Chapter Summaries

Newly appointed Prefect Hong Siqi entered Jinxia City expecting to learn who controlled it, only to discover that Princess Guangping and Xia Fan had taken charge through the General Affairs Bureau. He realized that the bureau had effectively replaced the prefectural office before he could even take up his post.

• Hong Siqi arrived at Jinxia City with Ding Pan and resolved to investigate who held power there before reporting to the government office.
• Hong Siqi noticed extensive coordinated housing construction and the complete absence of beggars as he rode through the city.
• At a teahouse, Hong Siqi learned about the General Affairs Bureau after a patron directed him there for information about government policies.
• The Tea House Storyteller explained that Princess Guangping and Xia Fan controlled the city, while the bureau handled relief, jobs, public security, and disputes.
• Hong Siqi concluded that the General Affairs Bureau had replaced Jinxia City's prefectural office.

Hong Siqi investigated the Jinxia General Affairs Bureau and discovered that it was recruiting probationary officials and opening a free Academy without following the usual court system. Realizing the Bureau’s influence was growing quickly, he decided to visit Princess Guangping.

• Hong Siqi learned from a teahouse storyteller that the people of Jinxia supported Princess Guangping and the General Affairs Bureau.
• Hong Siqi suspected the Six Ministries had sent him to test the Bureau, but resolved to wait for it to make a mistake rather than challenge the princess directly.
• Hong Siqi heard the Bureau was recruiting probationary officials without requiring civil service examination results and went to investigate.
• A woman in red explained that applicants would undergo training and reviews, while the Bureau’s new Academy would offer free education to eligible students.
• Hong Siqi recognized that the Bureau’s policies were already winning popular support and decided to visit Princess Guangping.

Xia Fan and Mo Yun tested a new furnace design that used Luo Qingqing’s Dragon Scale to heat layered iron ingots, hoping to produce steel on a larger scale. The ignition succeeded dramatically, sending a column of flaming gas from the furnace, but the chapter ended before the steel’s quality was known.

• Xia Fan explained that he and Mo Yun had devised a furnace method to improve steel production after discussing the era’s smelting techniques.
• Xia Fan told Ning Wanjun that the method’s broader goal was to improve production components, not merely provide soldiers with better weapons and armor.
• Mo Yun inspected the loaded furnace, ordered its lower door sealed, and asked Luo Qingqing to handle the heating.
• Luo Qingqing guided her Dragon Scale sword blade into the furnace as the ignition mechanism dropped iron ingots onto it.
• The Dragon Scale’s power surged into the iron ingots, igniting the upper furnace layer and sending a towering column of flame from the furnace.

Xia Fan and the others used Luo Qingqing’s Dragon Scale spell to melt pig iron and wrought iron together in a furnace, demonstrating a rapid new method of steel production. The blacksmith’s tests confirmed that the resulting metal was steel.

• Ning Wanjun asked Mo Yun whether Li Technique had been used for smelting before, and Mo Yun explained that Xia Fan’s approach depended on the person using the spell.
• Ning Wanjun encouraged Mo Yun to pursue the technical work she enjoyed and was pleased that Xia Fan could share her interests.
• Xia Fan checked Luo Qingqing’s qi as she heated the furnace, and the iron began to melt and mix.
• After the molten iron reached its lowest level, Mo Yun ordered the furnace opened, and soldiers guided the flowing metal into stone molds.
• A blacksmith quenched and hammered one of the bars, tested it with an awl, and told Ning Wanjun that the furnace had produced steel.

Xia Fan and Mo Yun produced a large batch of crude steel in Jinxia City as Ning Wanjun learned that the court had appointed Hong Siqi as prefect. Hong Siqi pledged himself to serve under Xia Fan and agreed to help the Affairs Bureau take in refugees fleeing Leizhou.

• Xia Fan explained how blacksmiths judged steel, while Mo Yun and Ning Wanjun celebrated the furnace’s mass production and its importance for Jinxia City.
• A guard told Ning Wanjun that the newly appointed Prefect, Hong Siqi, had arrived with genuine appointment documents, and she ordered him brought in.
• Hong Siqi declared his loyalty to Ning Wanjun and willingness to undergo the General Affairs Bureau’s training, surprising her and Xia Fan.
• Hong Siqi observed the enormous furnace and realized that Jinxia City was changing beyond what his past experience could explain.
• Ning Wanjun assigned Hong Siqi to work under Xia Fan, who asked him to help the Affairs Bureau receive and settle refugees fleeing Leizhou.

