Chapter Summaries

Di Renjie investigated the villagers’ grievances in Youzhou while Viper tried to kill Li Er and reported back to Jin Mulan, who continued preparing her uprising. The chapter ended with Di Renjie discovering knockout drug in his teacup and a venomous snake beside his bed.

• An old man told Di Renjie that Zhao Si and the governor had punished villagers who protested their land seizures, and Di Renjie promised to seek justice.
• Viper attacked Li Er in a ruined shrine, but Li Er escaped after being bitten by Viper’s snake.
• Viper returned to Jin Mulan’s hidden cave and said Li Er should be dead; they discussed Di Renjie, the uprising, and their loyalty to each other.
• Viper suspected that Li Xiao knew Jin Mulan’s plans but had concealed them from Di Renjie, and Jin Mulan wondered what Li Xiao intended.
• Li Xiao guessed Viper’s move but did not intervene, believing Li Er would soon be rescued.
• Di Renjie found knockout drug in his teacup, suspected a spy among his companions, and froze when he saw a green venomous snake at his bedside.

Di Renjie grew suspicious of those around him and split the group before investigating nearby villages with Hu Jinghui. Meanwhile, Jin Mulan ordered a search for the missing Li Er, who had been rescued by people in the mountains, as Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui arrived at the home of his rescuers.

• Di Renjie sent Li Xiao to find the Imperial Envoy's guard detachment, left Li Yuanfang to protect the villagers, and set out with Hu Jinghui to investigate other villages.
• Li Er hid from Ma Wu's convoy on the mountain road, then collapsed from exhaustion in the grass.
• Ma Wu carried Jin Mulan's reply back toward Youzhou, while Yu Feng reported that Li Er's body was missing.
• Jin Mulan ordered Fang Qian to search villages and told her people to watch nearby pharmacies for anyone seeking medicine.
• Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui examined a village burial ground, reached Xiaolianzi Village, and entered Lu Dayou's courtyard.

Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui found shelter at Lu Dayou’s home, where Di Renjie saved the poisoned Li Er. As Di Renjie learned how the mountain villagers had been driven into poverty, Lu Dayou explained that the authorities had sealed off the mountains two years earlier.

• Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui introduced themselves to Lu Dayou as traveling physicians and were invited inside.
• Little Feng reported that Li Er had stopped breathing, and Di Renjie diagnosed snake venom before reviving him.
• Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui shared their meager wild-vegetable meal with Lu Dayou, who revealed that Li Er was a stranger he had found.
• Hu Jinghui identified Li Er as the man who had been following them, and Di Renjie realized Li Er might know something.
• Lu Dayou explained that the authorities had sealed off the mountains two years earlier, leaving the villagers struggling to survive.

Di Renjie treated the wounded Li Er while investigating the strange events near Bluestone Gully, and he grew suspicious after finding a tiger-head and flying-eagle tattoo on Li Er. Jin Mulan learned that Li Er was alive and sent soldiers to seize him, but Di Renjie allowed the arrest to proceed after questioning the soldiers’ authority.

• Lu Dayou told Di Renjie that Yao Family Shop had appeared overnight at an old mass graveyard and that villagers who investigated it had vanished.
• Di Renjie gave Lu Dayou a prescription and silver to buy medicine, then noticed a tiger-head and flying-eagle tattoo on Li Er’s arm and grew suspicious of his identity.
• Yu Feng learned that Li Er was staying at Lu Dayou’s home and reported it to Jin Mulan, who ordered Fang Qian to send soldiers to capture him.
• Soldiers stormed Lu Dayou’s home as Di Renjie fed Li Er the antidote, and their general struck Lu Dayou and tried to attack him.
• Hu Jinghui stopped the general and disarmed him, but Di Renjie ordered Hu Jinghui to let the soldiers seize them so he could see how far they would go.

Di Renjie and his companions were brought before Governor Fang Qian, who tried to punish him before learning he was an imperial envoy. After Hu Jinghui presented the imperial edict and revealed his own rank, Di Renjie condemned the general who had abused them and demanded his execution.

