Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan stages a dramatic display at the Drill Ground, using a Tesla scepter to create lightning and present herself as a divine being.
• The soldiers, initially doubtful, are awestruck when she appears to catch lightning and uses it to light a bulb. They kneel, call her the “Electricity God,” and make wishes; Jian collects their silver offerings.
• With the soldiers deeply impressed, Jian asks whether they will follow her. They pledge themselves to her and chant slogans in support of the Distant Pacification General.
• Jian insists their unit will be called the Maiden Army, defending the name with elaborate, eccentric reasoning. None of the soldiers objects or chooses to leave.
• Hou Lixie leads the soldiers in an oath to follow Jian loyally and never betray the army.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan reveals her flair for spectacle and persuasion. Though physically tired from wielding the heavy equipment, she turns a staged demonstration into genuine loyalty and recruits the soldiers.
• Hou Lixie is astonished and proud of his fifth sister, whose success surpasses his expectations. He supports her by leading the oath.
• Pei Shaoyi is unimpressed by Jian’s attempt to bring up poetry during the solemn spectacle, reinforcing their playful, exasperated dynamic.
• The soldiers shift from mockery and skepticism to reverence, enthusiasm, and commitment. They treat Jian as a practical deity, asking for blessings and willingly accepting the Maiden Army’s unusual name.
• Chen Pozi assists by fanning Jian’s cape, holding the light bulb, and collecting the offerings.

Significant themes

• The power of spectacle and belief: Technology disguised as divine power quickly transforms skepticism into devotion.
• Leadership through charisma: Jian wins allegiance by combining theatrical confidence, humor, and a promise of power.
• Gender and identity: Jian challenges the soldiers’ assumptions about a male unit named the Maiden Army, framing it as an inclusive force that transcends gender.
• Faith and practical wishes: The soldiers’ reverence is sincere but down-to-earth, focused on wealth, promotion, marriage, and family.

Key plot points and events

• After swearing loyalty to Jian Ruonan, more than five thousand soldiers become fervent followers. When one asks whether lightning strikes the unfilial, Jian warns that it strikes people who break reckless oaths—especially oath-breaking men. The soldiers realize they may have been frightened into loyalty, but their superstition makes them afraid to betray her.
• Commander Wang, now eager to support Jian, asks to equip the garrison with her new weapons. She withholds the scarce-ammunition Maiden Gun but promises other powerful weapons and orders him to select fifty reliable trainees. She also assigns Battalion Commander Xue to find fifty skilled archers for a Maiden Projectile Squad.
• Jian promises to build a five-thousand-strong cavalry force using Maiden Stirrups and Crossbows. When Commander Wang worries about the cost and lack of government funding, Jian points out that her deputy, Hou, is the Minister of Revenue’s son, while Pei Shaoyi is related to the Minister of War. She leaves to seek funding.
• Emperor Deyuan hears that Jian won the garrison’s loyalty in under two hours by summoning the “Lightning God.” Though astonished, he admits he might have knelt too. When Jian arrives with the ministers to request a million taels, he anticipates the expense and resolves not to approve it easily.
• Outside the Imperial Study, Jian says she will first appeal to the emperor with reason and emotion, while privately considering summoning the Lightning God if persuasion fails.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan consolidates control through spectacle, threats, military innovation, and political connections. She also delegates authority to Hou and cultivates Xue by praising his potential.
• Commander Wang shifts from resistance to enthusiastic support, impressed by Jian’s weapons, cavalry plans, and influential allies.
• Battalion Commander Xue abandons his earlier defiance and eagerly accepts Jian’s trust and assignment.
• Emperor Deyuan is both impressed by Jian’s success and anxious about the cost of her ambitions; his fondness for her clashes with his duty to control spending.
• Hou Wenyao cautions Jian that the emperor may reject the request, while Jian remains confident—and keeps intimidation in reserve.

Significant themes

• Power through belief and fear: Jian turns superstition into a tool for securing loyalty.
• Ambition and military modernization: Her plans promise to transform a small garrison with new weapons and cavalry.
• Personal loyalty and political connections: Her authority rests not only on battlefield influence but also on relationships with powerful ministers.
• Comic contrast: Divine theatrics and grand military schemes sit alongside Jian’s hunger and the emperor’s worries about money.

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan discovers that the upgraded system has added a Scavenger Group, with the Six Ministers automatically included. She appoints the Marquis’s Brother-in-law and Wang Defa as administrators.
• Testing the group’s mute-like “Heart-to-Heart Communion” feature, she kicks Minister of War Pei Junfei out. He immediately loses access to her thoughts and the ministers’ silent exchanges. Jian adds him back, restoring both; Pei is overwhelmed with gratitude.
• The ministers head to the Imperial Study. Pei is seeking military funding, while Chief Minister Su admits they also want to meet the rumored Lightning Goddess—Jian, whose supernatural reputation has spread through the army.
• Emperor Deyuan treats Jian warmly and offers her a seat and refreshments, while keeping the ministers standing. When Su asks what will become of the Third Prince now that his confinement has ended, the conversation triggers Jian’s system to project a magical view of the prince’s study.
• The vision shows the Third Prince discussing the First Imperial Prince’s imprisonment, the excavation of the Previous Dynasty Treasure, and a possible marriage alliance. The excavation is postponed until Jian Chuxue, known as Mr. Snow, recovers from serious injuries. The marriage alliance is also put on hold.
• Reassured that the treasure expedition has been delayed, Jian closes the vision.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan gains another system capability and tests it casually, unaware that her private thoughts and actions have major effects on those around her.
• Pei Junfei is both deeply anxious about being excluded from the group and grateful when Jian restores his access.
• The Six Ministers reveal that they are avid gossip-watchers and believe Jian’s supernatural status is genuine, based on what they have witnessed.
• Emperor Deyuan remains politically calculating: his kindness toward Jian is partly an attempt to put her at ease before she asks for money.
• Jian Chuxue/Mr. Snow is badly injured but remains central to the Third Prince’s plans, particularly the treasure excavation.

