Chapter Summaries

Jiang Hao accompanied Zhou Xinyan to Xinlan Technology Company’s outdoor gathering, where he met her managers and watched Gao Tian arrive with Heichuan. Jiang Hao and Zhou Xinyan spent the morning riding and taking photos before joining a colleague’s family for a lakeside barbecue.

• Jiang Hao and Zhou Xinyan greeted Manager Tao, Manager Zhang, and Manager Yu, and Manager Yu noticed Jiang Hao’s expensive-looking watch.
• Gao Tian saw Jiang Hao at the gathering, while Heichuan urged him in Japanese not to give up pursuing Zhou Xinyan.
• Jiang Hao and Zhou Xinyan chose horses, rode to a flower-covered hillside, took pictures, and chatted before heading back for lunch.
• At the lakeside barbecue, Zhou Xinyan introduced Jiang Hao to Zhang An'an and her family, and Zhang An'an advised Zhou Xinyan to hold on to her young boyfriend.

Jiang Hao entertained the children with magic before joining the afternoon horse-racing competition. After overhearing Gao Tian and Kurokawa Kenta plan to knock him off his horse, he used his animal communication ability to calm the horses and chose Number 19 for the race.

• Jiang Hao performed coin tricks that amazed the children and gathered a crowd of parents.
• General Manager Zhang announced horse-racing and mahjong competitions, and Jiang Hao signed up for the race.
• Jiang Hao overheard Gao Tian and Kurokawa Kenta plotting to box him in and knock him off his horse during the race.
• Jiang Hao used his animal communication ability to connect with horses Numbers 17 and 23, then chose Number 19 for the competition.
• Jiang Hao asked Zhou Xinyan about Kurokawa Kenta, and she identified him as a Japanese process supervisor and Gao Tian's friend.

Jiang Hao won the horse race with Zhou Xinyan, while Gao Tian and Heichuan were badly injured after their horses fell. After driving Zhou Xinyan home, Jiang Hao parted from her, and she reflected on her growing admiration for him.

• Jiang Hao used his close understanding with his horse to overtake the other riders and win the race, despite Gao Tian and Heichuan trying to crowd him out.
• Gao Tian whipped his horse, which reared and fell on him; Heichuan's horse also fell, leaving Gao Tian unconscious and Heichuan with a fractured thigh.
• Vice President Zhang arranged for an ambulance, and Gao Tian and Heichuan were taken to the hospital as the gathering ended.
• Zhou Xinyan told Jiang Hao that Gao Tian had broken six ribs and Heichuan had fractured his thigh, while Jiang Hao privately revealed he had understood their Japanese conversation.
• Jiang Hao declined Zhou Xinyan's invitation for coffee, joked about getting a free girlfriend, and reminded her to bring Little Lark the next morning.
• At home, Zhou Xinyan thought about Jiang Hao's good qualities, looked through the photos she had taken of them, and blushed.

Jiang Hao accepted a mission to collect treasures from Prince Ning’s Jueshi Lou and spent the night studying the story and Ming Dynasty history to prepare. He began putting his plans into action by signing up for calligraphy lessons and buying reference books.

• Jiang Hao accepted the system’s mission to collect 100 treasures from Prince Ning’s Jueshi Lou, with greater rewards for collecting more.
• Jiang Hao watched the available film versions, read the original novel, and decided to study Ming history, classical Chinese, calligraphy, and other subjects before entering the mission world.
• After staying up all night studying, Jiang Hao met Zhou Xinyan for a morning run, and Little Lark joined them.
• Jiang Hao slept until noon, then signed up for a calligraphy class and bought books about Ming history, Zhengde-era events, and related subjects.

Jiang Hao prepared for a mission by studying Ming history and literature and training in combat, then entered the life of a young scholar named Jiang Hao Runyu in Zhengde-era Nanchang. He woke in his new identity and learned that he had little wealth left, with only Uncle Fu to care for him.

• Jiang Hao studied Ming history, poetry, and other subjects while practicing combat and weapon skills for more than a month.
• Jiang Hao accepted the mission and received the memories of the scholar he had replaced.
• Jiang Hao learned that his new identity, Jiang Hao Runyu, was a nineteen-year-old scholar whose parents had died and whose mourning periods had delayed his examinations.
• Jiang Hao assessed his family’s reduced circumstances: the shop and most of the land were gone, leaving only a home, twenty mu of land, and Uncle Fu.
• Uncle Fu knocked to tell Jiang Hao that breakfast was ready, and Jiang Hao opened the door to greet him.

Jiang Hao assessed his skills and financial situation, then decided to earn money by offering ink portraits from memory. He advertised his service in a public garden, where a curious crowd questioned his claim of memorizing a sitter’s appearance in ten breaths.

