Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yunsheng rescued Tuoba Ran after Guagua revealed that the enemy kingdom’s sixth prince despised his own kingdom and admired Jiang Yunsheng. Tuoba Ran survived the attack and, grateful to Great Xia, decided he would join it if he became emperor.

• Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng initially let Tuoba Ran’s pursuers attack him after learning he came from the enemy kingdom.
• Guagua explained that Tuoba Ran was hated by his siblings, resented the enemy kingdom, and idolized Jiang Yunsheng, so Jiang Yunsheng knocked the pursuer’s saber aside with a stone.
• Jiang Yunsheng openly chose to protect Tuoba Ran, and his companions defeated the pursuers despite their leader’s threats.
• Tuoba Ran wondered why Jiang Yunsheng had helped him and concluded that Great Xia’s people were kind; he resolved to bring the Black Moon Kingdom into Great Xia if he became emperor.

Jiang Yunsheng saved Tuoba Ran from a group of Black Moon Kingdom agents and offered to help him claim the throne in exchange for making the kingdom part of Great Xia. Reassured by Guagua that Tuoba Ran would keep his promise, Jiang Nuan celebrated throughout the journey and arrived in Rong City with Jiang Yunsheng, where someone stopped them at the market.

• Jiang Yunsheng surrounded the Black Moon Kingdom agents, revealed that he was Great Xia's emperor, and had their leader killed after he exposed Tuoba Ran as the kingdom's sixth prince.
• Jiang Yunsheng stopped Tuoba Ran from taking his own life and offered him help winning the Black Moon Kingdom's throne in return for annexing the kingdom into Great Xia.
• Tuoba Ran accepted Jiang Yunsheng's terms, received a name and address, and left to find the person who would arrange his rise to power.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that Tuoba Ran would secure the throne within a month and keep his promise, easing her fear of being forced to jump from the city wall.
• Jiang Nuan sang happily throughout the journey, then asked Jiang Yunsheng to accompany her around Rong City's market.
• Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng reached the market and were stopped by someone.

Jiang Yunsheng let the fraudulent fortune-teller Si Tian read his fortune while Jiang Nuan and Guagua saw through the scam. Si Tian warned Jiang Yunsheng of a bloody calamity and offered a protection talisman for one thousand taels of silver.

• Si Tian approached Jiang Yunsheng and offered him a free fortune reading, while Jiang Nuan and Guagua recognized him as a fraud.
• Si Tian used Jiang Yunsheng’s appearance to make vague predictions about his wealth, relationships, and prospects, but Jiang Yunsheng challenged his claims.
• Si Tian warned that a bloody calamity threatened Jiang Yunsheng and scolded Jiang Nuan for laughing.
• Si Tian produced a protection talisman and claimed it would resolve the danger, then named its price as one thousand taels of silver.

Jiang Nuan exposed the fortune-teller Si Tian as a fraud and predicted that his past victim, Zhao Jiahe, would bring him a bloody calamity. After Zhao Jiahe beat and dragged Si Tian away, Jiang Nuan began telling fortunes herself and warned a man to save his daughter from a deadly river accident.

• Jiang Nuan used Guagua’s knowledge to reveal Si Tian’s past and warn that a man he had swindled would soon find him.
• Si Tian denied her claims, but Jiang Nuan identified Zhao Jiahe as the victim he had cheated in Zhao Family Village three years earlier.
• Zhao Jiahe recognized Si Tian, beat him until he fainted, and dragged him away to the authorities.
• The onlookers hailed Jiang Nuan as a divine fortune-teller, and she agreed to tell fortunes using Guagua’s information.
• Guagua warned Jiang Nuan that the first man’s daughter and four other children would drown, so Jiang Nuan urged him to hurry home.
• The man returned less than an hour later with his wet-haired daughter and the four other children.

Jiang Nuan finished telling fortunes at the marketplace and refused payment from a grateful father whose daughter she had saved from drowning. When people from the County Magistrate's Residence arrived looking for a master fortune-teller, the crowd pointed them to Jiang Nuan, and she proved her skill by exposing Liu Daniu's secrets.

• A father brought his daughter and the other children to thank Jiang Nuan for saving them, but she returned his silver and gave him money to help his wife's health.
• Jiang Nuan limited her readings to fifty people, then finished the session and sent several criminals to the Yamen.
• Jiang Yunsheng asked Jiang Nuan to explain her fortune-telling, and she said she had learned it from the old man who gave her the gunpowder.
• People from the County Magistrate's Residence arrived seeking the master fortune-teller, and the crowd identified Jiang Nuan as the real master.
• Jiang Nuan used Guagua's gossip to reveal Liu Daniu's past, and he hurriedly accepted that she was a master and begged her to stop.

