Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan learns that more than a dozen armed men in black are hiding in the temple’s rear courtyard. She goes to confront them, with Abbot Li guiding her.
• The men wait for their intended “hero” to arrive, but he has been drugged and is fast asleep. Jian decides not to wait and summons her AWM sniper rifle.
• Using Abbot Li’s back as a rifle rest, she shoots the men in the thighs one by one, knocking them out of the trees while leaving them alive. The surviving attackers hide, but she eventually brings them all down.
• When Dantai Mo and others arrive, Jian pretends she was frightened and knows nothing about what happened. Dantai is impressed by her feat; several wounded attackers take poison and die before the Imperial Guards can stop them.
• Dantai orders the Five City Garrison Command to investigate. Jian also asks him to summon the Imperial College chancellor, claiming she is concerned for the safety of the women at the temple.
• Jian acts frightened by the blood, and her mother, Min, comforts her. Dantai’s system claims Jian is acting weak because she cares about him, making Dantai hopeful.
• Min takes Jian to meet Madam Wang for a matchmaking introduction to Wang Defa. Jian, who had just claimed she dislikes hardship, immediately perks up at the prospect.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan displays both formidable combat skill and a talent for pretending to be a helpless young lady. She relishes using the rifle, but hides her role in the attack from Dantai and the others.
• Abbot Li witnesses Jian’s power firsthand. Initially worried about the attackers, he becomes awestruck and helps her aim by serving as a makeshift rifle rest.
• Dantai Mo is shaken by Jian’s ability to defeat trained fighters alone and recognizes that she spared them. He also becomes susceptible to his system’s romantic interpretation of her behavior, despite initially dismissing it.
• Min remains protective and affectionate toward Jian, comforting her when she feigns fear and arranging a matchmaking meeting.
• The systems provide comic commentary: Jian and her Big System joke about strategy and weapons, while Dantai’s Black Tortoise System insists her supposed vulnerability means she cares for him.

Significant themes

• Hidden strength versus performed weakness: Jian is an exceptionally capable fighter who deliberately presents herself as innocent and frightened.
• Comedy through dramatic irony: The reader and Jian’s system know what she did, while Dantai and the others see only her act.
• Romantic misinterpretation: Dantai’s hope that Jian cares for him contrasts with her sudden enthusiasm for meeting Wang Defa.
• Power and spectacle: Jian’s modern weapon radically overwhelms the trained attackers, turning a dangerous ambush into a comic display of force.

• Matchmaking begins: Jian Ruonan visits the Taoist temple with her family and meets Wang Defa, a gifted young scholar being considered as a match for her. Their mothers seem pleased with the prospect, while Ruonan and Wang Yuan chat over pastries. Wang Yuan innocently asks whether Ruonan has found the Previous Dynasty’s treasure; Ruonan says the traps make searching too dangerous for now.
• Dantai Mo grows jealous: The system reports that its wooing target is in a worsening emotional state, with points rapidly falling. Dantai Mo realizes he is upset that Ruonan is meeting a potential suitor, despite having claimed he would not try to win her favor.
• Wang Defa makes his approach: Defa and Teng arrange for the younger group to leave the adults. Away from the main room, Defa remarks that Ruonan seems pleasant, and Teng praises her—while privately listing her many eccentric habits and warning himself that Defa may be in for trouble. Wang Yuan also cautions Ruonan that her brother is clever but can be arrogant and socially blunt.
• An awkwardly direct proposal: Defa asks Ruonan outright whether she likes him. She says no, thinking he looks too baby-faced. Defa is affronted and tells her to take another look; Wang Yuan finds his first rejection amusing. The exchange reveals Defa’s confidence, bluntness, and limited sensitivity, while Ruonan remains frank and unimpressed.
• The group changes plans: Teng suggests visiting the market, but Ruonan’s unspoken thought reveals that she would rather stay to watch a secret meeting between the Duke of Cheng’en and Hua Shanyue. Teng and Jian Xilu immediately invent reasons not to go, and Defa quickly proposes visiting a nearby courtyard and its ancient tree instead—apparently steering the group toward the rendezvous.
  Character developments and interactions: Ruonan remains irreverent and candid; Defa’s scholarly accomplishments contrast with his awkward, forceful courtship style. Wang Yuan is warm and trusting, and Teng quietly protects Ruonan’s interests. Dantai Mo’s jealousy exposes feelings he denies, while Ruonan’s thoughts prompt Teng and Defa to coordinate around her hidden curiosity.
  Themes: The chapter plays matchmaking for comedy, contrasting outwardly proper social arrangements with private thoughts and motives. It also highlights jealousy, blunt honesty, and the gap between reputation and personality: Defa is a celebrated scholar but an inept suitor, while Ruonan’s “pleasant temperament” comes with formidable quirks.

Plot points and events

• Dantai Mo secretly follows Jian Ruonan. Hearing her say she isn’t interested in Wang Defa briefly reassures him, but his system urges him to follow her for gossip rather than romance.
• The group encounters Hua Wuyue and Ge Yingqiu arguing over the divide between military and civil families—and over Hua Wuyue’s sister’s marriage to Ge Yingqiu’s brother. Wang Defa invites them along to see a supposed ancient tree.
• They find Commandery Princess Jiarou outside a room where the drugged Third Prince is asleep. Torn between entering the room to secure a marriage and being disgusted by the peppercorn remedy for his hemorrhoids, she chooses to join the gossip expedition instead.
• The enlarged group sneaks into a walled courtyard. Wang Defa climbs over to open the gate, while Jian Ruonan and Wang keep inventing excuses to keep the others quiet.
• At the side chamber, the group peeks inside and discovers Hua Shanyue interrogating the Duke of Cheng’en. Bound and bare-chested, he is being beaten with a rattan cane as she demands the identities of his co-conspirators.

