Tigers Sniff the Rose episode 15 recap: Saved by the crowd

In short

The princess drops the pardon and has the Crown Prince call for Yan Shang's death instead, while students and townspeople rally for him. Yu Cheng'an lets him go, Chancellor Liu takes him as a protégé, and Chunhua nearly dies ending a pregnancy.

What happens in episode 15

Riding to the prison, the princess realizes the pardon is a trap: whoever the Emperor wants alive, Yu Cheng'an wants dead. She asks the Crown Prince to have the Court of Judicial Review and the censors demand Yan Shang's execution for killing a palace official. The Crown Prince sees he wins either way and agrees. Only Yang Si thinks she is being heartless. Students at the Imperial Academy sign a petition to save Yan Shang.

Yu Cheng'an wants to know why Yan Shang confessed in the street. Yan Shang says Zheng Xing was dragging Yu Cheng'an's name through the mud, and that shouting his crime aloud was simply a way to make the people plead for his life. Yu Cheng'an is quietly impressed. He and Wei Qiao agree Yan Shang has to be released, and healed first.

Ten days later Yan Shang walks out in fresh clothes to a crowd of students, Wei Shu and Liu Wenji among them. In the princess's carriage he hugs her; she pushes him off, angry that he put himself in danger. He says he'll stay by her side whatever she thinks of him. Imperial Physician Huang treats him and he recovers fast.

Chancellor Liu summons him and tears into him for risking everything over a man like Zheng Xing. Yan Shang explains he had planned his way out from the start. Liu admires his nerve and takes him on as his protégé.

Chunhua learns from Physician Huang that she is pregnant. She swallows mercury fried in oil to end it and starts bleeding badly. The princess forces an antidote down her throat. Chunhua remembers how the princess came through a similar near-death ordeal during her marriage alliance, and how the princess pulled her, barefoot, through a snowstorm. Afterwards Yan Shang finds the princess sitting alone in the corridor, looking lost.

Why it matters

Yan Shang now has Chancellor Liu's backing and Yu Cheng'an's attention, and episode 15 hints at what the princess went through during her marriage.

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