Perfect Match Episode 21 Recap, Plot

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Shen Huizhao did not return to his room to rest but stayed alone in the study, reviewing case files. Hao De, following the orders of the Grand Madam, brought him a bowl of "nourishing tonic soup. " Shen Huizhao failed to grasp Hao De’s signals in time, so she had no choice but to drink it herself. Shortly after, the maid locked the study, trapping the two inside.

By midnight, the effects of the medicine took hold, and Hao De felt an unbearable heat all over her body. Shen Huizhao instructed her to copy scriptures as a remedy. Meanwhile, Chai An accompanied Madam Li to a banquet and shielded his mother-in-law from drinking too much. However, he accidentally let slip that his initial departure to sea had been a strategic move, leading Kang Ning to discover the truth. Furious, she kicked him out of the room.

Left wandering outside to sober up, Chai An mistakenly entered the scene of a murder and nearly tripped over a corpse. Before he could react, a woman suddenly appeared, clinging to his clothes and screaming, "Murderer! "Hao De spent the entire night copying scriptures and, by dawn, could not hold back her tears. Even Shen Huizhao, with his usually cold heart, was somewhat moved.

However, he tried to persuade Hao De to let go of her feelings, insisting that while they were married in name, they would act as siblings in private. Once the one-year period ended, he would personally find her a suitable husband so she could marry honorably as his sworn sister. Just then, Chai An was imprisoned as a murder suspect. Coincidentally, Du Yangxi had accompanied Shou Hua back to their hometown to visit her mother, leaving them absent from Bianjing.

Anxious, Hao De rushed to Kaifeng Prefecture, only to be stopped by a servant. Shen Huizhao interrogated Chai An, whose face darkened with rage, only to be punished with forty harsh strikes of the rod. Hao De personally pleaded for Chai An’s innocence, but Shen Huizhao, remaining impartial, escorted her back himself.

Along the way, he explained the case in detail: according to the testimony of the victim Zhang Ping’s wife, Liu Shi, she accused Chai An of attempting to assault her while drunk. When Zhang Ping caught him in the act, Chai An supposedly killed him. Hao De refused to believe it and insisted on clearing her brother-in-law’s name. Before they could continue, their carriage met with an accident when the horses were startled, flipping the vehicle.

Shen Huizhao was injured while protecting Hao De and fell unconscious. It was then that Hao De finally understood the dangers surrounding him. His relentless pursuit of justice had not only made him many enemies but had also cost him his sister’s life. Their mother had died with hatred in her heart, cursing him as unworthy of having parents, a wife, or children. Hao De stayed by Shen Huizhao’s bedside, carefully tending to his wounds.

However, when he woke up, he had lost his memory. The clever and mischievous fifth sister, Le Shan, seized the opportunity, recognizing that Hao De was his wife. However, knowing that third sister’s husband, Chai An, was still embroiled in a lawsuit, they feared that if the case were handed over to another judge, he might not survive. Le Shan thus urged Hao De to take this chance to become Shen Huizhao’s true wife.

Yet, Hao De knew that Shen Huizhao was an upright official and could not bear to ruin his reputation for her own sake. She honestly told him about their relationship and his true identity. To help him conceal the truth from both the Shen family and the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture, she first focused on resolving Chai An’s case. After losing his memory, Shen Huizhao had become more personable. Soon, Shen Huizhao reopened the trial of Chai An and Liu Shi.

However, in court, Liu Shi vehemently insisted that Chai An had murdered her husband, arguing so shrewdly that Shen Huizhao was left momentarily speechless. To extract the truth, Shen Huizhao resorted to torture, which enraged Chai An. He accused Shen Huizhao of caring only about his own reputation, fearing repercussions if he wrongfully convicted someone. He swore that if he died unjustly, he would haunt Shen Huizhao from the underworld.

Listening to Chai An’s cries of agony from outside the courtroom, Hao De’s heart ached, but she held onto the hope that Shen Huizhao had a plan. In the end, Chai An appeared to bite off his tongue and die from guilt, seemingly fulfilling Liu Shi’s wishes. When Kang Ning rushed to Kaifeng Prefecture and saw her husband’s "corpse," she was devastated.

Meanwhile, Liu Shi, thinking she had won, secretly met with her lover that very night—only to be caught in the act by government officers. Back at the Li family, Kang Ning and her relatives mourned Chai An’s supposed death, when Fu Hui and Fan Lianghan arrived to congratulate them. Suddenly, Chai An sat up and embraced Kang Ning, his earlier gloom wiped away.

It turned out that he and Shen Huizhao had staged the whole thing to lure Liu Shi and her lover Wang Sheng into a trap, successfully clearing Chai An’s name. The entire family rejoiced. With the case finally settled, Hao De felt relieved that she had placed her trust in the right person. Overjoyed, she found Shen Huizhao in an unusually good mood—he even complimented her and handed her his favorite sweet treat. Their relationship subtly improved.

Hao De eagerly suggested assisting Shen Huizhao in future trials, promising to be discreet and never expose their secret. Shen Huizhao, after a moment of thought, agreed with a rare smile.

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