Chapter Summaries

Qing Nü settled into the abandoned Dragon Treasure Garden in Chang'an, where Li Bai arrived with friends to explore and recognized Old Yellow Ox. When Li Bai mistook Qing Nü for his master's daughter, she went along with the misunderstanding.

• Qing Nü found Dragon Treasure Garden and made a room there, leaving Old Yellow Ox to clean.
• Li Bai and his friends entered the garden after Cui Chengfu spotted Old Yellow Ox.
• Li Bai recognized Old Yellow Ox and asked whether his master was there.
• Qing Nü revealed herself, and Li Bai mistook her for his master's daughter because she still looked young.
• Qing Nü accepted the misunderstanding and greeted Li Bai with a forced smile.

Li Bai met Verdant Green Maiden, who called herself Mystic Maiden and said she lived in the abandoned garden. After she sent his friends away, she revealed she was his Master, leaving Li Bai unconscious and later brewing medicine for his injured abdomen.

• Verdant Green Maiden introduced herself to Li Bai as Mystic Maiden and met He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, and Cui Chengfu.
• Li Bai explained that the group had come to explore Chang'an at night, and Verdant Green Maiden said she lived in the garden as ancestral property.
• Li Bai urged Verdant Green Maiden to stay with him, but she refused; thunder prompted He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, and Cui Chengfu to leave.
• After the others departed, Verdant Green Maiden kicked Li Bai and revealed that she was his Master, causing him to faint.
• Li Bai woke up and cautiously addressed Verdant Green Maiden as Master, while she brewed medicine for his painful abdomen.

Verdant Green Maiden told Li Bai that she lived forever and could not die, and promised to share stories with him. The next morning, Li Bai brought his children to meet her and began telling her about his life, including their mother's death.

• Verdant Green Maiden revealed to Li Bai that she was a Longevity Being who could live forever and could not die.
• Li Bai eagerly asked Verdant Green Maiden to tell him stories, and she promised to do so the next day.
• Li Bai arrived early the next morning with his children, Li Pingyang and Li Boqin, and introduced them to Verdant Green Maiden as her descendants.
• Verdant Green Maiden welcomed the children, gave them treasured gifts, and asked Li Bai where their mother was.
• Li Bai told Verdant Green Maiden that their mother had died in the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan, shortly after the children were born, and that he had raised them with help from hired caretakers.

Li Bai visited Verdant Green Maiden and gave her his collected poems before she agreed to tell him more stories, while his children joined her the following day on a trip with Yang Yuhuan. The chapter ended with Yang Yuhuan inviting Verdant Green Maiden to a palace flower-pinning gathering in half a month.

• Li Bai presented Verdant Green Maiden with the poems he had written and explained that he had kept Pingyang and Boqin home to protect her secret.
• Verdant Green Maiden let Li Bai’s children hear her story but scolded Li Bai for neglecting his work, then told him not to visit the next day because she had plans with a friend.
• Yang Yuhuan met Verdant Green Maiden at Vermilion Bird Gate and took her to visit the Qing Xiao Jade Maiden Temple and the Shunde Heavenly Maiden Temple in Wan Nian County.
• Yang Yuhuan told Verdant Green Maiden that she had moved from Shu Region to Chang'an with her uncle after he was promoted, and Verdant Green Maiden offered to guide her around Mount Tai someday.
• Yang Yuhuan invited Verdant Green Maiden to attend a palace flower-pinning gathering with her in half a month.

Qing Nü agreed to attend Yang Yuhuan’s Flower-Adorning Gathering and later accepted an invitation to a poets’ wine gathering. At the banquet, she impressed the guests with a Han fu and hinted that she could offer the same instruction as Li Bai’s master.

• Yang Yuhuan invited Qing Nü to the Flower-Adorning Gathering, and Qing Nü agreed before returning to her home in Chang'an.
• Li Bai brought Li Pingyang and Li Boqin to Dragon Treasure Garden with food from the imperial kitchens, and Qing Nü shared a meal with them.
• Li Bai told Qing Nü that He Zhizhang had invited her to a private wine gathering, and she agreed to attend.
• At the gathering, Li Jin, Lu Xiang, Li Yuanyuan, and the other guests introduced themselves to Qing Nü.
• Qing Nü declined wine and wrote a Han fu for the guests, who praised her talent and exempted her from drinking.
• Qing Nü said she could provide instruction just as Li Bai’s master could, but the guests treated her remark as a joke.

Qing Nü learned that Li Bai’s literary banquet had been arranged ahead of the Sage’s Flower-Pinning Gathering, and agreed to attend after asking him to investigate the Yang Family. On the day of the gathering, Yang Yuhuan prepared Qing Nü’s makeup at the Yang residence.

