Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang and Kang Shi discussed holding a physical sports meet before they caught a beggar trying to steal Shen Tang’s jade ornament. A false accusation and a hostile crowd nearly sparked a fight, but the clerk recognized Shen Tang and took the beggar into custody, while Shen Tang ordered that he be given straw sandals.

• Shen Tang asked Kang Shi about games for a sports meet and decided she would teach everyone how to play physical contests.
• A scrawny beggar lunged at Shen Tang and tried to steal the jade ornament at her waist, but Shen Tang and Kang Shi caught him.
• The beggar shouted that Shen Tang and Kang Shi were kidnappers, turning nearby commoners against them until Shen Tang restrained him with literary energy.
• An old woman threw the contents of a chamber pot at Shen Tang and Kang Shi, and they drew close to violence before the clerk arrived with constables.
• The clerk recognized Shen Tang, took the biting and cursing beggar into custody, and kept her identity from the crowd.
• Shen Tang told the clerk to give the beggar straw sandals and lock him up for a few days.

Shen Tang used Literary Qi Incarnations to race through government paperwork, then learned the hard way that overusing them caused severe headaches. After ordering the captured beggar released, she met the girl, who thanked her for avenging her family and apologized for her earlier behavior.

• Qi Shan found Shen Tang and Kang Shi filthy after their encounter with a thief, and he gave Kang Shi salve for his scratches.
• Shen Tang learned most of the administrative office had collapsed and began working through the backlog in a tent.
• Shen Tang used the Word Spirit Three Hearts, Two Minds to create two Literary Qi Incarnations and process paperwork, then woke with a splitting headache.
• Shen Tang kept using the incarnations for hours at a time, reducing her headaches but driving herself into an exhausting work routine.
• Shen Tang ordered the beggar, who had been detained for six days, released and brought to her.
• The cleaned-up beggar knelt to thank Shen Tang for avenging her family and apologize for her earlier rudeness.

A young beggar told Shen Tang how her mother had been trafficked, driven to despair, and eventually died, while the beggar escaped her grandparents’ plan to sell her. After hearing her story, Shen Tang offered to help her take revenge on the old couple.

• The beggar told Shen Tang that her mother’s son had been falsely accused by Diao, leading to her mother’s punishment and death.
• The beggar revealed that the people she called her grandparents had originally kidnapped and sold her mother, then later neglected the beggar and planned to sell her.
• The beggar recounted how her mother had nearly killed her, changed her mind, and later died after being sentenced to hard labor.
• After her grandparents tried to sell her, the beggar escaped, survived by begging in Fugu City, and recognized jade ornaments from the Zhang Clan Head on Shen Tang.
• Shen Tang listened to the beggar’s story and offered to help avenge her by letting her choose how the old couple would die.

Shen Tang persuaded Yu Zi to accuse her grandparents and the men who had abused her mother, explaining why the woman’s final resistance mattered. Yu Zi accepted and joined the administrative office, leaving with her mother’s surname and the name she had reclaimed.

• Shen Tang told Yu Zi to write the complaint, beat the drum, and bring charges against her grandparents herself, while the minor official questioned the need to make her do it.
• Shen Tang explained that the mother had resisted the violence and exploitation forced upon her, and Yu Zi wept as she realized her mother had left her behind deliberately.
• Yu Zi agreed to accuse her grandparents and asked Shen Tang to put the three men who had abused her mother to death.
• Shen Tang offered Yu Zi a place at the administrative office, and she accepted; Shen Tang also ordered people to bring in the culprits despite warnings about the risks.
• On the road, Yu Zi rejected the surname Zhu, took her mother's surname, and introduced herself as Yu Zi, explaining that her name meant “Evil Purple Seizes Vermilion.”

Kang Shi led Yu Zi to Zhu Family Village under the pretense of recruiting workers, then seized the villagers who had wronged her. As they departed, Yu Zi carried her written complaint and felt her ambition awaken after witnessing Kang Shi’s power.

• Kang Shi showed the village head an official order and claimed he was recruiting workers for Fugu City, persuading the villagers to assemble with promises of food and pay.
• Yu Zi recognized the village’s familiar faces and learned that the widow who had written the residents’ register was no longer there.
• After Yu Zi confirmed that everyone responsible was present, Kang Shi ordered his men to capture the entire village and used his literary aura to prevent anyone from escaping.
• Kang Shi ordered the villagers bound and threatened severe punishment for resistance, while Yu Zi watched the people who had tormented her being taken away.
• Kang Shi asked Yu Zi whether her complaint was ready, and she confirmed it was tucked inside her robes before following him.

