Chapter Summaries

Cen Xue joined Jiang Nuan on the way to the Cen Residence, intending to cut ties with her father with her friend’s help. Guagua revealed that Cen Xue’s stepmother had summoned her to marry—or become a concubine for—the stepmother’s intellectually impaired nephew, leaving Jiang Nuan furious and determined not to let the family get away with it.

• Cen Xue asked Jiang Nuan to help her sever her relationship with her father, and Jiang Nuan agreed to go with her to the Cen Residence.
• On the carriage ride, Jiang Nuan explained Great Xia to Cen Xue, who felt more secure after learning about the world.
• Cen Xue wondered why her family had suddenly summoned her, and Jiang Nuan asked Guagua to find out.
• Guagua revealed that Cen Xue’s stepmother wanted her for her nephew, either as his wife or as a concubine to bear him a child, while Cen Xue’s father insisted they conceal that she was his daughter.
• Cen Xue felt furious and hurt as she remembered how the original owner had longed for her father’s affection, and Jiang Nuan vowed not to let the family off easily.

Cen Xue and Jiang Nuan prepared to confront Cen Xue’s stepmother, Rao Chunlan, at the Cen Residence after learning Rao planned to marry Cen Xue to her foolish nephew. Cen Xue rejected Rao’s insults and demanded that her father sever ties with her, while Cen Yansheng returned home.

• Jiang Nuan told Cen Xue that Rao Chunlan intended to marry her to an idiot, and Cen Xue resolved to confront her with Jiang Nuan’s support.
• Cen Xue and Jiang Nuan planned to humiliate the Cen family, then napped in their carriage while Rao made them wait outside the residence.
• After Rao learned the visitors were playing cards, she summoned Cen Xue and her companions inside.
• Rao insulted Cen Xue’s upbringing and compared her unfavorably with Qiqi, prompting Cen Xue to rebuke her and recall how Rao had helped send her to the countryside.
• When Rao tried to slap Cen Xue, Chunhua stopped her, and Cen Xue demanded that her father sever ties with her.
• Cen Yansheng returned to the residence and suddenly sneezed.

Cen Xue rejected Rao Chunlan’s plan to marry her off to Rao Shuchang’s son, and she confronted Cen Yansheng when he tried to discipline her. Jiang Nuan stepped in to protect Cen Xue, but after she revealed her identity as the Ninth Princess and showed her imperial token, Cen Yansheng accused her of forging it.

• Rao Chunlan told Cen Xue she had arranged for her to become a concubine, but Cen Xue mocked the proposed match with Rao Shuchang’s son and refused.
• Rao Shuchang arrived with Cen Yansheng, who scolded Cen Xue and ordered a servant to bring a bamboo switch.
• Jiang Nuan stepped forward and warned Cen Yansheng not to touch Cen Xue, but he and Rao Shuchang failed to recognize her.
• Cen Xue identified Jiang Nuan as the Ninth Princess of Great Xia, but Cen Yansheng dismissed the claim as a lie.
• Jiang Nuan showed her imperial token, and Cen Yansheng accused Cen Xue of forging it and risking a capital crime.

Jiang Nuan and Cen Xue confronted Cen Yansheng over his treatment of Cen Xue, while he dismissed Jiang Nuan’s Imperial Token as fake. Capital Prefect Xu Jincheng arrived, recognized Jiang Nuan as the Ninth Princess, and left Cen Yansheng facing the consequences of his accusations.

• Cen Yansheng called Jiang Nuan’s Imperial Token counterfeit and ordered a servant to take it from her.
• Cen Xue cut ties with Cen Yansheng and accused him of abandoning her in the countryside; Jiang Nuan’s system revealed that Rao Chunlan had kept the supplies meant for Cen Xue.
• Jiang Nuan defended Cen Xue and challenged Cen Yansheng, who ordered his servants to throw her out.
• Capital Prefect Xu Jincheng arrived and knelt before Jiang Nuan, addressing her as the Ninth Princess.
• Jiang Nuan confronted Cen Yansheng about accusing her of impersonating royalty and forging an Imperial Token.

