Most stories promise that good will triumph and evil will suffer. The popular Chinese drama A Splendid Match (良陈美锦) tries to follow this rule. By the final episode, viewers see a clear split: the kind-hearted find peace, the cruel lose everything. One character rises from despair to become a respected judge. Another woman loses her mind after her wicked plans backfire.
But then there is Gu Dezhao (顾德昭). He ignores his dying wife, abandons his daughter, and lets a concubine destroy the family fortune. Yet in both timelines of the story, he escapes punishment entirely. This article looks at three key figures from the finale: a broken heir who rebuilds himself, a schemer who eats her own poison, and a father who somehow lands on his feet. Their endings reveal that karma can be strangely selective.
The Heir Who Lived
Ye Xian is the son of the Chang Xing Hou (长兴侯). From birth, he suffers a weak heart that stops him from learning martial arts. In a military family, this is a deep shame. His father treats him coldly, and he grows up feeling like a failure. In her previous life, Gu Jinchao (顾锦朝) sees what Ye Xian (叶限) becomes: a terrifying official known as the Huo Yan Wang (活阎王). After his father is murdered and the family name destroyed, he uses ruthless cunning to rise to Bingbu Shangshu (兵部尚书). He never marries and dies without children.
But in the second timeline, everything changes. Gu Jinchao warns him in time, and Ye Xian saves his father from the plot that killed him. He then joins forces with Chen Yanyun (陈彦允) to defeat the real villain, Zhang Julian (张居廉). After the palace coup, he is appointed head of the Dali Si (大理寺). This is a position of great honor, and he handles it with quiet efficiency. He still secretly loves Gu Jinchao, but he does not let that stop him from trying to live a normal life. He marries a woman he chooses, hoping to build a family.
This ending is not a fairytale. Ye Xian does not get the woman he wants, and his heart condition never goes away. But he gets something more valuable: a second chance. He saves his father from a bloody death. He finds a respectable career. He opens himself to the possibility of love, even if it is not the passionate kind. For a man who once had nothing but revenge, the quiet warmth of a home and a steady job is a victory. He learns that hope can grow in ruined soil if you water it with small, daily choices.
The Schemer's Downfall
Song Miaohua (宋妙华) is the opposite of Ye Xian. In her first life, she pretends to be a loyal wife while secretly poisoning her stepson’s medicine. She sleeps with Gu Dezhao behind his dying wife’s back. After the wife dies, she forces herself into the position of head wife, steals two daughters’ dowries, and destroys the son’s education so she can kick him out of the house. All of this happens while she smiles sweetly. In that first timeline, she dies old and rich, never facing justice.
The second timeline is different. Gu Jinchao exposes her crime of putting Da Huang (大黄) in the sick boy’s herbal brew. Worse, Gu Dezhao overhears Song Miaohua lying about a murder to frame the dead wife. His eyes finally open. He locks her in a small room, but she is already pregnant. He keeps her only for the baby’s sake. Then Gu Jinchao arranges for her to lose the child in a painful accident. After that, Song Miaohua’s mind breaks. She screams at walls, talks to dead people, and forgets to eat. Gu Dezhao sends her to a remote courtyard where no one visits. She lives like a ghost for years until her body gives out.
This is the classic “you reap what you sow” ending. Song Miaohua used lies and poison to climb up the family ladder. In the end, lies destroy her reputation, poison kills her baby, and her own madness becomes her prison. She ends up alone and forgotten, which is exactly what she did to others. It feels satisfying to watch her fall. But one question remains: why does the man who enabled her — Gu Dezhao — get to walk away clean?
The Unpunished Father
Gu Dezhao is the character that makes viewers throw pillows at the screen. He is the classic neglectful husband who favors his concubine over his sick wife. When his first wife, Ji Han (纪晗), lies dying of an illness made worse by Song Miaohua’s secret poisoning, Gu Dezhao does nothing. He lets the concubine take over the household. He even stops talking to his own daughter, Gu Jinchao, because the concubine whispers lies about her. In the first timeline, he never learns the truth and lives happily with Song Miaohua until old age.
In the second timeline, he finally discovers what Song Miaohua did. But instead of real punishment, he just feels embarrassed. He tries to buy back his daughter’s love with gifts and money. When Gu Jinchao gets married, he gives her a large chest of private savings. He remarries a quiet woman named Xu Jingyi (徐静宜) and slowly becomes a better husband. He also avoids a major disaster: Gu Jinchao warns him that the government grain in Da Xing (大兴) has been replaced with cheap husks. He almost goes to prison, but Chen Yanyun secretly saves him. After that, he keeps his official job, makes peace with his daughter, and spoils his grandchildren.
This is the most frustrating part of the finale. Gu Dezhao never suffers. He does not lose his wealth, his freedom, or his health. He does not even lose his reputation. The same man who watched his wife die without lifting a finger ends his days with a happy family and a stable career. Where is the justice? Where is the karma? The drama seems to say that if you are a man with a decent job, you can neglect your family, abandon your children, and still get a second chance. It is a bitter pill for anyone who has watched a loved one suffer because of a selfish parent. Hopefully, if the story ever gets remade, the writers will give Gu Dezhao what he truly deserves.
