The Vendetta of An 长安二十四计 - Discussion - Episodes 6-7
The Vendetta of An 长安二十四计 - Discussion - Episodes 6-7
🔥Welcome to the episode discussions for The Vendetta of An! Join us as we walk down the long road to revenge...🔥
🗡This is the post for episodes 🩸 6 and 7 🩸 please use spoiler tags for episodes or previews of episodes beyond these 🗡
Discussion Schedule: Posts will follow the Youku VIP schedule, time of day specifics TBD for a few days then it should settle on a regular time.
Links to airing schedule and all discussions at bottom of post.
Host Notes:
Thanks for reading!
... Previously on The Vendetta of An ...
Fun fact: Tong Mengshi (Ye Zheng) and Cheng Yi have been in 3 dramas together this year. Tong Mengshi played Zhang Qi in Sword and Beloved (>!guy who founded Peach Village!<) and the Emperor in The Journey of Legend (aka >!Cheng Yi as Li Chenzhou's brother!<).
[Details Reference Corner]
Character Flashcards: title cards for characters introduced in each ep (not every character has gotten one)
Ep 1 | Ep 2 | Ep 3 | Ep 4 | Ep 5 | Ep 6 | Ep 7
^(❗spoiler note: if you are watching these eps slower than release schedule, the flashcard post will contain pics from all aired episodes)
📅Timeline: based on our current knowledge of events
Huai'an age ??: mother died ("in the north when he was young")
Huai'an age 9: entered imperial academy with Xiao Wenjing
Huai'an age 10 (17th year of Qiansheng): Huben mutiny and murder of his father, estimating Bai Wan age as about 3-4 at this time
Huai'an ages 10-17: hiding out in Nanwei Trough, working as a boatman, keeping an eye on his sister and her foster family
Huai'an age 17: arrived in Huainan and became registrar
Huai'an age 21 (28th year of Qiansheng Era): General Yan and Xiao Wenjing rise to power
Huai'an age 25 (4th year of Wenchang Era) : Xiao Wuyang deposes Xiao Wenjing, Huai'an arrives in Chang'an
⚔Rogue's Gallery: Huai'an's kill list of those complicit in murder of his father
1: Pu Nichuan - Yan Fengshan's scout later left to die, became The Undertaker. Close to Huai'an as a child. Status: killed by Liu Ziyan❌
2: Wei Qianting - Status: dead and buried in a swamp before show started kept alive for 7 years, now dead for real❌
3: Yan Fengshan - General who mutinied and later took over kingdom with Xiao Wenjing. Status: laying in wait somewhere
4: Hooded Figure - Status: unknown
5: Qingyi - head of of Huben surveillance. Status: killed by Liu siblings ❌
6: Liu Ziyan - top Huben assassin, Huai'ans uncle. Status: killed by Huai'an ❌
still feel like Qingyi could be secretly alive but idk how/why (episode 3)
Episode 6: reasons to survive
[Key Events and Character Moments]
Opening Flashback: Location card says we are Xue Pavilion, Liu Ziyan is sitting on the steps when an attendant comes up to talk to him. He has had a small knife made to gift to child Huai'an, saying "the young master of Huben Army will lead the army in the future, he has to prove himself capable."
does it count as foreshadowing if we see this after he's already stabbed his nephew
Cheng Yi takes a well deserved nap: Having stabbed his nephew in the neck with a dagger, Liu Ziyan then flees as Ye Zheng arrives on the scene with reinforcements. Zhu Zhilong (Ye Zheng's shifu) arrives with medical assistance for Huai'an. He applies medicine and, with Bai Wan's help, removes the dagger. Huai'an remains unconscious for a while much to his friends' dismay. As he lays asleep, Bai Wan places a protective amulet in his palm. Xiao Wenjing seems to recognize it.
Flashback: Child Huai'an dragging the cart with his unconscious father on it post mutiny, Liu Ziyan and his attendant arrive in a carriage, put Ziwan and Huai'an in the back. Ziwan wakes up a bit and hears that his brother is taking them away, realizing the betrayal, he tells Huai'an to protect his sister, they both need to stay alive, and then throws him out of the carriage. Liu Ziyan, seeing that he was awake, climbs back to start stabbing him.
