Recaps

Wen Hong concluded that Qing Lan was secretly using Yin Yinyin’s identity and went to meet the supposed White-Haired Assassin. The meeting ended with Le Yu appearing in disguise, while Wen Hong mistook him for Yin Yinyin.

• Wen Hong rebuffed the fruit-stall auntie’s matchmaking suggestions and headed to her meeting with Yin Yinyin.
• Wen Hong combined Yin Minghong’s suspicions with Mu Qingmei’s experience and decided Qing Lan was Yin Yinyin, imagining a tragic romance between Qing Lan and the dead assassin.
• Wen Hong arrived at a women’s clothing store near Radiant Bell Tower, where a veiled young woman pulled her into a changing room.
• Le Yu revealed his white hair and explained that he was wearing the disguise for the meeting.
• Wen Hong declared that Le Yu was Yin Yinyin, leaving him stunned by her assumption.

Le Yu disguised himself as Yin Yinyin to meet Wen Hong, keeping White Night from connecting him to Jing Zhengwei. Wen Hong told him White Night had run into trouble and needed his advice or help.

• Le Yu reasoned that White Night suspected Yin Yinyin was hiding in the Jing family and decided to keep them from linking him to Jing Zhengwei.
• Le Yu disguised himself as a woman and met Wen Hong, who believed he was Yin Yinyin.
• Le Yu joked that he had expected Yin Minghong to come, and Wen Hong teased him about his plan to frighten Yin Minghong in a changing room.
• Le Yu switched to a woman's voice at Wen Hong's request, and Wen Hong became more warmly familiar with him.
• Wen Hong told Le Yu that White Night had run into trouble and needed his advice or help.

Le Yu learned that White Night’s glass factory was threatened by a coordinated wage-cutting campaign led by the Jing family, whose worker promotion system had won over its employees. He encouraged Wen Hong to target machinery at factories owned by all four Jing brothers, including Jing Zhengwei’s, without realizing she mistook him for Jing Zhengwei’s abused companion, Qing Lan.

• Wen Hong explained that the Jing family and other merchant associations had cut wages and introduced worker ranks, putting White Night’s new glass factory under pressure from rival factories.
• Wen Hong said Jing Zhengwu, Jing Zhengtang, and Jing Zhengfeng were leading the wage cuts, while the Jing family’s workers accepted them because the rank system offered promotions and benefits.
• Wen Hong asked whether Le Yu could influence Jing Zhengwei to accuse his brothers and stop the campaign; she mistook Le Yu’s scars for signs of abuse and believed he was Qing Lan.
• Le Yu argued that White Night should destroy the Jing family’s factory machinery rather than merely burn its goods, and Wen Hong agreed to discuss the plan.
• Le Yu insisted that White Night should also attack Jing Zhengwei’s factory, and Wen Hong promised that White Night would do so, believing she was helping Qing Lan take revenge.

Le Yu planned to use White Night to strike at his brothers’ factories, drawing on Jing Zhengwei’s collected intelligence, while his influence changed the atmosphere at the newspaper office. The chapter ended with Le Yu discovering Qing Lan’s spirited defense of the newspaper’s risqué cover.

• Le Yu agreed to provide Wen Hong with factory-defense intelligence and decided to target his brothers’ factories using information Jing Zhengwei had gathered.
• Le Yu teased Mu Qingmei at the newspaper office, and his public comments led the staff to assume she liked him.
• Mu Qingmei used the fear of Jing Zhengwei’s influence to confront Zhang Dayi and improve her standing at work.
• Qing Lan explained that she was replying to readers who criticized the newspaper’s cover image.
• Le Yu read Qing Lan’s draft defending the female figure on the cover and sprayed out his drink.

Le Yu told Qing Lan to turn criticism of Youth Newspaper into a deliberate flame war by portraying complaints as the resentment of poor people against the Upper Class. He revealed that he wanted to deepen class awareness and hasten an uprising, then called himself the snowflake at the front of the coming avalanche.