Jiang Nuan learned that Magistrate Pan's supposed haunting was a prank by his twelve-year-old son and promised to teach the boy a lesson. After arriving at the County Magistrate's Residence and explaining the truth, she waited until nightfall and went invisible into the boy's room.

• Liu Daniu invited Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng to the County Magistrate's Residence, where Guagua revealed the haunting was staged by Magistrate Pan's son.
• Jiang Nuan learned that the boy planned to dress as a ghost again that night and target his father.
• Magistrate Pan mistook Jiang Yunsheng for the fortune-teller until Jiang Yunsheng clarified that Jiang Nuan was the master.
• Jiang Nuan told Magistrate Pan that his son had faked the haunting and promised to frighten him into stopping.
• Jiang Nuan rested at the residence, then activated Invisibility and entered the boy's room after nightfall.

Jiang Nuan trapped Magistrate Pan’s son in his room and frightened him with a ghostly encounter, exposing his own ghost pranks. Magistrate Pan confronted him over terrifying his mother and summoned people into the courtyard as punishment loomed.

• Jiang Nuan and Magistrate Pan overheard the son planning more ghost pranks, so Magistrate Pan ordered Laifu to bring the Dragon-Expectation Rod.
• Jiang Nuan and Guagua sealed the son’s exits, fanned him with a mysterious breeze, and frightened him with a ghostly voice and apparition.
• Jiang Nuan removed the obstacle from the door, and the son fled outside to cling to Magistrate Pan, begging him to save him from a ghost.
• Magistrate Pan accused the son of causing the hauntings, but the son denied it and claimed he had dressed as a ghost to protect himself.
• The son insisted he would never frighten his mother, enraging Magistrate Pan, who said he had frightened her into a high fever and summoned a group of people into the courtyard.

Jiang Nuan learned that Magistrate Pan wanted her to assess the two candidates to succeed him, and she exposed Deputy Magistrate Tao as an impostor. The chapter left Tao denying her accusation while Magistrate Pan and Deputy Magistrate Peng waited for her to explain.

• Magistrate Pan and Madam Pan punished their son for dressing as a ghost and frightening people, and the boy realized his behavior had been wrong.
• A servant summoned Jiang Nuan to meet Magistrate Pan, who wanted her to judge which of his two deputies should replace him.
• Magistrate Pan introduced Jiang Nuan as a fortune-teller to Deputy Magistrate Peng and Deputy Magistrate Tao, but Tao openly doubted her abilities.
• Jiang Nuan told Tao that he had once been a farmer and had been living under Official Tao's identity while on the run.
• Tao denied the accusation as Magistrate Pan and Peng stepped away from him and waited for Jiang Nuan to continue.

Jiang Nuan exposed Tao Fu as Wei Goudan, a murderer who had stolen a dead scholar’s identity, and Magistrate Pan brought forward Tao Fu’s first wife and sons. The chapter left Dai Xiaofu pleading for justice and demanding that Tao Fu acknowledge Ran and Du.

• Jiang Nuan accused Deputy Magistrate Tao of murdering his neighbor and Tao Fu, then living under Tao Fu’s identity for over a decade.
• Tao Fu denied knowing Wei Chang, Tao Ran, and Tao Du, convincing Magistrate Pan and Deputy Magistrate Peng that Jiang Nuan’s accusations were true.
• Magistrate Pan summoned Dai Xiaofu and her two sons from the side courtyard.
• Dai Xiaofu knelt before Magistrate Pan and complained that Tao Fu had remarried and abandoned her and their sons, Ran and Du.

Dai Xiaofu and her sons learned that Wei Goudan had murdered Tao Fu and stolen his identity, so Tao Fu had never abandoned them. After Wei Goudan was arrested, Jiang Nuan turned her attention to Deputy Magistrate Peng, who gave up his bid for magistrate rather than risk having his secrets exposed.

• Dai Xiaofu and her sons accused Magistrate Pan of neglecting them, then said they did not recognize Wei Goudan as Tao Fu.
• Magistrate Pan revealed that Wei Goudan was Deputy Magistrate Tao Fu, and Dai Xiaofu insisted the man was not her husband.
• Wei Goudan stayed silent as Magistrate Pan ordered the guards to take him away, then explained that Wei Goudan had murdered Tao Fu and taken his identity.
• Dai Xiaofu thanked Magistrate Pan and left with her sons, relieved that Tao Fu had not betrayed her.
• Jiang Nuan offered to read Deputy Magistrate Peng's fortune, and Peng withdrew from the contest for magistrate to protect his secrets.
• Jiang Nuan told Magistrate Pan to find another candidate, leaving him stunned.