Character developments

• Dantai Mo reveals jealousy and romantic interest in Jian Ruonan, though his system continually redirects him toward gossip.
• Wang Defa proves quick-witted and enthusiastic about joining the spectacle, expanding the audience by recruiting the feuding girls.
• Jiarou abandons her hesitation over the Third Prince to pursue the more enticing gossip.
• Jian Ruonan misreads the scene inside the chamber as a sensational, possibly intimate encounter before learning it is an interrogation.
• Hua Shanyue is shown as forceful and capable, using her military-family training to pursue suspected treason.

Character interactions

• Hua Wuyue and Ge Yingqiu trade insults about each other’s families and social roles, yet set their feud aside to follow the group.
• Jiarou gives Jian Ruonan an expensive hairpin and urges her to lead the way.
• Wang Defa and Jian Ruonan work together—unintentionally—to keep the party moving toward the courtyard.
• The onlookers reinterpret Hua Shanyue’s violent interrogation as patriotic duty, with Teng warning everyone not to interfere.

Significant themes

• Gossip and comic misunderstanding: The characters’ chase after scandal repeatedly leads them to misinterpret what they see.
• Military versus civil society: The courtyard quarrel highlights mutual contempt between martial families and civil officials.
• Duty beneath appearances: What looks to Jian Ruonan like a provocative scene is actually an interrogation tied to defending the nation.

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan and her companions watch Hua Shanyue “interrogate” the Duke of Cheng’en, Zheng Yi, who is actually enthusiastically participating in a staged role-play. The group pretends it is a state-secret investigation, while Ge Yingqiu suspects the truth.
• The system’s [Mute the Gossip Subject] feature keeps the people being watched from noticing their audience. Jian Ruonan realizes this makes it ideal for spying on gossip.
• After Zheng Yi leaves, Ge Yingqiu confronts the others for their shameless deception. But Jian Ruonan’s inner voice reveals that Zheng is heading to meet Ge Wenyao—Ge Yingqiu’s brother and the Director of the Imperial College.
• The group follows him to a Taoist-temple courtyard, claiming they are pursuing an enemy spy and accomplice. There they discover Zheng has reversed roles: he is now the “general,” interrogating Ge Wenyao, who is tied up just like Zheng had been.
• The interrogation uses the same dialogue and even the same rope arrangement as the earlier performance. The onlookers conclude that Zheng is reusing props and scripts, and Jian Ruonan jokes that he is profiting as a middleman by arranging these encounters.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan discovers how useful the system’s muting feature is and becomes more enthusiastic about using it to watch private dramas.
• Ge Yingqiu is embarrassed and angry when the group dismisses her suspicions, then stunned to learn her brother is involved in the same escapades.
• Hua Wuyue initially stays quiet under Ge Yingqiu’s accusations, but perks up when Ge Wenyao is exposed, gleefully turning the mock accusations back on Ge Yingqiu.
• Zheng Yi is revealed as a shameless, resourceful participant who enjoys switching roles and appears to organize repeated role-play sessions.
• Wang Defa and Teng eagerly embrace the fake “enemy-spy” mission, especially because it gives them a chance to catch the respected Director of the Imperial College in compromising circumstances.

Character interactions

• The group cooperates in maintaining the absurd cover story, with Commandery Princess Jiarou threatening anyone who might disrupt the “investigation.”
• Ge Yingqiu clashes with Hua Wuyue and the others, accusing them of cheating and shamelessness.
• Jian Ruonan and her companions secretly watch Zheng and Ge Wenyao, recognizing the recycled lines and setup.
• Wang Yuan asks why Hua Shanyue uses Zheng as an intermediary; Wang Defa cannot explain, prompting Jian Ruonan’s teasing conclusion about Zheng’s “middleman markup.”

Significant themes

• Gossip and voyeurism: The group treats private scandal as entertainment and uses the system to watch undetected.
• Role-play and hypocrisy: Serious language about spies, duty, and propriety masks deliberately theatrical, intimate behavior.
• Reversal and complicity: The supposed victim becomes the interrogator, and Ge Yingqiu’s outrage turns into shock when her own brother is implicated.
• Satire of authority: Men who lecture others about virtue are shown participating in the very improprieties they would condemn.

Key plot points and events

• After the Director of the Imperial College and Hua Wuyue’s husband are discovered together in a compromising situation, the eight young onlookers leave the courtyard—but Ge Yingqiu and Hua Wuyue continue trading insults.
• Their argument turns into a debate over who is to blame. The group concludes that the Duke of Cheng’en caused the trouble by secretly acting as a go-between for the couple.
• On the way to the Taoist temple, Jian Ruonan realizes Hua Shanyue is coming. The gossip squad invents an excuse to return and hide nearby, eager to witness what happens.
• A young priest directs Hua Shanyue to the courtyard, telling her that her husband and the Duke are inside. She finds the Duke holding a cane and her husband bound on the floor.
• Furious, Hua Shanyue kicks open the door and draws her sword, demanding to know what the two men are doing.

Character developments and interactions

• Hua Wuyue and Ge Yingqiu are antagonistic, mocking each other’s siblings and invoking the unequal status of men and women in their society. Their hostility briefly gives way when both ask who is truly at fault.
• Jian Ruonan proves quick-witted, correctly reasoning that the Director and Hua Wuyue must not know the Duke is involved; otherwise, there would be no need for him to serve as a middleman.
• The gossip squad repeatedly tries to restrain itself but is captivated by the drama. Jian Xilu, Wang Defa, Teng, and the others help engineer a return to the courtyard so they can watch Hua Shanyue’s confrontation.
• Hua Shanyue enters believing she may find her husband and the Duke together, then discovers the scene for herself. Her anger is immediate and intimidating.
• The Duke of Cheng’en and the Director are left speechless and frightened as Hua Shanyue approaches with her sword.

Significant themes

• Gossip and spectacle: The young observers treat a private marital scandal like a performance and actively maneuver to witness its next act.
• Deception and meddling: The Duke’s secret role as intermediary fuels the conflict and makes him the group’s presumed culprit.
• Gender and social power: The argument highlights how men are afforded greater freedom while women face harsher consequences, even as Hua Wuyue celebrates her sister’s boldness and strength.
• Reputation and hypocrisy: The characters’ accusations expose the gap between respectable appearances and private behavior.