• Qing Lan explained that she had answered criticism of the newspaper’s cover by accusing its critics of discriminating against women, and Le Yu praised her tactic.
• After reading a letter that criticized his own writing, Le Yu told Qing Lan to dismiss the newspaper’s critics as poor, inexperienced, lazy losers.
• Le Yu explained that provoking angry readers would draw attention and increase sales, while framing the newspaper’s insults as the Upper Class looking down on the poor.
• Le Yu revealed that he intended to direct public anger toward class conflict and awaken the poor to the divide between rich and poor.
• Qing Lan asked whether Le Yu himself belonged to the Upper Class, and he called himself the snowflake at the front of an approaching avalanche.

Jing Zhengwei took command during a violent assault on Half-City’s factories, organizing rescue and firefighting while promising rewards to helpers. By dawn, his name was known throughout Profound Candle Prefecture, but Le Yu blamed Jing Zhengwu and the others for dragging the Jing family and other merchant associations into disaster.

• Old Man Lu heard gunfire and explosions as attackers stormed the Jing family's steelworks and set the factory district ablaze.
• Jing Zhengwei arrived with armed guards and ordered the factories to abandon pursuit, treat the wounded, and put out the fires.
• Jing Zhengwei directed workers to tackle nearby fires first and promised rewards to anyone who helped rescue people or fight the flames.
• By dawn, Jing Zhengwei had become known throughout Profound Candle Prefecture.
• Le Yu entered the Jing family council chamber and accused Jing Zhengwu and the others of endangering the Jing family and the other merchant associations.

Le Yu confronted his brothers over the factory arson and warned that their wage-cutting reform was endangering the Jing family’s standing with the Silver Blood Society. Jing Qingfu revealed that the other major chambers supported continuing the reform and ordered Le Yu to lead a Half-City Patrol Team, leaving him wary of the role.

• Le Yu accused Jing Zhengwu, Jing Zhengfeng, and Jing Zhengtang of causing the factory attacks by pushing wage cuts, then slapped Jing Zhengfeng after he insulted Le Yu’s woman.
• Jing Zhengwu challenged Le Yu’s account of the night of the arson, while Le Yu argued that the wage cuts had turned the Jing family’s business allies against them.
• Le Yu urged the family to abandon the reform, but Jing Zhengfeng proposed guarding the factories instead, and Jing Qingfu said the other four major chambers wanted the campaign to continue.
• Jing Qingfu announced that the Silver Blood Society would fund a Half-City Patrol Team and assigned Le Yu to take charge of one.

Le Yu attended the Silver Blood Society’s younger-generation meeting, discovering that forming the Half-City Patrol Team was also a contest for influence and future leadership. Qin Leyin confronted him about his apparent wish to kill everyone there, while Le Yu remained guarded.

• Le Yu arrived at Heavenly Mansion Restaurant to represent the Jing Family at the Half-City Patrol Team meeting, where the Silver Blood Society had closed the restaurant for the gathering.
• Le Yu met the young heirs of major merchant associations and realized that the patrol team would help them build alliances and compete for the future presidency of the Silver Blood Society.
• Shi Huaisong arrived late, and Le Yu learned that he was the Third Young Master of the Shi Family.
• Qin Leyin offered to reveal who had ordered the Heavenly Sword Gang’s ambush if Le Yu answered a question.
• Qin Leyin asked whether Le Yu had truly meant that he wanted to kill everyone in the room, and Le Yu instinctively touched the Saint's Relic on his wrist.

At a Silver Blood Society meeting, Jing Zhengwei was chosen to command a new merchant-controlled Patrol Team, with Qin Leyin as his deputy. After the meeting, Qin Leyin admitted that he had planned the Heavenly Sword Gang’s attack on Jing Zhengwei at his younger sister’s request.

• Jing Zhengwei reflected on Qin Leyin’s dangerous Forbidden Combat Arts and explained why he feared him.
• Ting Chaozao proposed a 150-person Patrol Team so the merchant associations could build a force under their own control.
• The young merchants divided the Patrol Team’s leadership positions, and Qin Leyin nominated Jing Zhengwei as a battalion commander.
• Luo Zhen accepted Jing Zhengwei’s appointment and became his deputy, while Qin Leyin also took a deputy commander position.
• Qin Leyin told Jing Zhengwei that he had arranged the Heavenly Sword Gang’s attack at his younger sister’s request, then invited him to play battle cards.

