Chapter Summaries

Nick traveled to Macau and Hong Kong, learned of threats from pirates and White Lotus rebels, and returned to Guangzhou with the priest. As Georgiana read Nick’s travelogue to Bonaparte, she focused on Nick’s unspoken feelings for Wan Ning and wondered whether insurance could protect people from pirates.

• Nick sailed to Macau, met the priest at St. Lazarus Hospital, and visited Hong Kong while the priest recovered from vaccination.
• Nick questioned smugglers about the threat against Captain Yao and learned that pirates or the White Lotus Sect might soon launch a major operation.
• Nick and the priest returned to Guangzhou, where the Admiral summoned them after his fever worsened and he lost faith in Chinese medicine.
• Georgiana complained that Nick’s travelogue left out how he felt about Wan Ning, and Bonaparte laughed as she read about a girl in a Buddha procession.
• Georgiana wondered whether Nick’s proposed insurance could solve the pirate problem, then turned to a page depicting women beneath strange umbrellas.

Nick failed to persuade Cao Xi and the censor to adopt flintlock muskets, then prepared to leave Guangzhou with the commander’s departing supporters. As Georgiana and Bonaparte discussed Chinese teachings and marriage, Georgiana invited Bonaparte to paint her eyebrows, while the chapter ended with a reflection on whether Nick could escape his entanglement.

• Nick and the priest left the commander’s residence after the commander accepted both Chinese medical treatment and the priest’s sedatives.
• Nick urged Cao Xi to buy flintlock muskets, but Cao Xi rejected the proposal, and the censor agreed that changing weapons before the commander left office was unwise.
• Nick stopped trying to persuade the officials and planned a banquet at the commander’s residence for the talented people leaving Guangzhou with him.
• Georgiana and Bonaparte discussed filial obedience, political marriage, and an illustration of a husband and wife showing mutual respect.
• Georgiana asked Bonaparte to paint her eyebrows and told him the story of Zhang Chao, who painted his wife’s eyebrows.
• Georgiana reflected that Nick had nearly failed to return and wondered whether he could turn back before becoming too deeply entangled.

Nick learned about Chinese beliefs in the soul and the history of the Soul-stealing case, while spending time with an opera troupe and Lam Qua. The chapter ended with Nick and Lam Qua leaving the studio to buy a box for the portrait Lam Qua had painted for the young lady.

• Nick studied beliefs about the hun and po, soul-summoning customs, and the origins of Guangzhou’s name.
• Mingyuan was beaten and accused of stealing a child’s braid, then arrested and died after a week of interrogation.
• Hongli’s harsh handling of the Soul-stealing case drew criticism from high-ranking ministers, whose intervention eventually helped reverse it.
• Nick met the opera troupe at the provincial commander’s home and learned about traditional performance and The Story of the Western Wing.
• Nick visited Lam Qua, who had finished the young lady’s portrait, and they set out to buy an exquisite box for it.

Nick visited a Guangzhou lacquerware shop with Lam Qua but could not find a suitable gift, then stopped a madman from attacking children. The chapter turned from Nick's concern about unrest to a Buddhist discussion of suffering, ignorance, and liberation, ending with the question of why Mahakasyapa smiled when the Buddha held up a flower.

• Lam Qua showed Nick lacquerware and root carvings, but Nick could not buy the fan rib he wanted because it had been commissioned by another customer.
• Nick subdued a sword-wielding madman who was chasing children, and yamen runners arrived to take the man away.
• Nick worried that Guangzhou might become chaotic if people rebelled, while the narration described the desperation behind the White Lotus Sect uprisings.
• The Buddha explained to Mahakasyapa that liberation required dispelling ignorance rather than relying on rites or prayer.
• The Buddha held up a flower, Mahakasyapa smiled, and the chapter asked what had prompted his smile.

Nick visited Guangzhou during the Mazu festivities, refused Harlock’s offer to map the coast, and wrote about beauty, freedom, and Buddhist teachings. The chapter ended with Georgiana reading his travelogue and a humorous exchange between two monks in a bamboo grove.

• Nick bought a silver plate as a gift for the admiral and met Harlock near the paifang.
• Harlock urged Nick to map the coast and argued for controlling harbors to protect trade, but Nick refused.
• Georgiana read Nick’s accounts of Guangzhou, Amrapali’s meeting with Buddha, and Buddhist ideas about beauty and liberation.
• Georgiana wondered whether people would fear Aoandon if the yokai were beautiful.
• A little monk asked why the tigers still seemed adorable after hearing the Perfection of Wisdom mantra, and the old monk took him back to the bamboo grove.

