Chapter Summaries

Su Shi met Verdant Green Maiden on Mount Tai and discovered she was related to the Shao Dian family he had sought for years. After the two paid respects at the Great Emperor Yu Qing Shrine, Verdant Green Maiden said she lived on the mountain summit and promised to visit Su Shi in Mizhou.

• Verdant Green Maiden pretended that Shao Dian Qing Nü was her deceased aunt after Su Shi asked about her family and showed the gold lock pendant.
• Su Shi offered condolences and accepted Verdant Green Maiden's explanation that her family traditionally herded cattle away from home to experience life.
• Su Shi and Verdant Green Maiden entered the Great Emperor Yu Qing Shrine, where Su Shi prayed for Mizhou, Great Song, and the safety of his loved ones.
• Su Shi invited Verdant Green Maiden to Mizhou, and she said she lived on Mount Tai's summit but would visit him there later.

Verdant Green Maiden reunited with Hong Luan on Mount Tai, then traveled to Mizhou two years later. There, she learned that the people were honoring a goddess who had helped them through a drought, and asked for directions to the prefect's residence.

• Verdant Green Maiden climbed Mount Tai and reunited with Hong Luan, who welcomed her into the palace.
• Verdant Green Maiden and Hong Luan gathered game and shared a barbecue while catching up; Hong Luan said she had heard about Zhao Qingyu and Damn Heaven but knew nothing of his current condition.
• Hong Luan left Mount Tai the next day, and Verdant Green Maiden departed a month later, eventually reaching Mizhou two years afterward.
• In Zhucheng, Verdant Green Maiden learned that the people’s moon lanterns depicted a goddess who had helped them survive the previous year’s drought.
• Verdant Green Maiden paid for her tea and asked the teahouse proprietor how to reach the prefect's residence.

Verdant Green Maiden reunited with Su Shi for the Mid-Autumn Festival, where they drank, talked, and watched the moon together. After she left, Su Shi learned where she was staying and prepared to visit her.

• The teahouse proprietor suspected Verdant Green Maiden was the gray-haired Goddess, then watched her disappear after she overpaid for her refreshments.
• Verdant Green Maiden appeared at Su Shi's courtyard wall and surprised him by keeping their appointment from Mount Tai.
• Su Shi thanked Verdant Green Maiden for helping the people during Mizhou's drought, and she asked him to keep her identity secret.
• Su Shi and Verdant Green Maiden spent the Mid-Autumn Festival talking beneath the moon, and Su Shi recited his verses while drinking.
• Verdant Green Maiden left after telling Su Shi's servant that she was staying at an inn in the east of the city.
• The next day, Su Shi learned Verdant Green Maiden had visited and ordered his servant to prepare him to visit her.

Su Shi met Verdant Green Maiden at an inn, where she had the innkeeper arrested for mixing thorns into the Old Yellow Ox’s fodder. When Su Shi asked to visit her aunt’s grave, Verdant Green Maiden claimed her aunt had drowned in the Yellow River, but Su Shi arranged to travel there and received the court’s permission.

• Verdant Green Maiden discovered thorns in the Old Yellow Ox’s fodder and urged Su Shi to arrest the innkeeper, who was taken away.
• Su Shi thanked Verdant Green Maiden for remembering the lyric he had recited while drunk the previous night.
• Su Shi asked where Verdant Green Maiden’s aunt was buried, and Verdant Green Maiden claimed her aunt had drowned while saving people in a Yellow River flood.
• Su Shi insisted on paying his respects by the Yellow River and planned to request leave from the court.
• Su Shi sent a memorial to Bianjing, and a month later permission to travel was granted.