• Fang Qian arrived at the main hall and ordered Di Renjie and his companions punished, while the general struck Hu Jinghui for resisting.
• Di Renjie challenged Fang Qian’s authority and revealed that he was the imperial envoy appointed to oversee Youzhou.
• Hu Jinghui presented the imperial edict, forcing Fang Qian, Wu Yizhi, and the soldiers to kneel and acknowledge Di Renjie’s authority.
• Di Renjie identified Hu Jinghui as an Imperial Guard and Colonel of the Qianniu Guards, and Hu Jinghui asked Fang Qian what punishment awaited anyone who struck an imperial envoy.
• The general fell to his knees and begged for mercy, but Di Renjie condemned his oppression of the people and demanded that Fang Qian execute him.

Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui asserted their authority in Youzhou by executing a general who had assaulted an imperial guard and taking custody of the wounded Li Er. Jin Mulan ordered Viper to silence Li Er, while Di Renjie chose to investigate the villages’ grievances before pursuing the envoy murders.

• Fang Qian ordered the general imprisoned, but Hu Jinghui accused him of trying to protect the criminal and beheaded the general in court.
• Di Renjie warned Youzhou’s officials against abusing their power and ordered Li Er held at his residence until he recovered and could be interrogated.
• Jin Mulan refused Yu Feng’s proposal to kill Di Renjie and told him to have Viper kill Li Er instead.
• Li Xiao delivered Di Renjie’s letter to Di Chun after finding the imperial envoy’s guard detail.
• After confirming Li Er’s condition had stabilized, Di Renjie decided to investigate the villagers’ rebellion and Xiaolianzi Village’s sealed mountain before returning to the envoy murders.

After Fang Qian staged a nighttime attack and blamed Great Willow Tree Village rebels for freeing the imprisoned villagers, Di Renjie investigated the south gate and questioned a suspicious survivor. The next morning, Di Renjie began questioning Fang Qian at the governor’s residence.

• Fang Qian ordered soldiers to remove the prisoners from the execution platform, then arranged a staged attack that was blamed on rebels from Great Willow Tree Village.
• Fang Qian told Di Renjie that the rebels had freed the villagers, but Di Renjie questioned how he knew who was responsible and insisted on visiting the south gate.
• Di Renjie inspected the scene and questioned the supposed survivor, Wang Xiao'er, whose answers raised Di Renjie's suspicions.
• Di Renjie ordered Fang Qian to take Wang Xiao'er to the governor's residence for further questioning and asked Hu Jinghui to meet Li Yuanfang and the others.
• The next morning, Di Renjie began asking Fang Qian a question at the governor's residence.

Di Renjie confronted Fang Qian over corruption and the mistreatment of Great Willow Tree Village, then brought the villagers to court to testify. Zhang Laosi confirmed that relief funds had not reached them and their land was seized, but he retracted his earlier claim that Fang Qian had sentenced villagers to death.

• Di Renjie accused Fang Qian of embezzling relief funds, seizing farmland, and blaming villagers for an uprising, but Fang Qian denied the charges and demanded evidence.
• Hu Jinghui reported that Li Yuanfang had brought villagers from Great Willow Tree Village to the prefectural office, prompting Di Renjie to convene court.
• Li Yuanfang brought Zhang Laosi and the other villagers into court, where Di Renjie identified himself as an imperial envoy and urged them to tell the truth.
• Zhang Laosi testified that the villagers never received relief funds and that Zhao Si and county militiamen had confiscated their land.
• After Fang Qian glared at him, Zhang Laosi denied that Fang Qian had ignored their petition and sentenced them to death, claiming his earlier accusation had been false.

Di Renjie’s first hearing in Youzhou ended without evidence against Fang Qian, but he revealed that he had been feigning confidence to provoke his opponents into acting. He sent Li Yuanfang and Di Chun to Three Harmonies County while Fang Qian moved to silence Zhao Chuanchen, leaving the rival missions racing toward the same destination.

