Chapter Summaries

Verdant Green Maiden reunited with Ye Sanqi and the merchant caravan, treating them to a meal and appointing herself their boss. The next day, she accepted new carriages sent by the Han Family but refused to meet Han Kang.

• Ye Sanqi apologized for offending Verdant Green Maiden, and she told him to keep calling her Miss Shao Dian and conceal her identity.
• Ye Sanqi returned to the caravan with Verdant Green Maiden, and she treated everyone to a meal paid for by Han Sui.
• Verdant Green Maiden reassured Ye Sanqi, then gave the caravan its wages and told them she would lead them as their boss.
• Verdant Green Maiden found that the Han Family had sent the caravan new carriages and agreed they should accept them.
• Ye Sanqi told Han Kang that the caravan would accept the carriages but that Verdant Green Maiden would not see him.

Verdant Green Maiden traveled north with Ye Sanqi’s caravan, winning the merchants over with her kindness and cooking. As the caravan continued toward Bianjing, mountain bandits prepared an ambush along its route.

• Han Kang accepted Ye Sanqi’s caravan and left, believing his family might have lost its ties to Verdant Green Maiden.
• Ye Sanqi hired a large boat to ferry the caravan across the Yangtze, and Verdant Green Maiden rode beside him on a horse.
• At a ruined temple, Verdant Green Maiden insisted on cooking for the caravan, and the merchants praised her meal.
• The caravan rested overnight and set out again at dawn.
• A fortune-telling bandit predicted a big deal would come, and the bandits hid beside the road to ambush Verdant Green Maiden’s caravan.

Qing Nu led Ye Sanqi’s merchant caravan through a mountain pass despite reports of bandits. When the bandits ambushed them and tried to abduct her, Qing Nu revealed her strength and defeated them, leaving Ye Sanqi and the caravan stunned.

• Ye Sanqi warned Qing Nu that bandits were active in the mountains, but she refused to take a month-long detour and told him to continue.
• The bandit chief and his second-in-command spotted the caravan and planned to rob it and seize Qing Nu.
• Qing Nu sensed the bandits’ ambush and told Ye Sanqi to keep moving and leave the bandits to her.
• The bandits surrounded the caravan and demanded its goods and Qing Nu, so she walked toward them.
• Qing Nu kicked the bandit chief into a tree, then cut down the attacking bandits with a stolen blade.
• Ye Sanqi and the others watched in shock as Qing Nu dismissed the blade with disdain.

Ye Sanqi’s caravan delivered the captured mountain bandits to Xiayi County, where the magistrate secretly had the bandit leader killed and sent a report to his superior. Verdant Green Maiden warned Ye Sanqi that the bandits were likely backed by someone powerful, but reassured him that her identity could protect the caravan as they continued toward Bianjing.

• Verdant Green Maiden treated Xu Su’s wound and had him ride on the cart with the bandit leader as the caravan transported the captured bandits to Xiayi County.
• Ye Sanqi handed the bandits over to the county magistrate, who praised the caravan and invited them to stay the night.
• The county magistrate visited the prison, called the bandit leader useless, and ordered a jailer to kill him.
• The county magistrate wrote to his superior in Zhengzhou, describing Ye Sanqi and Verdant Green Maiden, then sent the letter by a fast rider.
• After leaving Xiayi County, Verdant Green Maiden warned Ye Sanqi not to trust officials and suspected someone above the magistrate was supporting the bandits.
• Ye Sanqi worried that the powerful figure might be in Bianjing, but Verdant Green Maiden reminded him of her identity and rejected his offer to return her wages.

Verdant Green Maiden reunited with Li Yu and his family at the Wu Duke's Residence in Bianjing, where she promised to protect them and stayed as their guest. After taking Li Yu's poem manuscripts, she left Zhao Guangyi to receive news of her visit.

• Verdant Green Maiden parted from Ye Sanqi's merchant caravan and told him to seek her at the Wu Duke's Residence if trouble arose.
• Verdant Green Maiden introduced herself at the residence, and Li Zhongyu and Li Yu joyfully welcomed her inside.
• Verdant Green Maiden reassured Li Yu and Little Empress Zhou that she would protect them from Zhao Guangyi and asked them to call her Qing Nü.
• Verdant Green Maiden explained that she would stay for several days, and Li Yu welcomed her and showed her his poems.
• Verdant Green Maiden took Li Yu's original poem manuscripts, and Zhao Guangyi received news of her visit.

Zhao Guangyi visited Li Yu’s residence to meet Verdant Green Maiden, the Great Virtue Imperial Tutor, and asked her for a cultivation method to prolong his life. She agreed not to investigate how he obtained the throne but warned him to treat Zhao Kuangyin’s descendants well.

