Recaps

Youth Gu Ren recovered his past-life memories but had to continue school, while Bai Su learned her teacher had reincarnated and was doing well. The chapter ended with Gu Chi introducing Bai Su to a girl he had raised as his foster daughter, whose arrival suggested a connection to Bai Su’s teacher.

• Shen Tang explained that Zheng Qiao had entered the human realm in the sixth year of the Yanhuang Era after passing through many lifetimes, and she refused to excuse Youth Gu Ren from school or his summer homework.
• Youth Gu Ren transferred to a capital academy to stay near his family, while Shen Tang told Bai Su that her reincarnated teacher was doing well and that a thread of fate still connected them.
• During the New Year holiday, Gu Chi brought home a young woman and startled the servants, who mistook her for a romantic rival resembling Tan Qian Jun.
• Gu Chi explained that the young woman was the orphaned daughter of former army cooks whom he had supported, and asked Bai Su to accept her as their foster daughter.
• Bai Su sensed the girl might be connected to her teacher, and Gu Chi revealed that he had arranged their meeting many years earlier with Chu Wu Hui’s help.

Gu Chi secretly confirmed that the student he had funded was the reincarnation of Bai Su’s master and decided to adopt her. After Shen Tang gave Bai Su incense that let Gu Chi commune with the dead, he saw his family living happily in another world and watched his mother begin a new life.

• Gu Chi tested the student’s character and was satisfied that she held no lasting resentment toward the relatives who had mistreated her.
• Gu Chi told the student he would adopt her after the court’s New Year holiday, then explained to Bai Su that he had begun funding students in hopes of accumulating merit and gaining a child.
• Bai Su told Shen Tang she wanted Gu Chi to adopt one of his reincarnated relatives, and Shen Tang warned her not to force bonds that had been severed.
• Bai Su lit the incense Shen Tang had given her, and Gu Chi spent the night seeing his family in another world.
• Gu Chi watched his mother, reincarnated as a bride, reunite with him briefly before her wedding car carried her toward her new life.

Gu Chi secured two years of leave and rode to the Northeast Continent to reunite with Bai Su, where he found her confronting local crime and corrupt customs. His leave approval arrived with work attached, leaving him to balance his hoped-for storytelling with official duties.

• Gu Chi persuaded Shen Tang to approve two years of leave and left the capital before the appointment document arrived.
• Bai Su investigated lawlessness in the Northeast Continent while recruiting female soldiers and explaining its entrenched bullies to Yue Ke.
• Bai Su stopped a thief who had tried to steal Yue Ke’s jewelry, rejecting his claim that he robbed the rich to help the poor despite bystanders defending him.
• Gu Chi arrived and learned that locals had been bribed to damage Bai Su’s reputation, then admitted he had also sought leave to encourage the rotation of founding officials.
• Bai Su handed Gu Chi his mail, revealing work for him to handle, while he planned to write stories during his leave.

Gu Chi’s adopted-daughter banquet and two-year leave disrupted the Censorate, while Cui Xiao’s private life and old retirement memorial came to light. The chapter ended with Cui Xiao looking for a long-term residence in the capital because he had to take charge during Gu Chi’s absence.

• Gu Chi and Bai Su invited officials to a banquet for their shared adopted daughter, prompting colleagues to complain about giving them two gifts.
• Qin Li wondered whether Gu Chi had been caught in an official-debt scam, but Gu Chi clarified that he had simply sought sponsorship for New Year activities.
• After the holiday, officials learned Gu Chi had taken two years off and congratulated the Right Vice-Chancellor, who remained anxious about Cui Xiao’s presence and the Censorate’s leadership.
• The Right Vice-Chancellor found a retirement memorial in Gu Chi’s belongings, and Cui Xiao explained that he had written it while drunk on his wife’s death anniversary.
• Cui Xiao admitted that he had a deceased wife and little contact with his family, then sought a long-term rental in Huang Ting because Gu Chi’s absence required him to stay in the capital.

Cui Xiao tried to rent a house in the royal capital because his bestowed residence had remained unfinished for fourteen years, and he encountered a predatory rental agent before Cui Long found him. He joined Cui Long for a family banquet but first moved into Gu Chi’s residence, insisting Gu Chi was responsible for keeping him in Huang Ting.

