Episode 19

Yue Ling was revealed as a concubine princess by Zhou Jingyuan in the Jinluan Palace. The emperor expressed concern about this and asked if there was any conclusive evidence.Zhou Jingyuan then showed a picture of a night banquet in the royal court, in which the images of Khan Dongyu and the two princesses were so lifelike that even the veterans of Beishuo confirmed the authenticity of the picture.Zhou Zhixuan witnessed all this and felt deeply the world's prejudice against the identity of a legitimate concubine, as if he saw his own shadow.He advocated that sincerity should be shown regardless of the princess's status.However, the censor insisted that there was more to it than that.

Zhou Jingyuan was aggressive and proposed to send troops to Dongyu, and was willing to take command personally.At the same time, he accused Zhou Shiyu of having known about it for a long time but concealing it on the way to the marriage, which constituted the crime of deceiving the emperor.Yue Ling hurriedly stood up and took all the responsibilities on herself, explaining that she only married in place of her eldest sister behind her father's back out of yearning for Beishuo, and Zhou Shiyu knew nothing about it.Seeing this, Zhou Shiyu proposed to give himself a month to re-deal with the marriage matters, and proposed that Yue Ling be locked up in Beiwang Mansion for self-reflection.But Zhou Jingyuan insisted that Yue Ling should be imprisoned. In the end, the emperor weighed the pros and cons and decided to imprison Yue Ling in the Princess Mansion.

After Xingyi heard the news that Yue Ling was grounded, he impulsively wanted to break into the princess's mansion to accompany her, but was dissuaded by Qian Qian.After consulting Zhou Shiyu, Xingyi went to Dongyu with him.At night, Zhou Shiyu sneaked into the princess's house secretly, delivered daily necessities to Yue Ling, and promised to arrange manpower to let her live more freely.The conversation between the two inadvertently alerted the guards. Yue Ling was quick to think and asked Zhou Shiyu to hide in his bedding, avoiding the guards' search.Zhou Shiyu hugged Yue Ling distressedly and told her to personally test the poison at every meal.

After Zhou Shiyu left Beijing with Xingyi, Lin Su suggested assassinating him on the road, but Zhou Jingyuan believed that it would be more appropriate to do it in Dongyu territory.He also called on the vassal kings to submit a letter requesting war.Zhou Zhixuan was envious of Yue Ling's behavior of taking responsibility for Zhou Shiyu, while Yang Xu took the opportunity to incite him to attack Zhou Shiyu.But Zhou Zhixuan firmly rejected Yang Xu's proposal and advised him not to cause trouble again.

After Xingyi brought Zhou Shiyu to the Khan's palace, Zhou Shiyu offered peace between the two countries as a betrothal gift and successfully persuaded the Khan to write a handwritten letter of peace.However, on the way back, Zhou Shiyu encountered an ambush and was unfortunately assassinated.The news spread back to Beishuo Palace, and Yue Ling was devastated when he learned about it.