The Legend of Rosy Clouds 云秀行: Episodes 21-22 Discussion
Welcome to the discussions for The Legend of Rosy Clouds!
🌟This post is for episodes 21-22 please use spoiler tags for any eps beyond these🌟
🌟Other media spoilers: Please use spoiler tags when discussing significant plot points from the Saiunkoku Monogatari light novels, anime, or manga.
Links:
Index | Masterpost | Ep 1-3 | Eps 4-6 | Ep 7-8 | Ep 9-10 | Eps 11-12 | Eps 13-14 | Eps 15-16 | Eps 17-18 | Eps 19-20
Airing Schedule | MDL | Dramawiki | Flashcards
Discussion posts will be a day behind the iQIYI airing schedule, with your hosts posting according to their own timezones and availability. Next up will be u/not_enough_griffons with ep 23.
📺iQIYI is dropping to a 1 ep/day schedule for eps 23-27, posts will continue to follow their schedule.
Episode 21
New Characters: Zhu Luan, Chun Xiu
Lord Cai's trial
We start this episode with the trial of Lord Cai. Thinking that Fan Yun and Tian Xing won't make it to the assembly, he was still super arrogant and claimed that their absence is proof of his innocence.
Turns out, while Qi Zheng and Gao Ran didn't find Fan Yun and Tian Xing, they did follow Fan Yun's marks to the haunted mansion (I'm assuming she left clues much earlier and we only saw the final mark she made at the mansion). Gao Ran brought all the stolen treasures to the hall, and Lord Cai tried to frame Lord Lu instead.
Jiang Shu stepped up in defense of Lord Lu and asked Lord Cai to take the truth serum to prove his innocence. Lord Cai decided to do the audience a favor by demanding that Jiang Shu should remove his mask to prove he has nothing to hide. And mask off....
We got to see his eyes and mouth with the accompaniment of bright lighting and beautiful BGM!! Qi Zheng is happy to take 2nd place in the attractiveness ranking upon gazing at Jiang Shu's beauty. Everyone else was so dazzled and Lord Cai was force fed the truth serum while he was literally stunned by Jiang Shu's beauty.
Jiang Shu claims that Lord Cai will die a painful death if he lies. Panicking, Lord Cai eventually revealed his knowledge about the mansion and coffin, despite no one mentioning it. Fan Yun and Tian Xing also arrived in time to report their findings in details, as well as have the Shi brothers confess Lord Cai's influence in their illegal actions.
With his guilt proven, Lord Cai tried a last ditch defense, "All the riches that I embezzled are here, I didn't spend a cent of it." What a solid defense. XD He got dragged away and Fan Yun and Tian Xing joined the parade as they officially passed their traineeship.
Yan Jiang and Fan Hui
The "blame everything on Gao Ran" strategy worked and Fan Qi heard about Yan Jiang's sadness that he's just a stray puppy Fan Hui adopted impulsively. He arranged a meeting with Yan Jiang to explain that he's mistaken.
That Fan Hui is not one to express his feelings well, and he actually hates being part of the Fan family. Instead of giving Yan Jiang his family name, he gave Yan Jiang ‘Yan’ as a family name so he can live a life of his own, not bound by the stupid obligations of the noble family. '颜' literally means color and the expression to live your own life is 活出自己的色彩, i.e. live out your own color. The tree Fan Hui planted (in Yan Jiang's residence?) is a plum tree, which is his favorite tree.
Yan Jiang finally understood Fan Hui's care for him. They reconcile at the banquet and Yan Jiang understood that they are indeed father and son even if they don't share a last name. Then, Fan Hui suggested that Yan Jiang should marry Fan Yun so they will be even closer....excuse me, Fan Yun doesn't need another love interest....more on that later...
Shisan and Gao Ran
At the banquet, Shisan just appeared by Gao Ran out of nowhere, like she usually does. Gao Ran pinched her face (so cute!!) to make sure she's real and he's not dreaming.
They had a chat back at the pavilion where Gao Ran just smiles stupidly at Shisan while she complains that he doesn't remember anything she said. Gao Ran even calls her Ying! He acknowledges that it's difficult to forget her as they literally and emotionally get closer.
Gao Ran finally smiling at Shisan!
Ooh, you're at the 'rest-on-shoulder‘ stage. Is a kiss next?
Fan Yun's first official assignment
Now that Fan Yun is an official, she meets Qi Zheng in private and requests to be in charge of solving the plague situation in Yong city. Turns out Tian Xing already made the same request and has set out on his own to help. He's requesting Fan Yun and Qi Zheng be his back-up and look for resources and cures before joining him. Fan Yun is set on going because her fixing the situation is the best rebuke to the baseless rumors that the plague is a heavenly punishment for her becoming an official. As sad and worried as Qi Zheng is, he knows he can't change her mind and agrees to her request.
