Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Nuan rejects her father’s proposal that she become Crown Princess, insisting she wants a carefree, “salted fish” life.
• She accepts the honorary title of Grand Princess once she learns it carries no duties. Jiang Yunsheng and Crown Prince Jiang Chengze hint that she may still help with the work of governing if needed.
• Jiang Chengze and the others must leave Ze County for their various responsibilities. Jiang Nuan regrets not spending more time with them, but urges them to go.
• After everyone departs, Jiang Nuan remains annoyed with Jiang Yunsheng for arranging an early-morning court commitment so he could hear her thoughts. The tour continues, with Miao County as its next destination.
• Guagua warns that, in Jiang Yunsheng’s previous life, he was struck by Gu from Miao County. Jiang Yunsheng coaxes Guagua into promising protection by flattering it.

Character developments

• Jiang Nuan remains committed to avoiding work, though she admits she would help her brother if he truly needed her. She is also affectionate toward her friends and family, despite holding a grudge against her father.
• Jiang Yunsheng genuinely hoped Nuan would become Crown Princess, but accepts her refusal and settles for granting her the Grand Princess title. He also shows a playful, strategic side by using praise to win Guagua’s help.
• Guagua proves highly susceptible to compliments and eagerly agrees to protect Jiang Yunsheng, while insisting it is doing so for Jiang Nuan’s sake.
• Jiang Chengze and Cen Xue express their closeness to Nuan: Chengze asks for her future support, while Cen Xue promises to seek her out in the capital.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal freedom: Nuan’s wish for an easy life conflicts with the responsibilities her family hopes she will take on.
• Family affection and reconciliation: Even as relatives part and tease one another, their concern and loyalty remain clear.
• Flattery and vulnerability: Guagua’s comic inability to resist praise becomes a way for Jiang Yunsheng to secure its help.
• Fate and forewarning: The warning about Miao County raises tension as the group approaches a place connected to Jiang Yunsheng’s past-life danger.

Character interactions

• Nuan firmly but humorously negotiates with Jiang Yunsheng over her future role, accepting only a title without work.
• Jiang Chengze appeals to Nuan for support, while Cen Xue reassures her that they will have more time together.
• Nuan’s coldly formal farewell to Jiang Yunsheng signals that she has not forgiven his manipulation.
• Jiang Yunsheng and Guagua trade teasing remarks, but his praise quickly turns Guagua into an enthusiastic ally; Nuan watches, amused and exasperated.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Nuan’s convoy is stopped at the border of Miao County, where outsiders—especially imperial merchants—are unwelcome. Before Eunuch Wang can reveal his imperial merchant token, You Youyou intervenes and identifies Jiang Nuan as her friend.
• Eunuch Wang avoids raising suspicion by offering silver instead of showing the token. You Youyou brings the group to a stilt house and advises them to keep their imperial connection quiet.
• You Youyou takes Jiang Nuan aside to warn her that people in Miao County might hear her inner thoughts and mistake her for a monster. Jiang Nuan assures her that ordinary people cannot hear them.
• Jiang Nuan raises the threat of a plot to assassinate the emperor. Miao County is divided between a faction seeking power and one opposed to renewed conflict; You Youyou belongs to the latter.
• You Youyou proposes protecting the emperor with an egg of the Gu King, which would make him immune to gu poison. She doubts she could get close enough to the emperor—or persuade him to swallow it.
• Jiang Nuan reveals that she has already met the emperor: he is her father. You Youyou is stunned and skeptical.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan quickly adapts to the border guards’ suspicion, plays along with You Youyou’s cover story, and shows willingness to confront the assassination plot directly.
• You Youyou proves to be a friendly and politically cautious ally. Though she distrusts the imperial merchant connection, she protects Jiang Nuan and offers both a private warning and a possible solution to the threat.
• Eunuch Wang nearly exposes the convoy’s imperial status, but thinks quickly and uses silver to smooth over the encounter.
• Jiang Nuan and You Youyou establish an easy rapport: You Youyou calls her “little sister,” while Jiang Nuan responds warmly and accepts her invitation to explore.

