Recaps

Shen Anxin impersonated her absent twin brother Shen Anlan at court while her father was taken south for treatment, and her newly activated Gossip System let everyone in the hall hear her thoughts and conversations. After learning the system rewarded her for exposing secrets, she began considering whose gossip to uncover, and Emperor Hongyao summoned Shen Anlan to step forward.

• Shen Anxin attended court disguised as Shen Anlan, and her system’s voices became audible to the emperor and officials.
• Shen Anxin revealed that Shen Anlan had taken their unconscious father to Southern Xia for treatment, forcing her to impersonate him after the emperor ordered officials to attend court.
• Emperor Hongyao confirmed Shen Anxin’s identity from the court roster and recalled that her ideas for saddles, stirrups, and horseshoes had strengthened Great Qi’s army.
• The system introduced itself as Chacha, the Gossip System, and offered points for uncovering secrets and a defensive item as a reward.
• Shen Anxin considered whose gossip to investigate, and Emperor Hongyao summoned Shen Anlan to step forward.

Shen Anxin was summoned before Emperor Hongyao, where her nervous antics and heartfelt praise of his achievements won the emperor’s favor. He had her rise and ordered her to stand beside the princes, leaving his intended questions unasked.

• Eunuch Chen summoned Shen Anxin to appear before Emperor Hongyao, and she stumbled through her bow while worrying about why she had been called.
• Emperor Hongyao ordered Shen Anxin to raise her head, and she silently praised his rule and the history of Great Qi.
• Shen Anxin’s thoughts moved the veteran officials and amused Crown Prince Xiao Yanchen, while Emperor Hongyao recognized that she differed from Shen Anlan.
• Chacha suggested uncovering Emperor Hongyao’s secrets, but Shen Anxin focused on waiting for the emperor’s questions and complained inwardly about kneeling.
• Emperor Hongyao asked after Shen Anxin’s health, then told her to stop standing in the draft and take a place beside the princes.

Shen Anxin was guided past Emperor Hongyao’s princes and privately admired each one, while the court heard her thoughts and reacted to her bizarre plans for them. When she finally saw Crown Prince Xiao Yanchen, she let out a horrified wail, leaving everyone baffled by her reaction.

• Emperor Hongyao ordered Eunuch Chen to guide Shen Anxin past the princes, and she began inspecting them with curiosity.
• Shen Anxin privately admired the young Xiao Yanyu, while the court and the prince reacted to her thoughts about pinching his cheeks.
• She praised Xiao Yanjue and Xiao Yanshu, then admired Xiao Yance and Xiao Yanfeng while imagining them as heroic warriors.
• Shen Anxin denied wanting to marry into the imperial family and proposed turning the princes into a handsome boy group and a diplomatic weapon.
• She looked toward Crown Prince Xiao Yanchen and cried out that she was going to die, while he smiled gently and Emperor Hongyao demanded to know her objection.

At Fengtian Hall, Shen Anxin stood beside Crown Prince Xiao Yanchen and panicked as she remembered the time she had mistaken him for a failed scholar and taken him home to persuade him to marry into her family. The story was exposed to the emperor and court, and Xiao Yanchen left their reunion smiling after privately recalling his fond memories of her.

• Shen Anxin nearly fell when Xiao Yanchen appeared, and he caught her before inviting her to stand beside him.
• Shen Anxin recalled that she had once mistaken Xiao Yanchen for an ordinary scholar and had him brought to her residence as a prospective husband.
• Emperor Hongyao and the ministers remembered that Xiao Yanchen's guards had reported the incident, which his family had kept from Shen Anxin.
• Shen Anxin explained that Shen Anlan had driven her away and her family had confined her, while Xiao Yanchen had not revealed his identity.
• Xiao Yanchen remembered Shen Anlan's apology and his own decision not to pressure Shen Anxin, then smiled as the court learned their secret.

At morning court, Shen Anxin redeemed a permanent defense and damage-reflection buff and explored Chacha’s points shop, learning how gossip could earn points for powerful items and services. She prepared to hear major gossip about Emperor Hongyao, while he allowed the search to proceed as a test of the system.

