Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Painter No. 3 and Painter No. 4 burst into a private room, assuming Pu Yixiu is forcing himself on Wang Haihai.
• Jian Ruonan intervenes, insisting Haihai is acting willingly and framing the encounter as an artistic pursuit. Haihai is bewildered and annoyed by Ruonan’s claims, but goes along with the explanation.
• To reassure the painters, Haihai kisses each of them and declares that she loves them all because they are worthy of love. She persuades the two painters to leave by promising they can take turns with her later.
• Once they are gone, Haihai and Pu Yixiu resume their intimate encounter. The spectators lose sight of them when the bed curtains close, so Ruonan orders the curtains removed from the other private rooms.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan eagerly watches the scandal unfold, expecting Haihai to use some elaborate scheme. She is astonished when a few kisses and promises settle everything. Her blunt inner commentary drives the comedy.
• Wang Haihai proves adept at managing her lovers: she redirects the painters’ anger, reassures them with affection, and gets them to leave without giving up her time with Pu Yixiu. She resents Ruonan’s interference and false claims about understanding her.
• Pu Yixiu is irritated by the interruption but pleased when Ruonan’s explanation makes him seem like Haihai’s willing partner.
• Painter No. 3 and Painter No. 4 initially react with suspicion and anger, chiefly toward Pu, but readily accept Haihai’s explanation and affection.
• Dantai Mo, revealed to be the Crown Prince, quietly enjoys being close to Ruonan. When she grabs him while watching, he invites her to keep holding on; she dismisses his flirtation, while he privately takes her praise to heart.
• The gossip-loving girls watch the scene with delight and are startled to discover Dantai Mo’s identity.

Significant themes

• Performance and artifice: Haihai casts her romantic maneuvering as “art,” while Ruonan narrates the encounter like a spectacle.
• Jealousy and accommodating affection: The painters’ rivalry is easily calmed by Haihai’s assurances that she loves them all and will give each a turn.
• Gossip as entertainment: Ruonan and the girls treat the private drama as a captivating show, with Ruonan even trying to improve their view.
• Romantic comedy and misunderstandings: The scene’s supposed crisis quickly becomes an absurdly cooperative arrangement, while Dantai Mo’s understated flirtation adds a second comic thread.

Key events

• Jian Ruonan turns the painters’ own “art” rhetoric against them, arguing that the girls should be allowed to watch. She talks her way into the Water Cloud Private Room as a painter and housekeeper, hoping to enjoy more gossip.
• Min Yun tells her grandmother about Pu Yixiu’s behavior. When her grandmother suggests finding her another husband, Min Yun says she would marry someone only if he were better than the Crown Prince—leaving her grandmother regretting that she ever sent Min Yun to advise Jian Ruonan.
• Jian Ruonan and the gossip-loving girls visit the private room regularly. Since Wang Haihai will only pose for male painters, the girls disguise themselves as men.
• When Wang Haihai becomes ill, Jian Ruonan examines her and announces that she is pregnant. Pu Yixiu and Painters No. 3 and No. 4 all claim paternity, but the pregnancy is too far along to be theirs. Wang Haihai’s hints reveal that Wu Anwan is the father; he panics and flees.
• The remaining men then compete to become the child’s father. Jian Ruonan proposes that the baby receive the love of all four, dubbing it the “true darling of the whole gang.”

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan shows her quick wit and shameless confidence, using the painters’ arguments to gain access to their world and turning a medical discovery into fresh gossip.
• Min Yun reveals that her feelings for the Crown Prince set an almost impossible standard for any future husband.
• Wu Anwan’s involvement in Wang Haihai’s pregnancy exposes a secret relationship, while his panicked reaction contrasts with the other men’s eagerness to claim the child.
• The men’s rivalry shifts from arguing over who fathered the baby to fighting over who gets to raise it; Wang Haihai, meanwhile, tries to stop the uproar.

Significant themes

• Art as an excuse: The chapter mocks the painters’ lofty claims about art, exposing how they use them to justify voyeurism and sexual behavior.
• Gossip and spectacle: Jian Ruonan and her friends treat scandal as entertainment, and each revelation becomes another show for them.
• Chosen family and shared affection: The men’s willingness to raise a child they did not father turns paternity into a comic competition and frames the baby as everyone’s darling.
• Marriage and standards: Min Yun’s comparison with the Crown Prince humorously highlights the gap between ordinary suitors and her ideal.

Key plot points and events

• Xie Panxia arrives and also claims to be the father of Wang Haihai’s unborn child. Haihai points out that the timing rules him out, but his appearance turns the existing contest among three artists into a four-man rivalry.
• Jian Ruonan interrupts the men’s argument, urging them to replace their public claims with quiet care for Haihai and the child. Haihai adopts the idea, declaring that all four men are the child’s fathers and that love and art have no boundaries. Her speech reconciles the men, though the room’s onlookers are scandalized.
• The group leaves to find the child’s actual biological father, Wu Anwan. In another room, they find him berating Yuan Yinyin for letting maids help with housework.
• Yuan Fanfan tells her sister that Wu Anwan has a child with Haihai. Yuan Yinyin initially looks devastated, but then decides her own mistake and Wu Anwan’s infidelity “cancel each other out.”
• Wu Anwan apologizes by blaming Haihai for seducing him. Yuan Yinyin responds by opening her clothes to reveal a dung-ball tattoo and asking him to paint her.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Haihai turns a paternity dispute into a vision of shared, boundaryless love, joining the four men’s hands and presenting the child as belonging to them all.
• Jian Ruonan acts as the group’s practical mediator, calming the men and later trying to help Yuan Fanfan face her sister’s destructive attachment.
• Xie Panxia re-enters Haihai’s orbit, despite being told the child’s timing does not match his claim.
• Yuan Yinyin remains devoted to Wu Anwan despite learning he has fathered another woman’s child. Her “mistakes cancel out” reasoning—and her request to be painted—show how deeply she is caught up in their unhealthy romance.
• Wu Anwan asserts control over Yuan Yinyin, then deflects responsibility for his affair by claiming Haihai seduced him.
• Yuan Fanfan and Min Yun react with disbelief and concern, while Ruonan sarcastically concludes that the mismatched pair may be impossible to separate.

