So it turns out the original line for HXY's phone call was, “If I die, will you be able to get away clean?” In the final cut, it was changed to, “If I die, you’ll definitely be buried with me.”
The original line carries a sense of helplessness—being cornered, with no way out. But the line in the aired version instantly establishes Hu Xiaoyue’s “sacrificing-his-life-to-break-the-deadlock” image. It feels much more like he’s deliberately using his own life to tear open a breach, to make the fire burn even fiercer.
Took this from Weibo.Rewatching and breaking down the plot of Punishment 2 episodes 1–6:
In early 2002, they joined the police force. Then came the Xu Li case—Senior Brother Mai Hongchao was implicated and sentenced to three years in prison, Qin Feng was demoted and reassigned, while Hu Xiaoyue bore relatively minor responsibility and remained in the Municipal Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Unit. In 2003, Hu Xiaoyue cracked a major case and was promoted. In 2005, Lao Mai was released from prison. From that point until 2008, the three were separated for six years.
According to what special informant Wang Ming said, Hu Xiaoyue had mentioned Qin Feng to him before, and the arrangement to move Wang Ming’s parents to the countryside was also Qin Feng’s help. But in the dog-farm scene in Episode 1, Qin Feng says something like, “Xiaoyue rarely opens his mouth to ask us for help.” From this, you can infer that during those six years, Hu Xiaoyue had been investigating cases related to the Jinding Group while deliberately keeping Qin Feng in the dark. Any help he sought from Qin Feng was through private channels; asking Qin Feng openly for manpower to assist in an operation was the first time he did so officially.
This also shows that by 2008, when Hu Xiaoyue wanted to save his informant, he no longer dared to use the Municipal Bureau’s own team and could only borrow people from Qin Feng on the periphery. After Hu Xiaoyue’s death, even his colleagues were not allowed to attend his funeral, and the case was hastily concluded as a suicide. All of this indicates how dire Hu Xiaoyue’s situation within the Municipal Bureau was before his death. With Director Ye gone, and with Wang Ming having evidence of Luo Bo conspiring with Municipal Bureau leadership to have Hu Xiaoyue killed, it was exactly as Hu Xiaoyue said in his video: a massive net had closed around him. He couldn’t break free or push through it. From top to bottom, there wasn’t a single person he could trust—so he could only turn to Qin Feng.
Hu Xiaoyue only decided to trouble Qin Feng when he was forced to the very last step. Even the pretext used for the dog-farm arrest was catching dog traffickers. As long as Hu Xiaoyue said nothing afterward, any problems wouldn’t implicate Qin Feng. What he said in the detention room were probably, on some level, like last words—he knew something might happen to him and was subtly revealing things to Qin Feng. Hu Xiaoyue had already been dealing with the Jinding Group for three years. Judging from the layout, he lived alone; after his parents were harassed, he sent them away. From the moment he learned through Wang Ming that Municipal Bureau leaders had pushed him out to be killed, he understood that no one could be trusted and that his life was in danger. That’s why he was truly tight-lipped in front of Qin Feng—not because he wanted to play the lone hero, but because he was genuinely afraid something would happen to his two senior brothers.
Some people ask: why did Hu Xiaoyue have to jump? Had it really reached a point of no return? The answer can only be that the situation he had been facing was already this desperate. For three years, the Jinding Group had been involved in numerous vicious cases with over a dozen lives lost, yet every lead would abruptly go cold. His parents were harassed and had to be sent away. Thugs brazenly broke into his home. Leaders within the Municipal Bureau wanted him dead. His subordinates couldn’t be trusted. His informant was captured, the grass had been startled, and the informant could be killed at any moment. When Hu Xiaoyue returned to the Bureau, he was smeared, falsely accused, and suspended. What awaited him next was likely a long investigation period, possible reassignment or exile, and the shelving or burying of all the cases in his hands along with his suspension.
He had only two choices: kneel and admit defeat, or use the clumsiest, most brutal method—his own life—to make the matter impossible to suppress, to bring his mentor back to investigate, and to let his two senior brothers take over. So in truth, it really was something he had to do.
Wang Ziqi filmed this drama right after the short film for Peace Elite.
The Imperial Coroner 2 19/9-27/11 Peace Elite 7/12-18/12 The Punishment 19/12-23/12(?) (Arrived at the TP filming set around 2/3am something then continued filming straight for 4/5days)
Yet he managed to film a bunch of emotionally and physically heightened scenes within this short time 🫡 I am so impressed!
https://weibo.com/2136166244/5251354320700111
https://weibo.com/1731986465/5250221782074653
In the final cut, it was changed to, “If I die, you’ll definitely be buried with me.”
