Drama skips alot of Xiaoliu’s thoughts, since this part connects to the story, I will include it to fill up the ‘missing time’.

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In Haoling, Xuan had fully recovered and met his master, the King of Haoling.

Xiaoliu held a family gathering for Mu, Pimply, Chuntao, Skinny and Sang Tian er.

They talked and laughed, but only Sang Tian er guessed that something was wrong in the cheerful atmosphere. Perhaps she remembered Shiqi had thought Xiaoliu had left for good, and wondered if this was farewell.

The King of Haoling was interested in Wen Xiaoliu after hearing about his skills with poisons and bugs. He asked Cang Xuan to bring this mysterious physician to meet with him.

Xiaoliu is packed and ready to leave. She takes one last look about Rejuvenation hall.

Tushan Jing cheerfully appeared with another bunch of Ice crystal wind chimes.
Didn’t he just gift her two hahah this boy and his manufactured excuses to drop by to see her.

She was cold and harsh with him again after he noticed she was packed and ready to leave.
But he told her he was willing to leave with her.

Ice Crystal wind chimes are more than enough to cool off Xiaoliu’s little courtyard. She is now no longer hot and bothered by the summer weather, but by Tushan Jing’s promise to leave with her no matter where she is going.

She was all packed and it would seem that she was not waiting to bid the others farewell, so why did she take a nap instead of just leaving? If she had been just a little quicker, perhaps Cang Xuan would have narrowly missed her.

Thinking Jing had came back again, she told him to leave.

To her shock, Cang Xuan was the one in her courtyard now.

Xiaoliu lost strength in her legs after hearing the ‘royal invitation’. She already knew who his master ( shifu, not owner) was – her father, King of Haoling.

Meanwhile, someone started a side quest to forge a special bow.

A cute and obviously gifted Jintian blacksmith with a sassy attitude, told the man in the iron mask that she does not craft any weapon that she has no interest in.

Handing over what appeared to be a Blacksmith recipe for an epic weapon that she approved of, Xiangliu told her that he will collect the rare materials needed for the crafting of this weapon.

Xiaoliu had not even shown any interest in archery yet, so was this a gift prepared very much in advance, or he had plans that changed along the way?

Back in Rejuvenation hall, Xiaoliu weighed her options for escape.

She concluded that Xiangliu is the only one who can go up against both countries since he is part of the rebel army and she tried to signal to him that she needed help by hitting her leg with some items around her room.

She tried a tortoise shell hammer of sorts, and gave up the idea after she heard that the town is now locked-down.

Xiaoliu finds Sang Tianer in the hall, and bids her farewell.

Cang Xuan is aware that Xiaoliu has gone to look for Tushan Jing, but he is still unconcerned.

Meantime Jing takes Xiaoliu by the hand and leaves Yu Mansion by a secret tunnel.

Cang Xuan had no idea how far Tushan Jing is willing to go for Wen Xiaoliu, and neither did Xiaoliu, until now.

Its night by the time Xiangliu made it to Qingshui town.
He sees an empty room and no Xiaoliu.

The blood streaks on his right sleeve suggested that he encountered some fighting when he came into town.

It’s also strange that he got injured so easily when he is supposed to be one of Dahuang’s top fighters. Won’t Cang Xuan would have taken most of his men towards Haoling in hot pursuit?

Back at Yu Mansion, Fangfeng Yiying is busy selling-out Tushan Jing to Cang Xuan’s lieutenant.
Its probably beneficial to her if Jing was killed while resisting his forces.

She cooperated by pointing them in the right direction where Jing has gone with Xiaoliu.

The novel has a far more elaborate escape plan, complete with fox puppets as decoys. Perhaps due to shooting budget, the drama has simplified this by removing plot where the pair escapes with Tushan’s business caravans, passing through various checkpoints etc. The drama plot instead took the decoys’ path of taking the secret tunnels and staying off the beaten track straight to Haoling.

Xiaoliu and Jing were supposed to escape while squeezed in a small hiding spot under a horse-carriage “with only space for two”.

Drama removed this ‘intimacy due to circumstances‘ moment and it does work out for the better, since Xiaoliu and Jing maintains a respectful distance, drawn closer by feelings not brought on by other physical factors.

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To ease her guilt that he is giving up his status of being the Master of Qingqiu, Jing finally shared with Xiaoliu what had happened to him all those years ago.

The trauma of the betrayal by a brother he loved, which still haunted him as he recalled the painful past.

A non-flashy skill of Tushan Jing is how he gets proximity alerts of his surroundings and able to determine their spiritual levels.

He tells Xiaoliu very seriously that they have been surrounded and he can’t win.
Xiaoliu managed to find levity in their situation and hid her laughter at their situation.

Xiaoliu comforted Jing that she knows he did his best already.

Not one to give up, Jing had one more card up his sleeve.

Jing had prepared his getaway car mount ( our poor beautiful heron lili 狸狸 who will never get to show its face in the drama ). He handed Xiaoliu a token that will allow his mount to take her wherever she wants to go.

Xiaoliu slowly shook her head and seemed to refuse to show him her true face, without explaining to him that its not that she won’t, but she can’t.

In spite of this, Jing was still willing to let her go.

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This important part had also been skipped in the drama.

The big reveal that Tushan Jing knew Xiaoliu’s face was ‘not her real face’ was very blink-and-you-will-miss-it level of underwhelming.

In Yu Mansion, the fox puppets that were supposed to serve as a decoy for Cang xuan’s soldiers, were completely removed. The decoy pair was supposed to take the secret tunnels out of Qingshui town, while the real pair boldly left town as armed guards for Tushan’s goods.

The moment when Xiaoliu realized that Jing had known all along, that Xiaoliu’s face was not his/her real face, was when the fox puppet of Wen Xiaoliu could not display her face after taking her form, since Xiaoliu herself did not know how she looked like.

In the drama, Jing never said any of this to Xiaoliu, but some of these words were given to Jing Ye, in a much later episode.

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Xiaoliu told Jing that she will be gone in the wind if he lets her escape by herself and he will never see her ever again, leaving him to deal with the aftermath of abetting her escape.

He nodded that he was still willing, and Xiaoliu smiled sadly at him.

Outside, Cang Xuan tells Xiaoliu to surrender.

Inside, Xiaoliu is not moving at all, as she stood watching Jing as he created a mist barrier with the water in the room. Jing had to push Xiaoliu out of the room and closed the door on her before she turned and ran away.

The way she kept her eyes on him, was like she was trying to etch him into her mind.

Under the cover of the summoned mist, Xiaoliu successfully ran away from the inn.

Cang Xuan manipulated Jing into using his Ye Shiqi persona, so as to not implicate the Tushan family for his choice to help Xiaoliu.

As Jing is taken out by his guard with one blow, Cang Xuan used an amplifying skill to inform Xiaoliu that he will kill Ye Shiqi if he does not return at once.

Outmaneuvered, Xiaoliu rushed back towards the inn.

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This episode is about Xiaoliu leaving Qingshui town.

She had planned it for a long while, but now that Cang Xuan is here to bring her to Haoling against her wishes, it has turned into an escape.

It’s also a milestone for Xiaoliu and Tushan Jing’s relationship.

Ye Shiqi had always listened to Wen Xiaoliu in almost everything, except when he was told to stay away.
Xuan had to told her that Jing will not put personal relationships ahead of familial interests but he had proven to her that he can.

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