Chapter Summaries

Cui Hui reunited with her sons and learned that Cui Zhishan was quietly protecting them, while the Sovereign considered a marriage alliance with the Cui family. The Sovereign joked about spreading a rumor that her unborn child belonged to Cui Zhishan, then turned her attention to Mei Jinghe’s poor health.

• Cui Hui challenged Cui Zhishan over his jealousy and insisted that their divorce gave him no right to control her life.
• Cui Hui’s sons visited to discuss matchmaking, and she learned that Cui Zhishan had been interfering to protect them from failed marriage arrangements.
• Cui Hui questioned her sons about their preferences and discovered that her younger son dreamed of a woman rescuing him from his family.
• The Sovereign learned that Cui Zhishan’s younger son had killed a eunuch who had summoned his father, and ordered Mei Jinghe to preserve the evidence for possible future use.
• The Sovereign discussed marrying one of her daughters to a Cui son, joked about claiming her unborn child was Cui Zhishan’s, and asked Mei Jinghe why her hands were cold.

The Sovereign worried that Mei Meng was hiding something about her repeated attempts to perfect the Way of the Scholar, while a male favorite sought royal approval for his niece to marry Cui Zhishan’s eldest son. Meanwhile, Cui Zhishan investigated Shen Tang and discovered that Cui Hui had slipped away with her and his younger son, who had become enamored with Shen Tang.

• The Sovereign urged Mei Meng to recover and questioned her resolve to attempt the Perfection Ritual again, but Mei Meng insisted she would pursue it despite the danger.
• A male favorite asked the Sovereign to arrange his niece’s marriage to Cui Zhishan’s eldest son, and she ordered the niece to come to the palace for an audience after striking him.
• Cui Zhishan questioned his eldest son, then read secret reports about Shen Tang, Mei Jinghe, and Qi Yuanliang before destroying the intelligence.
• Cui Zhishan learned that Cui Hui and her party had disappeared after his informants lost track of them.
• Cui Hui’s younger son asked Shen Tang to persuade his mother to return, while Cui Hui wondered why he had suddenly grown so attached to Shen Tang.

Cui Mi revealed his unusual ability to Cui Hui and became infatuated with Shen Tang, while a carriage encounter led Shen Tang to reunite with Miao Ne in disguise. Shen Tang instructed Miao Ne to use her new identity to gain the Sovereign of Qi Country’s trust and replace Mei Jinghe, leaving Miao Ne worried that her planned marriage alliance would harm a colleague’s grandson.

• Cui Hui discovered that Cui Mi could see fragmentary images through people’s auras, and he confessed that he had seen Shen Tang’s violent prowess and wanted to pursue her.
• Cui Mi defended Shen Tang and Cui Hui when a carriage nearly struck them, then a young noblewoman apologized and left behind a Jade Pendant.
• Shen Tang followed the Jade Pendant to the noblewoman’s residence and learned that the woman was Miao Ne, who had borrowed an identity in order to approach the Sovereign of Qi Country.
• Miao Ne explained that her assumed identity was the niece of the Sovereign’s favorite male companion and was meant to pursue a marriage alliance with Cui Xiong.
• Shen Tang warned Miao Ne to avoid Cui Mi and instructed her to pledge allegiance to the Sovereign, restrain the Cui clan, and replace Mei Jinghe.
• Miao Ne worried that forming a marriage alliance with the Cui clan would mean harming her colleague’s grandson.

Shen Tang tasked Miao Ne with undermining Qi Country’s influence in the Southwest while urging her to protect her identity and life. After Miao Ne won the Sovereign’s favor and became a female official, Shen Tang was exposed by Cui Zhi, then claimed she served Qi Shan and provoked him over his attentions to Cui Hui.

• Shen Tang told Miao Ne that Kang Country could take the Southwest within three years and explained that her mission was to hinder Qi Country’s expansion and divide its allies.
• Shen Tang warned Miao Ne to retreat and stay alive if exposed, and arranged for her to contact the avatar Non-Self or Liao Jia for support.
• Miao Ne met her uncle and persuaded the Sovereign with her bold views on women and her ambition to marry Cui Houbai; the Sovereign kept her at court as a female official.
• Cui Zhi privately confronted Shen Tang, accusing her of being a northern spy, and Shen Tang claimed she was escorting Cui Hui under orders from her patriarch, Qi Shan.
• Shen Tang provoked Cui Zhi by defending Qi Shan’s interest in Cui Hui and criticizing Cui Zhi for failing to protect his former wife.