• Zhao Guangyi learned that Verdant Green Maiden had visited Li Yu and went to the Duke of Wu’s Residence without warning.
• Verdant Green Maiden met Li Zhongyu’s young son, Li Zhengyan, gave him a greeting gift, and told him to call her Teacher.
• Zhao Guangyi arrived during the banquet and addressed Verdant Green Maiden as the Great Virtue Imperial Tutor, but she scolded him for his airs and rudeness.
• After the meal, Verdant Green Maiden took Zhao Guangyi alone into the garden and asked how he had become emperor.
• Zhao Guangyi claimed Zhao Kuangyin had passed the throne to him, and Verdant Green Maiden said she would not pursue the matter but told him to treat Zhao Kuangyin’s descendants well.
• Zhao Guangyi asked Verdant Green Maiden to bestow a cultivation method that would prolong his life.

Zhao Guangyi asked Verdant Green Maiden to grant him longevity, but she refused and explained that longevity could not be sought for personal power. After Zhao Guangyi returned to the palace, he ordered Hou Moch'en Liyong summoned from Zhengzhou.

• Zhao Guangyi argued that his rule as Emperor deserved to continue, but Verdant Green Maiden told him that seeking longevity for his own enjoyment would bring no chance of attaining it.
• Zhao Guangyi suggested Verdant Green Maiden rejected him because he had become Son of Heaven by dishonorable means, then left without pressing his request.
• Zhao Guangyi asked Li Yu his age and told him to entertain Verdant Green Maiden before returning to the palace.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked Li Yu whether he wanted longevity, and Li Yu admitted he did but said a hundred years would be enough.
• Unable to sleep after returning to the palace, Zhao Guangyi ordered a eunuch to summon Hou Moch'en Liyong from Zhengzhou.

Hou Moch'en Liyong went to see Zhao Guangyi, who asked whether he knew the Art of Longevity. When Hou Moch'en Liyong admitted he did not, Zhao Guangyi ordered him to secretly learn it from the Goddess at the Wu Duke's Residence.

• Hou Moch'en Liyong arrived before dawn and knelt outside Zhao Guangyi's bedchamber until the emperor woke.
• Zhao Guangyi invited Hou Moch'en Liyong into the hall and questioned him about his official robes.
• Zhao Guangyi asked whether Hou Moch'en Liyong knew the Art of Longevity, and Hou Moch'en Liyong said he did not.
• Zhao Guangyi ordered Hou Moch'en Liyong to learn the Art of Longevity from the Goddess at the Wu Duke's Residence and warned him not to offend her.
• Hou Moch'en Liyong accepted the dangerous assignment and left.

Hou Moch'en Liyong struggled to find a way to approach the Goddess while dismissing the Xiayi County magistrate’s concerns about a merchant caravan. At the Wu Duke's Residence, Verdant Green Maiden’s divination shells broke and revealed that someone was thinking about her.

• Hou Moch'en Liyong returned from the palace and worried about how to approach the Goddess Zhao Guangyi had mentioned.
• A messenger from the Xiayi County magistrate pressed Hou Moch'en Liyong about the merchant caravan, but Hou Moch'en Liyong berated him and ordered the magistrate to stay out of the matter.
• Verdant Green Maiden sneezed while resting in the rear courtyard, and Li Zhengyan ran off to fetch her a quilt.
• Verdant Green Maiden used Turtle Shells to divine twice and got a hexagram cursing a dragon both times, then punched the shells until one shattered.
• The broken shell fragments formed a new hexagram, which Verdant Green Maiden read as showing that someone was thinking about her.

Verdant Green Maiden met Hou Moch'en Liyong, a Daoist sent by Zhao Guangyi to learn the Art of Longevity. After discovering that they both pretended to possess it, Hou Moch'en Liyong proposed they work together to deceive the emperor.

• Li Yu sent a subordinate to investigate suspicious activity outside the Wu Duke's Residence and learned that Hou Moch'en Liyong was nearby.
• Verdant Green Maiden recognized Hou Moch'en Liyong and went outside to meet him, leaving her blanket and the Night Banquet Painting at the residence.
• Hou Moch'en Liyong approached Verdant Green Maiden and privately accused her of pretending to possess the Art of Longevity.
• Verdant Green Maiden pretended to confess, and Hou Moch'en Liyong admitted that he was deceiving His Majesty.
• Hou Moch'en Liyong explained that Zhao Guangyi had sent him to learn the Art of Longevity and suggested they deceive His Majesty together, which Verdant Green Maiden accepted.

Verdant Green Maiden learned that Ye Sanqi and his caravan had been seized and set out to rescue them. Li Yu went to inform Zhao Guangyi, while Verdant Green Maiden and the caravan member left without knowing where the captives had been taken.

