The Vendetta of An 长安二十四计 - Discussion - Episode 24
The Vendetta of An 长安二十四计 - Discussion - Episode 24
Welcome to the episode discussions for The Vendetta of An! Join us as we walk down the long road to revenge...
🔥🗡This post is for episodes 🩸24 only🩸 please use spoiler tags for express episodes or previews, thank you!🗡🔥
Express discussion for eps 24-28 is here
Link to all other discussions at bottom of post
Discussion Schedule: assuming no more power outages on my part
- 12/29 Episode 25
- 12/30 Episode 26
- 12/31 Episode 27
- 1/1 Episode 28 (Finale)
Host Notes:
Back in the realm of electricity and internet and back to these stressful times in Chang'an. If you're still here, thank you for reading and chatting!
🔥🗡🩸🔥🗡🩸🔥🗡🩸
... Previously on The Vendetta of An ...
Fun Fact: A major city in the history of China, Chang'an has been the setting for many dramas. Inhabited for thousands of years prior, the city then served as the capital of over a dozen dynasties from about 202 BC to AD 907 and was a hub for Silk Road trade. In 1369 during the Ming Dynasty, the city was renamed to its current name, Xi'an.
(Sources: English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), Chinese Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org) accessed via Safari browser translation)
[DETAILS REFERENCE CORNER]
Character Flashcards: linked post contains character name card pics from all currently recapped episodes, the show has not provided one for every character. Spoiler Note: if you are watching slower than release, sort comments by 'old' on the Flashcard post to avoid later eps.
Timeline: years are approximate +/- 1yr | Huai'an's mom potentially being the woman in the story leading to Yan Fengshan capture 25yrs ago is tricky if Huai'an also born 25 yrs ago, Im guessing we will find out more info? Maybe Liu Li had a different mother although that is not stated.
- About 40 years ago": a battle over Chen Valley forced Tiemo citizens to evacuate their homes
- 30 years ago/1st year of Qiansheng: 1st Emperor Xiao invades and takeover Chang'an with the 4 military commanders
- ? Liu Ziwen founds Huben Army
- 25 years ago/6th year of Qiansheng: Liu Zhi/Huai'an born, Yan Fengshan captured in Tiemo by King of Tiemo
- ? years ago (possibly same year captured possibly later?): Yan Fengshan escapes captivity, adopts Wang Pu, child Huai'an sees young Wang Pu at some point "19 years ago"
- ? Liu Li/Bai Wan born, estimate she is ~6 yrs younger than Huai'an
- ? Huai'an mother died ("in the north when he was young")
- 20 years ago: Tiemo Shadow Guards deep cover infiltration of Chang'an
- 16 years ago/16th year of Qiansheng: Huai'an age 9, entered imperial academy with Xiao Wenjing
- 15 years ago/17th year of Qiansheng: Huai'an age 10, Tiemo backed Huben mutiny and murder of his father
- Huai'an ages 10-17: hiding out in Nanwei Trough, working as a boatman
- sometime after mutiny, King of Tiemo locked up in Yulong Ridge
- 13 years ago/19th year of Qiansheng: Pu Nichuan infiltrated Tiemo, abandoned as a pawn by Yan Fengshan
- 7 years ago/24th year of Qiansheng: Huai'an age 17, arrived in Huainan and became registrar
- 4 years ago/28th year of Qiansheng Era/1st year of Wenchang Era: Huai'an age 21, General Yan takeover w/Xiao Wenjing on throne
- Now/4th year of Wenchang Era: Huai'an age 25, Xiao Wuyang deposes Xiao Wenjing, Huai'an arrives in Chang'an
Rogue's Gallery:
👑In Charge but nearly taken out: King of Tiemo/Wu Zhongheng
❕At Large: Qingyi
❌Dead: Pu Nichuan, Liu Ziyan, Wei Qianting, Yan Fengshan
EPISODE 24
its only been a few days but it feels like a million years, do I still remember how to write one of these.... 😅
[RECAP]
Opening Scene: At Taiyiji Clinic, we see what Ye Zheng has been building. It's not a coffin but it is in an enclosed box... a cart he is going to use to smuggle Shen Xiaoqing out of Chang'an with. Shen Xiaoqing is awake and alive but still injured. Despite their ordeal her sunny spirit remains and she jokes with Ye Zheng about the racket he was making building the cart and remembers him as a kid, "banging on a drum telling shifu you were strengthening your arms," which I found very charming and a relatable sibling dynamic. Ye Zheng tells her his plan to try and get out, he'd rather go down fighting than trapped here as leverage to use against Huai'an and Xiao Wenjing. Shen Xiaoqing agrees.