Significant themes

• Trust and secrecy: The convoy must conceal its imperial ties, while Jiang Nuan and You Youyou share sensitive information.
• Political division and power: Miao County is split between ambition and concern for ordinary people, reflecting the risks of renewed conflict.
• Practical limits of protection: You Youyou’s Gu King egg offers a defense against poison, but getting it to the emperor is a major obstacle.
• Perception versus reality: Jiang Nuan’s unusual inner thoughts could make her seem monstrous, while You Youyou’s friendly manner conceals the seriousness of her warnings.

Chapter Summary: “Return to the Capital”

Key plot points and events

• You Youyou brings in a man who recognizes Jiang Yunsheng as the emperor. Once his identity is confirmed, she gives Jiang Nuan the Gu King’s egg, which Jiang Nuan passes to Jiang Yunsheng; he swallows it without hesitation.
• Jiang Yunsheng and You Youyou agree to use their unexpected alliance to eliminate the rebels threatening Miao County. Jiang Nuan identifies the rebels, their undercover agents, and their plans, allowing the group to arrest them with surprising ease and resolve the Gu-poison threat.
• During their travels, Great Xia strengthens itself through expanded food production, weapons stockpiles, and military recruitment. The Black Moon Kingdom’s sixth prince takes the throne and secretly cooperates with Jiang Yunsheng. Two years later, Black Moon becomes Great Xia’s vassal, and together they defeat the Jing Kingdom, prompting other powers to take Great Xia seriously.
• After three years on the road, Jiang Nuan and her party return to the Capital City, now far more prosperous and lively. Ministers confront her over her old glass business: what they once bought at great expense has since become an everyday commodity.
• Jiang Nuan also encounters Chi Hengji, who is hurt that she has greeted many people but forgotten him. His parents, watching nearby, realize that he may be in love with her and are relieved he has finally shown interest in someone.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan uses her knowledge of people’s thoughts to expose the rebels and guide the campaign, turning what had been a stalemate into an effortless victory. Back in the capital, she is warmly reunited with loved ones but awkwardly faces the ministers’ complaints and Chi Hengji’s hurt feelings.
• Jiang Yunsheng trusts Jiang Nuan’s judgment, accepts the Gu King’s egg, and experiences a campaign in which victory seems almost effortless. His relationship with You Youyou shifts from surprise at her discovery of his identity to practical cooperation.
• You Youyou moves from disbelief to recognizing the emperor and supports the plan to defeat the rebels, benefiting Miao County as well as the imperial party.
• Chi Hengji openly reveals his attachment to Jiang Nuan through his complaint that she forgot him. His parents interpret his behavior as a sign of romantic interest and feel reassured about his future.
• The ministers provide comic relief by reminding Jiang Nuan that her decision to make glass widely available wiped out the value of their costly purchases.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as power: Jiang Nuan’s insight into people and plots makes hidden threats easy to defeat.
• State-building and shifting power: Great Xia’s growth in food, arms, and military strength transforms it into a formidable regional power.
• Progress changes value: Glass shifts from a luxury to a common household material, frustrating those who invested in it.
• Reconnection and romance: Jiang Nuan’s return renews personal ties, while Chi Hengji’s reaction hints at a developing romance.

