The ongoing costume C-drama The Double released its first set of episodes on June 2, 2024. It features Wu Jinyan in the lead role. The drama tells the story of Xue Fang Fei (Wu Jinyan), the daughter of a well-off family who alters her entire identity to seek justice after being subjected to a series of conspiracies. Episode one of the drama focuses on the series of misfortunes that befall Fang Fei.
Fang Fei, happily married to Shen Yu Rong, finds herself in bed with an unknown man. As she screams in fear, the strange man tries to force himself on her. Fang Fei’s scream lures her mother-in-law and sister-in-law inside her room, and they find her in a disgraceful state and accuse her of committing infidelity. As a punishment, Fang Fei’s in-laws chain her and keep her captive in a dark room. Meanwhile, her husband, Yu Rong, visits her.
Although Fang Fei is elated to see her beloved husband at first and desperately tries to explain the whole situation to him, her excitement soon fades when she notices a sharp axe in his hand. But to her surprise, he uses his weapon to free her. Furthermore, he takes her and flees from his house in the middle of the night.
Then, the episode shows Fang Fei waking up from a slumber to find herself deep inside a pit. It doesn’t take her long to realize that Yu Rong plans to bury her alive. She hopelessly begs him to spare her life and promises to never appear before him in the future. But Yu Rong is not ready to listen. Fang Fei soon understood that it was all part of Yu Rong’s plan. He reveals that Fang Fei’s father and brother have both succumbed to death. As Fang Fei’s world crashes, Yu Rong knocks her unconscious.
The Double episode 1: How did Wu Jinyan’s husband punish her?
After he leaves Fang Fai to die, Yu Rong visits Princess Wanning. It turns out that the entire plan had been plotted by Wanning, who wanted to get rid of Fang Fei and marry Yu Rong. She had threatened to behead his family if he didn’t go along with the plan. Yu Rong calls her out for ruining his life, but Wanning shows no remorse. As a convicted murderer, Yu Rong has no choice but to comply with her.
Meanwhile, Duke Xiao Heng (Wang Xingyue) is honest and invincible and cannot tolerate duplicity. He investigates conspiracies and punishes deceitful officials. On such an occasion, his eyes fall on Fang Fei’s funeral convoy. Although others praise Yu Rong for being the perfect husband, Xiao Heng finds something odd about him.
Meanwhile, Jiang Li, the daughter of a minister, and her maid find Fang Fei lying on the riverbed. They treat her, but Fang Fei’s past experiences make her suspicious of her surroundings and strange people. Fang Fei starts to recall what went down with her husband and decides to end her life. But Jiang Li stops her. She convinces her not to punish herself for others’ misdeeds. She convinces her to live for herself, as nothing scares a traitor more than seeing the other person alive.
Jiang Li stays in a cloister called the Zhennv Hall. She receives severe punishment from the mistress for trying to leave the hall to check up on Fang Fei in the middle of the night. The next morning, Fang Fei sneaks inside the organization. Her heart breaks to see her rescuer in such a condition.
Jiang Li opens up about her past trauma. Her stepmother falsely accused her of trying to kill her and secretly confined her in the convent. She urges Fang Fei to help her find her father.
The Double is available to stream throughout the week on Youku.
