Chapter Summaries

• Key events: After hearing how Xia Gaoyang lost his early memories following a childhood fever, Jiang Nuan learns that his adoptive parents raised him lovingly. Xia Gaoyang and his birth father, Xia Quanqiao, are both relieved he had a good life, though reclaiming him as a son now seems difficult. Jiang then notices Feng Qiuyan’s resemblance to Vice Minister Feng Ziming and discovers gossip saying many commoners wish Feng Ziming had died twenty years earlier. The alarming rumor turns out not to be caused by Feng Ziming’s own misconduct, but by something his son did—something good. Guagua begins explaining Feng Qiuyan’s childhood love of farming and his father’s efforts to suppress it.
• Character developments: Xia Gaoyang’s gratitude toward his adoptive parents is reinforced, while Xia Quanqiao prioritizes his son’s happiness over taking him back. Feng Ziming, initially convinced of his own integrity, becomes anxious about an unknown stain on his reputation and then suspicious of his son. Feng Qiuyan goes from enjoying the gossip to fearing punishment, then feels reassured when he hears his actions were beneficial.
• Character interactions: Jiang Nuan and Guagua investigate the men’s gossip aloud in their thoughts, prompting those nearby to react. Xia Quanqiao and Xia Gaoyang share a quiet, complicated understanding about their relationship. Feng Ziming’s alarm turns into anger toward Feng Qiuyan, who privately protests that he has done nothing wrong.
• Themes: The chapter highlights the difference between biological ties and loving parenting, as well as the weight of reputation and inherited blame. It also introduces tension between parental expectations and a child’s genuine passion: Feng Ziming regards farming as a distraction from study, while Feng Qiuyan finds pride and joy in growing plants.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals Feng Qiuyan’s future: despite loving farming, he is pushed by his father, Feng Ziming, toward the imperial examinations. After becoming a low-ranking official, war forces him and his father into exile in a remote village.
• Feng Qiuyan eventually resumes farming and develops rice that yields 30 percent more. Its widespread use greatly reduces famine, and he is later honored as the “Little Sage of Agriculture.”
• Jiang Nuan realizes that Feng Ziming’s opposition delayed this achievement. She considers asking her imperial father, Jiang Yunsheng, to persuade Feng Ziming to let his son farm.
• Jiang Yunsheng agrees that agriculture may benefit Great Xia more than another official and wonders whether Feng Ziming might also have farming talent.
• Feng Ziming quickly relents, wanting to avoid being immortalized as a bronze statue guarding his son’s temple. The Agricultural Administration is eager to recruit Feng Qiuyan, and Jiang Yunsheng privately decides on an appointment for him before the Palace Examination is over.

Character developments

• Feng Qiuyan learns that his farming passion could make him a celebrated benefactor. He is thrilled by the prospect and newly confident that his father can no longer prevent him from pursuing it.
• Feng Ziming recognizes that his well-meant insistence on an official career would have obstructed his son’s historic achievement. He changes his position and agrees to support the farming.
• Jiang Nuan connects Feng Qiuyan’s future success to the choices being made in the present and takes an active interest in protecting his opportunity.
• Jiang Yunsheng moves from hearing the revelation to considering practical support, including whether Feng Ziming himself should try agriculture.

Significant themes

• Following one’s calling: Feng Qiuyan’s life shows the cost of suppressing a genuine passion and the fulfillment of finally pursuing it.
• The public value of innovation: His higher-yield rice saves lives, making agricultural work more consequential than status or office.
• Family support and recognition: His mother and wife help him farm, while his father’s resistance delays him; all three are remembered, though Feng Ziming’s memorial is an ironic joke.
• Changing the future: Jiang Nuan’s knowledge of what might happen creates a chance to prevent hardship and bring an important achievement forward.

Character interactions

• Guagua’s revelations embarrass Feng Qiuyan and leave Feng Ziming regretful, while Jiang Nuan responds with laughter at the imagined statue.
• Jiang Nuan proposes that Jiang Yunsheng intervene; he considers both persuading Feng Ziming and potentially discovering talent in him.
• Feng Ziming’s colleagues envy the attention Feng Qiuyan receives, while the Agricultural Administration presses to recruit him. Ministers likewise envy Jiang Nuan’s interest, though they recognize that few could match Feng Qiuyan’s agricultural contribution.

Key plot points and events

• At the Palace Examination, Feng Qiuyan worries that everyone’s high expectations of him will become a burden, since he has not yet achieved anything in agriculture.
• Jiang Nuan turns her attention to the quiet scholar Min Guangyao. Through Guagua, she learns that Min believes his family was destroyed by Grand Commandant Zhai Ruizhen and has spent years working toward revenge.
• The court reacts with pity for Min and alarm that Jiang Nuan’s revelation may put him in danger. Zhai, however, insists inwardly that the accusation must be mistaken.
• Guagua checks the story again and reveals that Min’s understanding of his past is indeed false. His mentor, Nie Jinglun, resented Zhai’s success and attempted to sabotage him. After Nie’s family was exposed for wrongdoing, their property was confiscated and they were exiled; Nie escaped and later raised Min on a tale of vengeance.
• The revelation takes a shocking turn: Nie had switched children. Min may be Zhai’s son—the child Zhai believed had died young. Both Min and Zhai are left stunned and uncertain.

