The First Jasmine (Mo Li): Ep 33 Recap - What Use is an Empty Reputation?
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, 25/26, 27/28, 29, 30, 31, 32
Main characters:
Bai Lu as Ye Li
Cheng Lei as Mo Xiuyao/Prince Ding
Novel fan translation: Mo Li
Ep 33: Ye Li gets very drunk at the Ghost Party.
Mo Xiuyao sneaks out at night to investigate what is beyond the monkey bridge. He finds a mass grave with everyone whom Ye Li has "introduced" to him, and also an empty grave with her name on it.
The visuals in this episode were so good
When he gets back, Ye Li wakes up. Mo Xiuyao talks about how he used to fear death and being buried, but now he has her so he's not scared anymore.
Ye Li says she has to get up early to do stuff. Mo Xiuyao tells her he can do it all for her, so she can sleep in. The next day they do all her tasks together, and he fixes her bed and window. Then they watch the moon together.
Feng Zhiyao has reached a trading city near or in Cangbei. He runs into Han Mingxi and asks what happened to Su Zuidie. Han Mingxi is like, "Wellllll.... I donno."
The Cheif Eunuch comes back and reports to the Empress Dowager that everyone from Lishan ran away. The other advisor doesn't believe it. The emperor then comes in with his letter from Mo Xiuyao and reports that they all died of plague. The Empress Dowager sends an investigator to find out what really happened.
When the investigators come (I assume it's been a few days?), Mo Xiuyao asks them to give him two days. I'm not sure exactly why, but he asks her to watch the sunrise with her and then she stays up for quite a while because they go really early. Maybe he didn't want her memory to reset? He takes her to the monkey bridge and she freaks out and imagines the monkeys.
The way she's clutching his clothes!
Once she's at the graveyard, Ye Li starts remembering what happened and crying. A plague hit the mountain and they ran out of medicine. Ye Li tried to run down (a scene we saw earlier but without masks). They captured her back and locked her in the woodshed to preserve the reputation of Lishan.
Ye Li tried to send Qingshuang down the mountain to get help, but she collapsed and died. When Ye Li gets out, everyone is dead.
This pathogen has an extremely high mortality rate... science says this is possible! Pneumonic plague could do this. Ye Li is the only one left behind to bury all the dead and preserve the mountain's reputation.
The preview confirms that the last doll is the empress dowager! Finally our couple will work together to take down their enemies? Pretty please?
Threads round-up: What happens to "widowed" Ye Ying?
Emo Prince Li is still out there, scheming
Han Mingxi and his brother and the annoying girl who murders people
Feng Zhiyao and his grief hike
The Empress Dowager doll/the emperor takes power from his mom
Additional bath scene? (but no really look at the promos)
Posted Jun 26, 2026, 12:05 PM UTC