Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan secretly puts a potent aphrodisiac in a pastry and feeds it to a chestnut horse, intending to create a commotion at Gao Yang’s residence.
• The drug quickly makes the horse agitated. As it rears, Ruonan pretends it kicked her, prompting Jian Zhang to demand that the household’s master answer for the injury.
• The family is brought inside, where they learn that Gao Yang’s mistress Ping’er is in difficult labor. They wait in the reception room until Ruonan’s gossip-reading system reveals that Gao Yang is at Ping’er’s side.
• Jian Zhang leads his family to the courtyard and overhears Gao Yang threatening the midwife and servants if anything happens to Ping’er. His conduct confirms the family’s suspicions about his secret mistresses and dishonesty during the engagement negotiations.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan proves resourceful and mischievous, using the horse as a pretext to expose Gao Yang’s private life. She also puts on an unconvincing act of injury, though her family’s immediate concern makes her feel vindicated.
• Jian Zhang is fiercely protective of his daughter and quick to confront anyone he believes has harmed her. His anger grows when he hears Gao Yang’s threats.
• Min and Jian Xilu share the family’s concern for Ruonan and accompany Jian Zhang when he goes to investigate. Min is openly angry at Gao Yang, while Xilu remains more composed.
• The horse minder and household servants are caught up in the disruption; the horse minder is thrown down, and the midwife is terrified by Gao Yang’s outburst. Ruonan’s family witnesses the scene together.

Significant themes

• Family protection and solidarity: Jian Ruonan’s apparent injury brings out her family’s immediate, united concern.
• Deception and hypocrisy: Gao Yang’s earlier claim of chastity contrasts sharply with his hidden mistresses and his devotion to Ping’er.
• Comedy and dramatic irony: Ruonan’s staged mishap and the family’s reactions are played against her private narration and the system’s commentary.
• The danger of childbirth and power: Ping’er’s prolonged labor highlights the risks of childbirth, while Gao Yang’s threats reveal how those with authority can intimidate vulnerable servants.

Plot points and events

• During Ping’er’s difficult labor, Gao Yang refuses to see visitors, insisting he must stay by her side. He is openly affectionate and theatrically devoted—until he learns the people his horse frightened include a high-ranking official.
• Gao Yang rushes out to greet the official and discovers it is Jian Zhang, Xilu’s father. He first claims Ping’er is a colleague’s wife, then falls to his knees, admits fault, and insists he was tricked and still wants to marry Xilu.
• Jian Zhang ends the engagement and promises to return Gao Yang’s betrothal certificate.
• Ruonan’s thoughts expose the truth behind Gao Yang’s story: he pursued Ping’er and now falsely blames her. More shockingly, Ping’er was deliberately placed near him by the Third Prince to create leverage over the Duke of Ping.

Character developments

• Gao Yang reveals himself as self-serving and opportunistic: his dramatic devotion to Ping’er gives way instantly to fear of offending a powerful official, followed by an elaborate display of repentance.
• Jian Zhang responds decisively, protecting his family and breaking off Xilu’s engagement. He also shows growing interest in Ruonan’s unspoken knowledge.
• Jian Xilu is embarrassed and retreats behind Min, while privately worrying that her father may forgive Gao Yang.
• Ruonan recognizes Gao Yang’s performance and uncovers a political conspiracy through her gossip-related insight.
• Min is persuaded that Gao Yang is unsuitable for her daughter, though Xilu’s thoughts leave Jian Zhang briefly wondering how his family views his own romantic conduct.

Character interactions

• Gao Yang and Ping’er exchange extravagant declarations while she is in labor, prompting Ruonan to silently mock their melodrama.
• Jian Zhang confronts Gao Yang, kicks him, and rejects his excuses. Gao Yang responds with tears, repeated kowtows, and professions of love for Xilu.
• Ruonan shields Xilu, while her inner revelations give Jian Zhang, Min, and Xilu the hidden facts they need to judge Gao Yang’s claims.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and blame: Gao Yang presents himself as a victim despite having pursued Ping’er himself.
• Performance versus sincerity: His sudden shifts—from lover to dismissive aristocrat to remorseful suitor—make his repentance seem calculated.
• Family protection and accountability: Jian Zhang refuses to overlook Gao Yang’s conduct and calls him to take responsibility.
• Private scandal as political weapon: Ping’er’s relationship with Gao Yang was engineered to give the Third Prince leverage over the Duke of Ping, turning personal gossip into a major political revelation.

Key plot points and events

• Fourth Prince Dantai Mo follows Jian Ruonan to confirm that he can hear her thoughts. His own “high-level” Black Tortoise System is nearly out of lamp oil and proves comically unreliable.
• To find an excuse to enter the Jinyang Marquis’s residence, Dantai Mo orders his guard to ask whether he can buy it. Before the guard can knock, Jian Ruonan’s horse—after eating pastries laced with a potent aphrodisiac—charges out and mounts the prince’s horse.
• Inside, Dantai Mo overhears Jian Ruonan’s thoughts revealing that Third Prince Dantai Huai is trying to win the Duke of Ping’s support. He realizes his seemingly mild and noncompetitive brother has political ambitions.
• Jian Ruonan admires Dantai Mo’s looks but privately laments his paralysis. Dantai Mo hears every word, including her blunt comments about his inability to “perform.”
• Dantai Mo gives her his valuable tourmaline prayer beads. She accepts them demurely while inwardly celebrating their worth.
• Jian Zhang leaves with his family, determined to cancel his daughter Xilu’s marriage into the Duke of Pingguo household and avoid entanglement in princely politics. Dantai Mo follows the family discreetly afterward.
• The family visits a gold shop and a pastry shop. Dantai Mo listens for more political information but instead hears Jian Ruonan’s excitement about sweets and a card-pulling game.

