Chapter Summaries

Jiang Nuan searched medical books with Guagua’s help and found a prescription for Chi Hengji, then planned to get an itinerant physician to deliver it. After court, she brought An Yan the shop’s property deed, and they began discussing opening the shop.

• Jiang Nuan asked Guagua to check prescriptions in her medical books and spent the night turning pages until Guagua found one that could help Chi Hengji.
• Jiang Nuan wrote out the prescription and decided to hire someone to pose as an itinerant physician and give it to Chi Hengji.
• Jiang Nuan yawned in the Golden Throne Hall and thought about her plans to deliver the prescription, visit An Yan, and sneak into Pure Brahma Temple.
• Chi Hengji heard Jiang Nuan’s plan and decided to welcome any itinerant physicians who came to his residence.
• After court, Jiang Nuan gave An Yan the shop’s property deed, and An Yan asked to discuss opening the shop.

Jiang Nuan helped An Yan plan a jewelry and clothing business, suggesting marketing strategies and modern designs that could greatly increase its profits. She also proposed making affordable down jackets for ordinary people, and An Yan admired her generosity.

• An Yan showed Jiang Nuan her plans for combining a jewelry shop with a clothing shop, and Jiang Nuan left the business decisions to her.
• Jiang Nuan suggested limited-edition collections, membership cards, exclusive outfits, and building a brand, impressing An Yan with ideas she believed could triple revenue.
• Jiang Nuan drew cute character designs and described modern clothing details, which An Yan considered promising for customers in Capital City.
• Jiang Nuan asked An Yan to make warm clothes stuffed with cleaned duck and goose down and sell them to ordinary people at cost or below.
• An Yan understood Jiang Nuan wanted to help people endure winter and felt admiration for her younger sister.

Jiang Nuan went to Pure Brahma Temple at night with Chunhua and Qiuyue to investigate, where Guagua revealed the abbot Huijue’s criminal past. The chapter ended with Jiang Nuan learning that Huijue had abducted and sold a commoner mother and daughter.

• Jiang Nuan left An Yan and rode with Chunhua and Qiuyue to Pure Brahma Temple after dark.
• Jiang Nuan crawled through a hole in the temple wall while Chunhua and Qiuyue climbed over it.
• Chunhua and Qiuyue hid Jiang Nuan when they heard footsteps approaching.
• Jiang Nuan saw the temple abbot Huijue and his son, Wuchen, and asked Guagua about them.
• Guagua revealed that Huijue had helped You Fengzhe hide embezzled money in the temple and later became abbot.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that Huijue had abducted a commoner mother and daughter and sold them for silver.

Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yehua rescued dozens of women from Huijue’s criminal operation at Pure Brahma Temple, and Jiang Nuan used Jiang Yehua’s lifesaving pill to stabilize a badly injured woman. As the rescued woman was treated, Guagua revealed she was linked to Jiang Yehua by a red thread of fate.

• Jiang Nuan decided to risk rescuing a gravely injured woman, but Jiang Yehua arrived with soldiers and surrounded Pure Brahma Temple before she could act.
• Jiang Yehua sent Rong Yu, soldiers, Chunhua, and Qiuyue into the side room while keeping Jiang Nuan outside for her safety.
• Qiuyue carried out the injured woman, and Jiang Yehua gave Jiang Nuan his precious lifesaving pill to stabilize her.
• Jiang Nuan and the others saw dozens of captive women rescued, and the women attacked Huijue and his accomplices with stones.
• Guagua revealed that the injured woman was linked to Jiang Yehua by a red thread of fate, and Jiang Yehua froze outside the room as the woman twitched her fingers.

Jiang Nuan accompanied Jiang Yehua’s soldiers as they found the silver You Fengzhe had hidden at the Pure Brahma Temple, then filled her System Space with gold and silver. She decided to stay overnight so they could catch Huijue selling the goods the next day, while Jiang Yehua summoned Zhou Youjia to join the investigation.

• Jiang Nuan made an excuse to Jiang Yehua for coming to the Pure Brahma Temple, and he explained that Jiang Yunsheng had sent soldiers to search for You Fengzhe’s stolen funds.
• Jiang Yehua brought Jiang Nuan through a secret passage to the hidden storeroom after soldiers found it and reported back.
• Jiang Yehua let Jiang Nuan take some of the goods, and she filled her System Space until it could hold no more.
• Jiang Nuan carried out a few gold ingots and a Cloisonné Headpiece Set, while Jiang Yehua ordered the remaining goods sent to the imperial treasury.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that Huijue would deliver goods to buyers the next day, so she agreed to stay at the temple overnight.
• Jiang Yehua sent subordinates to bring Zhou Youjia to the temple to assist with the case.