Plot points and events

• Director Ge Wenyao is freed from the ropes and hurriedly dresses, with the Duke of Cheng’en, Zheng Yi, helping him. Hua Shanyue arrives and demands an explanation for finding the two men together.
• Ge tries to shame and control his wife, insisting he has the right to discipline her. Hua refuses to back down, knocks over a table, and threatens him with her sword.
• The onlookers initially think Ge is frightened and humiliated. Their impressions change when they realize he appears to enjoy Hua’s scolding—and even seems unaffected when she strikes him with the flat of her sword.
• Hua insults the Duke as well. His silence and changing expression finally make Ge realize that Zheng Yi has been involved with Hua Shanyue.
• The scene ends with the crowd reacting to the absurdity: according to their gossip, Zheng Yi has been secretly “keeping dogs” and copying Hua’s supposed dog-training methods.

Character developments

• Hua Shanyue is bold, physically confident, and unwilling to accept Ge’s disrespect. She takes control of the confrontation, though she does not know that Ge may be enjoying her aggression.
• Ge Wenyao reveals himself as shameless and controlling, but also as someone who secretly enjoys being scolded and struck. His realization about Zheng Yi adds another layer to the scandal.
• Zheng Yi, Duke of Cheng’en, says little, but his silence and visible embarrassment suggest he has been caught in an uncomfortable connection with both Hua and Ge.
• The spectators, especially Jian Ruonan and Commandery Princess Jiarou, shift from eager amusement to concern, then to stunned disbelief as they recognize Ge’s unusual reaction.

Significant themes

• Public exposure and hypocrisy: Ge’s respectable status contrasts sharply with his conduct and attempts to blame Hua.
• Power and gender expectations: Hua refuses to accept her husband’s claim that he can discipline her, using her confidence and martial skill to challenge him.
• Misread appearances and comic reversal: What looks like a straightforward confrontation becomes stranger when Ge appears to enjoy it.
• Gossip as commentary: The crowd’s inner reactions puncture the characters’ pretensions and drive much of the chapter’s humor.

Character interactions

• Hua and Ge clash over his infidelity, authority, and treatment of her; she answers his insults with defiance and a sword strike.
• Hua confronts Zheng Yi, while Zheng’s silence leaves Ge to piece together their connection.
• The spectators react collectively, warning Hua not to indulge Ge’s apparent tastes and turning the confrontation into a comic public spectacle.

Plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan’s gossip-seeking group secretly watches Hua Shanyue confront her husband, Ge Wenyao, and the Duke of Cheng’en over their tangled affair. When Jian throws Hua a heavy club, Hua beats both men—especially the Duke, who ends up with a broken leg.
• Back at the Taoist temple, Jian gives the Wang family’s young master a lukewarm review: he was a good companion for gossip, but she has no interest in marrying him. Min mistakenly thinks the match may still have hope, while Teng learns from Jian’s eagerness to accept a gold sycee.
• Commandery Princess Jiarou spends the day gossiping with Jian instead of attending to the Third Prince. The prince, drugged into a long sleep, wakes at night to learn that Jian and Jiarou have gone home, the Duke is injured, and the masked attackers are dead.
• At the Hanlin Academy, Jian continues sleeping through her workdays and entertaining her colleagues with gossip. Top Scorer Fu, unable to advance in the capital, seeks an out-of-town post and considers another marriage prospect. Jian reveals the prospective bride is from a rough, formidable family, promising trouble for Fu.

Character developments and interactions

• Hua Shanyue’s anger turns physical, though she shows more restraint toward her husband than toward the Duke. Ge Wenyao and the Duke blame one another even as they try to evade her blows.
• Jian remains more interested in gossip than romance and readily changes her tune when offered gold. Jiarou, once determined to marry the Third Prince, now prefers Jian’s company and the excitement of gossip.
• Min hopes Jian may like the Wang family’s young master, while Teng admires Jian’s practical flexibility. The Fourth Prince quietly worries as the group returns.
• The Third Prince is baffled by the events he missed, especially Jiarou’s absence. At the Hanlin Academy, Jian’s coworkers have become eager listeners, gathering around her office to share in her revelations.

Significant themes

• Gossip functions as both entertainment and social currency, drawing unlikely companions together.
• Romantic expectations repeatedly clash with Jian’s independence and priorities.
• Comic reversals and dramatic irony drive the chapter: the Third Prince misses the day’s chaos, while Jian’s casual observations shape how everyone else sees it.
• Status offers little protection from consequences: the Duke is beaten, and Fu’s prospects may bring him into conflict with a powerful, unruly family.

Key plot points and events

• Hanlin officials listen to gossip about Top Scorer Fu and his mother, Madam Fu. Fu is arranging a marriage with a butcher’s daughter, who already humiliates Madam Fu; meanwhile, Madam Fu regrets driving away Wu Yehe and secretly searches for her.
• Jian Ruonan hopes to earn more points from the Fourth Prince, but has no useful new invention to offer. She is also eager to earn enough points to upgrade her gossip system and view events directly.
• Candidate Hou tells Jian that neighbors fear Wu Yehe may be drawn back into Madam Fu’s schemes. Jian assures him she will protect Wu, whom she wants to recruit for her farm estate.
• Jian proposes turning Fu’s scandal into a cautionary story, then expands the idea into a gossip magazine featuring practical and agricultural advice. She frames it as a public-minded effort, though her private motive is to make money and enjoy more gossip.
• When Candidate Hou points out that ordinary people cannot afford books and many cannot read, Jian decides to target wealthy readers. Learning that woodblock printing is costly, she introduces movable type printing. The stunned Hanlin officials enthusiastically agree to pursue it.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan shows her usual mix of self-interest and ingenuity: she wants profit and entertainment, but her schemes may also spread useful knowledge and transform printing. She also acts protectively toward Wu Yehe.
• Candidate Hou proves considerate toward Wu and practical in challenging Jian’s publishing plan. His concern prompts her to rethink how to distribute the stories.
• The Hanlin officials are entertained by the Fu family gossip and initially swept up by Jian’s grand rhetoric. Her inner thoughts reveal her real motives, but the prospect of movable type quickly wins their sincere support.
• Madam Fu and Top Scorer Fu are portrayed as facing the consequences of their past cruelty: Madam Fu is mistreated by her prospective daughter-in-law, while Fu tells her to endure it.