Gu Chi and Kang Shi discussed how to use conflicting laws to punish Zhu Family Village for trafficking and abusing women, while Yu Zi resolved to seek justice against her relatives. The chapter left Yu Zi bringing a formal charge against her paternal grandparents before a crowd in Fugu City.

• Gu Chi met Kang Shi outside Fugu City and learned that Kang Shi had arrested the people of Zhu Family Village for their treatment of women.
• Gu Chi and Kang Shi discussed using Geng Country and Xin Country’s conflicting marriage laws to punish the village and investigate its residents.
• Kang Shi and Gu Chi brought Zhu Family Village’s people to Fugu City, where they were imprisoned.
• Workers began gathering for reconstruction in Fugu City’s southwest corner after Shen Tang’s recruitment drive spread through the city.
• Yu Zi beat the complaint drum and announced that she was suing her paternal grandparents, and Shen Tang asked whether she still wanted to proceed despite the punishment.

Yu Zi accused her paternal grandparents of trafficking and harming her mother, Beauty Yu, and Shen Tang brought the case before the court. After the elders tried to deny the charges and blame Yu Zi, Shen Tang threatened to use a Word Spirit to expose the truth, leaving them panicked.

• Yu Zi endured ten strokes of the rod and affirmed that every word in her petition was true.
• Shen Tang questioned Yu Zi’s paternal grandparents, who recognized her as Daniu and claimed they had treated her well and arranged a decent marriage for her.
• The Zhu elders said Yu’s mother had been trafficked by Lai Tou and his two sons, then claimed the family had rescued her and brought her home.
• Yu Zi admitted that her mother had been trafficked and tormented by the three Zhuang men, but accused the Zhu elders of trafficking her and many others.
• Shen Tang warned the Zhu elders that lying under a Word Spirit would expose their crimes, then signaled Gu Chi to make them tell the truth.

Shen Tang used Gu Chi’s Word Spirit to expose the Zhu couple’s human trafficking operation and sentenced them and their accomplices. After learning more about Yu Zi’s mother, Shen Tang assigned Yu Zi to study under Kang Shi, despite his objections.

• Gu Chi’s Word Spirit forced the Zhu matriarch to confess that she had been sold into marriage and later helped her husband traffic girls for years.
• Shen Tang had Gongshu Wu retrieve the Zhu couple’s ledger, which documented hundreds of victims, and questioned the matriarch about Beauty Yu’s family.
• Kang Shi sentenced the Zhu couple to all Five Punishments, while Shen Tang ordered severe punishments and hard labor for other traffickers in Zhu Family Village.
• Shen Tang told Yu Zi that her mother had surviving relatives, including a paternal cousin who had left home long ago.
• Shen Tang assigned Yu Zi to follow Kang Shi, and encouraged her to learn his skills despite his reluctance to take her on.

Shen Tang arranged for Yu Zi to study alongside Lin Feng under Chu Yao, and Yu Zi began settling into her new life. The chapter ended with Qi Shan angrily confronting Shen Tang at dawn.

• Shen Tang approved Kang Shi's suggestion that Yu Zi join Lin Feng's lessons, and Chu Yao agreed to teach Yu Zi informally as a student.
• Lin Feng showed Yu Zi to their shared room, and the two girls grew close as Yu Zi learned Lin Feng was younger than she was.
• Lin Feng treated Yu Zi's wounds, and the girls talked about Shen Tang until they fell asleep.
• Lin Feng woke early for a lesson with Chu Yao, and Yu Zi eagerly went with her.
• Qi Shan roared Shen Tang's name and charged at her with a feather duster, startling the Mountain Boar beneath her into skidding across the ice.

Shen Tang tested pig-riding and ice events for Fugu City's sports meet, then toured the city's reconstruction and proposed a way to finance new homes for its residents. Qi Shan organized the games but was left baffled by Shen Tang's plan to build houses using money paid by the common folk.

• Shen Tang told Qi Shan that pig-riding and ice games would make the sports meet entertaining and accessible, and Qi Shan recorded her event ideas while ruling out her proposal to take bets.
• Qi Shan arranged the outdoor events in Fugu City's southwest corner, where Kang Shi had helped merchants secure loans to bring in New Year goods and residents were applying for reconstruction work.
• Shen Tang greeted the workers and children, while Qi Shan observed that the children would become her supporters; Shen Tang said she only wanted them to live safely and grow up.
• Shen Tang pointed out that the rebuilt southwest corner would contrast with Fugu's crumbling homes and suggested repairing more houses, but Qi Shan said they lacked the money.
• Shen Tang proposed using presales, mortgages, developers, and installment payments to fund the housing, then explained to Qi Shan that money paid to workers could be used to build homes for them, leaving him bewildered.