Jiang Yehua helped Zhou Youjia recover the missing people and arrest the buyers who had arranged to purchase them from Huijue. After the others left, Jiang Yehua learned through Jiang Nuan’s thoughts that the injured young woman was Yun Shining, a runaway martial artist with nowhere to go.

• Jiang Yehua brought Zhou Youjia to the rescued people, and Zhou Youjia recognized them as the missing-person victims he had been searching for.
• After hearing what happened at Pure Brahma Temple, Zhou Youjia borrowed Jiang Yehua’s soldiers to arrest Huijue’s buyers when they arrived disguised as worshippers.
• Guagua identified the buyers to Jiang Nuan, and the soldiers captured them along with the monks involved in the abductions.
• Jiang Yehua sent soldiers to notify the rescued people’s families, but no one came for the injured young woman who remained at the temple.
• Jiang Nuan learned that the young woman was Yun Shining, a runaway from Cloud Cloud Manor who had been drugged, abducted, and whipped by Huijue’s men.

Jiang Nuan tried to find someone trustworthy to deliver a prescription to Chancellor Chi, but Guagua revealed that the unreliable street swindler she had encountered was actually Gu Qingfeng, the master of Divine Physician Valley. The chapter left Jiang Nuan questioning how such an eccentric man could be a renowned healer.

• Jiang Nuan took the incapacitated Yun Shining to An Yan’s residence, arranged for a doctor and maids to care for her, and then left with a prescription for Chancellor Chi.
• Jiang Nuan searched for a convincing person to deliver the prescription but rejected a nervous candidate who might expose the plan to Chi Hengji.
• Jiang Nuan encountered an old man claiming he could diagnose and treat a passerby, mistook him for a swindler, and offered him silver to stop scamming people.
• Guagua returned from sleep mode and told Jiang Nuan that the man was Gu Qingfeng, the Divine Healer treating Chancellor Chi and the master of Divine Physician Valley.
• Gu Qingfeng introduced himself and asked Jiang Nuan to lend him a hundred taels of silver, leaving her doubtful of his reliability and Valley’s finances.

Jiang Nuan gave Gu Qingfeng a prescription for Chi Hengji and arranged for him to examine Yun Shining. She escorted Gu Qingfeng to the Chancellor’s Residence, where Chi Hengji saw them together.

• Jiang Nuan offered Gu Qingfeng her prescription, and he recognized it as suitable for treating Chi Hengji’s illness.
• Gu Qingfeng worried the prescription might be an ancestral heirloom, but Jiang Nuan explained it was fine to share and refused his offer to teach her medicine.
• Gu Qingfeng gave Jiang Nuan his Capital City address and agreed to examine Yun Shining the next day.
• Jiang Nuan gave Gu Qingfeng silver for his consultation and escorted him to the Chancellor’s Residence after he admitted he could not find his way.
• Chi Hengji saw Jiang Nuan waving goodbye to Gu Qingfeng.

Chi Hengji confirmed that he knew Jiang Nuan had given Gu Qingfeng a prescription to treat his illness, and Gu Qingfeng began planning the treatment at the Chancellor's Residence. At An Yan's newly renovated shop, Jiang Nuan decided to make glass for sale and asked her sister to find artisans.

• Gu Qingfeng showed Chi Hengji a prescription for his illness, and Chi Hengji revealed that he knew Jiang Nuan had provided it.
• Chi Hengji warned Gu Qingfeng not to repeat Jiang Nuan's thoughts aloud, then invited him to the Chancellor's Residence to study the treatment.
• Jiang Nuan visited An Yan's renovated shop and saw its jewelry, clothing, and promotional campaign attracting customers ahead of its opening.
• Jiang Nuan remembered that glass could be made into valuable goods and asked An Yan to hire artisans to produce it.
• An Yan considered finding herself an assistant as Jiang Nuan handed her another task.

An Yan considered recruiting Yun Shining as an assistant, while Jiang Nuan brought Divine Physician Gu to examine Yun Shining’s injuries. Gu Qingfeng recognized Yun Shining, then discovered he could not speak aloud about Jiang Nuan’s inner voice, and began testing the strange restriction before examining her.

• An Yan decided she needed a reliable assistant and considered Yun Shining as a possible candidate.
• Jiang Nuan arrived at the courtyard residence with Gu Qingfeng, who had come to treat Yun Shining.
• Gu Qingfeng recognized Yun Shining and teased her about running away from Cloud Cloud Manor, while she asked him to keep her whereabouts secret.
• Gu Qingfeng tried to ask Jiang Nuan about his missing disciple but found himself unable to say anything that would reveal her inner voice.
• Gu Qingfeng repeatedly tested the restriction, confusing Jiang Nuan, before setting aside the joke and preparing to examine Yun Shining.