• Zhang Laosi recanted his earlier testimony, forcing Di Renjie to end the hearing without bringing down Fang Qian.
• Di Renjie moved his staff to Wu Garden and secretly sent Li Yuanfang and Di Chun to Three Harmonies County with the Imperial Sword to summon its magistrate.
• Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi suspected that Three Harmonies County held a key to the case, and Fang Qian ordered Wu Yizhi to warn Zhao Chuanchen to keep quiet.
• Di Renjie confirmed that Li Er was out of danger, then told Hu Jinghui and Li Xiao that he had provoked Fang Qian as a ruse to make his enemies act.
• Di Renjie said Zhang Laosi’s reversal was an unexpected gain and compared Fang Qian’s fate to the ruin of powerful officials such as Lai Junchen, Suo Yuanli, and Huo Xianke.

Di Renjie interrogated Zhao Chuanchen over the missing relief funds and tried to make him reveal who was behind the embezzlement. Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi grew alarmed when they learned Zhao was detained, then met Di Renjie at the Governor-General’s Office, where he greeted them with conspicuous warmth.

• Di Renjie confronted Zhao Chuanchen with the embezzled relief funds, but Zhao insisted he had acted alone.
• Di Renjie warned Zhao that his accomplices might silence him and ordered Li Yuanfang to guard him in the East Flower Hall until the truth emerged.
• Fang Qian learned that Di Renjie had detained Zhao, and Wu Yizhi advised him that Zhao was unlikely to betray them.
• Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi visited the Governor-General’s Office and saw Zhao Chuanchen hurry toward the rear hall, confirming that he was there.
• Di Renjie welcomed Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi, apologized for his harsh words in court, and received Fang’s deferential reply.

Di Renjie misled Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi while arranging for Zhao Chuanchen to return to Three Harmonies County, prompting them to plan his murder. He then forced Wang Xiao'er to confess to the South Gate attack and learned that Zhang Yong, Hu Jinbao, and Fang Hongliang had led government officers disguised as rioters.

• Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi visited Di Renjie, who avoided discussing the relief funds and spoke amiably with them.
• After learning that Zhao Chuanchen had left under Qianniu Guards' escort, Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi suspected he had betrayed them and agreed to make his death look like suicide.
• Di Renjie ordered Di Chun to change out of his county magistrate's uniform and have Zhao Chuanchen escorted back to Three Harmonies County.
• Di Renjie had Hu Jinghui bring Wang Xiao'er in for questioning and threatened to have him beheaded unless he confessed.
• Wang Xiao'er admitted that Zhang Yong, Hu Jinbao, and Fang Hongliang had led government officers in disguising themselves as rioters during the South Gate attack.
• Di Renjie agreed to show Wang Xiao'er leniency on one condition, which he had not yet revealed.

Di Renjie exposed the staged rebellion in Youzhou and ordered the arrest of its leaders. In Three Harmonies County, Li Xiao and Li Yuanfang saved Zhao Chuanchen from poisoning and brought him back to Youzhou, where Di Renjie rushed to treat Li Er as his poison worsened.

• Di Renjie explained to Hu Jinghui how the clean uniforms, closed city gates, and cavalry hoofprints proved soldiers had staged the rebellion, and he suspected Fang Qian meant to silence the condemned villagers.
• Di Renjie gave the Imperial Sword to a Qianniu Guards squad leader and ordered Zhang Yong, Hu Jinbao, and Fang Hongliang arrested.
• A masked assassin disguised as a servant poisoned Zhao Chuanchen's tea with arsenic, but Li Xiao knocked away the cup before Zhao could drink it.
• Li Yuanfang captured the assassin, and Zhao Chuanchen realized he had been abandoned and returned to Youzhou with Li Yuanfang and Li Xiao.
• Lu Dayou reported that Li Er's poison had flared up, and Di Renjie called for the Snow Toad and needles to treat him.

Di Renjie uncovered Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi’s conspiracy to divert relief funds and frame villagers, while pretending Li Er was dying to keep the plotters off guard. Fang Qian ordered troops to attack the Governor-General’s Office, but Hu Jinghui, Li Yuanfang, and Li Xiao stopped them, and the soldiers surrendered.