Jiang Nuan forced Cen Yansheng to face the consequences of mistreating Cen Xue and offending the Ninth Princess. Cen Yansheng agreed to sign a Severance Letter, but only if Jiang Nuan promised to overlook his offenses.

• Cen Yansheng tried to use Cen Xue's connection to Jiang Nuan to excuse his treatment of her, but Cen Xue mocked him.
• Jiang Nuan made the servant return her imperial token to Cen Yansheng and challenged him to destroy it himself.
• Cen Yansheng blamed Rao Chunlan for neglecting Cen Xue, but Cen Xue exposed his own role in agreeing to marry her off for political gain.
• Jiang Nuan called for Cen Yansheng and Cen Xue to sign a Severance Letter, then asked Xu Jincheng what punishment the law prescribed for offending a princess and attempting to destroy an imperial token.
• Cen Yansheng agreed to sign only if Jiang Nuan promised to overlook the matter, while Rao Shuchang urged him to accept without conditions.

Cen Xue left the Cen Residence with a Severance Letter and settled in with Jiang Nuan, An Yan, and Yun Shining. After admitting she had fallen for Jiang Chengze, she decided against pursuing him and chose to take Great Xia’s newly opened Imperial Examination for women instead.

• Jiang Nuan secured Cen Xue’s Severance Letter from Cen Yansheng, and the two left the Cen Residence.
• Cen Xue asked Jiang Nuan for help finding a place to stay, and Jiang Nuan brought her to An Yan and Yun Shining’s headquarters.
• An Yan welcomed Cen Xue as her assistant, and the women quickly got along.
• Three days later, Cen Xue told Jiang Nuan she had fallen for Jiang Chengze, but worried that he would take multiple wives and concubines.
• Cen Xue decided to pursue the Imperial Examination route and build a place for herself in Great Xia’s court.

Cen Xue and her friends shared their ambitions and caught up on the misfortunes of Cen Xue’s former family. Jiang Nuan then recalled how Cen Xue’s circulated poetry and couplets helped Great Xia’s ministers win ten cities from a Goryeo envoy.

• Cen Xue and Jiang Nuan dreamed of making their names at court, while Yun Shining imagined becoming a heroine and An Yan becoming the world’s richest businesswoman.
• Yun Shining told Cen Xue that her ex-father and ex-stepmother had divorced, her former stepsister’s engagement had been broken off, and the family had become widely disliked.
• Yun Shining admitted she had beaten Cen Xue’s ex-father and ex-stepmother without leaving marks, and Cen Xue thanked her while Jiang Nuan asked to join in next time.
• Jiang Nuan recalled that Cen Xue had credited the authors of poems she circulated, exposing a man who tried to claim one as his own.
• Jiang Nuan said Great Xia’s ministers had used Cen Xue’s circulated poetry and couplets to win ten cities in a contest with a Goryeo envoy.

Cen Xue claimed to be a transmigrator to explain Jiang Nuan’s confusion, and the two discussed how Goryeo might give Great Xia a pretext for war. Goryeo instead submitted, offered ten cities, and sent envoys bearing a border defense map and General Fan Wuqi’s head, leaving Jiang Nuan struck by how familiar the delegation seemed.

• Cen Xue claimed to be a transmigrator after Jiang Nuan described the poems and scenes that had made her suspect one was among them.
• Cen Xue realized Goryeo might break its promise to surrender ten cities, but Jiang Nuan explained that Great Xia’s court was prepared to use that as a reason to send troops.
• After half a month without news, Jiang Yunsheng decided to attack Goryeo and named Sha Zhang to lead the campaign.
• Just after Jiang Yunsheng wrote the military decree, a messenger reported that Goryeo had offered ten cities and agreed to become Great Xia’s vassal state.
• Goryeo sent word that its envoys were bringing a border defense map and General Fan Wuqi’s head, prompting Jiang Yunsheng to abandon plans to attack.
• At court, Goryeo’s envoys offered the map and Fan Wuqi’s head, while Jiang Nuan wondered why their delegation seemed familiar.

