Chapter Summaries

Wang Yue accepted the title of Prince of Langya Commandery and the post of Pacification Commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands, deciding to leave Great Song with Zhao Pan'er. As he prepared to depart, Gao Hui fled her arranged marriage to Ouyang Xu and hid at Peach Garden, where she hoped to join Wang Yue.

• Wang Yue asked the emperor to send him to govern Ryukyu, and the emperor named him Prince of Langya Commandery and Pacification Commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands.
• Wang Yue told Zhao Pan'er he would leave the Eastern Capital; she agreed to go with him, while they planned to wait for Gu Qianfan and Song Yinzhuan's relationship to develop.
• Sun Sanniang and Song Yinzhuan chose to remain in the capital, and Wang Yue gave them deeds to two houses as wedding gifts.
• The Empress arranged for Ouyang Xu to marry Gao Hui, but Gao Hui escaped on her wedding day with help from her wet nurse and maids.
• Observer Gao concealed the helpers and reported Gao Hui missing, while the Empress ordered Ouyang Xu and the Imperial City Department to search for her.
• Gao Hui hid at Peach Garden, having fled not only Ouyang Xu but also because she had fallen in love with Wang Yue and hoped to leave with him.

Gao Hui fled her arranged marriage to Ouyang Xu and sought refuge with Wang Yue, while Zhao Pan'er considered how to handle her feelings for him. As the Emperor prepared to visit Wang Yue’s peach grove, Wang Yue and Zhao Pan'er wagered on how soon he would return, and Zhao Pan'er revealed that Gao Hui wanted to elope with Wang Yue.

• Gao Hui escaped the Gao residence two days before her wedding and went to Wang Yue’s peach grove, where Zhao Pan'er brought her to meet him.
• Gao Hui told Wang Yue she would accept becoming a concubine rather than take Zhao Pan'er’s place, and Wang Yue left the decision to Zhao Pan'er.
• Xiao Qinyan decided to help Wang Yue and Gu Qianfan against the Empress’s faction, while Ouyang Xu and Qi Mu plotted against Wang Yue by directing the Emperor to the peach grove.
• Wang Yue received a secret message revealing that the Emperor planned to visit the peach grove, supposedly to bathe in its hot springs and investigate the disappearance of an Imperial City Department unit.
• Wang Yue and Zhao Pan'er wagered that the Emperor would return within seven days or at least a month, and Wang Yue explained that the hot springs’ spiritual energy could improve health.
• Zhao Pan'er told Wang Yue that Gao Hui liked him and was willing to elope with him, and Wang Yue admitted he had noticed her feelings.

Gao Hui pressed Wang Yue to accept her as a titled lady, and he arranged for her to meet Virtuous Consort when the Emperor visited the peach grove. After Gao Hui reunited with her aunt, Virtuous Consort learned that she had fallen for Wang Yue and worried about her future in his household.

• Gao Hui demanded a straight answer from Wang Yue about becoming his titled lady, and Zhao Pan'er reassured her that he was willing.
• Wang Yue realized the Emperor’s visit could bring Virtuous Consort to the peach grove and arranged for Gao Hui to meet her through a secret passage.
• The Emperor arrived with Virtuous Consort and other women, while Ouyang Xu’s men searched the grove and found nothing suspicious or any sign of Gao Hui.
• Virtuous Consort feigned exhaustion and went to her room, where Gao Hui emerged from a hidden passage.
• Gao Hui told Virtuous Consort that she loved Wang Yue, and her aunt decided she needed to meet him and ensure he would treat Gao Hui well.

Wang Yue secured Virtuous Consort’s support for Gao Hui’s marriage by offering treatment for her ailment, then used a decoy and his Ryukyu fleet to ambush Ouyang Xu’s pursuit and kill him. Zhao Pan’er learned Wang Yue had avenged her and began to reconsider keeping her own plans secret from him.

• Virtuous Consort questioned Gao Hui about her life with Wang Yue, then agreed to consider helping end Gao Hui’s engagement to Ouyang Xu in exchange for Wang Yue treating her uterine chill.
• The Emperor soaked in Wang Yue’s hot springs and stayed overnight, while Wang Yue noticed Ouyang Xu watching the peach grove and decided to kill him.
• Wang Yue sent a female guard disguised as Gao Hui toward the docks as bait, and Ouyang Xu pursued her with three hundred Imperial City Department men.
• Near Daming Prefecture, Wang Cai’s fleet ambushed Ouyang Xu’s boats with crossbow bolts and killed Ouyang Xu and all three hundred of his men.
• Wang Cai explained the ambush to Zhao Pan’er, who realized Wang Yue had killed Ouyang Xu to avenge her and resolved to speak honestly with him about her own plans.