Shen Tang deflected Cui Zhi’s suspicions and rejected Cui Mi’s romantic advances while Cui Hui dealt with her family’s tangled relationships. The chapter ended with Shen Tang waking in the former Gao Country’s Capital City, relieved to have returned to her own identity.

• Shen Tang provoked Cui Zhi and claimed Cui Hui might settle in Kang Country, easing his suspicions by presenting herself as a suitor’s bodyguard rather than a spy.
• Cui Mi proposed eloping with Shen Tang, but she rejected him by explaining that she was devoted to supporting an indebted old man.
• Cui Hui heard Shen Tang turn down Cui Mi, then visited her mother, who said she had no intention of reconciling with Cui Hui’s father.
• Cui Mi told Cui Xiong he suspected Shen Tang’s identity and chose not to tell their father, then agreed to go fishing with him.
• Shen Tang woke in a military tent in the former Gao Country’s Capital City and rejoiced that she was back.

Shen Tang discovered she could remotely connect to Zixu and Wuyou, learning what her avatars were doing and hearing Cui Mi describe how his visions of the future had changed. The chapter left Cui Mi wondering whether his own fate had changed as well.

• Shen Tang woke after You Li had controlled her body for several days, then discovered she could hear and see through Zixu at a distant riverside.
• Shen Tang learned that Zixu, Xiahou Yu, and Gu De had been traveling, defeating bandits, rescuing captives, and gathering supplies.
• Shen Tang switched to Wuyou and spoke with Cui Mi at the Cui family's matchmaking banquet, where Miao Ne was talking with Cui Xiong.
• Cui Mi told Shen Tang that fortune-tellers had predicted his early death and that he had long seen visions of the catastrophe that would kill him and his family.
• Cui Mi explained that his actions had altered the future he saw for Cui Xiong, and he wondered whether his own fate was changing too.

Cui Hui confronted Cui Zhi over Cui Xiong’s betrothal to a daughter of the You family, then privately gave Miao Ne something to help her gain the Sovereign’s trust. Shen Tang returned to camp, found Gongxi Chou collecting strange bugs, and learned they had come out of someone’s anus.

• Cui Hui staged an angry confrontation with Cui Zhi over Cui Xiong’s proposed betrothal to a daughter of the You family, and Cui Zhi explained the alliance was a political delaying tactic.
• Cui Xiong promised to protect the You family’s daughter if they proved incompatible, while Cui Mi stayed silent about the dangerous future he had foreseen.
• Cui Hui met Miao Ne privately and gave her something connected to the Cui family to help her rise in the Sovereign’s favor.
• Cui Hui asked Miao Ne to spare Cui Xiong’s life while teaching him how cruel people could be.
• Shen Tang woke, got lost on her way to the dining hall, and found Gongxi Chou gathering bugs on the High Priest’s orders.
• Gongxi Chou told Shen Tang the bugs had come out of someone’s anus.

Qi Miao investigated worm infestations among refugees and began researching a treatment for roundworms, with Shen Tang supporting her efforts. Shen Tang learned that wormwood grew on the Gongxi Clan Land, where the High Priest had gone with a thousand people to retrieve an inheritance for her.

• Gongxi Chou told Shen Tang that Qi Miao had bought and dissected eight children’s bodies, finding worms in nearly all of them.
• Qi Miao explained that contaminated water, especially water containing river-snail eggs, likely caused many infestations, and she asked Gongxi Chou and Jimò Qiu to help investigate.
• Shen Tang supported Qi Miao’s research and offered funding through the Medical Bureau, while Qi Miao sought wormwood to improve a roundworm treatment.
• Shen Tang said wormwood might grow in the Northern Desert and suggested Qi Miao ask Wei Yuanyuan if needed.
• Gongxi Chou revealed that the High Priest had found wormwood on the Gongxi Clan Land and had gone there with a thousand people to retrieve an inheritance for Shen Tang.