Significant themes

• Gossip and hidden communication: The ministers’ glances and the group’s shared access turn court politics into comic gossip.
• Power and unintended consequences: Jian’s system experiments alter what others can perceive, even when she thinks the feature is trivial.
• Superstition and reputation: Jian’s abilities earn her a divine reputation, especially among the military and ministers.
• Political intrigue: The princes, the imprisoned First Imperial Prince, the treasure, and the marriage alliance all suggest a tense struggle for power.

Character interactions

• Jian’s casual judgments and tests unsettle the ministers, who beg not to be excluded from her group.
• Pei and Su trade barbs, especially over Su’s nickname and the ministers’ appetite for gossip.
• The ministers’ belief in Jian as the Lightning Goddess contrasts with the Emperor’s more pragmatic view of her.
• The Third Prince and his adviser discuss political danger and delaying their plans while Mr. Snow recovers.

• The emperor grows suspicious of the Third Prince. After the court learns that the Third Prince is planning a treasure hunt and secretly discussing a marriage alliance with the Southwest Prince’s heir, Emperor Deyuan summons him and considers testing whether he is truly his son. Jian Ruonan knows that the traditional blood-in-water test is unreliable. The emperor believes her and cancels it, frustrating her hopes of witnessing the scene.
• Jian Ruonan turns to palace gossip. Eager for entertainment, she focuses on Consort Yi, who is close to giving birth. A glowing screen shows the pregnant consort and Emperor Deyuan flirting before the scene shifts to their bedroom. Just as things become intimate, the image and sound are censored.
• The systems explain the censorship. Jian Ruonan’s Dog System contacts the Black Tortoise System, who says Jian cannot watch because she is only ten and the systems’ legal rules restrict the content to adults. Points cannot override the restriction. Black Tortoise offers a workaround: Jian can hold hands with the Fourth Prince and watch through him, since Black Tortoise himself is eighteen.
• Character developments and interactions: Emperor Deyuan is cautious about exposing his family secrets and firmly stops the blood test, while Jian Ruonan remains an irrepressible gossip who prioritizes entertainment over the political stakes. The Six Ministers react with astonishment to her inner thoughts and the increasingly scandalous spectacle. The Dog System and Black Tortoise trade explanations and jokes with Jian, who is furious at the censorship but tempted by the workaround.
• Themes and tone: The chapter mixes court intrigue with irreverent comedy, contrasting the serious question of the Third Prince’s parentage and political marriage with Jian’s appetite for gossip. It also pokes fun at unreliable traditional “science,” modern age restrictions, and the clash between the systems’ stated moral rules and their loopholes.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan and the Black Tortoise System discuss an absurd plan to make the Fourth Prince, Dantai Mo, hold her hand while she secretly watches pornography. Jian finds the idea disturbingly tempting but postpones it.
• The Black Tortoise System tells Dantai Mo that Jian plans to hold his hand. He is suspicious, while the turtle boasts that he will soon be owed the title of “dear big brother.”
• In the Imperial Study, Jian’s attempt to watch scandalous footage is blocked because both her body and soul must be adults. She is eleven in body, despite arguing that her twenty-two-year-old soul should count.
• While waiting for the Third Prince, Jian proposes forming an elite “Maiden Army” and promises it can defeat rival princes, expand Great Xia’s territory, and conquer foreign lands. She asks the emperor for two million taels annually.
• Jian justifies the sum with inflated soldier salaries and costs for horses, weapons, training, and other expenses. The emperor points out that garrisons are expected to support themselves and suggests using Jian’s workshop earnings; she resists spending her own money.
• The emperor proposes directing money from a strengthened gambling ban toward military expenses. Jian says that will not be enough and hints she has another steady source of revenue—provided the emperor and imperial family take the lead and contribute.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains audacious, commercially minded, and protective of her own wealth. She is frustrated by the system’s age restriction, yet confidently pitches an ambitious army and negotiates for its funding.
• Dantai Mo appears increasingly refined and less bloodthirsty, but remains wary of the Black Tortoise System’s schemes.
• The Black Tortoise System tries to manipulate events while hiding that it has switched sides, and eagerly anticipates Jian and Dantai’s hand-holding.
• Emperor Deyuan is relieved that the blocked footage spared him embarrassment, but becomes wary when Jian asks for a huge military budget. He tries to redirect her toward self-funding and new revenue.
• Jian’s frank inner thoughts clash comically with her official proposals; the emperor and ministers silently react to her schemes and extravagant claims.