• Jiang Hao ate breakfast with Uncle Fu and reflected on his eidetic memory, scholarly knowledge, and need to improve the family’s finances.
• Jiang Hao considered teaching, copying texts, writing novels, and selling calligraphy or paintings before settling on offering portraits from memory.
• Jiang Hao wrote an advertisement promising an ink portrait after observing a sitter for ten breaths, then dressed and left home.
• Jiang Hao spread his advertisement in a public garden on East Street, where passersby recognized him as the former child prodigy Jiang Runyu.
• Jiang Hao explained that he would memorize a sitter’s appearance and paint the portrait at home for collection the next day, prompting someone to ask whether he had eidetic memory.

Jiang Hao used his claimed Eidetic Memory to attract attention and sell a portrait, hoping to build a reputation and catch the Prince of Ning’s interest. After completing Boss Zou’s portrait, he returned to East Street the next morning to find a crowd already waiting.

• Jiang Hao set up his portrait stall, charged one tael of silver per painting, and claimed he could memorize a person’s appearance after ten breaths.
• Boss Zou paid for a portrait, and Jiang Hao studied him for ten breaths before promising to finish the painting by the next day.
• Boss Zou explained to his clerk that he bought the portrait to build a connection with Jiang Hao, whom he expected to rise in status.
• Jiang Hao returned home, painted Boss Zou’s portrait with a lifelike style and flattering touches, then considered the Prince of Ning and his ambitions.
• Jiang Hao went back to the pavilion on East Street the next morning and found many people had gathered.

Jiang Hao’s lifelike portraits made him famous throughout Nanchang, drawing a growing line of customers and attracting attention. The chapter ended with a matchmaker offering him marriage to Boss Cao’s daughter, along with a lavish dowry.

• Jiang Hao showed Boss Zou a lifelike portrait and explained that he used a painting style of his own creation.
• Jiang Hao accepted portrait commissions, limited his work to three customers a day, and left after studying the next two clients.
• Jiang Hao finished the portraits at home, and customers continued praising his paintings as his reputation spread through Nanchang.
• A matchmaker visited Jiang Hao and offered him Boss Cao’s eighteen-year-old daughter, describing her virtues and the thousand-tael dowry, farmland, and silk shop storefront.

Jiang Hao rejected several marriage proposals and continued earning money through his painting while studying for the Imperial Examination. He met Wei Yangsheng, who invited him to paint beauties at Ling Neng Temple, giving Jiang Hao a possible route toward meeting the Prince of Ning.

• Jiang Hao rejected a proposed match with the Cao family and turned away several more matchmakers.
• Jiang Hao became well known in Nanchang for his Eidetic Memory and earned money painting portraits on East Street.
• Wei Yangsheng approached Jiang Hao, introduced himself as a fellow student, and asked to learn about his painting.
• Wei Yangsheng treated Jiang Hao to wine at Hua Man Lou and suggested they visit Ling Neng Temple to see young ladies and newlywed wives.

Jiang Hao joined Wei Yangsheng and his companions for a spring outing on a Painted Boat, where he met men connected to Prince Ning and watched Miss Miaoyin perform. After declining to compose a poem, he painted Miaoyin’s portrait to demonstrate his talent, leaving the group impressed by his work.

• Wei Yangsheng invited Jiang Hao to tour the Gan River on a Painted Boat with several friends.
• Jiang Hao met Jian Yuheng, Wen Ziran, Shangguan Shen, and Zhang Jiansheng, and recognized Shangguan Shen and Zhang Jiansheng from the story he knew.
• Shangguan Shen recited a poem, but Jiang Hao declined Jian Yuheng’s request to compose one.
• Wei Yangsheng invited Miss Miaoyin to perform, and she played the pipa and sang for the guests.
• At Wei Yangsheng’s urging, Jiang Hao painted a vivid portrait of Miss Miaoyin.

Jiang Hao impressed the guests on the Painted Boat with a portrait of Miss Miaoyin, then rejected Wei Yangsheng’s proposal to report Prince Ning to The Court. He left the gathering convinced Wei’s plan would only bring disaster and that Prince Ning would fall only when his own ambitions drove him to rebel.

• Jiang Hao painted a lifelike portrait of Miaoyin, and she praised it and asked to keep it in exchange for waiving his expenses.
• Miaoyin accepted Jiang Hao’s gift and hinted that she would welcome him back, while the others teased him before they drank and talked.
• Wei Yangsheng urged the scholars to jointly submit a memorial against Prince Ning, but the others tried to stop him from discussing politics.
• Wei Yangsheng asked Jiang Hao to join his effort, and Jiang Hao advised the group to focus on their studies and leave state affairs to The Court.
• Jiang Hao returned home and reasoned that Prince Ning’s connections made Wei Yangsheng’s plan futile, and that Prince Ning would be defeated only after rebelling for the throne.

