Where the Mask Ends episode 30 recap: The coffin opens, the coup fails and A Chou climbs the hall

In short

A Chou holds off Han Liao with 200 pigeons and a poisoned ring, then Lu Zhuo climbs out of the coffin alive and kills him. The coup fails and Liu Shuo becomes emperor, but he dies three years later, and A Chou, now Grand Protector Princess, goes to face the feudal lords.

What happens in episode 30

Han Liao storms the Duke's house. A Chou has A Man give him a message: the 200 pigeons are already with the common people, and if one gets out of the city, everyone will hear that the crown prince killed his father to seize power. The garrisons and feudal lords would rise against him. That buys her a private talk, and Han Liao goes in alone.

He threatens Consort Li and Liu Shuo: marry him, or Consort Li dies first. A Chou pretends to agree. As he celebrates she stabs at him, and he blocks it, but her other hand wears the ring, which hides a poisoned needle. It hits his neck and he collapses. She pours oil around him, tells him what she felt for Lu Zhuo and throws a candle. She will kill him first, then the crown prince. Then the coffin moves, and Lu Zhuo climbs out. His death was a trick: when Han Liao tried to split him from Qi Zhongkai, he used it to vanish and let the court think he was dead. Han Liao dies on Lu Zhuo's sword.

Before his illness worsened, the Emperor gave Consort Li the imperial seal to keep her safe. Liu Shou tells her to hand it over and he will spare A Chou. Between the seal and her daughter, she doesn't hesitate. Liu Shou would let her go, but Wei Shu won't, and orders an archer to shoot as Consort Li runs to A Chou. Lu Zhuo fires two arrows at once: one hits the soldier, the other hits Wei Shu. Following Lu Zhuo's plan, Qi Zhongkai has already captured Zheng Tan. The coup has failed. A Chou, who heard what her mother was willing to give up for her, finally calls her mother, and Consort Li cries with joy.

Wei Shu slips away in the chaos and runs straight into Hong Xian and Xiao. Hong Xian means to put her through every torture she used on those innocent girls before she goes to the block, and mocks her for chasing a private grudge to the Zhuyu estate and missing the best moment for the coup. The Emperor makes Liu Shou a commoner, orders him to kill himself and names Liu Shuo crown prince. Liu Shou finally sees it: his father wanted Liu Shuo all along, the only son whose hands are clean, and he was just a stepping stone. The Emperor makes A Chou Grand Protector Princess and tells Lu Zhuo to serve the new heir. Consort Li begs him to rest, but he wants to see Liu Shuo secure first.

The Emperor dies the next early summer, and Liu Shuo takes the throne. Three years later, Prince Fu lures him into woods full of wild bears. He falls from his horse, breaking a leg and bleeding badly. A Chou rushes to the palace, and he dies after a few words. Weeping, Xie Hualou says Prince Fu did it, the day before the feudal lords come to court. For three years A Chou urged Liu Shuo to kill Prince Fu, but he kept his father's dying wish to be good to his last brother. She orders Prince Fu buried with him. Hong Xian, the only one thinking clearly, puts A Chou's hand on her belly: she is pregnant. The lords would surely back Prince Rong, the younger son of the Grand Empress Dowager, so A Chou confines the old woman under cover of the mourning and will meet the lords herself. In the last scene she walks step by step up to Xuanshi Hall as everyone watches, looks back, and resolves to make them submit. The synopsis ends there.

Why it matters

A Chou gets her mother and her husband back and beats everyone who hunted her, but the finale costs her Liu Shuo. It also stops short: the synopsis doesn't say whether she rules, who takes the throne, or how the lords respond.

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