MsDarkqueen

I don't think Lu Zhong is the murderer... He may not be a mute and unpredictable but he is very protective fo Lu zhi... He even killed those guards to protect him... He seems very loyal to Lu Yuanbao but I don't think Lu Zhong would harm Lu zhi... Most likely Lu zhong did not kill Lu zhi and he was punished by Lu yuanbao and thrown in that well where he is writing an account of what happened... And this account was written 20 years ago in respect to current time of the drama.

That is what I wrote earlier today.... All people that are being killed are linked to the fire in Lu residence that was responsible for the death of Lu Jinxin and his family... Till now we are only hearing about this family from the witnesses or reading about them from official archive... We have not seen the victims nor know their characters so very difficult for the viewers to decide who is the killer because when we don't know the victims how can we determine the motive for killing them... If we don't know the motive, how can we suspect anyone.... This is a unique drama, as in the viewers are not yet introduced to the victims.

That was a very sweet scene.... I think the first time Rong Yu was hurt because he was looking at Jiuling.... The second time he deliberately changed positions to get hit himself instead of her.... interaction between the lead couple is very gratifying to watch.

Ready to watch episode 9 in few hours.... Good for those watching on viki....

We are discussing Captain Leng's daughter.. The discussion is about episode 8.

That is a very good comparison, Even though the topic and issues were very serious in faithful, it had a thrilling element of plots by protagonists and countermeasures by the villan... I enjoyed that drama too. I find that in faithful, we got to know the victim's story in the very first episode....

But here we are introduced to and/or shown all characters except the real victims of the fire, Lu Jinxin and his family members... We are seeing them through the eyes of witnesses, reading about them in official reports but the viewers have not seen them to understand the family or get a motive for their death.... We are suspecting so many people here but why Lu Jinxin and his family were targeted in the first place remains a mystery.

It is a very good point that you made. 👍

It is so interesting that we all are coming up with different scenario.

The reason, I think that the fisherman is Lu zhi and also might be Mr. Xue is because of the loyalty Mr. Zhang is showing towards both the figures... And so far from the past timeline episodes, we know that Mr. Zhang owes Lu zhi big time.... As to why they are meeting on the fishing boat... I think Lu Zhi likes to fish so he maybe spending quite sometime there and Mr. Zhang is just going to the place where he likely would be to give his report... We are just assuming they are meeting secretly but it could be they are just meeting and having a discussion.


Other case scenario, Lu zhi is really dead and so all these people Mr. zhang, Mr. Xue , mysterious fisherman burned down the Lu mansion as a revenge for his death... In episode 3, the fisherman was telling Mr
Zhang that let Sangeng look into the fire 20 years ago because Lu Zhi is long gone...... Now long gone as in dead or changed identity so not Lu zhi anymore but someone else?

So these group of people who were responsible for the fire or caused the fire or hid the really reason of the fire are being killed by the current murderer.

I think county magistrate stands out like a sore thumb and so he is an obvious suspect but in most of such kind of drama the real culprit is a person who is so ordinary and blends in perfectly that the viewers never suspect him... That is why i think county magistrate is a red herring.

If the present murderer has an accomplice then I think we can go back to suspecting captain Yi, if I remember correctly, in one of the earlier scene he too had long finger nails.

Now I think we can only know the real reason of fire when Lu Jinxin and his family members are introduced, depending on their behaviour we can get the real motive for the fire.

Yeah that was too realistic observation from the men 😂😂😂, she couldn't pass herself as a man only by dressing in men's garments..... Guess the writer was trying to mock the norm in other dramas where females simply change their attire and others believe she is a man.

* so it seems the fisherman that Mr. Zhang met on the fishing boat was Mr. Xue aka Lu zhi... Also if we think about it, mute Zhong and Lu zhi in the past timeline always fished while talking....

* fortune teller yue in one of his statement said he studied in school with young master Lu, Lu Jinxin's son..... So the person he could be meeting is him... County Magistrate seems to be the best bet.... But I think it must be someone else working in the yamen.

* murderer seems to be a family member of Lu Jinxin's.... He and his accomplice in yamen are taking revenge on these people who burnt down Lu mansion in the past... All survivors including the chef you'er and Ms.Lin became wealthy after the fire.

*Ms.Lin almost seemed ready to die.

Episode 8 speculation in spoiler tag below.

I feel the verbal testimony of these witnesses are more reliable than official statement.... They are rambling and sometimes exaggerating, often distorting the truth.... But they dont know what the official statement was trying to hide so they unknowingly blurt out the truth.