Jiang Nuan discovered that Jie Ke’s Goryeo delegation had hidden a poisoned dagger inside its border defense map to assassinate Jiang Yunsheng. Jiang Yunsheng exposed the plot by telling a story, then ordered Jie Ke seized and challenged him to open the map.

• Jiang Nuan recognized the delegation’s behavior as resembling Jing Ke Assassinating the King of Qin and asked Guagua whether they had prepared a trick.
• Guagua confirmed that the Goryeo delegation had concealed a poisoned dagger in the map to assassinate Jiang Yunsheng.
• As Jie Ke offered the map, Jiang Nuan warned Jiang Yunsheng, who interrupted her and began telling a story about a map concealing a dagger.
• Jiang Yunsheng changed the story’s ending so the Emperor of Qin saw through the plot and ordered the attacker seized.
• Jiang Yunsheng ordered Jie Ke and his accomplice taken away, then demanded that Jie Ke open the map and prove it contained no dagger.

Jie Ke's failed assassination attempt led Jiang Yunsheng to order an invasion of Goryeo, and the palace farewell banquet revealed that Yu Henan planned to destroy his family over a woman who had faked her death. The chapter left Yu Xianzhi and the other officials hearing the alarming gossip about Yu Henan.

• Jie Ke attacked Jiang Yunsheng with a poisoned dagger, but a guard deflected it and killed Jie Ke with his own weapon.
• Jiang Yunsheng imprisoned the Goryeo delegation and ordered Sha Zhang to lead three hundred thousand soldiers against Goryeo.
• Jiang Nuan attended the generals' farewell banquet and asked Guagua to reveal the gossip about Yu Henan.
• Guagua revealed that Yu Henan had married a scheming woman who faked her death after learning he could not provide her money.
• Guagua revealed that Yu Henan blamed his family for his lost love and planned to drag them all to their deaths.

At the imperial farewell banquet, Jiang Nuan learned Yu Henan planned to assassinate Jiang Yunsheng, prompting Yu Xianzhi to take his son home and expose the scheme. After Yu Henan was expelled from the family, he traveled to Fengyuan Village, found the supposedly dead woman alive with her husband and child, and died there.

• Guagua revealed that Yu Henan intended to injure or kill Jiang Yunsheng at the banquet, risking the extermination of his entire clan.
• Yu Xianzhi took Yu Henan away from the banquet to prevent him from carrying out his plan.
• Yu Xianzhi beat Yu Henan, struck him from the family genealogy, and told him the woman he mourned was alive in Fengyuan Village.
• Yu Henan walked for a month to Fengyuan Village and saw the woman with her husband and child.
• Yu Henan collapsed and died after the family mistook him for a madman and shut their door; Yu Xianzhi later buried him.

Jiang Yunsheng announced a tour of Great Xia and agreed to bring Jiang Nuan and her friend Cen Xue. As Guagua prepared to upgrade, the Check-In System arrived and gave Jiang Nuan a gift for their safety.

• Jiang Yunsheng announced that he would tour Great Xia in three days, and ministers urged him to bring Jiang Nuan along.
• Jiang Yunsheng agreed to take Jiang Nuan on the tour, and then allowed her to invite Cen Xue as a companion.
• Jiang Nuan asked Cen Xue to join the journey, and Cen Xue eagerly accepted.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan it could upgrade to the highest level among newborn systems using money earned from selling gossip to the Intelligence Pavilion.
• The Check-In System visited Jiang Nuan and Guagua, then gave Jiang Nuan a gift to help keep them safe on the tour.