Wang Yue’s acupuncture treatment of Virtuous Consort turns into Zhao Pan’er’s scheme to bind them together and help Virtuous Consort conceive an heir. After Zhao Pan’er explains her hatred of the Emperor and her plan to protect Virtuous Consort, Wang Yue accepts that she has thought the consequences through.

• Wang Yue agreed to treat Virtuous Consort with acupuncture in a secret room, and Zhao Pan’er began bringing them hot porridge.
• During the final session, Wang Yue and Gao Hui gave in to their desires, and Virtuous Consort left after confronting Zhao Pan’er.
• Zhao Pan’er admitted that she had arranged the encounter to keep Virtuous Consort from betraying them after having Wang Yue’s child.
• Zhao Pan’er told Wang Yue that she hated the Emperor for condemning her and her mother, and that she believed Wang Yue had the power to act against him.
• Zhao Pan’er explained that Virtuous Consort could conceive Wang Yue’s child and stay safely at the peach grove, with the child treated as Zhao Pan’er’s heir.

Virtuous Consort secured the emperor’s approval for Gao Hui to marry Wang Yue and received the Peach Blossom Retreat, while secretly arranging for Lü Zhu’s brother to be freed. Wang Yue then took his family and the imperial gifts to Ryukyu, where the King of Ryukyu accepted the emperor’s summons and settled in the capital as Prince of Penglai Commandery.

• Virtuous Consort decided to use the situation with Wang Yue and Gao Hui to benefit the Gao Family, then helped Gao Hui accept what had happened.
• Virtuous Consort persuaded the emperor to give her the Peach Blossom Retreat and annul Gao Hui’s engagement to Ouyang Xu so Gao Hui could marry Wang Yue; the emperor also made Gao Hui a County Princess.
• Virtuous Consort got the emperor drunk, while Lü Zhu learned that Observer Gao had freed her younger brother from prison.
• The emperor issued a decree making Gao Hui Wang Yue’s wife, second only to the Princess Consort, and Wang Yue took his family and the imperial gifts south to Ryukyu.
• Wang Yue read the imperial decree to the King of Ryukyu, who sailed to the capital with his family and was made Prince of Penglai Commandery.

As Consort Virtuous went into labor at the Royal Villa, an Empress-aligned force attacked and overwhelmed the guards, leaving the emperor and his household surrounded. Consort Virtuous followed Wang Yue’s instructions and prayed at the well; a dragon’s roar silenced the battle as she gave birth, while mist enveloped the peach grove.

• Eastern Capital prospered through the cuju league, while Consort Virtuous’s pregnancy kept the peach grove closed and turned it into a guarded Royal Villa.
• Gao Hui went into labor on Ryukyu, where Zhao Pan'er and Wang Yue waited outside her room after Zhao Pan'er had given birth to twins.
• Men in black attacked the Royal Villa, killed the three thousand soldiers outside, and captured or killed the Imperial City Department forces sent against them.
• Gu Qianfan tried to break through the attackers to seek help, but Xiao Qinyan’s men defeated him and carried him away alive.
• Consort Virtuous remembered Wang Yue’s instructions, had herself carried to the courtyard, and dropped her jade Buddha into the well as she and the emperor prayed.
• A dragon’s roar drove the sounds of battle away, Consort Virtuous gave birth, and thick mist spread through the peach grove.

After Gao Hui gave birth to a son in Ryukyu, Wang Yue built up his island forces while a coup against the emperor in the peach grove failed amid supernatural signs and Observer Gao’s intervention. The Empress’s faction was purged, Virtuous Consort became Noble Consort, and Great Song entered a period of stability under Ke Zheng as Bao Zheng arrived to take the imperial exams.

• Gao Hui gave birth to a boy, and Wang Yue confirmed that she was safe before returning to his work in Ryukyu.
• Wang Yue expanded Ryukyu’s navy and army, then received word that Ke Zheng wanted him to return to the capital.
• The Empress’s faction attacked the emperor’s residence in the peach grove, but a dragon’s roar, thick fog, and torrential rain foiled their assault as Observer Gao arrived with troops.
• Virtuous Consort left the peach grove with her newborn son, and the emperor spared Xiao Qinyan while executing the other coup plotters and deposing Empress Liu Wan.
• The emperor recalled Ke Zheng to oversee government, promoted Virtuous Consort to Noble Consort, and withdrew to the peach grove as Great Song stabilized.
• Bao Zheng came to the capital to sit for the imperial exams.