Shen Tang proposed using house notes to help commoners obtain homes and ease Heyin’s financial strain, while Qi Shan warned her about the risks. Several days later, Fugu City introduced house notes and other vouchers for goods, though most workers initially chose to keep receiving wages in the old way.

• Shen Tang explained her plan for low-cost house payments backed by house notes, and Qi Shan questioned whether commoners could afford the down payment or be trusted to repay their debts.
• Shen Tang suggested that her Literary Heart Sigil and unique serial numbers could prevent forged house notes, and Qi Shan agreed the idea had potential but worried about issuing too many.
• Shen Tang returned to her overwhelming workload and asked Qi Shan about Gongxi Chou and Xiao Fang, then received permission to ride her pig for half a quarter-hour each day.
• Several days later, clerks announced that workers could receive house notes and vouchers for goods such as cloth, oil, flatbread, sugar, and wine when their wages were settled.
• Most workers chose their usual payment, but some trusted Lord Shen and accepted the new notes.

Zhao Feng complained about being assigned farm work but admitted he had plowed more than fifty mu alongside Gongshu Wu, while his men discovered they could spend work tokens at Fugu General Store. At the store, Zhao Feng met Captain Yang, who had taken a job there, and Captain Yang invited him to attend an event in about a dozen days.

• Zhao Feng grumbled to his subordinate about Shen Tang assigning him and Gongshu Wu to plow fields, then revealed he had plowed more than fifty mu in half a day.
• Zhao Feng explained that Martial Gall Warriors generally would not accept farm work, and his subordinate told him about the wine tokens and goods available at Fugu General Store.
• Zhao Feng's subordinate explained how workers and commoners had started trading tokens for discounted necessities and other goods at the store.
• Zhao Feng found Captain Yang working behind the store counter and learned that he had volunteered for the job because he needed something to do and wanted to earn money for medicine.
• Zhao Feng traded wine chits for two jars of eighteen-year-old Du Kang, and Captain Yang invited him to an event in about a dozen days.

Zhao Feng learned that the supposedly eighteen-year-old Du Kang in Fugu City came from one of Shen Tang’s schemes, while Shen Tang dealt with a petition defending the men who had trafficked and abused Yu Zi’s mother. After refusing to use a corrupt law to spare the offenders’ sons from punishment, Shen Tang turned to the sports meet preparations and discovered townspeople practicing wrestling at the market.

• Zhao Feng drank Du Kang with Captain Yang and realized that every jar labeled as eighteen years old tasted like the wine Shen Tang had served him.
• Gu Chi learned that Yu Zi’s sons had petitioned for leniency for their fathers, who had bought and imprisoned their mother, and found Shen Tang furious and disappointed.
• Shen Tang consulted Kang Shi, who explained that the men’s unregistered marriages could not shield them from punishment and that the law allowed children to take punishment for their parents.
• Shen Tang rejected using the law that let dutiful children suffer in place of their parents, unwilling to legitimize the corrupt provision under her rule.
• Shen Tang visited the lantern-lit market and found a crowd watching men practice wrestling ahead of the sports meet.

Shen Tang watched Lili defeat Number Eighteen in a wrestling match, then wandered through Fugu City and ran into Kang Shi. Short on money, she persuaded him to join her at a hidden gambling stall to earn some.

• Shen Tang watched Number Eighteen challenge the contestants and learned that he was one of the favorites to win.
• Lili challenged Number Eighteen, defeated him without using martial energy, and agreed to go drinking with him.
• Shen Tang was pushed across the rope into the wrestling venue, paid the three-coin fine with money borrowed from Lili, and left them to enjoy their evening.
• Shen Tang borrowed more coins from Lili, while he and Number Eighteen planned to use his vouchers to pay for drinks.
• Shen Tang found Kang Shi examining trinkets and invited him to make money at a hidden gambling stall; Kang Shi agreed to go along.

Shen Tang went to a hidden gambling stall with Kang Shi hoping to make money, but lost the coins she had borrowed from Lili. She ordered Kang Shi to tear down the stall and decided to look for side work, leaving Qi Shan wary of her apparent plans to return to an old trade.

• Shen Tang and Kang Shi entered a concealed gambling stall, where Shen Tang chose dice after looking over the other games.
• Shen Tang and Kang Shi lost their first bets when the banker rolled three ones, then lost again when he rolled three sixes.
• Shen Tang kept betting, briefly won when Kang Shi bet against her, and then lost the rest of her coins across several more rounds.
• Shen Tang left the stall and ordered Kang Shi to take people and tear it down, arguing that gambling harmed the commoners.
• Shen Tang worried about repaying Lili and told Kang Shi she wanted to find side work, while thinking about picking up her old trade.

