The Lament of Autumn episode 39 recap: Reunion under the bombs

In short

Ye Pingjun stabs Jiang Xueting, who gives her a ticket to freedom; after the Mukden Incident, Japanese bombs fall on Nanhuai and she and Yu Changxuan find each other in the street.

What happens in episode 39

Jiang Xueting tells Ye Pingjun he let her son die. She drives a knife into his chest, and he pushes it deeper, saying he would rather die by her hand. Then he admits the boy is alive. He has blown up the Japanese factory and they won't spare him, so he gives her a boat ticket and smiles as she runs. Fading, he thinks of the letters she once wrote him. The synopsis doesn't say outright whether he dies.

Sick and weak from years of injections, Ye Pingjun travels among refugees, heading north to Nanhuai while everyone else goes south. Yu Changxuan passes her cart without seeing her and finds Jiang Xueting's house empty. Jun Daiti leaves him a letter, unwilling to stay in a hopeless marriage. Yu Qixuan goes to a field hospital as a nurse, hoping to find Xiao Beichen. Yu Changxuan promises Xiao Yu'er he will see his mother soon.

On September 18, 1931, Japan attacks at Liutiaohu and the government orders no resistance. Japanese planes bomb Nanhuai. As Yu Changxuan herds people into a shelter, Ye Pingjun hears his voice. They see each other through the smoke and run together, and he shields her from the next wave of bombs.

At home, Xiao Yu'er is shy, then wipes her tears and calls her Mama: she looks just like the mother in his dreams. Yu Changxuan has told her everything. She won't forgive Yu Zhongquan but will stay civil, and he accepts that. She tells Yu Changxuan that when the drug cravings hit, his voice and their son's pulled her back.

With Rehe lost, Yu Zhongquan wants to hold back and protect the family. Yu Changxuan says losing Wubeikou would lose all of North China; he would rather die on the battlefield than on the run, and asks to lead the Ninth Army into battle.

Why it matters

The wartime reunion promised in the official synopsis arrives, and with it the war that will test whether it lasts.

Based on the episode synopsis, summarized in our own words: TVmao (电视猫) episode synopses