Significant themes

• Comedy through contrast: Jian’s irreverent modern sensibility collides with courtly formality and imperial politics.
• Money and power: Military ambition depends on funding, and Jian, the emperor, and the treasury maneuver over who should pay.
• Systems and constraints: Despite her cleverness and experience, Jian is thwarted by arbitrary rules governing her abilities.
• Performance versus private thought: Her polished public pitch contrasts with her blunt, often self-interested inner commentary.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan introduces a grandly named “New Energy Plan,” promising profit, public benefit, and national progress. A brief vision of trains and factory assembly lines leaves the emperor and ministers astonished.
• The Six Ministers eagerly demand to join, hoping to share in the project’s rewards and historical renown. Jian explains that she had originally meant to involve the imperial harem, but agrees to include the ministers as well.
• The plan turns out to be the Honeycomb Coal Plan: producing inexpensive briquettes that, she claims, burn three times longer than ordinary coal briquettes, light quickly, and produce little smoke or smell.
• The emperor, ministers, and consorts are put to work making them in a workshop set up inside the Imperial Study. The Empress Dowager arrives expecting an elegant, profitable venture, only to be assigned record-keeping.
• When the Third Prince arrives, Jian abruptly pauses the work. Her thoughts reveal that she has gathered the harem partly to witness an upcoming blood-drop kinship test.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan again shows herself to be an energetic, shrewd promoter. She uses grand promises and visions of progress to recruit powerful participants, while concealing her real interest in the Third Prince’s test.
• Emperor Deyuan is captivated by the project’s promise of greatness and willingly joins the hands-on labor, earning Jian’s private praise for being thoughtful.
• The Six Ministers enthusiastically compete to join, driven by the hope of profit and a place in history; they readily accept the physically demanding work.
• The Empress Dowager and consorts are drawn in by the prospect of a profitable, people-benefiting enterprise, but discover that participation means handling coal rather than presiding over an elegant venture.

Significant themes

• Innovation and practical public benefit: The chapter contrasts sweeping visions of industrial progress with the humble work of making better household fuel.
• Power and labor: Even the emperor and senior officials take part in manual work, while Jian directs the operation.
• Ambition and self-interest: The ministers and harem members are motivated by money, prestige, or both.
• Comedy through hidden motives: Jian’s lofty sales pitch disguises her personal interest in the kinship test.

Character interactions

• Jian persuades the emperor and ministers with promises of prosperity and lasting fame, then recruits the harem.
• The emperor and ministers work alongside the consorts, whose surprise at being assigned coal-handling duties provides much of the humor.
• The Empress Dowager’s hopes of joining a lucrative venture collide with Jian’s practical instructions.
• Jian’s private thoughts—and the emperor’s apparent access to them—foreshadow the Third Prince’s arrival and the test she is eager to witness.

Plot and key events

• Jian Ruonan’s new briquette coal project is interrupted when the Third Prince requests an audience. She has the Imperial Study cleared and rearranged into a dramatic setting for a supposed blood test to establish whether he is Emperor Deyuan’s son.
• The Third Prince arrives dressed in mourning for his deceased mother, Consort Xian, and presents himself as frail and grief-stricken. The Empress Dowager comforts him and urges the emperor not to let suspicion harm their father–son relationship.
• Ruonan’s private thoughts puncture the performance: she notices the prince has actually gained weight from eating flatbread, and that his unsteady walk comes from crooked height-increasing insoles.
• Emperor Deyuan remains suspicious and calls on Commander Wei Liren to report his findings. Wei has no information to give.
• Ruonan theatrically supplies an imagined exchange in Wei’s voice, accusing Consort Xian of adultery, then has the imagined Empress Dowager demand the lover’s identity. The chapter ends with the startling claim—voiced only in Ruonan’s mental imitation—that the adulterer was a prince of the Wa Kingdom. No evidence is presented in this excerpt, and Wei himself has not made the accusation.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan takes charge of the room and turns the audience into a spectacle, mixing sharp observation with mischievous inner commentary. She also manipulates the group’s expectations by speaking as though Wei has made a confession.
• The Third Prince adopts a mournful, fragile manner before his grandmother, but Ruonan’s observations suggest that his apparent weakness is partly a performance.
• The Empress Dowager is protective of the prince and initially resists the idea of testing his parentage, stressing respect for the dead and the importance of family bonds. Her concern is challenged when Ruonan raises the possibility of an affair.
• Emperor Deyuan suspects the Third Prince is not his son, partly because he sees little resemblance, and seeks a report from Wei. His suspicion has not yet been supported by evidence.
• Wei Liren is caught in Ruonan’s fabricated dialogue and privately protests that he has said nothing.
• The ministers, consorts, and other onlookers become an eager audience to the unfolding “blood test” drama, while the coal project waits in the background.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The prince’s visible grief and frailty contrast with Ruonan’s observations, while Wei’s supposed testimony exists only in her imitation.
• Rumor, evidence, and accusation: The chapter plays with how quickly suspicion can spread—and how a forceful allegation can sound like fact even when no proof has been offered.
• Family loyalty versus political distrust: The Empress Dowager appeals to compassion and filial bonds, while the emperor’s doubts threaten to turn a family relationship into an investigation.
• Comedy amid court intrigue: The serious question of royal legitimacy is repeatedly undercut by Ruonan’s irreverent thoughts, the ministers’ reactions, and the absurd delay to the briquette-coal demonstration.

Summary

• The Imperial Study is stunned when Lord Wei reveals that Consort Xian was once unusually close to a prince of the Wa Kingdom. The implication is that the Third Prince, Huai’er, may be that prince’s son rather than Emperor Deyuan’s.
• Wei cannot provide conventional evidence. The Empress Dowager challenges him and insists that accusing an imperial consort without proof is a capital offense. Jian Ruonan’s inner voice then reveals that the Empress Dowager had Consort Xian poisoned and that the witnesses to the affair are long dead.
• The Empress Dowager stays outwardly composed, while the other consorts and ministers react inwardly with shock. The Third Prince first feels resentment, then relief, believing his grandmother had hidden the truth to protect his place in the imperial family. The Empress Dowager, however, privately considers Consort Xian’s death preferable to disgrace and believes the family’s honor was preserved.
• Jian Ruonan’s vision shows Consort Xian meeting Mechuan Kuchazi, the Wa Crown Prince, at Jade Buddha Temple twenty years earlier. Their first encounter is comic and awkward; a later scene strongly suggests they became lovers. The vision frames the relationship as a “substitute-lover” affair, since Consort Xian seems to compare Kuchazi with someone else. The intimate scene is obscured, leaving no usable physical evidence.
• Just as the paternity revelation stalls, Jian Ruonan’s inner voice recalls that the Third Prince had secretly contacted a Wa spy and received a Golden Chrysanthemum. Wei seizes on this lead and asks the emperor to search the Third Prince’s residence. Jian Ruonan also reveals that Kuchazi gave the prince the name “Mechuan Yaokuzi”—a crude joke involving the word for “underpants.” The excerpt ends before the search or its consequences.