• Hou Moch'en Liyong persuaded Verdant Green Maiden to pose as a Goddess and help him deceive Zhao Guangyi with a supposed longevity technique.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked Li Yu to prepare a wild boar, a rabbit, and turtles, then called the boar “Brother Wild Boar.”
• Hou Moch'en Liyong ordered his servants to investigate Ye Sanqi’s caravan and move against them before they left Bianjing for Lingnan.
• A member of Ye Sanqi’s caravan arrived at the Wu Duke’s Residence with Verdant Green Maiden’s token and reported that Ye Sanqi and the others had been arrested.
• Verdant Green Maiden took back her token and left to rescue the caravan, while Li Yu wrote a memorial and went to the palace to inform Zhao Guangyi.

Verdant Green Maiden rescued Ye Sanqi and his caravan from Hou Moch'en Liyong's men, killing the servant who led them. She brought the survivors and their prisoners to the palace to meet Zhao Guangyi, leaving Ye Sanqi stunned at the prospect of standing before the emperor.

• Verdant Green Maiden led a man out of Bianjing and found Ye Sanqi and the caravan surrounded by Hou Moch'en Liyong's men.
• Verdant Green Maiden armed her companion, defeated the attackers, and killed the servant after he admitted serving Hou Moch'en Liyong.
• Ye Sanqi worried that the killing would bring trouble, but Verdant Green Maiden said she would take them to see Zhao Guangyi, and Ye Sanqi agreed to follow her.
• Verdant Green Maiden led Ye Sanqi and the others back to Bianjing, where her credentials kept the guards from stopping them.
• Li Yu joined Verdant Green Maiden on the way to the palace, where she introduced Ye Sanqi and the others to Zhao Guangyi.

Verdant Green Maiden confronted Zhao Guangyi over the abuses suffered by Ye Sanqi and the other merchants, then exposed Hou Moch'en Liyong’s crimes and his attempt to deceive the emperor. She left after securing Zhao Guangyi’s promise to protect her people and warning him that other monarchs who sought longevity, including Ying Zheng, had failed to attain it.

• Zhao Guangyi greeted Verdant Green Maiden as the Imperial Tutor, and she rebuked him for allowing injustice in Great Song.
• Verdant Green Maiden identified Hou Moch'en Liyong as the culprit and told Zhao Guangyi to summon him.
• Hou Moch'en Liyong denied colluding with bandits, but Verdant Green Maiden revealed that he had tried to deceive Zhao Guangyi about the Art of Longevity.
• Hou Moch'en Liyong admitted that Zhao Guangyi had ordered him to seek the Art of Longevity, and Zhao Guangyi had him dragged away for execution.
• Verdant Green Maiden asked Zhao Guangyi to ensure that the merchants could live safely in Great Song, and he agreed.
• Verdant Green Maiden warned Zhao Guangyi that Ji Fa, Ying Zheng, and Liu Piggy had sought longevity without attaining it, then departed with Li Yu and Ye Sanqi.

Verdant Green Maiden told Ye Sanqi about the First Emperor of Qin and accepted him as an old friend before leading the group to Li Yu’s residence. She encouraged Li Yu to build a proper relationship with Ye Sanqi’s caravan, while warning him to keep any money and business dealings legitimate.

• Ye Sanqi asked Verdant Green Maiden what the First Emperor of Qin was like, and she described Ying Zheng as an ordinary but accomplished man.
• Verdant Green Maiden praised Ye Sanqi’s composure and acknowledged him as an old friend, while telling him she would never ask anyone to die for her.
• After Verdant Green Maiden’s group left the Grand Hall, Zhao Guangyi lamented that he could not punish Li Yu or Ye Sanqi without risking her anger.
• Verdant Green Maiden persuaded Ye Sanqi to accept Li Yu’s invitation to visit the Wu Duke’s Residence.
• Verdant Green Maiden explained that Li Yu could use the caravan’s visits to build ties and learn about Jiangnan, then warned him to keep any financial cooperation proper.

After the caravan left Bianjing, Li Yu persuaded Verdant Green Maiden to stay through the New Year. On New Year’s Eve, Little Empress Zhou dressed and made up Verdant Green Maiden, who shared a story about Yang Yuhuan, before the family gathered for dinner.

• Ye Sanqi and the caravan agreed on future cooperation with Li Yu, then departed Bianjing the next day.
• Verdant Green Maiden said she had once lived in Guanzhong and enlisted, and Li Yu persuaded her to stay in Bianjing for the New Year.
• On New Year’s Eve, Li Yu invited Little Empress Zhou to give Verdant Green Maiden festive makeup and clothes.
• While Little Empress Zhou did her makeup, Verdant Green Maiden told her about the last person to make her up, Yang Yuhuan.
• That evening, Verdant Green Maiden scolded Li Zhengyang for making a racket during dinner, and he sat properly.