Significant themes

• Poetic justice: Madam Fu’s mistreatment echoes the harm she inflicted on Wu Yehe, and her regret comes too late.
• Knowledge and social access: Literacy and the cost of books keep commoners from benefiting from written works.
• Innovation with unintended motives: Jian’s profit-driven gossip project leads to a potentially transformative printing technology.
• Public virtue versus private gain: Jian presents her plan as service to the country, while openly thinking about money and gossip.

Key plot points and events

• Jian Ruonan and Candidate Hou open Ruonan Printing House. Hou handles the business arrangements, while Ruonan supplies technical expertise, including a cheaper papermaking method; she owns the majority share.
• To establish the press’s reputation, Ruonan asks Hanlin officials to contribute rare and unique books for printing. They refuse, afraid that mass copies will strip their treasured works of their value.
• Ruonan uses her ability to reveal private gossip to pressure the officials into agreeing. Hou then offers them shares based on the rarity of their books, along with printed copies, inheritance rights, and priority access to new stories.
• Affordable prices, high quality, and rare titles make the printing house a major success. Its profits quickly enrich the Hanlin Academy.
• Fourth Prince Dantai Mo visits. Ruonan expects to earn system points from his reaction, while Dantai arrives determined not to be impressed by her agricultural innovations.
• He admires the efficiency of movable-type printing and its potential to spread knowledge, but his composure finally breaks when Ruonan gives him practical veterinary books on sow and cow care. The system awards her 60 points.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan demonstrates entrepreneurial skill and ruthless resourcefulness: she combines moral appeals, gossip, and financial incentives to secure the officials’ books. She also treats Dantai Mo’s emotional reactions as an opportunity to earn points.
• Candidate Hou proves an effective business partner, organizing the enterprise and negotiating shareholder benefits. He trusts Ruonan to handle the officials, correctly predicting that she can persuade them on her own.
• The Hanlin officials move from outraged resistance to reluctant cooperation, then accept the deal once offered shares and other privileges. Their fear of exposure—and their attachment to their collections—drives much of the comedy.
• Dantai Mo is impressed by the printing technology and its public benefits, despite his preparations to remain unmoved. His enthusiasm for practical farming knowledge gives Ruonan the reaction she wants.
• The Black Tortoise System warns Dantai to stay composed, while Ruonan’s system cheers her on; neither succeeds in preventing her from earning points.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and public benefit: Printing and cheaper paper make books more accessible, while agricultural guides promise practical help for ordinary people.
• Private treasure versus shared culture: The officials’ prized rare books gain wider circulation, challenging the idea that scarcity alone gives a work its value.
• Persuasion through leverage: Ruonan mixes lofty ideals, financial rewards, and blackmail-like gossip to get results.
• Comedy and ambition: The chapter pairs scholarly disputes and technological progress with embarrassment, scheming, and Ruonan’s pursuit of system points.

Key plot points and events

• Dantai Mo is overwhelmed by Jian Ruonan’s gifts: potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, and two veterinary books. He recognizes that the books could improve livestock care across Great Xia, where veterinary knowledge is scarce.
• He interprets her generosity as proof that she cares about him. The Black Tortoise System insists she is simply earning points from him, but Dantai refuses to accept it.
• Jian Ruonan proudly celebrates gaining sixty points and learns that Dantai’s corruption value has dropped by two. She plans to spend some points on card pulls rather than upgrading the system.
• She shows Dantai her printing storeroom, full of high-quality editions of rare and supposedly lost works. Dantai is impressed and again reads her actions as personal warmth.
• When Jian offers him a rare book for two hundred taels, Dantai pays a thousand taels, including compensation for the veterinary books. Jian privately considers him gullible but cute; Dantai mistakenly takes “cute” as affection.
• The Black Tortoise System warns that collecting discarded lamp oil alone will take fifty years—far too long for Dantai to regain the ability to stand. It proposes trying to win over the Big System to speed things up, and Dantai agrees.

Character development and interactions

• Dantai Mo grows increasingly infatuated with Jian, interpreting her practical generosity and business dealings as signs of special affection. Despite his paralysis and his system’s warnings, he becomes willing to indulge her.
• Jian Ruonan remains focused on earning points and promoting her printing business. She is pleased with her success and amused by Dantai’s excessive payment.
• The Black Tortoise System acts as Dantai’s blunt, comic realist, repeatedly correcting his romantic misreadings. It also proposes a new plan to restore his mobility sooner.
• Jian and Dantai’s interaction is built on a sharp contrast: she sees him as a useful, generous customer, while he imagines himself as someone she particularly cherishes. The two systems echo and amplify this mismatch.

Significant themes

• Self-interest versus affection: Jian’s actions are driven largely by points and profit, while Dantai reframes them as personal devotion.
• Miscommunication and comic irony: The reader sees the gap between what Jian thinks, what Dantai believes, and what the systems explain.
• Practical innovation and public welfare: The veterinary books and printing workshop could spread knowledge, improve animal husbandry, and benefit ordinary farmers.
• Hope and urgency: The fifty-year estimate makes Dantai’s recovery feel distant, prompting the systems to seek a faster route.