Character developments and interactions

• The Third Prince shifts from stunned silence to anxiety and conflicted feelings toward the Empress Dowager: he suspects she protected him, but the revelation undermines his identity and legitimacy.
• The Empress Dowager maintains a calm, defensive front while privately confronting the possibility that the grandson she protected is not the emperor’s child.
• Wei Liren is frustrated by his lack of admissible proof but quickly takes up Jian Ruonan’s clue about the Wa spy.
• Jian Ruonan drives the revelations through her supernatural inner-video visions, though the visions’ comic interruptions and censorship frustrate everyone seeking evidence.
• The consorts exchange silent, scandalized reactions, while Emperor Deyuan and the ministers appear to know more than they let on.

Significant themes

The chapter explores secrets and political legitimacy, the limits of evidence, and the lengths powerful people will go to preserve reputation and family standing. Its palace intrigue is deliberately undercut by bawdy humor, wordplay, and the contrast between the characters’ outward composure and their chaotic inner reactions.

Plot points and events

• Emperor Deyuan has the Third Prince arrested after concluding that Consort Xian had treated the Wa Crown Prince, Mechuan Kuchazi, as a substitute for the emperor. The court’s gossipers notice a resemblance between Kuchazi and the Third Prince and mock the scandal.
• After the arrest, the court returns to testing Jian Ruonan’s Briquette Coal. It burns longer and more cleanly than ordinary coal, can be controlled with a special stove, and has potential uses in homes and industry.
• During the test, Consort Yi goes into labor and gives birth to a healthy boy. The delighted emperor names him Tantai Feng, nicknamed “Briquette Coal.”
• Emperor Deyuan assigns Jian Ruonan to lead the briquette’s production, promotion, and sale. She proposes a joint operation representing the court, the Imperial Household Department, and women. When the consorts decline to participate, she appoints her senior maid, Zang Chun, as their representative.

Character developments and interactions

• Emperor Deyuan moves from rage and humiliation over the Third Prince’s scandal to weariness, then joy at his newborn son’s arrival. The consorts’ and officials’ teasing repeatedly tests his patience.
• Jian Ruonan shifts from inventing a practical fuel to taking charge of a major public enterprise, showing initiative in how it will be organized.
• Zang Chun rises dramatically from senior household maid to a chief steward managing hundreds of workers alongside senior officials.
• The Empress, consorts, and ministers share a lively, irreverent gossip culture: they speculate about the scandal, tease the emperor, and quietly avoid being drafted into Jian Ruonan’s project.
• The Third Prince is bound and taken away for investigation; the excerpt leaves his fate unresolved.

Significant themes

• Gossip and political humiliation: Private scandal becomes public entertainment, undermining the emperor’s authority.
• Practical innovation and public benefit: Briquette Coal is presented as a useful invention with broad domestic and industrial applications.
• Women’s agency and labor: Jian Ruonan secures a formal role for women in the enterprise, while the consorts resist being conscripted into its work.
• Fortune amid upheaval: The Third Prince’s arrest coincides with the birth of another royal son, prompting the court’s joking claim that the emperor has “lost one son, gained another.”

Key plot points

• Zang Chun’s appointment as director of the emperor’s “Daughter Coal” factory inspires the maids of Deer Song Courtyard. Jian Ruonan promises to send them to help as the business grows, and tells them to act as officials rather than servants.
• Daughter Coal initially draws ridicule, especially from Chen Jingzhe, who insists he would never use a product made by women. After accepting a free sample, he discovers it is efficient, smokeless, long-burning, and cheap. The product quickly sells out, and he ends up joining the queue to order more.
• Demand surges, prompting the opening of more factories and branches. Jian Ruonan puts her growing profits toward building the Maiden Army.
• In prison, the disgraced First and Third Princes meet and, despite their past rivalry, find common ground in their misfortune. After they settle in for the night, the Third Prince hears a tunnel being dug. A flatbread seller emerges and announces that his subordinate has arrived to rescue him.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan acts as a confident patron and leader, encouraging her maids’ ambitions and promising them protection and authority.
• The maids, particularly Xiaoyu, move from excitement to uncertainty about women’s ability to handle important work; Jian reassures them that they will manage operations, while men do the heavy labor.
• Chen Jingzhe is exposed as a hypocrite: his contempt for women’s work gives way to eager demand once he sees Daughter Coal’s practical value. The shop assistant teases him by repeating his earlier insults.
• The First and Third Princes soften toward one another through shared hardship, exchanging questions and prison-survival advice despite their history of competing for the throne.
• The flatbread seller reveals that the Third Prince’s allies have dug a tunnel to reach him, setting up a possible escape.

Significant themes

• Women’s capability and empowerment: The success of Daughter Coal challenges assumptions about women’s proper roles, while the maids gain the prospect of official positions.
• Practical results over prejudice: Even outspoken critics change their minds when faced with a product’s quality and affordability.
• Loyalty and solidarity: Jian Ruonan supports her staff, and the imprisoned princes find sympathy in shared adversity.
• Political upheaval and suspense: The Third Prince’s imprisonment and the tunnel rescue hint at continuing struggles over power.

