The period C-drama Tender Light, featuring Zhang Xincheng and Tong Yao in the lead roles, recently aired its final episode. The episode primarily unfolds the series of incidents that occurred on the night of Xu Yi’s murder. As Nan Ya (Tong Yao) stabs Xu Yi in the heart in self-defense, he slouches on the floor. After he takes his last breath, Nan Ya’s mind goes numb. Just then, Zhou Lou (Zhang Xincheng) arrives at her door. Although initially he feels dumbfounded, he enters the crime scene despite Nan Ya’s numerous urges asking him to leave.
Zhou Lou checks Xu Yi’s vitals and covers himself with his blood. He comes up with a plan to expose himself as the perpetrator who committed the murder. He urges Nan Ya to leave and declares that he is ready to turn himself in. Zhou Lou drops the idea only after Nan Ya threatens to kill herself. He then helps Nan Ya clean the crime scene and herself. Nan Ya discloses what really happened after she came home. She is willing to tell the police that Xu Yi killed himself because he had been disturbed, but this statement also seems to be flawed.
Zhou Lou comes up with the perfect plan that would help them both avoid jail time. He asks Nan Ya to reveal to the police that she acted in self-defense after Xu Yi assaulted her. Zhou Lou promises to testify for her. Nan Ya is not ready to involve Zhou Lou and ruin her reputation. She begs him to run away and burn his clothes.
Tender Light ending: What really went down on the night of the murder?
As Zhou Lou can sense Nan Ya’s desire to commit suicide, he reminds her about her ailing daughter. He takes her in an embrace and asks her about the beautiful life they can have together.
Zhou Lou then scrubs his and Nan Ya’s fingerprints off of the furniture and elaborates his plan to Nan Ya once again. According to the plan, Zhou Lou changes into Xu Yi’a clothes, and they go by the riverside to reenact a fight so the townspeople will think Nan Ya and Xu Yi are arguing. He then sets Xu Yi’s car on fire and takes Wanwan from his mother to visit her mother. Following Zhou Lou’s instructions, Nan Ya goes to the police station to turn herself in.
Zhou Lou has been in police custody for 12 hours. He is not ready to speak up, despite the police trying everything. Lin Fanglu worries that he will have to let him go without having him confess.
The next morning, Nan Ya visits the police station and truthfully confesses to committing the murder. She clears Zhou Lou’s name and takes the whole blame. She confesses to plotting the whole murder, from luring Xu Yi into her house to enraging him, saying that she is in love with someone else.
After her confession, she is taken into custody, and Zhou Lou gets released. He breaks down, crying, as he gets out of the police station.
The series concludes with Nan Ya receiving 10 years of jail time. Her sentence is lighter as she voluntarily confessed and acted in self-defense. Zhou Lou, on the other hand, gets 10 months of jail time for faking the crime scene and perjury.
All 28 episodes of Tender Light are available to stream on Youku.
