Chapter Summaries

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.

After exposing Lanxiang, Shen Anxin earned Empress Wei’s gratitude and received a lavish reward, while the imperial family braced for the arrival of Southern Xia’s delegation. At court, Chacha revealed that Great Qi sought Southern Xia’s approval partly from inherited sentiment and suggested conquest instead, leaving Emperor Hongyao and the officials unsettled.

• Empress Wei took charge of punishing Lanxiang, then thanked Shen Anxin and decided to reward her with practical wealth rather than arrange a marriage to Xiao Yanchen.
• Lanxiang was sentenced to die after evidence emerged that she had resold palace property, and Xiao Yanchen brought her dying brother before her as punishment.
• Empress Wei sent Shen Anxin home with several wagonloads of rewards, and Shen Anxin used her points to buy modern necessities and snacks.
• As Shen Anxin passed the streets welcoming the Southern Xia delegation, she learned that ordinary people regarded the visitors as kin, though the delegation had hostile intentions toward Great Qi.
• At court, Chacha explained Great Qi’s inherited desire for Southern Xia’s approval and its practical need for Southern Xia’s resources, then proposed conquering it, alarming Emperor Hongyao and the officials.

At the state banquet, Southern Xia tried to humiliate Great Qi by presenting a durian and expecting the court to mistake it for rotten garbage. Shen Anxin recognized the fruit and Xiao Yanchen opened it, leaving Southern Xia’s delegation unable to spring its trap.

• Southern Xia’s delegation entered Great Qi’s palace, and Shen Anxin’s thoughts helped the court laugh off the envoys’ arrogance.
• Southern Xia presented a foul-smelling durian, hoping Great Qi would angrily question the strange-looking gift.
• Shen Anxin identified the fruit and revealed that Southern Xia had chosen it to exploit Great Qi’s unfamiliarity with durians.
• Emperor Hongyao declined to taste the fruit, and Xiao Yanchen accepted the challenge when Southern Xia pressed him to try it.
• Xiao Yanchen used gloves to pry open the durian and revealed its many pieces of flesh, thwarting Southern Xia’s plan to embarrass Great Qi.

At the state banquet, Shen Anxin’s thoughts revealed that Southern Xia’s phoenix-bird gift was actually a dyed rooster, and Xiao Yanfeng exposed the deception by splashing it with wine. Emperor Hongyao condemned the delegation, which knelt as the diplomatic dispute turned against Southern Xia.

• Xiao Yanchen shared Southern Xia’s durian with Shen Anxin and the Great Qi court, while the Southern Xia delegation failed to provoke a reaction.
• Southern Xia presented a rare phoenix bird, but Chacha revealed that it was a dyed, muted rooster secretly substituted by the brother-in-law of Southern Xia’s minister of rites.
• The Great Qi and Southern Xia delegations argued over the bird, while Shen Anxin and Chacha identified the culprit and explained the history of the deception.
• Xiao Yanfeng splashed wine on the bird, causing its dye to run and exposing it as a rooster.
• Emperor Hongyao accused Southern Xia of insulting Great Qi, and the Southern Xia delegation knelt as the Jixia Academy observers remained apart from the dispute.

Emperor Hongyao used Southern Xia’s mistaken phoenix gift to demand grain for Great Qi, securing a deal that would help prepare for a disaster. The banquet then turned tense when Southern Xia’s Grand General Xiong challenged Great Qi’s military officers, and Shen Anxin learned Great Qi might be at a disadvantage.

• Southern Xia blamed barbarians for the phoenix becoming a rooster, but Emperor Hongyao rejected the excuse and threatened to end the talks.
• Xiao Yanchen and Mr. Xun helped steer the dispute toward compensation, and Emperor Hongyao demanded grain from three border granaries in Guanshan Circuit.
• Southern Xia agreed to provide the grain, while its minister of rites began suspecting that his brother-in-law had switched the bird.
• Southern Xia’s Grand General Xiong challenged Great Qi’s military officers, and Xiao Yanchen explained that the court lacked its strongest commanders.
• General Wu and his young officers prepared to face Grand General Xiong as Shen Anxin asked Chacha for information and Chacha offered to reveal his secret.