The chapter followed Song Yinzhuan and Sun Sanniang as they built new families, then traced Wang Yue’s return to the capital, his rise as regent, and his retirement to Ryukyu. After Zhao Pan’er revealed Wang Yue’s true strength to Empress Dowager Gao, the system met its return conditions and sent Wang Yue back to his original world.

• Song Yinzhuan used Zhao Pan’er’s life-saving medicine to rescue Gu Qianfan, and Gu Qianfan proposed to her before they married with Xiao Qinyan’s approval.
• Sun Sanniang reunited with Fu Zifang, met his teacher Du Changfeng, and later married Du Changfeng after they fell in love.
• Sun Sanniang distributed food to flood victims, and the emperor granted her the rank of seventh-grade noblewoman.
• Ke Zheng recalled Wang Yue from Ryukyu to serve as Assistant to the Council of State, and Wang Yue helped govern Great Song as regent to the young emperor.
• After the emperor took power, Wang Yue retired to Ryukyu with his family and Empress Dowager Gao, and the emperor made Ryukyu his fief.
• Zhao Pan’er called Wang Yue the Pirate King, triggering the system to recognize the skill and return him to his original world.

After Wang Yue returned to the real world, Luo Youyou agreed to visit his family, and the two drove to his hometown. Wang Yue's mother warmly welcomed Luo Youyou, while Wang Yue found himself sidelined at home and was caught off guard when Luo Youyou asked to see his room.

• Wang Yue teased Luo Youyou about watching a handsome man on TV, and they flirted on the sofa before she fell asleep.
• Wang Yue's mother called him, spotted Luo Youyou's hair, and met her on the video call; Luo Youyou said she wanted to visit Wang Yue's family.
• Luo Youyou told the old master she planned to visit Wang Yue's hometown, and he approved and gave her nutritional supplements to bring.
• Wang Yue and Luo Youyou drove to his hometown the next day, where Wang Yue's mother immediately focused on welcoming Luo Youyou.
• After Wang Yue's parents left to buy groceries, Luo Youyou seriously asked Wang Yue which room was his.

Luo Youyou searched Wang Yue’s room for signs of the girl from Magic City, and Wang Yue admitted he had once made a bet with his high-school classmate Yu Xiaowei about becoming her boyfriend. After they made a new bet about whether his mother would send him elsewhere for the night, Luo Youyou asked if Yu Xiaowei had rejected his confession.

• Luo Youyou found Wang Yue’s high-school graduation photo and asked which girl had gone to Magic City.
• Wang Yue admitted that Yu Xiaowei had been his class study representative and that they had bet she would be his girlfriend if they entered the same school.
• Wang Yue explained that Yu Xiaowei went abroad instead of attending university in Magic City, while he failed to enter a university there.
• Wang Yue told Luo Youyou how he had become overweight in high school, and they joked about his appearance and health.
• Wang Yue and Luo Youyou bet that if his mother told him to stay elsewhere that night, Luo Youyou would grant him a condition, but if she did not, he would grant her a favor.
• Wang Yue explained that he and Yu Xiaowei had started arguing after she reported his reading in class, and Luo Youyou asked if she had rejected his confession.

Wang Yue and Luo Youyou settled their doubled bet after visiting his family, while Wang Yue expanded his companies’ partnership with Big Penguin. With the travel cooldown over, Wang Yue entered Ode to Joy 3 to visit Ye Zhenzhen and pursue brainwave research.

• Wang Yue explained his old misunderstanding with Yu Xiaowei, and Luo Youyou agreed to double their bet, adding that he would cook if he lost.
• Wang Yue won the bet when his mother arranged a hotel room, and Luo Youyou returned from his hometown visit looking forward to their marriage.
• Old Master asked his son and daughter-in-law to meet Wang Yue’s parents, while Wang Yue received a call from Liang Lu about promoting the cosmetics company’s products.
• Wang Yue told Liang Lu that Xiang Dong had been poached from Big Penguin, then agreed to Big Penguin’s investment in his network security business and its promotion campaign.
• Wang Yue chose Ode to Joy 3 for his next trip, intending to visit Ye Zhenzhen and resume his brainwave technology research, and the Little Assistant began loading the world.

