Recaps

Shen Anxin’s Gossip System exposed Great Qi’s future disasters and the princes’ deaths, prompting Emperor Hongyao and the court to prepare to change that fate. As Shen Anxin’s private thoughts revealed scandals and threats within the palace, the emperor moved to stop Lanxiang from selling Empress Wei’s belongings to Western Rong.

• Shen Anxin impersonated Shen Anlan in court, where Chacha’s voice and her thoughts became audible to Emperor Hongyao and the officials.
• Chacha revealed that Great Qi would fall after disasters, invasions, and the deaths of the princes, and Emperor Hongyao fainted after hearing the future.
• Xiao Yanchen persuaded Emperor Hongyao not to punish the seventh prince for future crimes, and the emperor arranged for the court to protect Shen Anxin while keeping their ability to hear her thoughts secret.
• Shen Anxin exposed court scandals and proposed using the chroniclers’ storybooks to sow suspicion in Southern Xia, while Emperor Hongyao appointed her Shen Anlan’s attendant to Xiao Yanchen.
• At a flower-viewing banquet, Chacha revealed Wei Baozhu’s tragic future, and Shen Anxin and the court considered how to avoid the wedding-day earthquake and its consequences.
• Lanxiang tried to frame Shen Anxin for assault, but Xiao Yanchen witnessed her lie and Empress Wei rejected the accusation.
• Chacha revealed that Lanxiang had stolen Empress Wei’s discarded undergarments for an underground auction and that Western Rong would use them to humiliate Great Qi, so Emperor Hongyao ordered Lanxiang tortured for her betrayal.

Shen Anxin helped Great Qi turn aside Southern Xia’s schemes, secure books from Jixia Academy, and establish rewards for useful inventions. Yan Xuetong’s papermaking method exposed a conspiracy backed by powerful clans and Prince Huai, and the arc ended with the suspects arrested and bamboo paper successfully produced.

• Empress Wei rewarded Shen Anxin after Lanxiang was sentenced to die, and Shen Anxin later helped Great Qi counter Southern Xia’s attempts to embarrass the court with a durian and a dyed rooster.
• When Grand General Xiong challenged Great Qi’s officers, Chacha exposed the betrayals and secrets within his family, and the resulting scandal forced Southern Xia to delay negotiations.
• Chacha revealed Southern Xia’s plan to spread rumors and weaken Great Qi, while Shen Anxin defended staying in her homeland and the state preceptor declared that Great Qi’s fortune had changed.
• Shen Anxin defeated Jixia Academy’s four great talents with famous poems and other works, winning a wager that required the academy to send books and staff to Great Qi.
• Shen Anxin introduced woodblock and movable-type printing, and Emperor Hongyao established rewards for useful inventions, including honoring the artisan who had devised woodblock printing.
• Yan Xuetong’s papermaking method exposed Marquis Chengping’s attempt to give her credit to Zhuo Lingqi, while Su Xue’er revealed her history with the marquis and chose to leave with Yan Xuetong and Zhuo Lingqi.
• Yan Xuetong asked Emperor Hongyao to investigate her parents’ murders, and Chacha exposed the paper workshops, the Pei and Xiang Clans, and Prince Huai as conspirators.
• Emperor Hongyao ordered the suspects arrested, Yan Xuetong produced a trial batch of bamboo paper, and Shen Anxin worried that Shen Anlan would be left without important duties.