Key plot points and events

• The Third Prince, having rejected the Wa royal family’s offer to help him claim the throne, learns that Mr. Snow and Mister Ouyang have arranged another way to rescue him: a long tunnel dug by Wa “flatbread fellows.”
• Facing likely imprisonment or execution after the truth about his mother’s crime is exposed, he accepts the escape plan and declares his ambition to reclaim the empire.
• His first attempt fails because he is too large to fit through the tunnel. The rescuers widen it, but still cannot pull him free until Xue Yuanyu, the Eldest Princess’s imprisoned consort, hauls him out. Xue then escapes through the tunnel himself.
• After further widening, the Third Prince finally gets through and reunites with Mr. Snow, Mister Ouyang, and his guards, who have already fled the residence and hidden in the mountains.
• Wa warriors arrive to pledge their service. Their boasts of legendary ancestry and martial greatness contrast humorously with their very short stature, leaving the Third Prince uneasy.

Character developments and interactions

• The Third Prince remains determined to make his way to the throne independently, but accepts practical help when survival demands it. His imposing height and build become the source of repeated jokes—and a literal obstacle to escape.
• Mr. Snow and Mister Ouyang show foresight by preparing for the Third Prince’s possible arrest and arranging his escape.
• Yoshikawa Kudan and Yoshikawa Haruyo enthusiastically serve the prince, though their praise and exaggerated formality often frustrate him.
• Xue Yuanyu bargains for a place in the escape, then helps free the stuck prince and disappears through the tunnel.
• The Wa warriors’ declarations of loyalty impress the rescuers more than the prince, who silently questions their claims and his uncertain future.

Significant themes

• Survival versus pride: The prince sets aside his distaste for the tunnel—and his earlier refusal of Wa assistance—to escape a dangerous fate.
• Ambition and political upheaval: He remains committed to reclaiming the throne despite losing his former status and security.
• Comic contrast: The prince’s grand self-image and imposing stature clash with the tiny tunnel, the diminutive rescuers, and the warriors’ inflated reputations.

Key plot points and events

• The Third Prince breaks out of prison with help from warriors of the Wa Kingdom. The First Imperial Prince and Xue Yuanyu escape through a dog hole; honoring their former bond, the Third Prince hands his eldest brother over to his own guards.
• The First Imperial Prince reunites with his loyal advisers and announces plans to sail east to Smeedah, conquer its island kingdom, and build a new dynasty. Before leaving, he gives the Third Prince a piece of his handmade night clothes as a token of future aid.
• In Lingnan, Prince Shang Kedao learns that his heir apparent, the heir apparent’s consort, and his tenth daughter have died. Their final written word—“Great-Grandma”—and the attendant’s account point to the Fifth Miss of the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence, whom the Prince dismisses as an implausible threat.
• Shang Kedao orders his elite agent, Gao Shou, to investigate the deaths, kill whoever is responsible, and dispose of Minister Shi Fan, who has raided his gambling dens. He also sends letters to two allied princes, demands an explanation from the emperor, and plans to send his second son’s family to the capital for the emperor’s Longevity Celebration.
• The Third Prince heads for Coiling Dragon Mountain to regroup. He discovers that the Wa Kingdom’s “warhorse” is a tiny Kiso horse—an absurd contrast with his imposing build—which leaves him able to touch the ground even while mounted.

Character developments and interactions

• The First Imperial Prince turns his escape into a fresh bid for power. His advisers remain loyal, and he and the Third Prince exchange sincere thanks and grandiose encouragement before parting.
• The Third Prince remains cautious and politically pragmatic: he assists his brother, then retreats to rebuild his strength. He also accepts the Wa warriors’ tiny horse to avoid offending them, despite his disbelief.
• Shang Kedao responds to the deaths with suspicion and anger, ordering investigations and making political threats. His attendant is frightened by the Fifth Miss, while the Prince mocks that fear.
• Gao Shou is introduced as Shang Kedao’s supposedly undefeated, fearsome assassin. The scene undercuts that reputation comically: the Prince’s thrown knives all miss him.
• Yoshikawa Kudan and the Wa warriors praise the Third Prince’s size and strength, turning the horse into a running joke.

Significant themes and tone

• Ambition and revenge: The First Imperial Prince imagines conquering Smeedah and returning to settle scores; Shang Kedao threatens retaliation over his family’s deaths.
• Loyalty and alliances: Advisers stand by the First Imperial Prince, the Third Prince honors their brotherhood, and Shang Kedao seeks support from other regional princes.
• Reputation versus reality: The First Imperial Prince hides the embarrassing reason for his imprisonment; the “greatest expert” Gao Shou is presented through comic exaggeration; and the Wa horse’s grand title contrasts with its tiny size.
• Comedy amid political danger: Prison breaks, succession schemes, and threats of violence are repeatedly punctured by absurd details, especially the dog-sized warhorse and the Third Prince’s height.