• Qing Nü questioned Li Bai about the banquet, and he explained that Prince of Ruyang had arranged to meet her before the Flower-Pinning Gathering.
• Qing Nü agreed to attend the gathering and asked Li Bai to investigate the Yang Family near Vermilion Bird Gate without alerting them.
• Ten days later, Yang Yuhuan invited Qing Nü to the Yang residence on the morning of the Flower-Pinning Gathering.
• Yang Yuhuan spent a long time applying fashionable makeup to Qing Nü and admired the result in the bronze mirror.

Verdant Green Maiden accompanied Yang Yuhuan to the Flower-Adorning Gathering, where Li Jin recognized her as the Mystic Maiden. Li Jin invited her to join Li Bai and the others, while Yang Yuhuan realized her disguise had been exposed.

• Verdant Green Maiden and Yang Yuhuan left for the Flower-Adorning Gathering, with Yang Yuhuan telling Verdant Green Maiden to pass herself off as a member of the Yang family.
• At the palace hall, Verdant Green Maiden spotted Li Bai chatting with officials, and Yang Yuhuan said she hoped he would write a poem for her.
• Li Jin approached Yang Yuhuan and Verdant Green Maiden, then recognized Verdant Green Maiden as the Mystic Maiden rather than Yang Yuhuan's younger sister Yu Se.
• Li Jin invited Verdant Green Maiden to join Li Bai, Zongzhi, and the others, and she agreed.

At the Flower-Pinning Gathering, Emperor Li Jiqing revealed that he had summoned Yang Yuhuan to see her beauty and ordered Li Bai to compose a poem about her. Li Bai began the poem, while Verdant Green Maiden quietly recited its final lines, leaving Yang Yuhuan to wonder how much she already knew.

• Verdant Green Maiden left Yang Yuhuan with Li Jin, and Yang Yuhuan went to find her third uncle, Yang Xuanjiao.
• Li Jin warned Verdant Green Maiden to stay out of the Yang family's complicated affairs, then brought her to Li Bai and the others.
• Emperor Li Jiqing arrived and explained that he had arranged the gathering to see the famed beauty of the Yang family.
• Yang Xuanjiao urged Yang Yuhuan to reveal herself, and she stepped forward before Li Jiqing and the assembled guests.
• Li Jiqing ordered Li Bai to write a poem about the beauty with flowers in her hair; Li Bai began, and Verdant Green Maiden supplied the closing lines.

At the Flower-Adorning Gathering, Li Bai’s poem was credited to Yang Yuhuan, though he later told Verdant Green Maiden he had written it while thinking of her. After the gathering, Verdant Green Maiden confronted Yang Yuhuan about trying to make her take Yang’s place as the emperor’s consort, then refused to reveal who she was or how she had discovered the plan.

• Li Bai’s “Qingping Melody” won acclaim, and Li Jiqing told Yang Yuhuan it had been written for her; Li Bai stayed silent after Li Jin and Verdant Green Maiden stopped him from intervening.
• After the gathering, Li Bai told Verdant Green Maiden that he had been thinking of her when he wrote the poem, and she praised it.
• Yang Yuhuan asked to speak with Verdant Green Maiden alone, and Verdant Green Maiden accused her of arranging for her to appear as a daughter of the Yang family and take her place in the palace.
• Yang Yuhuan admitted she had thought becoming an imperial consort would benefit Verdant Green Maiden and said she had been momentarily misled.
• Yang Yuhuan asked whether Verdant Green Maiden was Yu Se or the Mystic Maiden and when she had learned of the scheme, but Verdant Green Maiden refused to answer.

After Verdant Green Maiden spared a Bad Person sent to investigate her, she beat Li Jiqing for his interest in her, delaying Yang Yuhuan’s entry into the palace. Later, Li Bai told her that the emperor’s decree demanded fresh Lingnan lychees for Yang Yuhuan’s ceremony, and Verdant Green Maiden asked who had been appointed to deliver them.

• Yang Xuanjiao told Yang Yuhuan that Li Jiqing planned to welcome her into the palace as his consort, while Verdant Green Maiden left with Li Bai.
• Verdant Green Maiden urged Li Bai not to let Chang’an bind him, then confronted a Bad Person following her and ordered him to keep her identity secret.
• Verdant Green Maiden went to the Imperial Palace and beat Li Jiqing, leaving him unable to attend court and delaying Yang Yuhuan’s palace ceremony.
• Li Jiqing later issued a decree conferring the title of noble consort on Yang Yuhuan and demanding rare delicacies, including fresh lychees from Lingnan.
• Li Bai warned Verdant Green Maiden that transporting fresh Lingnan lychees could cost people their livelihoods and lives, and said a Bad Person was apparently the lychee envoy.

