-Old Madame and Jiuling at cross-purposes. They both understand they're mutually worried about each other but can't come to an agreement. It's funny because Chengyu gets pushed by Zhu Zan to comfort the grandma while Zhu Zan comforts Jiuling. You bet this makes Chengyu angry. XD
-Old Madame and Jiuling make up and form a new coalition. According to Jiuling, current Emperor is a bad guy and can't be considered an 'Emperor' like the one that Old Madame and her husband originally made a deal with.
-OMG BIG CONSPIRACY unearthed. The Fang family is holding the official silver/money used to barter with the Jin people. It was originally to 'redeem' one of the royal family? the Emperor? who was captured. The Jin don't keep their promise, kill the guy, and afterwards the North was in a decade-long war with the Jin. This shocks Jiuling so much she runs straight to Zhu Zan who's going to bed -- he picks it up fast and has to curse, 'Fuck.'
-Jiuling's unsettled still and at Zhu Zan's prompting to go to bed, she... climbs into Zhu Zan's bed and goes to sleep. THAT'S NOT WHAT HE MEANT. XD Poor guy had already taken off his shirt when she came in, he totally can't sleep now. He just grabs his shirt, puts it on, and sits at her bedside until she wakes up in the morning and they talk more about this issue. She surprise hugs him again but lets go before he can hug back.
-Old Madame and co. say the family argument is resolved since Jiuling came back. They give up the official silver (and last ties) to the Imperial family. They're super relieved. Old Madame is especially relieved because she no longer has to worry about her family dying to defend this Imperial silver.
-Zhu Zan... are you going to be a highwayman to snatch this silver? Turning into a real bandit, pfffft
-yup, he robbed the escorts with his woodcutter bros... ROFL
-Imperial no-good family (Emperor & Empress) wanted to kill off Fang family after this transaction done. Mostly Empress, she's more ruthless than spineless Emperor. They're distracted by the robbery now. XD
-Zhu Zan and co. doing some high-speed melting of the silver and plan to spend it, just like Emperor was going to. This time Zhu Zan hugs Jiuling before she can react and says 'Thank you.' Role reversal lol, now she's the one stunned.
-All the sisters decide not to be married out, they'd rather keep working in the bank. (modern career women :3)
-Zhu Zan and Jiuling are super cute, aaaaahhhhh. Now that Zhu Zan is calling her Jiuling (a lot), she's prickly and embarrassed. And he's super happy. Then they're both super happy and cutely hyper-aware of each other. <3
-LOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Zhu Zan tries to arrange for a nutritious meal for her but the food-deliverer thought it was for his wife recovering from a miscarriage. Then food-deliverer thought it was for pregnancy. XDDD
-more cuteness as they get into argument about Princess Jiuling vs Jun Jiuling and which one he liked first, etc. Then suddenly Zhu Zan comes out with Jiuling eating her own vinegar (getting jealous of herself) and both turn red. I just want to smish them together, so cuteeeee~
-EVEN THE CONFESSION IS HILARIOUS. Zhu Zan straightforwardly says he likes her, but Jiuling answers with 'I don't know.' Zhu Zan wants her to take responsibility. XD
-turns out it's because she believes that her affection for Lu Yunqi was false, and she doesn't really know how to love after her death as Princess Jiuling. Zhu Zan's all right with that and says he'll wait for her answer.
-bad news breaks cuteness. Chengguogong about to get impeached for his actions during the war; he went against Emperor's orders and refused to withdraw his troops. He's made to resign.
-she goes with Zhu Zan to Chengguogong. Their idea is to use her reputation to highlight the government's wrongdoings. She's going to the palace. Zhu Zan reminds her not to do anything stupid (like her last life's blind charge), they're cute and Dad is off to the side coughing and reminding them that there's someone else in the room. XD Zhu Zan is going to leave with his parents and escort them back home to the North.
-D: Jiuling got captured by crazypants Lu Yunqi while in the palace. He has her in his dungeon. Nothing worse than maybe a grope, crazy talk, and sleeping at her side (no hanky-panky). Emperor... is truly a dirtbag. He's planning on slaughtering the Chengguogong family as they're leaving, but Zhu Zan gets a hint at the Emperor providing an 'escort.' He and his family are prepared, hidden soldiers and steel-plated carriage included. Now they're against the Emperor.
-Yunzhao figures out what Lu Yunqi did and says that he did wrong. Hmmm... so she's actually fortunate to be caught by Lu Yunqi rather than the Emperor? Whut?
-Lu Yunqi and Jinyiwei didn't get all weapons off her. One thing Jiuling's master taught her was how to hide weapons under her skin. She gets a needle out.
-Zhu Zan and co. in action. Lots of clean-up. No news of Jiuling. Jiuling picked her lock but she's smart enough to know she can't get away, so she just walks around and keeps in shape. Think Lu Yunqi has his own agenda, he's not doing anything other than keeping Jiuling locked up and fed and telling her outside news.