Character developments

• Feng Qiuyan shifts from pride at being admired to anxiety about living up to his reputation.
• Jiang Nuan remains curious and quick to investigate, but questions the initial account when it implicates Zhai.
• Min Guangyao begins to doubt the hatred that has shaped his life, as the story he trusted is overturned.
• Zhai Ruizhen moves from fear of being exposed as a villain to shock at the possibility that Min is his lost son.
• Nie Jinglun is revealed as the source of Min’s lifelong misunderstanding, driven by envy of Zhai’s achievements.

Significant themes

• Truth versus inherited hatred: Min’s sense of identity and purpose rests on a false story.
• Ambition and resentment: Nie’s envy leads him to sabotage Zhai and manipulate Min.
• Family, identity, and fate: The child-switching revelation raises the possibility that Min belongs to the very family he believes he must avenge.
• Reputation and expectation: Feng’s worry reflects the pressure created when others decide what someone is destined to become.

Character interactions

• Jiang Nuan’s public revelations expose secrets and provoke sympathy, fear, and confusion among the candidates and officials.
• Guagua helps Jiang Nuan verify Min’s story, correcting her first impression and uncovering Nie’s deception.
• Min’s long-standing hatred of Zhai collides with the new possibility that Zhai is his father.
• Zhai scrutinizes Min after hearing about the switched children, while both men struggle to make sense of their connection.

Plot points

• Guagua reveals that Nie Jinglun switched Zhai Ruizhen’s newborn son with an abandoned baby. The replacement died young, while Zhai’s real son, Min Guangyao, was raised to hate his father.
• Nie’s scheme was revenge for his family’s downfall. He intended Min either to kill Zhai or be killed by him, then planned to reveal the truth and leave Zhai consumed by remorse.
• Guagua describes the previous life: Min framed Zhai for rebellion, leading the emperor to confiscate the family’s estate and exile them. After Nie revealed the truth, Min killed Nie and took his own life.
• In the present, the revelation shocks Min, but Jiang Nuan’s inner voice reminds him that the tragedy has not happened yet and can still be prevented.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhai realizes Min resembles his late mother and learns that Min is his true son. His anger toward Min gives way to heartbreak when he hears how Min died in the previous life.
• Min confronts the truth behind his lifelong hatred and nearly sinks into despair, then regains hope and resolves—implicitly—to change his future. He and Zhai exchange a reassuring look and smile.
• Jiang Nuan feels deep sympathy for Min and resolves to expose Nie’s manipulation. The people around them initially pity Min, but then turn their thoughts toward their own situation: Min’s newly revealed identity has elevated him far above their humble status.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and misplaced blame: Nie’s scheme turns personal grief and resentment into a weapon against an innocent family.
• Regret and redemption: Min’s previous-life tragedy shows the cost of acting on false beliefs, while the present revelation offers a chance to choose differently.
• Family and compassion: Zhai’s anger softens into concern, and the father and son begin to reconnect.
• Fate, status, and self-interest: The group’s sympathy quickly gives way to anxiety—and perhaps envy—over Min’s sudden rise in rank.

Key plot points and events

• After Min Guangyao’s scandal is exposed, Jiang Nuan eagerly asks Guagua to reveal someone else’s gossip.
• She chooses Huang Chao, a salt merchant’s son who has reached the Palace Examination after several failed attempts. Guagua says he has few personal scandals, but his name and background make him “gossip.”
• Jiang Nuan connects him to the historical Huang Chao, whose failed examination and anger at aristocratic clans led to a rebellion that helped destroy the Tang dynasty. The comparison alarms the court, especially the aristocratic families.
• Guagua clarifies that the two men share little beyond their name and similar origins. In Huang Chao’s previous life, he was blocked from advancing in the examinations, returned home, and later raised an army to defend Great Xia from invasion. His forces were defeated, and he died in the war.
• Reassured that Huang Chao is loyal rather than a potential rebel, the ministers soften toward him. Since he has passed the Palace Examination and the court needs capable officials, they accept that he will likely be appointed.

Character developments

• Jiang Nuan remains enthusiastic about exposing secrets, but her historical knowledge causes an alarming misunderstanding. She ultimately feels sympathy for Huang Chao and blames the corrupt court for the difficulties of his previous life.
• Huang Chao is initially baffled and distressed by being associated with a notorious namesake. He considers changing his name, then takes comfort in learning that his past-life self was patriotic and honorable.
• The ministers move from suspicion and discomfort to cautious approval once they hear of Huang Chao’s loyalty.

Significant themes

• Reputation and inherited association: Huang Chao is judged by his name and a historical figure’s deeds rather than his own character.
• Corruption and merit: His previous failure in the examinations reflects a court where ability can be obstructed by favoritism.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Despite injustice, Huang Chao’s attachment to his country leads him to fight for it.
• The weight of history: Jiang Nuan’s knowledge of another dynasty’s past shapes how the court interprets the present.