Shen Anxin uncovered Grand General Xiong’s cruel past and the revenge plot his daughter and son-in-law had devised while General Wu fought him. The match continued as Great Qi’s officials struggled to use the scandal without evidence, and Shen Anxin learned that Grand General Xiong had driven his first wife to her death.

• Xiao Yanchen told General Wu to stall and study Grand General Xiong’s fighting style, and General Wu entered the ring to face him.
• Minister Zheng and the Southern Xia censor traded insults while Grand General Xiong boasted that he had never had the chance to prove himself.
• General Wu fought defensively as Shen Anxin learned that Deputy General Liu was Grand General Xiong’s son-in-law and secretly loved him, while Eldest Miss Xiong knew and supported his closeness to her father.
• Chacha revealed that Eldest Miss Xiong and Deputy General Liu were using their marriage to help her take revenge on Grand General Xiong.
• Chacha explained that Grand General Xiong had beaten his first wife and denied her medical care until she died, while his young daughter had been powerless to save her.

During General Wu and Grand General Xiong’s duel, Shen Anxin’s gossip exposed the affairs and secret revenge surrounding Xiong’s family, and Xiao Yanchen used the revelations to help General Wu. The censor’s hidden garment was exposed, setting off Xiong’s fury, and the censor ended the chapter by claiming Deputy General Liu had also been sneaking into Xiong’s room.

• Chacha told Shen Anxin that Grand General Xiong’s second wife’s children were fathered by the censor and that Eldest Miss Xiong helped conceal the affair as part of her revenge.
• Shen Anxin learned that Deputy General Liu had been sent into Grand General Xiong’s room, and the crowd realized Xiong was the one being taken advantage of.
• Chacha revealed that the censor had hidden the second wife’s intimate garment inside his robes, and Xiao Yanchen signaled General Wu to expose it during the duel.
• General Wu’s spear tore open the censor’s robe, and Grand General Xiong recognized the garment as his wife’s and chased the censor in a rage.
• Deputy General Liu tried to restrain Grand General Xiong, but the censor accused him of secretly lusting after Xiong and sneaking into his room with Eldest Miss Xiong’s help.

Grand General Xiong learned that Deputy General Liu, the censor, and his wife had betrayed him, and that his favored children were not his; the ensuing scandal wrecked Southern Xia’s delegation and prompted Great Qi to launch a campaign of public ridicule. Three days later, Southern Xia’s imperial preceptor offered to divine Great Qi’s fortunes, and Chacha identified him as the man who had blamed Great Qi for a coming disaster.

• Deputy General Liu confessed his feelings for Grand General Xiong, then revealed that the censor had secretly been meeting Xiong’s wife and that Xiong’s favored children were the censor’s.
• Deputy General Liu disclosed that Eldest Miss Xiong had secretly made Grand General Xiong unable to father children, and the state preceptor knocked Xiong unconscious as he attacked the censor.
• Emperor Hongyao rebuked Southern Xia’s delegation, and Xiao Yanchen gave them three days to settle their internal affairs before negotiations resumed.
• Southern Xia’s minister of rites returned to the delegation’s quarters while Grand General Xiong and Deputy General Liu later fought each other and were sent home injured.
• Emperor Hongyao ordered former court diarists to publish true and fictional accounts of Southern Xia’s officials, while Eldest Miss Xiong planned further revenge against her father.
• Three days later, Southern Xia’s imperial preceptor apologized and offered to divine Great Qi’s fortunes, and Chacha identified him as the source of the rumor blaming Great Qi for a future disaster.

Southern Xia’s imperial preceptor attempted to divine Great Qi’s national fortune, while Chacha revealed his plans to weaken Great Qi through disasters, rumors, and schemes to lure away its most capable people. The imperial preceptor’s ritual ended with him declaring that Great Qi’s altered fortune showed signs of a golden age.