Key plot points

• Dantai Mo visits Jian Ruonan’s printing workshop and asks why she started it. Jian gives a stirring speech about serving the people and strengthening Great Xia, while privately admitting she had originally hoped to get Hanlin scholars to write unofficial histories for her entertainment.
• Dantai wonders how Jian persuaded the scholars to lend rare books. Jian claims they volunteered eagerly; the Black Tortoise System reveals she had threatened to expose their secrets. Dantai recognizes the tactic as similar to how she pressured the Five Ministers.
• Back at his residence, Dantai and the Black Tortoise System plan how to win over the mysterious “Big System.” Dantai orders the Black Tortoise to conceal its identity and report every exchange. The system’s stolen Lamp Oil continues helping restore his legs, keeping his muscles healthy despite his paralysis.
• Jian returns home, where Daoist Zhang’s pig-castration method has become popular in nearby villages. She plans to give him a book on sow care so he can start a pig farm.
• Candidate Hou visits to discuss expanding the printing business nationwide. Jian agrees, since she can profit without much effort. Her mother, Min, promptly questions him as a possible match for eldest daughter Jian Xilu.
• Jian reveals that Candidate Hou is principled, capable, and unusually chaste for his age. The family initially worries that his father’s political views differ from Jian Zhang’s, but the siblings decide their father should change his views instead.
• As Jian prepares for bed, Big System announces that the other system is signaling it again.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan maintains her contrast between lofty public rhetoric and selfish, practical motives, while turning her schemes into successful ventures. Her family’s teasing and gossip-loving nature remain central to her household life.
• Dantai Mo becomes more invested in understanding and controlling the system situation. He trusts the Black Tortoise System to gather information but insists on supervising its contact with Big System.
• The Black Tortoise System continues to provide secret intelligence and medical support, though Dantai still considers it unreliable.
• Candidate Hou and Jian Xilu are tentatively positioned as a potential couple. Xilu is shy around him, while her siblings approve of him and reject political differences as a valid objection.
• Min’s matchmaking prompts playful family speculation, with Jian Zhang overhearing and reacting to the proposed political compromise.

Significant themes

• Public virtue versus private motives: Jian’s noble speeches conceal her laziness and appetite for gossip, yet her projects still produce broader benefits.
• Information as leverage: Her ability to uncover secrets helps her secure rare books and influence powerful people.
• Ambition and entrepreneurship: The printing workshop is poised to expand from the capital across Great Xia, while Daoist Zhang’s pig-related work spreads through the countryside.
• Family loyalty and marriage: The Jian siblings support Xilu’s prospective match and are willing to challenge their father’s political stance for her sake.
• Hidden supernatural influence: The systems’ secret communication and Lamp Oil’s effects continue to shape events behind the scenes.

• Dantai Mo waits outside the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence in a luxurious carriage, hoping to contact Jian Ruonan’s Big System. Because the Black Tortoise System has too little Lamp Oil, it can send only one signal, leaving Dantai Mo stranded for hours while the estate’s servants mistake him for a suspicious suitor or intruder and keep watch.
• The two systems finally make contact. Jian Ruonan, exhausted and worried that her system will be conned again, tells the Big System to pretend it is an amnesiac wanderer and investigate the newcomer. The Black Tortoise System boasts that it is a legendary high-level system managing the world, and identifies itself by name. Dantai Mo doubts the wisdom of this approach, but lets it continue.
• The Big System is initially impressed by the name Black Tortoise, whose status among systems is likened to Dantai Mo’s standing in Great Xia. Its excitement makes it malfunction slightly, so it tells Jian Ruonan that the connection has failed. She is too tired to question this and immediately falls asleep.
• After Jian Ruonan is asleep, the Big System challenges the caller’s identity. The Black Tortoise System proves itself by accurately revealing the Big System’s attributes, its accidental upgrade mistake, Jian Ruonan as its host, and its mission to win over Dantai Mo. The Big System then recognizes it as genuine and submits to its authority.
• The Black Tortoise System takes charge: it tells the Big System to push Jian Ruonan to pursue her mission and orders it not to reveal its existence to her. The Big System agrees. The Black Tortoise System excitedly reports success to Dantai Mo, though the narration warns that his celebration may be premature.

Character and relationship developments

• Dantai Mo is shown as proud and easily irritated by the humiliating wait, yet deeply nervous about making contact with Jian Ruonan’s system. He remains skeptical of his own system’s boasting and schemes.
• Jian Ruonan is tired, sharp-witted, and distrustful of the Big System’s judgment, but she falls asleep before learning what has happened.
• The Big System shifts from cautious deception to awe and obedience once the Black Tortoise System proves its identity.
• The Black Tortoise System is boastful and manipulative, but its low energy undermines its imposing image; it nevertheless secures the Big System’s trust and influence over Jian Ruonan’s mission.

Themes and tone

• The chapter plays comic contrast between grand status and shabby reality: a prince is treated like a trespasser, while a supposedly mighty system is weakened by a shortage of Lamp Oil.
• Deception, authority, and trust drive the encounter: the Big System lies to protect itself, the Black Tortoise System bluffs to gain leverage, and proof of knowledge ultimately establishes its credibility.
• The story also highlights miscommunication and secrecy, as Jian Ruonan is kept unaware while the systems make plans around her.

Plot and key events

• Dantai Mo’s Black Tortoise System claims it has won Big System’s trust by posing as a high-level system. It orders Big System to make Jian Ruonan pursue Dantai Mo more actively and promises to obtain Lamp Oil later, once suspicion has eased.
• At the Hanlin Academy, Jian Ruonan spends her pursuit points on draws, running up a debt of 500 before Big System finally warns her. She blames Big System for failing to stop her and suspects it may be acting strangely because it has fallen in love.
• Big System, secretly influenced by Black Tortoise, urges Jian Ruonan to pursue Dantai Mo more. Jian protests that she already tried the previous day and is being overworked.
• At morning court, ministers press Emperor Deyuan to appoint a crown prince. One censor attempts to ram his head into a pillar, but the Imperial Guards stop him.
• To postpone the debate and accommodate Jian Ruonan’s expected attendance, the emperor moves the next day’s court session to the afternoon and orders a table and chair placed near the weeping, pillar-charging censors.