At Zuiqing Pavilion, Zhou Sheng and other scholars mocked the Affairs Bureau’s probationary-official policy and worried about Xia Fan’s planned Academy. Zhou Sheng revealed that he had persuaded local teachers not to instruct there, then asked Liu Ruyan to speak with him privately.

• Scholars gathered at Zuiqing Pavilion and complained about the Affairs Bureau’s new probationary-official policy.
• Zhou Sheng explained the policy and said the Affairs Bureau seemed to regard itself as Jinxia’s true prefectural office.
• Young Master Chen blamed Xia Fan for using the Affairs Bureau to expand the Bureau of Military Affairs’ influence, while others worried the Academy might threaten their students’ exam prospects.
• Zhou Sheng said he had used his family’s and teachers’ connections to ensure no instructors would teach at the Academy in Jinxia or nearby areas.
• After the gathering, Zhou Sheng asked Liu Ruyan to speak with him privately.

Liu Ruyan feared becoming Zhou Sheng’s concubine and wondered whether the General Affairs Bureau would let a courtesan register as a reserve official. She slipped away to ask and learned that Lord Xia would decide the matter.

• Zhou Sheng told Liu Ruyan he planned to redeem her after her deflowering and take her as a concubine.
• Liu Ruyan heard the other courtesans praise her good fortune, but she worried about surrendering control of her life.
• Liu Ruyan wondered whether brothel women could register with the General Affairs Bureau because its rules did not exclude them.
• Liu Ruyan slipped away from the courtesans’ shopping group and asked the registration office whether she qualified.
• The young registrar said she would ask Lord Xia, who was at the Bureau of Military Affairs, and return with an answer.

Liu Ruyan registered to become a probationary official at the Affairs Bureau and remained determined to pursue the opportunity. When Zhou Sheng discovered her application, he struck her and accused her of defying him and making him lose face.

• A girl told Liu Ruyan she could register for the Affairs Bureau position, and Liu paid the fee and received a wooden tag from Lord Xia.
• Liu returned to Zuiqing Pavilion and kept the tag as proof that the opportunity was real.
• When the review results were announced, Liu asked an attendant to check the list for her name and gave him a note and payment.
• Zhou Sheng, Madam, and the proprietress confronted Liu with the note before she learned the result.
• Liu began to assert that she did not want to give up, but Zhou Sheng slapped her and accused her of deliberately defying him.

Liu Ruyan was beaten, chained, and imprisoned after refusing Zhou Sheng, who destroyed the wooden plaque she had received from a little girl. On the evening the Affairs Bureau training was due to end, a mysterious golden-eyed woman arrived at her window, apparently answering the promise associated with the plaque.

• Liu Ruyan refused Zhou Sheng’s demand to become his kept woman, and Zhou Sheng crushed the wooden plaque she treasured.
• Zhou Sheng paid the Madam to keep Liu Ruyan confined, and the matron whipped her for trying to escape.
• Liu Ruyan remained chained in her room, gathered the plaque’s broken pieces on the windowsill, and considered using a table corner to break free.
• Wild Cats gathered around Liu Ruyan’s window as a mysterious woman crossed the rooftops and landed on her windowsill.
• The golden-eyed woman told Liu Ruyan, “I found you,” reminding her of the little girl’s promise that the plaque would help.

Li rescued Liu Ruyan from Zuiqing Pavilion and brought her to the Affairs Bureau to continue her training. After Liu Ruyan escaped, Li Xing arrived at the brothel and accused Madam of unlawfully confining and abusing her.

• Li found Liu Ruyan using the scent on her wooden tag and confirmed that she still wanted to leave Zuiqing Pavilion.
• Li broke Liu Ruyan's ankle chain and carried her across the rooftops, with Wild Cats escorting them and a giant dog bringing them safely to an alley outside the brothel.
• Liu Ruyan thanked Li and the dog, and Li took her to the Affairs Bureau to make up her training.
• Granny reported Liu Ruyan's disappearance to Madam, who ordered everyone to search for her and punish her when they found her.
• Li Xing arrived at Zuiqing Pavilion and accused Madam of unlawfully confining, coercing, and abusing Liu Ruyan, an Affairs Bureau trainee.

