Tigers Sniff the Rose episode 32 recap: A wedding ride to freedom

In short

Meng Zaishi turns the wedding into an escape, is hit by an arrow and dies after giving the princess his military tally. She comes back to confront the Emperor, who collapses, and she becomes Princess Regent. Yan Shang is released and sent to govern starving Lanyang.

What happens in episode 32

The wedding is grand. At Meng Zaishi's request, the bride is fetched his people's way: the couple ride together through the wedding tent. In prison, Yan Shang hears the music and nearly breaks; he kneels and silently bids her farewell. Dressed in red on horseback, Meng Zaishi waits for her carriage, then sweeps her onto his saddle and rides straight out through the tent. The Emperor's Shence Army moves to stop them, and soldiers Meng Zaishi posted in advance fight back. Holding her close as they gallop, he tells her they both love freedom, and this time they will stake their lives on it.

The Shence archers loose volley after volley, and an arrow hits him. Gasping, he tells her to turn toward his waiting men. Somewhere safe she helps him down and presses herbs on the wound, but the bleeding won't stop, and she starts to cry. He is glad she would cry for him. They rode through the tent by his people's custom, he says, so they are husband and wife. He gives her his military tally, which lets her command the troops of his three commands, and dies full of regret.

When the Emperor hears Meng Zaishi was shot, he knows the dead man's army won't let it go, and he has no troops to spare. The shock brings on a sudden illness: his face twists and his speech slurs. Chancellor Liu has the Jinwu Guard seal the palace and the physicians watch him in shifts. The princess takes Meng Zaishi's body back to his army. His soldiers want to march on the capital for revenge. She calms them, shows them the tally and repeats his last words: she won't throw their lives away. They cremate him by their custom. She has the army mass on the border and rides back alone.

Back at court she demands justice for Meng Zaishi. The Emperor, gaunt and slurring, has no answer as she lists what he has done. In this state he can't hold the country together, she says, his sons are no use, and a Princess Regent has ruled before. He calls her a disloyal daughter. Chancellor Liu urges him to face facts: the Lingnan case reaches far, hundreds of thousands of troops sit on the border, and Yu Cheng'an's followers are not yet cleared out. Now is the time for the princess to govern. The Emperor faints in fury.

The princess is named Princess Regent and takes charge of the court. Meng Zaishi is given a posthumous title, and Wei Shu and Zhao Lingfei are rewarded. Liu Wenji tells Yan Shang everything, and he is relieved. A eunuch brings the edict: his merits cancel his crimes, and he is banished from the capital to be magistrate of Lanyang. Liu Wenji sees him off. The princess watches from the gate tower, but he doesn't step out of the carriage. Lanyang is full of people starving to death, and the moment his carriage stops it is stripped bare. Told he is the new magistrate, the locals assume he is one more bloodsucker. He tells the driver to skip the county office and take a look around town first.

Why it matters

Episode 32 kills off Meng Zaishi in a way his profile didn't suggest, hands the princess real power, and sends Yan Shang to start again at the bottom.

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