Shen Tang secretly pursued a side business and prepared an ambitious fireworks display using Word Spirits for Fugu’s upcoming New Year Sports Meet. As the chapter ended, Gu Chi proposed that everyone combine their strength to withstand her Word Spirit during a test.

• Shen Tang told Kang Shi she wanted to draw picture books for extra income, but Kang Shi persuaded her that Fugu’s poor printing and literacy made the plan impractical.
• Kang Shi consulted Qi Shan about Shen Tang’s side hustle, and Qi Shan told him not to worry, hinting that Shen Tang’s drawing skills were poor.
• Qi Shan returned to Fugu the day before the sports meet and found Shen Tang and the others debating which Word Spirits to use for the opening ceremony.
• Shen Tang explained that she wanted Word Spirits to create a dazzling fireworks display and argued that the spectacle could inspire the commoners to hope for peace and prosperity.
• Chu Yao and Gu Chi supported trying Shen Tang’s plan, while Kang Shi asked how they could safely test the Word Spirits.
• Gu Chi suggested that everyone combine their strength to withstand Shen Tang’s Word Spirit.

Lin Feng and Yu Zi attended Shen Tang’s opening ceremony for Fugu City’s New Year Sports Festival, where an elaborate Word Spirit fireworks and lantern display amazed the commoners. As the crowd celebrated, Shen Tang told Chu Yao the effort was worth it because the people were smiling.

• Lin Feng and Yu Zi hurried to the festival venue and waited with Tu Rong as the opening ceremony was delayed.
• A defensive barrier rose around the city, alarming the crowd, before the first fireworks burst overhead and the guards reassured everyone.
• Shen Tang and the others used Word Spirit to create an extended fireworks show, including zodiac animals and a phoenix that the commoners mistook for a divine miracle.
• After the fireworks ended, the crowd discovered glowing Fish Dragon Lantern corridors that were illusions created by Word Spirit.
• Lin Feng realized Shen Tang and her companions had exhausted their literary energy to stage the display, while the commoners smiled and shared their excitement.
• Shen Tang told Chu Yao the effort had been worth it because the people were happy, and Chu Yao admired her.

Bai Su returned to Fugu after paying respects to her ancestors and helped the exhausted Gu Chi enjoy the opening celebration. Gu Chi and Qi Shan drank together that night, fought with Chu Yao, and left Shen Tang banning all three from drinking.

• Bai Su visited her family’s grave, returned to Fugu, and found Gu Chi stranded and exhausted on a rooftop during the opening ceremony.
• Bai Su carried Gu Chi down from the roof and accompanied him through the festival as he bought offerings for his deceased family.
• Gu Chi burned the gifts he had bought, drank alone, and spoke to his family before Qi Shan joined him for more wine.
• Gu Chi and Qi Shan went to Chu Yao’s courtyard and fought him after he refused to drink with them.
• Kang Shi told Shen Tang that the three Literary Scholars had been injured, and Shen Tang forbade all three from drinking.

Shen Tang’s competitions entertained the people of Fugu and boosted local trade, but the shortage of merchants and goods left her worried about the coming farming season. As she considered asking Wu Xian for help, a visitor from Tianhai arrived before she could send anyone.

• The pig-riding race descended into chaos, and the fourth contestant used the obstacles to sneak across the finish line and claim the prize.
• Contestants struggled through a paired ice-skating race, and the five-day competitions left everyone exhausted before New Year’s Eve.
• Merchants sold out of goods and signed new deals with Fugu General Store, while Shen Tang, Qi Shan, and Gu Chi tallied sales and market taxes.
• Shen Tang worried Fugu lacked large, well-stocked merchants and considered sending someone to Tianhai to ask Wu Xian for help.
• A visitor from Tianhai arrived before Shen Tang could send anyone.

Shen Tang received Xu Xie, Wu Xian’s envoy, who brought New Year’s greetings and asked about Zhao Feng. She assigned Gu Chi to learn why Xu Xie had come, and Gu Chi recognized him as the heir of Tianhai’s immensely wealthy Xu Family.

• Shen Tang welcomed Xu Xie of Tianhai and read Wu Xian’s New Year’s letter, apologizing for forgetting to send greetings herself.
• Xu Xie asked after Zhao Feng and explained that Zhao Feng’s family had sent him clothes and shoes to deliver.
• Xu Xie chose to stay in Fugu City for several days, and Shen Tang arranged for Gu Chi to host and guide him.
• Shen Tang asked Gu Chi to investigate Xu Xie’s true purpose, worried Wu Xian might resent her and that Qin Li could be involved.
• Gu Chi identified Xu Xie as the eldest son of the Xu Family’s main branch, a clan whose wealth supported much of Wu Xian’s forces.