In the street, one of the Tiemo men reads a note that says they are allowed to kill them now. The rest of the assembled force all draw their swords, its so many swords, and approach the doors to the clinic.
Ye Zheng opens them slowly, revealing himself pulling the cart with Shen Xiaoqing hidden inside. She must really trust her senior brother because she lets him use her and the cart in the fight, shoving guys a way with it and using it as a surface to push himself off as he jumps.
We've seen Ye Zheng be outnumbered before and he is once again holding his own. He does a number of cool moves including one where he disarms his opponent, briefly wielding 2 swords in one hand, and then switches to 1 in each hand. At one point he does seem to be (lightly?) stabbed or sliced in the back. We leave the scene with him still in a stand off against the remaining Tiemo guards.
Back in Cangshui River: The Emperor and the King are about to start their fight. This is a big moment and I think the fight choreography was good. At times it seemed like they were evenly matched but Xiao Wuyang largely maintained the upper hand, despite having also just fought all those other guys and Su Changlin. I did wonder if the King had been practicing his swordsmanship in prison all these years.
love this shot of their shadows as they jump into the fight
Xiao Wuyang is a man of powerful kicks, like we saw when he finished Su Changlin. At one point he leaps up and kicks the King back into a building and they proceed to demolish several carts and shacks that lined the street. The fight ends with both on their knees, each wounded. The King struggles to stand but ends up getting away.
XWY kept just using his arm as a shield...that seems like it would hurt
Watching from his hiding place behind the sheepskins, Huai'an is angry at his escape and tries to go after him. Xiao Wuyang warns him that he won't be able to kill him but Huai'an goes anyway, but not before ordering Lu Xiaobing to protect His Majesty. Whether Lu Xiaobing had realized who Xiao Wuyang was before or not, he now knows and immediately complies.
One Strike Away (Part 1): Huai'an catches up with the King and catches him on the shoulder with the sword he'd picked up. With a level of rage we haven't seen him have yet, he goes to strike again but is stopped by Zhu Zhilong who disarms him, saving the King. Huai'an takes the moment to make an escape. The King orders Zhu Zhilong to kill Huai'an and he agrees, following after him.
Wuyin Chong arrives and continues to have some of the more entertaining reactionary expressions in the show. He seems upset at the King's direct intervention in the scheme to kill Xiao Wuyang. The King says "he is a terrifying opponent" and I wasn't actually sure if he was talking about Xiao Wuyang or Xie Huai'an, maybe both. The King also says he foretold part of his plan going awry in his divinations, but Huai'an hasn't guessed his whole scheme....the game is not over yet.
Smokescreen: We cut to Xiao Wuyang and Lu Xiaobing walking through Cangshui River. Lu Xiaobing says based on the 4 liang the emperor paid him, he can do 1 more service for him. Xiao Wuyang asks him to watch over the salt shop keeper.
Then Fang Genghui arrives in a hat. He throws a smokebomb, but even amidst the mist, Xiao Wuyang is fending off his attacks.
We cut to the King and Wuyin Chong. The King asks if Fang Genghui would be good enough to take the King down to which Wuyin Chong replies, of course not. Then he's not good enough to hurt Xiao Wuyang either, the King says, "but that's enough.... it's about time."
As Xiao Wuyang and Fang Genghui fight, he knocks the Tiemo solider to the ground. The mist makes everything hard to see, a figure appears behind him, it's Xiao Wenjing. As the elder deposed emperor swings around to strike his hidden opponent, he hits the younger deposed emperor on the shoulder instead, but reigns in his attack as he sees. The blade slides off Xiao Wenjing's shoulder without seriously injuring him. The expression of Xiao Wenjing's face is grim. I get a really bad feeling in my stomach about what's going to happen and then Wenjing stabs his brother in the stomach. Twice.
