Story of Minglan episode 24! Gu Tingye’s starting to realize how amazing Minglan is! But in the meantime, Minglan needs to help her cousins deal with their in-laws.
Story of Minglan Episode 24 Recap Highlights:
- Minglan’s cousin Changwu gets married and the in-laws cause trouble
- The general that Gu Tingye serves under assigns Gu Tingye to menial tasks
- Minglan helps her cousin deal with the in-laws using her previous management skills
Minglan learns a very important lesson in this episode that will help her determine marriage in the future.
Without further adieu, let’s jump into the Story of Minglan episode 24 recap!
Trust Your Instincts
At night, Old Madam Sheng asks if Minglan is enjoying the life here in Youyang.
And she responds that it’s quite nice. The people here are nice and relaxed compared to those in the capital. Like Pinlan.
Then Old Madam Sheng asks her about He Hongwen (Old Madam He’s grandson).
What does she think of him?
Minglan responds that he’s mature, gentle and most importantly, understands the hardships of women.
Her grandmother nods.
He Hongwen grew up watching his grandmother shoulder everything so he witnessed her hardships.
Plus, he has a good set of medical skills.
Old Madam Sheng believes that whoever gets to marry He Hongwen would have an easy and comfortable life.
And Minglan agrees. He Hongwen deserves someone who can truly devote themselves to him.
But what about Minglan?
Minglan thinks she hasn’t met her fated person yet.
While Old Madam Sheng remarks that even if she did, she wouldn’t even know.
Back at Gu Tingye’s military camp, enemy soldiers creep in the tall grass and plan to ambush the camp.
The enemy soldiers shoot down the watchers and stroll in.
After they enter, a trap is sprung. Oil is lit and fire surrounds the enemy soldiers.
They realize it’s a trap and try to escape but their escape route is cut off.
Because the soldiers they wanted to ambush are actually outside the camp.
And they rush in to complete the pincer attack.
Gu Tingye’s general jolts awake from the disturbance and calls for someone.
But no one answers.
This incompetent general would have gotten them all killed. Jeez.
When the general finally leaves his tent, he sees his soldiers killing the enemy soldiers.
Changwu’s Wedding
In moments, the battle ends.
And Gu Tingye decides to give the credit to the general.
Praising the general for his brilliant strategy.
The day after, the general’s assistant believes Gu Tingye can help the general elevate his status.
If he continues to take credit for Gu Tingye’s accomplishments.
Ugh, Gu Tingye has already understood this general’s personality. I hope he has a plan.
Back in the city, the Sheng household celebrates Changwu’s wedding.
Changwu carries his bride-to-be on his shoulders until they enter his household.
Changwu is Minglan’s cousin. He is Pinlan’s brother.
In the dining hall, Madam Sun encourages everyone to drink and eat as much as they want.
As if she’s hosting the celebrations.
While Shulan asks her mother-in-law to rest and take a breather.
Then Shulan’s mother gets news that her son-in-law (Shulan’s husband) drank too much and is causing a ruckus.
Madam Sun blames Shulan for letting her son drink so much and attempts to hit her.
But Old Madam Sheng steps in and does crowd control.
Shulan’s Future
That night, Xiaotao informs Minglan that Old Madam Sheng wants her to come to the main hall.
Because this would be an invaluable learning experience.
Eldest Old Madam, Shulan and her mother are also there.
Eldest Old Madam complains to Shulan that she should have told her.
Instead of keeping these things all to herself.
Shulan’s mother says she will handle it but her mother doesn’t believe her. Because they settled it with giving some shops away.
This method is just rewarding bad behavior.
Shulan reveals that her mother-in-law wants her to serve by her side. Because otherwise, she will disturb her husband from studying.
But in this month alone, she rarely sleeps with her husband. So her mother-in-law blames her for not getting pregnant.
Despicable mother-in-law!
Then Shulan explains that she got her husband some concubines but he thought they were boring. So he got a prostitute.
And housed her outside. When she got pregnant, he wanted to give her a title and bring her into his home.
But when Shulan disagreed, her husband beat her. She then shows the bruises on her arm.
The mother is furious but there’s nothing she can do. The Sun family have been eagerly expecting a child for awhile now.
Eldest Old Madam wonders if Shulan wants to stay with her husband. She could find a way to keep the child from the prostitute and allow Shulan to raise it.
But Shulan doesn’t know if she wants to do that.
It’s that bad when the daughter doesn’t even know if she wants to live with her husband. She probably can’t stand living the next several years with him.
Minglan can’t stand for this scenario and kneels in front of the Eldest Old Madam.
To apologize for what she may say next.
Minglan’s Proposal
Old Madam Sheng wants Minglan to stay out of it. But Minglan can’t. Not while witnessing how her cousin has been treated.
If she can fight for her best friend, why can’t she fight for her cousin?
Since they cannot change the Sun Xiucai’s personality, they can only do what they can control.
Like leaving the marriage. Shulan has already made a bad choice by marrying him so she needs to divorce him.
But Shulan’s mother worries about Pinlan’s future marriage prospects.
So Minglan explains that a marriage lasts a few decades at most while the clan exists far longer.
Even if Pinlan gets married, those in-laws may look down upon the Sheng family for allowing Shulan to get mistreated by her own in-laws.
But Pinlan would never want to trade her own happiness for her sister’s happiness.
She’d rather have her sister divorce and obtain happiness.
But Eldest Old Madam thinks divorce is out of the question.
They should separate amicably.
Getting divorced hurts the wife’s reputation while getting separately amicably looks better.
Dealing with the Sun Family
The Sun family refuse to separately amicably.
Eldest Old Madam asks for Minglan’s advice. Since the opponent is refusing to do this nicely, how should they proceed?
Minglan suggests they attack the problem at their weakness.
