promised to wait for him to chase after her.
• Several days later, Chu Moqi went to the riding ground despite Yan Qin and Yan Huai warning him against riding, explaining that he wanted to protect Wanwan.
• Yan Qin and Yan Huai strapped Chu Moqi onto his horse, but after riding a short distance he was overcome by memories of his injury and began trembling.
• Yan Qin carried Chu Moqi back, and Chu Moqi told Yan Huai not to let Wanwan know about the attempt.

Tang Xiang confronted Li Yuezhou after he broke into the Marquis of Ningyang's Residence and tried to persuade her to leave with him. After he threatened the household and departed, she suspected someone was using him and resolved to warn A-Qi.

• Tang Xiang mourned Chu Molei by the window before Li Yuezhou suddenly entered her room and embraced her from behind.
• Li Yuezhou urged Tang Xiang to marry him or leave with him, while she rejected him and reaffirmed her loyalty to Chu Molei and the residence.
• Li Yuezhou suggested Tang Xiang loved her husband's younger brother, and Tang Xiang slapped him.
• Li Yuezhou revealed he had met Cui Wan and provoked Second Young Master Chu, then threatened to make Tang Xiang beg him if the residence fell.
• Li Yuezhou vanished into the night, and Tang Xiang concluded that someone was manipulating him and decided she had to tell A-Qi.