Character developments and interactions

• Dantai Mo is cautiously hopeful that Jian Ruonan will pay him more attention, but remains wary of his system’s exaggerated claims.
• Black Tortoise System shows itself to be cunning as well as boastful, manipulating Big System while postponing its real goal of obtaining Lamp Oil.
• Jian Ruonan remains impulsive with the Points Mall, quick to deflect blame, and suspicious of Big System’s unusual behavior. Her comic self-confidence persists even as she resists being pushed to pursue Dantai Mo.
• Big System acts unusually passive about Jian’s spending and then abruptly encourages her pursuit, reflecting Black Tortoise’s influence.
• Emperor Deyuan tries to manage the ministers’ pressure while making room for Jian Ruonan, whom he fondly calls his “little darling.”
• The ministers’ dramatic appeals—including the attempted pillar-ramming—show how far they will go to press the succession issue and win a place in history.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and hidden agendas: Black Tortoise secretly steers Big System and, through it, Jian Ruonan.
• Comedy through blame and bravado: Jian and the systems alike boast, scheme, or shift responsibility, while the ministers’ solemn theatrics become farcical.
• Power and succession: The officials’ demand for a crown prince clashes with the emperor’s reluctance to address the issue.
• Court politics intruding on personal plans: Jian’s attendance shapes the timing and arrangement of the next court session.

Key plot points and events

• Right Censor-in-Chief An Honghui presses Emperor Deyuan to name a Crown Prince. The emperor promises to decide the next afternoon, while privately thinking the choice is complicated.
• To accommodate Jian Ruonan, the emperor moves court from morning to afternoon. Officials also raise urgent concerns about a devastating northwest snowstorm, growing numbers of refugees, and border raids, but the emperor postpones discussion until the next session.
• Emperor Deyuan learns that Jian has founded a printing house, developed movable-type printing and cheap papermaking, and persuaded Hanlin officials to contribute books.
• Jian is also teaching ordinary people to read using a sensational, accessible story based on Fu Yongsi’s life. The method has proved popular, reportedly making many capital residents literate.
• Amused and impressed, the emperor asks to buy the story. He discovers it has multiple editions, including a cheap version printed on rough toilet paper and an expensive deluxe one.
• The next afternoon, Jian attends court seated beside the emperor, with refreshments and a roster for recording breaches of decorum. An Honghui again asks about the Crown Prince. Jian’s thoughts expose his embarrassing habit of secretly relieving himself in his clothes, leaving him humiliated.

Character developments

• Emperor Deyuan is politically evasive and worried about the succession and empty coffers, yet increasingly impressed by Jian’s practical achievements. His fascination with her storybook turns into a desire to read it himself.
• Jian Ruonan is revealed as an inventive, socially minded reformer: her printing and literacy projects serve the public, even though her teaching material is deliberately sensational. Her unusual presence and privileges at court underscore the emperor’s protectiveness.
• An Honghui, initially celebrated for risking his life to demand a Crown Prince, loses his moral authority when Jian reveals his secret misconduct.
• Jian Zhang remains anxious about the consequences of Jian’s influence and the strange accommodations made for her.

Significant themes

• Public welfare versus courtly posturing: Jian’s practical work benefits ordinary people, contrasting with officials’ dramatic remonstrations and self-interest.
• Knowledge and accessibility: Cheap printing and entertaining stories make literacy available beyond the wealthy.
• Power, compromise, and hypocrisy: The emperor bends court procedure to accommodate Jian, while An’s public virtue clashes with his private behavior.
• Satire and irreverence: The chapter uses comic contrasts—especially between solemn court politics and Jian’s blunt observations—to puncture official dignity.

Character interactions

• An challenges the emperor over succession; the emperor placates him, while senior officials quietly anticipate trouble.
• The emperor questions Wei Liren about Jian’s work, moving from astonishment to admiration—and then to comic eagerness to obtain her book.
• At court, officials watch Jian’s reactions as An repeats his demand. Her internal commentary exposes him, and the emperor silently relishes his humiliation.

Key plot points and events

• During a court debate over appointing a crown prince, Scholar-in-Waiting Jian Ruonan silently records officials’ breaches of court etiquette.
• She catches Censor-in-Chief An Honghui secretly urinating in the Golden Hall and deducts ten points from his etiquette score. Her thoughts reveal that other officials have also done it, prompting her to mark their names too.
• Emperor Deyuan recognizes that Jian’s private notebook contains compromising information about the court and is pleased to have leverage over officials who have pressured him.
• An resumes arguing for the Third Prince as crown prince, but Jian’s thoughts expose increasingly humiliating stories from his past—including an attempt to sexually assault a dog, which he insists he never actually succeeded in doing.
• The officials around An recoil, and the entire hall turns its attention to him. Humiliated, he abandons his argument and says there is no need to appoint a crown prince yet.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan proves both observant and merciless, turning court gossip into a running record of officials’ misconduct. Her irreverent inner commentary contrasts sharply with the formal setting.
• An Honghui goes from confidently advocating for the Third Prince to being publicly disgraced and silenced. He realizes his prominent position in the hall was likely arranged so Jian could monitor him.
• Emperor Deyuan uses the revelations to control the court without openly intervening, enjoying the leverage Jian’s notebook gives him.
• The other officials react with disgust, curiosity, and nervousness. Several exchange suspicious glances, while those who hear Jian’s thoughts wait eagerly for more revelations. Newly appointed Minister of Revenue Hou Wenyao finally understands why the senior officials had looked sympathetic.

Significant themes

• Public reputation and private misconduct: An’s carefully maintained standing collapses when hidden behavior is exposed.
• Power through information: Jian’s notebook—and the secrets revealed through her thoughts—gives the emperor leverage over his ministers.
• Satire of court formality: The grave question of succession is repeatedly derailed by bodily functions, gossip, and scandal.
• Humiliation as political control: An’s shame ends his push for the Third Prince more effectively than a direct argument could.