Significant themes

• The chapter satirizes romantic possessiveness and infidelity, especially through Haihai’s absurdly expansive “universal love” and Yinyin’s willingness to excuse betrayal.
• It contrasts artistic idealism with messy reality: lofty talk of love and art sits alongside coercion, betrayal, and bizarre personal choices.
• Its comedic narration repeatedly exposes the gap between characters’ earnest romantic logic and everyone else’s incredulous judgment.

Plot points and events

• Yuan Yinyin reveals a tattoo she calls a sunset, copied from a painting by Wu Anwan. Everyone else thinks both the tattoo and painting look like a dung ball. Wu first accuses her of stealing the painting, then is moved by her devotion and the two become passionately entangled.
• Jian Ruonan and her friends leave rather than intervene. Yuan Fanfan asks Jian to rescue her sister, but Jian concludes Yinyin is too devoted to Wu to be persuaded out of the relationship.
• Crown Prince Dantai Mo proposes letting the couple stay together while cutting off their financial support. Jian explains that hardship and daily chores may wear down their romance. Dantai orders both families not to provide money or supplies, and sends Yinyin to live with Wu in the Water Cloud Private Room without her dowry.
• Jian dubs the scheme the “Silicon-Based Life Observation Plan.” The next day, facing an empty pot, Yinyin refuses to let Wu work, insisting that she will earn money and support him instead.

Character developments and interactions

• Yuan Yinyin shows the depth—and comic excess—of her devotion to Wu, from tattooing herself with his painting to volunteering to support him.
• Wu Anwan shifts abruptly from anger over the stolen painting to emotional surrender. He professes that his heart is dead, yet readily reciprocates Yinyin’s advances.
• Yuan Fanfan is embarrassed and worried about her sister, but cannot bring herself to break up the couple.
• Jian Ruonan watches and comments with sharp, irreverent humor, then devises a practical plan to test the couple’s love.
• Dantai Mo supports Jian’s plan by using his authority to cut off the couple’s family assistance.

Significant themes

• The chapter humorously contrasts idealized romantic devotion with the realities of money, work, and household survival.
• It satirizes artistic self-importance and impulsive romance, while questioning whether love can withstand material hardship.
• Jian’s inner commentary and the friends’ reactions provide much of the chapter’s comedy; the ending complicates the plan, as Yinyin responds to hardship by taking on the provider role herself.

Plot points and events

• Yuan Yinyin tries to support herself and Wu Anwan after their resources are cut off. She fails at a dishwashing job, cannot borrow money because of the Crown Prince’s warning, and spends weeks gathering wild greens.
• Jian Ruonan secretly feeds Yinyin roast meat. Yinyin even swallows a whole roast chicken to try to bring it back to Wu Anwan, but he rejects it, sparking their fiercest argument. As the pattern continues, Wu grows gaunt while Yinyin grows well-fed; he also ventures out for greens and has strange experiences that inspire his painting.
• With Wang Haihai’s help, Yinyin realizes that love without money is unstable and, with Jian Ruonan and the Crown Prince’s assistance, breaks off her engagement.
• Wang Haihai gives birth to a son. The five painters settle their contest to be the child’s father by becoming his five godfathers, concluding the “Silicon-Based Life Observation Plan.”
• Jian Ruonan’s support for women such as Sister Hua and Wu Yehe becomes widely known. More women seek her protection or follow her example, choosing work and independence over marriage. Her commercial festivals help stimulate the economy, pleasing Emperor Deyuan.
• Some courtiers, especially men whose engagements have been broken, push for Jian Ruonan to marry, hoping marriage will end the trend. At afternoon court, Wu Gaowan proposes forcing all women aged seventeen and above to marry, with heavy taxes and penalties for those who remain unmarried. The chapter ends as Jian Ruonan reacts angrily.

Character developments and interactions

• Yuan Yinyin learns through hardship that devotion alone cannot sustain a relationship. Jian Ruonan and Yuan Fanfan both help her, while her increasingly strained relationship with Wu Anwan exposes their mismatched expectations.
• Wu Anwan becomes physically weakened and creatively uninspired by their poverty and monotonous diet. His refusal of Yinyin’s risky gift deepens their conflict.
• Jian Ruonan continues protecting women’s independence and supports broader economic change. In court, her grandfather Min Daocheng is ready to object to Wu Gaowan’s proposal, but Jian Zhang urges him to let her respond herself.
• Emperor Deyuan supports Jian Ruonan’s influence and prosperity but avoids controlling her marriage, leaving the courtiers to confront her directly.

Significant themes

• Love versus material security: Yinyin’s experience shows how affection alone cannot overcome poverty or incompatible expectations.
• Women’s autonomy: The women’s growing independence challenges marriage as an obligation and inspires others to seek alternatives.
• Economic change: Jian Ruonan’s initiatives link women’s financial independence with commercial growth.
• Satire of patriarchal power: Wu Gaowan’s sweeping marriage mandate exemplifies the court’s attempt to control women’s lives, setting up a confrontation with Jian Ruonan.