Character developments

• Dantai Mo confirms he can hear Jian Ruonan’s thoughts and begins treating her as a source of intelligence. He also discovers that his apparently easygoing third brother may be an ambitious political rival.
• Jian Ruonan remains outwardly modest and sweet while revealing a greedy, playful, and blunt inner voice. She is delighted by money, food, games, and handsome men.
• Jian Zhang grows more cautious about court politics and resolves to protect his family by ending Xilu’s proposed marriage.
• Black Tortoise System is exposed as boastful and nearly powerless without lamp oil, though it helps Dantai Mo exploit the horse incident as an excuse to enter the residence.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Dantai Huai’s gentle public image hides ambition; Jian Ruonan’s demure exterior contrasts with her candid thoughts.
• Political danger and family protection: The princes’ rivalries make even a marriage alliance risky, prompting Jian Zhang to avoid involvement.
• Comedy through overheard thoughts: The contrast between polite conversation and Jian Ruonan’s unfiltered inner commentary drives much of the humor.
• Money and self-interest: Jian Ruonan’s delight in gifts and purchases shapes her interactions and amuses Dantai Mo.

Character interactions

• Dantai Mo and his system bicker over the system’s uselessness and the supply of lamp oil.
• Dantai Mo listens to Jian Ruonan’s private thoughts, while she remains unaware that he can hear her.
• He rewards her with valuable beads; she thanks him politely while privately celebrating the windfall.
• Jian Zhang and his family show respect to the prince, then leave quickly to avoid political complications.

Chapter Summary: “Settling Accounts”

Key plot points and events

• On the carriage ride home, Jian Ruonan shares pastries with her newly close sister, Jian Xilu. Xilu offers to bake treats for her, while privately marveling at Ruonan’s charm and appetite.
• Back in bed, Ruonan uses the system to spend her points on twenty-five card draws. She wins small packets of toilet paper and sanitary pads, several medicines, and “Multiple-Birth Pills,” which she rejects as dangerous and absurd—especially given the Fourth Prince’s condition.
• Ruonan considers how the system’s agricultural prizes—such as potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, cotton, and hybrid rice—could help Great Xia. She thinks about starting a grain business but lacks land.
• Min provides Ruonan with farmland and two shops, matching and slightly exceeding the share she has given Xilu as a dowry. She also expects Ruonan to study the skills appropriate to a young lady.
• Ruonan resists studying the Four Books for Women, objecting to their teachings of female obedience. Min agrees to postpone the other lessons and focus on practical management.
• Ruonan boasts that she can calculate quickly without an abacus and proposes a contest: if she beats a managing nanny, she will not have to study the Four Books for Women. Min accepts, offering five taels of silver as a prize.
• Nanny Zhou volunteers. Ruonan confidently declines a head start—but, when handed an account book, admits she does not know how to read it.

Character development

• Jian Ruonan remains playful, food-loving, and shrewd. She sees the potential of the system’s modern goods to improve people’s lives, but is also practical about their risks. Her resistance to studying reflects her independent, modern outlook; her confidence in arithmetic, however, outruns her actual familiarity with traditional bookkeeping.
• Jian Xilu grows warmer toward Ruonan, offering to make her pastries and affectionately indulging her quirks. She also gently teases her during the proposed contest.
• Min tries to provide for both daughters and prepare them for adult responsibilities. Though surprised by Ruonan’s resistance, she compromises by steering her toward practical estate management.
• Nanny Zhou is introduced as a capable, literate accountant who is eager to compete for the reward.

Significant themes

• Modern knowledge and social change: Ruonan recognizes that high-yield crops and other modern resources could transform food production and daily life.
• Women’s education and autonomy: Ruonan rejects lessons that promote female submission, pushing instead toward useful, practical skills.
• Family care and obligation: Min’s generous provision of land and shops reflects her effort to support Ruonan, while Xilu’s kindness helps build their sisterly bond.
• Comic confidence versus reality: Ruonan’s bold challenge ends in the humorous discovery that she cannot yet read the very account book she is meant to calculate.

Character interactions

• Ruonan and Xilu bond through shared food, affectionate thoughts, and Xilu’s offer to bake for her.
• Ruonan’s thoughts and conversations with the system turn her card-drawing session into comic exchanges, particularly over toilet-paper packaging and the hazardous fertility pills.
• Ruonan negotiates with Min over her education, resisting conventional instruction but agreeing to learn management.
• Min, Xilu, and the household staff watch as Ruonan challenges Nanny Zhou—setting up a contest that begins with Ruonan needing to learn how to read the accounts first.

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan defeats Nanny Zhou in an accounting contest, first using a shop ledger whose answer was already known, then proving herself again with unchecked accounts calculated page by page. Her speed and accuracy convince the skeptical household servants.
• Instead of accepting praise quietly, Ruonan reveals that she has been trying to avoid studying the Four Books for Women. She offers to teach the senior servants clearer bookkeeping, Arabic numerals, and the nine-nine multiplication table.
• Ruonan asks for Nanny Zhou to be assigned to help manage her fields. She introduces her to potatoes and corn, explaining how to plant them and describing their high yields.
• At supper, Min takes Ruonan and Xilu to pay respects to the old madam. They meet relatives from the second and third branches, including the second aunt, Young Shi-shi, and the household’s daughters.
• Young Shi-shi makes pointed remarks that imply Ruonan is an unwelcome addition to the family. Min responds politely that another daughter, Chuxue, is absent because she has been punished.
• Ruonan’s inner thoughts reveal that Young Shi-shi does not yet know her husband has been taken to the magistrate’s office or that he has been involved with Concubine Wei. Min decides to stay and wait for the news to arrive.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan demonstrates impressive arithmetic and practical ingenuity. Her confident teaching wins over servants who initially doubt her, while her inner monologue shows her comic lack of modesty and determination to avoid formal study.
• Nanny Zhou shifts from skepticism and condescension to admiration, and becomes Ruonan’s prospective assistant.
• Min moves from uncertainty about Ruonan’s abilities to pride in her, then supports her when Young Shi-shi needles her. Hearing Ruonan’s private thoughts, Min eagerly anticipates the coming revelation.
• Jian Xilu is proud and amused by her sister, but is irritated when Ruonan is insulted.
• Young Shi-shi uses teasing remarks to belittle Ruonan, relying on her favored position with the old madam. The exchange heightens the tension between her and Min.