Jiang Nuan exposed Deputy Magistrate Peng's corruption, prompting Magistrate Pan to seek her help choosing a successor. The next morning, Pan summoned the entire county government, and Jiang Nuan began assessing them by calling Rao Feng forward.

• Jiang Nuan revealed that Deputy Magistrate Peng had abused his office to help relatives, and Peng confessed to his crimes.
• Magistrate Pan ordered Peng arrested and vowed to make everyone who had profited from him repay double.
• Magistrate Pan asked Jiang Nuan to divine who would make the best county magistrate, and she agreed to assess the candidates the next morning.
• Magistrate Pan summoned everyone from the county government, including the Yamen gatekeepers, to meet Jiang Nuan.
• Jiang Nuan told Rao Feng to stand aside, and he obeyed despite wondering how she knew his name.

Jiang Nuan sorted Rong County’s officials by their character and future potential, exposed corrupt officials, and recruited two talented workers for the Black Earth School. She then named a night soil carrier as a suitable candidate for county magistrate, leaving Magistrate Pan astonished.

• Jiang Nuan grouped the people summoned to the Yamen, and Magistrate Pan ordered the corrupt officials in the first group imprisoned for investigation.
• Jiang Nuan warned those who might commit wrongdoing in the future and sent them away with the ordinary people.
• Jiang Nuan offered Chang Dong three times a craftsman’s usual pay to study in the Capital City, and he accepted after asking for a year’s wages in advance to repay the villagers who had raised him.
• Jiang Nuan recruited a man with agricultural talent and suggested two other capable men as deputy magistrate candidates for Rong County.
• Jiang Nuan told Magistrate Pan that a night soil carrier would make a suitable county magistrate, leaving him stunned.

Jiang Nuan helped Magistrate Pan assign posts to a group of people, including Tang Bei, whose future leadership would make him a capable county magistrate. She then revealed that Zhong Xiujie would be killed along with his family by the man whose life he had once saved, leaving Zhong Xiujie shaken by the betrayal.

• Guagua explained that Tang Bei had secretly learned from a school as a child and would later rally Rong County’s survivors against the Black Moon Kingdom, so Magistrate Pan gave him a junior position to prove himself.
• Jiang Nuan recruited people with industrial and agricultural skills, and Magistrate Pan assigned posts to the rest after the first placements worked well.
• Jiang Nuan thought that Zhong Xiujie would die horribly, and Guagua revealed that his entire family would be slaughtered.
• Zhong Xiujie recalled saving a dying man at Sand Slope and realized that the man he had rescued would later kill his family.
• Jiang Nuan explained that the man murdered Zhong Xiujie’s family because he feared the life-saving debt could be used against him.

Jiang Nuan warned Zhong Xiujie that Yin Ting might turn on him over the debt of having his life saved, and Zhong Xiujie went to meet Yin Ting under her watch. The chapter ended with Zhong Xiujie overhearing Yin Ting and his wife decide to kill him, while Jiang Nuan remained nearby.

• Jiang Nuan warned Zhong Xiujie not to accept Yin Ting's offer of repayment and planned to watch over him that night.
• Zhong Xiujie sent Madam Zhong and their three children to visit her parents before agreeing to accompany Yin Ting to his residence.
• Jiang Nuan watched from the roof as Zhong Xiujie ate the meal Yin Ting had prepared, assuring him it was not poisoned.
• Zhong Xiujie went to the kitchen and overheard Yin Ting and Madam Yin worry that he might demand repayment for saving his life.
• Yin Ting proposed killing Zhong Xiujie so he would not have to repay the favor.

Yin Ting and Madam Yin plotted to drug and kill Zhong Xiujie, but Jiang Nuan secretly switched the wine and helped him escape the attack. Zhong Xiujie had Yin Ting and his servants arrested, then recognized that his offer to host his rescuers echoed Yin Ting’s earlier attempt to repay a life debt.

• Yin Ting convinced Madam Yin to help him kill Zhong Xiujie because he feared repaying the debt for saving his life.
• Jiang Nuan replaced the drugged wine, and Zhong Xiujie drank it while pretending to lose consciousness.
• Yin Ting approached Zhong Xiujie with a cleaver, but Zhong woke and called for help as Yin Ting ordered his servants to seize him.
• Jiang Nuan caused Yin Ting and the servants to trip, and Zhong Xiujie’s burly companion broke down the door and helped restrain them.
• Zhong Xiujie had Yin Ting and the others taken to the Yamen, then invited his rescuers to drink and realized he was repeating Yin Ting’s behavior.