Jiang Nuan entertained Yun Shining and the household with a story from Dream of the Red Chamber, then arranged for Guagua to produce the Four Great Classical Novels. At the shop’s opening, she reunited Yun Shining with Jiang Yehua and noticed they were dressed alike.

• Gu Qingfeng treated Yun Shining’s injuries and said she would recover enough to move freely within five days, though she would need to wait half a month to use martial arts.
• Jiang Nuan began telling Yun Shining, Chunhua, Qiuyue, and the gathered maids a story from Dream of the Red Chamber, but stopped when it grew late.
• An Yan suggested Jiang Nuan print and sell her stories, and Jiang Nuan asked Guagua to produce the Four Great Classical Novels.
• Jiang Nuan sent the books to the villa for Yun Shining and the others to read after she could not visit the next day.
• Jiang Nuan took Jiang Yehua to the shop’s opening, where Yun Shining called to her from a private room upstairs.
• Jiang Nuan saw that Yun Shining and Jiang Yehua wore similar dark robes and thought they looked like a well-matched couple.

Jiang Yehua warned Yun Shining not to take Jiang Nuan’s thoughts as a reason to develop feelings for him, and Yun Shining accepted his boundary. At Jiang Nuan’s shop opening, Jiang Chengze gave her the deed to the neighboring shop, and he ended the chapter by asking which brother she liked better.

• Jiang Nuan left Jiang Yehua to keep Yun Shining company while she helped An Yan with the shop.
• Jiang Yehua told Yun Shining not to develop unnecessary feelings for him, and she agreed to keep her distance.
• Jiang Chengze arrived with gold ingots as an opening gift and learned Jiang Yehua had already given Jiang Nuan a shop.
• Jiang Chengze discovered the neighboring shop was his, fetched its deed, and gave it to Jiang Nuan.
• Yun Shining went home to rest, and Jiang Nuan silently worried that Jiang Yehua had failed to see her off.
• After Jiang Nuan thought managing so many shops would be difficult, both brothers abandoned plans to give her more property, and Jiang Chengze asked whether she liked him or Jiang Yehua better.

Jiang Nuan escaped her brothers’ teasing and met Chi Hengji, who gave her gold ingots and a doll as gifts for her shop opening. She discovered the doll was made from precious colored gold and carefully put it away, while Chi Hengji planned to make her a better likeness next time.

• Jiang Chengze teased Jiang Nuan into choosing which brother she liked best, and she escaped by claiming An Yan needed her help.
• Chi Hengji arrived at the shop, and Jiang Nuan took him to a private room to avoid the crowd’s attention.
• Jiang Chengze and Jiang Yehua followed Jiang Nuan and silently watched Chi Hengji to make sure he meant no harm.
• Chi Hengji gave Jiang Nuan gold ingots and a jointed doll, asking her to call him Brother Chi.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that the doll was made of colored gold worth ten times as much as gold, so she stored it somewhere safer.
• Chi Hengji realized Jiang Nuan had not noticed that he had made the doll in her likeness and resolved to craft a better one.

Jiang Nuan helped An Yan’s shop earn a large sum and taught her Arabic numerals and a simplified spreadsheet system. When Jiang Yehua mistook her explanation for a talent for arithmetic and offered to hire her a tutor, Jiang Nuan recoiled from the idea.

• Chi Hengji and Jiang Chengze left to attend to other matters, while Jiang Nuan put Jiang Yehua to work at the shop.
• An Yan asked Jiang Nuan whether Jiang Yehua could help at the shop for a few days, and Jiang Yehua volunteered before Jiang Nuan could ask.
• An Yan showed Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yehua the day’s ledger, which recorded one million taels in takings before costs, largely from customers topping up membership cards.
• Jiang Nuan taught An Yan to use Arabic numerals and a simplified spreadsheet system to make the shop’s accounts easier to manage.
• Jiang Yehua praised Jiang Nuan’s arithmetic ability and offered to hire her a tutor, prompting Jiang Nuan to reject the idea of studying math.

Jiang Nuan and An Yan faced a man accusing their shop of selling defective clothes, but Guagua discovered that An Yuxue had hired him to cause trouble. Gu Qingfeng exposed the likely cause of the man's rash, though he loudly denied the accusation as the crowd watched.

• Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yehua hurried to the shop after hearing a crowd shouting at its entrance.
• A man displayed a rash and demanded compensation from An Yan, while customers began asking for refunds and leaving.
• Jiang Nuan asked Guagua to investigate, and Guagua revealed that An Yuxue had hired the man after learning An Yan was running a successful shop.
• An Laiyun arrived and heard Jiang Nuan criticize him for failing to notice An Yan was gone; he accepted that he deserved the blame.
• Gu Qingfeng identified Cypress Grass Leaf as the cause of the man's temporary rash, but the man denied knowing about it and accused Gu Qingfeng of being a swindler.