Gatekeep, Girlboss: Liu Ziyan tries to hideout in Hidden Soldier Alley but Old Woman Gatekeeper says General Yan is displeased with him, he's no longer allowed in their villain hideouts. She tells him he made several mistakes: letting his nephew kidnap the deposed emperor, disobeying General's order to keep Huai'an alive (to keep the emperor alive), intervening personally, mobilizing many men without permission, and causing Qingyi to die.
would love some backstory on her
Ambush!: Liu Ziyan shows off why he is Huben's top guy by fighting off a bunch of soldiers with improvised weapons he takes from the alley. He suceeds in slipping through their ranks and making a run for it through the city.
Debts and Threats (Part 1): Ziyan kicks down the door of his former attendant, subtitles gives his name as Xingzi. Ziyan asks him to take him out of the city in his carriage and reminds him that he is complicit in the murder of Liu Ziwen as well. While in his home, Ziyan notices a woman's hairpin and asks Xingzi about having a family, which Xingzi denies.
A Deposed Emperor and his Axe: In Bai Wan's courtyard, Xiao Wenjing has finally perfected his woodchopping skills and seems to have calmed down from the last few eps. He tells Ye Zheng he recognized Bai Wan's protective amulet as the possession of Huai'an's sister. As a prince he had in depth knowledge of all high ranking noble families and personally witness her being given the amulet on her 1st birthday. We find out from Ye Zheng that Bai Wan does not know she is daughter of the Liu family and Huai'an's biological sister. I'm glad we got answers by end of ep 7 because I was starting to get confused about the timeline of their lives (part of my inspiration for writing down an actual timeline, see above).
shhhh keep it secret (keep it safe)
Bai Wan leaves the house to do her assigned errand from Huai'an, interrupting Xiao Wenjing hungrily watching Ye Zheng eat some noodles he had just cooked.
Debts and Threats (Part 2): In the market it starts to rain and merchants start packing up their wares. Bai Wan arrives at a jewelry stall and helps the proprietor carry her goods out of the rain. She tells the woman she has a message for her husband: "it's time to clear the debt you owed 15 yrs ago***."***
To sleep, perchance to dream: Huai'an is still unconscious and being watched over by Ye Zheng and their captive emperor. We get a long Flashback/Dream sequence:
💤❄💤❄💤❄💤❄💤❄💤
In his dream, child Huai'an is sleeping outside in a street, snow falling around him. His father comes to wake up, telling him he will die in the cold. Lil Huai'an says he doesn't want to live anymore. His father needs him to find a reason to live.
Huai'an tells his father he got his sister safely out of the city. They walked 70 li until they arrived, freezing and starving, in Nanwei Trough. He left her in a hut while he went to find food but when he arrived back she had already been taken away by someone kind hearted. He bows to his father and he raises his head up, he turns into adult Huai'an. In voiceover, Huai'an thinks it was good she found a home, she was too young to follow him and survive.
He tells his father he lived amidst the reeds in Nanwei Trough for 7 years, keeping an eye on his sister and her foster family. They treated her well.
Dream-Ziwan says, "You've already done a great job, can you still live on?"
Dream-Huai'an answers, "I.. I'm so worn out."
"Why don't you hang on for a little while longer, until next blooming season..." But even in dreams Huai'an doesn't want to live a life of just holding on. He tells his father how he couldn't catch up to the carriage while Ziyan stabbed him. His father wants a different life for him, but Huai'an wants only to live to avenge his father's death, even if he has to die himself.
He reaches for his father's hand but then his father fades away.
Processing img hr3g9a74s97g1...
💤❄💤❄💤❄💤❄💤❄💤
Bai Wan arrives back at home just as Ye Zheng and Xiao Wenjing were noticing him stirring, each think he is mumbling a different thing. Only Bai Wan knows what he is saying: he wants revenge. When he wakes up fully, Bai Wan reports that she successfully accomplished their task. Huai'an is pleased, he says that means he still has time to hunt him (Ziyan) down.
Debts and Threats (Part 3): Liu Ziyan meets up with Xingzi and his carriage and they ride out of the city as night falls. The dog is back and watching, whining slightly.
a dog with her own schemes and secrets
We cut away briefly to visit Mysterious Person at his Mysterious Prison where he is casting divinations, all of which show misfortune.
The carriage ride is bumpy and Ziyan wakes briefly, wondering if something is wrong. It is. Ye Zheng and Huai'an have taken Xingzi's place driving it. Huai'an lunges back into the cabin and stabs his uncle. Ziyan tries a final scheme, "if you kill me now you will never find out what your father said as he died", but Huai'an says that no longer matters.