The Check-In System gave Jiang Nuan an Invisibility ability, which she immediately tested inside the palace. After secretly overhearing Jiang Yunsheng brief Jiang Chengze and Chi Hengji, Jiang Nuan went to find Cen Xue, intending to share her good news and invite her on the trip.

• The Check-In System gave Jiang Nuan an ability that let her turn invisible for up to two hours a day, with an Advanced Mode that made her untouchable.
• Jiang Nuan tested Invisibility by sneaking into the Hall of Diligent Governance, where Jiang Yunsheng briefed Jiang Chengze and Chi Hengji about the Imperial Court during his inspection tour.
• Jiang Yunsheng and Chi Hengji realized they could hear Jiang Nuan's thoughts, and Chi Hengji tested whether Advanced Mode let him pass through her safely.
• Jiang Nuan returned to her chambers, then detoured to the shop to avoid appearing suddenly at the palace gates.
• Jiang Nuan found Cen Xue reading at the counter and called her over to share two pieces of good news.

Jiang Nuan invited Cen Xue to join the emperor’s inspection tour of Great Xia, and the two set off together after Guagua linked Cen Xue to their gossip system. On the first night of travel, they approached Jiang Yunsheng and heard a merchant complain about the corruption and taxes burdening traders.

• Jiang Nuan told Cen Xue that she could bring one person on Jiang Yunsheng’s inspection tour, and Cen Xue eagerly agreed to go.
• Jiang Nuan revealed that Guagua could now link Cen Xue to the gossip system, and Cen Xue joined despite being unable to reveal the secret of hearing inner voices.
• Three days later, Cen Xue met Jiang Nuan at the north gate and joined the disguised merchant procession, relieved that she would not share a carriage with Jiang Yunsheng.
• After a rough day on the road, the party camped in the wilderness, where Jiang Nuan and Cen Xue saw Jiang Yunsheng convincingly posing as a wealthy merchant.
• Jiang Nuan pulled Cen Xue over to Jiang Yunsheng and another merchant, who described how unofficial payments could raise merchants’ tax burden to as much as half their income.

Jiang Yunsheng learned from Zhu Zhizhuan about the Qingshui County magistrate extorting merchants and prepared to investigate him. After discovering Jiang Yunsheng was the emperor, Zhu continued speaking with him while Guagua revealed how Zhu’s hopes of becoming a Xiucai had been crushed by a corrupt examiner.

• Zhu Zhizhuan complained that corrupt officials had taken his silver and that the Qingshui County magistrate demanded payment from merchants.
• Jiang Yunsheng refused to pay the magistrate, while Zhu warned that their goods could be seized if they resisted.
• Zhu realized Jiang Nuan had called Jiang Yunsheng her Imperial Father, and Eunuch Wang took him aside and instructed him to act as though he had learned nothing.
• Zhu returned and described the magistrate’s abuses to Jiang Yunsheng, who listened as Zhu vented his grievances.
• Jiang Nuan asked Guagua to investigate Zhu, and Guagua revealed that villagers had funded his schooling before an examiner’s nephew blocked his Xiucai attempts.

Zhu Zhizhuan learned that the corrupt Qingshui County magistrate would target him, but Jiang Yunsheng reassured him that he was protected. When the group reached Qingshui County, a soldier demanded an enormous entry fee and tried to shove Jiang Yunsheng.

• Guagua recounted how Zhu Zhizhuan had built up Riverside Village and saved people from famine by selling grain at cost or a loss.
• Guagua warned that Zhu Zhizhuan was fated to die in Qingshui County after angering its magistrate, who planned to extort merchants to fund a Hot Spring Manor.
• Jiang Yunsheng assured Zhu Zhizhuan that the magistrate could not harm him, and Zhu Zhizhuan returned to his tent confident that the magistrate would face trouble.
• Jiang Nuan considered asking Zhu Zhizhuan to become a business partner after her imperial father revealed his identity.
• The group reached Qingshui County, where a soldier demanded a thousand taels as a city entry fee and reached out to shove Jiang Yunsheng.