Shen Tang learned that Jimò Qiu would give her the Gongxi Clan’s wealth, mugwort seeds for deworming medicine, and help producing diamonds, then began planning how to turn the opportunities into revenue for Kang Country. The chapter left her and Xun Zhen discussing whether to use the clan estate to address the kingdom’s debts and expenses.

• Gongxi Chou and Jimò Qiu discussed giving Shen Tang the Gongxi Clan’s ancestral wealth, including its diamonds, while Gongxi Chou asked to keep some shiny stones.
• Shen Tang became excited about making diamonds and selling deworming medicine, but said the clan estate should not be used to repay Han Zhang’s loans.
• Shen Tang went to find Xun Zhen and announced that a chance to make a fortune had arrived.
• Xun Zhen explained that Gao Country’s damaged records and the costs of war, reconstruction, military pay, and rewards had left Kang Country facing a major financial shortfall.
• Shen Tang told Xun Zhen about the clan estate, diamond production, and mugwort medicine, and he urged her to use the inherited wealth to cover debts and replenish the treasury.

Shen Tang agreed to seek funding for Kang Country and planned to turn diamonds into a profitable luxury by giving them to officials and featuring them in an illustrated book about eminent figures. She and Chu Yao began shaping the book’s contents and production plan.

• Xun Zhen urged Shen Tang to accept Jimò Qiu’s ancestral fortune, then suggested she reward Jimò Qiu with a title; Shen Tang rejected the idea of being offered as part of the bargain.
• Shen Tang explained to Chu Yao that Jimò Qiu wanted nothing in return for his fortune, then showed him a diamond ring and gave it to him.
• Shen Tang told Chu Yao she planned to create a Kang Country edition of Biographies of Famous Ministers and Scholars, with portraits of her officials wearing diamonds.
• Shen Tang and Chu Yao proposed including civil and military officials, Mohist and medical practitioners, interviews, life stories, and battle records in the book.
• Shen Tang planned to use half of the paper workshop’s output over the next two years to print the lavishly illustrated books and promote diamonds.

Shen Tang decided to publish biographies celebrating Kang Country’s officials and use the books to promote diamonds by linking their hardness to loyalty. The announcement stirred envy and competition across the realm as Gu Chi began planning the first volume, while officials wondered who would be included.

• Shen Tang persuaded Chu Yao to support an annual or semiannual series of biographies praising officials, despite his concerns that their growing fame could threaten her authority.
• Chu Yao suggested connecting diamonds’ hardness to loyalty between ruler and subject, and Shen Tang approved the idea and chose Gu Chi to write the biographies and Qi Shan and He Buzuo’s wife to paint them.
• News of the project spread widely, prompting Wu Xian and his former officials to envy Shen Tang’s generosity, while Kang Country’s officials competed for places in the volumes.
• Gu Chi reassured Bai Su that she would be included and promised to write her biography, while Bai Su teased him about his assigned task.
• Qian Yong and Wei Shou discussed their chances of appearing in the biographies, with Wei Shou caring chiefly that Chu Jie not outrank him and Qian Yong doubting he would make the first volume.

Shen Tang planned the first volume of Kang’s Biographies of Famous Ministers and Scholars, reserving places for people from different professions and backgrounds. She chose Li Lianghua for the commoner spot and decided to include the deceased Yan Xingning, leaving Gu Chi to gather material for his biography.

• Wei Shou and Qian Yong joked about who would appear in the biographies and wagered a month of wine.
• Shen Tang told Gu Chi that the first volume would have nine places: three civil officials, three military officers, one physician, one Mohist, and one commoner.
• Shen Tang named Li Lianghua, a farmer whose flood-control plan had helped the region, for the commoner spot.
• Gu Chi told Shen Tang that Liao Li Shi had written the original biographies, but her husband had taken credit for the work.
• Shen Tang rejected the conventions that erased women’s achievements and proposed the preface question, “Are kings and generals born to their station?”
• Shen Tang reserved a civil official’s place for the deceased Yan Xingning and asked Gu Chi to have Tu Nan and Ji Shou gather material.

Shen Tang’s plans for Biographies of Famous Ministers and Scholars moved Ning Yan and others, while Jimò Qiu returned with the Gongxi Clan’s vast wealth to support her. The chapter ended with the gold Divine Statue dissolving into golden mist and a shower of gold falling on the city.