After returning to the exact moment he had left, Wang Yue resumed life with Ye Zhenzhen and completed his mobile operating system project before turning to brain-wave research. As the women of Ode to Joy moved away and Ye Zhenzhen left for graduate study in the USA, Wang Yue stayed in Magic City, unwilling to risk going abroad.

• Wang Yue returned to his apartment with Ye Zhenzhen, and the two rekindled their intimacy.
• Wang Yue and his team completed the mobile operating system project with Huawei, allowing him to finish graduate studies ahead of schedule and begin preparing for brain-wave research.
• The women of Ode to Joy moved away or married, and Ye Zhenzhen bought Room 2203 so Wang Yue could use the adjoining rooms as a laboratory.
• After Professor Liang recommended Ye Zhenzhen for further study in the USA, she chose to go despite Wang Yue's objections and his refusal to accompany her.
• Ye Zhenzhen returned to Magic City several times during her first year abroad, but Wang Yue continued to refuse invitations to study overseas.

After Ye Zhenzhen returned from abroad, Wang Yue showed her his brainwave technology and the dangers she had faced, and the couple reunited at home. Later, as they continued their work and faced pressure to have a child, Ye Zhenzhen invited Wang Yue to dinner with three neighbors from 2202.

• Ye Zhenzhen returned to China after Wang Yue and Little Assistant helped her evade surveillance, then went back to their apartment while Wang Yue waited downstairs.
• Wang Yue reunited with Ye Zhenzhen, and she spent a week recovering from his pent-up affection before he demonstrated his brainwave equipment and explained how he had protected her.
• Ye Zhenzhen accepted that Wang Yue had been right to stay in China and began learning about laboratory equipment at Professor Tao's lab, while Wang Yue continued developing his headset.
• Wang Yue and Ye Zhenzhen struggled to conceive despite medical checkups, and Ye Zhenzhen began doing a good deed each day after an old monk advised her to.
• Lucy moved into 2201, and Wang Yue checked that she had no suspicious connections before leaving her alone.
• Ye Zhenzhen invited Wang Yue to dinner with Zhu Zhe, Yu Chuhui, and another neighbor from 2202, and he agreed to meet them.

Ye Zhenzhen and her new neighbors chased a man who had secretly photographed He Minhong, with Fang Zhiheng catching him. Wang Yue met the three women afterward, and the chapter ended with him carrying Ye Zhenzhen toward the bedroom despite her attempt to stall.

• Ye Zhenzhen took Zhu Zhe, Yu Chuhui, and He Minhong to a restaurant while Wang Yue finished his work.
• Yu Chuhui caught a man photographing He Minhong, and Ye Zhenzhen and Zhu Zhe helped block him before he escaped; Fang Zhiheng pursued and caught him.
• Wang Yue met the three women at the Police Station, where Ye Zhenzhen introduced them and chatted with them over a meal.
• Ye Zhenzhen told Wang Yue what had happened, and he advised her to be cautious around He Minhong and to train for self-defense.
• Wang Yue and Ye Zhenzhen watched Love O2O, then Wang Yue carried her toward the bedroom as she tried to postpone their workout.

Ye Zhenzhen tested Wang Yue’s improved gaming helmet, then changed the hallway lightbulb and got to know the women in apartment 2202. The chapter ended with Wang Yue answering He Minhong’s complaint about unfair competition.

• Ye Zhenzhen tried exercising, then helped Wang Yue test his second-generation gaming helmet by playing King of Fighters against him.
• Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue played until late, and she gave him suggestions for improving the game’s moves.
• Ye Zhenzhen replaced the hallway bulb while Zhu Zhe and Yu Chuhui steadied the ladder and chatted with her.
• Yu Chuhui mocked He Minhong for gossiping about her, and Zhu Zhe changed the subject by offering Ye Zhenzhen some homemade sauce.
• Zhu Zhe asked how Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue had been able to buy their apartment, and Ye Zhenzhen joked that she had gained Shanghai residency as a returning overseas student.
• He Minhong criticized the idea of gaining an advantage through residency, and Wang Yue told her that the world was never fair to begin with.

Yu Chuhui, Wang Yue, and Ye Zhenzhen challenged He Minhong’s complaints about fairness, while Ye Zhenzhen and Zhu Zhe grew closer over cooking and a trip to the gym. Over dinner, Wang Yue suggested a possible job for Yu Chuhui, and He Minhong again questioned the fairness of Ye Zhenzhen’s pharmaceutical company before Zhu Zhe steered the conversation elsewhere.