When Qi Zheng made the official appointment, there were many objections. But to the surprise of many, Elder Zheng supported the decision. And with that, the objections died down. Seems like Elder Zheng still have plenty of political power. But he's not supporting this decision due to a change of heart, he wants them to fail so he can ask for their dismissal, and to prove that the imperial exam reform was a bad idea!
Fan Yun looking good in her female official attire! I love her headpiece!
Finally, the Dark Wolf is using his martial skills! How dare you badmouth his daughter?!
Yong City's situation
We jump to a weird cult performing rituals to deliver holy water to residents of the Yong city. Here, we are introduced to 2 Yong City residents - Zhu Luan and Chun Xiu. Su Yin is also back! She brought the holy water back to the medical shack where she helps to tend to many of the sick. Tian Xing happens to be back and is greeted happily by Zhu Luan, the little girl whom he wrote to to deliver his prize money.
Then he saw Su Yin and felt his heart rate increase rapidly. I bet he's glad he's still single. Su Yin asks about Fan Yun and is worried for her, but Tian Xing reassures her that Fan Yun can handle any challenges. He then says Fan Yun is the strongest and most optimistic person he knows, just like Su Yin. He reassured her that her past isn't important, that she has contributed so much in Yong City.
Tian Xing noticed something odd about the holy water and boiled it off with alchohol. I don't really get the chemistry, but I guess it showed that there's alumite in the water.
Our 3rd couple is getting closer too. But Tian Xing, your flirty skills are no good.
Episode 22
Finding the cure for the plague
With information gathered from Tian Xing and discussions with Jiang Shu, Fan Yun and Qi Zheng realized that the plague is not contagious between humans and is actually mosquito-borne! They decided to look for the cure from Jiang Shu's medical archives.
Who do they recruit to go through the huge medical archives? Qi Zheng - governor. Fan Yun - newly appointed official. Gao Ran - military officer. Shisan - unemployed. Wei Ying - general. Yan Jiang - HR guy. Did no one thought to get a doctor to help go through the medical archives? XD
Fan Yun finally found it on a book Qi Zheng was conveniently sleeping on! Unfortunately, the instructions are unclear, just that sweet wormwood herb is used. So finally, they remember they have doctors! They try to figure out what the cure is. And the clinical trial went amazingly smooth and quick. They were sure they found the formulation of the cure without testing it on a sick person first. So confident in their theoretical skills! XD
Procurement of herbs
Now that they know what the cure is, Fan Yun sets out to the herb merchants to get as much sweet wormwood herb as she can to deliver to Yong city. Lou Qiyan hears about it and is annoyed that Fan Yun would rather go to the supplier directly than to purchase from his Amazon store. How could she?
Just as Fan Yun has secured a deal, Lou Qiyan showed up to screw it up due to the animosity between the herb merchants and his merchant guild. Instead, Fan Yun has to meet with all the merchants to convince them to sell to her. There's some back and forth, but she managed to purchase the needed herbs by selling library access to Jiang Shu's medical archives. Some things can't be bought by money! Lou Qiyan managed to get the herb merchants to agree to the deal because they didn't want to lose their expertise to his guild should he gain access to the medical archive. He teased Fan Yun that it's rare for him to help someone instead of kicking them when they're down, but Fan Yun correctly points out that it's his fault that she even had to resort to this tactic.
Stolen herbs and the solution
As Lou Qiyan's guild were transporting the herbs, they were all stolen by some bandits. Lord Lyu runs to see Elder Zheng in extreme anger. He couldn't believe Zheng Yuan could interfere with life-saving medication just to achieve his political goals. Their friendship is no more.
Qi Zheng and Zheng Shi runs to see Fan Yun to tell her about the news. Everyone is convinced it must be Elder Zheng who's behind the stolen herbs, though Fan Yun is skeptical.
With time running out, Fan Yun realized that if they lit the beacon towers, they could spread the news quickly and recruit the nobles from the other cities to send all their available herbs to Yong City to tackle the plague. Apparently, fire signals used for military defense can transmit so much information that everyone can instantly see "sweet wormwood herb! Yong City! ASAP!" just from the smoke!
Qi Zheng and Fan Yun realize it's not an ideal situation. If Qi Zheng lights the beacon tower, the commoner imperial exam reform will be abandoned because one of the conditions is that he cannot seek help from the nobles. One would think that a pandemic could be an exception, but nope. If Fan Yun lights the tower, she would be surpassing what she's authorized to do and that essentially means the end of her career. Zheng Shi actually laughed and felt proud of his grandpa for coming up with this plan! Qi Zheng exclaimed that craziness runs in their family. I agree.
As Qi Zheng and Zheng Shi fight like children again, Fan Yun leaves them to go get food. Turns out, she's locking them in! Qi Zheng realized that she's trying to make sure they don't stop her from lighting the beacons. Zheng Shi was more than happy to oblige because he still wants her to quit and join his guild. Here, Qi Zheng shows that he knows Fan Yun better, that both of them can't give her what she wants, that she'll only be happy if she earned her place. Zheng Shi got convinced and they broke down to chase after Fan Yun.