Significant themes

• Practical knowledge and innovation: Ruonan’s modern accounting methods and crop knowledge challenge the household’s established practices.
• Prejudice overcome by demonstrated ability: The servants’ doubts give way to respect once Ruonan proves herself.
• Family hierarchy and social exclusion: Young Shi-shi’s remarks show how status and favoritism shape family interactions.
• Dramatic irony: Ruonan—and, through her inner thoughts, Min—knows scandalous news that the others have yet to hear, setting up the next confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• Xue-shi brings tribute grapes to the old madam’s room. Jian Ruonan eagerly eats several and saves the seeds, while Jian Chuyun pointedly refuses any, claiming she wants to leave the fruit for her grandmother.
• The old madam and her attendants praise Chuyun’s “filialness” and use Ruonan’s appetite—and her saved grape seeds—as an excuse to criticize her. Jian Xilu comforts Ruonan, but Ruonan is more baffled than hurt.
• The old madam eventually feeds Chuyun most of the remaining grapes herself. Chuyun accepts the attention smugly, while Ruonan and Xilu are privately relieved that the old madam favors Chuyun rather than them.
• Chuyun tries to provoke Ruonan by implying she is jealous. Ruonan calmly denies it, then approaches under the pretense of whispering something to her.
• Ruonan reveals that the old madam supposedly has itchy, smelly athlete’s foot and fed Chuyun grapes without washing her hands, then innocently asks whether they tasted sweet. Chuyun is left speechless.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan appears meek and innocent outwardly but is sharp, irreverent, and unbothered by the family’s snubs. She turns the old madam’s favoritism into a joke and delivers a pointed final jab.
• Jian Chuyun is shown as proud, status-conscious, and resentful of the first branch’s inheritance. Her display of filialness masks an interest in her own family’s prospects and a desire to provoke Ruonan.
• Jian Xilu is protective of Ruonan and shares her amusement, struggling not to laugh at the hypocrisy.
• Min recognizes that Ruonan is not emotionally wounded and silently enjoys her wit.
• The old madam openly favors Chuyun, reinforcing the household’s unequal treatment of the branches.

Significant themes

• Performative virtue: Chuyun’s conspicuous “filialness” earns public praise, while Ruonan is condemned over an ordinary act.
• Family favoritism and status: The old madam’s preference for Chuyun reflects the rivalry between branches and anxieties about inheritance and marriage prospects.
• Appearance versus reality: Ruonan’s timid exterior contrasts with her candid inner thoughts and calculated humor.
• Social hypocrisy and quiet resistance: Ruonan answers indirect insults without openly breaking decorum, using politeness and wit to expose the performance.

Character interactions

• The attendants praise Chuyun while disparaging Ruonan, and Jian Xilu responds by comforting her sister.
• The old madam rewards Chuyun’s pose of self-denial by personally feeding her grapes, which Chuyun uses to show off to the sisters.
• Chuyun attempts to cast Ruonan as jealous; Ruonan responds with a seemingly harmless whisper that turns the old madam’s favoritism into an uncomfortable joke.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan’s pointed remark makes Jian Chuyun realize that the old madam’s grapes may have been handled with her diseased, peeling feet. Chuyun vomits but hides the real reason, while Ruonan acts innocent and leaves her visibly humiliated.
• Min and her daughters linger in the old madam’s room, awaiting news. Ruonan silently counts down until a servant arrives with a startling report: Second Master Jian Lang has been jailed for adultery.
• The old madam assumes the arrest concerns a stranger’s concubine and expects Jian Zhang, who works in the Ministry of Justice, to secure Jian Lang’s release. She then blames Jian Lang’s wife, Young Shi-shi, for being jealous and driving her husband to stray.
• The servant reveals that Jian Lang’s lover is Concubine Wei, Jian Zhang’s own concubine. The old madam realizes that she had ordered the authorities to punish the couple severely, unknowingly sending her own son to jail.
• When Jian Zhang arrives, the old madam accuses him of trying to destroy his brother. Ruonan’s inner commentary exposes that the old madam herself had urged Jian Zhang to use the family calling card and demand punishment.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan uses mild, seemingly innocent remarks to unsettle Chuyun and watches the family’s misfortune with gleeful private commentary.
• Jian Chuyun tries to conceal her disgust and anger, but her strained politeness reveals how deeply Ruonan’s insinuation has affected her.
• Min is unusually eager to stay, anticipating the family scandal; she and her daughters enjoy the old madam’s shock.
• The old madam is exposed as hypocritical and impulsive: she shifts blame onto Young Shi-shi, then discovers her own actions caused Jian Lang’s arrest.
• Jian Zhang enters prepared to defend himself, but Ruonan’s inner voice undercuts the excuse he is about to give.
• Young Shi-shi is embarrassed by her husband’s adultery and then unfairly blamed for it.

Significant themes

• Irony and poetic justice: The old madam’s demand for severe punishment rebounds on her own son.
• Family favoritism and scapegoating: She protects Jian Lang while readily blaming his wife.
• Hidden knowledge and public humiliation: Ruonan’s inner commentary lets her family see the truth beneath their excuses.
• Power and double standards: Jian Lang’s habitual infidelity is tolerated until it creates a public scandal.

Plot points and events

• The old madam angrily confronts Jian Zhang over his younger brother Jian Lang’s imprisonment, accuses him of harming the second branch, and questions his right to inherit the marquisate. She throws a teacup at him, cutting his temple and scalding him.
• Jian Zhang insists he knew nothing of Jian Lang’s affair with Concubine Wei, then claims the encounter in the dim Plum Grove was a case of mistaken identity and orders Jian Lang’s release.
• The old madam turns the incident into a demand that Jian Zhang surrender the inheritance to his younger brothers. She dramatically tries to kneel before him, weaponizing the strict social duty of filial piety: resisting her could damage his official career or even lead to imprisonment.
• Jian Zhang begins to waver under the pressure. The younger Shi-shi and Jian Chuyun are pleased at the prospect of gaining the title and status.
• Jian Ruonan breaks the standoff by overturning a table, embracing her father, and loudly accusing the old madam of hurting him and unfairly blaming him. She then throws herself onto the floor and stages an extravagant tantrum, frightening the old madam into silence.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Zhang shifts from defensive denial to calculated composure, but the old madam’s emotional blackmail leaves him close to yielding. Jian Ruonan’s thoughts help him recognize the family’s deeper problem: the old madam’s favoritism has driven the brothers apart.
• The old madam is shown as manipulative and openly biased toward the second branch. She uses tears, a forced kneeling attempt, and filial expectations to pressure Jian Zhang into relinquishing the title.
• The younger Shi-shi and Jian Chuyun initially celebrate the first branch’s apparent misfortune, then become excited when they believe Jian Zhang may give up the marquisate.
• Jian Ruonan acts on her private outrage, turning the old madam’s theatrical tactics back against her. Her comic performance disrupts the power struggle and protects her father from immediate pressure.
• Jian Zhang looks to Min and Jian Xilu for support, but both are uncertain and unable to intervene before Ruonan acts.

