Chapter Summaries

Su Qiao awoke in the imperial court as a disgraced former noblewoman whose mind was impaired by a Marrow-Devouring Gu. As she pieced together her family’s downfall and her half-sister Empress Su Yue’s supposed kindness, she remained trapped in a miserable palace life.

• Su Qiao woke in a grand hall, noticed her lowly place and whip marks, and secretly ate a chicken leg.
• Su Qiao learned from 444 that a Marrow-Devouring Gu in her brain caused her headaches and impaired thinking, and that the Reinforcement Agent had not killed it.
• Su Qiao recalled that her half-sister, Empress Su Yue, had put the Gu inside her and vowed to retaliate.
• Su Qiao remembered that her father, Su Ruihe, had been imprisoned after corruption accusations and died in prison, while the family was exiled or executed.
• Su Yue had persuaded the emperor to spare Su Qiao and bring her into the palace, where Su Qiao lived in a poor courtyard beside the Cold Palace and often went hungry.

Su Qiao learned that the Marrow-Devouring Gu in her brain caused her pain whenever she thought, and that a Gu manual hidden in the Prime Minister's Estate might help her remove it. At the Young Emperor's birthday banquet, she recalled how Su Yue had humiliated her before and resolved to settle the score.

• Su Qiao asked Xiao Si about her headaches, and Xiao Si suspected the Reinforcement Agent had awakened the Marrow-Devouring Gu.
• Xiao Si told Su Qiao that she had hidden a copy of Myriad Poison Gu Scripture in the Prime Minister's Estate, which she could retrieve after the banquet.
• Su Qiao suspected Su Yue had sent her to the Imperial Palace to search for the Gu Manual and remembered that Su Yue had destroyed the Su family.
• Su Qiao recalled that at this birthday banquet in her previous life, she had been dragged out and beaten thirty times after the Bloodthirsty Gu made her act out.
• Su Qiao looked toward Su Yue and vowed to remember the public beating and repay the grudge.

At the Little Emperor’s birthday celebration, Su Qiao interrupted Daoist Priest He’s presentation of a Longevity Pill and warned that the pills contained her blood. The Regent, Ye Jinghua, questioned her claim that the pills could make people live like immortals, leaving Su Qiao captivated by his appearance and suspecting he was poisoned.

• Daoist Priest He presented the Longevity Pill, and the Empress praised its effects as ministers congratulated the Little Emperor.
• Su Qiao rushed out with a roast chicken and interrupted the celebration, prompting the Little Emperor to question what was happening.
• Su Qiao said she knew the pills could make people soar through the clouds and revealed that they contained her blood.
• Ye Jinghua entered the hall and asked Su Qiao how the pills let people live like immortals.
• Su Qiao admired Ye Jinghua’s appearance and wondered whether his pale face and red lips meant he was poisoned.

Ye Jinghua stopped the Emperor and Empress from silencing Su Qiao and invited her to explain what the Black Pills were, offering her roast chicken as a reward. Su Qiao bargained for three chickens and, reassured that the Regent would protect her, prepared to say more.

• Ye Jinghua interrupted the Emperor and ministers as they were about to reprimand Su Qiao, then asked whether the Emperor wanted to learn what the Black Pills did.
• Ye Beiyao agreed to hear Su Qiao's explanation, while Su Yue warned her not to speak nonsense.
• Ye Jinghua offered Su Qiao a roast chicken for explaining, and she bargained for three.
• Ye Jinghua rebuked Su Yue for trying to stop Su Qiao and said he would not punish her if her explanation was poor.
• Su Qiao called Ye Jinghua a good person and resolved that she could safely say more because he would protect her.

Su Qiao explained the dangers of the Black Pills to Ye Jinghua and exposed Su Yue’s attempt to dismiss her as mentally unwell. The chapter ended with Su Yue angrily correcting Su Qiao after she called her “Auntie.”

• Ye Jinghua questioned Su Qiao about the Black Pills while the ministers feared for her safety.
• Su Qiao explained that the pills eased pain but were poisonous and addictive, and could destroy a person’s will.
• Su Yue tried to silence Su Qiao and told Ye Jinghua that her younger sister was not right in the head.
• Su Qiao called Su Yue “Auntie,” and Su Yue angrily insisted that she was her older sister.