The money.
The Sun family has gotten arrogant because of the wealth given to them from the marriage.
So they should take back everything that was not originally theirs.
Eldest Old Madam praises Minglan for her insight and wisdom.
The fun begins!
At the Sun household, several servants from the Sheng family are resigning. Sun Xiucai thinks it’s preposterous and threatens to have them sued.
One of the servants explains that they were originally from the Sheng family so they won’t succeed anyway.
And they leave.
Meeting up with Minglan, Pinlan and Changwu outside.
Nanny Bian guarded the shop deeds well so she turns them over to Minglan and Pinlan.
No servants? Check. Now, no more shops.
Next, is closing the shops the Sheng family gifted to the Sun family.
After they closed the shops, Pinlan thinks that the Sun family will give in. But Minglan thinks not.
Since they are so shameless, they probably have other tricks up their sleeves.
No matter, they will get Shulan out of this mess.
Several days later, Madam Sun complains to her son. She’s exhausted.
There are no maids to do chores and the pregnant prostitute wants nourishing foods every day.
But they have no money nor resources. So she begs her son to bring Shulan back.
And he refuses. Because he believes that in a few days, the Sheng family will send her back with some more shop deeds.
He leaves to meet up his scholarly friends.
Sun Xiucai treats all of his friends on his tab but the waiter stops him.
Meeting of the Elders
Because he has to pay his own bills.
And stop leaching off of his wife’s wealth =P
He pays with one of his accessories and leaves in anger.
Sun Xiucai calls for a meeting of the clan elders. He initially complains that his wife refuses to welcome his mistress and hides at home.
If Shulan still refuses, he will divorce her.
He wants to divorce his wife because of the following reasons:
- Not virtuous – did not welcome the prostitute who is pregnant
- Failed to give him a child
In another room, Pinlan complains that the Sun family are utterly shameless.
When they were poor, they helped them out. And now that they’ve gotten a taste of wealth, they refuse to let go.
Minglan considers something and gets an idea. She asks a servant to prepare horses.
To make a trip.
Destination: a brothel.
Love how Pinlan doesn’t care what it takes to save her sister.
While Minglan instructs He Hongwen to ask for the owner of the brothel to meet her at a restaurant, Madam Sun refuses to separate amicably.
Even if they want to divorce, the Sheng family must return the money, servants and shop deeds.
But that’s essentially Shulan’s dowry.
Registration Deed
Minglan meets the owner of the brothel at a nearby restaurant.
She wants to buy Huaniang’s registration deed.
Huaniang is Sun Xiucai’s mistress that got pregnant. A former prostitute.
The owner refuses to sell it and wonders why these ladies want to buy it.
So Minglan tries a different approach. She threatens to have officials investigate the brothel for possibly hiding bandits.
The owner hesitates until He Hongwen chimes in. Asking her if she experiences frequent headaches.
He proposes to help alleviate the symptoms.
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Comments
Poor Shulan. She’s stuck in a horrible marriage. Her mother-in-law blames her for everything and the husband is a snob.
I wonder how this marriage was proposed in the first place.
People didn’t divorce back then and any woman that does gets their reputation ruined.
While there’s little effect on the men. Women of more noble households can try to separate amicably. In exchange for something.
I loved Minglan’s plan of attack though. She has a ton of experience dealing with messy people. And it was entertaining to see the results of taking back what didn’t belong to the Sun family.
Meanwhile, Gu Tingye is doing well in the military. It’s like second nature to him.
What were your thoughts on Story of Minglan episode 24? Leave a comment below!
I wonder how shulan ended up marrying into such a bad family in the first place?
In such a remote countryside area, it’s hard to find a decent match. I don’t think the family was bad in the first place, the husband to-be was an aspiring scholar intending to take the exams. So the Sheng family thought that if they fostered him, he would end up being an official. But who knew they were actually greedy people. And got used to wealth. Plus, each time Shulan’s parents would give more lands and money to them for every fight just whetted their appetite.
I think the conversation between Minglan and old Madam Sheng is 2 pronged. On one side it’s to show us the viewer that Old Madam Sheng is set on making He Hongwen Minglan’s husband because she thinks he’s the best out of her granddaughter’s current suitors but also I think it was to show us that Minglan isn’t really focused on marriage at this time. We the viewers know she’s got something going on with her maternal aunt
Tingye is obviously a good warrior and that will play out in the future. His tactics even if they were to the benefit of the general the men know who was really behind it.
Minglan was just praising how calm and nice Youyan is now the dirty water is spilled and she sees that even calm waters hide dangerous undercurrents. THe country might seem nice and peacful compared to the capital but the inner family workings don’t change. Harmful inlaws and abusive spouses aren’t relegated to the capital. And perhaps she thinks again of her mother who died out side the capital, and how her own family initially lived outside the capital and how things are inside her own family were that way before they ever entered the capital.
Despite being young we see that Minglan has a lot of good insight which is put on display this episode earning her the respect of her distant family and giving her more family she can depend on.
I really think this is a good episode showcasing Minglan has really come into her own. Can’t wait for the next episode lol pretty sure we get another damsel in distress moment and a rescue via horseback. Seriously who ever scripted some of this stuff I wonder if they were a romance writer out of work or something with some of these rescue scenes.
Yep, Grandma Sheng is set on He Hongwen for two main reasons: he is the grandson of her longtime friend and bosom buddy: Old Madam He AND he understands the struggles of women in this world.
Plus, his rank isn’t that high nor too low. So Minglan will have a comfortable life if she marries him.
But Minglan isn’t concerned about marriage right now.
Minglan has really grown up! She’s no longer a child who can’t do anything when she sees injustice happening in front of her.
Just so you know since we are getting to my favorite episodes now I’m jumping ahead. I can’t wait till you get to