Summary Episode 23 Recap: Qing's heart races when she thinks of Chu. Seeing him sacrifice the command of an army for her, she wonders if that means he'll be giving up his revenge plot to become a romantic type. Chu takes her on a super romantic evening dragon boat ride down the river under a hundred glowing strung lanterns. He tells her he knows she has secrets and he'll wait for her to trust him, but he wants to know if he has a place in her heart, even if it's just a bit. Fireworks blast overhead, pulling her eyes to the sky. She almost falls out of the boat at this but he catches and steadies her, then keeps his arm around her shoulders protectively. Drawn to watch the fireworks, crown prince Yun sees them together and turns away wistfully. Crickets loudly chirping, as they stroll home, Chu gently takes her hand in his. Suddenly a child flies out of nowhere, throwing himself onto Chu's feet and calling Chu father. Both taken aback, Qing tries to pry the youth's grip from Chu's legs. The kid insists that's his father and Chu calls him pumpkin, asking why he's there. Qing falters. In bed that night, Qing's hurt that the moment Chu professed his feelings for her she became a step-mother. Her suspicion swells and she thinks him a jerk, womanizer and outrageous. The Duke brings Yao to the palace to meet the Empress, bringing up the subject of marriage, discussing what happened with Chu. Her majesty says the Duke's prestige and power mean there's no one for Yao outside the royal family. Hearing the Duke tried to match her with Chu, Yao informs the Empress that her heart belongs to the crown prince. Yet she knows it takes two to make a marriage last, and that Yun has no intention of marrying her. Just then Yun speaks from across the way, asking who says he's not marrying her? Yao whips around to face Yun with a startled look as he approaches closer. The Empress asks him to explain, and he says if it will be allowed, he will marry Yao and make her his consort. The Duke is letting it sink in that Yao had feelings for the crown prince all along. Napping in her room, Qing's awakened by pumpkin with some kind of sneeze powder, as he calls her an old witch. He informs her that his father belongs only to his mother. Qing chafes that after dealing with his devil of a father, she must also put up with his evil spawn. Wan'er brings a sneeze remedy to Qing, and jokes that she never thought anyone could flummox Qing. Wan'er asks, and Qing believes pumpkin is Chu's illegitimate child from Nanjing, and wouldn't be surprised at a pregnant wife on their doorstep. Wan'er says sincerely that Chu isn't that kind of person. Qing asks if Wan'er plans to make it official with Gong. Wan'er says earnestly that no amount of objection can ever stop her from marrying the love of her life. Pumpkin strikes again at bedtime, putting something putrid on Qing's bed, then swinging a feather duster at her. She manages to disarm the brat and is holding the stick up in the air when Chu asks what is going on. The rascal complains Qing won't let him call Chu father and is punishing him for it. But adds it's not her fault, it's because he came uninvited. Qing takes a couple swipes at him telling him to drop the act. Chu calms them and sends pumpkin to ask Xiao Yan to play with him. Qing can't believe the feigning rascal outsmarted her, and neither can Chu. She points out that she's not a stepmother, but if she were, and she retaliated that would make her the evil stepmother, then tells him to just admit how many other wives and illegitimate children he has so she can be ready for it. He says 180 and she starts beating him with the feather duster while asking him if he's some kind of machine. He tells her it was a joke, then grabs her close calmly saying if he has a child, it will be their child. She slips away saying she doesn't want a child with him. She evades his gaze asking if the child's mother is his first love. He tells Qing that she's the first woman he's fallen in love with. A moment of awe sweeps over her and she smiles, but her expression changes as she says she almost fell for that lie. She wants to know if it's true she's his first love, then where's pumpkin from? He asks if she's jealous. She first denies, then admits it makes her a bit uncomfortable. He likes it when she's jealous. The mood turns humorous when he advises her to avoid picking a fight with pumpkin because he inherited Chu's temper and thus she can never outsmart him. He walks away after landing that zinger! At the palace, Yun's wedding is announced so he's officially betrothed to Yao. Yun asks his mother to promise to stay away from the Imperial court's affairs. He tells her that in cleaning up her mess, he forced himself to go against his own will and do wrongful things for her sake. She wants to know if this is about Yao or Qing. She tells him she knew from the beginning that Yun's feelings for Qing were unusual. She reminds him Qing is Chu's consort, and he can fall for anyone but her. Yun assures her he's moved on. Pumpkin has gone silent, causing Qing suspicion. She notices a trip hazard he created for her on the deck. But she didn't see a bucket trap he set above. Out of nowhere, Yun swiftly lifts her out of the range of the dumpster. Pumpkin rushes to apologize. Tired of his nonsense, Qing calls him a two-faced rascal. Yun's come to see Qing, but instead asks who pumpkin is and how long the boy's been staying there. She thinks he's Chu's son from Nanjing. Yun knew that Chu went through hell in Nanjing, and was at death's doorstep, but didn't know he had a son. Qing is rattled that Chu nearly died in Nanjing. She thinks back to her book and recalls that she didn't go into the details of Chu's journey in Nanjing. So she herself doesn't actually know what he went through. Yun changes the subject wanting to know if Chu investigated Du Hui's death. Qing says that because Du's murderer committed suicide in jail, they lost the lead. Yun wants to know if Du left any message, but Qing says no. Yun also wants Qing to know that he will marry Yao. Qing smiles brightly in elation at that! But Yun looks sad as he agrees. She adds that Yao is madly in love with him. Yun wants to know if Qing has any other feelings beyond being happy for Yao. She admits to a bit of sadness, thinking to herself that this means the end of the story, but simply says she will have to share her beloved Yao with him. She tells him they're a match made in heaven and he should be happy. Yun agrees they will. In the East Office, Chu gets word that Du is awake and goes straight to ask Du if it was worth it to work for the Empress, since here he lies in agony while she didn't even listen to his final message. Du is silent. Chu admires Du's devotion, because recently he's started to know the meaning of the word. Chu wants to know if the Empress was involved in the incident from 15 years ago (the demon poisoning of Chu's mother, Imperial Consort Xian). Chu informs Du he's uncovered the ties between the Empress and Du; he knows about the hairpin given as a token of love, and even knows that his majesty was supposed to marry the First princess of Fuyu and that it was Du's influence behind the match of the ambitious Third princess to Liang. Chu believes Du knew the Third princess would never settle for what she had, so he helped her climb the social ladder. Du tells him that was very generous and that he pities Du because he will never know if her majesty has ever thought about him. Du starts to tremble at this. Chu grabs Du's shoulder, demanding to know if the Empress was implicated in the death of Xian. Du mumbles, "15 years ago.. the empress... the Su family... the demon poison" and expires. It's a weak testimony, but that seems enough for Chu. At Mystic Medicine House, Qing wants to hear of Chu's life in Nanjing. Gong agrees to tell her because he believes she will then treat Chu better.

• Costume Drama
• History
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Romance