Verdant Green Maiden accompanied Li Mang to Lingnan to settle the karma behind his appointment as lychee envoy. After helping him reach Guangzhou, she visited He Qiong’s old fishing village, where an elderly man recognized her.

• Li Mang met Verdant Green Maiden outside Chang’an, and she offered to accompany him to Lingnan.
• Verdant Green Maiden and Li Mang reached Lingnan in little more than ten days, with Old Yellow Ox carrying her and the journey passing safely.
• In Guangzhou, Li Mang delivered the Imperial Edict and asked the Governor to procure fresh lychees and ice for transport to Chang’an.
• Verdant Green Maiden went to He Qiong and Li Qi’s old fishing village and found that the villagers did not recognize He Qiong’s name.
• As Verdant Green Maiden turned toward He Qiong’s old courtyard, an elderly man called out and stared at her.

Verdant Green Maiden visited the long-abandoned home of He Qiong and stayed there after the villagers agreed to let her in. The next morning, she found a badly wounded woman washed ashore and carried her away after noticing she was still alive.

• Verdant Green Maiden asked an elderly gentleman about He Qiong and learned that He Qiong had been gone for decades.
• Verdant Green Maiden received permission from the village elders to stay one night in He Qiong's overgrown courtyard.
• Verdant Green Maiden ordered Old Yellow Ox to clear the weeds and bring timber, then made minor repairs to the courtyard.
• Verdant Green Maiden followed the villagers to the seashore and found a bloodied woman lying in the mud.
• Verdant Green Maiden saw the woman's hand twitch, declared her alive, and carried her back.

Verdant Green Maiden saved the severely injured Ye Xian and learned that a mermaid’s pearl had protected her from death. After hearing that Ye Xian’s enemies had captured the mermaid, Qing Nü planned to set out the next day to rescue it.

• Verdant Green Maiden treated the dying woman at the He Family Courtyard and assured the villagers that she would survive.
• The woman woke after a day, and Verdant Green Maiden cared for her until she could speak.
• Ye Xian told Qing Nü that she came from Hundred Yue Cave in Lingnan and that her stepmother had tried to kill her over her inheritance.
• Ye Xian explained that a mermaid’s pearl her mother had received saved her life, but her enemies had captured the mermaid.
• Qing Nü told Ye Xian they would leave the next day to rescue the mermaid.

Ye Xian and Verdant Green Maiden reached Hundred Yue Cave, where they learned that Ye Xian’s family had gone to the Tuo Han Kingdom and accused her of stealing the king’s treasures. Verdant Green Maiden brought Ye Xian to the kingdom, where Ye Xian confronted her stepsister at the prince’s wedding while Verdant Green Maiden went to find the Mermaid.

• Ye Xian asked Verdant Green Maiden to help her take revenge on the people who had wronged her, but Verdant Green Maiden said Ye Xian would have to avenge herself when she was able.
• Ye Xian returned to Hundred Yue Cave and learned from an elder that her family had gone to the Tuo Han Kingdom, claiming she had run away with the king’s treasures.
• Verdant Green Maiden changed into traditional Hundred Yue clothing, then flew with Ye Xian to the Tuo Han Kingdom after learning the Mermaid had likely been taken there.
• At the Tuo Han Kingdom’s royal wedding, Verdant Green Maiden pushed Ye Xian into view and left to search for the Mermaid.
• Ye Xian told the king how her family had harmed her, but her stepsister and the prince denied her account and accused her of stealing the treasures.

Verdant Green Maiden rescued the imprisoned mermaid and helped Ye Xian escape the Tuo Han Kingdom after the prince betrayed her. Ye Xian agreed to travel to Great Tang and vowed to strive to guard its Southern Frontier, and they released the mermaid into the sea.

• Verdant Green Maiden freed the mermaid from her chains and promised to protect her.
• Verdant Green Maiden returned to find Ye Xian accused and surrounded by the Tuo Han Kingdom's soldiers, then defeated them without killing anyone.
• Ye Xian realized the prince had approached her because of the mermaid and vowed to take revenge.
• Verdant Green Maiden secured a cart, horses, and water vats, then left the Tuo Han Kingdom with Ye Xian and the mermaid.
• Verdant Green Maiden divined that Ye Xian could travel to Great Tang and asked if she would guard its Southern Frontier; Ye Xian agreed to strive to do so.
• Verdant Green Maiden and Ye Xian released the mermaid into the Great Sea.

