The First Jasmine (Mo Li): Ep 19/20 Recap - The Master Appears Again
Previous recaps: Ep 1-4, Ep 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15/16, 17/18
Main characters:
Bai Lu as Ye Li
Cheng Lei as Mo Xiuyao/Prince Ding
Novel fan translation: Mo Li
Ep 19: The Empress Dowager orders everyone connected with the Eastern Palace captured. The marquis thinks the dowager should have killed everyone back when they set the palace on fire. He helped set the fire back then and then was put in charge of the investigation. The marquis sends out his men to arrest everyone.
Mo Xiuyao explains to Ye Li that the fire at Prince Li's was deliberate, he seems to believe that Prince Li killed himself when discovered. Ye Li doesn't believe it.
She's concerned about him using his legs too much now that he can walk. He is worried about her and her imaginary maids. They are lovely.
At the Jingzhao office, the marquis is arresting the military secretary (Wang Suwu) on suspicion that he was involved with the case. He asks Mo Xiuyao if he has any objections, but he frames it as treason to object. Mo Xiuyao replied that he's slandering decent men. The marquis replies in thinly veiled threats:
The worst! Mo Xiuyao brings the official on the marquis's side (Zheng Zuoshi) to his office and then kicks him in the chest (against medical advice! I support it though). Then he literally hits him with a book of laws. It's beautiful.
He tells Zheng Zuoshi that if Wang Suwu dies, he dies too and then has him imprisoned. He tells Clerk Gu they need to save Wang Suwu. He also asks him to look into Prince Li's mansion and to check for hidden passages, as the body was too damaged to recognize. Sounds like he also suspects Prince Li isn't dead! (I really doubt he is, due to story conventions, but then again he did attempt suicide that one time).
Ye Ying attempted suicide. The marquis wants to arrest her as the doctor said she's fine, but Ye Li refuses and takes responsibility for her. Ye Ying explains that she loved Prince Li because she read his poems and heard his music. She says that one-sided love should still be valid. Ye Li tells her that she can't even hate her because she's so dumb. She explains that Prince Li was always dangerous. Ye Ying repeats his last words, which imply that he is still alive.
The marquis son, Zhou Tianyang, has a coconut. Zhou Tianyang creeps me out so much with his childishness and then sudden murderous intent. Qin Cang sees them, then goes to a room to look longingly at the handkerchief. The marquis tells Qin Cang that he shouldn't look for a house, but just stay in the mansion. Then the marquis offers him a coconut, which Qin Cang tries to refuse but eventually accepts. Zhou Tianyang is watching this. I'm nervous.
Ye Li is looking through underground water maps to find out how Prince Li escaped. She goes out exploring the city and Han Mingxi follows her (we haven't seen him in a while). She is better at this than him. He says he has to repay a debt to her, but she tells him no.
Wang Suwu is sent back to the Jingzhao office severely injured, though he says he'll be okay.
Ye Li hears that Mo Xiuyao won't be back that night because of work, so she goes out for some work of her own. Han Mingxi is still following her, he's caught immediately. She invites him to come along. They enter the mansion by a back gate and find a secret passageway below the burned room.
Han Mingxi is talking himself up, but Ye Li sees through it right away and asks if her "assassination" was his first mission. They exit the tunnel and are immediately surrounded by armed men. Han Mingxi is actually holding his own pretty well! Look at him go!
Ep 20: Hen Mingxi starts getting stabbed quite a bit. Ye Li is acting like someone who has no idea how to fight. Suddenly Ye Li gets up and starts fighting as her master again. Han Mingxi saw her do this.
Mo Xiuyao leaves work and happens to run into Ye Li after she drops off Han Mingxi with Li Feibai. They follow her. When he gets home, she's there and he doesn't confront her about it.
The marquis reports Ye Li in court for not letting him arrest Ye Ying. The Empress Dowager dismisses the matter. Then Mo Xiuyao accuses Marquis Muyang of using his arrest power to resolve personal grudges. This is dismisses as well, so no one gets what they want. Afterwards, the marquis threatens Mo Xiuyao.
Ye Li meets with Li Feibai about Prince Li, who has clearly escaped. Ye Li references her master saving her again, which Li Feibai suspects is a hallucination. He confirms with Han Mingxi. Then he starts packing for something.
Lin Tinglan visits the Empress Dowager and hears that a princess from another country (Cangbei) is coming to visit. This princess already had a political marriage, got her brother on the throne of her country, and is coming to solidify an alliance with Great Chu, but she wants to pick her own husband this time. Lin Tinglan is asked to stay to help with the welcoming. Dowager consort Qin suggests that the marquis be allowed to help as well. The Empress Dowager doesn't seem to trust the marquis anymore, but will use him as long as they are aligned.
Han Mingxi has gone to work at Ye Li's shop. Or at least he tried, she fires him.
Does he know anything about shop working?
Feng Zhiyao tells Mo Xiuyao that he's being reckless to accuse the marquis in court. He's unhappy, probably because he saw Ye Li sneaking around.
Feng Zhiyao gets a letter from a friend. He met a "man" from Cangbei who helped him cross the dessert with some furs. I bet this is the princess?
Now they are pen pals, awww. Puppy break!
Ye Li is going around and giving people gifts. She's repaying a debt to Lishan. The people she's repaying helped redeemed the bodies of Lishan students from the government. Han Mingxi also tags along. He also returns her jade pendant. Clerk Gu is also repaid.
The marquis proposes that Mo Xiuyao is the envoy to the visiting party from Cangbei. Ye Li can tell that Mo Xiuyao walked too long the day before and warns him not to do too much. He tells her that Prince Li is being buried the next day. She ignores him. Later, he asks if she wants a pet, which she rejects. She starts telling a story about a bird and I'm worried that she has pet trauma too...
The envoy arrives tomorrow!
Posted Jun 17, 2026, 10:55 AM UTC