• Right Vice-Chancellor learned that Cui Xiao’s bestowed residence was still unfinished after fourteen years and warned him about the royal capital’s unscrupulous rental agents.
• Cui Xiao viewed a house near the royal court, challenged the agent’s suspicious fees, and was interrupted when Cui Long arrived and invited him to stay with her.
• Cui Long explained that her three male confidants had drawn criticism from Cui Xiao’s political enemies, but the attacks had ultimately come to nothing.
• Cui Long invited Cui Xiao to a family banquet, where her maternal grandparents would also be present, and Cui Xiao agreed to attend.
• Cui Xiao redirected the carriage to Gu Chi’s residence and ordered the steward to prepare guest quarters, declaring that Gu Chi would have to pay his rent or house him for two years.
• The Gu family steward urgently wrote to Gu Chi that Cui Xiao had occupied his residence and demanded a decision.

Cui Xiao moved into Gu Chi’s residence and learned that Cui Xiong’s family troubles and a frightening accident involving his cousins had unsettled the Cui clan. At Cui Residence, he also discovered Cui Hui was pregnant with twins, who Jimò Qiu revealed were destined for Shen De, leaving Shen Tang alarmed about the match and the twins’ safety.

• Cui Xiao refused Cui Long’s offer of another residence and stayed at Gu Residence to vent his anger at being deceived.
• Cui Long told Cui Xiao that the Cui elders’ treatment of Miao Ne had strained her relationship with Cui Xiong and angered Luan Xin.
• Cui Xiong said his cousins had been thrown from their horses and injured, denied involvement, and announced he would take an out-of-capital post for five years.
• Cui Hui revealed she was pregnant with twins, and Cui Mi warned that the children’s futures seemed terrifying.
• Shen De pressed Jimò Qiu to reveal her destined partner, and he said the person was one of Cui Zhi’s unborn twins.
• Shen Tang learned that Shen De’s destined partners were the twins and worried that the Crown Princess could not take both under Kang’s marriage laws.

Shen De prepared to leave on her first official assignment with Duke Xun, investigating suspicious local finances and testing a new plan to prevent locust plagues. As she spent time with her friends and family, Gongxi Chou gave her a token that opened a safe containing old keepsakes and useful connections.

• At Court Session, Shen De received her appointment and asked Xun Zhen for guidance, and he told her not to be nervous or softhearted and to sharpen her sword.
• Xun Zhen explained that he would investigate missing Tax Silver in Huang Ting while Shen De oversaw an experimental waterworks project based on a rural couple’s plan to curb locust breeding.
• Shen De visited Xun Zhen’s residence, reunited with Gongxi Dou, and shared a family meal with Xun Ding, Gongxi Lai, and their children.
• Gongxi Chou gave Shen De a token to open a safe of old keepsakes and useful connections before her assignment.

Shen De used Gongxi Chou’s collection of battle-trophy fundoshi as leverage to enlist his defeated opponents as secret protectors during an official inspection with Xun Zhen. At their destination, a local official claiming kinship with Xun Zhen appeared, and Xun Zhen quietly warned Shen De to wait and observe him.

• Shen De opened Gongxi Chou’s bank vault and discovered chests of fundoshi, each marked with its owner’s name, Martial Gall Tiger Tally seal, and place of origin.
• Gongxi Chou explained that he had defeated high-ranking Martial Gall Warriors across Kang and collected their fundoshi, while warning Shen De that enemies of order might target her because she was Shen Tang’s daughter.
• Shen De took fundoshi tokens on her official trip with Xun Zhen and persuaded Gongxi Chou’s former opponents to protect her in secret.
• Xun Zhen and Shen De met local officials who appeared upright and hospitable, but one official claimed to have served Xun Zhen decades earlier and to be a relative of his late wife.
• Xun Zhen remembered the man but secretly told Shen De not to rush and to watch him longer.

Xun Zhen exposed an attempt to control him with an illusion, but he mistook the disguised attacker for his reincarnated wife and became gravely ill with guilt. Shen Tang arrived to comfort him, and the investigation uncovered widespread corruption in Jinli Commandery; Xun Zhen recovered and resumed work.