Li Xing confronted Madam over Liu Ruyan’s confinement and warned her that new regulations would forbid brothels from restricting women’s freedom or punishing them privately. Liu Ruyan met Xia Fan and learned she had been selected as a probationary official.

• Li Xing told Madam that the Affairs Bureau had discovered Liu Ruyan’s confinement and dismissed her attempt to settle the matter with money.
• Li Xing showed Madam the new regulations and ordered her to inform every woman at Zuiqing Pavilion that redemption fees and deflowering rights could not be used to restrict or threaten them.
• Li led Liu Ruyan into the Bureau of Military Affairs’ central residence to meet Xia Fan.
• Xia Fan reviewed Liu Ruyan’s application and offered her a job at the Affairs Bureau.
• Xia Fan told Liu Ruyan she had been selected as a probationary official.

Xia Fan explained the Affairs Bureau’s duties and offered Liu Ruyan a position teaching at the Academy under the Education Plan. She accepted despite concerns about her past and qualifications, and left with a plan to study before classes began in one week.

• Xia Fan told Liu Ruyan that Affairs Bureau officials served the princess and the people, and she affirmed that she wanted the position.
• Xia Fan showed Liu Ruyan the Education Plan and revealed that she would teach, despite the opposition expected from local scholars.
• Liu Ruyan worried that her status and lack of examination credentials made her unfit to teach, but Xia Fan reassured her that she would not bear the burden alone.
• Xia Fan explained that Liu Ruyan would teach children to read and write and gave her an auxiliary textbook and the plan to study.
• Xia Fan arranged inexpensive, secure lodging for Liu Ruyan and asked Li to escort her there.

Xia Fan explained how Liu Ruyan’s departure from Zuiqing Pavilion could encourage other women to leave, while Li’s growing influence attracted a Cat Spirit. Two days later, Liu Ruyan settled into her new life and began studying for the Academy’s first lesson.

• Xia Fan told Shanhui and Li that Liu Ruyan’s example could help women leave Zuiqing Pavilion by showing them that the outside world offered a viable choice.
• A Cat Spirit followed Li, and Shanhui claimed her growing power could attract different kinds of Spirit Monsters.
• Li chased Shanhui after he praised her as a future leader of the Yao, while the Cat Spirit raced after them.
• Liu Ruyan enjoyed the freedom and meals at her new residence and resolved to work hard at the Academy, which would begin in five days.
• Liu Ruyan opened her supplementary textbook and began studying Pinyin.

Liu Ruyan studied the new Pinyin system and recognized its promise for teaching pronunciation. Outside Jinxia City, Hong Siqi faced a wave of refugees and tried to stop their advance as he began his mission to settle them.

• Liu Ruyan studied Pinyin and found that its symbols and tones made pronunciation easier to learn and annotate.
• Hong Siqi brought fewer than fifty people to Jinxia City's West Gate to carry out his first mission as prefect.
• Hong Siqi explained to Ding Pan that he needed to settle the refugees in a way that pleased the princess and Lord Xia, while preserving order and encouraging initiative.
• Hong Siqi announced that he had come by the princess's order to settle the refugees, but the crowd kept pressing toward him.
• Hong Siqi drew his sword, planted it in the ground, and threatened to cut off the legs of anyone who came closer.

Hong Siqi organized the first refugees arriving in Jinxia City, then used paid work to build a larger force to help manage the next wave. Six days later, he welcomed more than two thousand new refugees behind a line of recruited workers.

• Hong Siqi threatened disorderly refugees with his sword and ordered them to follow the Affairs Bureau’s rules to receive food and shelter.
• Ding Pan had refugees form separate lines and enter the camp in groups of ten, breaking up family clusters to reduce the risk of unrest.
• The Affairs Bureau registered refugees and distributed porridge, filling more than half the camp’s tents in one day.
• Hong Siqi offered successive rounds of daily-paid work, recruiting hundreds of refugees and building support for managing future arrivals.
• On the sixth day, Hong Siqi brought four hundred recruited workers to face a new wave of more than two thousand refugees, and Ding Pan welcomed them to Jinxia City.

Xia Fan praised Hong Siqi’s work organizing refugee reception while allowing him to keep collecting a limited referral fee for now. He appointed Wei Wushuang to lead a new Grain Department to secure grain for Jinxia City, then rode to the Mechanical Bureau to arrange work for refugees.