Miaoyin’s portrait by Jiang Hao attracted many customers to Baixiang Tower and made him famous among Nanchang’s courtesans as Young Master Runyu. A month later, Wei Yangsheng and Zhang Jiansheng invited Jiang Hao to see Tie Yuxiang, the famously beautiful daughter of Daoist Tie Fei.

• Miaoyin hung Jiang Hao’s portrait in Baixiang Tower, where it drew several guests eager to reserve her.
• Courtesans from Baixiang Tower paid Jiang Hao to paint their portraits, and he agreed to make only three each day for one tael of silver apiece.
• Jiang Hao’s portraits helped the courtesans attract customers, spreading his fame and earning him the name Young Master Runyu.
• After a month in Nanchang, Jiang Hao continued reading in his courtyard when Wei Yangsheng and Zhang Jiansheng came to invite him out.
• Wei Yangsheng told Jiang Hao that Daoist Tie Fei was seeking a son-in-law for his eighteen-year-old daughter, Tie Yuxiang, famed for her beauty.
• Jiang Hao recognized Tie Yuxiang from his memories and pictured her as a woman of extraordinary beauty.

Jiang Hao accompanied Wei Yangsheng and Zhang Jiansheng to visit Daoist Tie Fei, where he impressed their host with his knowledge of the Tao. Daoist Tie Fei sent for Tie Yuxiang, who initially dismissed the visitors as likely ugly men without meeting them.

• Wei Yangsheng dragged Jiang Hao and Zhang Jiansheng along to visit the Tie Family and see whether Tie Yuxiang was as beautiful as people claimed.
• Daoist Tie Fei welcomed the three young men and tested them on Confucian classics and their views on the Tao.
• Jiang Hao answered Daoist Tie Fei's questions impressively, and Tie Fei praised his learning while advising him to stop painting portraits of women from brothels.
• Wei Yangsheng asked Daoist Tie Fei to let Tie Yuxiang meet them, and Tie Fei sent Yue Rong to summon her.
• Yue Rong told Xianglan that Jiang Hao was especially handsome, but Tie Yuxiang refused to meet the visitors, assuming they were ugly.

Miss Tie learned that Jiang Hao, Jiang Runyu, had come to visit her father and secretly saw him, becoming captivated by his appearance. When Daoist Tie Fei asked the three visitors to marry into the Tie Family, Jiang Hao refused, leaving Tie Yuxiang heartbroken.

• After hearing Yue Rong praise Jiang Hao, Miss Tie climbed a ladder to secretly look at him and then decided to meet him after changing clothes.
• Tie Yuxiang joined her father and the three visitors, and her gaze lingered shyly on Jiang Hao.
• Daoist Tie Fei explained that he wanted a son-in-law to join the Tie Family and asked whether the visitors would accept the arrangement.
• Wei Yangsheng and Zhang Jiansheng agreed to marry into the family, but Jiang Hao refused because he wanted to preserve the Jiang Family line.
• Tie Yuxiang's smile faded into sorrow after Jiang Hao declined.

Jiang Hao rejected the Tie Family’s offer to marry Tie Yuxiang, leaving her heartbroken, while he bought a young Hunting Falcon and three orioles and collected weapons from a blacksmith. The next morning, Xianglan suggested that Tie Yuxiang secretly visit Jiang Hao, and her spirits lifted at the idea.

• Jiang Hao refused to become the Tie Family’s live-in son-in-law, and Tie Yuxiang left the hall in sadness.
• Daoist Tie Fei dismissed Wei Yangsheng and Zhang Jiansheng, who lamented that Jiang Hao’s involvement had ruined their chances with Tie Yuxiang.
• Xianglan comforted Tie Yuxiang, who worried that Jiang Hao had rejected her because he did not want to marry into the family and that her father would be left alone.
• Jiang Hao bought a young Hunting Falcon and three orioles from an old farmer, then collected a Tang Saber and two daggers from a blacksmith.
• After Tie Yuxiang remained lovesick the next morning, Xianglan proposed that they secretly go see Jiang Hao, and Tie Yuxiang eagerly agreed.

Miss Tie Yuxiang arranged to have Jiang Hao paint her portrait, and he produced a vivid likeness that left her entranced. The portrait reached her desk at the Tie residence, where she admired it with Xianglan.