Character interactions

• Jiang Nuan eagerly directs Guagua to investigate Huang Chao, while Guagua’s cautious explanations heighten the court’s confusion.
• Huang Chao’s friend initially teases him, then reacts uneasily to the revelation; Huang Chao feels wrongly accused by the ministers’ suspicious looks.
• Jiang Nuan’s internal commentary first fuels the ministers’ alarm, then Guagua’s clarification and Huang Chao’s demonstrated patriotism ease their hostility.

Key plot points and events

• During the final stage of the Palace Examination, Emperor Jiang Yunsheng asks the candidates what they would do if, after avenging the slaughter of their family, they found a child of their enemy hiding nearby.
• Candidates divide between sparing the child on moral grounds and killing him to prevent future revenge. Their debate offers little guidance, since the emperor gives no clear reaction.
• Jiang Nuan privately proposes a more ruthless solution: spare the child temporarily, watch who helps him, then eliminate the child and any supporters who could pose a future threat. She also jokingly suggests pretending to leave before suddenly attacking.
• Her thoughts and her companion Guagua’s villainous laughter spread through the hall. The ministers find the strategy chillingly practical, while Jiang Yunsheng approves of her clear-eyed decisiveness.
• The emperor concludes that some candidates are too indecisive for important service and considers giving them lesser posts. He also plans to send a group of successful candidates to Auspicious Peace County.
• Learning that the county’s apparent prosperity came from its former magistrate’s excessive taxation, Jiang Yunsheng feels guilty about assigning it to Jiang Nuan. He considers granting her another territory and begins to suspect that tax revenues elsewhere may also be distorted.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan appears playful and entertained by the examination, but her answer reveals that she can think strategically and ruthlessly when necessary. Unaware of it, she also avoids the extra lessons Jiang Yunsheng had been considering for her.
• Jiang Yunsheng is pleased that Jiang Nuan’s kindness is not mere indecision. He values compassion when appropriate, but wants her to act firmly when circumstances demand it.
• Guagua joins Jiang Nuan’s gleeful, villainous laughter, adding comic energy to her darkly practical ideas.
• The candidates and ministers react to Jiang Nuan’s thoughts in different ways: some favor sparing the child, others advocate killing him, while the ministers are unexpectedly persuaded by her broader plan.

Significant themes

• Kindness versus decisiveness: The chapter questions whether sparing an enemy’s child is truly merciful if it risks future violence.
• Practical justice and prevention: Jiang Nuan’s plan focuses on uncovering wider threats rather than addressing only the immediate danger.
• Good governance and accountability: The revelation about Auspicious Peace County exposes how corrupt tax collection can create a false image of prosperity, prompting the emperor to reconsider the realm’s revenue reports.

Key plot points and events

• Three days after the Palace Examination, the results are announced: Zhang Gaoyang places first, Wu Hongcai second, and Lin Mingxu third.
• As Zhang leads the celebratory procession, several candidates interrupt it, accusing the examination officials of corruption and favoritism.
• Their main evidence is that every successful candidate came from the south and no northern scholar passed. The Capital Prefect intervenes, promises that the Emperor will investigate, and moves the crowd to a nearby square.
• Jiang Nuan realizes the complaint concerns the regional imbalance and goes to the Hall of Diligent Governance, where Emperor Jiang Yunsheng has summoned the ministers involved in the examination.
• The ministers deny knowing of any wrongdoing. Northern officials suspect their southern colleagues, while the southern ministers look among themselves for whoever might be responsible.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Gaoyang reflects on his gratitude to Jiang Nuan, whose help enabled him to reunite with his birth family while remaining devoted to his adoptive parents. He defends the examination’s fairness, trusting Jiang Nuan’s earlier knowledge that corrupt officials had been removed, and challenges the accusers to provide evidence.
• Wu Hongcai and Lin Mingxu also silently credit Jiang Nuan for their success. Lin’s proud, relieved mother watches his procession.
• Jiang Nuan initially enjoys the celebrations and the successful candidates’ gratitude, then shifts into a thoughtful, practical role when the accusations arise.
• The ministers’ mutual suspicion exposes the court’s regional tensions: northern officials blame the south, while southern officials question one another.

Significant themes

• Merit and trust: The candidates’ success contrasts with the public’s fear that the examination was unfair.
• Regional rivalry: The absence of northern candidates turns a question about individual results into a broader political grievance.
• Family and obligation: Zhang’s commitment to both his birth and adoptive families highlights competing but equally valued bonds.
• Public accountability: The Emperor must address accusations that could undermine confidence in the examination and the court.

