The First Jasmine (Mo Li): Ep 25/26 Recap - Princesses and Dowagers
Previous recaps: Ep 1-4, Ep 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15/16, 17/18, 19/20, 21/22, 23/24
Main characters:
Bai Lu as Ye Li
Cheng Lei as Mo Xiuyao/Prince Ding
Novel fan translation: Mo Li
Ep 25: Mo Xiuyao is unable to move after putting his wife to bed because she's sleeping on his arm (cat rules). She wakes up and they have a BBQ.
This reminds me of How Dare You!? too
Mo Xiuyao has to leave for a mission related to Qin Cang, who is alive! Ye Li is worried about him being away.
Then there is cuteness. Ye Li gives her husband top grades in flattery.
The emperor is angry that everyone is freaking out about the solar eclipse. His mother explains that it's all fake, they are just using the eclipse as a pretense for their own goals. Dowager Consort Qin sees a book she gave the Empress Dowager in the trash. She puts it back on the desk.
Feng Zhiyao is planning a ridiculous mountain outing and apparently bringing everything in his house. The princess seems excited to meet him. She tells Dier, who has returned, to lay low and not cause trouble.
The Dowager Consort is at a place with many celestial scholars. She overhears a poem about hibiscus which is a homonym for "her majesty". Ye Li's Third Uncle brings her to visit. The consort seems very skeptical of Ye Li again. Ye Li says she can replicate the dragon painting causing rain technique. The consort is wary, until Ye Li pulls out some gold powder and then the entire painting vanishes.
Ah, Ye Li wasn't trying to trick the consort through faith, she was proving that the previous master was a charlatan. Ye Li's uncle tells her she should stop with the plots and just be happy.
Feng Zhiyao is all angry that it's raining so he can't have the perfect date, but it turns out well anyway. The princess is worried she'll be rejected because she was married before (she pretends to talk about her sister) but Feng Zhiyao doesn't care. They agree to meet, well her "sister" will come and meet him soon.
Dier uses a secret passcode to meet... Han Mingyue, Han Mingxi's older brother (who is probably a real assassin). Both of them appear to be working for Emo Prince (Mo Jingli).
He seems jealous that Dier was hanging out with her old fiance, she doesn't seem that interested in him. Dowager Consort Qin is feeling insecure in her relationships (she's been aligned with the marquis and the dowager empress). It turns out she was told to keep the edict as an insurance policy.
The Dowager Empress doesn't like the hibiscus poetry. She has it burned.
Ep 26: The Dowager Consort is drinking and worrying about her alliances. Zhou Tianyang comes to visit her. He's worked up about his brother being killed, but Consort Qin doesn't have a lot of faith in parents.
First time learning that parents suck?
Consort Qin is depressed and says everything was fake. She also thinks Zhou Tianyang only befriended her to help his father. They drink together. In the morning, the consort goes to visit Ye Li. Consort Qin claims she gave the edict to the Dowager Empress, but Ye Li doesn't believe her.
It turns out she was present the night that Ye Li's mother left the Ye mansion and she took the decree. We see her give it to the marquis and he burns it.
Zhou Tianyang is being taken somewhere tied up. He's stopped by the Dowager Empress's men and taken back.
Ye Li invites the princess from Cangbei for a meal at the place where Feng Zhiyao works, so she accepts. Dier is going to come too (ug).
Mo Xiuyao saves Wang Suwu, and he talks about how he can't hate him anymore. His entire family was killed by the Cangbei attack, but he knows peace is better than revenge.
I feel like this scene has something to do with Ye Li not dropping her revenge. They catch the man who almost murdered Qin Cang.
At the restaurant, the princess sees her favourite flower everywhere.
The Dowager Consort sends Ye Li the edict (so the one burned must have been fake)
Han Mingxi has decided to play guard today and Ye Li gives in because he won't leave. Dier is worried that he'll recognize her. The tea Ye Li and the princess drink was drugged by Dier and they pass out. Dier (obviously) stabbed the princess and made it look like Ye Li did. Han Mingxi kills two Cangbei guards, which cannot be great for appearances.
No one is good at diplomacy here
The court is preparing for war, now that the princess has been murdered on their soil. Mo Xiuyao is still away. The marquis says that if they execute Ye Li, it should be fine, but the duke disagrees. He's pretty sure Cangbei will attack no matter what since the murder is associated with their enemy (Prince Ding house). He thinks they should finish investigating the case. However, as he tells Ye Li's steward, they need someone to blame and it might all fall on her anyway.
This murder is just... like what kind of murderer also drugs themselves and kills their own maid? It seems pretty obvious that the only person alive and undrugged is the murderer, you know? Anyway
Han Mingxi tells Ye Li where he is originally from and she knows he's connected to Prince Li...
Posted Jun 20, 2026, 11:28 AM UTC