Plot and key events

• During court, Wu Gaowan begins advocating that women should marry by a certain age, claiming that unmarried women hinder the country’s prosperity.
• Jian Ruonan’s thoughts expose that Wu has only one testicle. The revelation mortifies him and shocks the court, which wonders whether his condition should disqualify him from office.
• When Wu persists in speaking, Jian’s inner monologue reveals how he lost the other one: while hurrying to pick a pear, he injured himself. A magically displayed scene then shows him attempting to use a pear sexually, further humiliating him.
• Faced with the threat that Jian may expose more secrets, Wu abruptly reverses his position. He says women should be treated better and allowed to choose their marriages, claiming he was merely setting up a contrast. The other officials who had expected him to lead their opposition quickly fall silent.
• Jian Ruonan endorses the revised proposal and argues that women should be free to pursue careers as well as choose their spouses. She links their participation to her New Energy Plan—and jokes that her parentage-testing center can profit from their increased freedom.
• The court offers no objections.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Gaowan shifts from a confident advocate of restrictive marriage rules to a frightened, self-preserving supporter of women’s rights after Jian exposes his private history.
• Jian Ruonan uses her unusual ability to reveal hidden thoughts and display embarrassing truths to control the debate. She turns the proposal toward women’s independence while also seeing a business opportunity.
• Emperor Deyuan is repeatedly stunned by the revelations but allows the discussion to continue, eventually recognizing Jian’s commercial instincts.
• Jian Zhang and Min Daocheng join in mocking Wu and defending Jian Ruonan. Other conservative officials, once loudly opposed to her, lose their nerve when she is present.

Significant themes

• Women’s autonomy: The chapter argues that women should be able to choose their marriages, work, and contribute publicly.
• Power and exposure: Jian Ruonan’s ability to reveal secrets makes officials fear speaking against her.
• Hypocrisy and self-preservation: Wu’s sudden change of heart is driven less by conviction than by fear of further humiliation.
• Comedy through scandal: Absurd bodily humor and the court’s horrified reactions undermine the officials’ solemnity and expose the fragility of their authority.

Jian Ruonan’s proposal to recruit women into public service passes without objection, with support from Minister Pei and Jian Zhang and Emperor Deyuan’s approval. She argues that wider employment will boost the economy and that men who want good wives should become considerate and give up chauvinistic behavior. She also marks Wu Gaowan as acceptable to remain in office.
When court falls silent, the emperor quickly calls for any remaining business. An elderly official, Zhan, raises the familiar issue of arranging a marriage for Crown Prince Dantai Mo. The subject darkens the Crown Prince’s mood, but Jian Ruonan’s thoughts distract the court from the proposal—and expose Zhan’s private habits.
She jokes that the elderly official must be struggling to stand through court and wonders aloud whether he can control his bladder. When Zhan insists he is vigorous and announces that he fathered a son at eighty, the court is astonished. Jian Ruonan then reveals that he regularly worships a phallic-shaped stone said to increase virility. Rather than treating this as a private curiosity, she immediately sees a business opportunity: buy the land and turn the site into a tourist attraction.
Character developments and interactions: Jian Ruonan again shows confidence, irreverence, and a talent for turning unexpected information into profit. Dantai Mo’s hostility toward discussion of his marriage briefly surfaces, then fades as Ruonan takes over the moment. Zhan tries to defend his dignity, while the emperor and officials are swept into the revelation and its commercial possibilities. Jian Zhang knows his daughter’s habit of lulling people before exposing their secrets, and the court’s reaction shows how thoroughly her thoughts unsettle—and entertain—everyone.
Themes: Women’s economic independence and changing gender expectations; the absurdities and rigid customs of court politics; aging, virility, and public embarrassment; and Jian Ruonan’s instinct to turn even scandal into a profitable venture.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan imagines turning the miraculous Virility Stone into a lucrative tourist attraction, complete with admission fees, a tea shop, an inn, a restaurant, and Lord Zhan as its celebrity spokesman. The officials scoff at the prices and insist they would never visit.
• Back at Deer Song Courtyard, Jian Ruonan assigns the project: her brother-in-law will buy land, the Taoist Masters will run the retreat, and Top Graduate Hou will recruit Lord Zhan. She offers him free admission instead of payment and insists on a twenty-year contract, with Lord Zhan’s son expected to take over if necessary.
• Jian Ruonan and her friends develop a sweeping women’s-rights law. Their proposals include women’s independent households, inheritance, access to imperial examinations, the right to divorce, and abolishing practices such as drowning women in pig cages and erecting chastity arches. Jian Ruonan worries that reform could make her a target, but officials privately believe no one would dare harm her.
• Dantai Mo remains confident that Jian Ruonan will not marry anyone else and sees her continued independence as leaving him a chance. He brings the pandas, Tangyuan and Plum Blossom, to visit her, claiming they miss her appetite-suppressing presence as an excuse to see her.
• The pandas’ inner thoughts reveal that they understand Dantai Mo’s matchmaking scheme and consider him useless for not marrying Jian Ruonan. Meanwhile, the Hou System and Xuan Xiaowu discuss the Hou System’s unexplained countdown and why Jian Ruonan has not been punished for failing its mission.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan is both an ambitious, penny-pinching entrepreneur and a determined advocate for women’s rights. Her irreverent business schemes contrast with the serious risks she recognizes in reform.
• Top Graduate Hou initially questions her extreme cost-cutting, then admires her long-term planning.
• Dantai Mo stays patient and hopeful about marrying Jian Ruonan, using visits with the pandas to maintain contact.
• Tangyuan and Plum Blossom are affectionate toward Jian Ruonan but sharply perceptive about Dantai Mo’s motives. Jian Ruonan eagerly welcomes them, though they have grown too large for her to lift.
• The Hou System and Xuan Xiaowu bond over their uncertain situation and investigate the system’s rules and countdown.