• Xun Zhen rejected the illusion of his deceased wife, killed the disguised attacker, and learned that the enemy had used spider threads and a spirit-summoning Scholar’s Way to try to control him.
• Xun Zhen discovered that local officials had embezzled agricultural subsidies and river-maintenance funds, and Shen De invited commoners to report further abuses.
• Xun Zhen fell ill after believing he had killed his reincarnated wife, so Shen De sent an urgent dispatch to the royal capital.
• Gongxi Chou told Shen De that Shen Tang had come to see Xun Zhen and explained that Xun Zhen’s wife had reincarnated in another world.
• Shen Tang soothed Xun Zhen and sent him into a dream where he met a happy middle-aged man named Fu, then Xun Zhen woke with his fever broken.
• Xun Zhen returned to work, and Shen Tang and Xun Zhen watched as the seized stolen silver was transferred to the treasury.

Luan Xin received two years of leave and met Bo Yuan Jun, who helped Shen Tang strengthen his prospects for completing his Perfection Ritual. Shen Tang also arranged to demote Qiu Cheng’s eldest son and promote Luan Xin to Commandery Duke, leaving Luan Xin with a golden-red light between his brows.

• The officials celebrated when Shen Tang approved Luan Xin’s request for two years of leave, while Luan Xin heard their plans to take control of the Ministry of Personnel in his absence.
• Luan Xin met Bo Yuan Jun in the inner palace garden, where Shen Tang urged the ailing woman to seek help from Tenth Old.
• Shen Tang told Luan Xin she would demote Qiu Cheng’s eldest son from Commandery Duke to County Duke and make Luan Xin a Commandery Duke.
• Luan Xin accepted Shen Tang’s decision and said he would use his leave to seek reclusive scholars who could help him complete his Perfection Ritual.
• Shen Tang asked Bo Yuan Jun to help Luan Xin, and Bo Yuan Jun sent a golden-red streak of light into the space between his brows.

Shen Tang took the ancient woman through Huang Ting to experience human life, while the woman’s blessing caused gold to appear mysteriously for Luan Xin. Luan Xin departed on leave with his wife and student Yan Shu, and the journey began with another strange metal falling onto their carriage.

• Shen Tang took the woman around Huang Ting and persuaded her to taste human food, though the woman paid for snacks with gold and silver far beyond their value.
• Luan Xin told Shen Tang that goldfish-shaped gold bars had appeared beside his pillow, and Shen Tang explained that the woman’s blessing was likely responsible.
• Luan Xin finished arranging his two-year leave and set out with his wife and Yan Shu to visit his students and search for reclusive scholars.
• Yan Shu became motion sick on the jolting road and fell asleep in Luan Xin’s wife’s arms.
• A purplish-red metal shaped like two fish biting each other’s tails struck the carriage roof, leaving Luan Xin and his guards puzzled.

Luan Xin learned that the metals appearing near him could reveal unclaimed deposits, then continued his travels to visit his students and seek recluses who might help complete the Perfection Ritual. His visit to Xiang Zhao ended with Gongyang Yongye gaining a chance to earn merit from a local iron mine.

• Luan Xin reported the copper blocks that appeared in his bedding, and the woman explained that unclaimed copper nearby had triggered them while the earlier gold came from a treasury in the sky.
• Shen Tang told Luan Xin to enjoy his leave, and he continued sightseeing and visiting recluses with his wife and students.
• Luan Xin reunited with Miao Ne and learned that she had married Cui Xiong and was expecting a child so her dying mother could see her surrounded by family.
• Miao Ne and Yan Shu argued over their past lives and the guilt of the old Miao clan, while Miao Ne put Yan Shu to work and taught her.
• Luan Xin met Xiang Zhao and Gongyang Yongye, then offered Gongyang Yongye a chance to help with the iron mines near Laqu and earn merit.

Shen Tang approved Shen De’s request to join the Imperial Academy’s study tour to Ganzhou, while ordering her to handle official matters there. Meanwhile, the He family discovered their youngest daughter had run away after being confined, and Shen De found her with Gongxi Chou.

• Shen Tang rejected Ganzhou’s petition to rename a place after Gongxi Chou but agreed to draw an emblem combining his and Shaobai’s totems.
• Jimò Qiu relayed Shen De’s request to join the Imperial Academy’s study tour, and Shen Tang allowed her to go on the condition that she deal with several officials.
• Shen Tang’s investigation revealed that Shen De had sided with the He family’s children during a brawl at the Imperial Academy, and officials had impeached her and placed her under house arrest.
• He Shu and He Xin discussed taking six months’ leave to travel with their family after addressing the threat from their political enemies.
• The He family discovered their youngest daughter had left home with belongings and silver, and Shen De found her eating with Gongxi Chou.