Key plot points and events

• Northern ministers protest that no northern scholars passed the Imperial Examination and demand a thorough investigation. Southern ministers join the call, though privately hoping the culprit—if there is one—will confess.
• Jiang Yunsheng orders the candidates’ papers reviewed. Jiang Nuan’s system, Guagua, confirms that no one cheated or showed favoritism.
• Jiang Nuan recognizes the problem as resembling the historical “Southern and Northern Lists Case”: southern scholars generally have better educational opportunities, so an impartial examination can still produce an overwhelmingly southern list.
• A southern minister proposes comparing successful and unsuccessful essays, but Chancellor Chi Hengji warns that literary judgments are subjective and such a comparison could worsen tensions between regional factions.
• A minister suggests creating separate Southern and Northern Lists, selecting northern scholars from among the northern candidates and having each region’s scholars compete separately. Jiang Yunsheng approves the plan and orders it applied to future examinations.
• Chi notices a loophole: southern candidates might claim northern identities to take advantage of the separate lists. Jiang Yunsheng tasks him with drafting rules, such as restricting candidates by household registration.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yunsheng relies on Jiang Nuan’s hidden insights while managing the dispute pragmatically. He adopts the regional lists and gives Chi responsibility for preventing abuse.
• Jiang Nuan confirms the examination was fair, explains the underlying regional educational imbalance through her thoughts, and spots the need for a workable compromise.
• Chi Hengji demonstrates political foresight: he rejects an approach likely to inflame regional rivalry and later identifies the identity-fraud loophole. Jiang Nuan admires his quick reasoning.
• The ministers move from suspicion and demands for justice toward a compromise, though their views reflect the competing interests of northern and southern scholars.

Significant themes

• Fairness versus equality: An impartial process can still yield unequal outcomes when candidates have unequal educational opportunities.
• Regional rivalry and political balance: The court must address northern grievances without deepening north–south conflict or weakening the balance of regional representation.
• Practical policy design: A solution must account not only for its intended benefits but also for loopholes that could undermine it.

Key plot points and events

• The imperial-examination fraud case concludes with separate rankings for northern and southern candidates. With the matter settled, Jiang Nuan visits her experimental farmland.
• Her many unfamiliar crops are flourishing. Pleased with the workers’ efforts, she doubles their wages for the month.
• At the potato and sweet-potato plots, Jiang Nuan reflects that these high-yield crops could help prevent famine—but notes that the current seed supply is very limited.
• Feng Qiuyan arrives and is captivated by the unfamiliar plants. Jiang Nuan explains that potatoes and sweet potatoes can serve as staple foods and reveals their remarkable yields: typically several thousand jin per mu, with exceptionally good harvests potentially exceeding ten thousand.
• Feng Qiuyan is overwhelmed by the prospect of ending hunger and nearly reaches for Jiang Nuan in excitement, but Chunhua and Qiuyue stop him.
• Jiang Nuan explains that it will take years to multiply the small amount of seed stock. She privately considers whether more potatoes and sweet potatoes might be found in the West.

Character developments

• Jiang Nuan is practical and generous: she rewards her workers, while thinking ahead about how to expand food production. Her own experience of hunger fuels her concern for the people.
• Feng Qiuyan reveals an intense passion for plants and becomes fervently convinced of the crops’ importance. He also accepts Jiang Nuan’s cover story that a Western merchant supplied them.
• Chunhua and Qiuyue act protectively, stepping in when Feng Qiuyan’s excitement threatens to become overly familiar.

Significant themes

• Ending hunger and improving ordinary people’s lives: The crops’ extraordinary yields offer hope of reducing famine.
• Knowledge and innovation: Introducing unfamiliar crops could transform agriculture, though limited seed supplies make progress gradual.
• Responsibility and patience: Jiang Nuan wants the benefits spread widely but recognizes that cultivation and seed multiplication will take time.

Character interactions

• Jiang Nuan warmly praises and rewards the farm workers.
• She welcomes Feng Qiuyan informally, shows him the crops, and tests his understanding by asking him to estimate their yields.
• Feng Qiuyan’s excitement contrasts with Jiang Nuan’s measured explanation of the practical limits to distribution; Chunhua and Qiuyue enforce proper boundaries.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Nuan tells Feng Qiuyan that searching overseas for potatoes and sweet potatoes would be too costly, so Feng abandons the idea.
• She shows Feng two contrasting bean varieties: one stands upright but produces poor beans, while the other yields plump beans but is prone to lodging. She explains a basic method of inheritance and crossbreeding, hoping he can combine their strengths.
• Feng is inspired and eager to begin research. Jiang lets him leave with three plants to study.
• At court the next day, envoys from Goryeo arrive proposing three contests between the nations. Their leader offers five cities as a prize and challenges Great Xia to match the wager.
• Jiang Nuan suspects the generous offer conceals a scheme and asks Guagua to investigate. Officials who were about to object pause, waiting to learn what she discovers.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan acts as a practical adviser and agricultural mentor, sharing scientific principles while leaving the research to Feng. At court, her suspicion and habit of uncovering private information shape the officials’ response.
• Feng Qiuyan shows strong curiosity and scientific potential; Jiang’s explanation gives him a new direction for his plant research.
• Jiang Yunsheng remains cautious, asking the envoys to specify their proposal rather than accepting or refusing immediately.
• The Goryeo envoys, led by an elderly scholar-like man, present the contest as friendly diplomacy. Their actual aim is to use a prodigy from Goryeo to humiliate Great Xia and win its territory.

