Flourished Peony 国色芳华 Episode 21

Jiang Changyang found an excuse to go to Luoyang. Before leaving, he asked Mudan if she needed him to bring back anything. Mudan didn't hesitate to do so. She had to pay for the travel expenses anyway, so she listed four things. As for the relatives and friends who needed to be visited, Mudan said that the He girl had died and she had no relatives in Luoyang. Jiang Changyang prepared a huge phoenix kite for Mudan and flew it into the sky. Many petals spread out from the belly of the kite, which made Mudan unforgettable. Jiang Changyang also said that no matter where Mudan is in the future, as long as she sees the bright moon, she will no longer be alone. Shengyi and Wang Qing got entangled again, and Shengyi accidentally let slip that Mudan had a family in Luoyang. Wang Qing had ill intentions and tricked Shengyi into telling him many things about Mudan in Luoyang.

The Princess of Ji'an copied the Lotus Sutra for several days in an attempt to have a smooth marriage. Li Youzhen knew about Liu Chang's every move in the Stables Office. She heard that the Stables Office was very busy and Liu Chang was very tired. In his spare time, he would go to the tavern to have a few drinks and go to Zhongnan Mountain to climb mountains. The servant reported that there was a flower shop opposite the tavern that Liu Chang often went to, and the owner of the shop was He Weifang. Li Youzhen immediately went to Liu's house to hold him accountable and signaled Liu Shen to get on the carriage of Prince Ning's mansion and reveal He Weifang's true identity. Ren Jingzhao there was very tactful and knew what to do when he saw the carriage from Prince Ning's mansion. But if the matter was handled by the two elders Liu Shen, Liu Chang would certainly be suspicious. After hearing what Li Youzhen said, Liu Shen immediately said that he would find an unrelated person to report He Weifang.

Wang Qing tricked Shengyi into signing the marriage certificate and made her drink the wedding wine and fall into coma. Then he went to Jingzhao Prefecture to report that He Weifang had forged a good name and opened a flower shop in the city to make money. Liu Shen and his wife were present as witnesses. Soon, officials from Jingzhao Prefecture came to arrest people. He Weifang quickly asked Zhu Fu to notify Xu Jijiu to leave to avoid being discovered. She herself was arrested and taken to Jingzhao Prefecture. Outside Jingzhao Prefecture, Mudan saw a luxurious sedan chair, and she thought that the person sitting inside was not an ordinary person. Ren Jingzhao and the Minister of the Imperial Household were in cahoots with each other. Mudan was just an ordinary citizen and was powerless to resist them. She was demoted to a government slave and sent to a military camp outside the city. She had her good name removed from her and her property confiscated. Shengyi woke up and found that the doors and windows were locked. She struggled to break the door open, ran out and found that Hua Manzhu had been taken over by Wang Qing.

Wang Qing deliberately alienated the sisterly relationship between Zhu Fu and Shengyi, and falsely accused Shengyi of conspiring with him to occupy Hua Manzhu. Zhu Fu hated Sheng Yi very much and was filled with anger towards Wang Qing, but Wang Qing had more people and was able to injure Zhu Fu. Lu Gengchun persuaded Zhu Fuxian not to confront the other party head-on, and Zhu Fu cut off his robe and broke off his friendship with Shengyi. After being beaten with the stick sixty times, Mudan was exiled to a military camp outside the city as a criminal slave. A mute girl who was also a criminal slave saw that Mudan's eyes were very similar to her sister's, so she took good care of her. This was the first good person Mudan met when she arrived at the military camp. They washed clothes together, and when they couldn't get soapberries, they burned wild grass to make wood ash that had the effect of removing dirt. The porridge distributed to the criminal slaves in the army was thin and pitiful. The strong criminal slave saw that Mudan was a weak woman and snatched her porridge when she was not paying attention.

Mudan was very dissatisfied and complained to the officers and soldiers, but they ignored her and blamed her for not being able to protect the porridge. Only then did Mudan realize that criminal slaves had no dignity in the military camp. She and the mute girl supported each other and survived in the military camp. At this time, Jiang Changyang had already arrived in Luoyang, drinking and socializing with a group of Luoyang officials, and had no idea what had happened to Mudan in Chang'an.