Significant themes

• Favoritism and family division: Jian Ruonan’s observation that conflict among children reflects the elders’ lack of virtue prompts Jian Zhang to blame the household’s rivalries on his mother’s partiality.
• Filial piety as a weapon: The old madam exploits social and political expectations of obedience to threaten Jian Zhang’s position and freedom.
• Power through performance: The old madam’s staged distress and Ruonan’s deliberate “madness” show how dramatic displays can control a room.
• Hypocrisy and blame-shifting: Jian Lang’s misconduct is repeatedly reframed as someone else’s fault, while the old madam condemns Jian Zhang despite her own role in the crisis.

Key plot points

• Jian Ruonan’s mock tantrum derails the argument over her father’s noble title, but the household decides she may be possessed. The old madam orders her expelled and calls for a Daoist.
• Min, Jian Xilu, and Jian Zhang protect Ruonan. To stop the servants from harming her, Ruonan claims the Queen Mother of the West has descended into her body and puts on a deliberately absurd performance.
• Though her family briefly wonders whether she is truly supernatural, Ruonan’s private thoughts reveal she is bluffing. Jian Zhang realizes this but admires her nerve.
• When Granny Wang challenges her, Ruonan exposes Wang’s past affair with the household master, her pregnancy, and the son and grandchildren she has kept secret. She also reveals that Granny Li’s husband is the lover of Steward Zhang. The shocked Granny Wang begs for mercy, and Ruonan graciously “spares” her.
• Ruonan turns her attention to the old madam and hints at a compromising secret involving her and a groom from thirty years earlier. The old madam faints, and later falls ill from fright.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan uses theatrical confidence and secret knowledge to defend her father and herself. Her playful inner commentary contrasts with the intimidating “immortal” persona she presents to the room.
• Jian Zhang, Min, and Jian Xilu unite to shield Ruonan, showing their affection and loyalty. Jian Zhang moves from uncertainty about her powers to recognizing that she is acting.
• The old madam shifts from hostility to fear once Ruonan demonstrates her apparent knowledge, then collapses when Ruonan threatens to expose her past.
• Granny Wang and Granny Li are unnerved when Ruonan reveals their hidden connections, showing how her performance turns the household’s power dynamics against her accusers.
• Ruonan’s interactions with her family are protective and affectionate; with the old madam and her allies, she uses intimidation, misdirection, and public exposure.

Significant themes

• Family loyalty: Ruonan’s deception is driven by her determination to protect Jian Zhang, while her family physically and emotionally defend her.
• Appearance versus reality: Ruonan pretends to be a divine being, and the household’s superstition makes the act convincing.
• Power through knowledge: Revealing secrets gives Ruonan leverage over people who had tried to control or threaten her.
• Comedy and reversal: The scene turns a supposed possession into a farce, with the accusers becoming the frightened ones.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan’s supernatural act leaves the old madam terrified and unconscious. The family hesitates to help, but Jian Zhang, Min, and Jian Xilu kneel and promise acts of religious devotion to save her. Ruonan declares that she will spare the old madam, then faints dramatically herself.
• Once both women recover, Ruonan pretends to be an innocent, concerned granddaughter. The old madam sends everyone away, and the family returns to Westglow Garden.
• Min promotes Wen Xue—an informant the old madam placed in their household—to first-class maid after Ruonan requests her. Ruonan prefers to keep the spy close rather than remove her and lose track of her.
• At dinner, Jian Zhang follows through on his vow to abstain from meat for a year. He invites Ruonan to visit his Ministry of Justice office the next day, hoping her cleverness might help with difficult cases. She agrees only after negotiating a late start.
• Jian Xilu asks what Ruonan meant about the old madam and the coachman. Ruonan’s unspoken thoughts reveal a scandalous secret: the old madam has an intimate attachment to the coachman and supposedly caught athlete’s foot from him.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan uses theatrical gestures and feigned innocence to control the room, while her hungry, lazy inner thoughts contrast with her dutiful public persona. She also shows practical caution by keeping Wen Xue nearby.
• Jian Zhang proves unusually indulgent toward Ruonan, readily promising to take her to work and negotiating around her dislike of early mornings. He sincerely accepts his vow, despite regretting the year without meat.
• Min supports Ruonan’s choices, manages the household, and gently tries to encourage her to study.
• Jian Xilu admires and enjoys her younger sister, defending her wish to sleep in. Her curiosity also prompts the family to uncover the old madam’s secret.
• The old madam’s favored relatives—especially Jian Chuyun and Young Shi-shi—avoid helping her when doing so might expose their own secrets, highlighting the gap between their reputation for filial devotion and their actual conduct.

Significant themes

• Filial piety as performance: The household’s professed devotion is tested, while Jian Zhang and the others genuinely plead for the old madam despite past mistreatment.
• Secrets and surveillance: Ruonan’s revelations unsettle the family, and the placement of Wen Xue shows how information and observation shape household power.
• Family affection and favoritism: Jian Zhang’s conspicuous tenderness toward Ruonan contrasts with his stricter treatment of his other children.
• Comedy through contrast: Ruonan’s grand supernatural theatrics and innocent façade repeatedly collide with her blunt, food-focused thoughts and reluctance to wake early.