• Emperor Hongyao allowed the imperial preceptor to perform his divination but warned him that bad news would be treated as Southern Xia’s hostility.
• Chacha revealed that the imperial preceptor had helped Southern Xia plan to spread rumors, obstruct Great Qi’s recovery, and entice wealthy and capable citizens to flee.
• Shen Anxin declared that she would stay in Great Qi, arguing that people who fled would face discrimination and hardship without their homeland’s protection.
• Chacha explained that many people who fled in the original future were exploited and eventually reduced to slavery, prompting officials to resolve to protect Great Qi and educate their descendants.
• The imperial preceptor spat blood, shattered his compass, and cried out that Great Qi’s national fortune had changed and now showed signs of a golden age.

At court, Southern Xia’s state preceptor prophesied a golden age for Great Qi, leaving its delegation in disarray and helping Great Qi secure favorable negotiations. Shen Anxin refused to reveal herself as a lucky star, but Jixia Academy then challenged Great Qi’s scholars to a public literary contest, and she admitted she could barely remember what she had studied.

• Southern Xia’s state preceptor declared that a lucky star would awaken and usher in a golden age, then fainted, while Emperor Hongyao ordered him treated well.
• Shen Anxin credited Chacha for helping Great Qi but refused to reveal her identity because she feared being burdened with work, and she planned to leave affairs to Shen Anlan.
• Great Qi’s officials negotiated with Southern Xia’s minister of rites while he was isolated, and after the talks he attacked the state preceptor, who said he would not return to Southern Xia.
• Xiao Yanchen heard that Jixia Academy had defeated White Horse Academy and arranged a public literary contest against Great Qi’s scholars for the following day.
• Chacha assured Shen Anxin she could handle Jixia Academy, but Shen Anxin admitted she had forgotten most of what she had studied.

Shen Anxin watched Jixia Academy humiliate Great Qi at a literary gathering, then exchanged points for famous works from her world when Mr. Xun insulted a poor scholar and Xiao Yanshu. She strode forward, ready to use Shen Anlan's name to challenge Jixia Academy.

• Xiao Yanchen explained that Emperor Hongyao hoped to persuade Jixia Academy to open a branch in Great Qi and share its books and traditions.
• At the Ten-Li Osmanthus Grove, Jixia Academy mocked local scholars and set a poem as the standard for entering the gathering.
• Jixia Academy's four great talents defeated Great Qi's challengers in poetry, lyrics, songs and fu, while Mr. Xun taunted Emperor Hongyao and the assembled scholars.
• Mr. Xun stopped a poor scholar from challenging and insulted his farming-family background, prompting Xiao Yanshu to defend him.
• Shen Anxin exchanged points for collections of Tang poems, Song ci, ancient prose, and songs and fu, then stepped forward to challenge Jixia Academy.

Shen Anxin defended Xiao Yanshu and a farmer’s son at Southern Xia’s literary gathering, exposing Mr. Xun’s contempt for common origins before the Jixia Academy talents humiliated both Great Qi contestants. The chapter ended with Shen Anxin declaring that she would compete in all four literary forms against the four great talents.

• Shen Anxin questioned Mr. Xun about his ancestors and mocked his claims about pure literary qi until the audience laughed and he lost his composure.
• Southern Xia’s minister of rites defended Mr. Xun, and Shen Anxin said she had come to compete alongside Xiao Yanshu and the farmer’s son.
• The shi talent harshly criticized the farmer’s son’s poem, then composed four poems that silenced the gathering and drove the young scholar from the stage in tears.
• The ci talent answered Xiao Yanshu’s poem with a superior work and advised him to study for two more years.
• Shen Anxin stepped onto the stage and announced that she would compete against all four great talents.

Shen Anxin challenged Jixia Academy’s four talents, and Xiao Yanchen and Emperor Hongyao agreed to a high-stakes wager over the academy’s influence in Great Qi. Shen Anxin stunned the hall by writing several celebrated poems, broke the poetry prodigy’s confidence, and moved on to challenge the ci poetry prodigy.

