Episode list

Luo ShiYi and her mother are summoned to the Capitol. They have an unfortunate run-in but ShiYi is rescued. Meanwhile, Marquis YongPing captures pirates and is commended before returning to the Xu family in the Capitol.

Luo YuanNiang is ill and worries about her health. She plots with her mother to safeguard her son's future in the Xu family. Qiao LianFang is infatuated with Xu LingYi, Marquis Yongping. YuanNiang is unsure which sister to set up.

ShiYi's deduces the arrangements being laid and starts planning an escape. She encounters Marquis Yongping and then Lin ShiXian on the wharf. Erniang learns of her fate and schemes to re-cast her future at the expense of ShiYi.

Shuyi's mother is killed while searching for her satchet at the same temple that the Xu family was attending. Coincidentally, the General was searching for the escaped prisoner. After the prisoner was caught, he implied that the General wasn't powerful enough to lift the sea ban, leaving all of his former merchants as left with no choice but to refer to piracy. Madame Lu wants the matter closed and convinced her husband to relent to maintain their reputation. Shuyi, armed with only a small piece of fabric as evidence, does not believe that her mother was killed by the escaped pirates and resolves to find her mother's murderer.

After visiting the temple a little boy monk informs Shuyi that the Xu family was the only ones present at the time of her mother's death. She resolves to get closer to the Marquis's family in order to find the true culprit. Shuyi exposes Ernyoung's scheme of false impersonation by sending a portrait of herself to Lord Wang. Lord Wang barges into the Lou family to expose Ernyoung and declare that he will only marry Ernyoung and not Shuyi. On her deathbed, Yuanniang begs the Marquis to take Shuyi as a wife so she can protect her child. He agrees to the marriage and Yuanniang passes away.

There is discussion about lifting the sea ban again. The Marquis argues that it forces the poor to become pirates, the Ou family argues that it was policy set by the ancestors that they cannot change. The Ou family has long been working with the pirates and set themselves up as the Marquis' nemesis. Meanwhile, Lianfong plots to keep Zhun by her side and maintains control of the household with the Grand Madam's blessing.

The Marquis is beginning to treat Shuyi with a little tenderness. She notices, but does not care about being in "favor ". Shuyi only cares about finding her mother's killer. Meanwhile, Lianfong tries to attract him with her zither playing, unsuccessfully. Concubine Wen, coming from a rich family, tries to attract him with an extravagant meal, unsuccessfully. Concubine Qin tries to discuss art with him, unsuccessfully. At night, he has a nightmare about his past where we learn a little about his family almost being killed. He gets up to take a walk and runs into Shuyi by herself. The Marquis still seems to feel she is a scheming person.

As Lianfong continues to chip away at her, Shuyi continues to be impassive. However, Shuyi does warn her to stay in her lane. Meanwhile, at the hunting exhibition, Marquis tries to gain the confidence of Duke Wei.

Shuyi agrees to go to the country villa to look in the storerooms for fabric patterns. She then falls prey to Lianfong's kidnapping scheme to ruin her reputation. The Marquis returns and looks for her.

Lianfong continues ro plot against Shiyu, this time using a diseased dog to infect Zhun. Shuyi tries to investigate while simultaneously trying to warm the relationship between Zhun and his father.

After Shuyi discovers the dog in Lianfong's garden, Zhun begins to recover. Lianfong uses a fortune teller to trick Grand Madam into thinking that Shuyi is a bad omen. Shuyi is placed under house arrest, but still looks after Zhun all night.

The Marquis sends Shuyi a rare and valuable fan as a reward for taking care of Zhun. He seems to be expecting her to come visit and thank him personally, instead she just sends a message saying "thank you". Shuyi makes him a pair of shoes as a token of appreciation. He acts critical, but treasures them.

Grand Madam put Lianfong in charge of the soup kitchen. Her nanny substituted moldy rice and sold the rice dedicated to the refugees. When caught, Lianfong tries to cover it up. But she is caught by Shuyi. She then takes charge of the situation. Shuyi discovers that the Ou family is behind it and has bought up all the rice in the city. She then uses up her dowry to purchase rice.