Key plot points and events

• Chi Hengji invites Jiang Nuan to visit her fief, Rui’an County, which has been transformed into a modern-style town with smooth concrete roads, Western-style buildings, and contemporary-looking shops and clothing.
• The residents recognize Jiang Nuan and welcome her with passionate gratitude, overwhelming her with gifts.
• A local boy, Xiaofeng, explains that the businesses Jiang Nuan established are thriving. With support from Cen Xue, An Yan, and Yun Shining, tourism has expanded, livelihoods have improved, and the county has begun to flourish culturally as well as economically.
• Yun Shining and Jiang Yehua arrive to handle the county’s accounts and tease Jiang Nuan about her long absence from work. Yun and Jiang Yehua are together; An Yan is engaged, and Cen Xue appears to be developing feelings for Jiang Nuan’s Crown Prince brother.
• After returning to Capital City, Jiang Nuan resumes helping develop Great Xia. Chi Hengji supports her, and their closeness eventually becomes romantic.
• On Jiang Nuan’s coming-of-age day, Chi Hengji proposes. With Jiang Nuan’s consent, Jiang Yunsheng arranges their engagement, to be followed by marriage when she is old enough. Jiang Nuan is also proclaimed Princess Royal, equal in status to the Crown Prince.
• Ten years later, Great Xia has become the world’s only nation.

Character developments

• Jiang Nuan sees the lasting effects of her work in Rui’an County and finds fulfillment in helping Great Xia prosper. She remains unhurried about romance until her bond with Chi Hengji grows into love.
• Chi Hengji continues to support Jiang Nuan and deliberately cultivates their relationship, eventually asking to marry her.
• Rui’an’s residents have moved from poverty toward comfort, education, and cultural pursuits, while retaining deep gratitude toward Jiang Nuan.
• The supporting characters reach romantic milestones: Yun Shining and Jiang Yehua are together, An Yan is engaged, and Cen Xue may be falling for the Crown Prince.

Significant themes

• The lasting impact of leadership: Jiang Nuan’s earlier investments enable Rui’an County’s continuing prosperity.
• Progress and shared prosperity: Tourism, business, food security, and cultural life all contribute to the county’s development.
• Love and personal choice: Jiang Nuan is allowed to approach romance at her own pace and consents to her engagement.
• A hopeful ending: The chapter closes with Jiang Nuan’s personal happiness alongside Great Xia’s extraordinary rise.

Character interactions

• Chi Hengji invites Jiang Nuan to see Rui’an County, sharing in her discovery of its transformation.
• Rui’an’s residents express their gratitude directly, while Xiaofeng proudly recounts the county’s progress.
• Yun Shining and Jiang Yehua tease Jiang Nuan about work and share news of their relationships; Yun also hints at romantic developments among their friends.
• Chi Hengji’s steady presence beside Jiang Nuan gradually deepens into mutual love, culminating in his proposal.

Plot points and events

• After returning to the Capital City, Jiang Nuan discovers an enormous screen hanging in the sky. Guagua identifies it as a “Heavenly Screen” system that will livestream events from the future, and reassures her that it poses no danger.
• The screen remains inactive for three days, then shows a modern host, Xiao Ran, traveling to the Capital City to visit Princess Auspicious Harmony’s tomb.
• The livestream comments reveal that future generations admire Jiang Nuan and know her as Princess Nuannuan. Xiao Ran recounts the harshness of her childhood: she was switched at birth, neglected by her father, and went without basic comforts—including roast chicken, her favorite, until age ten.
• Moved by the story, viewers promise to bring roast chicken to Jiang Nuan’s tomb. Locals watching the screen take the opportunity to lavish Jiang Nuan with food, especially roast chicken.
• Jiang Chengze, Jiang Yehua, Chi Hengji, Cen Xue, An Yan, and Yun Shining arrive and find Jiang Nuan cheerfully watching the screen. She invites them to help eat the abundance, turning the gathering into an impromptu feast.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan is curious rather than distressed about seeing her own tomb discussed. She laughs at the future viewers’ affection and remains relaxed even as the host describes her painful childhood.
• Guagua investigates the screen and explains its purpose to Jiang Nuan.
• Jiang Yunsheng learns from Jiang Nuan that the screen is harmless and is later caught sneezing just as Xiao Ran condemns the neglectful father—an apparent reference to him.
• Xiao Ran speaks as a devoted fan of Jiang Nuan, expressing anger over her childhood and sympathy for her.
• The townspeople respond warmly to Jiang Nuan, offering chairs, snacks, and roast chickens; her companions join her and share the food.