After He Wu was caught trying to run away, her parents arranged for her to join the Imperial Academy's field trip to Ganzhou, where she could visit an elder her mother admired. The students endured a grueling march under Gongxi Chou, then reached Ganzhou and settled into a camp commanded by Lü Jue, with their plans to meet local scholars still undecided.

• He Wu's parents brought her home, and her mother persuaded her to join the Imperial Academy's field trip to Ganzhou.
• He Wu's mother sought Qi Shan's help contacting Yu Hai, hoping to explore whether she could open the painters' sacred hall.
• Gongxi Chou escorted the Imperial Academy students to Ganzhou and made them march while using their Word Spirits to coordinate.
• The exhausted students reached Ganzhou, where Lü Jue welcomed Shen De and gave the group seven days of free time.
• Xingning and the other students debated visiting local schools for an exchange, but Shen De and Xingning warned them against provoking the locals.

Wei Sheng broke up a fight between Imperial Academy students and Qiao Zi’s group, and Qiao Zi became curious about Xingning after noticing how much they resembled the dean of Mei Meng’s academy. Meanwhile, Lü Jue and Mei Meng continued their reunion, and the chapter revealed how Yan An’s sacrifice helped Zheng Qiao receive a new beginning as Sheng Song.

• Wei Sheng stopped the Imperial Academy students from escalating a teahouse brawl and learned that they had insulted Qiao Zi after mistaking him for a girl.
• Qiao Zi invited Wei Sheng, Xingning, and the others to eat, learned Xingning was called Xingning, and introduced himself as Zheng Qiao, courtesy name Sheng Song.
• Lü Jue heard about the brawl and stayed out of it, then reflected on his reunion with Mei Meng and wondered why Zheng Qiao had been a madman in his previous life.
• Mei Meng recalled helping Zheng Qiao choose a courtesy name and learned that his Literary Heart Sigil had instead inscribed Sheng Song.
• Shen Tang explained that Yan An had given up his memories of Zheng Qiao so his junior brother could escape the knot tied to his former courtesy name and begin again.
• Qi Cang called Lü Jue and the others to help serve the food while Mei Meng relaxed beside Lü Jue.

In the final days of Yanhuang’s sixteenth year, Lin Feng learned that Su Shi Yilu had returned to Huang Ting with a gravely ill woman, the mother of the son Lin Feng had killed. After hearing the woman’s grief and regret, Lin Feng arranged for Qi Miao to examine her at dawn.

• Lin Feng and Lu Ji discussed the aging Su Shi Yilu, who had secretly returned from Wu Province looking old and worn.
• Su Shi Yilu came to Lin Feng’s residence at night and brought her to his home, where his nephew was caring for a dying woman.
• Lin Feng recognized the woman as the mother of the boy she had killed, and the woman asked to speak with her privately.
• The woman described her struggle between grief for her son and compassion for the orphans she had come to care for, and told Lin Feng she could not forgive her as a mother.
• After the woman fell asleep, Lin Feng learned that many physicians had examined her and suspected they had overlooked her condition because none specialized in women’s medicine.
• Lin Feng gave Su Shi Yilu her token and told him to ask Qi Miao to examine the woman after dawn.

Qi Miao treated Su Shi Yilu’s beloved and explained the sacrifice needed to save her, while Qi Shan described why Kang tolerated Su Shi Yilu’s past. Afterward, Su Shi Yilu donated to Charity Hall, and his investigation into Su Shang’s longevity led Shen Tang to consider teaching him a secret technique as she tutored Bo Yuan for her approaching tribulation.

• Su Shi Yilu found Qi Miao at Charity Hall and asked her to save the woman he loved.
• Qi Miao diagnosed the woman’s severe illness and said removing her womb was the only treatment she could offer; Su Shi Yilu agreed, but Qi Miao insisted they ask the patient first.
• Qi Shan explained to Qi Miao that Kang’s officials overlooked Su Shi Yilu’s scandals because he had restrained the Ten Crows’ old clans and helped Wu Prefecture recover.
• Su Shi Yilu visited Qi Miao during the New Year, thanked her with an embroidered banner, and donated two-tenths of his family fortune to Charity Hall.
• Su Shi Yilu learned that Jimò Qiu knew a secret technique connected to Su Shang’s longevity, so he and the young man sought Shen Tang’s help.
• Shen Tang agreed to help while making Bo Yuan study for her coming tribulation, which required her to become a member of the human race.