• Shen Anxin challenged Jixia Academy’s four talents and wagered that none of them would dare critique her writing.
• Xiao Yanchen set the terms: if Shen Anxin won, Jixia Academy would send staff and books to Great Qi; Mr. Xun demanded privileges for the academy if it won, and Emperor Hongyao accepted.
• Shen Anxin wrote “Bring in the Wine,” leaving the hall speechless as Xiao Yanchen read it aloud.
• When the poetry prodigy accused her of copying the poem and demanded another, Shen Anxin wrote “Ascending the Heights,” “Ascending the Stork Tower,” and “Early Departure from White Emperor City.”
• The poetry prodigy broke down and ran from the hall, and Shen Anxin confronted the ci poetry prodigy next.

Shen Anxin defeated Jixia Academy’s four scholars with celebrated works of poetry, ci, song, and fu, securing Great Qi’s victory in the wager. As Mr. Xun accused her of fraud, Shen Anxin admitted the works were not truly hers and pointed to the sky.

• Shen Anxin replaced her unfinished ci with a work about a fallen homeland, moving the audience and driving the ci poet to concede and flee.
• Shen Anxin recited “Song of My Thatched Roof Torn Apart by the Autumn Wind,” and its appeal to shelter poor scholars left the song scholar speechless.
• Shen Anxin wrote the Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River, stunning the audience and prompting the fu scholar to snap his brush and give up writing fu.
• Xiao Yanchen told Mr. Xun that Great Qi had won and demanded that Jixia Academy honor the wager.
• Mr. Xun accused Shen Anxin of fraud and rushed at her, but Xiao Yanchen and the Brocade Guards stopped him.
• Shen Anxin said her works were not truly hers, then pointed at the sky.

Shen Anxin defended her sudden literary talent as heavenly inspiration while Xiao Yanchen exposed Jixia Academy’s narrow standards and Southern Xia’s Minister of Rites tried to discredit her. She answered with more famous poems and a final exhortation that left Mr. Xun spitting blood and fainting.

• Shen Anxin claimed heaven had inspired her to write her masterpieces so scholars could see poetry’s true splendor and help Shen Anlan avoid unwanted fame.
• Xiao Yanchen argued that Jixia Academy prized beauty and technique while avoiding works about the nation and its people, prompting its scholars to question their values.
• Southern Xia’s Minister of Rites suggested Shen Anxin’s works had been prepared as a conspiracy, so Shen Anxin offered to write on any topic and recited “Ode to Lime.”
• Shen Anxin recited a poem about beans born from the same root, silencing the Minister of Rites and upsetting officials who had ulterior motives against Great Qi.
• Shen Anxin urged the officials to put the people and nation before personal interests, then told Jixia Academy to stop straying from its purpose and recited her principles for scholars.
• Mr. Xun spat blood and fainted after Shen Anxin finished her final exhortation.

Shen Anxin received a fortune in gold and helped Emperor Hongyao arrange for her recited works to be published as Lingering Voices of Immortal Sages. As Jixia Academy prepared to fulfill its wager by copying its books first, Shen Anxin’s thoughts revealed movable-type printing, and Great Qi’s officials grasped how it could overturn Elder Han’s plan.

• Emperor Hongyao rewarded Shen Anxin with chests of gold, which she happily counted and shared with Eunuch Chen.
• Emperor Hongyao ordered the Hanlin Academy to compile Shen Anxin’s recited works as Lingering Voices of Immortal Sages, with no author’s name and with profits shared with her.
• Emperor Hongyao told Elder Han that Jixia Academy had two months to deliver the wagered books, and warned Southern Xia that Great Qi’s fifty guards would escort them.
• Elder Han decided Jixia Academy would quickly copy and sell its books to beat Great Qi to the market and preserve the academy’s standing.
• Shen Anxin discussed woodblock and movable-type printing with Chacha, and the Great Qi officials, including Xiao Yanchen and the minister of works, understood the method’s potential.