• Di Renjie questioned Zhao Chuanchen, who revealed that Fang Qian had diverted the relief payment through Tianbao Silver Bank and that a man named Yu Feng collected the withdrawal certificate.
• After learning that only Di Chun and Hu Jinghui had visited Li Er before his poison flared, Di Renjie told Lu Dayou to keep his visit secret.
• Wu Yizhi told Fang Qian that Zhao Chuanchen had returned, their assassin had been captured, and their plot at the South Gate had been exposed; Zhang Yong then confessed that Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi had planned the operation.
• Fang Qian ordered Wu Yizhi to mobilize General Xiong’s troops and attack the Governor-General’s Office, while Di Renjie learned from Hu Jinghui’s papers that Fang Qian was preparing to rebel.
• Hu Jinghui killed Wu Yizhi as the troops assembled, and Li Yuanfang and Li Xiao joined the Qinniu Guards in confronting the Five-City Military Office soldiers.
• Li Yuanfang announced that Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi had rebelled and been executed, and the remaining soldiers laid down their weapons.

Di Renjie suppressed Fang Qian and Wu Yizhi’s rebellion, restored order in Youzhou, and issued measures to aid the people. After discovering that Fang Qian’s corpse was an impostor wearing a human-skin mask, he ordered a search of the Prefect’s Residence but found no trace of the real Fang Qian.

• Hu Jinghui secured Youzhou’s gates, and Di Renjie’s forces arrested Fang Qian’s accomplices while Yu Feng poisoned Fang Qian and fled.
• Di Renjie executed the captured rebels and ordered officials to end harsh policies, return seized land, aid Great Willow Tree Village, review prisoners’ cases, and investigate disappearances in Xiaolianzi Village.
• Di Renjie sent Lu Dayou to assist the investigation, welcomed the returning villagers, and arranged for Li Yuanfang to secretly bring Zhang Laosi back for questioning.
• Di Renjie examined Fang Qian’s corpse and peeled off a human-skin mask, realizing that the dead man was an impostor and ordering Hu Jinghui to search the Prefect’s Residence.
• Yu Feng escaped through an underground passage as Hu Jinghui’s soldiers searched, and Hu Jinghui later reported that they had found nothing.
• Di Renjie questioned why the impostor had taken control of Youzhou, then ended the search for the night and dismissed the soldiers.

Di Renjie uncovered a secret passage used to steal Youzhou’s treasury silver and found the real Fang Qian imprisoned beneath the governor’s residence. After testing Fang Qian’s seal and hearing his account of being replaced, Di Renjie grew suspicious that the rescued man was concealing his true identity.

• Zhang Laosi told Di Renjie that Hu Jinghui had forced him to take a Hundred-Poison Pill and recant his testimony.
• The Youzhou chief secretary and silver bureau officer reported that the treasury’s official silver and four custodians had vanished, so Di Renjie ordered an investigation and sent Li Xiao to watch Tianbao Silver Bank.
• Di Renjie discovered that a secret passage linked the treasury to the second hall and found the real Fang Qian imprisoned behind a hidden stone door.
• Di Renjie brought Fang Qian to the governor’s residence, checked his fingerprint against the governor’s seal, and invited him to a banquet.
• Fang Qian claimed that Liu Jin had urged him to join a rebellion and that conspirators had imprisoned him and installed a false governor, but Di Renjie suspected his story was untrue.

Di Renjie investigated Fang Qian’s strange behavior and learned that Fang had crawled out from behind his bed curtains after a servant entered his room. That night, Viper appeared in the East Flower Hall, and after a venomous snake killed a servant, Di Renjie suspected the death was connected to Fang Qian.