The archives said.....
The housekeeper Lu zhong (same mute person, to whom Lu zhi used to confide his secrets) , maids shiliu and Haitang, and woman servants Ms. Zhang, Ms.Li and
Ms.Ji all died in fire.


So according to official report Lu Zhong the mute is also dead... So if the person writing the account of the past is Lu Zhong, he must have written this right before the fire.

If everything we were told is unreliable then it would make sense, someone from Lu jinxin's family is alive taking revenge on these people for setting their house on fire.

I thought that the person lying in the bed was too sick... And Lu yuanbao was out and about in this episode suppressing people, flexing his muscles.....but after your comment, I watched the part again, it did look like Lu Yuanbao is in the sick bed.......Let's see what happens in future episodes.

It was told to us that the manor and all people belonged to Lu jinXin but Lu yuanbao is behaving like their owner... (So it seems Lu Jinxin is already poisoning his brother Lu Yuanbao and will take over his property and servants after Lu yuanbao's death)

Also it was told by one of the witness of the fire to Sangeng that Lu Jinxin adopted Lu Zhi and made him boy attendant to his son... Before that Lu zhi was a beggar in the streets.. In these episodes we are seeing, Lu zhi is already a boy attendant.🤔


Shopkeeper Wang's interview snippet: "The Lu residence was large with four yards. The side door was close to me. I remember clearly that the fire was the worst there. Someone said that Lu Jinxin's adopted son survived that fire. He was 15 or 16. I heard he was a beggar who was starving to death. They brought him home to be a boy attendant for Lu Buyou. Lu Jinxin appreciated him and adopted him. Lu zhi was his name. Because he's so blessed."

(So based on above testimony, Lu zhi will be thrown out on the streets before/after Lu yuanbao's death and brought again to Lu residence by Lu Jinxin???)

Episode 3 - Finding a third corpse/ disbanding the gangsters
Flashback to when Captain Leng was alive - Captain Leng and Sangeng sitting in the bath where all officials met the gangsters. Captain Leng opines they cannot arrest all bad people but atleast he has those guys under control and they cannot cause serious trouble. Besides the bailiffs cannot work on the cases without any information. Sangeng expresses his desire to disband the gangsters by arresting their leaders. However Captain Leng scoffs at the idea because there would be no evidence to convict them, they would buy or threaten all witnesses. Captain Leng gives Sangeng an assignment to check the gangsters' income and keep a secret ledger of their income. When the right time comes, Sangeng could find some fearless witnesses to testify and use his secret ledger as evidence.

Present time- Turkey and Shicong are planting a plum blossom tree where scholar Mr.Wang's dead body was discovered. After that Shicong, Sangeng and Turkey sit inside the school room and share tea while discussing Mr. Wang's death. Turkey inquires about the coroner's report for his uncle, Mr. Wang's death. Sangeng replies that according to the coroner, the fatal wound was on the back of the head. The murderer hit him repeatedly with that bronze/brass ferule and smashed the occipital bone. There was also a headless fluffy baby chicken stuffed in Mr.Wang's mouth.
Turkey wants to know what the county magistrate was going to do. Sangeng informs him that county magistrate thought it was serious two murders in a row, so he started writing another report, it was a serial killer responsible for Captain Leng and Mr. Wang's deaths.

Turkey cannot understand why a serial killer would target his uncle because the killer murdered Captain Leng to seek justice. Shicong wonders if Mr. Wang was somehow related to Captain Leng. Shicong has another theory, the murderer studied in the school in the past and Mr. Wang hit him with the ferule many times. Later, the murderer was wronged by Captain Leng. Since he had already killed Captain Leng, he decided to take revenge on Mr. Wang too. So it would follow that the murderer would kill everyone who offended him. Murders would never end. Even though after this conclusion, Shicong felt embarrassed at having thought this the look on Sangeng and Turkey's face while listening to Shicong revealed that they thought Shicong was dead-on with his speculation.

Sangeng says the messages left by the killer near the dead bodies are like memorial speeches. But wonders why the killer chose those words. Sangeng says he the murderer wanted to kill only two people and leave memorial speeches as a ritual, then he would make them in pair/couplet. So Sangeng concludes that the killer is likely going to commit another murder.

The question is why did the killer select the particular message for Mr. Wang. Sangeng quotes from The Analects of Confucius "clad in attire in late spring. Grown and Young Ones. Bath in Yi River, and the wind on the altar. Homeward with songs." The quote was spoken by Zeng Xi (was one of the earliest disciples of Confucius. He is known for a passage in Analects in which he expressed his ambition as no more than being content with daily), the occassion was when Confucius and his four students were discussing their ambitions. Three students wanted to be in high positions. But only Zeng Xi said something different, which was the message written by killer for Mr. Wang.