Back in Chang'an, Xingzi tells Huai'an and Ye Zheng he had no choice but to help Liu Ziyan commit murder as his parents lives had been threatened. He offers himself up but begs for his family to be spared. Huai'an lets him reunite with his family (the jewelry seller from the market and their six year old daughter), the debt has been cleared.
Huai'an notices the dog that's been hanging around staring down all his enemies. Brief flashback to child Huai'an and Bai Wan holding an adorable puppy. The dog gets her own title card.
🐕DA HUANG REVEAL🐕
Da Huang leads the crew out of the city and down the road to a grave hidden in the reeds: Tomb of General Liu Ziwan.
[Thoughts and Notes]
More Da Huang.
📜Schemes and Secrets: Liu Ziyan plan to escape city, Huai'an plan to interrupt that plan, Bai Wan doesn't know her origins, Da Huang the tomb guardian
🩸Bloody Blades: the knife in Huai'an's neck
Episode 7: partings
[Key Events and Character Moments]
Opening Flashback: Wei Qianting of Huben Army on the riverbank in Nanwei, he's abducted young Bai Wan. Young Huai'an (Cheng Yi version) arrives to the rescue. The other character here is the man we saw on the riverbank in ep 1, I've been calling him the Fisherman in my notes because as far as I can tell they haven't told us his name? Let me know if I missed it. Until then I'm gonna keep calling him the Fisherman. Anyway, Fisherman asks Huai'an what to do with Wei Qianting, "put him in the water?"... "the earth" Huai'an says.
After being rescued, young Bai Wan is worried about young Huai'an in turn. She asks him to always write to her so she knows he is staying safe.
We start with a scene of Huai'an sweeping leaves off his father's tomb, we see he has cleaned up around the area and set up memorial offerings. Last ep we got the text of the memorial which told us that some citizens found the general's body on the road and, recognizing him for who he was, gave him a proper burial to honor him.
How Much Firewood Do They Need: At Bai Wan's house, Xiao Wenjing is still chopping wood. Huai'an is sleeping in a chair under the eaves and Bai Wan comes to put a blanket on him. He wakes and tells her "I am a bit tired. The sounds and the people here make me feel like I'm at home." They talk a bit about her family. She says they never forgot that he was the one who saved her and would share updates from his letters, editing out his plans for revenge.
"Right," he says, "it would have frightened them."
"No, I was afraid they'd feel for you yet have no way to help. Gege, in a family, people for one another. From the moment you saved me, we became family."
Bai Wan leaves him alone and Xiao Wenjing comes over to chat. Huai'an asks him why isn't chopping wood prompting me to wonder if they have an unlimited supply of logs. Xiao Wenjing calls out Huai'an for being distant and rude after they've faced a life or death situation together. Huai'an does not care.
Xiao Wenjing leans in and whispers that he knows who Bai Wan really is. Huai'an tells him he is quick to read faces and flatter people. But Wenjing isn't trying to make a threat, he says if he had a sister he would do the same.
Romantic Interlude: Ye Zheng visits Zhaolu to tell her Liu Ziyan is dead. She has a layered reaction to this news and Ye Zheng is surprised she isn't more happy. She says the reason she has been working nonstop is to keep the memories of the past at bay. Ye Zheng looks heart broken by this confession.
Zhaolu goes to her mother's memorial and tells her they have gotten their revenge. The scene is pretty quiet, both actor's facing doing a lot to convey their respective emotional journeys throughout. By the end Zhaolu has opened her window, an emotional weight lifted as she stares out before turning to smile at Ye Zheng who smiles back at her with relief.
Getting dressed up for a date farewell: At Bai Wan's house, she is helping Ye Zheng do up his hair in a more formal manner while Xiao Wenjing holds the mirror. He's got a new blue outfit on and we find out Zhaolu made it for him. He is going to meet up with her.
this cut to him holding the mirror made me laugh
At Zhaolu's house she is in red and doing her hair and makeup.
Ye Zheng stands by a carriage, he turns to see her arrival, looking completely smitten. They complement each other's outfits and hug goodbye. She tells him that meeting him has been her greatest fortune. "Mine as well," he replies.