Key plot points and events

• During a family meal, Jian Ruonan’s inner gossip reveals that the old madam once had an affair with a groom, while her second and third sons are still the Marquis’s biological children. Jian Zhang nearly chokes at the details.
• Ruonan’s thoughts turn to her imprisoned second uncle and his affair with Concubine Wei. Jian Zhang distracts her with talk of food just as she nears a scandal involving himself and Concubine Wei.
• Ruonan wants beef, but Great Xia forbids slaughtering working cattle. She imagines using her Multiple-Birth Pills to make cows have eight calves at once, then considers improving pig farming so she can enjoy pork. Jian Zhang recognizes the potential benefit to the kingdom and quietly wonders how to obtain the pills.
• The system complains that Ruonan is in debt and wastes points on draws instead of missions. It tempts her with upgraded gossip access and video footage, but she balks at the cost.
• At Snowsoft Palace, Consort Yan encourages Prince Rui, Dantai Mo, to consider marriage. He refuses, believing his paralysis would unfairly burden a wife.
• Dantai Mo recalls that contact with Ruonan seemed to restore feeling in his legs. He asks his system what she is doing and learns that she is eating and gossiping—not trying to court him.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains food-focused and irreverent, treating rare magical pills as a potential way to improve her meals rather than fulfill grand missions.
• Jian Zhang is both embarrassed by Ruonan’s revelations and intrigued by the agricultural possibilities of her pills. He also shows quick-witted caution when his own past nearly comes up.
• Min and Jian Xilu enjoy the gossip but become uncomfortable when it approaches Jian Zhang’s private life. Xilu’s idealized image of her father begins to crack.
• The system grows frustrated with Ruonan’s lack of ambition, while Ruonan dismisses its priorities and remains tempted by its gossip features.
• Dantai Mo and Consort Yan share a tender but painful exchange: Yan hopes he will marry, while Mo refuses out of concern for a potential wife. His growing hope about his legs is tied to Ruonan, whom he finds remarkable.

Significant themes

• Gossip and hidden truths: Private scandals emerge through Ruonan’s thoughts, unsettling those who hear them.
• Food and practical ambition: Ruonan’s appetite drives her interest in cattle and pig farming, linking comic personal desires to possible national progress.
• Duty versus personal desire: Mo’s concern about his disability conflicts with his mother’s wish for him to have a family.
• Comedy through mismatched priorities: The system and Jian Zhang see political or economic potential where Ruonan sees better meals—and Mo hopes for her attention while she remains unaware.

Key plot points

• Dantai Mo tells Consort Yan he is considering attending the Grand Princess’s flower-viewing banquet, a prestigious matchmaking event where noblewomen must display their talents. His mother enthusiastically encourages him and offers to choose his clothes.
• After leaving the palace, Dantai Mo sends an invitation to Jian Ruonan, curious about her abilities. His anticipation coincides with Ruonan gaining twenty system points. She resists drawing cards and considers saving points to upgrade the system, visit her farm estate, test the Multiple-Birth Pills, and improve the pigs’ conditions.
• At Joy and Longevity Court, Old Madam recovers from fainting and fears Ruonan’s uncanny knowledge could expose her past affair with a coachman. Young Shi-shi wonders whether Ruonan was possessed by the Queen Mother of the West.
• Daoist Li arrives and, accepting the possession story, plans to prepare an exorcism at his temple. Old Madam agrees, hoping to deal with Ruonan before she can reveal anything.
• Old Madam orders an investigation into Ruonan’s upbringing and the Elder Branch’s behavior. Concluding that Jian Zhang must have uncovered her secrets and coached Ruonan to stage a supernatural performance, she feels reassured.
• Jian Lang is brought home after receiving twenty strokes in prison. He accuses Jian Zhang of deliberately ruining him. Old Madam promises to retaliate, while Young Shi-shi fears the Younger Branch will lose influence. Old Madam believes Jian Zhang cannot inherit the marquisate while her brother, Minister Shi Fan, remains in office.

Character developments and interactions

• Dantai Mo shows unusual interest in Ruonan and takes a step toward reentering social life, encouraged by his devoted mother, Consort Yan.
• Jian Ruonan continues to benefit from the system but shows restraint by saving her points rather than immediately drawing cards.
• Old Madam shifts from panic to a self-serving explanation: she assumes Jian Zhang is behind Ruonan’s apparent supernatural knowledge. Her fear of exposure drives her plans to have Ruonan exorcised and her determination to protect Jian Lang.
• Daoist Li treats Ruonan as a demonic threat and agrees with Old Madam to postpone the exorcism until he is prepared.
• Jian Lang returns injured and bitter, blaming Jian Zhang for his punishment. Young Shi-shi shares his family’s distress and fears for their branch’s future.
• Old Madam relies on Wang Juhua, her longtime confidante and keeper of her secrets, but continues to suspect that Jian Zhang is the real force behind events.

Significant themes

• Deception and misinterpretation: Ruonan’s composed behavior and knowledge are read as possession, while Old Madam invents a political explanation that protects her from confronting the truth.
• Power and family rivalry: The branches of the Jian family compete over inheritance, influence, and survival.
• Reputation and exposure: Old Madam’s fear of scandal shapes her decisions and her desire to silence Ruonan.
• Changing prospects: Dantai Mo’s invitation to Ruonan hints at new social opportunities, while his own willingness to attend the banquet suggests a possible change in his life.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan sleeps late in her mother Min’s quarters, where her father’s early-morning routine regularly wakes her. Her elder sister, Jian Xilu, is the only one who manages to rouse her.
• After washing up, Ruonan meets her six-year-old brother, Jian Huateng. Her affectionate thoughts about his cuteness frighten him, and he runs to Min.
• The family discovers that Min and Teng can hear Ruonan’s unspoken thoughts—but they cannot discuss this ability aloud.
• Ruonan’s thoughts expose Teng’s real reason for coming home early: he pretended his teacher was sick to avoid a dull essay lesson. Though clever and academically gifted, Teng is also mischievous, often getting into trouble at school.
• Min fetches a ruler to discipline him. Teng begs Ruonan to intervene, and her fondness for him leads her to ask Min to give him another chance. Teng happily lets Ruonan pinch his cheeks.