Significant themes

• Commercial opportunism: Jian Ruonan turns a supposed miracle into a full-scale tourism business and seeks to minimize every expense.
• Women’s equality and social reform: The proposed law challenges the legal and cultural limits imposed on women.
• Romantic persistence and family-like attachment: Dantai Mo’s devotion is expressed through repeated visits, while Jian Ruonan’s bond with the pandas anchors their affectionate, comedic reunion.
• System uncertainty: The unexplained countdown and lack of punishment suggest that the characters may not understand the forces governing their world.

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan inspects the enormous, naturally shaped stone and decides it closely resembles a crude modern-day object. She buys the land and plans to turn the scenic lakeside site into Giant Dragon Manor, a vacation resort.
• Her design combines ordinary inn buildings with private villa-style courtyards, aimed at guests of different means—and gives her a chance to profit from both tourism and the gossip she expects staff to overhear.
• Lord Zhan endorses the resort and retires from government, prompting officials to trade bawdy jokes about his supposed virility and the stone’s miraculous powers. Though they predict the resort will fail, Jian Ruonan continues construction.
• Expecting people to sneak in and worship the stone without paying, Jian Ruonan waits nearby with Teng, Xuan Xiaowu, and Chen Pozi. They catch Minister Pei secretly embracing and feeling the stone. Jian Ruonan teases him and photographs him.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan shows her usual entrepreneurial confidence, comic bluntness, and opportunism: she turns a local curiosity into a business while anticipating ways to control access and make money.
• Teng is curious and quick to tease Jian Ruonan, but she shuts down his questions about her suggestive comparison by insisting he is still her little brother—even though he is nearing betrothal age.
• The officials, especially Minister Pei, publicly insist they need no help with virility, while privately revealing their fascination with the stone. Their boastful skepticism contrasts with their secret interest.
• Jian Ruonan’s encounter with Minister Pei turns the officials’ earlier jokes back on him: she catches him in the act and threatens his dignity by taking photographs.

Significant themes

• Public image versus private behavior: Officials boast openly while secretly seeking the stone’s supposed benefits.
• Commerce and spectacle: Jian Ruonan turns rumor and curiosity into a resort business, anticipating that controversy will attract customers.
• Social satire: The chapter pokes fun at male vanity, gossip, bureaucratic posturing, and the officials’ obsession with virility.

Key events

• Teng and Xuan Xiaowu discover that the masked old man hugging the Giant Dragon Stone is Pei Junfei, Minister of War and Jian Ruonan’s grandfather-in-law.
• Jian Ruonan exposes Pei with her flashlight and takes photographs. When he claims he was investigating local conditions, she accuses him of trespassing to worship the stone and fines him.
• The chief of the Court of Imperial Stud is caught hiding nearby, then photographed and fined too.
• Jian Ruonan’s flashlight reveals a crowd of senior officials—including four sitting ministers, two retired ministers, and other court figures—secretly gathered to worship the stone. She photographs and fines them as well.
• The officials insist they are merely curious, despite having brought ritual offerings. After paying, they argue that they may as well complete their worship. Jian allows it, but charges extra for touching the stone.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan shows herself to be sharp, confident, and ruthlessly entrepreneurial. She uses her gadgets, photographs, and threat of public embarrassment to enforce her rules and collect fines; she even considers selling expensive nighttime tickets and using visitors’ secrets as leverage.
• Pei Junfei is revealed as a respected official with an undignified, superstitious side. He tries to justify his visit, but gives in when faced with the evidence and threat of exposure.
• The other officials display the same mixture of secrecy, embarrassment, and stubborn denial. They accuse one another, invent excuses, and ultimately turn their fines into a reason to proceed with the ritual.
• Teng and Xuan Xiaowu move from fear at the masked figure to amused disbelief, openly questioning the officials’ stories and behavior. Teng even concludes that officialdom seems easier to enter than he imagined.
• Chen Pozi remains calm and efficiently collects the fines.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and human weakness: Powerful officials conceal their visit while denying that they have any particular need or motive.
• Authority turned upside down: Jian Ruonan uses technology, evidence, and public embarrassment to make senior officials obey her.
• Commerce and opportunism: She turns a supposed attraction into a business, imposing fines, admission fees, and extra charges.
• Comedy through contrast: The court’s dignified “pillars” behave like furtive worshippers, while Jian treats their embarrassment as a practical business opportunity.

Plot points and events

• Giant Dragon Manor opens after being organized by the Marquis’s brother-in-law. Jian Ruonan expects a large crowd and plans promotional attractions: free contact with the “Giant Yang Stone” and a rooster-catching contest.
• When Emperor Deyuan asks about the stone and considers attending, Jian Ruonan calls it a gimmick aloud but privately worries that hosting him would cost too much. She would rather rely on Lord Zhan’s story—his late-life child supposedly proving the stone’s effectiveness.
• The emperor questions court officials about their visits. Jian Ruonan denies anyone has gone, while her thoughts reveal that most of the assembled officials have secretly worshipped at the manor. Wei Liren confirms the names, exposing their visits. Jian Ruonan then tells them to buy tickets, though they have already paid extra.
• Minister Yan evasively claims he merely passed by. Jian Ruonan’s thoughts reveal that he worships the stone before visiting his concubine and that his performance seems to have improved. The emperor decides to visit incognito, despite Jian Ruonan’s private objections.
• On opening day, the manor draws a huge crowd. Old Madam tries to take center stage at the ribbon-cutting, but Jian Ruonan has her moved aside because she fears the woman’s athlete’s foot could infect the stone. The request is relayed through Jian Huayuan and Dantai Mo’s guard, who escorts Old Madam away.
• Pei Shaoyi says she has prepared celebratory poems. Meanwhile, Luo Shuirong approaches Jian Huayuan with conspicuous familiarity, prompting Teng to recognize a coming confrontation and hurry to alert Jian Ruonan.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains a shrewd, irreverent businesswoman: she markets the stone while privately treating its powers as a sales gimmick, and her unfiltered thoughts repeatedly embarrass those around her.
• Emperor Deyuan is curious about the stone and uses his questions to catch officials concealing their visits. He plans an incognito visit, while Jian Ruonan dreads the expense.
• The court officials are revealed as secret customers, caught between embarrassment, the emperor’s questioning, and Jian Ruonan’s demand for more ticket money. Lord Zhan and Minister Yan are especially uncomfortable targets of her private commentary.
• Jian Huayuan quietly carries out Jian Ruonan’s order by asking the Crown Prince’s guard to move Old Madam. Teng admires his effectiveness.
• Teng acts as a go-between and alert observer, passing messages among the family and noticing Luo Shuirong’s approach.
• Luo Shuirong’s arrival signals a likely personal or romantic complication involving Jian Huayuan.

