Chapter Summaries

A scholar visited Wei Lou and Wei Cheng to beg Wei Lou to return to Kang Country, where civil and military officials were fighting over policy and regional resources. Wei Lou agreed to take Asheng to Huang Ting, leaving their quiet town for the capital.

• A scholar arrived seeking Duke Wei, and Asheng led him to Wei Cheng and Wei Lou while Wei Lou played chess.
• The scholar explained that Kang Country's officials were repeatedly fighting over drought relief, school funding, and regional allocations, and begged Wei Lou to restore order.
• Wei Lou rejected the scholar's appeal and resented the court for expecting him to serve as a stabilizing force.
• The scholar suggested that Asheng's talents would be wasted in the remote town, prompting Wei Lou to ask whether she enjoyed school.
• Asheng said she was not having fun with the other children, and Wei Lou decided to take her to Huang Ting.

Wei Lou and Wei Cheng returned to Huang Ting with Wei Sheng, and Shen Tang welcomed them into Kang Country’s capital and court. Wei Lou’s first Great Court ended amid arguments over cloud sales and the prospect of a palace brawl, leaving him to realize why officials received spare robes.

• Wei Lou noticed Huang Ting’s prosperity and moved into a residence with Wei Cheng and Wei Sheng.
• Shen Tang visited, and Wei Sheng immediately warmed to her; Wei Lou reflected on how he had found and adopted the reincarnated Jimò Cong.
• Wei Lou accepted a Nominal Title, and Wei Sheng enrolled in the local school, where she placed first in the entrance exam and entered a cultivation class.
• Wei Lou and Wei Cheng began attending court, where officials argued over taxes on locally sold rain clouds and past gray-market trades.
• Wei Lou sensed officials using [Silence and Seize the Voice] during Great Court and was nearly dragged into a confrontation afterward.
• Wei Lou returned home to find Wei Sheng had torn her sleeve, and he realized official robes were treated as consumables.

Shen Tang’s two-month suspension of Court Sessions sparked rumors after the outer court hall collapsed, while the officials continued exhausting remote sessions through DingTalk. The chapter followed Imperial Recorder 18.0’s young son, who studied using multiple copies of himself and entered the Imperial Academy, where the dean noticed that his literary aura resembled his own master’s.

• Rumors spread that Shen Tang was ill or poisoned, though the real reason Court Sessions moved online was that the outer court hall had collapsed and needed rebuilding.
• Officials described how Shen Tang’s punishing DingTalk schedule and provincial inspections had driven through eighteen Imperial Recorders.
• Imperial Recorder 18.0’s gifted young son studied through the night and used multiple copies of himself to keep up with his lessons and cultivation.
• Wei Cheng took Wei Sheng and the young master to the academy, where the dean urged them to consider special admission to the Imperial Academy.
• The dean watched the young master use “Seize Speech” and noticed that his literary aura closely resembled his master’s.

Wei Sheng and Xingning began their studies at the Imperial Academy, while Wei Cheng worried about Asheng living in the dorms. Xingning settled in, then met Yan Miaohua in the cafeteria and learned that she was Yan An’s daughter.

• Wei Cheng worried that the young Wei Sheng would be bullied at the Imperial Academy, but Wei Lou dismissed his fears and said Xingning was more likely to be picked on.
• Imperial Recorder 18.0 saw Xingning off to the Imperial Academy and worried about his son’s unusual Literary Heart Sigil and his shared name with Yan An.
• Xingning completed enrollment, settled into his dormitory, and used Zixu Wuyou to make two doppelgängers review the next day’s lessons.
• Xingning registered at the cafeteria using his Literary Heart Sigil and sat with a senior student who asked about his name.
• Xingning inadvertently recited a line about Xingning Tower, and Yan Miaohua realized he shared her late father Yan An’s name.
• Yan Miaohua reassured the embarrassed Xingning and advised him to eat well during his growth spurt.

Ning Yan proposed using martial soldiers to care for young children so their parents could work, while privately reflecting on Yan An’s reincarnation as Xingning. Months later, Xingning met Ning Yan and, stirred by an inexplicable feeling, asked what it meant to seek the Dao; he left wanting spiritual likeness rather than outward resemblance.

• Ning Yan told Yan Sui that rising birth rates brought childcare problems and proposed government-run centers staffed by martial soldiers.
• Ning Yan recalled Yan An’s dream visit, in which he said he would be reincarnated and urged her to look ahead; she chose not to seek out Xingning or interfere with his new life.
• During the New Year, Xingning accompanied the Imperial Recorder 18.0 to visit colleagues, many of whom remarked that he resembled Yan An.
• When Xingning visited Ning Yan, he asked what the Way of the Scholar sought, and she answered that it was to seek one’s true heart and bring peace to the world.
• After returning home, Xingning told the Imperial Recorder 18.0 that he wanted to seek spiritual likeness rather than outward resemblance.