• Xue Yuanyu returns from prison: Thin and nearly unrecognizable, he is rejected by his family, who fear his escape will endanger them. Nevertheless, he confidently plans to take Xue Yingxuan to the Eldest Princess, believing she still cares for the boy and will plead for him. He dresses in the style she once liked, hoping to rekindle her affection.
• Dantai Mo is drawn to the residence: The Black Tortoise System lures him with news of a spectacle—and persuades him to go by mentioning Jian Ruonan, the Fifth Miss. Dantai Mo hides his face and watches from the sidelines.
• The princess’s performance: The Eldest Princess plays a sword-wielding exorcist, Jian Ruonan her page, and a series of handsome demons their foes. The princess’s attention repeatedly falters at the muscular Bull Demon, while Jian Ruonan enjoys playing captive. Dantai Mo grows jealous, though the system explains that Jian Ruonan’s crushes are fleeting and part of the act.
• Xue Yuanyu interrupts: Just as the princess is caught up in a romantic illusion with the Peach Blossom Spirit, Xue Yuanyu bursts in with Yingxuan. The boy tries to defend his mother, while the performers mistake the intruders for unwanted additions to the play. The princess barely recognizes Yuanyu and feels disgust rather than affection; comparing his gaunt appearance with the handsome demons makes her question how she ever loved him.
  Character developments and interactions: Yuanyu’s confidence in his old influence contrasts sharply with the princess’s indifference. His arrival forces an awkward collision between his family drama and the theatrical scene. The princess and Jian Ruonan share playful excitement over the performers, while Dantai Mo’s jealousy reveals his interest in Jian Ruonan. The Black Tortoise System teases and provokes him throughout.
  Themes: The chapter uses comic role-play and mistaken expectations to show how relationships change. It contrasts past attachment with present revulsion, undercuts Yuanyu’s belief that old affection will save him, and plays with the difference between performed romance and genuine feeling.

Plot points and events

• The Eldest Princess’s former husband, Xue Yuanyu, makes a dramatic escape from prison and appears with their son, Xue Yingxuan. He claims he risked everything to see her again.
• The Eldest Princess, far from being moved, questions his sanity and orders him and the boy thrown out.
• Jian Ruonan’s Light Screen exposes the Princess’s past: she once asked Jian to prove her husband did not love her, despite their apparently passionate relationship. The replay humiliates the Princess and reveals how love once clouded her judgment.
• After Xue Yuanyu is removed, the spirit-capturing performance resumes. The male spirits, inspired by his dramatic acting, compete to make their own performances more intense.
• During the final scene, the Bull Demon throws Jian Ruonan into the air. Dantai Mo catches her, disguising himself at first. Jian mistakes him for a new character, then realizes he is the Fourth Prince.
• Dantai Mo gains 20 conquest points after Jian’s attention and reaction stir his emotions.

Character developments and interactions

• The Eldest Princess shifts from public embarrassment to taking charge, ordering Xue Yuanyu and his son expelled and stopping the Light Screen before it reveals more of her past.
• Xue Yuanyu clings to melodramatic declarations of love, but his performance only irritates and humiliates the Princess.
• Jian Ruonan watches the spectacle with amusement and treats Dantai Mo’s disguise as part of the show, unaware at first that her attention affects him.
• Dantai Mo is flustered by Jian’s gaze and, despite her teasing assumptions, shows tenderness by catching her.
• The male spirits turn the performance into a rivalry, determined to outdo one another; even the Black Tortoise System urges Dantai Mo to join their “competition.”

Significant themes

• Love versus reality: The Princess’s past devotion contrasts with her present rejection of Xue Yuanyu.
• Public exposure and humiliation: The Light Screen turns private history into a spectacle, showing how Jian’s powers can socially “annihilate” people.
• Performance and rivalry: The spirits’ acting becomes increasingly extravagant as they compete for recognition.
• Unintended romantic signals: Jian’s casual attention sparks genuine emotional reactions in Dantai Mo, even as she misreads the situation.

Plot and key events

• The Third Prince enjoys life on Coiling Dragon Mountain, where his height makes him feel imposing among the much shorter Wa warriors sent to aid his bid for the Great Xia throne.
• The Wa warriors quickly consume the group’s food stores. Their meat-eating—despite their emperor’s ban—and their struggle to reach a high table become comic examples of their practical habits.
• During military drills, the Prince’s ease mounting a Great Xia horse contrasts with the Wa warriors’ awkwardness mounting their smaller Kiso horses. He enjoys the spectacle, though the Kiso horses are poor mounts for battle.
• With the group’s funds dwindling, the Prince asks Jian Chuxue for ways to make money. She proposes producing “Daughter Coal,” a fuel invented by her rival Jian Ruonan, and plans to compete with her by making briquette coal.
• Jian Chuxue also promises saddles and stirrups to strengthen the Prince’s cavalry, while continuing to develop gunpowder and more powerful weapons. Still injured from Jian Ruonan’s gas-canister bomb, she is determined to surpass it and reclaim the innovations and recognition she believes are hers.
• When asked for business ideas, the Wa leaders propose selling flatbreads, then forming a monopoly and raising prices. The Prince and Jian Chuxue are unimpressed, though the Prince is amused that he understands some Wa speech.

Character developments and interactions

• The Third Prince grows more confident and delighted in his perceived grandeur, treating the Wa warriors’ admiration as proof of his superiority. He remains focused on raising funds and preparing for conquest.
• Jian Chuxue emerges as an ambitious strategist and inventor. She views Jian Ruonan’s successful coal product as an opportunity to retaliate commercially and intends to develop weapons and other technologies to support the Prince.
• The Wa warriors, including Honda Sanlunzi, Yamagata Xiao Chi, Tokugawa Dajiao, and Yoshikawa Haruyo, are loyal and enthusiastic but comically fixated on food and flatbread commerce. Their suggestions frustrate the Prince and leave Jian Chuxue exasperated.
• The Prince’s exchanges with Jian Chuxue show mutual confidence: he praises her usefulness, while she assures him she will deliver. His exchanges with the Wa leaders highlight the gap between his grand ambitions and their modest, food-centered plans.

