Where the Mask Ends episode 20 recap: Bi Tao's death and an offer to remarry

In short

Bi Tao dies in A Chou's arms after the ambush. The Empress humiliates A Chou in the palace, and Lu Zhuo offers to help bring down the Han family and the Empress if she marries him again.

What happens in episode 20

The arrow hits Bi Tao in the chest. A Chou's guards, Liu Shuo and A Man fight the attackers off long enough to get the two women into the carriage, but Bi Tao says her last words and dies in A Chou's arms. The attackers cut the harness, the carriage tips over, and only Qi Zhongkai's arrival with men ends the fight. A Chou faints.

She wakes at her estate. Qi Zhongkai says the captured men claim to be leftover Nanshan bandits taking revenge on Lu Zhuo, but A Chou is sure the Empress sent them. She locks herself in for days. Lu Zhuo can't get in, so he fetches Lady Shou'an, who puts her granddaughter to work plowing a field. A Chou leads the ox while the Duke's heir walks behind the plow.

Lady Shou'an warns her not to seek revenge: the Empress is the Empress Dowager's niece, and the Emperor will never depose her. A Chou agrees, but doesn't mean it. Summoned to the palace, she is stopped by the Empress, who has her maid Chi Lan slapped and makes A Chou put on the Empress's shoe, then rests a foot on her shoulder. A Chou takes it in tears.

Consort Li wants Liu Shuo to take A Chou and Lady Shou'an out of the capital. A Chou refuses and asks if she has ever thought of becoming Empress. When Consort Li says a maid isn't worth the risk, A Chou answers that Bi Tao was closer to her than her own mother. Liu Shuo chases her, she falls, and Consort Zheng and Wei Shu, Princess Duan, happen to see it. A Chou plays the victim and wins their sympathy.

Qi Zhongkai sounds out the Lu family about proposing to her. Lu Zhuo storms to her estate, finds Qi Zhongkai charming her, and that night slips into her room and kisses her. She slaps him; he is secretly pleased. He offers a deal: he'll help her bring down the Han family and the Empress if she marries him again. Later, the maid Ge Jin sees a killing and sends an unsuspecting Chi Lan that way. Chi Lan is found dead in the water, and Lu Zhuo catches the killer, one of the cellar diggers, by the scratches on his neck.

Why it matters

Bi Tao's death turns A Chou from survival to revenge, and Lu Zhuo's offer is the first step back toward the reunion the official synopsis promises.

Based on the episode synopsis, summarized in our own words: TVmao (电视猫) episode synopses, cited by Baidu Baike Baidu Baike: official synopsis, episode synopses, cast and 追剧日历