Turkey explains the quote illustrated Zeng Xi's aspirations. He didn't aspire to be a high official not did he hold any ambition. What he longed for was a picnic in the spring.

Sangeng recalls Turkey explaining earlier that the murderer was quoting saying in a cynical way. Murderer quoted the expression "young ones", and Mr. Wang was a teacher.... If the quote meant to show longing then the murderer quoted it to present something regrettable. He is implying that Mr.Wang has done something regrettable with the young ones.

Turkey is taken back to hear this analysis by Sangeng and resolves to find out for himself what his uncle did with his students. Turkey wants to investigate this himself because if the implication is correct then it would reflect not just how his uncle died but also how he lived. Turkey suspects his uncle had done something unspeakable, quite horrendous to his students.

Later on their way, Shicong advised Sangeng to apologize to Captain Yi. Sangeng replies that he has prepared a great gift for Captain Yi. Sangeng at the Yamen office, presents Captain Yi with the secret book he had kept on gangsters' income. Sangeng says he has prepared this book over a period of 3 years. It took that much time for him to track gangsters' income. He categorises their income; .....(This whole process shows how patient, intelligent and savvy, Sangeng is, he is not someone to be dismissed easily)

First category is the 'cleaning fee' they charge from small businesses. By asking the business owners, Sangeng found out that the gangsters charge them fixed payment every month.

Second category is income from casinos and loans, this money is exchanged into silver every month at the bank. Sangeng kept an eye on the bank accountants and by using honey trap he turned them into his informants. Sangeng found out from the bank accountants how much the gangsters actually earned from the second source.

Third category they have several brothels. The two rats and the three wolves kidnap women and send them there. Sangeng found out from other officers who visit this places often, how much those women are sold for.

Fourth category (major income) is the property and fields that these gangsters obtained through faking bets, blackmailing and framing people. Sangeng found out about them because the property transfers have to be registered in Yamen.


Captain Yi is impressed and greedily wants to know how much income the gangsters make every month. Sangeng apprises him that they make 2000 teals of silver every month and they give less than 50 teals of silver to the officer every month. In exchange for this information, Sangeng wants a favour from Captain Yi, to give back Shicong his job. Captain Yi happily agrees.

Turkey calls all the parents of his uncle's current students and somehow convinces them to send their children back to school for 5 more days so as to enable Turkey to observe them and find out if his uncle took undue advantage of any of them. Turkey would be their temporary lecturer.

Zhang Jizu (Mr.Xue's butler/housekeeper) is shown inspecting the abandoned house's courtyard... The same house where the viewers were shown how Captain Leng was hung to death. Mr. Zhang sees the millstone and other contraptions left by the killer.

Mr.Song visits the brothel once every month and spends time with his regular girl Chunxing. Mr. Song's brothel bill for that visit was paid for by Zhang Jizu that day. Zhang Jizu had come to the brothel to meet Mr.Song. Mr. Zhang accompanies Mr.Song on his way out from the brothel. Mr.Zhang wants to ask a favour from Mr.Song, he wants to purchase the house next to the back door of Cuihua Tower(the brothel) in Yanzi Alley.(the same house where Captain Leng was murdered) Mr.Song tells Mr.Zhang that the house is not abandoned but has an owner. Captain had mentioned the same house a month ago, he wanted to seal the gate of the house as homeless and hooligans would gather there and fight for turf. Mr. Song looked into the matter and discovered that the county had sold it to a travelling businessman six years ago. (Who is the present owner??? This property belonged to Chen Wang earlier)


Mr. Song says Mr. Zhang cannot purchase it, he has also found out that the new owner never lived there. Nobody knows where he is now. Mr. Zhang very cleverly inserts in their conversation that a few days ago when he checked on that house it was still abandoned but there were a few items in the yard. (This revelation was sure to raise Mr. Song's suspicion)

The viewers are then shown a conversation Between a mysterious Fisherman (whose face is not revealed because it is obscured by a big bamboo hat on his head) and Mr. Zhang, they are in a fishing boat right in the middle of the river. Mr. Zhang wants to know how the other man( killer???) knew about the abandoned house. The mysterious fisherman informs that it belonged to chen Wang. The mansion was right next to cuihua tower. It was the best place to kill Captain Leng. Mr.Zhang is skeptical if Mr. Song could find out anything. The mysterious man informs Mr. Zhang that Song Chen is no ordinary man. Mr. Zhang also informs the fisherman that Captain Leng's apprentice was asking around about the fire two decades ago. The mysterious man instructs Mr. Zhang to keep an eye on Sangeng. The fisherman tells Lu zhi is long gone ( what does it mean... Dead?... Changed his identity?.. Other implication). He says they cannot find anything.