After returning from two years of leave, Gu Chi reunited with Shen Tang, settled back into his household, and learned that Cui Xiao’s unfinished residence had burned down. Back at court, Gu Chi exposed a murder and cover-up involving Wu Xian’s son and daughter-in-law, leaving the Duke of Lu’s household facing disgrace and punishment.

• Shen Tang welcomed Gu Chi back, gave him a warm drink, and told him to resume work after his remaining leave.
• Gu Chi returned to his residence, rewarded the servants for keeping it in order, and learned that Cui Xiao’s house had burned down and could not yet be repaired.
• Gu Chi spent his first days back attending banquets, watching plays, and checking Yue Ke’s winter-break homework before hearing an old woman’s account of her daughter’s death.
• Gu Chi impeached Wu Xian for failing to keep his household in order and revealed that Wu Xian’s son had helped cover up his wife’s murder of a servant.
• Wu Xian’s son denied forcing the victim, but Gu Chi accused him of multiple crimes and pushed for both spouses to face severe punishment.

Chu Yao explained that Gu Chi was using Wu Xian’s family as a warning to enforce Kang’s laws against abuse of servants, then predicted that Gu Chi would target officials’ descendants. Gu Chi’s crackdown continued, and Shen Tang stopped an official who tried to assassinate him.

• Wei Shou, Qian Yong, Jin Rui, and Chu Yao discussed the executions in Wu Xian’s household and the unequal treatment of servants under the law.
• Chu Yao reasoned that Gu Chi had made Wu Xian’s family an example to encourage abused servants to bring lawsuits, and warned Wei Shou and Qian Yong to investigate their relatives.
• Within two months, Gu Chi executed around a dozen more people and caused one family to lose its noble status, provoking officials to denounce him.
• An official tried to stab Gu Chi, but Shen Tang caught the man and condemned his attempt to assassinate a fellow official.
• The arrested official accused Gu Chi of excessive punishment, while Gu Chi told Shen Tang that attempted murder counted as a crime and insisted that accusations required evidence.

Qin Li returned to Huang Ting and learned that Gu Chi’s crackdown had ensnared a subordinate’s family, whose son had embezzled school instructors’ wages. Qin Li suspected the case concealed a broader scheme and planned to silence the father, but Shen Tang summoned him and warned him not to risk himself before he confessed his crime.

• A military woman beat her son after discovering he had withheld public-school instructors’ wages and obstructed their attempts to seek justice.
• The woman found evidence that her husband had used their son’s stolen money to support several outside women and their families, then rounded them up.
• After Zhao Feng explained the case, Qin Li ordered the instructors’ wages repaid, sought exile for the son, and directed Zhao Feng to kill the husband because he suspected someone had used the son as a scapegoat.
• Qin Li went to meet Shen Tang on a boat on the Five Seas, where she warned him against endangering himself over a minor figure.
• Qin Li told Shen Tang he had come to confess, and she asked what crime he had committed.

Shen Tang and Qin Li boated through Lotus Lake, where a boatwoman described her family’s hard-won prosperity and the housing problems in Huang Ting. Their conversation turned to Qin Li’s past and the strange illness that had once led an expert to call him a celestial youth; Shen Tang hinted that it involved karma from a previous life, while Qin Li said he would disappoint anyone waiting for that former self.

• Shen Tang and Qin Li took a boat to the restricted Lotus Lake, and the boatwoman mistook them for a courting couple before Qin Li clarified that Shen Tang was his superior.
• The boatwoman told Shen Tang about her years as an army laborer and soldier, her reunion with her children, and their work and lives in Huang Ting.
• After hearing that housing costs troubled local residents and officials, Shen Tang decided to discuss a new leasing law, while Qin Li recorded the concern.
• Shen Tang and Qin Li joked about Yuan Liang’s fear of water and discussed Qin Li’s education in imperial rites and his decision to leave home to cultivate.
• Qin Li explained that he had repeatedly fallen gravely ill when meeting prospective marriage partners, prompting an expert to declare that he carried the fate of a celestial youth.
• Shen Tang suggested Qin Li’s illness might be karma from a previous life, but Qin Li said he could only disappoint anyone who expected him to be that past-life person.