Significant themes

• Public image versus private truth: Officials and rulers maintain public dignity while secretly seeking the stone’s supposed benefits.
• Commercial opportunism and belief: Jian Ruonan knowingly sells a dubious attraction by turning rumors and personal anecdotes into publicity.
• Unfiltered thoughts and social embarrassment: Jian Ruonan’s inner commentary exposes secrets that people would rather keep hidden.
• Family hierarchy and practical authority: Old Madam’s status is overridden when Jian Ruonan’s business priorities take precedence.

Key plot points and events

• After the ribbon-cutting, Teng secretly alerts Jian Ruonan that Luo Shuirong has taken Jian Huayuan aside. The family and their companions follow to watch, with Jian Ruonan deciding to let Pei Shaoyi see what is happening rather than hide it from her.
• In a courtyard, Luo reminds Jian Huayuan of their past and claims she left him unwillingly: the First Imperial Prince forced her to go, and her father later kept her from contacting him. She says her feelings for Jian Huayuan were always genuine.
• Jian Huayuan initially reacts coldly and ultimately rejects her, saying they were never suited and asking her to leave to avoid misunderstandings.
• The onlookers turn the encounter into a playful poetry-scoring contest. Pei Shaoyi rates Luo’s poem, Xuan Xiaowu’s clumsy verse, and others’ hypothetical responses, while Jian Ruonan joins in with a rhyme of her own.

Character developments

• Jian Huayuan shows that, despite his history of being deceived by Luo, he is now committed to his marriage and child; he firmly refuses to rekindle their relationship.
• Pei Shaoyi appears composed and playful, judging everyone’s poetry rather than immediately confronting Luo. Her low score for Jian Huayuan’s handling of the situation hints at displeasure, though she later praises a far harsher hypothetical response.
• Jian Ruonan remains an eager, sharp-tongued observer, accurately predicting Luo’s excuses and enthusiastically participating in the banter.
• Teng is mischievous and eager for gossip, but insists that the family should support Pei Shaoyi and fairness rather than conceal the encounter.
• Luo Shuirong presents herself as a wronged, still-loving former lover, using tears and polished poetry to appeal to Jian Huayuan.

Significant themes

• Trust and past betrayal: Luo’s claims of coercion test whether Jian Huayuan will believe her again, while his rejection suggests he has moved on.
• Marital loyalty and boundaries: The scene centers on Jian Huayuan’s responsibility to his wife and child and the importance of preventing misunderstandings.
• Comedy through contrast: A potentially serious romantic confrontation is undercut by the spectators’ irreverent commentary and poetry ratings.
• Performance and sincerity: Luo’s emotional display and elegant verse blur the line between genuine regret and calculated persuasion.

Character interactions

• Luo appeals to Jian Huayuan with tearful explanations and affectionate language; he responds by keeping his distance and asking her to leave.
• Jian Ruonan and Teng privately speculate about Luo’s motives, while the group watches and comments.
• Pei Shaoyi’s scoring prompts playful exchanges with Jian Ruonan and Xuan Xiaowu, shifting the confrontation into comic competition.
• Other observers debate how a man should handle Luo: the Marquis’s Brother-in-law favors removing her immediately, Wang Defa recommends a discreet rejection, and Dantai Mo claims he would have eliminated the problem years earlier—earning Pei Shaoyi’s highest score.

• Pei Shaoyi turns “scoring” into a running joke. After Dantai Mo proposes brutally punishing a lawbreaker, Pei awards him full marks; she gives Top Graduate Hou seven points and dismisses Teng with five. The others tease her about scoring people, while Jian Ruonan finds the spectacle amusing.
• Luo Shuirong tries to rekindle things with Jian Huayuan. She laments the husband she once let slip away and hints that he is fortunate to have Pei. Huayuan, however, is no longer infatuated with Luo: he wants her to leave so his wife won’t misunderstand. Pei and their companions overhear the exchange.
• Pei confronts Luo by scoring her instead of taking the bait. She rates Luo’s poem, looks, styling, conversation, and emotional control poorly, then gives her decency a negative score. Luo grows angry and calls Pei insane, but Pei continues the assessment without engaging in a conventional argument.
• Huayuan openly reassures Pei. When Pei asks him to score her, he says that in his heart she will always be a hundred. Their playful exchange leaves Luo humiliated and drives her away in tears. The onlookers are surprised to find the couple’s odd behavior unexpectedly sweet.
• Luo’s rejection leads to a new confrontation. She tells her uncle, Eastern Depot Governor Pu Jingyi, that Huayuan rejected her. Luo had hoped to marry him for affection and security, despite his existing marriage, and is wounded by the rebuff. Pu, angered that Huayuan has embarrassed his niece, arrives at the estate with a dramatic entourage, setting up a possible clash.
  Character developments and themes: Huayuan’s former obsession with Luo has shifted to genuine devotion to Pei, while Pei shows confidence by refusing to be drawn into Luo’s manipulation. Luo’s pride and desire for status and security are exposed beneath her romantic complaints. The chapter mixes comedy with a contrast between lawful conduct and powerful people’s willingness to intimidate others, while emphasizing loyalty, self-assurance, and the affectionate eccentricity of Pei and Huayuan’s marriage.

