Chapter Summaries

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.

While on patrol, Le Yu introduced Monopoly to the merchant heirs and drew Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Ting Chaozao, and Lan Jianbo into a game. He was secretly delighted to have five others share the blame for whatever the game would bring.

• Le Yu asked the patrol squad how they passed the time, and Northwind offered to take him to a hookah lounge while Luo Zhen revealed his fondness for male courtesans.
• Quan Xin demonstrated his pen-spinning pastime, while Le Yu admitted Qin Leyin had beaten him in nearly a thousand War Cards matches.
• Le Yu unveiled Monopoly and explained its rules, immediately sparking the Young Masters’ interest in playing or buying the game.
• Ting Chaozao and Lan Jianbo returned from their shifts, and Quan Xin and Luo Zhen agreed to join them and Le Yu for a six-player game.
• Le Yu hid his excitement, pleased to have five scapegoats playing alongside him.

Le Yu watched the night patrol with Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Ting Chaozao, Lan Jianbo, and Qin Leyin, arranging for them to share responsibility while they played Monopoly. As an explosion lit the Half-City District, Le Yu prepared to see the rebellion he had set in motion begin.

• Le Yu explained that he came on duty to support White Night if anything went wrong and to make sure his patrol colleagues shared responsibility for the planned attack.
• Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Ting Chaozao, Lan Jianbo, Qin Leyin, and Le Yu gathered in a patrol pavilion and joked together before starting a game of Monopoly.
• As they played, Le Yu recognized that the Silver Blood heirs were ordinary young people as well as products of a ruthless society.
• An explosion sent a pillar of fire into the sky above the Half-City District, and Le Yu watched the rebellion begin.

Yin Minghong and the White Night Walkers launched the Shattered Silver Operation, planting Blazing Radiant Gunpowder and destroying factories across Half-City District. As the explosions spread, Yin Minghong suspected another squad had been sent by their ally and wondered whether it was connected to Jing Zhengwei; the operation moved into its third stage.

• Yin Minghong and the White Night Walkers infiltrated Half-City District, knocked out sentries and factory staff, and planted Blazing Radiant Gunpowder.
• Unexpected explosions destroyed factories in the central district before Yin Minghong’s squad began its planned detonations, leading him to suspect a second squad was supporting the attack.
• Yin Minghong noticed the other squad had spared Jing Zhengwei’s factory and wondered whether it was connected to Jing Zhengwei and Yin Yinyin.
• The White Night Walkers followed their timetable, moving through the district and detonating factories to draw Patrol Guards away and create the impression of a larger attack.
• Yin Minghong reflected that White Night needed to make people resent the Silver Blood Society’s rule, while successive explosions engulfed five factories and completed the operation’s second stage.

Qin Leyin suspected that the attack on Half-City District was carried out under the Anti-Light Faction’s name with help from someone inside the Silver Blood Society. He and the other heirs agreed to keep a shared story and shift blame onto their enemies, while Le Yu concealed his involvement and enjoyed watching them mourn their losses.

• Le Yu, Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Qin Leyin, Ting Chaozao, and Lan Jianbo stayed behind while the Patrol Team pursued the arsonists and discussed the destruction of their factories.
• Qin Leyin argued that the attackers’ speed and knowledge of the Patrol Team suggested they might be connected to someone within the Silver Blood Society.
• Qin Leyin raised the possibility that their enemies had worked with the attackers, and Quan Xin and Luo Zhen realized they could use the theory to shift blame for the disaster.
• Ting Chaozao agreed to testify for the group, and Lan Jianbo followed his lead.
• The group lamented their destroyed factories and Ting Chaozao’s burned firearms as Le Yu secretly delighted in watching them suffer.

Hao Haijing’s “Severing Gold” operation was thrown into chaos when another group set Half-City District ablaze, and the destruction stirred his resentment toward the Silver Blood Society. After a fire destroyed one of Jing Zhengwei’s factories, Hao Haijing chose to join Number Three in blowing up more factories.

• Hao Haijing watched five fire dragons rise over Half-City District and ordered his masked companions to continue their planned attack while withdrawing quickly.
• An elderly watchman urged Hao Haijing and Number Three to burn his factory, then took their Blazing Radiant Gunpowder and blew it up himself.
• Number Three described the burning factories as a beautiful sight, and Hao Haijing recognized his secret delight at seeing the Silver Blood Society’s wealth destroyed.
• Hao Haijing and Number Three realized that the other attackers had blown up one of Jing Zhengwei’s factories, undermining the purpose of their own operation.
• Number Three proposed using their remaining gunpowder on two more factories, and Hao Haijing agreed to go with him.