Plot points and events

• During court, Minister Yan Jingwei defies Censor An Honghui and argues passionately that Great Xia must appoint a crown prince to avoid the chaos that followed the previous dynasty’s failure to name an heir.
• The emperor invites Yan to speak from the front row—where officials can hear Jian Ruonan’s unspoken thoughts. Jian’s gossip reveals Yan’s embarrassing history of using dog’s milk as a virility tonic and mistreating a nursing dog.
• Faced with the threat of further revelations, Yan abruptly reverses his position and declares that it is too early to appoint an heir. The emperor dismisses court without resolving the succession question.
• In a later meeting, Emperor Deyuan proposes transferring Jian from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Revenue, hoping her abilities will help replenish the empty treasury.
• The other ministries object and compete to recruit her. The Hanlin Academy wants to keep its prized colleague, while the Justice Ministry and Court of Judicial Review see her insight as a major advantage. Their officials believe that if they treat Jian well, she may spare their secrets while exposing their rivals’ scandals.

Character developments

• Jian Ruonan remains mostly unaware of her influence: her private thoughts can expose officials’ secrets, and her casual comments determine the course of court proceedings.
• Yan Jingwei shifts from a bold advocate for appointing an heir to a frightened opponent once he realizes Jian may reveal his past.
• An Honghui, who had threatened to remonstrate to the death, retreats from the issue to avoid disgrace. His friendship with Yan is strained by Yan’s decision to speak up.
• Emperor Deyuan uses Jian’s thought-revealing presence to control the court and then turns his attention to placing her where she can benefit the state.
• The ministers increasingly treat Jian as both a dangerous source of exposure and a valuable political asset.

Significant themes

• Power of information: Jian’s unspoken thoughts can override formal authority and reshape political debate.
• Self-preservation versus principle: Officials abandon public convictions when personal secrets are at risk.
• Political opportunism: Ministers compete for Jian not only for her talents, but for the leverage she offers against rivals.
• Satire of court politics: A grave matter—the succession—is derailed by scandal, while officials’ fear and self-interest drive their decisions.

Character interactions

• An Honghui silently urges Yan not to speak, but Yan ignores him until Jian’s thoughts threaten to expose him.
• The front-row officials and emperor watch Yan’s confidence collapse as the scandal spreads through their shared awareness of Jian’s thoughts.
• After court, the Hanlin Academy, Justice Ministry, and Court of Judicial Review argue over who should keep or recruit Jian, while Revenue Minister Hou Wenyao hopes to avoid the disruption of receiving her.

Plot points and events

• The court debates where Jian Ruonan should serve next. Though several ministries want her, the Hanlin Academy’s Grand Academician argues she is indispensable. Emperor Deyuan gives her a month to hand over her work, then assigns her to the Ministry of Revenue, followed by the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review.
• The Empress Dowager questions Eastern Depot director Pu Jingyi about the emperor’s investigations: possible misconduct among the imperial consorts and the whereabouts of someone named You Guonanzu. Pu has found no leads.
• They revisit the strange incident at Clear Void Abbey: Commandery Princess Roujia had drugged the Third Prince, but he was drugged while she never appeared; the Duke of Cheng’en also broke his leg, and the death warriors were killed. The Empress Dowager insists the Third Prince must marry Jian Ruonan.
• Dantai Mo waits for Jian Ruonan to visit him, believing she will come to “win him over.” The Black Tortoise System says she is busy at the Hanlin Academy and promises she will bring him the glassmaking process. Dantai Mo is impressed by the idea of glass but resolves to control his excitement.
• When Jian still does not come, the system suggests luring her with pandas, which she likes. Dantai obtains two pandas and sends word to her, but she still does not arrive.
• An imperial guard reveals that the Eldest Princess takes Jian away from the Hanlin Academy every day. They are working with renowned musicians on a composition called “Black Spade A.” Intrigued and confused, Dantai prepares to go see for himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains offstage but increasingly influential: her official appointment, the ministries’ dispute over her, and the Empress Dowager’s marriage plan all show her growing importance. Her work and time with the Eldest Princess keep her away from Dantai.
• Dantai Mo shifts from confident expectation to impatience, then tries to attract Jian with pandas. He is fascinated by glass and struggles to hide his excitement, despite insisting he will remain emotionally guarded.
• The Black Tortoise System acts as Dantai’s adviser and comic foil, repeatedly encouraging him to wait or devise ways to draw Jian to him.
• The Empress Dowager grows suspicious of the emperor’s unusual investigations and seeks to secure Jian as the Third Prince’s bride.
• The Eldest Princess and Jian appear to have developed a close working relationship, surprising Dantai, who had believed they were at odds.

Significant themes

• Power and political maneuvering: Jian’s appointment and marriage prospects make her the focus of competing court interests.
• Miscommunication and frustrated expectations: Dantai trusts the system’s promises but repeatedly waits in vain.
• Growing influence and changing alliances: Jian’s rising status and unexpected bond with the Eldest Princess reshape other characters’ assumptions.
• Comedy through emotional restraint: Dantai’s attempts to appear composed contrast with his fascination and impatience.

Key events

• Jian Ruonan learns that the emperor has abruptly transferred her from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Revenue as an assistant director. She resents losing her comfortable routine and close colleagues, but decides to bring Third-Place Graduate Hou with her; he agrees to ask his father, the ministry’s head, to arrange it.
• Before leaving, Jian reviews the latest installment of her profitable gossip serial about Top Scholar Fu and his miserable marriage. She rejects the editor’s poetic title and supplies a much more sensational one.
• The Eldest Princess invites Jian to a musical performance built around Jian’s catchy song “Ace of Spades.” Though the Princess initially dismissed its lyrics as vulgar, the lively arrangement wins her over, and she eagerly asks Jian for another theatrical script.
• Jian pitches a demon-hunting story, and the Princess chooses to play the powerful fangshi who battles male demons. Jian plans to appear as a bookboy.
• Jian is drinking and singing with the Princess’s scantily clad performers when Dantai Mo arrives. She has apparently forgotten the Fourth Prince she met by Daming Lake.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Ruonan remains irreverent, lazy, commercially minded, and opportunistic. She is genuinely attached to the Hanlin Academy, but turns even her transfer into an opportunity to bring along a trusted colleague. Her creative ventures continue to thrive through collaboration with Editor Lu and the Eldest Princess.
• The Hanlin Officials are fond of Jian and regret losing her, though they take some comfort in imagining the Ministry of Revenue experiencing her disruptive influence.
• Third-Place Graduate Hou is supportive and willing to follow Jian to the Ministry, partly through his father’s position.
• Editor Lu contributes strong prose to Jian’s gossip stories and readily accepts her blunt advice about making titles more marketable.
• The Eldest Princess shifts from refined skepticism to enthusiastic enjoyment of popular entertainment. She and Jian share an increasingly playful, collaborative relationship.
• Dantai Mo’s arrival interrupts Jian’s revelry, underscoring how thoroughly she has forgotten their earlier encounter.