A riot ensues in the soup kitchen by the instigators hired by the Ou family. The Marquis arrives just in time to save Shuyi. One night, the Marquis confides in Shuyi about the evils of the Ou family, and their connection to the Xu family's downfall. He invites himself over for some "tea" (tr. Netflix and chill). She still rebuffs him.

Lingering looks continue between the Marquis and Shuyi. As she measures him for clothes, she suggests letting the female refugees get apprenticeships in embroidery shops. On the other hand, Lingfong suggests dumping the refugees in outside towns to not make him look bad, annoying him. Meanwhile, Concubine Wen tries to bribe Shuyi to help her family business. Shuyi flatly refuses. It turns out the Marquis knew about the bribery with his first wife, Yuanniang, and begins to see Shuyi's character as less scheming.

Shuyi agrees to instruct the refugees for Master Zian. She meets Mr. Lin, who turns out to be part owner of Xianling Pavilion. The Marquis brings home an unknown orphan and asks Shuyi to care for him secretly. Yet, everyone soon finds out anyway and that the boy is his son outside of marriage. It turns out he is Lingjuan's son before his marriage to Danyiang. The harem competes for the right to raise Fengquin.

After taking care of Fengqian all night, the Marquis carries her to bed, where she falls asleep. He acts uncharacteristically playful with her. Lingkuan's father-in-law and Danyiang find out. Lingfong tries to frame Shuyi by having Danyiang rush to see Fengqian in order to cause her to fall. Luckily, Shuyi saves her.

Fengqian stays with Yizhen, upsetting both Lingfong and Concubine Qin. It turns out Shuyi convinced Yizhen to change her mind about adoption. The Marquis finds about Shuyi's teaching of the refugees. He protects her in secret.

Amber is threatened by Nanny Tao to seduce the Marquis, armed with a threatening message from Madam Lao. Amber deliberately fails, angering the Marquis. Shuyi covers for her and discovers that Amber's sister is being threatened by Madam Lao. Shuyi vows to help her.

Lingfong throws a tantrum about Shuyi, which Grand Madam overhears. She finally realizes that Shuyi might be the better choice to be the legal wife. The Marquis makes up an excuse to stay in Shuyi's room by claiming his window is broken. Shuyi appears to be beginning to thaw.

Shuyi attempts to search the Ou mansion, but is almost caught. She is saved by Master Lin, who turns out to be an illegitimate son of the Ou family. He still harbors deep resentment towards his father for causing his mother to die from depression. Shuyi meets the little monk again and finds out that he overheard a man and woman's voice. Lingkuan informs her that Lingfong was missing for over a day. In an attempt to guilt her into confessing, she finds out that Lingfong may have had something to do with Yuanniang's death.

A paid instigator accuses Shuyi and Master Xian of exploiting the refugees. Lingfong leads Grand Madam into the workshop to witness. Shuyi accuses Lingfong of harming her sister, but has no evidence. Shuyi is asked to leave to go back to the Lou family.

The Marquis loudly argues with Shuyi, loudly. Then the Marquis argues loudly with Shuyi's brother. He walks out with a letter of divorce and Lingfong witnesses it. Lingfong rejoices, struts and starts to plan for her future as the Lady of the house. In order to be sure, she tries to kill Mingjing, the pharmacist that killed Yuanniang. But it's a trap and she ends up confessing in front of the Marquis.

The couple attend a festival together and Shuyi finally allows him a kiss. Meanwhile, Master Lou discovers her identity and is heartbroken that she is already married. But he also has a lead about her mother's murder. She was actually shot with an arrow and then pierced with a blade to cover it up. She immediately goes to the temple and encounters a hunter who remembers a "high official" shooting her mother. The hunter was also carrying an arrow that only belongs to the Xu family.

A fight ensues between the Marquis and Master Ou. During the scuffle Shuyi accidentally stabs the Marquis. She nurses him all night and begins to doubt her suspicions of him. In order to prevent Shuyi from getting in trouble, the Marquis covers up the incident and departs for disaster relief even though he's injured.