• Wei Wushuang reported that Hong Siqi had organized refugee reception and sought labor opportunities, including work connected to the Elves.
• Xia Fan and Wei Wushuang discussed Hong Siqi’s ten-percent referral fee, and Xia Fan decided not to confront him as long as he continued doing his assigned work.
• Xia Fan proposed creating a Grain Department to buy and reserve grain from other parts of Qi State before winter.
• Xia Fan appointed Wei Wushuang as head of the Grain Department, and Wei Wushuang accepted the responsibility.
• Xia Fan rode to the Mechanical Bureau to discuss using refugees as workers and helping them become permanent residents of Jinxia City.

Xia Fan visited Mo Yun’s Mechanical Bureau and saw her efficient production line for prefabricated housing, then learned that Sainiya had joined the city’s language lessons and wanted to deepen cooperation between the Tree Boat and Jinxia City. The chapter ended with Sainiya proposing an alliance in exchange for Jinxia City’s promise to defend the Tree Boat against The Empire.

• Xia Fan visited Mo Yun’s workshop and inspected a production line that used steel saws and the Heavenly Motion Instrument to manufacture house components quickly.
• Xia Fan praised Mo Yun’s gear transmission mechanism, and Mo Yun said Wanjun had recognized his appreciation for her talent.
• Sainiya arrived in work clothes and spoke with Xia Fan in the language of Qi State, explaining that she had joined the lessons.
• Sainiya told Xia Fan that Jinxia City’s technology had changed how she viewed the Tree Boat’s future and proposed that its magically gifted people help with the city’s construction.
• Sainiya asked Jinxia City to form an alliance and protect the Tree Boat when The Empire targeted the refugees from World Island.

Jinxia City’s scholars plotted to undermine Liu Ruyan’s appointment as an Academy instructor and challenge the Affairs Bureau’s recruitment practices. Zhou Sheng organized a campaign of criticism and rumors, intending to drive Liu Ruyan out and punish her for rejecting him.

• Young Master Hu urged the scholars to drive Liu Ruyan out of the Academy and revealed that he had learned her route home.
• Zhou Sheng argued that Liu Ruyan’s appointment masked a broader pattern of the Affairs Bureau rejecting candidates with imperial-examination backgrounds.
• Zhou Sheng proposed that the scholars obtain seats at the Academy’s lessons, find faults in Liu Ruyan’s teaching, and question her qualifications publicly.
• Zhou Sheng proposed spreading rumors that Liu Ruyan was having an affair with Xia Fan, and the scholars agreed to the plan.
• Zhou Sheng secretly resolved to make Liu Ruyan pay for betraying him once she was driven from the Affairs Bureau.

Jinxia Academy began its first day of classes while Zhou Sheng and a group of scholars watched from a nearby teahouse, hoping to challenge the Bureau of Military Affairs. The lessons confounded their expectations, and Xia Fan took the stage to teach Gewu in the afternoon.

• Zhou Sheng gathered scholars at a teahouse to prepare a public challenge against the Affairs Bureau and watched the Academy through Observation Mirrors.
• The scholars saw Liu Ruyan lead the children to eat breakfast before beginning the first lesson, and they dismissed the meal as grandstanding.
• A classroom record written in unfamiliar phonetic notation reached the teahouse, leaving Zhou Sheng and the scholars unable to understand Liu Ruyan's lesson.
• Mo Yun taught arithmetic using a method the observing scholar found unfamiliar but reasonable, deepening Zhou Sheng's unease.
• The Academy provided lunch, and the scholars failed to produce the arguments they had planned as afternoon classes began.
• Xia Fan, the Prefectural Assistant and creator of the Affairs Bureau, began teaching a course called Gewu.

At Xia Fan's lesson, he explained that air surrounded people like water surrounded fish, and that air had weight and could resist movement. He prepared to prove his claim with a glass cup, while Qian Yan recognized that his approach to Gewu differed from the old teachings.

• Qian Yan explained to Fang Xiandao that people had stopped discussing Gewu because its grand questions often led to empty speculation, and she said the Heavenly Dao was connected to Yong State's fall.
• Fang Yanni interrupted Qian Yan when she began to comment on the Fang family's succession, and the group turned to Xia Fan's lesson.
• Xia Fan asked the audience whether the square was spacious or crowded, then used their answers to introduce the idea that unseen air filled the space around them.
• Xia Fan described air as a medium that resisted movement, could form currents and wind, and had weight that pressed on people.
• Xia Fan placed a large glass cup on the podium to demonstrate his claims about air.