During the King’s inspection of the Northwest, Luan Xin reunited with an old friend who ran a martial arts school and learned about a girl seeking vengeance for her family’s deaths. Luan Xin agreed to teach her, leaving the girl to begin studying under him.

• The King and officials inspected the Northwest, where corruption was rare and the visiting officials found traces of their old carvings before joining a river rafting attraction.
• The Ministry of Personnel officials discovered that the rafting attraction was approved by the authorities and run by an Eleventh Rank Right Shu Chang who knew their superior, Luan Xin.
• Luan Xin’s old friend explained that the martial arts school had built the attraction to support its disciples and described how Martial Gall Warriors had found a place in peaceful times.
• The school owner told Luan Xin that a disciple had rescued an orphan girl whose family had been destroyed by debt collectors and local bullies, and who wanted every person involved punished.
• Luan Xin approached the girl during training and promised to teach her written characters and the principles of gain and loss for the next year.

During Shen Tang’s inspection tour of Ganzhou, she learned how the prefecture had turned Gongxi Chou’s endorsement into a profitable attraction. Gongxi Chou stayed away from home and encountered Qi Cang and a young student named Qiao Zi, whose presence stirred memories of an old friend.

• Shen Tang learned that Ganzhou had paid Gongxi Chou to promote itself as his hometown, and Jimò Qiu said he had confiscated the fee for her treasury.
• Jimò Qiu explained that Gongxi Chou had run away after Xun Ding called him an extra, and he decided he might have to bring his younger brother home.
• Gongxi Chou met Qi Cang while boating and fishing, then followed him to the mountain private school where Qi Cang helped feed and teach the students.
• Qi Cang scolded Qiao Zi for sitting on a grave, while Gongxi Chou sensed that the boy carried the aura of an old friend.

Qiao Zi learned that he was connected to Zheng Qiao’s legacy, while Shen Tang’s inspection of the Northern and Mo provinces brought her to a teahouse where two reincarnated figures had found a new family. The chapter ended with Shen Tang accepting Madam Shen’s belief that the siblings could mend their past lives.

• Qiao Zi tried to dig up Zheng Qiao’s grave, and Qi Cang and Gongxi Chou stopped him and explained his connection to Zheng Qiao.
• Qi Cang told Qiao Zi that he could live differently from Zheng Qiao, then punished him with a heavier pebble-carrying assignment after Qiao Zi teased him about being Zheng Qiao’s lover.
• Gongxi Chou confronted Jimò Qiu aboard the Imperial Ship and complained that his brother had not searched for him after he ran away.
• During Shen Tang’s inspection tour, Queen Gongshu told Shen Tang and Gongshu Wu that something strange had happened at her mother’s grave.
• Madam Shen celebrated after her adopted siblings, Cheng and Guan, both gained admission to an academy; Gongshu Wu recognized Cheng as the lookalike of his long-secluded nephew.
• Madam Shen explained how she had adopted Cheng and Guan, and Shen Tang agreed that reincarnation offered them a chance to mend their ways.

In Year Thirteen of Yanhuang, ten young wandering knights attacked the Dragon Banner while trying to report officials who had violated Kang’s Three Mutual Law. Shen Tang investigated their accusation and vowed to enforce the law, while the Duke of Yi took a special interest in the boys, who resembled his late relatives.

• An official panicked when she learned that wandering knights from her jurisdiction had shot an arrow toward the Dragon Banner during Shen Tang’s inspection.
• Shen Tang questioned the ten captured boys, and their leader explained that they followed the Gongxi Chou Child Protection Association’s teachings and had tried to report an official’s illegal appointment.
• The Duke of Yi was shaken by the boys’ resemblance to his father and uncles, and the leader’s words reminded him of his family’s past.
• The leader explained that the boys had reported officials for violating the Three Mutual Law, but their complaints had been ignored and their families threatened.
• Shen Tang summoned the accused officials and ordered that the law be enforced, while the Duke of Yi asked which school the boys attended and offered to support them.

Shen Tang punished the ten boys who had attacked the Dragon Banner, while Gu Ziyi’s former sworn brothers and family rushed to see the young wanderer who resembled him. The Old Matriarch’s reunion with the boy stirred his memories, and he told her, “I’m back, aren’t I?”

• Shen Tang stopped the young wandering knight from killing himself and sentenced all ten boys to write ten sets of summer homework under Duke Yi’s supervision.
• Duke Yi took the boys away, and Shao Chong, Chao Lian, and Fang Yan each arrived in turn, embracing the young wandering knight and repeatedly ruining his homework.
• The young wandering knight realized the three men were reacting to his resemblance to the late Duke Ziyi, and Fang Yan offered to ask Shen Tang to cancel the punishment instead of tutoring the boys.
• After the royal court’s inspection ended, Gu Ziyi’s children and the Old Matriarch came to see the young wandering knight.
• The young wandering knight wiped the Old Matriarch’s tears and, as memories surged back, told her that he had returned.

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.