• Yu Chuhui and Wang Yue rebutted He Minhong’s complaints about Ye Zhenzhen’s residency and advantages, and Wang Yue invited Zhu Zhe to make beef sauce at his apartment.
• Ye Zhenzhen explained how she had obtained her Magic City residency, then went with Zhu Zhe and He Minhong to help with a lock; Yu Chuhui stayed behind because she had a weekend dance-teaching job.
• Ye Zhenzhen joined Fang Zhiheng for a trip to the gym, bringing He Minhong along after Yu Chuhui declined.
• Wang Yue called Ye Zhenzhen, learned she was helping Zhu Zhe pick a glued-shut lock, and ate alone until the group returned that evening.
• Over beef-sauce noodles, Wang Yue suggested Yu Chuhui ask Sister Fan about an equipment-engineer position at Zhenzhen Pharmaceuticals, and Ye Zhenzhen explained that Wang Yue had funded the company and its lab projects.
• He Minhong questioned whether Ye Zhenzhen’s investment was fair, Yu Chuhui objected, and Zhu Zhe changed the subject before Wang Yue returned to work.

Ye Zhenzhen told her new neighbors about Wang Yue’s wealth and laboratory, then joined them in helping Yu Chuhui bring her mother to Magic City. Wang Yue questioned whether the plan would help and ended the night teasing Ye Zhenzhen about having a baby.

• Ye Zhenzhen explained to Yu Chuhui, Zhu Zhe, and He Minhong that Wang Yue owned the twenty-first floor and had made his money through software and a gaming company.
• Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue discussed her new friendships, Yu Chuhui’s possible job, and Zhu Zhe’s handling of a hotel incident.
• Ye Zhenzhen told Wang Yue that she and her friends had staged a story to bring Yu Chuhui’s mother to Magic City, and explained the abuse and financial trouble in Yu Chuhui’s family.
• Wang Yue questioned whether Yu Chuhui’s mother would leave her husband and suggested she might have a victim complex, making Ye Zhenzhen reconsider the situation.
• Wang Yue carried Ye Zhenzhen off to work on having a baby.

Ye Zhenzhen told Wang Yue about the growing tensions in 2202 and Zhu Zhe’s efforts to protect vulnerable hotel workers. Wang Yue offered to help the waitresses find jobs at Zhenzhen Pharmaceuticals, then explained that ordinary university graduates could earn less than migrant workers.

• Ye Zhenzhen recounted how He Minhong criticized Yu Chuhui for arguing with Mrs. Yu, while Zhu Zhe tried to keep out of their family dispute.
• Wang Yue told Ye Zhenzhen that Yu Chuhui’s attempt to rescue her mother might ignore Mrs. Yu’s own choices, and Ye Zhenzhen later shared her curiosity about Fang Zhiheng’s secretive behavior.
• Ye Zhenzhen praised Zhu Zhe for protecting a waitress from harassment and helping hotel inspectors report renovation leaks, even though her actions could harm her own career.
• Ye Zhenzhen asked Wang Yue to help the hotel’s vulnerable waitresses, and he suggested that Zhu Zhe refer them to Zhenzhen Pharmaceuticals for work.
• Wang Yue explained that labor shortages made jobs available to workers, while graduates from ordinary universities often faced fierce competition and low wages.

Zhu Zhe moved her belongings into Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue’s home and explained that her younger siblings expected her to support them. When they arrived with their companions and demanded help, Zhu Zhe pushed back, while Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue planned to help get them away from her.

• Ye Zhenzhen and Zhu Zhe moved Zhu Zhe’s belongings into the apartment, where Zhu Zhe told Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue that her younger siblings wanted to spend her savings.
• Wang Yue suggested ways Zhu Zhe could discourage her siblings from asking for money, but Zhu Zhe rejected his ideas because she worried about legal trouble and her job.
• Zhu Zhe’s younger brother and sister arrived with his girlfriend and her mother, and Zhu Zhe refused to let them stay without paying for an inn.
• Zhu Zhe argued with her siblings, told them she was in debt from paying their tuition, and asked her sister Tingting to contribute money toward the debt.
• After He Minhong told Ye Zhenzhen what had happened, Ye Zhenzhen and Wang Yue planned to take Zhu Zhe’s siblings near Zhenzhen Pharmaceuticals, where Yingying and Sister Fan could keep an eye on them.