• Qian Yong and Wei Shou discussed Shen Tang’s choices for the biographies and the political meaning of her preface.
• Ning Yan wept with joy when she learned Shen Tang would honor Yan An, then discovered she and Yan An had both been selected for the first volume.
• Gu Chi explained that Qi Shan, Ning Yan, and Yan An were the three selected scholars, while Shen Tang continued weighing the other entries.
• Xun Zhen rushed to greet Jimò Qiu and nearly fainted when he saw the pure-gold Divine Statue and hundreds of heavily loaded carts.
• Jimò Qiu offered the Gongxi Clan’s ancestral possessions to Shen Tang, but the Divine Statue dissolved into golden mist and gold began raining over the city.

Shen Tang watched Heaven collect the debt by taking the Divine Statue and most of the treasure Jimò Qiu had brought, leaving Kang temporarily free of debt. Jimò Qiu later asked Xun Zhen whether Shen Tang needed more money and admitted he hoped to win her favor by giving it.

• Heaven took the Divine Statue and most of the Supply Vehicles’ treasure, while Xun Zhen found two gold ingots and organized the remaining wealth for Kang’s treasury and military needs.
• Gongxi Chou questioned whether Kang’s Revenue Department could be trusted, and Xun Zhen insisted his officials would handle the money honestly.
• Shen Tang learned that Gongxi Chou had paid Xun Zhen and others to choose his niece’s name, Gongxi Dou, courtesy name Guan Quan, and heard how Gongxi Chou and Jimò Qiu had made their fortunes.
• Jimò Qiu apologized to Xun Zhen for Gongxi Chou’s bluntness and asked whether Shen Tang still needed money.
• Jimò Qiu told Xun Zhen that he wanted to spend money to win Shen Tang’s favor, stunning Xun Zhen with the sincerity of his motive.

Xun Zhen, Chu Yao, and Gu Chi discussed Jimò Qiu’s intentions and Gu Chi’s work on the Biographies of Famous Ministers and Scholars. In Fengluo, Xu Xie learned that his son Xu Quan had fallen for Gongxi Chou and worried that the family’s standing would not be enough to help him.

• Xun Zhen told Chu Yao about Jimò Qiu’s offer of money and himself to the Lord, and Chu Yao suspected a scheme to place Gongxi Clan blood in the line of succession.
• Gu Chi interviewed Chu Yao and Xun Zhen about Qi Shan for the biographies, hearing complaints about Qi Shan from Chu Yao and praise from Xun Zhen, who mentioned Qi Shan’s cross-dressing disguises.
• Xu Xie and Qin Li discussed the forthcoming biographies, and Qin Li predicted that Zhao Feng would be included in the first volume.
• Xu Xie told Qin Li that Xu Quan was in love with Gongxi Chou, leaving Xu Xie desperate to change his son’s mind or seek help from Gongxi Chou.
• Gongxi Chou kept sneezing, while Xu Quan wondered who was spreading rumors about him.

Jimò Qiu discussed the beauty powder Gongxi Chou was testing and warned him that Xu Wenshi might seek to profit from his fame. Xu Quan returned from a royal assignment involving grave goods, then panicked after reading a family letter proposing that he marry Gongxi Chou and sought Shen Tang’s help.

• Jimò Qiu recognized the pearl powder Gongxi Chou was testing as a product from Pleasing Beauty and warned him to ask Xu Wenshi for payment if he requested a portrait or favor.
• Xu Quan arrived with soldiers carrying grave goods taken from Gao Country’s ancestral tombs, and Gongxi Chou questioned him about the stench and the grave-robbing.
• Xu Quan arranged for Pleasing Beauty to create Gongxi Chou Care Association products, with Shen Tang set to receive five percent of the net profits.
• Xu Quan read a family letter suggesting he marry Gongxi Chou, and Zhao Feng agreed they should ask Shen Tang for help.
• Shen Tang and Xun Zhen reviewed the newly replenished treasury and discussed future campaigns against the Northern Desert, Gao Country, and the southwest.