Xiao Wuyang slowly lifts up his own sword with a shaky hand, pointing it at his brother. They have an intense stare down. A crowd has gathered and we see Zhang Sheng come running down the street, shocked at what he is seeing.
As the brothers continue to face each other, we fade to a new scene.
Flashback: The King of Tiemo took Xiao Wenjing to an outpost to see how Tiemo had already killed a bunch of Baiwenhu soldiers and scare him into complying with his plan. The King tells him how every man of a certain height in Tiemo is a soldier and now that the North Office has fallen, all that stands between his desperate army and Chang'an are the 4 regional military commanders who have long hoped for the empire to collapse so they can rule their territories as king's themselves.
The King tells him that his 'nation is destined to drown in bloodshed,' unless Xiao Wenjing agrees to his plan to become his puppet emperor and sign a treaty with Tiemo, thus sparing Chang'an a direct attack. Technically, the King adds, he doesn't even need Xiao Wenjing, he could use a fake emperor like Yan Fengshan did, but then Xiao Wenjing would go down in history as even more of a disgrace.
Little detail: the King still has the cut on his face from Gu Yu throwing that scale of his armor at him.
As we see Xiao Wenjing coming to terms with this worst case scenario he finds himself in, the King adds, "An emperor is fated to be lonely."
After the King exits the outpost, Xiao Wenjing opens a lighter and sets building on fire before exiting to join the King. Outside, he asks what will become of his brother if he agrees to the plan....
Back at the fraternal face off, Xiao Wuyang approaches Wenjing with a terrifying look in his eyes. Wenjing shouts that he 'did it for Chang'an, for the realm' and Wuyang grabs him by the neck.
"Look at you, you've accomplished something none of them ever could. Remember this: you have grown up. From today on, hold your head high.
Remember your own words. You did it for Chang'an and for the realm. I am giving back to you what was meant to be yours."
Each of them has so many different expressions playing across their faces during this scene, really complex and beautifully acted.
Xiao Wuyang drops his sword and Tiemo soldiers move in to surround them.
The King, supported by Wuyin Chong, comes to do some villain monologue-ing which I don't hate because I want answers. He gives us... a few.
"15 years ago when Yan Fengshan killed Liu Ziwen, he already knew my identity. He secretly mobilized the troops and sealed off the northern front. My years of efforts in hiding and planning went to waste just like that.
So I traveled alone toward the norther lands of Tiemo. That journey home felt like a long night that would never see dawn. But when I stood again on Tiemo soil, the people in the ritual hall came out of Mount Shilouman and placed the golden crown of the Tiemo King on my head. They believed I could carry Tiemo's hopes and lead them out of the bitter cold.
So I returned to Chang'an, locking myself willingly in Yulong Ridge. That was the beginning of my path of trickery.
Xiao Wuyang, you were born into royalty, while I was born a slave. We were never the same. But today, we are both gravely wounded and bearing the same loneliness for the realm.
Yes, Chang'an is a city many yearn for. How beautiful it is. Take one last look at it, go on, look."
Xiao Wuyang turns as if to look around at Cangshui River, but looks at his brother instead. Behind him, Wuyin Chong passes a small blade to the King. Xiao Wenjing spots it and shouts at them they are not supposed to kill his brother. The King swipes at him as he turns around, slicing his eyes.
We find out Xiao Wenjing promised to be the puppet emperor on the condition that his brother would live. Wuyin Chong orders Xiao Wuyang taken away and Xiao Wenjing asks them to let him walk around for a bit, it's not like he can go anywhere with their shadow guards everywhere anyway. Wuyin Chong looks once again like he cannot believe the audacity of Wenjing who then slowly shuffles off.
The salty sting of tears: Zhang Sheng is in his shop struggling with what he just witnessed, the emperor who killed his son stabbing his own brother, while wearing his son's face. It's a lot to process. Xiao Wenjing approaches but Zhang Sheng doesn't let him into the shop. This episode has so many shots of people through gaps between boards, curtains, baskets, etc... adding dimensionality and distance between the characters and between the audience and the scene. Here we largely only see Xiao Wenjing through the gaps in the door.