Significant themes

• Power, work, and self-interest: Jian treats an unwanted promotion as an inconvenience but immediately looks for ways to preserve her comfort and connections.
• Entertainment as business: Gossip fiction, catchy music, and theatrical spectacle are presented as successful products shaped by audience appeal.
• Subverting elite taste: The Princess’s conversion from literary snobbery to enthusiastic singing pokes fun at the divide between “refined” culture and popular entertainment.
• Comic irreverence: Jian’s profane inner thoughts, sensational headlines, and casual treatment of courtly life drive the chapter’s humor.

Key plot points and events

• Dantai Mo visits the Eldest Princess’s residence at the emperor’s request, interrupting her enjoyment of a gathering of scantily clad young men.
• Jian Ruonan’s system urges her to pursue Dantai Mo, while his Black Tortoise System eagerly anticipates her trying to win him over.
• Jian unexpectedly presents Dantai with a design for saddles and stirrups, rather than the glassmaking method his system expected.
• Dantai recognizes the design’s military value: saddles and stirrups would make cavalry riding easier, improve mounted combat, and help Great Xia counter the Northern Kingdom’s skilled riders.
• Although Dantai tries to control his excitement, the conquest system detects his emotional reaction. Jian receives points, then a much larger reward and bonus—despite doing little beyond handing over the design.

Character developments

• Dantai Mo is determined to appear emotionally composed, relying on his famously strong self-discipline. His enthusiasm for the saddle design quickly defeats that resolve.
• Jian Ruonan remains unpredictable and opportunistic. She treats the mission casually and chooses the saddle design without realizing how deeply it will affect Dantai.
• The Big System grows nervous about Jian noticing its unusual behavior, while the Black Tortoise System becomes increasingly frustrated with Dantai’s inability to resist her.

Significant themes

• Intention versus outcome: Jian’s casual gesture has major military significance and earns her a substantial reward.
• Self-control and vulnerability: Dantai’s pride in his composure is repeatedly undermined by his genuine excitement.
• Systems and conquest as comedy: The systems interpret emotional reactions as mission progress, while the characters’ private thoughts reveal how absurdly mismatched their incentives are.
• Practical innovation: The saddle and stirrup design represents technological change with the potential to transform warfare.

Character interactions

• The Eldest Princess is irritated by Dantai’s arrival, though they maintain polite aunt-and-nephew manners.
• Jian and her system debate whether she should pursue Dantai, while Dantai and his system prepare for her arrival.
• Jian formally offers the design; Dantai’s growing excitement contrasts with his attempts to stay calm.
• The systems mock and blame Dantai as his reaction earns Jian far more points than either system expected.

Key plot points and events

• Dantai Mo struggles to control his emotions around Jian Ruonan. His system warns that every emotional spike gives her points, which she can use to draw useful inventions. Despite the warning, talk of saddles, stirrups, firearms, and cannons agitates him enough to give her more points.
• Dantai Mo formally praises Jian Ruonan’s saddle-and-stirrup plans and raises her reward from 200 to 500 taels of gold after she silently judges the first offer inadequate.
• Hoping to keep Jian Ruonan close, Dantai Mo mentions the pair of young “Flower Bears” (pandas) bestowed on him. Her excitement prompts the Eldest Princess to abandon her other plans and accompany them to the Prince’s Residence.
• The group goes to the Bamboo Garden, where Jian Ruonan is delighted to see the pandas. Dantai Mo claims credit for luring her there, but his system points out that the pandas did the work.

Character developments

• Dantai Mo remains politically farsighted, recognizing the military value of Jian Ruonan’s inventions, but his poor emotional control repeatedly undermines him. He also starts trying to use Jian Ruonan’s interests to draw her closer.
• Jian Ruonan is eager to gain points and access valuable inventions, while her enthusiasm for pandas reveals a playful, youthful side.
• The Black Tortoise System becomes increasingly exasperated and openly mocks Dantai Mo, even insisting that master and servant are equally useless.
• The Eldest Princess remains absorbed in her pursuit of novel pleasures, though Jian Ruonan’s excitement persuades her to make an exception for the pandas.

Significant themes

• Self-control versus emotion: Dantai Mo’s attempts to stay calm fail, directly benefiting Jian Ruonan.
• Power and technological progress: Saddles and stirrups could strengthen Great Xia’s cavalry and protect its borders; the systems fear that more advanced weapons might follow.
• Comic miscommunication and self-delusion: Dantai Mo mistakes the pandas’ appeal for his own success, while the systems expose his lack of control.
• Youth and innocence: Jian Ruonan’s unguarded delight in the pandas contrasts with the adults’ schemes and assumptions.

Character interactions

• Dantai Mo and the Black Tortoise System bicker over his emotional outbursts, lost points, and habit of blaming the system.
• Jian Ruonan and Dantai Mo communicate partly through their thoughts: she wonders why his points keep rising, while he imagines she is trying to win him over.
• Dantai Mo uses the pandas to entice Jian Ruonan; the Eldest Princess joins them after hearing how eager she is to see them.
• At the Bamboo Garden, Dantai Mo boasts to his system about his supposed success, only to be corrected that the pandas—not he—attracted Jian Ruonan.