Shen Tang discussed how her incarnations, Wuyou and Zixu, could develop in Qi Country through discreet trade and agriculture. The chapter ended with Shen Tang investigating a family letter from Xu Wenzhu that alarmed Xu Quan, while Qin Li reported no unusual trouble with the Xu Clan.

• Xun Zhen tried to claim Wuyou and Zixu's earnings for the Ministry of Revenue, but Shen Tang refused and explained Wuyou's harsh county posting in Qi Country.
• Shen Tang planned to send trusted people to Wuyou discreetly and use pearl trading and improved rice seeds to develop his poor county.
• Zixu's roaming band recruited followers through acts of robbery and an eccentric custom of claiming defeated opponents' Fundoshi.
• Zhao Feng and Xu Quan brought Shen Tang a family letter from Xu Wenzhu, prompting her to investigate and Xu Quan to request confinement until the truth was known.
• Shen Tang summoned Qin Li, who said the Xu Clan had no unusual problems aside from Xu Wenzhu's younger cousin causing a commotion over marrying into the Gongxi Clan.

Shen Tang clarified a misunderstanding about Xu Wenshi and Gongxi Chou, discussed Kang Country’s finances and future plans with Qin Li, and ordered preparations to stockpile rice and distribute deworming medicine. The chapter ended with her walking in on soldiers and physicians testing wormwood’s effects.

• Shen Tang and Qin Li compared conflicting reports and realized Xu Xie had misunderstood Xu Wenshi’s devotion to Gongxi Chou as romantic love.
• Shen Tang explained how Xu Wenshi’s Gongxi Chou Fan Club had grown into a large organization that trained martial arts enthusiasts and helped identify promising talent.
• Shen Tang told Qin Li that Jimò Qiu’s wealth had paid off Kang Country’s debts, and Qin Li urged her to accept his loyalty before pressing for funds for the Bureau of Astronomy.
• Shen Tang ordered Qin Li to gather rice seeds for planting in the Southwest Continent and count children twelve and under in preparation for distributing pagoda-tree deworming candy.
• Jimò Qiu brought wormwood seeds to Qi Miao, and Shen Tang discovered soldiers and physicians testing wormwood by examining roundworms.

Shen Tang arranged generous rewards for soldiers testing Qi Miao’s roundworm medicine and promised to provide free doses to every child in Kang. Qi Shan received Shen Tang’s request to paint portraits of meritorious officials, then suffered another fever from the backlash of Kang Jishou’s Way of the Scholar, while Shen Tang used Zixu’s eyes to interrogate an ambushed official for a token.

• Shen Tang questioned the seventeen soldiers testing Qi Miao’s medicine, raised their pay to five times its usual amount, and awarded each grain and cooking oil.
• Shen Tang asked Qi Miao to prepare enough free roundworm medicine for every child in Kang and offered to fund the medicine and maltose candy herself.
• Qi Shan read Shen Tang’s letter asking him and He Shu’s wife to paint portraits of meritorious officials, and he celebrated beating Chu Wu Hui in the honors list.
• Qi Shan’s fever returned, and he told He Shu that Kang Jishou’s overextended Way of the Scholar was causing the strange symptoms and bitterness of his medicine.
• Through Zixu’s eyes, Shen Tang interrogated a wounded official who had been ambushed in the mountains, repeatedly forcing his head underwater to learn where the token was.

Shen Tang’s group seized an official credential and took over the identity of its intended holder, while Shen Tang’s later arrival in Wuyou brought her into conflict with the Cui Lineage over rent and taxes. Cui Mi explained that the increased tax burden came from the Qi royal court, which had fallen behind on grain revenue.

• Shen Tang’s group killed the man carrying the official credential, recovered it, and prepared to take up his post.
• Shen Tang’s group discovered that the dead man had been an impostor who had stolen the credential from its rightful owner, and they spared his concubine after she offered to help conceal their identities.
• Shen Tang had Xiahou Yu disguise himself as the rightful owner and used the concubine’s knowledge to support the deception.
• From Zixu’s perspective, Shen Tang reflected on how the Cui Lineage controlled much of Wuyou’s farmland and confronted Cui Mi over the increased rent.
• Cui Mi told Shen Tang that the royal court had ordered higher taxes because it lacked grain, explaining that Wuyou had been three years behind on its tax payments.