Plot points and events

• After the opening festivities at Giant Dragon Manor, Jian Ruonan launches a free rooster-catching contest. Xuan Xiaowu wants to compete with Crown Prince Dantai Mo, but Dantai refuses.
• The Eastern Depot Governor, Pu Jingyi, arrives with a large, theatrically coordinated entourage. His agents clear the area, frightening off the manor’s customers.
• Jian greets Pu with a courteous smile while privately mocking him through her thoughts—which Pu can hear. She resents the disruption and expects him to compensate her.
• Pu offers her a black-jade pendant as a congratulatory gift. Jian pretends to refuse, then has Xuan Xiaowu accept it. She checks a supernatural Light Screen showing Pu and his agents charging into a dung heap six years earlier, confirming the pendant is not the one from that incident.
• Pu recognizes Jian as the person responsible for his earlier humiliation and vows revenge. When he orders his agents to kill everyone present, his own throat tightens and he collapses before finishing the command. The onlookers mock and gossip about him.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains outwardly diplomatic but is openly scornful in her thoughts. Her focus on lost customers and the gift makes her practical, mercenary side central to the comic confrontation.
• Pu Jingyi shifts from swaggering authority to furious, humiliated antagonist. Discovering Jian’s connection to his past disgrace intensifies his hostility, but his attempted retaliation ends in absurd self-injury.
• Xuan Xiaowu eagerly seeks Dantai’s company in the contest and is then maneuvered into accepting Pu’s gift.
• Dantai Mo declines the contest with cool confidence; the others interpret his refusal as a display of masculine pride.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus inner thought: Jian’s polite words clash hilariously with her insults, which Pu can hear.
• Power and humiliation: Pu’s intimidating authority is undermined by his past disgrace and present misfortune.
• Comic reversal: The feared Governor’s threat turns into an accidental attack on himself.
• Profit amid spectacle: Jian views the disruption, gift, and even Pu’s humiliation through the lens of business and publicity.

Plot points

• Pu Jingyi and his Eastern Depot agents collapse whenever they harbor murderous intent toward Jian Ruonan, apparently under the influence of the mysterious “Great-Grandma.” Jian orders Chen Pozi to keep watch rather than give them private rooms.
• The agents’ synchronized collapse becomes a public spectacle. Onlookers revive an embarrassing story about the Eastern Depot and mock Pu Jingyi, while roaming roosters peck at the fallen men—and even soil Pu Jingyi.
• Back in his carriage, Pu Jingyi tries to calm himself and vows to torment Jian rather than kill her. He and his allies secretly plan to attack what she values: her family and her business, Giant Dragon Manor. His niece, Luo Shuirong, offers to marry into Jian’s family to undermine it.
• Jian and her companions are secretly watching nearby. Jian’s running commentary about Pu Jingyi’s anger and anatomy makes him furious. When she realizes he may somehow hear her thoughts, she wonders if she is imagining things.
• Pu Jingyi recognizes Jian’s presence, but his attempt to plan through sign language fails when Jian says she knows sign language too. He abandons the scheme and orders the carriage to flee.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains irreverent and quick-witted, turning Pu’s humiliation into further gossip while taking precautions against him.
• Pu Jingyi, usually powerful and feared, is reduced to helpless anger and repeated embarrassment. He shifts from wanting Jian dead to plotting revenge through her family and livelihood, then retreats when he suspects she can understand his plans.
• Luo Shuirong eagerly supports her uncle’s revenge scheme, volunteering to infiltrate Jian’s family.
• Chen Pozi responds promptly to Jian’s orders. Teng and Xuan Xiaowu provide comic support as spectators, with Xuan admitting he is there mostly “for the atmosphere.”

Themes

• Power turned upside down: A feared official is rendered powerless by Jian and the unexplained force of “Great-Grandma.”
• Public humiliation and reputation: The Eastern Depot’s concern for its imposing image makes its slapstick downfall especially painful.
• Revenge and moral consequence: Pu’s plotting reflects the agency’s habitual cruelty, while the repeated collapses suggest that ill intent carries immediate consequences.
• Comic tension and uncertainty: The gap between what Pu plots, what Jian thinks, and what she may be able to hear keeps his revenge attempt both threatening and absurd.

Key plot points and events

• Giant Dragon Manor becomes a hugely popular attraction, drawing locals, travelers, poets, and celebrities. Xuan Xiaowu starts a poetry society there and adds his own work to the display.
• Jian Ruonan enjoys running the manor, keeping a private courtyard and pitching in at the front desk when she likes.
• A quarrel at reception erupts between the Domineering Heir Apparent and Concubine Lü over their lodging. After the Heir Apparent’s Wife joins in, they settle on a courtyard and premium rooms—but the Heir Apparent sends his own luggage to share Concubine Lü’s room.
• Jian Ruonan and the staff witness the couple’s passionate reunion. The Heir Apparent’s Wife then chooses to stay in a premium room too, prompting Jian Ruonan to imagine an increasingly complicated three-person arrangement. When the Heir Apparent knocks over the wife’s trunks, the manor staff are left to clean up.
• Jian Chuyun arrives looking for her former brother-in-law. Having lost her position as Heir Apparent’s Consort after Zi Azha was exposed as a traitor and executed, she has been arranged a new marriage. She pays Jian Ruonan for information about the man’s stay at the manor.
• Jian Ruonan charges steeply for her “cheater-catching” services, adds a surcharge for relatives, and threatens to release the dogs. Jian Chuyun buys the full package, only to be greeted by a rousing “Cheater-Catching March.”

