Are You the One Episode 16 Recap, Plot

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While Liu Miantang was soaking in the hot spring, Cui Xingzhou stayed nearby, warming some hot drinks so she could have tea to ward off the cold when she was done. Seeing how considerate Cui Xingzhou was, Liu Miantang felt very content.

After soaking in the hot spring, Liu Miantang reflected on how satisfied she was with her current life, and her impression of Cui Xingzhou had changed—no longer seeing him as a mere playboy as she did when she first woke up. Liu Miantang wanted to ask for a reward and approached Cui Xingzhou. Seeing Liu Miantang’s fair and flawless skin after her bath, and with the medicinal wine he had just drunk warming him, Cui Xingzhou’s heart raced.

Worried that he might cross the line, he quickly jumped into the water to cool down. Not long after, Zhao Quan arrived with military matters to report to Cui Xingzhou. Upon learning from Liu Miantang that Cui Xingzhou had drunk a lot of the medicinal wine Zhao Quan had sent, he was secretly shocked.

This wine was very potent and should only be sipped in small amounts each day, but unaware, Liu Miantang had given Cui Xingzhou nearly half a pot of it. Agu Shan requested a meeting with Cui Xingzhou, candidly admitting that the court and the Rong troops had a business deal involving iron mines, and this war had been sparked by those mines.

He warned Cui Xingzhou not to get involved, boasting that he had backing from the court and that Cui Xingzhou was powerless against him. Hearing Agu Shan’s statement, Cui Xingzhou realized that this matter was quite tricky, and it seemed this war was not simply about repelling invaders, as the Empress Dowager had claimed. Shi Yikuan soon received word that Agu Shan had been captured alive.

He was furious, as he had originally wanted to provoke a situation where Cui Xingzhou and Agu Shan would both be severely injured, using it as cover for the iron mine issue. To his dismay, Cui Xingzhou emerged unscathed, and Agu Shan was captured alive! Shi Yikuan realized he needed to eliminate Cui Xingzhou as soon as possible and decided to bypass the Empress Dowager to silence him.

It turned out that the pregnant woman Liu Miantang had helped some time ago was actually Princess Chun Yue of the Rong tribe. When the Rong people came looking for her, Cui Xingzhou proposed a deal: they could release the princess, but Chun Yue must hand over the ledgers detailing the transactions between the court officials and the Rong tribe regarding the iron mines.

With her father dead, the ledgers were of no use to Chun Yue, so she agreed to Cui Xingzhou's terms. Chun Yue had seen Cui Xingzhou at Liu Miantang’s home before and realized that Liu Miantang was completely in the dark about everything. Cui Xingzhou asked Chun Yue to keep this secret, assuring her that he would protect Liu Miantang. As Chun Yue prepared to leave, Liu Miantang personally saw her off.

The two had grown close during this time, and Liu Miantang even gave Chun Yue a jade pendant as a parting gift. In return, Chun Yue gave her a dagger made of black iron, explaining that it was a gift for her closest friends. When Liu Miantang saw the dagger, she suddenly recalled that someone had given her a similar one before, also for self-defense.

Lately, perhaps due to the change in environment, Liu Miantang had been dreaming about past events. Now, hearing Chun Yue speak in the Rong language, she felt an inexplicable familiarity with this place, as if she had once lived here. Cui Xingzhou took Zhao Quan to Xizhou to investigate the customs records. If there was iron ore being transported, it would have to pass through Xizhou.

They found an excuse to secretly search for clues over the past three years, but the trail mysteriously went cold the year Agu Shan took power. According to Agu Shan, it was the court’s betrayal—an assassination of their old comrade—that had sparked the conflict between the two armies, all while the Empress Dowager remained in the dark.

Cui Xingzhou wanted to root out the mastermind behind all this, but Zhao Quan felt it was too dangerous, as their enemies operated in the shadows while they were exposed. Besides, the Empress Dowager had always seen Cui Xingzhou as a thorn in her side. Zhao Quan advised against getting involved, but Cui Xingzhou felt that leaving this matter unresolved would be a lingering threat.

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