The Marquis is reportedly killed in a fire in the disaster area. Grand Madam finds out about Shuyi stabbing the Marquis and sends her away, threatening to kill her if the Marquis is actually dead. The stewards bully her into doing endless chores and a masked man pushes her into a well. Master Lou finds her and secretly helps her with filling up all of the water.

After the attempt on her life by the masked man, Shuyi reveals to the Chief Steward that someone attempted to kill her and broke into her room. They catch the masked man, and it was the Assistant Steward. As he tries to escape, he is killed by a bunch of masked men. The Marquis (he's alive) saved her just in time.

Ernyiang´s husband is killed and Ernyiang has a miscarriage. Duke Wei is suspected to have killed him out of revenge.

Madam Ou tries to spur on Duke Mao's family to get the Marquis involved. The Xu family's refusal to get involved causes a rift between the two families.

The Marquis catches the real murderer. Erniang finds out Madam Ou was behind the real murderer and confronts her in front of a crowd outside. The Marquis finally convinces Duke Wei to ask the Emperor to lift the sea ban.

Shuyi begs for forgiveness. The Marquis finally melts. They kiss and make up. Danyang has the baby, after a brief scare.

Shuyi uses Ernniang's hatred to spur her to live on and take her medicine. The Marquis decides to send Yumaway to study with a top scholar, much to the chagrin on Concubine Wen.

Shuyi wants to enter her embroidery in a contest for the Emperor's birthday celebration. Lixing Ou sets a trap for them by burning her work, but Shuyi and the Marquis expected this, so they switched the embroidery. The Emperor saw through Lixing Ou's scheme and punished him. Concubine Wen is banished to the farm for her part in burning the embroidery and jeopardizing Zhun.

It turns out the spy for the Ou family is Shilui, the third concubine. She is tasked with alienating the Marquis and Shuyi.

Shuili tells Second Madam to go get a bamboo painting from Master Lin to offer her husband's memorial. Second Lady is horrified when she finds out Master Lin is a member of the Ou family. She and Grand Madam combine to tell Shuyi to quit the embroidery work. Shuyi gets grounded by Grand Madam for refusing. Shuliu implies to Amber that her sister, a concubine that hung herself, actually died suspiciously at the hands of Yuanniang.

Amber sets about to try to make Dongquin a concubine to spur Shiyi to leave the Marquis. Dongquin agreee to be one, so she can protect Shiyi from a concubine that would compete with her. General Fu confesses his feelings for Dongquin, but she turns him away, lying about having feelings for the Marquis.

Shiyi and the Marquis argue and Shiyi decides to break out the divorce agreement. She escapes with the help of Master Ou. The Marquis chases, but so does Mater Ou's older brother. His plan was to kill his brother, Shiyi and the Marquis. It was a trap. Duke Wei shows up with troops. He hears Official Ou confess to murderin g Shiyi's mother and colluding with the pirates. He takes his own life.

Shiliu overhears a piece of intel for the Marquis. She runs out to tell the Ou family. He poisons her. As she feels herself dying, she tells Grand Madam that she blames the Xu family for not being able to have a child and causing her miscarriage. On her deathbed, she confesses that she witnessed her mother's death at the hands of Official Ou.

Quian Ming is desperate to come up with money to help his pregnant wife. He enters into a deal with his friend to ship embroidery abroad, so he goes to Shuyi with this deal. It turns out that this was a trap by Minister Ou to get Shuyi arrested and the Marquis implicated in dealing with pirates. The Emperor suggests that the Marquis divorce his wife so he can support the sea ban.

Madam Xian is tortured into a coma. At Shiyi's trial, she produces a divorce agreement, absolving the Xu family of any crimes. Her execution is decreed to be in one month.

Just before her execution, the Marquis arrives with an Emporer's edict to save Shiyi. Marquis Jianniangn is set to be executed with the new evidence gathered from the pirates. Madam Ou drinks poisoned wine. Yanxiang is spared and sent to exile. With the sea ban lifted and the Ou family eliminated, can the Marquis and Shiyi finally have a peaceful life?