Xiao Wenjing tries to say he had no choice, but Zhang Sheng's anger at the loss of his son has come back in full force. He doesn't want to try to understand how such a person could exist and how we could do such things. He tells Xiao Wenjing to get lost. Wenjing kneels outside his door and then bows, apologizing.
After he leaves the salt shop he returns to the house where he cared for his brother. As he remembers feeding Xiao Wuyang medicine, he hears his brother's words from earlier in the episode: "Remember your own words. You did it for Chang'an and for the realm..."
One Strike Away (Part 2): Wuyin Chong loses my favor by suggesting they kill everyone in Cangshui River. The King says no, theres too many people here and in Chang'an, they simply couldn't do it. Besides, "the common people are like sheep and cattle, hold your blade firmly and they will obey."
Wuyin Chong asks about Zhu Zhilong and the King says,
"he was the first to enter Chang'an with me, he hid his identity for years, unafraid of death. I have never seen him this unsettled...
He does not fear me, he fears Xie Huai'an. Just now, that boy... He was one strike away from killing me."
The King then laughs as Wuyin Chong looks concerned. They decide to go back to Chang'an, leaving Zhu Zhilong to handle the remaining matters in Cangshui River.
Zhu Zhilong is making his way through the shacks and narrow alleyways of Cangshui. Huai'an is one step ahead of him, hiding in the shadows and behind doors and objects, taunting him. Like when my cat knows it's time to go the vet and starts hiding just out of reach.
Huai'an speaks to him from his hiding places, asking if he truly feels nothing for his disciples, does he really plan to kill him and them. Zhu Zhilong reaffirms his commitment to his decades long cause. He doesn't catch Huai'an.
Later up on a walkway, Zhu Zhilong receives a report from a Tiemo guard that they could not locate Huai'an either. Zhu Zhilong speculates that despite everything, Zhang Sheng is likely still helping him.
We see Zhang Sheng with a sack over his shoulder, looking around his shop as if saying goodbye.
Then we see Zhu Zhilong sitting in the shop, seemingly waiting for someone...
Ye Zheng arrives in a hat.
"You finally came," Zhu Zhilong says to his disciple, rising from his seat and grabbing his sword.
"Yes shifu, I came to see you."
[NOTES]
End credits song for this ep is Cheng Yi's OST track, Travel to the End of the World (行路天涯).
📜Schemes and Secrets: Ye Zheng and his cart, King arriving in Cangshui, Fang Genghui smoke bomb, puppet emperor agreement, Huai'an escape
repeating motif of characters framed through small gaps/spaces
[REFLECTIONS]
Okay! It took me 4 days to watch this episode of television 😂
We got a few more insights into Tiemo and the King, what their plan is and their history. It seems like he was not the King when he went undercover initially, but clearly still had risen in high status after his initial takedown of Yan Fengshan. And while he was working with Yan Fengshan to kill Liu Ziwen, Yan Fengshan ultimately turned on him, taking some vengance of his own for his past capture.
The King seemed genuinely shaken by his encounter with Xiao Wuyang and with Huai'an's attempted attack but also pleased... like Yan Fengshan it seems he enjoys having competent opponents who pose a challenge.
The King also said he was in prison voluntarily, which was kind of the vibe I was getting, but I still have questions about how exactly this worked and who knew about it. He clearly was under guard and we know Huben was not supposed to just outright execute him from Liu Ziyan's years long secret attempts to do so.
What did you all think? What did you make of the deposed emperor vs deposed emperor stabbing and stare down? I think this is the first scene we've had of them having a face to face conversation (with Wenjing's identity revealed) and it was an intense one.
🔥🗡🩸This post is for EPISODE 24 ONLY, please be mindful of spoilers. For express discussion space for 24-28 click here 🩸🗡🔥 Thank you, your host is trying their best to avoid major spoilers and has so far succeeded.
Links to Discussion Posts:
Index | Masterpost (Eps 1-3) | Eps 4-5 | Eps 6-7 | Eps 8-9 | Eps 10-11 | Eps 12-13 | Eps 14-15 | Eps 16-17 | Eps 18-19 | Ep 20 | Ep 21 | Ep 22 | Ep 23
Other useful links: Airing Schedule | DramaWiki | MDL| Weibo | OST info
Posted Dec 28, 2025, 11:58 PM UTC