Nick learned about the Co-Hong’s role and the abuses foreign merchants faced, then studied Chinese beliefs about the afterlife. After a priest agreed to take in an abandoned baby, Cao Xi arrived at the hospital with soldiers and confronted Nick.

• Nick thanked Shuangguan for hosting him and returned to the hospital before soldiers began questioning people in the streets.
• Nick read about Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist views of morality, reincarnation, and judgment after death.
• Nick found a servant asking the priest what to do with an abandoned baby boy wearing a copper longevity lock.
• The priest agreed to take in the baby and planned to send him to a foundling home.
• Cao Xi arrived at the hospital with a group of soldiers and greeted Nick with a polite smile.

Cao Xi questioned Nick about a missing rebel list and a suspicious note, then searched his room and placed him under house arrest before a man from the Admiral's residence intervened. Nick remained guarded and feared being forced to confess, while Georgiana asked Bonaparte whether he thought Nick would regret giving the note to the Admiral.

• Cao Xi told Nick that General Liu had died in a shipwreck and that a list of rebels had disappeared, then questioned him about the note and his meetings with the East India Company.
• Nick denied knowing where the note came from, but Cao Xi ordered soldiers to search his room and found Nick's sketchbook.
• Cao Xi ordered his men to take Nick away, but a middle-aged man from the Admiral's residence whispered to Cao Xi, who released Nick and had soldiers keep him under house arrest.
• Nick surveyed his ransacked room and worried that, as a foreigner without a scholarly title, he could be tortured into confessing.
• Georgiana asked Bonaparte whether Nick would regret handing the note to the Admiral.

Nick attended breakfast with the Admiral, who trusted him despite suspicions from Cao Xi and other officials, and considered how his engraving and navigational skills could help with coastal surveys. After breakfast, Nick, Wan Ning, and the Admiral's second concubine set out to attend a Mazu ceremony.

• The Admiral invited Nick to breakfast and planned to take him to a ceremony honoring Mazu.
• Nick followed the Admiral's elaborate dining rules while Wan Ning and the Admiral's second concubine served food.
• The Admiral's deputy argued that Nick's warning note showed he meant no harm, while Cao Xi and two other officials remained suspicious after General Liu's death.
• Nick considered that his engraving experience and knowledge of the compass could make him useful to the East India Company's coastal survey work.
• Nick finished breakfast and tea, then set out with the Admiral, Wan Ning, and the Admiral's second concubine.

Nick reflected on the confinement and limited lives of women in traditional society while considering stories of flawed people and vengeful ghosts. As Wan Ning traveled through Guangzhou to the Mazu sacrifice, Georgiana listened to the provincial graduate recount tales of haunted mirrors and a ghost guiding a traveler away from its revenge.

• Nick remembered how Wan Ning, newly able to see clearly after her eye operation, gazed at Guangzhou from her sedan chair during the Mazu sacrifice.
• Nick considered the sins and fates of Pan Jinlian, Wu Song, and Ximen Qing, along with the injustice suffered by Dou E.
• The provincial graduate told Nick about Mirror Lady, whose enchanted mirror brought disorder to the Shen household.
• Georgiana wondered whether historical villains such as He Shen and Heshen had been transformed ghosts.
• The provincial graduate recounted how Men Shirong avoided a flood crossing after a ghost warned him away from its revenge.

During Mazu worship, Nick discussed village authority, justice, and the White Lotus Sect with a provincial graduate who admired the Admiral’s governance. The graduate then shared a nursery rhyme that Nick had written into a story, and Georgiana found an illustration of a soldier whose blade reminded her of Guan Gong’s.

• Nick recorded the official Mazu ceremony at Nansha Tianhou Temple while the Admiral attended with his wife and daughters.
• A provincial graduate visited Nick, and Nick reflected on local gentry, their power to judge village disputes, and the Admiral’s efforts to review their decisions.
• Nick considered how migration, ethnic tensions, poverty, and official persecution had helped the White Lotus Sect spread, though local gentry had alerted Cao Xi to a secret altar in Guangdong.
• The provincial graduate told Nick that children were singing, “If red flowers are to bloom, bitter frost must first arrive,” a lyric Nick had used as a prophecy in his story.
• Georgiana turned a page and saw an illustration of a soldier with a great blade that reminded her of Guan Gong’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

Georgiana continued reading Nick’s account of Qing officials, rebellions, and historical scandals while Bonaparte listened. The Guangzhou sacrificial ceremony ended without incident, leaving the suspected threat unresolved.