Shen Tang and Qin Li investigated a suspicious trader after he revealed an unusual plan to transport copper and iron, and they discovered that his fortune-telling father was Jiang Sheng in disguise. The chapter ended as Jiang Sheng privately greeted Shen Tang and prepared to explain himself.

• At a birthday gathering on a pleasure boat, Gongxi Chou interrupted Jimò Qiu’s song and danced instead, while Xun Zhen sang a lively folk tune.
• Shen Tang and Qin Li drank on a small boat at Lotus Lake and strung empty wine jars together to create an absurdly long floating chain.
• A tourist praised Shen Tang’s idea of towing the jars and described a plan to transport goods by water, prompting Shen Tang and Qin Li to question why he wanted to avoid the government postal relays.
• Qin Li posed as a merchant and persuaded the young man, surnamed Jiang, to explain his family’s copper-and-iron trade and secret transport plans.
• The young man invited Shen Tang and Qin Li to his rented home, where they discovered that his fortune-telling father was Jiang Sheng in disguise.
• Jiang Sheng avoided acknowledging Shen Tang until late that night, when he privately paid his respects and began to explain himself.

Jiang Sheng’s holiday turned into an investigation after his eldest son lost money in a Ponzi scheme, and he joined forces with Wei Cheng to track down the scammers. Their trail led to the ring’s mastermind and stolen funds hidden in Huang Ting, where the Royal Court began planning to capture the ringleader.

• Jiang Sheng learned that his eldest son had invested his savings, mortgaged his house, and borrowed from relatives before the scammer fled, so he paid off the debts and began searching for clues.
• Jiang Sheng encountered Wei Cheng, who revealed that he had spent years pursuing his old friend, the scammer Che Hou.
• Wei Cheng shared his investigation findings, and Jiang Sheng joined the effort, infiltrating the scam ring with Wei Cheng’s help.
• Jiang Sheng reported to Shen Tang that the scam ring had operated in multiple places and kept its leader and stolen funds in Huang Ting.
• Qin Li learned that the scammers planned to move the stolen money and urged the Royal Court to capture the ringleader before pursuing the funds.

Shen Tang exposed a scam ring’s alliance with restorationists and confronted the ancient Marquis behind it, who offered stolen funds and information in exchange for leniency. After the scheme was dismantled, Jiang Sheng recovered his eldest son’s losses and learned that his other children had also invested, leaving him and his wife devastated by their family’s selfish divisions.

• Jiang Sheng explained that restorationist traitors had received political donations from the scam ring, and Shen Tang agreed to capture the ringleaders and wipe them out.
• Shen Tang recognized the young man on the roof as a Lord Marquis, and he admitted he had lured the restorationists into the scheme and asked her for leniency.
• The young old man handed over the stolen money and offered information, and Shen Tang postponed his prison sentence while cleaning up the scam ring and its restorationist allies.
• Jiang Sheng recovered the silver his eldest son had lost and learned that his other children had invested too, while the eldest son’s family had concealed their losses to secure help for themselves.
• Jiang Sheng grieved with his wife over their children’s selfishness, and Gu Chi later explained that resentment over inheritance and unequal affection had likely divided the siblings.

Qi Shan rushed home after requesting six months of leave and learned that Qi Miao’s visitor was Zheng Yu, who had regained memories of his past life. Zheng Yu and Qi Miao acknowledged their feelings but agreed not to rush into a relationship, while Qi Shan left concerned about Uncle Tan.

• Qi Shan unexpectedly requested another six months of leave and hurried home after court.
• Qi Miao introduced Zheng Yu, whose face resembled his past-life appearance, and explained how he had regained his memories.
• Qi Miao recounted how Zheng Yu’s mother had died and how her accumulated merit helped bring Zheng Yu back into her life.
• Zheng Yu accepted Qi Shan’s offer to recommend him to the Imperial Academy so he could continue his studies.
• Zheng Yu said he wished to be with Qi Miao, but she said she wanted to postpone romance and focus on her studies; she then said she was more worried about Uncle Tan.