-a whole lot of war going on between Emperor and people against him like Chengguogong and I think the Jin people are there too
-Jiuling finally gets Lu Yunqi with her needle (it's poisoned, short-term knockout). She meets Jiuli on the way out. Jiuling pulling out countless weapons stashed from her time as Princess Jiuling makes Jiuli realize her identity. She makes an ultimatum to Lu Yunqi to stop going after her or she'd kill herself.
-ugh, Emperor ran away. Everyone's in a panic from Palace to commoners because it's like a reenactment of what happened ages ago with Emperor away and the Jin invading. Jiuling restores order with power of her reputation.
-at least Yin Wang's not a coward. He's stopping being a comfortable prince and decides to take up arms and defend the city.
-even cute little Huai Wang (Jiu) is stepping out into the public. He's even saying that the court didn't do a good job and he wants to help defend. T^T
-Zhu Zan about to do some killing. He's not afraid of dying, but afraid of Jiuling dying. But then he tells himself Jiuling's not afraid of dying. LOL at his weird psychology.
-okay, so I read MTL wrong when I skimmed the ending. Lu Yunqi's the one who wants to kill the Emperor. He sends Mr. Gu (Jiuling and Jiuli's old tutor) to send a message that she could go with Lu Yunqi. But Jiuling refuses, because to her that's just moving to another cage.
-Qingshan army finally comes to reinforce the Capital
-Yunzhao followed the Emperor but he's still plotting away in true black belly fashion
-Huai Wang willing to be Prince --> to be Emperor, and this makes the Emperor steaming mad because he's still alive
-oh wait, I got it wrong in MTL. It's 'Queen Mother' and not Empress. Queen Mother and Emperor colluding again. They want to kill Jiuling, but she got the maidservant who knows about her father getting murdered as witness. But ahhh, palace has hidden guards. Luckily her side is prepared too. Lu Yunqi pops up and saves her too. When she asks Lu Yunqi how her father died, he garrotes the Emperor as an example. Then he kills the Queen Mother.
-Emperor is mostly dead, but Yunzhao says the Emperor can't die yet. Jiuling, er, 'saves' him in a sense -- she poisons him so he's alive but in immense pain and half-dead (he can't speak or move either). Yunzhao can only admire her for this 'not dead' move. But all Yunzhao needs is for the Emperor to stamp his seal on the Imperial writ for the successor. He makes the Emperor stamp it then stuffs it all into the Emperor's arms lol. Emperor faints. Yunzhao pretends to act grief-stricken and calls for people, leaving Jiuling standing there with complex feelings. XD
-Lu Yunqi shoots himself with a crossbow bolt. :x
-oh, so that's why. The scene is now staged so it looks like an internal fight between Lu Yunqi with his Jinyiwei and Yuan Bao (evil eunuch) with everyone else caught in the crossfire.
-Jiuling is asked to heal the Emperor, but her reasoning is that paralysis is something handed down by the Heavens (they made it look like an inherited disease) so she can't do anything.
-now Huai Wang is set up as Emperor for realz.
-Chengyu faked his own death to bury the Deshangchan name (since it was set up by imperial powers). He wants to start a business anew (blacksmith? whut? I'm with Jiuling on this, it seems weird ahahaha).
-Jing people retreated in a hurry because someone killed their Emperor. (...Zhu Zan, I'm guessing)
-Jiuling asks Chengguogong about Zhu Zan since he didn't come back this time, he tells her it'll just take a while but he'll be back. He also notices that she asked about him rather than other things. AHAHAHAHA FATHER-IN-LAW KNOWS
-Jiuling scares the bejeezus out of Queen Mother with her real identity, but Queen Mother's mouth is sealed shut by everyone who wants to maintain current state of things. Plus, Queen Mother will probably be taken as a crazy loony.
-Lu Yunqi talks with Jiuling. Well, it's one-sided. Turns out he saw her father's death, but Qi Wang told him to shout only after he left. Jiuling doesn't say anything, she just treats him as a stranger and walks away.
-palace is a super black place. Already Mr. Gu and the others are setting up counterbalances in case Huai Wang turns out like previous Emperor.
-Yunzhao asks Jiuling if what's between her and Zhu Zan is really fake. She doesn't say anything, but I think he figured it out. Jiuling wants to go to the North, to the Jin border and help him. And yeah... seems like Zhu Zan really did infiltrate and kill the Jin Emperor.
-Zhu Zan is living it rough while making his way back. His woodcutter bros are with him. He pauses to pick a snow lotus (herb) from a cliff because he thinks about bringing it back to Jiuling and how it'd make her happy. Then they hear some noises and there's a mini avalanche (I think?) and they think it might be Jin pursuers. But it's just Jiuling who pops up and seriously says that Zhu Zan has become ugly. XD He's indignant but he's totally moved because he hugs her back when she goes to him and thinks about holding her a few more times and getting practice so he's not so stiff. <3
-Master's wife and daughter visit his grave. Her daughter (by this time Jiuling has talked her around a bit) does a sword dance so he can 'see' how powerful she is. She's been cured by Jiuling too. She leaves the incense burning at his grave with the parting words that he's powerful, but Jiuling's even more powerful. Then it's just a snapshot of the grave and the incense.
THE END <3
I really wish I could find fanfic for Zhu Zan/Jiuling