• Georgiana hesitated to tell Bonaparte about Cassandra’s prophecy, but he urged her to keep reading.
• The account described Qing troops and officials struggling to suppress Sun Dayou’s rebellion and investigate the Soulstealers case.
• A clerk mistook Wang Daoding for the wanted rebel Sun Dayou, but officials later cleared him of the rebellion and Soulstealers cases and exiled him for his writings.
• The account recounted how an examination bribery scandal implicated Li Zhenye, Cao Benrong, and Song Zhisheng, and traced Cao Xi’s ancestry to Cao Benrong.
• The sacrificial ceremony ended smoothly, and no attack occurred.

The provincial graduate reflected on ghosts, conscience, and the corrupt abuses of Qianlong’s reign while explaining these matters to Nick. He hoped to stabilize his own life and adopt an heir, leaving the task of reform to later generations.

• The provincial graduate discussed Wang Yangming’s belief that ghosts arose from conscience and described how Zhu Quanzhong’s concubine and a bewitched mirror troubled the Shen family.
• The provincial graduate urged Nick to focus on the examinations and explained that gu could refer to corruption and abuses as well as poisonous creatures.
• The provincial graduate described the burdens imposed on salt merchants by Qianlong, including imperial construction demands and loans that deepened their debts.
• The provincial graduate connected the Gu hexagram to reforming corruption, but concluded that he lacked the means to improve All Under Heaven.
• The provincial graduate planned to adopt an heir once his life stabilized and imagined that later generations might change the corrupt situation.

Nick received a fan from Miss Wan Ning’s household in gratitude for helping restore her sight, while the guests praised him and the priest. The celebration was interrupted by servants rushing into the admiral’s residence, and Shuangguan hinted that urgent trouble involving the Yao people and their Red Flower Society was unfolding.

• Nick reflected on Chinese dynasties, historical upheavals, and the flourishing of thought during the Zhou dynasty.
• Miss Wan Ning’s maid gave Nick a fan bearing Su Dongpo’s poem and a painting of four-colored peonies by Cao Xi.
• The provincial graduate explained the poem, and Nick understood the fan as the family’s expression of thanks rather than a romantic gift.
• Shuangguan praised Nick and the priest for treating Miss Wan Ning without seeking fame or payment, drawing the guests’ attention from the play.
• Four or five official-looking servants rushed into the admiral’s main hall, and Shuangguan asked Nick whether he had heard of Miluotuo and explained the Yao people’s Red Flower Society.

The chapter reflected on dreams, perception, examination fraud, and the dangers of mirrors, moving from Wang Danwang’s corruption and Qing court politics to stories of imagined lives and tragic love. It ended by warning that a mirror could deceive as well as reveal, recalling one that trapped Zhu Quanzhong’s concubine.

• Wang Yangming explained to his friend that a flower’s vividness arose when the mind perceived it, while the chapter contrasted human appreciation of flowers with a donkey’s appetite.
• Wang Danwang’s confiscated home yielded millions of taels of silver and thousands of taels of gold, much of his fortune having come from selling tribute student quotas and businesses in Zhejiang.
• The chapter recounted Shunzhi’s devotion to Consort Dong E, his conflict with Xiaozhuang over the empresses, and the succession tensions surrounding his sons.
• A provincial graduate recalled the Tang story of a man who dreamed of a grand career while millet steamed, then considered how examination essays and age shaped people’s prospects.
• The chapter described Jia Baoyu’s response to family expectations and Du Liniang’s dream, illness, and reunion with Scholar Liu after an emperor used a mirror to confirm she was human.
• The chapter warned that mirrors could lie and recalled the mirror in the Shen household that had trapped Zhu Quanzhong’s concubine.

The chapter recounts the origins and taboos of puppet theater, Qing court history and palace intrigues, and tales of a provincial graduate’s encounters in Beijing and beyond. It ends by arguing that corruption could be cured only by preserving one’s integrity, while even great men such as Wang Yangming could be drawn into factional strife.

• The narrator contrasted women’s confinement behind household walls with the common people’s celebrations and traced puppet theater from funerary rites to temple performances meant to ward off evil.
• The chapter described how the Qing rulers moved their capitals, managed smallpox risks, employed Han officials, and contested power with Russia during Shunzhi’s reign.
• The narrator recounted Consort Dong E’s unhappy palace life and rumors surrounding the death of her infant son.
• A provincial graduate’s friend fled a haunted room in a Beijing temple after his lamp turned green and someone died there, then later recovered from malaria and became a shopkeeper beyond the pass.
• The chapter explained gu as corruption and argued that people had to polish their hearts and maintain integrity, though even Wang Yangming was drawn into factional strife.