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan is thriving as a business owner: she eagerly chases gossip, handles awkward customers with comic confidence, and turns private information into a profitable service.
• The Domineering Heir Apparent remains impulsive and possessive, openly pursuing Concubine Lü despite his wife’s presence.
• Concubine Lü appears meek and deferential, but insists on fulfilling her duties to both the Heir Apparent and his wife.
• The Heir Apparent’s Wife is composed and practical about the lodging, even as the situation becomes increasingly farcical.
• Jian Chuyun has fallen from her former status and now seeks information from Jian Ruonan, though she still approaches her with entitlement and bargaining bravado.

Significant themes

• Business and spectacle: Jian Ruonan turns the manor’s popularity—and its guests’ scandals—into entertainment and income.
• Class and status: The Heir Apparent treats servants as if they do not count, while the staff bear the practical consequences of noble behavior.
• Family rivalry and opportunism: Jian Ruonan and Jian Chuyun use their family connection to bargain, but Jian Ruonan refuses to offer it as a discount.
• Comedy through contrast: The chapter pairs the nobles’ dramatic romantic antics with Jian Ruonan’s practical business sense and the staff’s weary reactions.

Character interactions

• Jian Ruonan mediates the lodging dispute, then watches and comments on the Heir Apparent and Concubine Lü’s reunion.
• The Heir Apparent and his wife’s choices unsettle Concubine Lü’s arrangements and create extra work for the manor’s staff.
• Jian Chuyun tries to obtain customer information through family ties; Jian Ruonan counters with a price list, a relative surcharge, and an over-the-top musical presentation.

Plot points and events

• Jian Chuyun hires her younger sister Jian Ruonan to help catch her husband cheating, paying one hundred taels for dramatic background music.
• Before acting, Ruonan investigates and confirms the husband has a mistress at Giant Dragon Manor. The woman, however, does not know he is married and has been deceived herself.
• Ruonan refuses to reveal the couple’s room or stage a confrontation, partly to protect her business and its reputation. She points out that the fee covered only the music, as stated in tiny print on the price list.
• Ruonan suggests reporting the husband to the authorities, even producing constables. Chuyun refuses, worried about the consequences for her standing in her husband’s family.
• Chuyun admits how difficult it was to confront the situation and begs Ruonan for sympathy. Ruonan cues up a mournful song about heartbreak and separation, joking that the music was worth the money after all.

Character development

• Jian Ruonan is shrewd, theatrical, and commercially minded, but also follows her own “gossip ethics”: she investigates before accusing anyone and tries to prevent Chuyun from harming an innocent woman. She frames the issue as the husband’s wrongdoing and even considers adding bigamy to the laws she is compiling.
• Jian Chuyun begins determined to catch and punish the mistress, but her reluctance to report her husband reveals how constrained she feels by her in-laws and household. Beneath her indignation, she is frightened and emotionally vulnerable.

Character interactions

• The sisters’ banter mixes affection with exasperation: Chuyun calls Ruonan a swindler, while Ruonan teases and manages her with dogs, constables, and carefully timed music.
• Ruonan challenges Chuyun’s urge to blame the mistress, insisting that the husband is the responsible party and the woman was deceived.
• Chuyun’s plea for sympathy briefly shifts the scene from farce to genuine distress, though Ruonan quickly turns it back into comedy with the heartbreak song.

Significant themes

• Accountability and fairness: Ruonan directs blame toward the unfaithful husband rather than the deceived mistress.
• Women’s vulnerability: Chuyun fears the social and practical costs of confronting her husband, while Ruonan recognizes that women can be placed in difficult positions.
• Law and social pressure: Ruonan argues for legal consequences, but Chuyun’s worries show how family expectations can discourage women from seeking justice.
• Comedy and commerce: The exaggerated music, fine-print fee, and dogs undercut the serious subject with slapstick humor.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Chuyun decides to abandon her plan to confront her husband’s mistress. Jian Ruonan challenges her to face the woman and expose the husband instead, provoking an argument about marriage and Jian Chuyun’s earlier choice to marry.
• Teng arrives with Pei Shaoyi and Xuan Xiaowu to find Jian Huayuan, whom the Eastern Depot has taken to Giant Dragon Manor after he received an apologetic letter from Luo Shuirong.
• Jian Ruonan discovers that Jian Huayuan is being held at Full Lotus Fragrance. Luo Shuirong has tied him to a chair and plans to use arousal incense to compromise him, then have Pu Jingyi catch them and force him to take her as a concubine.
• Jian Chuyun learns that Full Chrysanthemum Fragrance is nearby and slips away to investigate her own husband’s suspected infidelity. Jian Ruonan also learns that Pu Jingyi is hiding at Full Orchid Fragrance.
• Pei Shaoyi prepares to storm the room, but Jian Ruonan makes the group hide. The domineering Heir Apparent then enters Full Lotus Fragrance with Concubine Lü, expecting privacy. He mistakes the situation, becomes absorbed in his own sexual antics, and disrupts Luo Shuirong’s scheme.
• Jian Ruonan shuts the door, leaving the room’s occupants to their chaos while the others watch and gossip. Pei Shaoyi resumes scoring Luo Shuirong’s appearance, and Teng is relieved that Jian Huayuan’s innocence appears safe.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan is irreverent and quick-thinking: she needles Jian Chuyun, uncovers the plot, and uses the Heir Apparent’s arrival to interrupt it rather than resorting to violence.
• Jian Chuyun is defensive about her marriage but ultimately shifts from arguing to secretly investigating her own husband.
• Teng is anxious to protect Jian Huayuan and impatient with the others’ interest in gossip.
• Pei Shaoyi is fiercely protective of Jian Huayuan and ready to fight, though she is also comically preoccupied with judging people’s clothing and appearance.
• Jian Huayuan is frightened and helpless while Luo Shuirong tries to seduce and entrap him.
• Luo Shuirong reveals herself as a participant in Pu Jingyi’s revenge plan, seeking both a place in the Pei household and retribution for past humiliation.
• The domineering Heir Apparent remains oblivious to the danger and disruption around him, inadvertently derailing the scheme through his fixation on Concubine Lü.