After returning to Profound Candle Prefecture, Yin Minghong read the popular Youth Newspaper and found ideas and slogans that could inspire White Night. At Wen Hong’s clinic, he learned that Wen Hong was teaching Mu Qingmei to seduce Qing Lan, the woman beside Jing Zhengwei.

• At a tea stall, Yin Minghong overheard laborers arguing over the Youth Newspaper’s exchange between poor readers and wealthy contributors.
• Yin Minghong read the newspaper’s jokes, historical discussions, and story about the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang Uprising, and he considered its slogan useful to White Night.
• Yin Minghong read Mr. Treeman’s serialized novel and saw its National College Entrance Examination and Neighborhood Committee as potential sources of ideas for reform.
• Yin Minghong bought the covers from earlier issues and went to Wen Hong’s clinic, where a fruit-stall auntie told him Wen Hong had recently gone on a blind date.
• Yin Minghong found Wen Hong teaching Mu Qingmei how to seduce Qing Lan, the woman beside Jing Zhengwei.

Yin Minghong and Wen Hong debated whether Qing Lan was Yin Yinyin and decided Mu Qingmei should try to win Qing Lan’s trust for White Night. Wen Hong then asked Yin Minghong to seek a place in the Half-City Patrol Team, but Jing Zhengwei refused his self-recommendation.

• Yin Minghong rejected Wen Hong’s theory that Qing Lan was Yin Yinyin and suggested instead that Yin Yinyin was another White-Haired Assassin who had been betrayed and abducted.
• Mu Qingmei interrupted their argument by suggesting Qing Lan might be a man, and Wen Hong argued that Mu Qingmei should approach Qing Lan to recruit her for White Night.
• Yin Minghong injured his hand catching Mu Qingmei’s punch, and Wen Hong healed him while warning that Mu Qingmei was now protecting him.
• Wen Hong told Yin Minghong that White Night wanted him to join the Half-City Patrol Team through Jing Zhengwei, one of its captains, so they could gain influence over the force.
• Yin Minghong agreed to the mission, but Jing Zhengwei refused his self-recommendation.

Le Yu rejected Yin Minghong’s request to join the Patrol Team but appointed him General Manager over Jing Zhengwei’s industries, while Yin Minghong misread a warning as proof that Le Yu controlled his relationship with Wen Hong. After Qing Lan and Le Yu played cards, Le Yu left to take the Patrol Team’s shift and investigate Qin Leyin’s plans.

• Le Yu refused to let Yin Minghong join the Patrol Team and instead ordered him to remain in Profound Candle Prefecture and oversee Jing Zhengwei’s businesses as General Manager.
• Yin Minghong accepted the new authority and mistakenly concluded that Le Yu knew about his meeting with Wen Hong and was using Wen Hong as leverage.
• Yin Minghong saw Qing Lan enter Le Yu’s study, misinterpreted their conversation as distress, and renewed his resolve to overthrow the Silver Blood Society and kill Jing Zhengwei.
• Le Yu and Qing Lan played cards, with Le Yu slapping Qing Lan’s palm when she lost rounds.
• Le Yu left for Half-City to take the Patrol Team’s shift and investigate what Qin Leyin was plotting.

Le Yu visited the Silver Blood Society’s new patrol base, where he and Ting Chaozao forced the unruly young captains to take their duties seriously. He then fought Qin Leyin, who revealed that he also wanted to wipe out the Silver Blood Society.

• Le Yu saw the Silver Blood Society’s well-equipped patrol camp and recognized that it was being built into a powerful armed force.
• Le Yu smashed a table to stop a couple’s indecent behavior in the captains’ lounge, giving Ting Chaozao a chance to reprimand the young captains.
• Ting Chaozao thanked Le Yu and offered his support after the other captains left the lounge.
• Qin Leyin confronted Le Yu in the corridor, and the two exchanged blows before Le Yu recognized Qin Leyin’s strength.
• Qin Leyin pointed out that he also wanted to wipe out the Silver Blood Society.