• Chacha awarded Shen Anxin one point for sharing gossip about Crown Prince Xiao Yanchen, and Shen Anxin spent it on a permanent defense and damage-reflection buff.
• Shen Anxin browsed the shop and learned about dream-entry pills, item transfer, and other goods that might help her reach her ill father and brother.
• Shen Anxin discovered that the system could not reveal changed future events and found expensive buffs, storage space, and even aircraft carriers and spaceships in the shop.
• Shen Anxin joked about using bad-luck buffs on people, alarming the ministers, Emperor Hongyao, and the princes.
• Shen Anxin asked Chacha to search for gossip about Emperor Hongyao, and Emperor Hongyao let the search continue to test the system.

Shen Anxin and Chacha exposed Emperor Hongyao’s harmless habit of showing off his sons to foreign rulers, then revealed Great Qi’s grim future. The chapter ended with the court learning that Great Qi would fall in its second generation after unifying the north.

• Chacha described Emperor Hongyao as a diligent ruler who worked only four hours a day, and Shen Anxin hoped he would live longer to preserve peace.
• Chacha revealed that Emperor Hongyao secretly enjoyed having his princes demonstrate their abilities to impress foreign rulers, embarrassing him before the court.
• Shen Anxin asked whether there was more valuable gossip about Emperor Hongyao, and Chacha announced a huge revelation about Great Qi’s future.
• Chacha told the shocked court that Great Qi would fall in its second generation after unifying the north.

In the Hall of Heavenly Mandate, Chacha revealed that Great Qi would fall after only thirty years, but clarified that the tyrannical second emperor would be the infant seventh prince, Xiao Yanzhang, not crown prince Xiao Yanchen. Chacha then warned of recurring disasters beginning next year, and the court realized Shen Anxin and Chacha could help them prepare.

• Chacha told Shen Anxin that Great Qi would fall five years into the second emperor’s reign, prompting Emperor Hongyao and Xiao Yanchen to fear that the crown prince would become a tyrant.
• Chacha clarified that Xiao Yanchen would not be the second emperor and identified the seventh prince, Xiao Yanzhang, as the future ruler who would destroy Great Qi.
• Chacha explained that repeated natural disasters and other calamities would weaken the empire, beginning with an earthquake next year that would kill two hundred thousand people and devastate eastern cities.
• Shen Anxin asked whether the disasters could be anticipated, and Chacha confirmed that advance precautions could reduce the losses.
• The court recognized that Shen Anxin and Chacha could help Great Qi prepare for the coming disasters.

Shen Anxin and Chacha explained how natural disasters, rumors, corruption, foreign invasions, and Southern Xia’s self-interest weakened Great Qi. Chacha then revealed that every prince before the Seventh Prince died, leaving Emperor Hongyao and the court shaken as Xiao Yanchen resolved to change the fate of Seventh Brother.

• Shen Anxin proposed using Dream-Entering Pills to make Emperor Hongyao dream of earthquakes, while she and Chacha discussed how recurring disasters could be explained by a historical period of frequent calamities.
• Chacha said rumors of heavenly punishment would turn people against Great Qi, while disasters would also create opportunities for officials to steal relief supplies and even collude with the enemy.
• Chacha revealed that former nobles would foment rebellion, Western Rong and Northern Di would invade, and Southern Xia would obstruct Great Qi’s relief efforts to protect its own elite’s interests.
• The court realized Southern Xia would betray Great Qi despite their shared roots, and the people present grew fearful as Chacha began describing misfortunes within the imperial family.
• Chacha confirmed that all the princes before the Seventh Prince had died before Emperor Hongyao, shocking the emperor, ministers, and princes.
• Xiao Yanchen decided that if the princes’ deaths were man-made, he would avoid them, and if they were fate, he would find a way to change Seventh Brother.

Chacha revealed how the deaths of the crown prince and his brothers had left Great Qi vulnerable, while the seventh prince’s harsh upbringing turned him into a tyrant who brought the dynasty to ruin. Emperor Hongyao collapsed after hearing what would happen to his sons and realm.