Significant themes

• Agricultural improvement and practical science: selective breeding is presented as a way to increase crop quality and resilience.
• Knowledge as a catalyst: Jiang offers a framework, but Feng must carry out the discovery himself.
• Diplomacy, ambition, and hidden motives: the envoys’ friendly language masks a political challenge.
• Jiang Nuan’s thoughts as an advantage: the officials cannot be heard by the foreigners, and her suspicions influence how the court handles the wager.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reports that Goryeo has arrived seeking to win five Great Xia cities through a best-of-three intellectual contest. Its young prodigy, Hou Hongjun, is backed by his teacher, the scholar Wu Cu.
• The challenges are the Nine-Link Puzzle, poetic couplets, and a poem about wine. Jiang Nuan recognizes the first two as easy victories and judges Hou’s wine poem strong but beatable.
• The ministers are confident because Jiang Nuan can supply answers, though they pretend to worry that wagering five cities is reckless. Their performance is meant to keep Goryeo from suspecting a trap.
• Goryeo’s delegation mocks Great Xia for hesitating. The ministers then publicly urge acceptance, and Emperor Jiang Yunsheng agrees to stake five cities against Goryeo’s five.
• Both sides believe they have successfully maneuvered the other, and the contest is about to begin.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan is confident and competitive. Though she sees the first two rounds as guaranteed wins, she intends to defeat Goryeo in all three rather than concede a point.
• Guagua provides intelligence about the challenges and Hou Hongjun’s poem, enabling Jiang Nuan to assess the contest in advance.
• The ministers shift from genuine concern to coordinated playacting, following Jiang Nuan’s confidence and protecting the element of surprise.
• Jiang Yunsheng accepts the wager after the ministers’ staged debate and Goryeo’s provocations.
• Wu Cu and the Goryeo delegation use insults to pressure Great Xia into accepting, unaware that their opponents have already anticipated the challenges.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as hidden advantage: Jiang Nuan’s broad knowledge turns the contest into an “open-book exam.”
• Strategic deception: Both delegations think they are manipulating the other, while Great Xia conceals its confidence behind a performance of reluctance.
• National pride and rivalry: The wager over five cities turns a scholarly contest into a test of status and territorial power.
• Overconfidence: Goryeo’s contempt for Great Xia may leave them vulnerable to underestimating their opponent.

Plot points and events

• During a court audience, Goryeo envoy Wu Cu notices young Princess Jiang Nuan sitting quietly behind the Dragon Throne.
• He condemns Great Xia’s “impropriety” for letting a girl attend court and lectures Emperor Jiang Yunsheng to have her removed. He continues ranting for nearly an hour, arguing that Jiang Nuan’s presence could bring ruin to the state.
• Jiang Yunsheng and the Great Xia ministers are furious, but Jiang Nuan treats Wu Cu’s speech as amusing and encourages him to continue. The ministers silently vow to punish him later.
• Jiang Nuan asks her system, Guagua, to investigate Wu Cu’s private life. Guagua reveals that Wu Cu’s misogyny began after a high-ranking official’s daughter rejected his courtship; he then promoted anti-woman views to Silla’s king, contributing to the oppression of Goryeo’s women.
• Jiang Nuan and Jiang Yunsheng joke inwardly that Goryeo might eventually become part of Great Xia.
• Guagua then reacts with disgust to further gossip, crying, “Ah! My eyes!” Jiang Nuan worries about its well-being, but Guagua says it has merely uncovered something revolting. The court is relieved that it can still find gossip, and Jiang Nuan asks what it discovered.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan remains quiet outwardly but is curious, playful, and protective of Guagua. She provokes no open confrontation, instead letting Wu Cu expose himself while seeking dirt on him.
• Jiang Yunsheng shifts from pleased anticipation over Goryeo’s concessions to anger at Wu Cu’s insult. He indulges Jiang Nuan’s curiosity and shares her ambitious joking thoughts.
• Wu Cu reveals his arrogance and deep-seated misogyny, mistaking the court’s silence for respect. His prejudices are traced to personal rejection, making his public moralizing hypocritical.
• Guagua acts as Jiang Nuan’s loyal friend and information-gatherer. Its distress prompts genuine concern from Jiang Nuan and alarm from the Great Xia court.
• The Great Xia ministers’ solidarity with the princess contrasts sharply with the Goryeo envoy’s contempt for women.