At the King’s birthday banquet, Su Qiao accused Su Yue of being her mother’s former maid and claimed she used bugs to stay young. Her warning that the bugs caused infertility left the court questioning why Su Yue had not conceived.

• Su Qiao identified Su Yue as Aunt Lian, her mother’s former maid, and described her black mole and jars of bugs.
• Su Yue blamed Su Qiao’s illness and asked that she be taken away, while Ye Jinghua invited Su Qiao to sit beside him and speak.
• Su Qiao asked Ye Jinghua to promise no one would beat her with a paddle, then called him a good person.
• Su Qiao said Su Yue must have eaten bugs that kept people young and warned they harmed the body and prevented children.
• The ministers exchanged glances and murmured about the bugs as Su Yue’s childlessness became a subject of suspicion.

Su Qiao derailed Su Yue’s attempt to portray her as insane, and Ye Jinghua stopped the palace maids from taking her away. After Su Qiao denied knowing whether the Black Pills were addictive, Ye Jinghua ordered three roast chickens for her.

• Su Yue blamed herself for failing to discipline Su Qiao and persuaded the Emperor to believe her while ordering her maids to take Su Qiao for an examination.
• Ye Jinghua intervened and insisted that Su Qiao’s behavior be treated as entertainment for the Emperor’s birthday.
• Ye Jinghua asked Su Qiao whether the Black Pills were addictive, and she said her mother had told her not to touch them.
• Su Qiao asked for roast chicken, and Ye Jinghua ordered the Imperial Kitchen to make her three.

At the banquet, Su Qiao suffered a sudden attack of agonizing head pain, and Ye Jinghua carried her out to summon an imperial physician. The Emperor let the Empress go after them and accepted Daoist Priest He's gift, while Su Yue failed to stop Ye Jinghua.

• Ye Jinghua asked Su Qiao if she could eat more, and she insisted she would not waste the roast chicken.
• Su Qiao recalled that someone had told her not to waste food, then suffered a severe headache that she believed Su Yue had triggered with the gu in her head.
• Ye Jinghua noticed Su Qiao's pain, ordered Xun Feng to summon the imperial physician, and carried her out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
• Su Yue and Ye Jinghua's eunuch tried to persuade him to let someone else carry Su Qiao, but Ye Jinghua ignored them and left with her.
• The Emperor concealed his displeasure, allowed the Empress to go after Su Qiao, and accepted Daoist Priest He's gift.

Su Qiao suffered severe pain from a gu in her head, but Chief Physician Yu could not identify or treat it. Ye Jinghua suspected the Empress Dowager had sent the gu that afflicted him years ago, and the chapter left him preparing to confront the danger.

• Su Yue asked Ye Beiyao whether the ministers' daughters should perform, choosing not to pursue Su Qiao herself.
• Chief Physician Yu examined Su Qiao and found signs of weakness and poor nourishment, but could not explain the burrowing sensation in her head.
• Su Qiao realized she would need to investigate the gu herself and asked Ye Jinghua for her roast chicken.
• Ye Jinghua comforted Su Qiao, confirmed her roast chickens were safe, and watched her fall asleep.
• Xun Feng reported that Su Qiao appeared to have been afflicted with a gu, and Ye Jinghua suspected the Empress Dowager had caused it.

Ye Jinghua refused to let Su Qiao treat him yet, and Ye Beiyao secretly ordered an investigation into the Empress. Back in her shabby courtyard, Su Qiao learned that removing the Gu in her head required rare ingredients and a Gu King she could not currently obtain.

• Ye Jinghua told Xun Feng to wait before seeking treatment, explaining that the poison he had taken had mutated the Gu and that he did not trust Su Qiao with his life.
• Ye Jinghua ordered Xun Feng to send the sleeping Su Qiao back to her courtyard with her three roast chickens.
• Ye Beiyao summoned a hidden guard and secretly ordered an investigation into the Empress's background.
• Su Qiao woke in her shabby room, lit an oil lamp with 444's guidance, and found that she had no water.
• Su Qiao cultivated for two hours, then told 444 that removing the Gu required medicinal ingredients and a Gu King she could not access, so she needed to strengthen her martial arts.