• Chacha revealed that Xiao Yanfeng and Xiao Yance would die on the frontier, the crown prince would be gravely wounded, and Xiao Yanshu and Xiao Yanyu would later be killed while trying to help their brothers.
• Chacha explained that Xiao Yanjue would be poisoned by the person who shared his bed, after which the crown prince would die from grief and illness.
• Chacha revealed that the seventh prince would be pushed too harshly to replace his brothers, become a tyrant after Emperor Hongyao died, and lose Great Qi to invading armies.
• Emperor Hongyao rose from his throne, spat out blood, and fell back as the hall erupted in alarm.

After Emperor Hongyao collapsed in court, Xiao Yanchen kept the officials in the palace and persuaded his father not to punish Seventh for crimes he might commit in the future. The chapter left Emperor Hongyao considering Shen Anxin’s origins and character after Xiao Yanchen reported his investigation.

• Emperor Hongyao coughed up blood and fainted in court, and Xiao Yanchen ordered the officials to remain in the palace while Shen Anxin was sent to copy the Heart Sutra.
• Shen Anxin exchanged points for Shen Anlan’s handwriting, finished copying the sutra, and fell asleep in Mingzhao Hall.
• After Emperor Hongyao woke, he demanded that Seventh be brought to him, but Xiao Yanchen argued that the brothers’ future deaths could be prevented and that they should not punish someone for a future crime.
• Emperor Hongyao abandoned his plan to kill Seventh and asked about Shen Anxin.
• Xiao Yanchen reported that Shen Anxin had been born a twin, awakened from a foolish state two years earlier, and came from a more advanced world; Emperor Hongyao considered his account reasonable.

Xiao Yanchen explained Shen Anxin’s circumstances and the limits of the court’s ability to hear her thoughts, and Emperor Hongyao ordered the ministers to protect her and use her information to benefit Great Qi. When court resumed, Shen Anxin woke and loudly speculated that Xiao Yanchen was secretly attracted to Shen Anlan.

• Xiao Yanchen told Emperor Hongyao that Shen Anxin had impersonated Shen Anlan to protect her family and that only certain people could hear her thoughts.
• Xiao Yanchen reported that those unable to hear Shen Anxin included Southern Xia spies and officials under investigation, while listeners could not pass her thoughts to outsiders.
• Xiao Yanchen urged Emperor Hongyao not to test Shen Anxin’s protective blessings and to leave her unaware that the court could hear her thoughts.
• Emperor Hongyao convened the ministers who could hear Shen Anxin, explained the plan, and instructed them to treat her as an auspicious divine maiden and protect her.
• Xiao Yanchen visited the sleeping Shen Anxin, covered her with a blanket, and carefully freed his finger when she grabbed it.
• After Shen Anxin returned to court, she wondered whether Xiao Yanchen and Shen Anlan shared a secret and blurted out that the Crown Prince might be gay.

Shen Anxin learned that Southern Xia’s delegation would arrive in five days, bringing Jixia Academy scholars to challenge Great Qi’s literary talents, and feared she would be forced to compete. Lord Wang excused her from studying, but Chacha exposed his private home life, leaving him furious and fainting as the officials struggled to hide their laughter.

• Emperor Hongyao announced that Southern Xia’s delegation would arrive in five days with Jixia Academy scholars intent on humiliating Great Qi in literary contests, and ordered officials and princes to prepare.
• Shen Anxin realized Shen Anlan’s examination rank meant she was likely expected to participate, and panicked that her lack of literary skill would expose her.
• At the Hall of Bright Radiance, Lord Wang told Shen Anxin she could skip the study sessions and sort books and copy essays instead.
• Chacha revealed that Lord Wang called his wife “older sister,” cried into his quilt when she scolded him, and blamed the chewed corners on his cat.
• Lord Wang grew furious as the officials laughed, threatened that none of them would escape exposure, and fainted before Shen Anxin noticed what had happened.

Shen Anxin used the Dream-Entering Pill to check on her family and learned that her father had recovered enough to return from Divine Physician Valley, though she still planned to give him an All-Ailments-Curing Pill. The chapter ended with the seventh prince’s mother discovering that his bottom was swollen after the emperor and princes took turns cuddling him.