Significant themes

• The contrast between historical experience and future memory: Jiang Nuan hears how later generations interpret and mourn her childhood.
• Compassion and remembrance: Viewers’ small gestures—especially the roast chickens—show affection for someone they never knew.
• Changing perspective: Jiang Nuan’s own lighthearted reaction contrasts with the audience’s emotional response to her past.
• Community and shared generosity: The people around her turn an unsettling spectacle into a cheerful communal gathering.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Ran arrives in Rui’an County, Jiang Nuan’s former fief, and explains why the famously wealthy county was granted to a princess who had spent years overlooked at court.
• The Heavenly Screen claims Emperor Xia Wu suddenly took notice of Nuan after ten years and may even have considered making her Crown Princess. Nuan rejects that possibility, preferring freedom from the burdens of rule.
• Xiao Ran credits Nuan with helping the emperor expose corrupt officials once she entered court. Later generations explain her apparent insight as a “Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart,” though those who know the truth realize the explanation misses the role of her system.
• Residents from places Nuan visited reinforce her reputation, recalling how she exposed a seemingly charitable man involved in child disappearances and helped capable people rise in government.
• Xiao Ran recounts unofficial legends that Nuan appeared as a goddess in Jade Spring Village, ending its practice of sacrificing girls during disasters.
• At a historic furnace, Xiao Ran explains that alchemists once sold false immortality elixirs. Nuan supposedly recognized their deception and persuaded the emperor to spare them so they could redirect their skills toward useful work.

Character developments and interactions

• Nuan firmly rejects her brother Jiang Chengze’s unspoken hope that she might become Crown Princess. She values avoiding a lifetime of exhausting responsibility, though she keeps her bluntest thoughts to herself.
• Nuan is amused by Xiao Ran’s confident but inaccurate historical explanations, especially the claims about her lofty ideals and extraordinary powers.
• Jiang Chengze still regrets that Nuan refused the Crown Princess role, while Nuan quickly makes her position clear.
• Rui’an’s residents express gratitude and pride, sharing stories that strengthen the public image of Nuan as a perceptive and benevolent protector.

Significant themes

• History and legend: Later accounts transform Nuan’s actions into explanations and supernatural tales, blurring fact with folklore.
• Hidden influence: Nuan’s role in exposing corruption and improving communities is widely recognized, even when people misunderstand how she did it.
• Power versus freedom: Nuan refuses status and authority because she does not want the burdens attached to them.
• Reform over punishment: The alchemist story emphasizes the possibility of redirecting misguided talent rather than simply destroying it.

Plot points and events

• The Heavenly Screen explains that Jiang Nuan helped turn alchemists’ dangerous experiments into fireworks and, with a gunpowder formula, transformed them into respected gunpowder scientists. The screen credits them with helping Great Xia unify the world and with practical uses such as blasting roads through mountains.
• A demonstration shows a gunpowder weapon striking a distant hill and blowing a crater into its summit. People across other nations realize they could not withstand Great Xia’s weapons, while Great Xia’s alchemists are inspired to seek Jiang Nuan and change their lives.
• Xiao Ran leads viewers to the Misty Pavilion, a complex honoring twenty-four officials who helped Great Xia. The screen says Jiang Nuan proposed the memorial and that it was built in Rui’an County.
• The screen reveals that Jiang Nuan’s future prince consort is Chi Hengji, the exceptionally gifted young chancellor. It says he was expected to die before twenty, but Jiang Nuan cured him, and later shared medicinal prescriptions that saved many lives.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan is embarrassed when people interpret the screen’s account as proof she is a goddess. She denies it, but the people privately remain convinced. She is also surprised and curious to learn Chi Hengji is supposedly her future husband.
• The people of Rui’an County revere Jiang Nuan; one man even wants to preserve the reclining chair she used as a family heirloom.
• Great Xia’s alchemists shift from feeling like disreputable frauds to seeing themselves as potential contributors to the nation, and many set out for Rui’an County. Those Jiang Nuan recruited earlier feel fortunate to have joined before the rush.
• Chi Hengji remains composed when the screen identifies him as Jiang Nuan’s future prince consort, despite the crowd’s curious looks. Emperor Jiang Yunsheng silently objects to Xiao Ran’s joking claim that he chose Rui’an County for the Misty Pavilion because it was cheaper.
• Xiao Ran narrates with enthusiasm, repeatedly praising Jiang Nuan and playfully framing her relationship with Chi Hengji as a dramatic romance.