The original line carries a sense of helplessness—being cornered, with no way out. But the line in the aired version instantly establishes Hu Xiaoyue’s “sacrificing-his-life-to-break-the-deadlock” image. It feels much more like he’s deliberately using his own life to tear open a breach, to make the fire burn even fiercer.
According to what special informant Wang Ming said, Hu Xiaoyue had mentioned Qin Feng to him before, and the arrangement to move Wang Ming’s parents to the countryside was also Qin Feng’s help. But in the dog-farm scene in Episode 1, Qin Feng says something like, “Xiaoyue rarely opens his mouth to ask us for help.” From this, you can infer that during those six years, Hu Xiaoyue had been investigating cases related to the Jinding Group while deliberately keeping Qin Feng in the dark. Any help he sought from Qin Feng was through private channels; asking Qin Feng openly for manpower to assist in an operation was the first time he did so officially.
This also shows that by 2008, when Hu Xiaoyue wanted to save his informant, he no longer dared to use the Municipal Bureau’s own team and could only borrow people from Qin Feng on the periphery. After Hu Xiaoyue’s death, even his colleagues were not allowed to attend his funeral, and the case was hastily concluded as a suicide. All of this indicates how dire Hu Xiaoyue’s situation within the Municipal Bureau was before his death. With Director Ye gone, and with Wang Ming having evidence of Luo Bo conspiring with Municipal Bureau leadership to have Hu Xiaoyue killed, it was exactly as Hu Xiaoyue said in his video: a massive net had closed around him. He couldn’t break free or push through it. From top to bottom, there wasn’t a single person he could trust—so he could only turn to Qin Feng.
Hu Xiaoyue only decided to trouble Qin Feng when he was forced to the very last step. Even the pretext used for the dog-farm arrest was catching dog traffickers. As long as Hu Xiaoyue said nothing afterward, any problems wouldn’t implicate Qin Feng. What he said in the detention room were probably, on some level, like last words—he knew something might happen to him and was subtly revealing things to Qin Feng. Hu Xiaoyue had already been dealing with the Jinding Group for three years. Judging from the layout, he lived alone; after his parents were harassed, he sent them away. From the moment he learned through Wang Ming that Municipal Bureau leaders had pushed him out to be killed, he understood that no one could be trusted and that his life was in danger. That’s why he was truly tight-lipped in front of Qin Feng—not because he wanted to play the lone hero, but because he was genuinely afraid something would happen to his two senior brothers.
Some people ask: why did Hu Xiaoyue have to jump? Had it really reached a point of no return? The answer can only be that the situation he had been facing was already this desperate. For three years, the Jinding Group had been involved in numerous vicious cases with over a dozen lives lost, yet every lead would abruptly go cold. His parents were harassed and had to be sent away. Thugs brazenly broke into his home. Leaders within the Municipal Bureau wanted him dead. His subordinates couldn’t be trusted. His informant was captured, the grass had been startled, and the informant could be killed at any moment. When Hu Xiaoyue returned to the Bureau, he was smeared, falsely accused, and suspended. What awaited him next was likely a long investigation period, possible reassignment or exile, and the shelving or burying of all the cases in his hands along with his suspension.
He had only two choices: kneel and admit defeat, or use the clumsiest, most brutal method—his own life—to make the matter impossible to suppress, to bring his mentor back to investigate, and to let his two senior brothers take over. So in truth, it really was something he had to do.
Rewatching and breaking down the plot of Punishment 2 episodes 1–6:
The Imperial Coroner 2 19/9-27/11
Peace Elite 7/12-18/12
The Punishment 19/12-23/12(?) (Arrived at the TP filming set around 2/3am something then continued filming straight for 4/5days)
Yet he managed to film a bunch of emotionally and physically heightened scenes within this short time 🫡 I am so impressed!
https://weibo.com/6603889325/5237941363543105
To be broadcast in early December!!!! 🥳
https://weibo.com/6603889325/5226299656507217
https://youtu.be/B4wjD96FR3c?si=nfdsFoclIboKzr7K
https://weibo.com/1645442293/5214806581971058
https://youtu.be/mlJInAkQ6Wc?si=-TpOSJggoNnDuJEy
The seat exchange scene🔥🔥🔥
https://weibo.com/7946673128/5208916365410599