• Shen Anxin exposed several officials’ embarrassing secrets, while the emperor read her recorded thoughts and struggled to hide his amusement.
• Xiao Yanchen sent Shen Anxin back to her courtyard early, and she waited until Shen Anlan fell asleep before entering his dream with a Dream-Entering Pill.
• Shen Anlan told Shen Anxin that the Marquis of Shuoping had recovered and would return with him in two days.
• Shen Anxin entered her father’s dream, confirmed that he was feeling better, and decided to wait until he returned before secretly giving him an All-Ailments-Curing Pill.
• The emperor and princes took turns cuddling the seventh prince, and his mother found his bottom swollen the next morning.

Shen Anxin went to court exhausted and asked Chacha for an entertaining melon, which exposed the court diarist duo’s secret erotic storybooks about their fellow ministers. The gathered officials turned on the duo, and Chacha hinted that their trouble was not over.

• Shen Anxin complained to Chacha about being stuck working in the palace, and the officials at court overheard her resentment.
• Shen Anxin asked Chacha for a melon, and Chacha revealed that the court diarist and assistant court diarist secretly wrote and illustrated erotic storybooks.
• Chacha explained that the duo used ministers who made their record-keeping work exhausting as characters, often writing male-love stories about them.
• Shen Anxin praised the duo’s revenge and joked about making hated coworkers give birth to eight babies, alarming the officials.
• Grand General Wu, Minister Zheng, and other talkative ministers glared at the duo, who crouched down and begged for mercy.
• Chacha warned that the duo were about to have terrible luck, and Shen Anxin asked what had happened.

Shen Anxin and Chacha revealed that a scandalous romance novel about General Wu and Minister Zheng would become a sensation, exposing the court-recording duo who wrote it. Emperor Hongyao arrived after sending people to handle the affair, while Shen Anxin remained unaware of why the two ministers were distressed.

• Chacha explained that the court-recording duo had written a 500,000-character tragic romance based on General Wu and Minister Zheng, and that it would soon become popular across Great Qi and Southern Xia.
• General Wu and Minister Zheng resolved to seize every copy from Tongyuan Bookshop after Shen Anxin said she wanted to read the novel.
• Chacha described how the duo would be beaten, brought before the emperor, and dismissed from office after the novel's popularity exposed its real-life models.
• Shen Anxin asked which man was the wife, and Chacha said the book portrayed both General Wu and Minister Zheng pinning the other down.
• Eunuch Chen announced Emperor Hongyao's arrival, and the emperor told General Wu and Minister Zheng that he had already sent people to handle their concern.
• Shen Anxin wondered why General Wu and Minister Zheng were reporting a matter, unaware that she had just heard their scandalous story revealed.

Shen Anxin and Chacha exposed the bizarre story behind General Wu and Minister Zheng’s long-running feud: each had mistakenly courted the other while believing he was corresponding with the other’s sister. Their shared, humiliating past left the court stunned as their quarrel continued to draw attention.

• General Wu and Minister Zheng argued over border troop funding, and Shen Anxin wondered whether they were political enemies.
• Chacha revealed that the two men had once exchanged letters through a go-between while studying at White Horse Academy.
• The go-between’s ambiguous wording caused each man to mistake the other for the sister he admired, and they unknowingly courted each other for two years.
• The men exchanged gifts and agreed to meet to discuss marriage, while each still believed he was in love with the other’s sister.
• Shen Anxin and the onlookers reacted to the revelation, and General Wu and Minister Zheng were left mortified.

Shen Anxin and Chacha revealed how General Wu and Minister Zheng mistook each other for rivals over the same woman, then fought after discovering the truth. Their embarrassing history led Emperor Hongyao to consider turning the court chroniclers’ talent for scandalous storybooks into a weapon against Great Qi’s enemies.

• Chacha recounted how General Wu and Minister Zheng each fell for the other’s sister, mistook the other for a romantic rival, and fought when they learned the truth.
• Shen Anxin joked that the men were fated to love each other, but Chacha clarified that they were happily married to their wives and simply disliked each other.
• Emperor Hongyao ended the gossip and ordered the court chronicler duo, who had been kneeling, to return to their records.
• Shen Anxin proposed using the chroniclers’ storybooks to sow suspicion among Southern Xia’s imperial relatives, officials, and nobles.
• Emperor Hongyao and the ministers considered the idea, and the chronicler duo wondered if they were about to receive a new role serving Great Qi.

Shen Anxin was promoted to crown prince’s attendant and began serving Xiao Yanchen, while her thoughts left the court convinced the crown prince might be involved with her brother. The chapter ended with Shen Anlan sneezing in Southern Xia and suspecting someone was cursing him.