Le Yu took command of the night patrol and planned how White Night could strike the factory district again, while Qin Leyin warned him that Ting Chaozao had the younger generation’s support. After revealing that he was a Proxy Light Walker, Qin Leyin identified himself as one of the Huiyao Four Guards and disclosed that he knew Le Yu was using the Youth Newspaper against the Silver Blood Society.

• Le Yu changed into his captain’s uniform, disciplined the patrolmen, and led them on their night shift with Qin Leyin.
• Le Yu chose the night shift so he could gather intelligence and find a way for White Night to attack the factory district again.
• Qin Leyin explained that Ting Chaozao’s reputation made him a favored leader of the younger generation and asked whether Le Yu could reverse that advantage.
• After the patrol reached the duty pavilion, Le Yu and Qin Leyin sent their guards away and discussed the Youth Newspaper.
• Qin Leyin revealed that he knew Le Yu wanted to hasten the Silver Blood Society’s demise, then identified himself as Red Music, a Proxy Light Walker under the Guard of Propriety.

Qin Leyin revealed that he belonged to the Radiance Four Guards, an organization loyal to Radiance and opposed to the Silver Blood Society’s plans to drain the country and flee with its wealth. He proposed joining forces with Le Yu, whose Youth Newspaper was accelerating popular unrest, but Le Yu questioned why he should cooperate.

• Le Yu reflected that factions across Radiance were preparing to rebel or seize territory, then asked whether anyone still defended the realm.
• Qin Leyin introduced the Radiance Four Guards and explained that they pledged loyalty to Radiance itself rather than to any emperor.
• Qin Leyin said the Four Guards opposed the Silver Blood Society because its merchants exploited other regions and might abandon Radiance with their wealth.
• Qin Leyin explained that Le Yu’s Youth Newspaper was stirring unrest and could help bring about the Silver Blood Society’s collapse.
• Qin Leyin offered Le Yu an alliance, and Le Yu asked why he should cooperate.

Le Yu weighed Qin Leyin’s claims about the Huiyao Four Guards and negotiated over their offer to help him become Jing family head. Qin revealed how the organization had manipulated rivalries and scandals among powerful families, leaving Le Yu to conclude that it had quietly stirred trouble wherever human weaknesses made it easy.

• Le Yu doubted Qin Leyin’s stated reasons for opposing the Silver Blood Society but suspected the Huiyao Four Guards wanted to recruit Jing Zhengwei by appealing to his ambitions.
• Qin Leyin offered to help Le Yu become Jing family head if he cooperated with the Huiyao Four Guards.
• Le Yu challenged Qin’s offer by pointing out that the organization had also supported Jing Zhengwu, who had failed to seize the position.
• Qin Leyin said the Huiyao Four Guards had also helped Jing Zhengtang and Jing Zhengfeng, then brought up Ting Wanjian’s affair with Ting Gu’s concubine.
• Qin Leyin admitted that the Huiyao Four Guards had created opportunities for the affair, which helped undermine Ting Wanjian’s succession and advance Ting Chaozao.
• Le Yu realized that the Huiyao Four Guards had been stirring up conflicts by exploiting people’s weaknesses.

Le Yu challenged Qin Leyin’s reasons for helping him undermine the Silver Blood Society, and Qin Leyin explained that the Huiyao Four Guards feared the Society might seize power amid the coming chaos. The chapter ended with Qin Leyin saying the Guards would keep defending Radiance’s political orthodoxy even if the court never stopped rotting.

• Qin Leyin offered to help Le Yu become head of the Jing family by sabotaging his younger brothers, while insisting his sister’s engagement to Jing Zhengwu was personal.
• Le Yu questioned why Qin Leyin was rushing to destroy the Silver Blood Society, and Qin Leyin said he feared it could become a hegemon during the coming upheaval.
• Le Yu argued that the Society’s more productive system might be preferable to the failing Radiant Court, but Qin Leyin said the Guards sought to preserve Radiance’s orthodoxy and prevent civil war.
• Qin Leyin explained that the Huiyao Four Guards also worked against corrupt court officials, and he said they would devote themselves to their task and die only after it was done.