They almost catch up to Fan Yun as she runs up the mountain to the beacon tower. Thankfully, no one fell off any cliff. In the end, Zheng Shi doesn't have the authority to enter the area and could only watch from afar. Fan Yun and Qi Zheng had a moment where it showed how much they cared for each other. They both know that the welfare of the Yong city residents come first, but they don't want the other to sacrifice. Qi Zheng doesn't want Fan Yun to lose her dream, even if it means a major setback in his reform and political standing. But Fan Yun believes in him, that he'll be a good governor, that she's happy to sacrifice her career for him, that she chooses him and will not regret.
The beacon was lit and Qi Zheng ordered all the nobles to mobilize their personal troops to deliver whatever herbs they can find in their home cities. I don't understand why he can't do this without the beacon, but sure. He faced pushback but once Elder Zheng sent word that he has already obliged, everyone else did.
Round 2 of Qi Zheng vs Zheng Shi
The guards: \"Sorry, we ship Fan Yun and Qi Zheng. Please stay back and give them space.\"
Off to Yong City
With all the logistics settled, Fan Yu, Qi Zheng and Gao Ran sets off for Yong City. Lou Qiyan got confirmation that the 'bandits' have similar fighting skills as he does, so they are indeed from the Zheng family.
Notes from novel/anime:
Lord Lu: Now that we know he's a good guy, the hints were there from the beginning! When he scolded Tian Xing and Fan Yun when they were first late, it sounded like insults but there were sound advice. To Fan Yun, you need to not rely on your status of ex-governor's wife to gain respect from others. To Tian Xing, you may not know the rules of the governor's mansion due to your commoner's background, but you better learn quick or you'll get in trouble. He gave them lots of paperwork to handle, but hid hints of Lord Cai's embezzlement in there for them to find out. He's also been secretly providing them snacks as a form of comfort or encouragement. >!He has a long standing reputation on being extra harsh to new officials whom he saw potential in. He'll give those ridiculous jobs and very high workload. He wants them to build their own immunity so they won't be easily corrupted by others. Fan Hui, Jiang Shu, Yan Jiang, Wei Ying all went through similar training. Fan Hui managed to get hold of some dark secrets of fellow officials while he was cleaning the horse stables due to people's tendency to gossip or relax in less formal situations. Those dark secrets still come in handy for him today. In the end, Lord Lu got promoted into Lord Cai's position after he got removed.!<
Yan Jiang's name: His name is Li Kouyuu, and every single character has meaning. The drama did its best to retain the same sentiment when they had to change his name. >!The last name Li means plum, which is Fan Hui's favorite plan. The Fan family name is Kou in the source material, which means red. Kou means crimson, which is a darker red than just 'red'. So Fan Hui does see him as part of the 'red' family, just that he doesn't want him to be bound by it. Yuu can have many meanings but it can mean relaxed/leisure. So Fan Hui wants Yan Jiang to lead his own life at his own pace. When Yan Jiang proposed going on a journey, Fan Hui was happy to say yes because he wants his son to live for himself.!<
Matchmaking of Yan Jiang and Fan Yun: I wish they skipped this storyline. I don't think it adds too much, but >!it was his uncle, Fan Hui and Fan Qi's youngest brother, who wanted him to marry Fan Yun. He wants Yan Jiang to marry Fan Yun, so he has more legitimacy to become the next head of the Fan family. No way Fan Hui would want that for him.!<
Discussion
- We finally have a partial face reveal from Jiang Shu! What do you think? Did it meet your expectations? I looked up the actor Omid afterwards and I'm actually impressed with his casting! Casting a Uighur actor in a Han chinese dynasty setting in this situation actually makes sense, because his beauty is different from his peers' and it made sense that his beauty was sufficient to stun them!
- About our 3 couples, our main couple is once again making the slowest progress. Will they even get there? Even Tian Xing and Su Yin who just got introduced seemed to have made more progress! About Gao Ran, **warning: NSFW**, >!maybe he's a masochist. That's why a bite deep enough to leave a scar is what sealed the deal for him! XD !< What are you thoughts about our 3 couples?
- Do you think Elder Zheng was behind the stolen herbs? It seems like we'll see more of the Zheng family. Like Qi Zheng said, crazy runs in that family. I suspect Elder Zheng is not the one behind it but he gladly took the fall for it. And what role will Lou Qiyan/Zheng Shi play in the upcoming events?
- What do you wish to happen to Fan Yun after they return from Yong City? Do you want her to lose her job? Personally, that seems too harsh, but since this is not a super serious drama and we're still rooting for the couples to have happy ending, I guess I don't really mind her losing her official status that quickly. That frees her from the conflict of being the governor's wife, and there are still sooo many ways she can contribute that can lead to tangible changes.
Let me know your thoughts!
Posted Jun 30, 2026, 2:44 AM UTC