Significant themes

• Innovation and transformation: Jiang Nuan’s guidance turns alchemy from discredited practice into technology with military and civic uses.
• Reputation and belief: The public turns practical achievements into divine legend, despite Jiang Nuan’s protests.
• The power of knowledge: Gunpowder and medical prescriptions reshape society, warfare, infrastructure, and individual lives.
• Fate and romance: The future revelation of Chi Hengji as Jiang Nuan’s prince consort introduces a romantic thread neither currently understands.

Key plot points

• The Heavenly Screen recounts how Chancellor Chi Hengji and Jiang Nuan grew close through letters while she traveled. Nuan initially mistook his correspondence for a service helping her buy local goods.
• When a duke considered matchmaking Nuan with his grandson, Chi secretly sent the young man to the frontier. He later confirms the story is true.
• After Nuan returned, Chi frequently helped her with her fief, but she failed to recognize his romantic intentions. A friend advised him to seem less distant by changing his white, “immortal-like” style.
• Chi and Nuan eventually became a couple during a trip to a village. After she accepted him, he celebrated by setting off firecrackers all night. They later married and had one daughter, Lingxi; Chi chose to have no more children.
• The Screen introduces Cen Xue as Misty Pavilion’s second great contributor and Nuan’s exceptionally close friend. It also reveals that Nuan proposed women’s imperial examinations and founded a public school, enabling women to take the exams; Cen placed second and Lü Zhi, the next contributor, placed first.
• Cen’s story begins with her falling in love at first sight with Nuan’s older brother, Crown Prince Jiang Chengze.

Character developments and interactions

• Nuan is surprised by how far Chi went to court her, but says any future relationship must come from genuine affection. The account begins to stir her feelings.
• Chi reassures Nuan that the Screen’s predictions can change, while privately hoping they will come true. He accepts the account of his own actions and resolves to change his clothing style.
• Nuan and Cen react with mutual disgust to the Screen’s teasing suggestion that their closeness might be romantic; both have official partners.
• Jiang Chengze tries to conceal his delight at learning of Cen’s love at first sight, though his companions notice and react with amused disbelief.

Significant themes

• Love and miscommunication: Chi’s obvious devotion goes unrecognized for years because Nuan does not understand his signals.
• Choice and agency: Chi tells Nuan not to feel bound by the future, and Nuan insists that love must be freely chosen.
• Women’s opportunity and education: Nuan challenges gender barriers through the women’s examination and public schooling.
• Humor and affection: The narration playfully exposes Chi’s jealousy, awkward courtship, and dramatic romantic gestures.