• Di Renjie questioned a servant about Fang Qian’s rebuke and learned Fang had hidden behind his bed curtains before emerging to scold him.
• Li Xiao reported that eleven carriages had left Tianbao Silver Bank, and Di Renjie ordered continued surveillance for any large shipments of silver.
• Viper entered Fang Qian’s room while a venomous snake slithered out and fatally bit a servant near the East Flower Hall.
• Li Yuanfang told Di Renjie that the dead servant had been bitten by a snake, and Di Renjie realized the death might involve Fang Qian.
• Di Renjie ordered Li Yuanfang to take him to see the servant’s body.

Di Renjie investigated a servant’s fatal snakebite, then questioned Fang Qian about the missing official silver and a possible back injury. That night, he returned with Hu Jinghui to inspect the underground passage beneath the treasury.

• Di Renjie concluded that the servant’s unusual throat wound and the lack of snakes in the Governor’s Office made the death suspicious, and he ordered a search.
• After the search found no snakes, Di Renjie recalled a snake he had seen in Great Willow Tree Village and set the matter aside.
• Di Renjie told Fang Qian that he would likely be restored to his post, then questioned him about activity in the secret passage during his imprisonment and about his stiff posture.
• Fang Qian denied hearing people in the passage and insisted that his back was uninjured, while Di Renjie suspected otherwise.
• That night, Di Renjie and Hu Jinghui entered the underground passage beneath the treasury to inspect it again.

Di Renjie gathered evidence that Fang Qian was hiding a wound and began to suspect Hu Jinghui was Viper. He tested Hu Jinghui with a snake and the embroidered handkerchief, leaving Hu Jinghui fearing that his identity was about to be exposed.

• Di Renjie had Hu Jinghui walk heavily through the secret passage and used the sound to confirm Fang Qian's lie.
• Guards took Fang Qian away during a staged fire, while a servant found wound medicine on his bed and brought it to Di Renjie.
• Di Renjie sent Di Chun to the capital with a letter for Zhang Jianzhi to verify a new suspicion about Fang Qian.
• Hu Jinghui killed a green venomous snake during a patrol and brought it to Di Renjie.
• Di Renjie recognized the snake from Great Willow Tree Village, showed Hu Jinghui the embroidered handkerchief, and suggested Viper was nearby.

Di Renjie uncovered Fang Qian’s identity as Liu Jin and confronted him at the Governor-General’s Office. The chapter ended with Hu Jinghui pretending not to recognize Liu Jin as the guards surrounded Fang Qian.

• Li Xiao told Di Renjie that Fang Qian had suspicious wounds and revealed that Jin Mulan was Princess Yiyang, Li Qingxia, hiding on Little Lotus Seed Mountain.
• Di Chun rode to Chang’an, retrieved Fang Qian’s records from the Ministry of Personnel, and returned them to Di Renjie.
• Viper, revealed to be Hu Jinghui, warned Jin Mulan that Di Renjie might suspect him and that Li Xiao was watching someone in Youzhou.
• Di Renjie examined Fang Qian’s records and confirmed that Fang Qian was Liu Jin.
• Di Renjie had guards surround Fang Qian and identified him as Liu Jin, while Hu Jinghui feigned surprise and denied recognizing him.

Di Renjie exposed Governor Fang Qian as the fugitive Liu Jin by revealing his scars and explaining the clues that linked him to Viper and the Prince of Yue’s rebellion. Fang Qian admitted Di Renjie was right but refused to name his master, and the guards took him away under strict watch.

• Di Renjie challenged Fang Qian’s identity, then ordered the guards to strip away his upper garments and reveal scars from the Qianniu Guards’ torture.
• Hu Jinghui recognized the scars and identified Fang Qian as Liu Jin, while Di Renjie explained that Fang Qian’s face was his true appearance and Liu Jin had worn a human-skin mask.
• Di Renjie recounted how Fang Qian’s suspicious behavior, the venomous snake murders, the secret passage, his back wound, and the personnel archives exposed his identity and history.
• Fang Qian confirmed Di Renjie’s deductions about his past and his role in the Prince of Yue’s rebellion, but refused to reveal who his master was.
• Hu Jinghui tried to strike Fang Qian, but Di Renjie stopped him and ordered the guards to take Fang Qian away under strict watch.