Significant themes

• Misogyny and hypocrisy: Wu Cu presents sexism as moral principle, but his hatred stems from wounded pride and has harmed women politically.
• Power and loyalty: Great Xia’s officials close ranks around Jiang Nuan, while her quiet presence carries more influence than Wu Cu understands.
• Friendship and care: Jiang Nuan’s concern for Guagua shows their relationship is familial, not merely practical.
• Comedy through dramatic irony: Wu Cu believes he commands the room, while the Great Xia court silently condemns him and plans a reckoning.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Nuan asks Guagua to explain what makes the Goryeo scholar Wu Cu so disgusting. Guagua reveals that Wu Cu and another Goryeo man, Hou Hongjun, have a bizarre habit of sucking each other’s external hemorrhoids—sometimes before meals.
• Jiang Nuan and the ministers are revolted. Guagua’s warning that they should not be judged by the same standard prompts the ministers to silently distance themselves from the Goryeo pair.
• Guagua then warns Jiang Nuan that a Goryeo envoy with a feather on his head is about to release a “poison-gas bomb.” The envoy lets out a thunderous, foul-smelling fart, making the Goryeo delegation and several ministers retch.
• A Great Xia minister mocks Wu Cu and Goryeo for interfering in Great Xia’s affairs while failing to manage their own. Another minister adds that Great Xia’s doctors could treat both Wu Cu’s ailment and whatever is wrong with his head.
• Wu Cu becomes furious and nearly faints. A young Imperial Physician rushes over and uses an unusually thick needle to treat him, causing Wu Cu to cry out in pain. A Goryeo official protests, accusing Great Xia of trying to kill the envoy.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan is confident she can stomach any gossip, but Wu Cu’s habits prove too revolting even for her. She follows Guagua’s warning and holds her breath before the fart.
• Guagua delivers the humiliating information and alerts Jiang Nuan to the impending stench, while entertaining doubts about whether humans really enjoy such behavior.
• Wu Cu shifts from self-assured conversation to humiliation and rage when his own delegation’s envoy causes the disturbance and Great Xia’s ministers ridicule him.
• The ministers react with disgust, then turn the revelation into ammunition for sharp public insults. The Imperial Physicians, long absent from the hall, become involved when Wu Cu nearly collapses.
• The Goryeo envoy inadvertently disrupts his own delegation’s position, while a fellow official steps in to defend Wu Cu after the painful treatment begins.

Significant themes

• Humiliation and comic reversal: The Goryeo delegation’s attempt to meddle in Great Xia’s affairs is undercut by its own scandalous habits and an uncontrollable fart.
• Gossip as social power: Guagua’s revelations shape the hall’s reactions and give Great Xia’s ministers material for ridicule.
• National pride and hypocrisy: The ministers contrast Goryeo’s political interference with its delegation’s embarrassing conduct.
• Escalating farce: The episode builds from shocking gossip to physical comedy and ends with an ambiguous medical treatment that triggers a diplomatic accusation.

Key plot points and events

• Great Xia’s Emperor Jiang Yunsheng claims that Imperial Physician Wang was merely treating Wu Cu, a Goryeo envoy, despite Goryeo’s accusations that he was being tormented.
• Physician Wang gives Wu Cu an unnecessarily painful acupuncture session. Wu Cu endures it, then accuses Great Xia of fearing Goryeo’s challenge.
• Jiang Yunsheng accepts the contest, in which Goryeo will try to win five Great Xia cities. Wu Cu announces the first challenge: separating the nine rings of Goryeo’s Nine-Link Puzzle.
• Great Xia’s officials pretend they cannot solve it, while Goryeo’s envoys grow confident. Jiang Nuan privately thinks the puzzle could simply be smashed.
• When the puzzle reaches the military officer Mao Qiantao, he theatrically examines it and “accidentally” drops it, breaking it into pieces. Great Xia argues that the rings have now been separated and the challenge is therefore complete.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Cu remains proud and aggressive, using the acupuncture incident to provoke Great Xia and push the contest forward. His confidence falters when the puzzle is destroyed.
• Jiang Yunsheng maintains a calm, dismissive façade, protecting Great Xia’s position while allowing the contest to proceed.
• Jiang Nuan is amused by Wu Cu’s discomfort, then becomes anxious when the officials appear unable to solve the puzzle. Her thought of breaking it is unexpectedly echoed by events.
• Imperial Physician Wang takes petty revenge on Wu Cu with painful, excessive acupuncture.
• Mao Qiantao plays along with the staged uncertainty, then breaks the puzzle in a deliberately “accidental” move.
• Great Xia’s officials cooperate in the performance, while Goryeo’s envoys initially share Wu Cu’s confidence and later object to the destruction of their supposed treasure.

Significant themes

• Deception and performance: Both sides posture and manipulate appearances; Great Xia’s uncertainty is an act, and Mao’s accident is likely strategic.
• Pride and provocation: Wu Cu’s arrogance fuels the escalating confrontation.
• Cunning over convention: Great Xia exploits the challenge’s wording—once the rings are broken apart, it can claim they have been separated.
• Humor through reversal: Goryeo’s confidence collapses when its treasured puzzle is defeated in the most literal and unexpected way.

Key plot points and events

• Mao Qiantao deliberately breaks Goryeo’s Nine-Link Puzzle, then argues that although it has been broken, it has also been taken apart—so Great Xia can claim the round. He apologizes sarcastically and taunts the envoys, leaving them furious but unwilling to challenge him physically.
• Great Xia now needs only one more victory to win the city at stake. Goryeo insists the first result was an accident and proposes a second round: Great Xia must match three opening lines for couplets.
• The Goryeo envoys present three deliberately difficult lines. Great Xia’s officials appear troubled, but are actually debating who should answer because the challenge is too easy.
• They select three candidates who look like uneducated, muscle-bound soldiers, hoping their success will make the defeat more humiliating.
• Zhang Hui steps forward and matches the first line with a playful couplet about pawnshops, astonishing the Goryeo envoys.