Character developments and interactions

• Ruonan is lazy about mornings but affectionate and impulsive, quickly becoming protective of her younger brother. Her private thoughts reveal far more than she intends.
• Teng appears polite and scholarly, but is a crafty troublemaker who uses his charm and quick thinking to escape consequences. He quickly recognizes Ruonan as both a source of embarrassing revelations and a potential ally.
• Min shifts from indulgent amusement to concern and discipline when she learns Teng has lied. She also realizes that Ruonan’s thoughts cannot be openly discussed.
• Xilu is patient and responsible, waking Ruonan and silently recognizing that Teng should face some consequences.
• Ruonan and Teng form an immediate, affectionate bond, while Min’s attempt to discipline him is softened by Ruonan’s intervention.

Significant themes

• Sibling affection: Ruonan’s love for Teng is instant and sincere, even as she exposes his misdeeds.
• Appearance versus reality: Teng’s proper manners and sweet appearance conceal a mischievous, manipulative streak.
• Truth and accountability: Ruonan’s involuntary thoughts bring Teng’s lie to light, prompting Min to consider discipline.
• Family intimacy and comedy: The family’s hidden ability to hear Ruonan’s thoughts creates both awkwardness and humor, while drawing them closer.

Plot points and events

• Jian Huateng wins Jian Ruonan’s sympathy by acting cute, and she persuades their mother, Min, to spare him a beating. He promises to behave and quickly memorizes the essay he was assigned.
• Teng then tests Ruonan by criticizing her habit of sleeping late. When she explains that their father approved it, Teng pivots to fretting about how her future husband and mother-in-law might judge her.
• Ruonan’s private thoughts reveal that she does not want to marry and objects to the limited roles available to women. Though her family is accustomed to her unconventional views, eldest sister Xilu reflects that they contain a kind of logic.
• After breakfast, Ruonan and Teng walk beside the lake. When she hears that it contains shrimp and crabs, she eagerly imagines a seafood dinner.
• Teng suddenly collapses and pretends to convulse. Ruonan initially panics and runs to seek help, asking her system for emergency medicine. The system instead shares gossip. After hearing it, Ruonan calmly returns, realizing Teng has been playing a trick on her.

Character developments and interactions

• Teng proves both clever and manipulative: he uses cuteness to win Ruonan over, feigns wounded feelings to probe for permission to sleep late, and later stages a medical emergency. He also realizes Ruonan’s inner voice can expose secrets, making her a potential threat to his schemes.
• Ruonan is affectionate but sharp. She rescues Teng from punishment, sees through his emotional tactics, and is initially genuinely frightened when he collapses—before the system’s gossip reveals the deception.
• Min is strict about education but softens when Ruonan intervenes and is moved by Teng’s apparent distress.
• Xilu finds amusement in Ruonan’s ability to check Teng and quietly considers the force of Ruonan’s unconventional views.
• Ruonan’s family can hear her thoughts, creating a comic contrast between her spoken politeness and candid inner commentary.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Teng’s innocent, tearful performance conceals calculated motives; Ruonan’s polished exterior contrasts with her blunt thoughts.
• Family affection and manipulation: Ruonan’s fondness for Teng makes her vulnerable to his tricks, while the siblings continually test and outwit one another.
• Women’s restricted choices: Ruonan questions a society that treats marriage and obedience as women’s main purpose, while Xilu begins to consider her argument.
• Comedy through dramatic irony: The family’s access to Ruonan’s thoughts—and the audience’s awareness of Teng’s schemes—undercuts the characters’ performances with humor.

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan realizes her six-year-old brother, Jian Huateng (“Teng”), faked an illness and pretended to have drowned as a prank, intending to make their mother, Min, think Ruonan had lied.
• She punishes him by pinning him down and spanking him. Teng’s dramatic cries for help fail to win sympathy: Min says he deserves it, and eldest sister Jian Xilu agrees that he needs to learn restraint.
• Later, Teng secretly overhears that their father, Jian Zhang, has been impeached and that Ruonan is being summoned to the Ministry of Justice Office. Curious, he sweet-talks his way into accompanying her.
• The siblings arrive at the office, where Jian Zhang is distressed by the accusation that he failed to govern his household and caused his mother’s illness. Censor Cao, who filed the charge, is the husband of Madam Song.
• A clerk brings Jian Zhang the impeachment document and demands a written defense. Ruonan recognizes Cao’s name and thinks aloud that he is secretly corrupt, with bribes hidden in his family’s ancestral hall.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan shows she can see through Teng’s schemes and is willing to discipline him directly. Her thoughts also reveal surprising knowledge of political figures and future events.
• Jian Huateng is exposed as mischievous, manipulative, and skilled at acting cute or pitiful to escape consequences. He is startled by Ruonan’s insight and by her apparent knowledge of his future as a “Great Traitor.”
• Min and Jian Xilu side with Ruonan, signaling that they recognize Teng’s behavior needs correcting.
• Jian Zhang is anxious and under pressure from the impeachment; his warm welcome to Ruonan contrasts with his stern reaction to Teng.

Significant themes

• Family discipline and loyalty: Ruonan’s harsh punishment is treated as deserved, while the family closes ranks rather than rewarding Teng’s deception.
• Appearance versus reality: Teng’s innocent, adorable exterior masks deliberate mischief, while Censor Cao’s public reputation for integrity may conceal corruption.
• Foreknowledge and hidden knowledge: Ruonan’s inner thoughts repeatedly reveal information others—including Teng and Jian Zhang—cannot explain.