Qin Leyin explained his merchant-first view of the common people and revealed his plan to use wartime influence to help the court, invest in the emperor, and eventually establish a constitution and reform the government. He pressured Le Yu into agreeing to discuss cooperation, while Le Yu feared that an Anti-Light Faction spy was already in his newspaper office.

• Le Yu challenged Qin Leyin over exploiting commoners while claiming to uphold Radiance, and Qin Leyin called the people resources to be used for the state and commerce.
• Qin Leyin argued that the Huiyao Four Guards accepted merchant wealth as long as merchants served the court, and contrasted the Qin family with the more ruthless Jing family.
• Qin Leyin invited Le Yu to consider going to Flame Capital and revealed his plan to use the coming war to enrich merchants, support the emperor, and eventually establish a constitution and reform the government.
• Qin Leyin said he had told no one else about the plan and warned that he could blame Le Yu if the secret spread, while Le Yu's younger brothers could exploit the accusation against him.
• Le Yu agreed to discuss cooperation after Qin Leyin threatened his position, and privately worried that an Anti-Light Faction spy was already in his newspaper office.

Le Yu left his night shift after Qin Leyin gave him detailed advice on using the newspaper to stir resentment against the Silver Blood Society, then learned that he could not join the Huiyao Four Guards because its membership and power were limited. Back at Jing Residence, he urged Qing Lan to go to work, but fell asleep beside her; she quietly got dressed and left for the newspaper office.

• Le Yu considered Qin Leyin's suggestions for newspaper content, which aimed to raise the lower classes' dissatisfaction with the Silver Blood Society.
• Le Yu asked to join the Huiyao Four Guards, but Qin Leyin refused, explaining that new members could only be admitted when an existing member died and that the Guards' power was limited.
• Le Yu returned to Jing Residence and found Qing Lan still in bed despite the newspaper office's approaching start time.
• Le Yu told Qing Lan to rest briefly before going to work, then fell asleep beside her.
• Qing Lan carefully slipped out from beside Le Yu, changed clothes, took the car keys, and headed to work.

Lan Yan crushed Gao Jin’s White Night plot after the Mid-Year Grand Sacrifice, recruited Xia Lingo, and planned a military exercise against the Silver Blood Society in East Sun District. Meanwhile, Le Yu worried that readers were losing interest in his writing before Jing Qingfu summoned him to a family banquet, suggesting something had changed.

• Lan Yan exposed Gao Jin’s revenge motive, then sent the captured White Night members to Punishment Camp to fight in the Year-End Grand Sacrifice.
• Gao Jin discovered that Xia Lingo had joined Lan Yan’s personal guard, and Lan Yan ordered Gao Jin imprisoned and later sent to his father-in-law.
• Xia Lingo advised Lan Yan to release Gao Jin and use a joint military exercise against East Sun District’s Silver Blood Society to gain supplies and draw White Night toward Lan Yan’s father-in-law.
• Le Yu realized his newspaper’s sales were rising while his challenge mission progressed slowly because fewer readers were engaging with his own novel.
• Mi Die told Le Yu that Jing Qingfu required him to attend the family banquet at Jing Garden, prompting Le Yu to suspect that something had happened to his younger brothers.

After the family banquet, Le Yu and Qing Lan went for a walk on Damen Stone Street, while Jing Zhengwu summoned Jing Zhengfeng and Jing Zhengtang to propose that they join forces against Jing Zhengwei. Jing Zhengtang refused to agree without consulting Feiwei, whom he said had warned him not to trust Jing Zhengwu.

• Le Yu left the banquet with Qing Lan and Mi Die, then suggested they stroll along Damen Stone Street instead of riding home in the heat.
• Le Yu asked Qing Lan whether she would start a new life elsewhere, and she said she preferred her position as Chief Editor where she was.
• Qing Lan and Le Yu playfully reached for each other's hands as Mi Die followed behind them.
• Jing Zhengwu told Jing Zhengfeng and Jing Zhengtang that Jing Zhengwei had become too powerful for them to challenge separately and asked them to join forces against him.
• Jing Zhengfeng agreed, but Jing Zhengtang tried to leave to consult his wife, Feiwei, and revealed that she had warned him not to trust Jing Zhengwu.