Character developments and interactions

• Mao Qiantao takes responsibility for the puzzle’s destruction to protect Jiang Nuan from Goryeo’s resentment. His battlefield confidence and sharp taunts provoke the envoys.
• Jiang Nuan enjoys Mao’s maneuver and later worries Zhang Hui may need help, considering having Guagua pass him a note. Zhang’s effortless answer surprises her.
• Zhang Hui is revealed to be quick-witted beneath his rough appearance. He turns a personal anecdote about pawning his jade thumb ring into a clever matching line, then boasts about his achievement.
• The Goryeo envoys, led by Wu Cu, move from confidence to disbelief and anger as Great Xia repeatedly turns their challenges against them.
• Great Xia’s officials deliberately use the appearance of their chosen candidates to heighten Goryeo’s embarrassment.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus ability: The chapter mocks assumptions that military officers who look rough are unintelligent or incapable of scholarship.
• Humiliation through wit: Great Xia counters Goryeo’s confidence not just by winning, but by making the victories seem effortless and ridiculous.
• Loyalty and protection: Mao risks further hostility to shield Jiang Nuan.
• Confidence and miscalculation: Goryeo’s certainty that Great Xia cannot answer the couplets makes Zhang Hui’s success all the more humiliating.

Key plot points and events

• Great Xia answers Goryeo’s second couplet, then Peng Tai solves the third with a playful line about four ghosts. Great Xia has now won both rounds of the best-of-three contest and is due to receive five cities.
• Great Xia’s ministers gloat over the victory, mocking the Goryeo envoys and the official who proposed the contest.
• Desperate to avoid punishment from their king, Wu Cu and the other envoys challenge the results. They argue that breaking the Nine-Link Puzzle should not count and that Great Xia should also have been required to set couplets.
• Jiang Yunsheng agrees to give Goryeo one chance to answer a Great Xia couplet. If they solve it, the second round will be declared a draw.

Character developments

• Peng Tai eagerly turns his turn into a performance, answering the final couplet and applauding himself.
• Wu Cu abandons dignity and resorts to changing the rules when it becomes clear that Goryeo has lost.
• Jiang Yunsheng stays confident, accepting the challenge because he believes Great Xia can pose a couplet Goryeo cannot solve.
• The Goryeo envoys shift from confidence to despair, then grasp at a last-minute chance to avoid total defeat.

Character interactions

• Great Xia’s ministers celebrate and taunt the envoys after the two victories.
• Wu Cu’s objections prompt an angry rebuttal from a Great Xia minister, who accuses Goryeo of changing the rules.
• The envoys back Wu Cu’s protest, pressing for a draw; Jiang Yunsheng responds by offering a single deciding couplet.

Significant themes

• Desperation and dishonor: Goryeo’s envoys discard fairness and pride to escape the consequences of losing.
• Confidence and cleverness: Great Xia’s side is buoyed by its unexpected success and accepts the new challenge without hesitation.
• Humiliation and reversal: The envoys who expected an easy triumph are now mocked and forced into a precarious last stand.

Key plot points and events

• Great Xia gives Goryeo an apparently simple couplet to complete: “Smoke veils the willows by the pond!” Its five characters contain the radicals for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, making a suitable response exceptionally difficult.
• A boastful, well-connected Goryeo envoy wrongly dismisses the challenge as easy. His interruptions and quarrel with the other envoys disrupt their concentration while Great Xia’s ministers taunt them and impose a time limit.
• Goryeo fails to produce a matching line before the incense burns out. Wu Cu admits defeat, leaving Great Xia with victories in two rounds and the agreed prize of five cities.
• Wu Cu hesitates to hand over the territory, then proposes a final, larger wager: cancel the previous rounds and stake ten cities on one last contest. Great Xia’s ministers question why their side should risk the five cities it has already won.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Cu moves from confidence in Goryeo’s chances to bitter acceptance of defeat, then tries a desperate gamble to recover the lost ground.
• The boastful envoy exposes his ignorance, antagonizes his colleagues, and falls silent when threatened with consequences. His privileged status cannot protect him once the others blame him for undermining their effort.
• The Goryeo envoys begin by underestimating the challenge but grow frustrated and demoralized as they fail to solve it. Their internal conflict further weakens them.
• Jiang Yunsheng remains calm and leaves Goryeo to honor its wager, while Great Xia’s ministers use mockery and pressure to emphasize the contrast between their confidence and Goryeo’s failure.
• Jiang Nuan recognizes the couplet and is surprised that Great Xia knows it, though the reason remains unexplained.

Significant themes

• Pride and underestimation: Goryeo’s initial boast makes its failure more humiliating.
• Disunity and self-sabotage: The envoys’ internal hostility prevents them from working effectively.
• Strategy and leverage: Great Xia’s carefully chosen challenge secures a diplomatic victory; Wu Cu’s counter-wager seeks to reverse it but would put both sides’ territory at risk.
• Honor and consequences: Goryeo is expected to uphold its promise, while reneging could give Great Xia an excuse for war.