Jiang Yunsheng and his party entered Qingshui County, where the magistrate’s men extorted fees and tried to intimidate them. At the magistrate’s banquet, a guest recognized Jiang Yunsheng and collapsed to his knees.

• Jiang Yunsheng paid the soldiers a thousand taels to enter Qingshui County, while Zhu Zhizhuan anticipated that the magistrate would soon regret provoking him.
• Jiang Yunsheng learned from Zhu Zhizhuan that the magistrate planned a Hongmen banquet to intimidate new caravans, then received an arrogant invitation from the magistrate’s messenger.
• Jiang Nuan persuaded Jiang Yunsheng to let her and Cen Xue attend the banquet with him.
• At the magistrate’s residence, the gatekeeper demanded five thousand taels, and a Wei reported that unknown men were trying to seize the caravan’s goods.
• Jiang Yunsheng paid the admission fee and was seated in a remote corner, where a guest recognized him and fell to his knees.

Jiang Yunsheng confronted Qingshui County magistrate Yang Junnan after Yang tried to force him to donate fifty thousand taels and threatened to block his business. As Yang’s merchants divided between them, a panicked servant rushed in with an urgent warning.

• A merchant recognized Jiang Yunsheng and realized the magistrate meant to target him, but Jiang Yunsheng signaled him to stay quiet.
• Yang Junnan arrived and began pressuring the merchants to support Qingshui County, while Jiang Nuan focused on the banquet food.
• Yang claimed Jiang Yunsheng had promised to donate fifty thousand taels, but Jiang denied it and refused to pay.
• Yang threatened to seize Jiang Yunsheng’s goods and restrict his trade, while Jiang Yunsheng challenged him to follow through.
• Most merchants sided with Yang, while those who had heard Jiang Nuan’s inner voice stood behind Jiang Yunsheng.
• A servant rushed to Yang Junnan and cried that something was wrong.

Jiang Yunsheng confronted Yang Junnan after the magistrate threatened him, while Jiang Nuan and Cen Xue discovered through Guagua that Yang’s claim of being related to Chancellor Chi Hengji was a lie. Yang continued demanding silver and boasting about his influence, unaware that the emperor stood before him.

• A servant reported that Yang Junnan’s men had been beaten and left at the County Magistrate's Residence, and Yang threatened Jiang Yunsheng.
• Yang claimed Chancellor Chi Hengji was his mother's cousin, but Guagua revealed that Yang had never met Chi and had used the false connection to extort merchants.
• Jiang Nuan vowed to expose Yang that night, while the merchants hoped Jiang Yunsheng would deal with him.
• Yang mistook Jiang Yunsheng’s silence for fear, demanded a hundred thousand taels, and boasted that the emperor praised him.
• Yang threatened the merchants for laughing and demanded that Jiang Yunsheng answer him.

Jiang Yunsheng revealed that he was the emperor after Yang Junnan falsely invoked Chancellor Chi Hengji and tried to extort him. Jiang Yunsheng had Yang Junnan and the merchants confronted with their schemes, then left them hoping for leniency by appealing to Chi Hengji, until Yang Junnan admitted he had lied about being the chancellor’s cousin-uncle.

• Jiang Yunsheng challenged Yang Junnan’s claim that he was related to Chi Hengji, then revealed his imperial authority as merchants knelt before him.
• Government troops surrounded the County Magistrate’s Residence, and a nearby general knelt to greet Jiang Yunsheng as Your Majesty.
• Jiang Yunsheng teased Yang Junnan by making him accept the hundred thousand taels he had demanded and offered the merchants a chance to seek mercy through Chi Hengji.
• The merchants urged Yang Junnan to ask Chi Hengji to intercede, and Yang Junnan confessed that he had lied about being the chancellor’s cousin-uncle.