Jing Qingfu explained how hookah had shortened the lives of Profound Candle’s elite and concluded that Jing Zhengwei would claim the family head position ruthlessly. Meanwhile, Le Yu listened to a street storyteller recite the Youth Newspaper before heading off with Qing Lan to watch card games.

• Jing Qingfu recalled how Qin Xiao had introduced hookah, whose Radiant Stone strengthened users while consuming their lifespans, and how the Silver Blood Society concealed the truth and promoted its sale.
• Jing Qingfu learned that Zhengwei had left the family banquet while Zhengwu and his two brothers remained at Purple Bamboo Courtyard, and he feared the brothers were preparing to fight over the inheritance.
• Jing Qingfu rejected the idea of letting Zhengwu inherit, believing the turbulent times required Zhengwei, and declared that the next family head would be a warlord before coughing up black blood.
• Le Yu sneezed while listening with Qing Lan to Luan Jiba recite answers from the Youth Newspaper, including Qing Lan’s contribution.
• Le Yu left the storytelling stall with Qing Lan to watch people play cards and complained that founding the Youth Newspaper had reduced his gaming time.

Jing Zhengwu tried to recruit Jing Zhengtang and Jing Zhengfeng against Jing Zhengwei, warning that their eldest brother would purge rivals and arguing that Qing Lan was only bait. Meanwhile, Le Yu took Qing Lan’s hand to lead her through the crowd, leaving Jing Zhengwu’s confident suspicions at odds with their easy warmth.

• Jing Zhengtang and Feiwei rejected Jing Zhengwu’s alliance at first, while Jing Zhengwu warned them that Jing Zhengwei would eliminate his rivals if he became family head.
• Jing Zhengwu revealed that he had bought off Shen Hong and Bai Yulan, and claimed Jing Zhengwei’s past mistreatment of women showed his deep resentment and need for control.
• Jing Zhengwu offered Unregistered Firearms as a show of sincerity, and the brothers discussed retaliating for the accidents at their factories.
• Jing Zhengwu argued that Qing Lan was likely bait and that Jing Zhengwei would use her as a disposable piece to expose their plans.
• At the Eternal Glory promotion tournament, Le Yu took Qing Lan’s hand and led her through the crowd to buy sesame flatbreads, while she happily followed.

Jing Zhengwu and his allies planned to frame Jing Zhengwei for a White Night attack on the Half-City District, naming their plot Operation Severing Gold. Unaware of the conspiracy, Le Yu prepared to go on night duty, having already given White Night a plan for its attack the following night.

• Jing Zhengwu argued that the brothers should exploit Jing Zhengwei's Patrol Team duty by staging an attack on their own factories and making it look as if Jing Zhengwei helped White Night.
• Jing Zhengtang, Feiwei, Qin Yueshi, and Jing Zhengwu devised evidence linking Jing Zhengwei to White Night, including a patrol-route map supposedly written in his hand.
• Jing Zhengwu arranged fighters, firearms, and a citywide disturbance to pressure the Silver Blood Society, and the group named the operation Severing Gold.
• Jing Zhengfeng grew uneasy about the brothers' schemes and considered leaving the family inheritance struggle to return to the Azure Rainbow Gang.
• Le Yu told Qing Lan he would sleep until noon and take night duty the next day, unaware that the planned attack would target the district where he would be stationed.
• Le Yu recalled that he had already given White Night a carefully analyzed plan for attacking the Half-City factories the following night.

Rongyao recalled his past before leading thirteen White Night Walkers into Half-City for the Shattered Silver operation. At the same time, Jing family factory fighters began the Severing Gold operation.

• Rongyao remembered his childhood hauling night soil, his father's death, and his decision to become a servant at the Jing Residence.
• Rongyao recalled falling in love with Miss Shuangye and planning their escape, but they fled by separate routes after Steward Shen blocked their path.
• Rongyao met Yin Minghong and the other White Night Walkers, then instructed them to follow their individual timelines during the Shattered Silver operation.
• Rongyao promised to return for anyone who failed to reach the agreed meeting place and led the White Night Walkers through the river toward Half-City.
• Several masked martial artists in a Jing family factory checked their watches and began the Severing Gold operation.