If you're wondering why he let her leave, so is Xiao Wenjing. Ye Zheng tries to deny his feelings but after some eye rolls from both Wenjing and Huai'an (who had front row seats to the exchange from a nearby restaurant), he confesses he likes her. But her whole life in Chang'an has been about getting revenge and nothing else (hm, sounds familiar) and he is worried about the danger inherent in his own life. He wants her to be free.
Secret Siblings and Sibling Secrets: Huai'an and Bai Wan have another scene in her courtyard, she is painting on an easel while he lays reclined in his chair. He asks her about her life, her friends, what she likes to do. She tells him how she hasn't seen her famly in a few yrs and since her teacher has died, she should go back to see them.
what Bai Wan wishes his life was like
Later they go to the market where she likes to people watch. They buy ingredients for dinner and the crew of four (Bai Wan, Huai'an, Shen Xiaoqing, and Xiao Wenjing) have a going away dinner for Bai Wan. At the dinner Bai Wan reveals her persepective on her backstory, that she knows she was adopted, she remembers a male family member brought her to Nanwei and that it was she who chose to who walk away from the hut where he left her. She regrets not being able to learn anything about her real family while living in Chang'an these past few years.
Flashback: Child Huai'an is carrying a child version of Bai Wan (she appears to be about 3 or 4?) through the reads. They come upon the hut and he leaves her to go find food, telling her not to leave. But after a while she notices a warm light in the distance, lanterns in the yard of her soon-to-be-foster-family. She walks alone to their home where they instantly begin to care for her.
At dinner, Huai'an is looking at her with a deep sadness. He gets up from the table and returns shortly with her amulet, giving it back to her, saying its the closest tie she likely has to her original family and she should carry as if that family is still beside her. The rest of the table is struggling to watch the sad sibling secrets play out and Huai'an scolds them for their long faces.
Later, Huai'an is sleeping in a chair again but this time inside. We get another flashback.
Flashback: Child Huai'an returning to the hut to find it empty, the look of sheer panic of his face got to me. As an older sibling I too would have been panicking. Looking around he sees the same lantern light she did and runs through the reeds towards them. At the house he doesnt enter the yard, instead peering over their wall and seeing how the family is taking care of Bai Wan, wrapping her in a blanket, her new sister feeding her and stroking her hair.
Ye Zheng and Shen Xiaoqing try to spy on sleeping Huai'an but he knows they are there (a recurring pattern this ep). They want to know why he won't tell Bai Wan the truth. Later we see Huai'an writing a note.
Brief Break to be Horrified: A messenger pigeon arrives at Nanwei and the Fisherman reads it, "my sister is returning, eliminate the remnant." He goes to a stone firepit/pot thing in his yard and lifts up the lid to reveal Wei Qianting buried up to his neck, still alive. This freaked me out! He throws some food scraps in for Qianting to eat and then tells him he is about to die, something Qianting is relieved to hear but the way he is about to die is also horrible. The Fisherman pours wine on him and lights him on fire. This really freaked me out. Yikes. A horrible way to die.
The Fisherman walks away from the hut, saying his debt to Liu family has been cleared.
Another Farewell: The crew minus Huai'an escort Bai Wan to a gate. Huai'an watches from a distance. Ye Zheng says Huai'an doesn't like to do goodbyes.
Processing img 55xmyu48u97g1...
Huai'an receives a messenger pigeon in response from the Fisherman, "Task complete. All is well."
[Thoughts and Notes]
📜Schemes and Secrets: Wei Qianting alive this whole time
🩸Bloody Blades: 0
[Reflections and Questions]
Feel free to not answer questions posed here unless you want to!
We are diving more into Xie Huai'an's and others emotions these eps, what did you all think? I was moved in a few places. Bai Wan and Huai'an's story was making sad, sibling stories often get me in my feelings. The brief romance break for Ye Zheng and Zhaolu was nice actually and even though they parted ways, I wasn't too sad for them because a "happy ending" this early in a dark story would have stressed me out for their fates.
Xiao Wenjing has had a bit of a personality change these eps, do you think that is earned? Has he just come down from his frantic freakouts and now we are seeing a more steady version of him or is he putting on an act, trying to survive by ingratiating himself into their group?
Links to Discussion Posts:
Index | Masterpost (Eps 1-3) | Eps 4-5
Other useful links: Airing Schedule | DramaWiki | MDL | Weibo | Flashcards
Posted Dec 15, 2025, 1:42 AM UTC