When Fan Lianghan was teaching Yan Zimei a lesson, Mrs. Cui happened to witness the scene and immediately hatched a plan. Using illness as a pretext, she sent her daughter Rongmei to seek help from Mrs. Li. Mrs. Li, being kind-hearted, followed Rongmei to her home, only to find a corpse lying on the bed. Mrs. Cui claimed that the body was Yan Zimei, who had been beaten to death by Fan Lianghan, and threatened Mrs. Li to extort a large sum of money.
Mrs. Li, recalling that she had indeed asked Fan Lianghan to teach Yan Zimei a lesson, believed Mrs. Cui’s words. Worried that her second daughter, Fuhui, would be unable to handle the truth, Mrs. Li decided to pay the money to settle the matter quietly. However, Mrs. Cui’s demands were insatiable, leaving Mrs. Li financially strained and nearly forced to pawn her belongings. She ended up selling many valuable items from the house, which caught the attention of her daughters.
Soon, the Li sisters gathered again and redeemed the pawned items, pressing their mother for an explanation. Cornered, Mrs. Li revealed the truth. Initially, Fan Lianghan had followed Mrs. Li’s advice and fled overnight with Fuhui. However, Chai An, upon hearing the news, led a group of people to chase Fan Lianghan down and bring him back.
All three sons-in-law and the daughters gathered together, with Du Yangxi being the last to learn the full story. Chai An suggested reporting the matter to the authorities, but Mrs. Li firmly opposed the idea, fearing that they would be coerced into confessing under torture with no chance of turning the situation around. Kangning and Shouhua, unwilling to see Fuhui lose her husband and their unborn child lose its father, urged their husbands to settle the matter quietly.
Taking the opportunity, Mrs. Li broke down in tears, pleading with her sons-in-law to come up with a solution. Du Yangxi, seeing no other option, advised Mrs. Li to first placate Mrs. Cui by offering her a thousand guan. After returning home, Du Yangxi couldn’t help but complain to Shouhua for not informing him earlier, feeling that she didn’t treat him as her husband. His petty jealousy and sulking left Shouhua both amused and exasperated.
Later that night, Mrs. Cui, having received the money, attempted to flee with her daughter Rongmei but was caught red-handed by Chai An. It turned out that Du Yangxi and Chai An had set a trap, using the pretext of a theft to investigate the extortion. The Li family, fearing exposure, had been on edge the entire time. Unexpectedly, the officers discovered a corpse in a well.
Mrs. Cui, furious, publicly accused the Li family of murder, claiming they had bribed her with gold and silver to cover up the crime. The scene quickly descended into chaos. What started as a theft case had now turned into a murder investigation, and the officers took it very seriously. Chai An, suspicious of the corpse, had a coroner examine it, revealing that the deceased had been lame. The onlookers immediately realized that Cui Wu, Mrs. Cui’s stepson, was a lame gambler.
Thus, the truth came to light. Cui Wu had attempted to assault Rongmei but failed, and Mrs. Cui, in a desperate attempt to protect her daughter, had killed him. She then framed Yan Zimei’s death on Fan Lianghan, using the situation to extort money from the Li family while also covering up her own crime. Mrs. Cui had no defense and was taken into custody by the officers, while Rongmei tearfully begged to accompany her mother to prison.
The Li family, witnessing the tragic fate of Mrs. Cui and her daughter, felt a pang of sorrow but were powerless to help. After the storm had passed, Kangning and the others reviewed the events, furious that Yan Zimei, after being taught a lesson, had been rescued by Mrs. Cui and left the capital, leaving behind a blood-stained robe. Whether Yan Zimei had conspired with Mrs. Cui to defraud the Li family remained unclear, but with the Cui family in prison, he remained free and unscathed. Shouhua comforted Kangning and Fuhui, reminding them that their husbands were good men, though they couldn’t help but tease that their eldest brother-in-law, Du Yangxi, was a jealous man who loved Shouhua deeply.
Meanwhile, the emperor hosted a banquet at Jinming Pond and ordered his officials to compose poems. Du Yangxi, known for his exceptional poetic talent, was awarded a flower hairpin by the emperor. However, he accidentally dropped the lotus flower. Coincidentally, a noblewoman named Yu Xiu’e, who had long admired him, kindly offered him her own hairpin. Du Yangxi reluctantly accepted it, barely managing to save face.
When Du Yangxi and Sang Yanrang returned home, they found Shouhua building a vegetable garden for Du’s mother. Deeply moved, Du Yangxi decided to gift Shouhua the imperial hairpin. Shouhua, who had renamed Chou’er to Runyue, discovered that the hairpin was adorned with gold. Shouhua guessed it must have been a gift from a noblewoman, but her sisters reassured her to remain calm, believing that Du Yangxi would never betray her. Inspired by the hairpin, Shouhua created a fragrant flower imitation and sold it in her incense shop, which quickly became a hit.