• Emperor Hongyao promoted Shen Anlan to crown prince’s attendant, and Shen Anxin took the post and stood beside Xiao Yanchen.
• Chacha suggested Shen Anxin’s brother would benefit from serving the crown prince, and Shen Anxin agreed while joking about enjoying the rewards of his future success.
• Xiao Yanchen smiled at Shen Anxin, who admired his beauty and then wondered whether he had promoted her because he was secretly involved with Shen Anlan.
• Chacha assured Shen Anxin that Xiao Yanchen liked women and would have a crown princess, prompting Xiao Yanchen to reflect on the future marriage he had once expected.
• Shen Anxin imagined the court diarists writing a romance about Shen Anlan and Xiao Yanchen, while Shen Anlan sneezed in Southern Xia and told the Marquis of Shuoping that he felt cursed.

Shen Anxin continued serving as Xiao Yanchen’s attendant while Emperor Hongyao arranged a flower-viewing banquet to assess the crown prince’s marriage prospects. At the banquet, Shen Anxin’s unfiltered thoughts about Empress Wei startled the empress, who could hear them.

• Shen Anxin fell asleep studying in the Hall of Bright Radiance, and Xiao Yanchen had a palace attendant cover her with a cloak.
• General Wu, Minister Zheng, and other victims beat the two court diarists after the diarists promised the storybooks had been burned and apologized for writing them.
• Emperor Hongyao discussed the crown prince’s marriage with Empress Wei and told her to listen without reacting if she heard strange voices around Shen Anxin.
• Empress Wei arranged a flower-viewing banquet, and Emperor Hongyao brought Xiao Yanchen and Shen Anxin to meet the ministerial families’ daughters.
• Shen Anxin praised Empress Wei’s beauty in her thoughts, and Empress Wei heard the voice and wondered which young lady had spoken.

During the crown prince’s flower-viewing banquet, Shen Anxin’s thoughts revealed that Wei Baozhu was slated to become crown princess. Chacha then exposed that Wei Baozhu’s title would be in name only and that she would meet a miserable end, leaving everyone shocked.

• Emperor Hongyao and the princes privately explained Shen Anxin’s audible inner thoughts to the women at the banquet.
• Wei Baozhu grew jealous when she saw Xiao Yanchen attending to Shen Anxin, but the Duke of Wei told her not to take Shen Anxin’s thoughts seriously.
• Chacha identified Wei Baozhu as the likely crown princess, prompting Wei Baozhu and her family to celebrate.
• Shen Anxin questioned the choice, and Chacha revealed that Wei Baozhu would be crown princess in name only and meet a miserable end.

Chacha revealed how Wei Baozhu’s original future was ruined by an earthquake, deliberate slander, and a plot that kept her from entering the Eastern Palace. Years of illness and blame left her overwhelmed with guilt, and she died before turning twenty-five, while the others learned that Xiao Yanchen would also fall gravely ill and leave no heirs.

• Chacha explained that an earthquake striking during Xiao Yanchen and Wei Baozhu’s wedding would prompt rumors that Wei Baozhu was inauspicious and should be sent to a temple.
• Chacha revealed that a woman who admired Xiao Yanchen deliberately spread the rumors and had drugged the objects Wei Baozhu would use at the temple, leaving her weak and ill.
• Shen Anxin connected Wei Baozhu’s prolonged separation from Xiao Yanchen to his later battlefield injury, and Chacha confirmed that he would become gravely ill before their wedding could be completed.
• Chacha explained that Wei Baozhu and Xiao Yanchen would have no children, and that people would blame Wei Baozhu for the imperial line’s end and pressure her until she died of distress before age twenty-five.

Shen Anxin’s thoughts about close-relative marriage shocked the court and ended Wei Baozhu’s hopes of becoming crown princess, while officials and the imperial family reconsidered marriage and childbirth customs. The chapter left Xiao Yanchen’s mother considering Shen Anxin as a future bride, though Xiao Yanchen warned her not to pressure Shen Anxin.