After the factory fires, Le Yu explained to Qing Lan how the Silver Blood Society planned to exploit workers and why it would rebuild in Profound Candle Prefecture. He then entered a meeting of the Eighty-Eight Merchant Guilds, where he joined Qin Leyin, Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Lan Jianbo, and Ting Chaozao as the supposed scapegoat squad.

• Workers gathered outside merchant shops to demand wages after the factories in Half-City District burned down.
• Le Yu argued that the Silver Blood Society was using the unrest to push workers toward poverty and suppress their ability to resist.
• Le Yu reassured Qing Lan that the factories would be rebuilt, then urged her to speak honestly instead of pleasing him.
• Le Yu left Qing Lan with Mi Die and went with Lisan to a meeting at Jia No. 88.
• Le Yu entered the Silver Blood Society's hall and gathered with Qin Leyin, Quan Xin, Luo Zhen, Lan Jianbo, and Ting Chaozao, joking that they were the scapegoat squad.

Le Yu attended a meeting of the Silver Blood Council, where the hidden headquarters and the council’s influence over Profound Candle Prefecture were described. The meeting ended with Jing Shou announcing that Le Yu would represent the Jing family at all future council meetings, and Le Yu sensed something strange as he took his seat.

• The chapter explained that the Silver Blood Society’s headquarters was an ordinary residence and that its Eighty-Eight Merchant Guilds wielded immense influence over Profound Candle Prefecture.
• Le Yu entered the council chamber with Ting Chaozao, Qin Leyin, Quan Xin, and others, and felt increasingly nervous as the doors shut.
• Qin Leyin and Lan Jianbo were invited to take seats at the council table.
• Jing Shou announced that Jing Qingfu had ordered Le Yu to attend all future Silver Blood Council meetings as the Jing family’s representative.
• The council head used the Ting family’s Soul-Suppressing Stone Bell to silence the chamber, and Le Yu sat in Jing Shou’s place.
• As Le Yu took his seat, he felt himself melt.

Le Yu recognized that the Silver Blood Society meeting hall contained a Mental Sea that encouraged unity and shaped the members’ judgments. As the meeting turned to punishments for the Patrol Team’s failure during the Half-City District attack, a member defended its leaders and singled out Le Yu’s new position in the Jing family.

• Le Yu recognized the meeting hall’s Mental Sea and realized it was drawing the Silver Blood members together while influencing their perceptions.
• Ting Jiu introduced himself as the chairman’s stand-in and opened the meeting on the Patrol Team’s response to the Half-City District attack.
• Ting Jiu announced Ting Chaozao’s punishment, which required him to remain at the Patrol Team’s camp and surrender his private property, and Ting Chaozao accepted.
• A Silver Blood member argued that the Patrol Team’s leaders had acted reasonably and should not face harsh punishment.
• The member listed the heirs among the Patrol Team’s leaders and identified Jing Zhengwei as the person in charge of the Jing Family Merchant Association.

At the Silver Blood Council, Le Yu discovered that its Mental Sea pushed members toward rational decisions that served their own interests and the Silver Blood Society. After the council rejected Ting Jiu’s most extreme plan against White Night, Le Yu learned that he now held a permanent seat as head of the Jing Family Merchant Association.

• Ting Jiu’s proposals to punish the patrol leaders, establish a patrol force, redevelop the Half-City District, and resettle workers passed or were revised and approved through rapid voting.
• Le Yu realized the council’s Mental Sea influenced members to vote for their personal and collective interests, and that Ting Jiu could test support by adjusting proposals.
• Ting Jiu proposed mass arrests, executions, and a staged campaign to turn workers against White Night, but the council rejected the plan over fears of government interference and unrest.
• The council approved only a campaign in which Silver Blood merchants complained to workers, along with measures to increase rewards for reporting White Night Walkers and smear the Anti-Light Faction.
• After the meeting, Le Yu asked Jing Shou what it meant to be in charge of the Jing Family Merchant Association, and Qin Leyin addressed him as the Jing Family Head and invited him to lunch.

Jing Qingfu faced pressure from the Old Madam to name Jing Zhengwu as his successor instead of Jing Zhengwei, but repeatedly insisted that he was going to die. The Old Madam warned that Jing Zhengwei would endanger the Jing family, while Jing Qingfu left his decision unchanged.

• The old steward summoned Old Captain Liu and two men to stand by outside Yunji Residence in case of trouble.
• The Old Madam confronted Jing Qingfu over his plan to give Jing Zhengwei the Jing family’s assets and leadership, arguing that Jing Zhengwu was the rightful heir.
• The Old Madam criticized Jing Zhengwei as a dangerous gambler who would recklessly drive the Jing family toward ruin, despite acknowledging the Youth Newspaper’s success.
• Jing Qingfu ignored her arguments, smoked his water pipe, and repeatedly replied, “I’m going to die.”