Cao Xuanxuan's Love Journey Episode 12 Recap
> Cao Xuanxuan's Love Journey Recap
Cao Xuanxuan and Guo Zijie were enjoying a sweet moment together in the courtyard when He Chun arrived. Noticing that the courtyard hadn’t been decorated for a wedding, she asked the couple about it. Cao Xuanxuan explained that they didn’t plan to hold a grand wedding and instead preferred to elope and travel together, enjoying the beauty of nature, which she found more meaningful.
Guo Zijie, however, felt guilty for not giving Cao Xuanxuan a proper and grand wedding, but she reassured him that it didn’t matter to her. He Chun listened enviously. Initially, He Chun had come to visit Sun Weiyan, but upon learning that he had left, she felt disappointed. A month later, Prince Su arrived in Yanzhou on behalf of the Emperor to pay respects to the ancestors.
The Grand Tutor and other officials greeted him, but Prince Su treated the Grand Tutor coldly. Although the Grand Tutor wasn’t a local official of Yancheng, he seemed to know too much about Prince Su’s movements, which made the prince wary. While everyone was drinking, a subordinate reported that there was yet another case in Yanzhou. Since Yanzhou was the Emperor’s birthplace, it was troubling to hear about frequent significant cases.
Prince Su grew angry and ordered Guo Zijie, who had traveled to the provincial city with his wife for official duties but hadn’t sent any updates, to return to Yancheng immediately to investigate. The Grand Tutor took this opportunity to criticize Guo Zijie and even recommended his own student to replace him. However, Prince Su didn’t trust the student and instead proposed a competition: whoever solved the case first would get the position.
After traveling for a while, Guo Zijie and Cao Xuanxuan returned home. The household staff welcomed them back warmly. Cao Xuanxuan encouraged Guo Zijie to regain his focus and enthusiasm. Although Guo Zijie hadn’t gone to the county office, officials from the yamen kept coming to ask him to investigate cases. While Guo Zijie was resting at home, they reported a major case and urged him to check it out. However, he still refused to go.
Cao Xuanxuan entered the room, and Guo Zijie was delighted to see her. Upon hearing about the yamen’s request, Guo Zijie hesitated but was eventually dragged there by Cao Xuanxuan. At the county office, Zhou Shaoliang was conducting an interrogation when Cao Xuanxuan and Guo Zijie arrived. Cao Xuanxuan objected to Zhou Shaoliang’s use of torture on a suspect before the case had been properly investigated, but Zhou Shaoliang dismissed her concerns.
Guo Zijie chose not to argue, which angered Cao Xuanxuan. Guo Zijie, preoccupied with spending happy moments with Cao Xuanxuan, was less interested in the case, while Cao Xuanxuan remained concerned and upset about it. In the courtyard, Cao Xuanxuan encountered Sun Weiyan. It turned out that Sun Weiyan had never left Yancheng and had been teaching in Wangjia Village nearby.
He explained that Ma Jiulang, a relative of one of his students, had been arrested by the yamen, so he came to investigate. Seeing that Cao Xuanxuan was in charge, Sun Weiyan felt reassured that justice would be served. Guo Zijie, burdened with guilt over his father’s death, believed that if he had stayed by his father’s side, it wouldn’t have happened. Because of this, he had no motivation to deal with yamen affairs.
Cao Xuanxuan, however, suspected there was a deeper story behind the recent surge of cases in Yancheng, as the area had been peaceful for the past three years. She decided to investigate the severed arm case herself. Guo Zijie’s reputation for solving cases had already spread, which made Zhou Shaoliang jealous. Zhou sent his guard, Long He, to deliver the severed arm case files to Guo Zijie, hoping to provoke him into competition.
One of Guo Zijie’s servants recognized Long He. Based on clues, Cao Xuanxuan deduced that Zhou Shaoliang was connected to the female criminal from modern times and likely held a high position within the conspiracy. Cao Xuanxuan went to the county office to look for more clues and noticed the new coroner chatting with a newly arrived wealthy merchant. Finding nothing suspicious, she moved on.
Unbeknownst to her, the merchant had bribed the coroner to take out the most critical evidence—a severed arm. Meanwhile, Guo Zijie visited his father’s grave and tearfully lamented his regrets. Zhou Shaoming suddenly appeared and revealed that Guo Zijie’s father had been a principal officer in the Ministry of Justice and a legendary investigator. He had solved an earth-shattering case that became famous nationwide.
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