Significant themes

• The chapter satirizes gendered expectations and marital loyalty, particularly through Jian Ruonan’s challenge that women should unite against exploitative men rather than fight one another.
• Scheming, revenge, and sexual coercion drive the danger, while farce and gossip turn a potentially serious crisis into chaotic comedy.
• Jian Ruonan’s resourcefulness contrasts with the others’ impulsive reactions: her solution relies on timing and manipulation rather than force.

Plot points and events

• Eastern Depot Governor Pu Jingyi orders his operatives to swap the rooms occupied by Jian Huayuan and Luo Shuirong and the Commandery Prince’s heir and Concubine Lü. The move avoids disturbing the heir, who is already under the influence of the Arousing Incense.
• Jian Huayuan and Luo Shuirong are moved to Full Plum Fragrance, where Luo again tries to seduce him. Jian Huayuan refuses, and Jian Ruonan calls for the dogs—but Dantai Mo quiets them with bones.
• Dantai Mo arrives and brings the relatives of Le Ao’s mistress, claiming they have come to rescue her from an abductor. Jian Ruonan escorts them toward Luo Shuirong’s room.
• Dantai Mo reveals he switched the courtyard signs to create more confusion. As a result, the relatives enter Pu Jingyi’s courtyard instead.
• The butcher family confronts Pu Jingyi, mistakes him for the abductor, and ties him up after his guards are quickly overwhelmed.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan remains delighted by the accumulating scandals, treating the confusion as entertainment and welcoming Dantai Mo’s late arrival.
• Dantai Mo shows a new, active enthusiasm for creating gossip rather than merely observing it. His polished composure contrasts comically with the chaos he engineers.
• Pu Jingyi’s elaborate dignity and authority prove useless against the blunt, united butcher family.
• Jian Huayuan continues to resist Luo Shuirong’s advances, while she persists in trying to make him surrender.

Significant themes

• Farce and mistaken identity: Switched rooms and signs turn one scandal into several, with Pu Jingyi wrongly blamed.
• Status overturned: The governor’s wealth, guards, and formal authority cannot protect him from ordinary men acting together.
• Gossip as entertainment: Jian Ruonan—and increasingly Dantai Mo—treats escalating disorder as a spectacle to enjoy.
• Composure amid chaos: Dantai Mo’s refined calm makes his mischievous meddling especially amusing.

Character interactions

• Pu Jingyi’s operatives obey his orders, but their room swap only relocates the trouble.
• Jian Ruonan and Dantai Mo coordinate the spectacle: she guides the rescuers, while he has secretly altered the signs.
• The butcher relatives act decisively and collectively, dismissing Pu Jingyi’s authority and restraining him.
• Jian Huayuan’s firm refusals contrast with Luo Shuirong’s repeated pressure.

Plot points and events

• Butcher brothers burst into the wrong courtyard at Full Orchid Fragrance, mistakenly believing their eldest sister was inside. They overpower and bind Pu Jingyi and his Eastern Depot agents.
• The brothers find the agents’ official plaques, but cannot read them. Their well-traveled seventh brother mistakes “Eastern Depot” for “fruit wine,” having seen similar wine labels at a restaurant. The misunderstanding leaves Pu Jingyi helpless and furious.
• Pu Jingyi offers to lead the butchers to the correct establishment, Full Chrysanthemum Fragrance, where they hope to find their sister.
• Hidden observers discuss Pu Jingyi’s impending arrest: he sheltered a traitor and, under Great Xia law, should be executed alongside him. They delay acting until the spectacle is over.
• Jian Chuyun reaches Full Chrysanthemum Fragrance with two serving women. She assumes the Eastern Depot agents are impostors, has them slapped, and orders the door kicked open.
• Inside, she finds Luo Shuirong partly undressed with aphrodisiac incense, while her eldest brother Jian Huayuan is tied to a bench. He calls for her help, and she realizes the men really are Eastern Depot agents.

Character developments and interactions

• Pu Jingyi shifts from confident authority to helpless victim, undone by the butchers’ strength and illiteracy. He has to bargain for his release.
• The butcher brothers are forceful, loyal to their missing sister, and comically unconcerned by official power they cannot recognize.
• Jian Ruonan watches the confusion with amusement and reassures her companions that her eldest brother’s virtue is safe.
• Jian Chuyun acts boldly and decisively, but her haste leads her to misjudge the guards and attack the real Eastern Depot agents.
• Jian Huayuan is shown in a vulnerable position, while Luo Shuirong’s suggestive conduct heightens the farcical tension.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus reality: Official authority loses its force when its symbols are misunderstood; Jian Chuyun also mistakes genuine agents for impostors.
• Comic irony and unexpected reversals: Pu Jingyi’s status cannot save him from butchers, and the would-be rescue creates another mix-up.
• Justice and accountability: Despite the comedy, Pu Jingyi faces serious consequences for harboring a traitor.
• Family loyalty: Both the butchers and Jian Chuyun act urgently to find or protect their relatives.