• Shen Anxin thought Wei Baozhu’s fate could be changed, and Emperor Hongyao agreed that avoiding the wedding-day disaster might prevent the crown prince’s downfall.
• Shen Anxin objected to Wei Baozhu marrying her maternal cousin Xiao Yanchen, and Chacha explained the genetic risks of close-relative marriages and early childbirth.
• The ministers and princes resolved to avoid close-relative marriages and delay having children, while Wei Baozhu mourned the end of her hopes of marrying Xiao Yanchen.
• Xiao Yanchen took Shen Anxin away from the imperial garden, while ministers’ families and the imperial harem reacted with shock to the revelations.
• Empress Wei proposed that Xiao Yanchen marry Shen Anxin when she turned eighteen, but Xiao Yanchen warned her not to trouble Shen Anxin with the imperial family’s private affairs.

Empress Wei’s chief palace maid, Lanxiang, pursued Shen Anxin, believing she was Shen Anlan, and threatened to frame her when she refused. Lanxiang’s attempt to drug Shen Anxin failed when she threw scented powder instead, but she then prepared to accuse Shen Anxin of debauching her as Xiao Yanchen and the Brocade Guards watched nearby.

• Empress Wei brought pastries to the officials preparing for battle and showed fondness for Shen Anxin, while Xiao Yanchen noticed Lanxiang’s interest in her.
• Lanxiang left a handkerchief for Shen Anxin, who handed it to Xiao Yanchen; he realized Lanxiang was pursuing the disguised girl as a marriage prospect.
• After Empress Wei discouraged her, Lanxiang went to Shen Anxin’s room at night and asked whether she would consider taking a wife.
• Shen Anxin refused Lanxiang, saying she already had someone in her heart, but Lanxiang threatened to damage her standing with the crown prince.
• Lanxiang threw powder at Shen Anxin, but it turned out to be scented powder rather than the drug she intended to use, and Shen Anxin sneezed while the watching Brocade Guards realized her luck had caused the mix-up.
• Lanxiang pulled open her collar and threatened to accuse Shen Anxin of debauching her, while Xiao Yanchen and his party watched from nearby.

Lanxiang falsely accused Shen Anxin of violating her, but Xiao Yanchen and Empress Wei recognized her lies. Shen Anxin condemned Lanxiang for damaging women’s credibility, and Chacha hinted that Lanxiang had committed even worse crimes as the court awaited the revelation.

• Lanxiang accused Shen Anxin of assaulting her, but Xiao Yanchen said he had witnessed the incident and knew she was lying.
• After Emperor Hongyao and Empress Wei arrived, Lanxiang claimed Shen Anxin had taken her purity and threatened to kill herself when her accusation met silence.
• Empress Wei privately knew Shen Anxin was a woman and gave Lanxiang another chance to tell the truth, but Lanxiang doubled down on her lie.
• Shen Anxin swore that she had made no improper advances and angrily rebuked Lanxiang for using women’s chastity to make false accusations and undermine future victims.
• Chacha hinted that Lanxiang had committed something even more despicable, but Lanxiang interrupted before Shen Anxin could ask about it.
• Empress Wei told Lanxiang that she had lied and that Shen Anxin would never have defiled her innocence.

Shen Anxin and Chacha revealed that Lanxiang had stolen Empress Wei’s undergarments to sell, and that a Western Rong prince later used them to humiliate Great Qi’s army. Emperor Hongyao ordered Lanxiang tortured and interrogated as the second and third princes arrived, furious at the insult to their imperial mother.

• Emperor Hongyao rejected Lanxiang’s accusations, while Chacha revealed that Lanxiang had indirectly caused several princes’ deaths and Empress Wei’s future suicide.
• Chacha explained that Lanxiang sold palace belongings to cover her gambler younger brother’s debts and had stolen Empress Wei’s discarded undergarments for an underground auction.
• Shen Anxin learned that Lanxiang had not yet smuggled the undergarments out of the palace, giving the emperor time to stop the sale.
• Chacha revealed that a Western Rong prince had bought the undergarments and that Western Rong later displayed them to demoralize Great Qi’s army during a battle.
• Emperor Hongyao erupted in anger, Empress Wei was overcome with grief, and the second and third princes rushed in after hearing of the future humiliation.
• Emperor Hongyao ordered the guards to torture Lanxiang and force her to confess her betrayals.