Tear Jerker / The Rise of Phoenixes

• As Ning Yi and Zi Yan discuss the late Ning Qiao, Zi Yan says that Ning Qiao wanted Ning Yi to become a competent ruler. Ning Yi retorts that the only person who could be that was Ning Qiao himself. Then he sadly reflects that it's been eight years since Ning Qiao's murder and he still hasn't proved his innocence.
• Zhu Yin knocks Zhi Wei out and locks her in a cupboard so Chang Hai doesn't find her. Zhi Wei wakes up while Chang Hai is still in the room. She'll be killed if she makes a noise, so she can only watch in horror as Chang Hai kills Zhu Yin.
• The emperor orders Zhi Wei to drink poisoned wine. Feng Hao drinks it instead. Then, just after he dies, Ming Ying reveals she poisoned herself earlier and dies too. Zhi Wei loses her mother and brother within minutes and is left sobbing as she holds her mother's body.
  • Earlier Ming Ying forced Zhi Wei to promise she'd never marry Ning Yi. Zhi Wei repeats her oath in front of Ming Ying's coffin, while Ning Yi is standing right behind her.
• Zhi Wei's suicide, and her last message to Ning Yi.
  Zhi Wei: Liu Lang, forgive me for lying to you. You and I have caused the loss of too many lives. I cannot live with that. If we meet again in our next lifetime, let's be ordinary people.
• The last scene of the series. Ning Yi is all alone, surrounded by snow and with the palace above him, as he promises to rule the country well and never let the series' tragedy happen again.

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