Su Qiao searched her neglected courtyard and found poisonous herbs, then secretly hypnotized Nanny Gui to stir up an investigation into Su Yue’s background. She expected the Little Emperor’s suspicions to expose the story behind Su Yue’s sudden return and rise to Empress.

• Su Qiao woke after a restless night and found her courtyard overgrown and neglected.
• Su Qiao searched the weeds and found several rare poisonous herbs near the abandoned well.
• Su Qiao asked 444 to locate Nanny Gui and went out by a remote path.
• Su Qiao hypnotized Nanny Gui, hoping the Little Emperor’s investigation into Su Yue would uncover her background.
• Su Qiao recalled that the Su Prime Minister’s Estate had never acknowledged an eldest daughter, despite Su Yue returning after the estate was sealed and becoming Empress.

Su Qiao returned to her courtyard, endured the palace maids’ cold treatment, and cultivated until midnight. When an intruder climbed through her window, he revealed himself as her long-lost biological brother, Su Baiwen.

• Su Qiao decided she would make the Little Emperor believe Daoist He’s claim about her family relationship and returned to her courtyard.
• Two palace maids ignored Su Qiao and left, but she chose not to confront them.
• Su Qiao shut herself in, ate roast chicken, and cultivated until midnight.
• Little Four warned Su Qiao that someone was climbing through her window, and she prepared to attack the intruder.
• Su Baiwen revealed himself as Su Qiao’s brother, and Little Four confirmed that they shared the same mother.

Su Qiao confirmed that Su Baiwen was her older brother, and he explained why he had been absent since the fall of the Su family. He revealed that he had trained in martial arts for two years and had secretly entered the Imperial Palace to rescue her.

• Su Qiao confirmed Su Baiwen was her brother and told him her memories were unclear and thinking made her head hurt.
• Su Baiwen accused Su Yue of poisoning Su Qiao and tried to lead her out of the palace, but she asked how they would escape.
• Su Baiwen explained that he had been away roaming the martial world and had returned too late to save their father and family two years earlier.
• Su Baiwen said he had used money from the childhood Small Basement to buy a Peerless Secret Manual and trained in the mountains for a year and a half.
• Su Baiwen claimed he had spent six more months defeating Martial Arts Masters before breaking into the Imperial Palace to reach Su Qiao.

Su Qiao reunited with her older brother Su Baiwen, who had escaped and learned martial arts, and discovered he blamed the emperor, Su Yue, and Prince Jing for their father’s downfall. The siblings shared food and discussed training, while Su Qiao defended Prince Jing and worried over her brother’s accusations.

• Su Baiwen tried to prove his martial arts by climbing out the window, but Su Qiao stopped him and warned him to stay quiet.
• Su Qiao gave Su Baiwen roast chicken, and he ate after learning she had kept some for herself.
• Su Baiwen showed Su Qiao his martial arts manual and proposed that they train together and take revenge on their enemies.
• Su Baiwen accused Prince Jing of helping frame their father, while Su Qiao said Prince Jing was a good person.

Su Qiao warned Su Baiwen not to practice the Martial Arts Manual he had bought and promised him a more powerful one. She explained that a Gu Worm planted by Su Yue kept her from leaving the capital, so she needed to find a way to remove it first.

• Su Qiao reassured Su Baiwen that Prince Jing had treated her kindly, but Su Baiwen spat out the roast chicken because he feared it had been poisoned.
• Su Qiao urged Su Baiwen to stop practicing his Martial Arts Manual, and he insisted it was the best because he had paid forty thousand taels of silver for it.
• Su Qiao persuaded Su Baiwen to switch to a manual supposedly stolen from the Dog Emperor's treasury and worth one hundred thousand taels of gold.
• Su Baiwen asked why Su Qiao would not leave with him, and she explained that Su Yue had placed a Gu Worm in her head that could kill her if she left the capital.

Su Baiwen told Su Qiao that their mother had been the Saintess of Peach Blossom Valley and gave her the Myriad Poison Gu Scripture, which could help her deal with the mother gu. Su Qiao memorized the book and burned it to keep it out of Su Yue and He Zhou’s hands, promising to copy it after they escaped the Imperial Palace.