Key plot points and events

• With five additional Goryeo cities at stake, Jiang Yunsheng agrees to a third contest and insists that the terms be written down.
• He argues that Great Xia should choose the final topic, prompting the Goryeo delegation to protest. After discovering that the proposed subject is wine, however, they eagerly accept: they had prepared for it and believe they can win.
• Great Xia’s Qiu Cong recites the famous poem “Bring in the Wine,” followed by a civil official’s rendition of “Slow, Slow Song.”
• The Goryeo envoys are overwhelmed. Hou Hongjun cannot recite his own poem, and Wu Cu recognizes that it cannot compete with Great Xia’s offerings.
• Wu Cu concedes the contest, leaving Goryeo liable to surrender ten cities under the agreements.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Yunsheng shows strategic confidence: he secures written terms and proposes a topic that appears to favor Goryeo but gives Great Xia the chance to dominate.
• Jiang Nuan silently celebrates her father’s apparent tactical advantage.
• Wu Cu shifts from bold resistance to panic, then despair, as Great Xia’s poems destroy his confidence.
• Hou Hongjun, once presented as the delegation’s great poetic hope, is unable to deliver his work.
• Great Xia’s officials mock the envoys and press Wu Cu to repeat his concession loudly, then demand the promised cities.

Significant themes

• Cultural prestige as political power: Poetry becomes the decisive weapon in a contest over territory.
• Overconfidence and reversal: Goryeo assumes the wine theme guarantees victory, only to be crushed by Great Xia’s literary display.
• Public humiliation and consequences: A wager made with confidence turns into a costly loss that Wu Cu must explain to his king.

Key plot points and events

• After answering Jiang Nuan’s three questions, the Goryeo envoy promises that his kingdom will still surrender the ten cities, though he privately has little confidence and hurries home.
• Jiang Nuan wonders whether the envoy’s unusually smooth answers mean another transmigrator has been using modern books. The ministers briefly consider inventing a fictional transmigrator to explain matters, then reject the idea.
• A young woman arrives in the capital and recognizes modern-style milk tea and a delivery service. Convinced another transmigrator is nearby, she decides to keep a low profile rather than return to her hostile family.
• The newcomer meets Jiang Nuan at the Milk Tea Shop. They recognize each other as Cen Xue and Jiang Nuan, former university roommates and close friends.
• In the shop’s back courtyard, they privately confirm that both died in the modern world and transmigrated. Jiang Nuan explains that she has been in this world for over half a year and has opened the shop and other businesses.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nuan’s curiosity about a possible fellow transmigrator is resolved when she discovers it is Cen Xue, making her delighted and relieved to have a close friend from home.
• Cen Xue reveals her own difficult family situation: a short-tempered father, a scheming stepmother, and numerous half-siblings. Her instinct is to avoid trouble and stay safe.
• Their conversation quickly returns to their familiar, affectionate rapport. Cen Xue is startled by Jiang Nuan’s apparent communication with Guagua, while Jiang Nuan celebrates their reunion with the spirit.

Significant themes

• Shared identity and belonging: Meeting someone from their original world offers both women a rare sense of connection in an unfamiliar society.
• Modernity in the past: Milk tea, delivery services, and other contemporary ideas appear as clues that another transmigrator may be present.
• Caution amid upheaval: Cen Xue’s choice to delay facing her family contrasts with Jiang Nuan’s established confidence and enterprise.
• Coincidence and fate: The former roommates’ separate deaths and arrival in the same world make their reunion feel extraordinary.

Plot points

• Jiang Nuan and Cen Xue compare how they came to their current lives. Jiang explains that she has lived three lives: first in Great Xia, then in the modern world, and now in Great Xia again.
• Cen Xue describes arriving in the body of a minor official’s daughter, whose cruel stepmother sent her to the countryside. The original girl starved to death, and Cen Xue survived only through her own resourcefulness.
• Jiang says she had an easier start, though her imperial father has made her attend court as a kind of “mascot,” giving her an unexpected taste of work.
• Cen Xue tries to warn Jiang about the mysterious inner voice, but she becomes unable to speak whenever she tries. She hides the failed warning with an excuse.
• Jiang reveals that she brought over the box Cen Xue once gave her. Its books—especially a time-traveler’s guide—and its seeds have proved useful in Great Xia.
• The friends imagine returning to the modern world and promise to prepare valuable supplies for each other if they ever get the chance.
• An old woman arrives to take Cen Xue back to her family. Irritated at the prospect, Cen Xue asks Jiang to let her “cling to her coattails.”

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang and Cen Xue reaffirm their closeness through candid stories, teasing, concern, and a pinky swear. Cen Xue admits she once doubted Jiang’s story would be believed, while Jiang gently makes her feel guilty for saying so.
• Cen Xue’s hardship has made her deeply conscious of hunger and determined never to waste food. Despite her misfortune, she remains optimistic and quick to imagine a better future.
• Jiang shows compassion toward Cen Xue and gratitude for her gift, while also displaying confidence in her current wealth and ability to help her friend.
• Cen Xue’s inability to discuss the inner voice suggests that some force is preventing her from revealing it.

Significant themes

• Friendship and mutual support: The women share personal histories, exchange promises, and look for ways to help one another.
• Survival and resilience: Both adapt to unfamiliar lives, though Cen Xue’s experience begins in severe deprivation.
• Fate, reincarnation, and possibility: Their repeated world-crossings shape how they think about identity and the chance of returning home.
• Knowledge as practical power: Jiang’s books and seeds from the modern world offer useful resources in Great Xia.