Key plot points and events

• The sky screen concludes its account of Jiang Nuan’s lasting influence, recounting how Cen Xue chose a career in government over entering the imperial harem. She later became a celebrated official and engineer, and the Crown Prince married her alone, abolished restrictions on the harem’s political role, and ruled alongside her.
• Xiao Ran highlights other people whose lives Jiang Nuan changed, including Lü Zhi, the general Han Xin, and several officials. A list of their achievements inspires the ministers to compete for a place among the Twenty-Four Meritorious Officials.
• Xiao Ran visits Jiang Nuan’s memorial in Rui’an County: a castle decorated with records of her accomplishments. Though Jiang Nuan and Chancellor Chi Hengji were cremated according to her wishes, the county built the castle in their memory.
• A “what if Great Xia had never had Jiang Nuan?” segment contrasts the poverty of Rui’an County before her arrival with its prosperity five years later. Her reforms to farming tools and crops helped secure food and warm clothing for the county, then contributed to abundance throughout Great Xia.
• The broadcast ends, but its effects continue. People from other nations migrate toward Great Xia, and later, during its expansion, some cities welcome Great Xia’s army without resistance.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Chengze takes Cen Xue’s hand and promises to make the future described by the sky screen real; she accepts, moving both of them.
• Lü Zhi’s devotion to Jiang Nuan is revealed through her surviving poems, many written about Nuan. Chi Hengji realizes that Jiang Nuan’s admirers may include women as well as men.
• Jiang Nuan jokes that she is glad her memorial statues depict her and Chi Hengji as young, showing her playful concern for her image.
• Rui’an’s residents kneel and thank Jiang Nuan for transforming their lives. Across Great Xia, she has become an admired figure whom people travel to see.

Significant themes

• Merit and opportunity: Jiang Nuan’s reforms open paths for talented people and encourage officials to compete to be remembered for their achievements.
• Love and partnership: Cen Xue’s story presents love as a commitment strong enough to challenge restrictive traditions.
• Practical reform and public welfare: Agricultural innovation and honest governance bring rapid improvements to ordinary people’s lives.
• Legacy and historical influence: The chapter shows how one person’s actions can shape institutions, prosperity, and even the later expansion of a nation.

Plot points and events

• Chi Hengji learns as a child that he is gravely ill and likely to die young. Rather than despair, he resolves to make his limited life meaningful, enters court despite his parents’ worries, and rises to become prime minister.
• He has never pursued romance, believing he should not hold anyone back. Then he meets Princess Jiang Nuan and hears her private thoughts—strange, modern ideas that fascinate him and inspire him to help build a better Great Xia.
• Jiang Nuan’s thoughts reveal that she has a way to save him. When she helps the Divine Healer provide him with medicine, his health is restored, giving him hope and a future he had never expected.
• Hoping to become closer to Jiang Nuan, he keeps in touch while she travels around Great Xia with the emperor. Her letters and descriptions make him long to travel alongside her.
• When an old general proposes his grandson as Jiang Nuan’s consort, Chi Hengji realizes he is in love and impulsively sends the young man to the frontier. He is relieved to learn the grandson wanted that opportunity.
• A Heavenly Screen later reveals that Chi Hengji will become Jiang Nuan’s consort. Although he worries she may not return his feelings, she is open to the possibility. They grow closer, begin a relationship, and eventually marry.

Character development

• Chi Hengji begins as a disciplined, emotionally guarded man who has accepted an early death. Jiang Nuan gives him new purpose, and being cured allows him to imagine a future. His admiration gradually becomes love, which he recognizes only when jealousy prompts him to act impulsively.
• Jiang Nuan remains an admired, energetic presence in his life. Though she initially sees Chi Hengji as an idol rather than a romantic prospect, she becomes more receptive as they spend time together.

Themes

• Hope and second chances: Chi Hengji moves from resignation about his illness to renewed hope after being cured.
• Love and self-understanding: His feelings develop gradually, and jealousy forces him to recognize what he wants.
• Duty and ambition: Jiang Nuan’s ideas deepen his commitment to improving Great Xia.
• Fate and choice: The Heavenly Screen suggests a future together, but their relationship still grows through their own time and choices.

Character interactions

• Chi Hengji’s parents try to protect him, but he chooses a life of public service.
• Jiang Nuan’s unspoken thoughts surprise and inspire him; her help ultimately saves his life.
• His cousin’s romantic storybook joke makes him imagine repaying Jiang Nuan through marriage.
• His rivalry with the proposed consort reveals his feelings, while the Heavenly Screen helps Jiang Nuan see him as more than a friend.