• Su Baiwen said their mother had been the Saintess of Peach Blossom Valley and admitted he had been unable to find the valley.
• Su Baiwen gave Su Qiao the Myriad Poison Gu Scripture their mother had left for her.
• Su Qiao had Little Four scan the scripture and memorized its contents.
• Su Qiao burned the scripture because Su Yue and He Zhou were also searching for it.
• Su Qiao promised Su Baiwen she would copy the scripture after they left the Imperial Palace.

Su Qiao sent Su Baiwen to gather medicinal ingredients to remove the gu in her mind while warning him not to target Prince Jing. After noticing Ye Jinghua had followed her brother, she learned he had secretly helped cover up Su Baiwen’s visit, and Ye Jinghua questioned whether Su Qiao was truly insane.

• Su Qiao gave Su Baiwen a list of medicinal ingredients and warned him not to cause trouble for Prince Jing.
• Su Baiwen left through the window, and Su Qiao told 444 that her brother probably would not reach Ye Jinghua before being killed.
• Su Qiao realized Ye Jinghua had followed Su Baiwen and confronted 444 for failing to tell her sooner.
• At Heavenly Heart Palace, Ye Jinghua ordered Xun Feng to lead the secret guards away from Su Baiwen.
• Xun Feng remarked that Su Qiao did not seem insane, and Ye Jinghua suspected the gu in her mind caused her madness.

Ye Beiyao investigated Su Yue’s background and had Nanny Gui brought to the palace for questioning. Su Qiao learned through 444 that the interrogation was underway and watched as Ye Beiyao confronted Nanny Gui about the Empress’s origins.

• Ye Jinghua told Xun Feng to keep searching for Peach Blossom Valley and secretly provide Su Qiao’s foolish brother with the medicinal ingredients he needed.
• A secret guard told Ye Beiyao that Li Xiaolian had once served Prime Minister Su’s wife, later gave birth to a girl named Su Yue, and had been helped by Nanny Gui.
• Ye Beiyao ordered Nanny Gui brought to him without alerting anyone.
• Su Qiao studied the Myriad Poison Gu Scripture, and 444 told her that Ye Beiyao had secretly abducted Nanny Gui to investigate Su Yue’s background.
• Ye Beiyao questioned Nanny Gui about the Empress’s origins and his suspicions about her connection to Daoist Priest He.

Ye Beiyao interrogated Nanny Gui after discovering her account of the Empress Dowager's origins was false. Nanny Gui revealed that Su Prime Minister's wife had given birth to a girl named Su Yue who died at birth, then claimed the Madam knew strange things and raised insects, leaving Ye Beiyao furious.

• Ye Beiyao confronted Nanny Gui with evidence that Su Prime Minister's Estate had never had a Concubine Li.
• Ye Beiyao threatened to bring Nanny Gui's son to force her to tell the truth, and she begged him not to hurt the boy.
• Nanny Gui admitted that the Madam had given birth to a girl named Su Yue, but the baby died at birth after the Madam was poisoned.
• Nanny Gui claimed the Madam had strange abilities and raised insects, and Ye Beiyao kicked her away and demanded that she repeat herself.

Su Qiao manipulated Nanny Gui into revealing that the Empress Dowager was Madam, then Nanny Gui died after begging Ye Beiyao to spare her son. Su Qiao explained how her poison worked, while Ye Jingcheng realized Su Yue was not the person she appeared to be and ordered Ye Jinghua's tracks cleaned up.

• Nanny Gui revealed that the Empress Dowager was Madam and begged Ye Beiyao to spare her son, but she died after slamming her head against a wall.
• Ye Beiyao vomited in shock after learning that the woman he had loved was an older woman.
• Su Qiao told 444 that Nanny Gui's poison had taken effect when it mixed with the dragon salvia incense used by the Little Emperor.
• Ye Jingcheng learned that Su Yue was not the Su Yue he had expected and found the hidden plot interesting.
• Ye Jinghua stopped Xun Feng from capturing the Empress and ordered him to clean up her tracks.