After leaving Rong County, Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng traveled toward their next destination, where they learned that Zhang Liang planned to assassinate Jiang Yunsheng at Bolang Sands. They decided to capture him and later consider recruiting him.

• Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng left Rong County with Magistrate Pan, who learned that Jiang Nuan was a princess and felt reassured about his prospects after hearing her praise him.
• Jiang Nuan suffered through the carriage ride and received a candy from Guagua, while Jiang Yunsheng endured his discomfort without asking for one.
• As the travelers neared Bolang Sands, Guagua told Jiang Nuan that Zhang Liang, a descendant of the previous dynasty's nobility, planned to assassinate Jiang Yunsheng.
• Guagua suggested recruiting Zhang Liang, but Jiang Yunsheng focused first on thwarting the attempt and capturing him.
• Jiang Nuan revealed that Zhang Liang would use a 120-jin iron hammer, and Jiang Yunsheng resolved to catch him.

Jiang Nuan stalled the procession to avoid Zhang Liang’s planned attack, unaware that Jiang Yunsheng had already sent Shadow Guards to capture him. Zhang Liang’s ambush failed, and the guards brought him to camp, where Jiang Nuan mistook him for a beautiful big sister or brother.

• Jiang Nuan pretended to have a stomachache, so Jiang Yunsheng ordered the procession to stop.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that Shadow Guards had already been sent after Zhang Liang, but she decided to keep resting anyway.
• Zhang Liang made a strongman hold up a heavy iron hammer while they waited for the procession to approach.
• After the procession stopped for the night, Zhang Liang abandoned his plan and prepared to leave with the strongman.
• Shadow Guards revealed they had captured both men, gave them Muscle-Weakening Powder, and brought them to camp.
• Jiang Nuan stared at Zhang Liang and called him a beautiful big sis or a beautiful big brother.

Jiang Nuan persuaded Zhang Liang to join Great Xia, and he promised to resolve the situation in Ren County with ten men within half a month. After arriving in Pei County, she discovered Lü Zhi and learned that her father wanted her to marry Liu Ji.

• Jiang Nuan recited details of Zhang Liang’s life and urged him to join Great Xia, and he agreed to meet Jiang Yunsheng.
• Zhang Liang offered to resolve the situation in Ren County with ten men, and Jiang Yunsheng gave him half a month to prove himself.
• Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng arrived in Pei County, where Jiang Nuan overheard a girl objecting to a marriage.
• Guagua identified the girl as Lü Zhi, and Jiang Nuan followed her home.
• Lü Zhi protested that her father wanted her to marry Liu Ji, and her father insisted Liu Ji would accomplish great things.

Lü's Father tried to convince Lü Zhi that Liu Ji would become a great ruler, while Liu Ji and others heard Jiang Nuan's mysterious thoughts identifying Liu Ji's future. Liu Ji gathered the people Jiang Nuan named at a restaurant, where she recognized He Xiao and Liu Ji realized she was the source of the voice.

• Lü Zhi questioned her father's judgment of Liu Ji, but Lü's Father insisted Liu Ji would become a dragon among men and that the skies over Great Xia would soon change.
• Liu Ji visited Lü's Father with wine, and Lü's Father noticed that the dragon aura around Liu Ji had nearly vanished.
• Jiang Nuan thought that Liu Ji would later found Great Han, and Liu Ji and Lü's Father heard her thoughts and were stunned.
• Jiang Nuan decided to follow Liu Ji, and Liu Ji invited He Xiao, Fan Kuai, Xiahou Ying, and his other friends to a restaurant.
• Jiang Nuan ordered food at the restaurant, and Liu Ji realized she was the voice he could hear.
• He Xiao arrived and asked Liu Ji why he had called everyone together, while Guagua identified him to Jiang Nuan as a famed founding minister of Great Han.

Jiang Nuan’s questions about Liu Ji’s group and the future founding of the Great Han alarmed the men, who feared Jiang Yunsheng would kill them before they could rise. They were left wondering whether he would instead recruit them into his service.

• Liu Ji admired He Xiao after hearing him called a renowned founding chancellor, while He Xiao wondered what the title meant.
• Xiahou Ying, Fan Kuai, and the others joined Liu Ji, and Jiang Nuan realized the Great Han founding team had gathered in the restaurant.
• Jiang Yunsheng arrived, and Liu Ji’s group feared he might have them killed after hearing Jiang Nuan call him Dad.
• Jiang Nuan asked Guagua how the Great Han would be established, and Guagua explained that Liu Ji would launch an uprising after the Great Xia fell.
• Jiang Nuan predicted that Jiang Yunsheng would recruit the talented men rather than kill them, and Jiang Yunsheng was amused by her understanding of him.