The chapter traced Qing policies and beliefs surrounding the hair-shaving order, religious practice, rebellion, and the fate of former Ming imperial clans, while connecting these histories to the provincial commander’s fears about a printed rebel note. It ended with the commander anxious about being sent to fight and the possibility that surviving descendants of Heshen and Helin might someday regain their titles.

• Dorgon renewed the hair-shaving and clothing-change orders, while the court restricted missionaries amid disputes over ancestor worship and Catholic customs.
• Nick received a printed call to avenge the Manchu conquest, and the provincial commander feared that rebellion would force him to fight.
• Juexing, a monk in Hengyang, had an affair with Chen, while Western Hunan’s secluded villages and abandoned temples offered shelter to rebels and bandits.
• The chapter recounted how Southern Ming resistance ended after Aisin Gioro Fulin’s death and noted that Xiaozhuang did not rule from behind a curtain for the young Xuanye.
• The chapter described Shichahai’s history and feng shui, then noted that Fengshen Yinde and Helin’s son escaped implication in their fathers’ disgrace.
• The provincial commander remained anxious about the rebel note and the prospect of going to war, while the descendants of Heshen and Helin might have to wait for an amnesty to regain their titles.

Georgiana reflected on divination, fate, and the danger of trying to change the future. At the wedding celebration, Nick listened as Wan Ning described the hardships awaiting married women and asked whether foreigners truly practiced monogamy.

• Georgiana considered how foreknowledge and attempts to change fate could cause tragedy, recalling Sybill’s prophecy, Voldemort, and Grindelwald.
• Nick rushed into the flower hall when women cried out and found a venomous snake threatening them.
• An acrobat killed the snake with a throwing knife, and Nick later escorted the shaken Wan Ning from the hall.
• While they waited beneath the porch, Wan Ning told Nick that marriage would subject her to her husband and his family, and that she would have no say if he took concubines.
• Wan Ning asked Nick whether foreigners practiced monogamy, and he could only remain silent.

Nick escorted Wan Ning through Guangzhou’s festival sights while the narration reflected on hypocrisy, benevolence, and social customs. Cao Xi arrived and took Wan Ning away, and the chapter ended with fireworks and lantern displays lighting the night.

• Wan Ning watched bell-ball performers and puppet shows as Nick accompanied her through the crowded streets.
• The narration compared Xu Wugui’s warnings about false benevolence with examples of rulers, merchants, and fashionable elites profiting through hypocrisy.
• Georgiana refused to condemn Wan Ning when Bonaparte criticized her for walking with Nick.
• Cao Xi found Wan Ning on patrol, spoke with her, and took her back despite her wish to keep exploring.
• Nick watched Wan Ning leave, then the festival’s fireworks and elaborate lanterns illuminated the streets.

Georgiana read Nick Poirot's account of bird's-nest trade, Siam's tribute, and the shifting relations among China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, while Bonaparte listened and sang. The chapter ended with the imperial edict that invested Toyotomi Hideyoshi as King of Japan.

• Georgiana read about Taksin's rise and the Qing court's eventual recognition of him as king of Siam.
• Nick Poirot's account traced how demand for bird's nests and other goods shaped tributary trade, Japanese trade restrictions, and smuggling.
• The account described Japan's attempts to control trade with China, including the Zhengde New Regulations and the Trade Pass system.
• Nick Poirot explained how Qing maritime permits and Liuhe's customs guarantee houses organized northeast trade.
• Georgiana tossed a cushion at Napoleon when he sang lines from Death of Caesar, and he resumed reading.
• Georgiana read the imperial edict preserved in the Osaka Museum that invested Toyotomi Hideyoshi as King of Japan.

Nick followed the man who had attacked him after spotting him in a bronze mirror, but chaos broke out in the street and the man fled into a narrow alley. The chapter leaves Nick in pursuit as the man disappears around a bend.

• Nick explained the Luo Shu, the I Ching, Wang Yangming’s teachings, and the similarities between his ideas and Buddhist and Daoist meditation.
• Georgiana read aloud while Bonaparte watched a fireworks display that ended with a blue rose-shaped firework.
• Nick observed beggars and notices barring monks and nuns, then entered a shop and bought a bronze mirror.
• Nick spotted his attacker in the mirror and followed him through the crowded streets.
• A sudden commotion sent people running, and the young man recognized Nick as a blond spy before fleeing into an alley.
• Nick rushed after the young man, who reached a bend and was about to disappear from sight.