On New Year’s Eve, Verdant Green Maiden wandered the bustling, snowy Bian River Bank after giving Li Zhengyan and the others space to explore. She bought candied hawthorns from a wary Little Girl, secretly took another skewer after the girl refused to sell, and later spotted her again at a puppet show.

• Li Yu sent Li Zhongyu to buy palace lanterns for Li Zhengyan and Verdant Green Maiden, then Verdant Green Maiden went on alone.
• Verdant Green Maiden bought candied hawthorns and followed the Little Girl selling them, assuming she could buy the rest.
• The Little Girl suspected Verdant Green Maiden of trying to rob her, and Verdant Green Maiden jokingly confirmed it before offering silver for all her hawthorns.
• The Little Girl refused the silver and kept her hawthorns, but Verdant Green Maiden secretly took another skewer as the girl ran off.
• As the snow grew heavier, Verdant Green Maiden opened her umbrella and watched a puppet show, where she saw the Little Girl again.

Verdant Green Maiden met Zhao Qingyu at a puppet show, helped her see over the crowd, and made a pact to meet again in three days. After Zhao Qingyu left, Li Yu and the others found Verdant Green Maiden by the Bian River.

• Verdant Green Maiden took one of Zhao Qingyu's candied hawthorns and offered her a silver ingot.
• Verdant Green Maiden picked Zhao Qingyu up so she could watch the puppet show above the crowd.
• Zhao Qingyu offered Verdant Green Maiden her last candied hawthorn, and they sealed a pact to meet at the same place in three days.
• Verdant Green Maiden and Zhao Qingyu exchanged names and said goodbye, with Zhao Qingyu promising to bring different flavors of candied hawthorns.
• Li Yu and the others found Verdant Green Maiden after Zhao Qingyu disappeared into the crowd.

Qing Nü waited by the Bian River for Zhao Qingyu, who failed to appear and sent candied hawthorn with her servant Binghong instead. After Qing Nü asked Li Yu to investigate Zhao Qingyu, he revealed that she was the Emperor’s sixth daughter and that her mother, Madam Zang, had once served in Southern Tang’s palace.

• Qing Nü returned to the Wu Duke’s Residence after shopping with Li Yu and said she had arranged to trade money for candied hawthorn in three days.
• Three days later, Qing Nü waited by the Bian River for Zhao Qingyu, but Binghong arrived after midnight with candied hawthorn and an apology because Zhao Qingyu could not come.
• Qing Nü paid Binghong as agreed and told her to relay that she would come find Zhao Qingyu.
• The next morning, Qing Nü asked Li Yu to investigate Zhao Qingyu, explaining that divination would incur a cost in karma.
• Li Yu told Qing Nü that Zhao Qingyu was the Emperor’s sixth daughter and that her mother, Madam Zang, had once been a palace staff member in Southern Tang.

Zhao Qingyu endured painful punishment and another palace-rules lesson until Verdant Green Maiden arrived, defeated the guards, and stopped the palace staff from disciplining her. Verdant Green Maiden learned that Zhao Qingyu’s mother had been gone for four days seeking mercy, then asked Zhao Qingyu about the candied hawthorns she had made.

• Binghong applied medicine to Zhao Qingyu’s injured bottom as Zhao Qingyu wondered why Verdant Green Maiden had sent her a message to wait.
• Zhao Qingyu argued that returning before the palace gate was locked meant she had not broken any rules, but the palace staff ordered Binghong dragged away and demanded that Zhao Qingyu recite the rules.
• Verdant Green Maiden appeared on the courtyard wall and told the palace staff to stop bullying Zhao Qingyu.
• Verdant Green Maiden knocked down the Imperial Guards and shattered the older palace staff member’s leg with a pebble.
• Zhao Qingyu told Verdant Green Maiden that her Imperial Concubine Mother had been away for four days seeking mercy.
• Verdant Green Maiden praised Zhao Qingyu’s candied hawthorns and asked how she had thought of stringing them together.

Verdant Green Maiden protected Zhao Qingyu in the palace, treated her injuries, and confronted Zhao Guangyi about his neglect of his daughter and her mother. Zhao Guangyi admitted his guilt, and Verdant Green Maiden said she would take Zhao Qingyu with her.

• Verdant Green Maiden ordered the palace staff to summon Zhao Guangyi and carried Zhao Qingyu away from the guards.
• Verdant Green Maiden applied medicine to Zhao Qingyu's wounds while they talked with Binghong.
• Zhao Guangyi arrived at the Grand Hall and bowed to Verdant Green Maiden as the Imperial Tutor.
• Verdant Green Maiden stopped Zhao Guangyi from killing the palace staff member and questioned him about mistreating Zhao Qingyu and her mother because of Li Yu and her.
• Zhao Guangyi admitted his guilt, and Verdant Green Maiden said she wanted Zhao Qingyu to leave with her.