Significant themes

• Comic pride and perspective: The Prince mistakes the contrast in height and culture for proof of his greatness.
• Ambition and rivalry: Jian Chuxue seeks both political influence and revenge against Jian Ruonan by copying her success and surpassing her inventions.
• Practical survival versus grand ambition: The group urgently needs food and money, while the Prince dreams of conquering a kingdom.
• Innovation as a weapon: Fuel, military equipment, and explosives are treated as tools for both economic competition and warfare.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Chuxue comforts the struggling Third Prince, Dantai Huai, by suggesting he use the Wa Kingdom generals’ tunnel-digging skills to search for the Previous Dynasty Treasure. He takes the advice and names her new honeycomb briquettes “Huai Xue Coal,” combining his own name with hers.
• Dantai Huai assigns the generals to dig for treasure, while Jian Chuxue asks some to help make coal and has the rest pursue a flatbread business. She hopes to compete with Jian Ruonan’s “Daughter Coal,” even planning to make her briquettes heart-shaped.
• Their first coal burns so smoky that using it indoors nearly gives the group carbon-monoxide poisoning. The flatbread venture fares no better: the generals eat their entire supply before they can sell any.
• Jian Chuxue’s later attempts to make better coal, explosives, glass, iron, and cement all fail. An explosion injures her leg, and she spends a week in bed. The generals, meanwhile, continue making—and eating—flatbread.
• Jian Chuxue eventually decides that Jian Ruonan’s success comes from a pink spatial-storage pouch. She asks tunnel expert Honda Sanlunzi to retrieve it, promising that with the pouch she could build an aircraft carrier. He leads the generals down the mountain to carry out the mission.
• A comic court interlude shows Emperor Deyuan and his officials watching the Wa generals’ activities without understanding their language, yet enjoying the “atmosphere” of the spectacle.

Character developments and interactions

• Dantai Huai’s low spirits lift when Jian Chuxue offers a practical plan. Naming the coal after both of them deepens her sense that she is valued and strengthens her loyalty to him.
• Jian Chuxue remains ambitious and determined to rival Jian Ruonan, but her grand plans repeatedly collide with practical failure. She initially looks down on the generals as unreliable, then ultimately depends on their skills again.
• The Wa Kingdom generals are more useful at digging than at business: their tunnel expertise earns them a new assignment, while their appetite sabotages the flatbread scheme. Their bickering with Jian Chuxue gives way to cooperation when she asks them to retrieve the pouch.
• Honda Sanlunzi willingly accepts Jian Chuxue’s mission, and the generals appear pleased that she needs their help after all.

Significant themes

• Ambition versus execution: Jian Chuxue’s sweeping schemes repeatedly fail in practice.
• Reliance and loyalty: Even amid mutual irritation, Jian Chuxue and the generals ultimately need one another.
• Comedic reversals: The supposed business venture becomes an endless cycle of baking and eating, while dangerous inventions undermine their creators.
• Envy and perceived advantage: Jian Chuxue believes Jian Ruonan’s extraordinary success depends on access to her spatial-storage pouch, and sees obtaining it as the key to catching up.

Plot points and events

• A few days after the Third Prince and First Imperial Prince flee, the Spring Examination begins, with Jian Ruonan serving as Deputy Chief Examiner.
• While patrolling, Jian catches a wide range of cheating schemes, including hidden notes, hired substitutes, pigeons, and even thieves passing answers.
• She responds to complaints about someone cooking hot pot in the hall and discovers it is Wang Defa. He has already finished his paper halfway through the three-day exam. Jian warns him to stop disrupting others; he complies, then packs away his pot.
• Jian later learns that Wang places in the examination’s top ten, impressive for someone so young.
• Dantai Mo, apparently prompted by Wang’s achievement, asks for a spare examination paper and begins answering it with striking focus and skill.
• Jian asks the systems why Dantai is taking the exam. Black Tortoise claims he is trying to impress her and court her, praising his looks, abilities, and supposed virtue. When it reveals he is a virgin and hopes for lifelong monogamy, Jian’s brief romantic interest evaporates.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan shows authority as an examiner but remains humorous and easily distracted. She is impressed by Wang’s speed and later briefly captivated by Dantai’s appearance and calligraphy.
• Wang Defa appears more scholarly and mature than Jian remembers. His hot-pot stunt is disruptive, but he proves genuinely talented by finishing early and placing in the top ten.
• Dantai Mo displays scholarly ambition and intense concentration. His jealousy of Wang’s success is teased by Black Tortoise, while he remains unaware that the system is discussing his romantic intentions.
• The systems provide comic commentary: Black Tortoise tries to promote Dantai as an ideal suitor, while the Dog System undercuts its efforts by joking that Jian cannot read and would not tolerate marriage’s hardships.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts elaborate cheating with genuine ability and preparation.
• It highlights youthful talent through Wang’s unexpectedly strong performance.
• Romantic misunderstandings and the gap between intention and perception drive the humor: Dantai may be trying to impress Jian, but the systems’ crude pitch only discourages her.

Key plot points and events

• After escaping prison, the Third Prince disappears in the mountains with help from Wa Kingdom warriors, while the First Imperial Prince flees to Goryeo Island. Emperor Deyuan orders both captured but fails to find them.
• Fearing that one of his sons will uncover the Previous Dynasty Treasure and successfully rebel, the emperor summons Jian Ruonan to an afternoon court session.
• Newly promoted to third-rank General Who Pacifies the Far, Jian arrives in a striking uniform, wearing a dagger gifted by the Fourth Prince. Her younger brother Teng jokes about her authority, then tries to assess whether the Fourth Prince hopes to marry her. A jade ornament from the prince quickly wins Teng over.
• At court, a glowing screen reveals the princes’ locations and shows the Third Prince searching for the treasure with his adviser and Wa Kingdom allies.
• Jian notices that the Third Prince has removed his height inserts. She explains that they are essential to finding the treasure: in the original story, he discovers it only after stumbling while wearing them. Without them, his search is unlikely to succeed soon.