Back to Sangeng Interviewing witness of Lu residence fire.


Shopkeeper Wang's interview snippet: "The Lu residence was large with four yards. The side door was close to me. I remember clearly that the fire was the worst there. Someone said that Lu Jinxin's adopted son survived that fire. He was 15 or 16. I heard he was a beggar who was starving to death. They brought him home to be a boy attendant for Lu Buyou. Lu Jinxin appreciated him and adopted him. Lu zhi was his name. Because he's so blessed."

Niu LuBao's interview snippet: "I remember now, There was a man, their servant Chen Wang, he survived because he was extremely lucky. He was a gambler. He gained momentum and went to gamble in the city. He made a fortune and brought a residence around Yanzhi Alley, I think. (same house where Captain Leng was murdered) Then he ran out of luck, got into serious debt, lost the residence, and drowned himself. "

Shicong goes to archive room to find more about Lu residence fire, he reads from official report: "The fire was an accident. The candel fell and started the fire in the main bedroom in the main yard. It spread fast and the residence lit up. All four members, the master Lu jinxin, his wife Ms. Zou, his eldest son Lu Buyou, and his second daughter Lu Ping'er died. The housekeeper Lu zhong (same mute person, to whom Lu zhi used to confide his secrets) , maids shiliu and Haitang, and woman servants Ms. Zhang, Ms.Li and Ms.Ji all died in fire. The night watchman Qu Tianming (Sangeng's father) died trying to put out the fire. Boy attendant Lu Zhi, servant Chen Wang, guard Zhang Gyi( episode 7 revealed him to be Mr. Xue's butler, Mr. Zhang) and chef YouEr survived.

Shicong wants to know where these 4 survivors are now. The official in the archive room he has no idea about their whereabouts.

Mr.Song goes to inspect the abandoned house after Mr. Zhang drew his attention to it earlier, he sees all contraptions in the yard left behind by the killer. Sangeng reports after his own inspection to Mr. Song. Sangeng reports there was a mended spot in the wall. Second, the millstone was never used as there was no trace of food grinding, the millstone was intact. However it is weird that there are stone maker's mark around it as if the donkey had been working hard. (Conclusion reached by Sangent and agreed by Mr. Song Captain Leng was killed there.) House being next to brothel. Sengeng continues that his master was strangled there. He speculates that the muderer must have blocked the gate and somehow lured master to crawl through the hole. A rope was wrapped around master's neck while he was crawling and tied it to the millstone. Then the donkey moved the mill and got master hung on a pillar (Sangeng's findings match with what the viewers were shown in episode 1 about Captain Leng's murder)

Mr.Song gives a search and arrest warrant to Sangeng for the millstone maker, Si Baozhu. After Si Baozhu's arrest, Mr. Song threatens to torture him and scares him into revealing the truth. Mr. Song wants to know where the millstone maker was on the 8th of that Month(Captain Leng's murder date). The millstone maker remembers he had left his home once in last two months in the middle of previous month, when he went to town and delivered the job. He delivered a millstone at Yanzhi Alley. Their customer said he would make the abandoned house in a tofu shop so had ordered the stone. Mr. Song inquires about the customer's appearance, Si Baozhu replies he was about seven -chi tall. He was weird. He always had his straw hat on. He had a heavy beard like those diety statue in the temple. His fingers are slender with long nails. Mr. Song very flippantly instructs to keep the stonemaker locked up till the case was solved. (So many instances where innocents suffered at the hand of officials in Ming dynasty)

Captain Yi meets with the gangsters and tries to extort 500 silver teals every month. Gangsters and Captain Yi clash and captain Yi mistreats all gangsters dragging them naked with only one sheet covering all of their middle body, out on the streets. Gangsters predictabily turn to Sangeng for help. Sangeng suggests them to ask Captain Yi to bribe Mr. Song... Captain Yi foolishly accepts that assignment and tries to bribe Mr. Song. Angry Mr. Song takes control of hunter squad away from Captain Yi. Now Captain Yi is dejectedly sitting in the bath, Sangeng approaches him and expertly manipulates him to know his Whereabouts on the day of Captain Leng's murder... Sangeng temporarily clears Captain Yi of Captain Leng's murder suspicio after hearing his disclosure.