• Miss Tie used a visit to Ling Neng Temple as an excuse to leave home and directed her sedan chair toward East Street.
• Jiang Hao practiced with his saber, cared for his orioles and young falcon Little Eagle, and went to the street pavilion to paint.
• Miss Tie secretly watched Jiang Hao and sent Xianglan to commission a portrait, revealing her name as Tie Yuxiang.
• Jiang Hao agreed to paint Yuxiang from memory and completed a portrait titled "The Portrait of Yuxiang."
• A Tie household retainer delivered the portrait, and Yuxiang admired it while Xianglan praised its beauty.

Miss Tie secretly feigned a hunger strike over her feelings for Jiang Hao, prompting Daoist Tie Fei to summon him and offer a compromise that would let them marry without Jiang Hao formally joining the Tie family. Jiang Hao left the Tie residence realizing Daoist Tie Fei had treated his agreement to visit as consent to marry Yu Xiang, though he was not opposed to the match.

• Miss Tie became ill from pent-up emotions, and Doctor Li told Daoist Tie Fei that easing her heartache was necessary for her recovery.
• Xiang Lan explained that Miss Tie had been distressed since meeting Jiang Hao and after drawing an unlucky fortune at Ling Neng Temple.
• Miss Tie pretended to refuse food while Daoist Tie Fei was nearby, then ate eagerly once he had left.
• Daoist Tie Fei sent a retainer to invite Jiang Hao to the Tie residence, where he asked what Jiang Hao thought of Yu Xiang and why he would not marry her.
• Daoist Tie Fei offered to let Jiang Hao marry Yu Xiang if he spent several months each year at the Tie residence and later adopted a child into the Tie family; Jiang Hao agreed to the visits.
• Daoist Tie Fei declared the marriage settled and sent Jiang Hao away to prepare for the proposal, while Jiang Hao privately considered that he was willing to marry Yu Xiang.

Jiang Hao and Tie Yuxiang’s families agreed to their marriage after Jiang Hao accepted Daoist Tie Fei’s conditions, and the formal Six Rites began. The engagement news spread, and Jiang Hao’s friends visited to congratulate him.

• Jiang Hao asked Uncle Fu to find a matchmaker and propose to the Tie Family, and Madam Song soon secured Tie Yuxiang’s birth horoscope.
• Xianglan told Tie Yuxiang that Jiang Hao had accepted Daoist Tie Fei’s conditions, including letting her stay at the Tie residence and adopting a child into the Tie Family.
• Tie Yuxiang learned that Daoist Tie Fei had accepted the Jiang Family’s proposal and brought tea to her father, promising to visit and keep him company.
• Jiang Hao stopped painting at the pavilion while he prepared the wedding, and news of his engagement to Tie Yuxiang spread through the city.
• Wei Yangsheng, Jian Yuheng, Wen Ziran, Shangguan Shen, and Zhang Jiansheng visited Jiang Hao to congratulate him, and Wei Yangsheng asked how Daoist Tie Fei had agreed to marry off his daughter.

Jiang Hao and Tie Yuxiang exchanged letters by oriole while preparing for their wedding, then married at the Jiang residence. The chapter ended with Jiang Hao and Tie Yuxiang alone in the bridal chamber.

• Daoist Tie set the wedding for the following month and gave Jiang Hao two thousand taels to prepare for the expenses.
• Jiang Hao renovated the Jiang residence and used an oriole to deliver a love letter to Tie Yuxiang.
• Tie Yuxiang sent a poem in reply, and the two exchanged messages through the bird.
• More than a month later, Tie Yuxiang married Jiang Hao, who got Wei Yangsheng, Jian Yuheng, and the other guests drunk.
• Jiang Hao and Tie Yuxiang shared their wedding-night rituals before he set aside the illustrated booklet and carried her to the bed.

After completing the final wedding ritual, Jiang Hao and Tie Yuxiang spent the day together, and he shared his secret ability to tame birds and beasts. The newlyweds ended the day playfully as Uncle Fu listened nearby, hoping for a new addition to the Jiang family next year.

• Jiang Hao and Tie Yuxiang kowtowed and offered incense to Jiang Hao’s parents, then stayed in their room after breakfast.
• Tie Yuxiang told Jiang Hao she had feigned lovesickness to persuade her father to approve their marriage, and Jiang Hao teased her with strange supposed cures.
• Jiang Hao revealed that he could tame birds and beasts and introduced Tie Yuxiang to his Hunting Falcon, Little Eagle.
• Jiang Hao told Tie Yuxiang the names of the three orioles and promised to teach her to command them.
• Jiang Hao carried Tie Yuxiang toward their room to enforce his jokingly invented family rules while Uncle Fu listened and smiled.