Verdant Green Maiden helped Ye Xian prepare to guard the Southern Frontier, then returned to Chang'an and discovered that Yang Yuhuan wanted to contact her. As Verdant Green Maiden left Chang'an, she carried Yang Yuhuan's letter with her.

• Verdant Green Maiden encouraged Ye Xian to guard the Southern Frontier and left Guangzhou with Li Mang, who had been urgently seeking ice.
• Verdant Green Maiden made ice for Li Mang and reassured him that she had helped because he had been implicated through her.
• At Dragon Treasure Garden, Verdant Green Maiden caught a spy from the Yang Residence, learned Yang Yuhuan wanted to see her, and sent him away.
• Yang Yuhuan accepted that Verdant Green Maiden would not meet her and wrote her a letter instead.
• Li Bai visited Verdant Green Maiden, learned she planned to leave Chang'an, and shared a meal with her before the noble consort's grand palace-entry ceremony.
• Verdant Green Maiden rode away from Chang'an on Old Yellow Ox with Yang Yuhuan's letter in her hand.

After leaving Chang'an, Li Bai traveled with Verdant Green Maiden to Luoyang, where she bought an estate and put him in charge of the household. Their settled life continued until Li Bai brought the poet Du Fu to meet her.

• Verdant Green Maiden teased Li Bai for leaving Chang'an after only three years, then urged him to consider his family and where Pingyang and Boqin could safely live.
• Li Bai and Verdant Green Maiden arrived in Luoyang, where she bought an estate and gave Li Bai money to manage household expenses.
• Li Bai's fame drew frequent visitors, allowing him to obtain whatever he needed without spending his own money, which made Verdant Green Maiden suspect he had played her.
• Verdant Green Maiden joked with Old Yellow Ox while watering flowers in the courtyard.
• Li Bai introduced Du Fu to Verdant Green Maiden, who recognized him as the poetry sage; Li Bai explained that he had told Du Fu about her.

Verdant Green Maiden parted ways with Li Bai in Luoyang and traveled northeast into Hebei to seek the Li family, following a lead connected to Yang Yuhuan's letter and the Heavenly People. She found the family's courtyard beside a stream after persuading nearby villagers to reveal its location.

• Li Bai admitted he planned to leave Luoyang, and Verdant Green Maiden told him she was leaving too but might travel in a different direction.
• Verdant Green Maiden said she would come see Li Bai when he died, and Li Bai asked her to meet him again before then so he could speak with her.
• Verdant Green Maiden traveled northeast into Hebei with Yang Yuhuan's letter and considered the hidden source of the trouble she had come to investigate.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked villagers where the Li family lived, then used her knowledge of their households to convince them to point her toward it.
• Verdant Green Maiden followed the villagers' directions and reached the Li family's courtyard beside a stream.

Verdant Green Maiden tracked down Li Longji in Fanyang after a ten-year search and offered to help his family reclaim its imperial inheritance. She brought him home and met his son, Li Heng, leaving Li Longji poised to accept her plan.

• Verdant Green Maiden searched Hebei for ten years and found Li Longji in Fanyang in the thirteenth year of Tianbao.
• Li Longji admitted his name after Verdant Green Maiden confronted him about having Yang Yuhuan plot against her.
• Verdant Green Maiden offered Li Longji’s family a chance to reclaim their place in the Tang imperial line and warned that An Lushan would rebel.
• Li Longji asked how Verdant Green Maiden would help him, then led her to meet his family.
• Li Longji introduced his son Li Heng to Verdant Green Maiden, who asked the family to call her Mr. Shao Dian.

Qing Nü took Li Heng to Shuofang, trained him to become a military leader, and urged him to seize his chance when the An Lushan Rebellion began. She then entered An Lushan’s camp and offered to spare his life if he treated Luoyang’s people well.

• Qing Nü offered to help Li Heng become emperor and establish a new Great Tang, then ordered the Li family to move to Shuofang.
• Qing Nü confronted Tian about the Heavenly People’s interference in the fate of Li Hong and Li Longji.
• Li Heng joined the Shuofang Army and became a Colonel within a year under Qing Nü’s instruction.
• When the An Lushan Rebellion erupted, Qing Nü warned Li Heng not to act rashly or involve outsiders, then left Shuofang.
• After An Lushan and Shi Siming advanced to Luoyang, Qing Nü entered An Lushan’s camp and offered terms: he must treat Luoyang’s people well, or she would kill him.