Sangeng later has a conversation with Mr. Song and reveals how he influenced Captain Yi to bribe Mr. Song. Initially Mr. Song is angry with Sangeng for daring to use him but later accepts Sangeng as his right-hand man. Sangeng now offers the same secret ledger to Mr. Song. Sangeng does not want to control the gangsters but wants to disband all 5 gangs of Du County. Sangeng arrests all 5 of them after Mr. Song issues warrant.

Turkey finds out what his uncle, Mr. Wang used to make his poor students do. He used to ask them to mercilessly beat him with a ferule. Relieved that it was just a fetish of his uncle, Turkey dismisses this.. He was expecting some deep dark proclivity of his uncle based on the quote left by the murderer.

All three Shicong, Sangeng and Turkey meet at night and get drunk after finding relevant facts. They sigh that a person can never know another person. ... They toast a drink to Confucius because he's been teaching people morality for centuries in vain. In the end, the world is still filled with animals who don't talk, think or behave like humans. But Confucius should not be mad, he should not see it as his failure. It's just so hard to be a decent man. [All three agree very hard, very hard]

Next morning hungover, all three decide to have fish soup with tofu at the pancake stall across the bridge. They see Chen Wang's corpse hanging over the bridge, wording "Time passes by like this" were written. The corpse was of Chen Wang who jumped into the river 20 years ago.
Turkey quotes "standing by the river, the master said, " Time passes by like this"."
Standing by the river..... Sangeng wonders if it could be the gambler (from Lu residence) who drowned himself, the owner of that mansion in Yanzhi Alley, Chen Wang.

Sangeng deduces the case surely has something to do with the fire 20 years ago.

Very detailed summary of episode 3 in spoiler tag below... It is quite lengthy and contains all spoilers so read only if you want full disclosure.

This was the longest episode so far.. I feel lots of information was dumped on viewers in first three episodes, but they are very important details going forward.

I have started a thread for the episodes summaries in the discussion section of this drama page, if anyone wants to add something, write their own theory/speculation or point out any significant mistakes by me, please don't hesitate to comment.....

Back to Sangeng Interviewing witness of Lu residence fire.

Shopkeeper Wang's interview snippet: "The Lu residence was large with four yards. The side door was close to me. I remember clearly that the fire was the worst there. Someone said that Lu Jinxin's adopted son survived that fire. He was 15 or 16. I heard he was a beggar who was starving to death. They brought him home to be a boy attendant for Lu Buyou. Lu Jinxin appreciated him and adopted him. Lu zhi was his name. Because he's so blessed."

Niu LuBao's interview snippet: "I remember now, There was a man, their servant Chen Wang, he survived because he was extremely lucky. He was a gambler. He gained momentum and went to gamble in the city. He made a fortune and brought a residence around Yanzhi Alley, I think. (same house where Captain Leng was murdered) Then he ran out of luck, got into serious debt, lost the residence, and drowned himself. "

Shicong goes to archive room to find more about Lu residence fire, he reads from official report: "The fire was an accident. The candel fell and started the fire in the main bedroom in the main yard. It spread fast and the residence lit up. All four members, the master Lu jinxin, his wife Ms. Zou, his eldest son Lu Buyou, and his second daughter Lu Ping'er died. The housekeeper Lu zhong (same mute person, to whom Lu zhi used to confide his secrets) , maids shiliu and Haitang, and woman servants Ms. Zhang, Ms.Li and Ms.Ji all died in fire. The night watchman Qu Tianming (Sangeng's father) died trying to put out the fire. Boy attendant Lu Zhi, servant Chen Wang, guard Zhang Gyi( episode 7 revealed him to be Mr. Xue's butler, Mr. Zhang) and chef YouEr survived.

Shicong wants to know where these 4 survivors are now. The official in the archive room he has no idea about their whereabouts.

Testimony of witnesses to fire and findings of Shicong from the archive room summarized below in spoiler tag, it is very difficult to keep track of all people. Details only from episode 3 included here.

I think it was his friend who was implicated along with him... His friend later committed suicide in the jail or died due to torture(not sure) ... So probably he is remembering good old days when he along with his friend used to compose wonderful things.

I think the person lying on the sick bed is the owner of Lu residence, Lu JinXin.... Somehow Lu yuanbao is responsible for his current health and so later someone conspires to give Lu yuanbao the poisonous mixed prescription to take revenge... Lu yuanbao doesn't seem to be a good person.

In episode 7, Dr. Cheng had gone to treat a person in Lu residence... My speculation about the person lying on the sick bed in spoiler tag below.