Character interactions

• Ruonan confronts and spanks Teng; Teng alternates between pleading, joking, and loudly portraying himself as the victim.
• Min and Xilu support Ruonan, leaving Teng astonished that his usual appeals have failed.
• Teng ingratiates himself with Ruonan to join her trip, while Jian Zhang welcomes his daughter but questions why his son came.
• At the office, Ruonan’s thought about Cao’s secret bribes shocks both Jian Zhang and Teng.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jian Zhang realizes Ruonan’s claim that Censor Cao secretly serves the First Imperial Prince is credible: Cao has helped eliminate officials who accused the prince. Exposing him could also deflect suspicion from Jian Zhang.
• Jian Zhang quietly alerts a clerk, then contacts the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate Cao’s home. Ruonan is still trying to work out how to tell her father, unaware that he has already acted.
• Ruonan considers reporting Cao through a public Reporting Box, but she cannot write traditional characters and decides she needs to practice first.
• Teng proposes going to watch the raid, and the siblings sneak into a neighboring house and climb over the shared wall into Cao’s residence.
• At the ancestral hall, Cao threatens to kill himself if the guards search further. His poor, shabby household and reputation for honesty make the Embroidered Uniform Guard hesitate. Their initial search turns up nothing.
• Ruonan’s thoughts reveal that the gold bricks are hidden under the stone tiles beneath the ancestral hall’s offering table. Jian Zhang, who had begun to doubt the search, realizes Ruonan is nearby and knows where to look.

Character developments

• Jian Zhang moves from worry to decisive action, trusting Ruonan’s information enough to call in the imperial guard. When the search appears fruitless, his confidence falters—until he hears her reveal the hiding place.
• Jian Ruonan remains sharp and observant, though she is unaware of how much her inner thoughts are guiding events. She is delighted by the guards’ appearance, despite outwardly seeming frightened, and finds a way to avoid writing her own report.
• Teng grows openly devoted to Ruonan, vowing to protect and stay close to her. He is also bold enough to suggest watching the raid and helps her sneak into the residence, though she privately uses him as a convenient excuse.
• Censor Cao is exposed as a supposedly austere official who has secretly accumulated bribe money and hidden it in the ancestral hall.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Cao’s humble home and public reputation conceal both political corruption and hidden wealth.
• The power of private knowledge: Ruonan’s unspoken thoughts repeatedly provide the information needed to steer the investigation.
• Family loyalty and comic manipulation: Teng’s affection for Ruonan contrasts with her playful willingness to push him into risky situations.
• Justice and political intrigue: The investigation is tied not only to bribery but also to Cao’s role in serving the First Imperial Prince.

Character interactions

• Jian Zhang and the clerk exchange a secret plan to alert the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
• Teng embraces Ruonan and pledges his loyalty; later, he shields her from the guards and leads her toward the raid.
• The guard commander and Jian Zhang are pressured by Cao’s threats and apparent poverty, while Madam Song insists the family has been wronged.
• Ruonan’s thoughts provide Jian Zhang with the crucial location of the gold, just as he is losing confidence in the search.

Plot points

• Jian Zhang arrives at Censor Cao’s residence, with Jian Ruonan and Teng hiding nearby. He rushes into the Ancestral Hall and discovers gold bars concealed beneath the offering table.
• When Censor Cao and Madam Song protest that the money was planted, Jian Ruonan’s thoughts reveal that more stolen wealth is hidden in the concubine’s room. Jian Zhang finds jewelry, jade, and banknotes there.
• Jian Ruonan’s inner voice exposes further corruption: Cao has secretly bought property for his concubine’s family and maintains a lavish mistress, Madam Qin, in a neighboring residence. Jian Zhang announces these leads, and Cao collapses in despair.
• Madam Song, realizing Cao has secretly enriched other women while making her live in poverty, attacks him. Jian Zhang lets the couple fight while the onlookers watch—encouraged by Ruonan’s gleeful commentary.
• Prince Rui, Dantai Mo, arrives after hearing how accurately Jian Zhang uncovered Cao’s hidden assets and affairs. Ruonan remains unaware of the adults’ interest in her and focuses on the fight, urging Madam Song to retaliate.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Zhang gains confidence as Ruonan’s thoughts guide him to the evidence. He is relieved that exposing Cao may protect his position and earn him a promotion, and he begins thinking about teaching Ruonan the law.
• Jian Ruonan delights in revealing secrets and watching the resulting chaos. Her blunt judgments about Cao and her enthusiastic fight commentary show her mischievous, irreverent nature.
• Censor Cao is exposed as a corrupt official who hides bribe money and maintains both a favored concubine and a mistress while deceiving his wife.
• Madam Song shifts from defending her household to furious confrontation when she learns of Cao’s betrayals. Though she attacks him, she is physically weaker after years of hardship.
• Teng stays hidden with Ruonan, while Dantai Mo recognizes Ruonan’s apparent intelligence network as potentially useful to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
• Jian Zhang, Dantai Mo, and Teng all react to Ruonan’s inner voice, though she does not know they can hear it.

Significant themes

• Corruption and hypocrisy: Cao’s apparent poverty masks stolen wealth and a secret, extravagant life.
• Betrayal and unequal marriage: Madam Song bears hardship while Cao secretly spends his ill-gotten gains on other women and their families.
• Hidden knowledge and justice: Ruonan’s thoughts expose secrets ordinary investigation might miss, allowing Jian Zhang to uncover the case.
• Comedy amid scandal: Ruonan’s gleeful commentary turns a serious corruption investigation—and the spouses’ brawl—into farce.

Chapter summary

• Dantai Mo argues with his Black Tortoise System, which insists Jian Ruonan’s mission is to win him over and recommends marriage as a way to restore its Lamp Oil. Dantai doubts the system: Ruonan has shown no interest in courting him and even thinks of him as “crippled.”
• After the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrests Censor Cao for corruption, Dantai orders him taken in for further questioning. Jian Ruonan and her brother Teng are discovered hiding nearby, with Teng acting as her seat cushion. Ruonan privately admires Dantai’s looks and authority, while Teng eagerly praises him. Her thoughts label Teng a future “treacherous courtier,” alarming their father, Jian Zhang.
• The case against Cao is strengthened when investigators find his mistress and recover more illicit money. Commissioner Zhang Ying invites Jian Zhang to advise her on a separate, baffling palace case. Dantai joins them, since it falls under the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s jurisdiction.
• Zhang explains that someone has repeatedly drugged Emperor Deyuan, apparently to help an imperial consort conceive. Despite intense searches and inspections, the investigators cannot discover how the substance entered the palace or where it was hidden. Ruonan reflects on the harem’s harsh incentives: consorts with sons have a better future than those without children.
• As Jian Zhang pretends to reason through the case, Ruonan’s thoughts reveal the breakthrough: a eunuch smuggled the drug into the palace by hiding it in his anus—a crude “chrysanthemum” reference. The chapter ends as the others grasp that the emperor may have ingested the drug by a deeply disgusting route.