Gu Qingfeng was accused of being a fraud until his disciple exposed a man's fake rash and the officers arrested him. The man implicated An Yuxue in the scheme, and she was taken away while An Laiyun realized how much she had harmed An Yan; he approached An Yan as she returned to work.

• Gu Qingfeng's identity was doubted until a man from Divine Physician Valley arrived and the disciple showed the crowd that the accuser's rash was painted on.
• The officers seized the man, who confessed that An Yuxue had arranged the scheme through her maid and a little beggar.
• Guagua revealed that An Yuxue had long known she was not An Laiyun's biological daughter and had plotted against An Yan, including trying to have her killed.
• The officers arrested An Yuxue despite her protests, and An Laiyun refused to help when she called to him.
• An Yan ignored An Laiyun and returned to work, but he approached her and began to speak.

An Yan formally severed ties with An Laiyun after he signed a Severance Letter, and she felt relieved rather than saddened. As Jiang Nuan returned to work, Gu Qingfeng's disciple learned that she was no ordinary child, and Guagua appeared with gossip.

• An Laiyun demanded that An Yan return to the Minister's Residence, but she reminded him she had already left a Severance Letter.
• When An Laiyun threatened to disown An Yan, she prepared new copies of the letter and asked Jiang Yehua to witness the severance.
• An Laiyun signed and marked the Severance Letter, then left after An Yan showed him the door.
• An Yan told Jiang Nuan that severing ties made her feel relieved, and she and Jiang Yehua returned to work.
• Gu Qingfeng and Mu Zhiye thanked Jiang Nuan, and Mu Zhiye realized she was no ordinary person after hearing her thoughts.
• Guagua appeared on Jiang Nuan's shoulder and offered to share gossip.

Jiang Nuan and Guagua uncovered the cause of Mu Zhiye’s daughter Xiao Yin’s strange behavior and found a way to treat her Love Gu and poisoned meridians. The next morning, Guagua urged Jiang Nuan to investigate one of the ministers for gossip.

• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that Mu Zhiye’s daughter Xiao Yin had been afflicted with Love Gu and was insisting on marrying an older, unattractive man.
• Mu Zhiye realized Xiao Yin might have been afflicted with gu and hurried back to ask Yue Xi to examine her before Yue Xi left for the Southern Frontier, leaving Gu Qingfeng with Jiang Nuan.
• Guagua revealed that poison accumulated in Xiao Yin’s meridians before birth and that her attempt to practice martial arts had worsened her fragile health.
• Guagua identified an antidote formula and promised to find an acupuncture method, while Jiang Nuan praised it for the discovery.
• Jiang Nuan found the acupuncture method that evening, and Guagua appeared on her shoulder at court the next morning to suggest investigating a minister’s gossip.

During court, Jiang Nuan and Guagua revealed how Ning Ziteng had remained unmarried after offering to take his sweetheart’s unborn child’s surname, and how she had falsely claimed to save his life. Jiang Nuan learned the sweetheart would arrive in Capital City that day, while Guagua prepared to expose another official’s gossip.

• Jiang Nuan chose Ning Ziteng as the day’s gossip target after noticing his colleague urge him to report.
• Guagua revealed that Ning Ziteng had offered to become the father of his sweetheart’s unborn child and even take the child’s surname, but she rejected him and later became a concubine to another man.
• Guagua explained that Ning Ziteng’s sweetheart had never saved him: she had been searching his body for a valuable herb when he woke, and he mistakenly believed she had rescued him.
• Jiang Nuan joked that Ning Ziteng might have become Du Ziteng, and Guagua said his former sweetheart would arrive in Capital City that day with her husband, who wanted Ning to help his father.
• Guagua suggested exposing the gossip of the official beside Ning Ziteng, leaving the nearby ministers fearful of becoming the next target.

Jiang Nuan learned that Peng Changshun had murdered his first child and arranged for his uncle’s family to die so he could marry into a powerful family. Guagua uncovered further crimes, and the Court of Judicial Review arrested Peng Changshun as Jiang Nuan sent them the evidence.

• Guagua revealed that Peng Changshun’s cousin-wife had given birth to a child with a deformity, which Peng Changshun strangled and blamed for his failed imperial examination.
• Guagua explained that after becoming a jinshi, Peng Changshun denied having a family and plotted to have his uncle’s household perish in a flood so he could marry an official’s daughter.
• The official who had arranged Peng Changshun’s marriage decided to break off the engagement after learning what Peng Changshun had done.
• Guagua uncovered Peng Changshun’s embezzlement, bribery, and other crimes, and Jiang Nuan promised to send the leads to the Court of Judicial Review.
• After court adjourned, the Court of Judicial Review took Peng Changshun into custody, and Jiang Nuan sent them the evidence before heading off to enjoy gossip.