Character developments and interactions

• Emperor Deyuan moves from panic over the escaped princes to cautious relief when he learns the Third Prince has lost the key to finding the treasure. He realizes the “male lead” feared in Jian’s earlier comments is his own third son.
• Jian Ruonan remains relaxed and observant amid court turmoil, focusing on small details that could determine the kingdom’s fate. Her growing status and mysterious screen continue to impress the court.
• Teng is protective and possessive of his sister, teasingly treating himself as the Fourth Prince’s future brother-in-law. He is easily persuaded by the prince’s jade gift.
• Min and Jian Xilu suspect the Fourth Prince is interested in Jian, while Min also worries that Madam Wang continues pressing a proposed match with Wang Defa despite Jian’s refusal.
• The Fourth Prince accompanies Jian to court and gives Teng a jade ornament, reinforcing the family’s suspicion that he cares for her.

Significant themes

• Fate and foreknowledge: Jian’s knowledge of the original story lets her identify how a seemingly trivial mistake could delay a rebellion.
• Power and political uncertainty: The escaped princes, rival fiefdoms, and threat of the treasure leave the court tense and vulnerable.
• Comedy amid crisis: The ministers’ alarm contrasts with Jian’s casual tea-drinking and concern over the Third Prince’s height inserts, while Teng’s matchmaking ambitions add family humor.

Key plot points

• The First Imperial Prince lands on Smeedah Island, conquers Silla, and declares that Goguryeo will break away from Great Xia. He begins imposing Great Xia’s culture while claiming sweeping ambitions for the territory.
• Jian Ruonan watches events through the light screen and mocks the prince’s greed and cultural appropriation. The screen censors the revealing traditional clothing of Smeedah’s women, frustrating her.
• Emperor Deyuan orders a campaign to capture Zheng—the former Third Prince, stripped of his title and surname after his parentage is exposed. Jian Ruonan and the Fourth Prince, Dantai Mo, both volunteer. They are given three days to prepare.
• On Coiling Dragon Mountain, Jian Chuxue’s money-making venture collapses under the cost of injuries and dwindling supplies. Her Wa Kingdom warriors turn to banditry, stealing food from women and children while evading capture through dog holes.
• At night, Honda Sanlunzi and Yamagata Xiao Chi sneak into the Jinyang Marquis’s residence. The household discovers that thieves have taken women’s undergarments and other personal items from multiple courtyards. Jian Ruonan decides to investigate by divination.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains bold, irreverent, and quick to volunteer for danger. She is eager to capture Zheng and keeps her attention on the coming treasure hunt, while treating the strange theft with comic confidence.
• The First Imperial Prince is portrayed as an ambitious conqueror who plans to sever Goguryeo’s ties to Great Xia and establish his own rule.
• Dantai Mo steps forward to join the expedition against Zheng, volunteering just before Jian Ruonan does.
• Jian Chuxue struggles to sustain her business venture and is forced into increasingly desperate choices as her funds and food run out.
• The household maids report their stolen belongings to Jian Ruonan, prompting her to take charge of the mystery.

Significant themes

• The chapter satirizes imperial ambition, cultural appropriation, and the First Imperial Prince’s opportunism.
• It contrasts the characters’ grand plans with material hardship: Jian Chuxue’s venture gives way to hunger and banditry, while the court prepares a military expedition.
• Comedy runs through the chapter’s irreverent narration, the system’s arbitrary censorship, and the absurdly specific thefts.

Key events

• Jian Ruonan learns through her mysterious “gossip patch” that two Wa Kingdom spies, Honda Sanlunzi and Yamagata Xiao Chi, have infiltrated the Jinyang Marquis’s estate. They sneak in through a dog hole, steal women’s clothing—especially red items—and hide in a hole in the grove by day.
• Ruonan draws their likenesses and has the pictures circulated. The household staff admire her “stick figure” portraits and credit her with inventing a new art form.
• Rather than ordering an immediate arrest, Ruonan retrieves her pink purse, plants a mousetrap inside it, and gives a maid instructions.
• Meanwhile, the family discusses upcoming weddings. Ruonan reassures her mother, Min, about Huayuan’s prospective bride, Pei Third Miss, while admitting that Pei enjoys writing sentimental poetry. She gives Huayuan a comic poetry manual to help him impress her.
• Hungry and unable to reach the guarded kitchen, the spies rummage in a storeroom and mistake a packet of cockroach eggs—given to Ruonan by Roach—for snacks. They eagerly eat them as the family watches the revelation unfold.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan stays resourceful and mischievous: she turns information from the gossip patch into a household alert, sets a trap, and uses humor to manage family worries.
• Min is anxious about Huayuan’s marriage, especially after learning his future bride is fond of poetry. Ruonan and Huayuan’s younger brother Teng tease and reassure him in their own ways.
• Jian Huayuan quietly accepts Ruonan’s poetry guide, while Teng jokes that it will guarantee him children.
• The household staff respond with awe to Ruonan’s drawings and follow her instructions.
• Honda and Yamagata are portrayed as stealthy but ridiculous: their petty theft, hunger, and lack of judgment undermine their claims to be formidable warriors.

Significant themes

• Comedy through contrast: the spies’ grand self-image clashes with their grubby behavior and foolish choices.
• Resourcefulness and performance: Ruonan controls events through observation, improvisation, and the reputation she builds for herself.
• Family and marriage: the household’s wedding plans prompt concern, teasing, and efforts to prepare Huayuan for married life.
• Misdirection: the purse is a decoy, while the true storage space is on Ruonan’s person; the spies’ snack turns out to be something far worse than they expect.