Character developments and interactions

• Dantai Mo remains skeptical of his system’s matchmaking advice and is repeatedly irritated by Ruonan’s private comments about his disability. He recognizes the value of her thoughts in solving the palace case.
• Jian Ruonan is comfortable, food-focused, and irreverent, but her observations uncover the crucial clue. Her blunt thoughts contrast with the grave investigation.
• Jian Zhang protects his daughter, worries about Teng’s influence, and sees the case as a chance to gain imperial favor—while relying on Ruonan’s unspoken insights.
• Teng idolizes Dantai and eagerly flatters him, though Ruonan’s prediction of his future as a treacherous courtier unsettles his father.
• Zhang Ying seeks Jian Zhang’s help after the Embroidered Uniform Guard fails to solve the drugging case.

Significant themes

• Women’s constrained choices: The harem’s unequal prospects push consorts toward dangerous schemes to bear sons.
• Appearance versus reality: Ruonan appears delicate but is sharp-minded; Teng’s innocent age contrasts with his precocious flattery.
• Power and opportunity: Solving cases can earn influence, while imperial authority shapes both investigations and personal fortunes.
• Comic irreverence amid danger: Ruonan’s crude inner commentary punctures the solemnity of court affairs.

• The investigation: Jian Ruonan’s thoughts reveal that a young eunuch is secretly putting an aphrodisiac into the emperor’s medicine, smuggling it into the palace in an intimate hiding place. His motive is a desperate, unreturned crush: after the emperor once slept with him while drunk, the eunuch fell in love, but the emperor forgot him. Hoping to win another night with him, the eunuch has bought the drug repeatedly and now plans to use a stronger dose.
• Jian Zhang follows the clues: Though Ruonan leaves out the eunuch’s identity, she reveals that he serves the emperor with brushes and ink, had a day off, and is returning to the palace. Jian Zhang concludes that investigators should focus on the emperor’s personal eunuchs and search returning servants carefully, including places they might use to conceal contraband. Zhang Ying recognizes the value of his advice and moves to pursue it. Jian Zhang is pleased by Ruonan’s praise, but privately knows that his deduction depended on her unspoken information.
• The gossip is interrupted: Jian Zhang sends Teng home before Ruonan’s thoughts can expose more scandal. Teng is frustrated at missing the story and even asks how a “chrysanthemum” could hold something, prompting his father to send him away firmly.
• A possible romance: Zhang Ying’s sister, Zhang Cairong, joins the gathering and accompanies Ruonan outside. Ruonan realizes Cairong admires the Fourth Prince, Dantai Mo, and hopes they will become a couple. Dantai Mo hears this and doubts that Ruonan’s supposed mission is to win his heart.
• The systems’ confusion: Dantai Mo’s Black Tortoise System insists Ruonan’s mission is real and tries to prove it by using its power after she has been near Dantai Mo. The attempt nearly drains Ruonan’s own system, which reports feeling as if its battery is failing. Ruonan promptly decides to abandon the mission for the system’s safety; her system protests, but she refuses to reconsider. The Black Tortoise System then relays their exchange to Dantai Mo as supposed proof—leaving him unconvinced.
  Character developments and themes: Jian Zhang shows practical skill as an investigator and a protective, if sometimes embarrassed, father. Ruonan remains playful, unconventional, and easily distracted by lunch and naps, even while providing crucial clues. Dantai Mo is skeptical of both the case’s bizarre motive and the claim that Ruonan wants to win his heart. The chapter mixes comic misunderstanding with a melodramatic tale of unrequited desire, while highlighting the contrast between the court’s serious investigation and Ruonan’s irreverent inner commentary.

Key plot points and events

• The Black Tortoise System runs out of lamp oil just after Dantai Mo hears Jian Ruonan’s thoughts. Once it goes offline, he can no longer hear them.
• Jian Ruonan gains points when Dantai Mo becomes interested in her, then loses five when his affection drops. Her system urges her to make an effort to win him over; she privately complains that his moods are unstable.
• Dantai Mo volunteers to escort Jian Ruonan home, partly to keep the system powered and learn more about her mission. When he hears her wonder whether his fall from a horse was arranged, he recognizes that her question matches his own long-held suspicions—but the system goes offline before he can learn more.
• At the Jinyang Marquis’s residence, Dantai Mo helps Jian Ruonan from her carriage and accompanies her inside on the pretext of having business with her father.
• Jian Ruonan is immediately summoned to greet Madam Zhang, wife of Shi Fan, a powerful court official whose influence has helped stall the petition to name Jian Ruonan’s father heir to the marquisate. As the family prepares, Jian Ruonan asks her system for Shi-family gossip; it announces that the family has a major scandal.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains focused on food and earning system points, but she is increasingly curious about Dantai Mo’s disability and the circumstances behind his accident. She also finds herself warming to fine jewelry she once considered gaudy.
• Dantai Mo is intrigued by Jian Ruonan’s thoughts and begins deliberately seeking chances to be near her. Her question about his accident sharpens his suspicion that his fall was no coincidence.
• Their interaction is polite on the surface: he escorts her, offers his hand, and she thanks him shyly. Privately, her admiration for his looks contrasts with his awareness of her matchmaking mission.
• Teng eagerly clings to Jian Ruonan, hoping to hear more gossip, while Min helps her get dressed for the formal greeting.

Significant themes

• Hidden motives and private thoughts: Jian Ruonan’s internal commentary shapes Dantai Mo’s understanding of her and of his own past.
• Power and uncertainty: Dantai Mo’s mysterious accident and the Shi family’s political influence hint at deeper intrigue.
• Comedy amid danger: The systems’ constant need for lamp oil and Jian Ruonan’s fixation on points and snacks undercut the serious questions surrounding Dantai Mo’s injury.