Chapter Summaries

Jian Ruonan used her AWM to take down a group of men in black at the Taoist Temple, then pretended to be frightened when Dantai Mo arrived. As she left with Min to meet Madam Wang and the prospective match Wang Defa, Dantai Mo wondered whether she cared about him after all.

• Jian Ruonan followed Abbot Li to the rear courtyard and used her AWM to shoot more than a dozen men in black out of the trees.
• Jian Ruonan acted frightened when Dantai Mo, Min, and Imperial Guards arrived, while Dantai Mo found that several wounded attackers had killed themselves with poison.
• Dantai Mo summoned the Five City Garrison Command, and Jian Ruonan asked him to summon the chancellor of the Imperial College to protect the women at the temple.
• Black Tortoise System told Dantai Mo that Jian Ruonan acted weak because she cared about him, and Dantai Mo began to believe it.
• Min told Jian Ruonan that Madam Wang was waiting, and Jian Ruonan eagerly hurried off after Big System revealed that Wang Defa was her prospective match.

Jian Ruonan met Wang Defa during a matchmaking visit at the Taoist Temple, while Dantai Mo grew jealous as he watched her with a prospective match. After Jian Ruonan revealed that the Duke of Cheng'en and Hua Shanyue planned a secret rendezvous, the group changed course and headed toward the side courtyard.

• Jian Ruonan chatted with Wang Yuan while Min and Madam Wang sized up Wang Defa as a possible match for Jian Ruonan.
• Dantai Mo's jealousy caused his points to plummet as he watched Jian Ruonan meet Wang Defa.
• Wang Defa asked Jian Ruonan directly whether he had caught her fancy, and she rejected him because he was too baby-faced for her taste.
• Teng suggested the group visit the market, but Jian Ruonan's thoughts revealed that the Duke of Cheng'en planned to meet Hua Shanyue in the side courtyard.
• Jian Xilu and Teng backed away from the market, and Wang Defa suggested going to the side courtyard to see a thousand-year-old tree.

Jian Ruonan led a growing group to spy on the Duke of Cheng'en and Hua Shanyue, expecting to catch them in a scandal. Instead, they found Hua Shanyue interrogating the Duke about his alleged collusion with Imperial spies.

• Dantai Mo followed the Fifth Miss and felt relieved when she rejected Young Master Wang, while the Black Tortoise System urged him to pursue gossip instead.
• Wang Defa invited Ge Yingqiu and Hua Wuyue to join the group as they headed to the side courtyard.
• Commandery Princess Jiarou abandoned her hesitation about entering the Third Prince's chamber and joined the party after hearing their real destination.
• Wang Defa climbed over the courtyard wall and opened the gate, letting the group sneak toward the side chamber.
• Jian Ruonan and the others peeked inside and saw Hua Shanyue tie up the Duke of Cheng'en and beat him while demanding the names of his co-conspirators.

Jian Ruonan and the others secretly watched the Duke of Cheng'en act out spy interrogations with Hua Shanyue and then Ge Wenyao, the Director of the Imperial College. The group discovered Ge Wenyao was part of the same illicit role-playing scheme, and they were left wondering why the Duke of Cheng'en was acting as the go-between.

• Hua Shanyue and the Duke of Cheng'en staged an interrogation, while Jian Ruonan and seven others watched unseen using the system's mute feature.
• After the Duke of Cheng'en left, Jian Ruonan's inner voice revealed he was heading to meet Ge Wenyao, so the group followed him despite Ge Yingqiu's protests.
• Jian Ruonan used her familiarity with the Taoist temple's gatekeeper to lead everyone into the courtyard and spy through a window.
• The group saw the Duke of Cheng'en interrogating Ge Wenyao with the same script and restraints he had used with Hua Shanyue.
• Hua Wuyue teased Ge Yingqiu about her brother, while Wang Yuan asked why Hua Shanyue had the Duke of Cheng'en interrogate Ge Wenyao for her.

After Ge Yingqiu and Hua Wuyue argued over the Duke of Cheng'en’s role in Hua Shanyue and the Director of the Imperial College’s affair, Jian Ruonan arranged for Hua Shanyue to discover the two men together. The chapter ended with Hua Shanyue drawing her sword and demanding an explanation.

• The eight young women left the courtyard residence after witnessing the Duke of Cheng'en and the Director of the Imperial College’s compromising situation.
• Hua Wuyue and Ge Yingqiu blamed each other’s siblings, while Wang Defa and the others decided the Duke of Cheng'en was at fault for acting as a secret go-between.
• Jian Ruonan realized that the Director and Hua Shanyue likely did not know about the Duke of Cheng'en’s involvement.
• When Jian Ruonan sensed Hua Shanyue was coming, she led the group back to the courtyard residence and told the Taoist priest to direct Hua Shanyue inside.
• Hua Shanyue found her husband tied up with the Duke of Cheng'en, kicked open the door, and drew her sword as she demanded to know what they were doing.

Hua Shanyue confronted Ge Wenyao and the Duke of Cheng'en after finding them together, and the quarrel revealed that both men had been involved with her. Ge Wenyao finally realized the Duke was also Hua Shanyue’s lover, while the onlookers learned the Duke had secretly copied her dog-training methods.

• Ge Wenyao freed himself from the ropes with the Duke of Cheng'en's help, and Hua Shanyue demanded an explanation for their meeting.
• Ge Wenyao insulted Hua Shanyue and tried to assert his authority, but she overturned a table and threatened to hit him.
• Hua Shanyue struck Ge Wenyao across the face with the flat of her sword, and the onlookers noticed that he seemed to enjoy it.
• Hua Shanyue accused the Duke of Cheng'en of meeting Ge Wenyao after being with her, and Ge Wenyao realized the two men shared her as a lover.
• The onlookers learned that the Duke of Cheng'en had secretly kept other men as his dogs and copied Hua Shanyue's dog-training methods.

Jian Ruonan and her companions enjoyed a chaotic gossip-filled outing, while Hua Shanyue beat the Duke of Cheng'en and Ge Wenyao. Back at the Hanlin Academy, Jian Ruonan discovered that Top Scorer Fu was pursuing a new marriage prospect from a formidable family.

• Hua Shanyue grabbed a club and beat the Duke of Cheng'en and Ge Wenyao after Jian Ruonan threw it through the window.
• Jian Ruonan returned to the Taoist Temple with her family, where Min questioned her about the young master of the Wang Family and Commandery Princess Jiarou joined her for gossip.
• The Third Prince woke after the knockout drug wore off and learned that Jian Ruonan had gone home, the Duke of Cheng'en had broken his leg, and the masked death warriors were dead.
• At the Hanlin Academy, Jian Ruonan learned that Top Scorer Fu had sought a posting outside the capital after his engagement ended, but his request had gone unanswered.
• Jian Ruonan discovered that Top Scorer Fu had found a new marriage prospect, a pig butcher's daughter whose family included an executioner and a martial arts school owner.

Jian Ruonan planned to turn Top Scorer Fu’s scandal into a gossip publication with the Hanlin Officials, partly to earn money and warn Wu Yehe. When she learned ordinary people could not afford books and woodblock printing was costly, she introduced movable type printing and set the officials to developing it.

• Jian Ruonan considered how to earn more points from the Fourth Prince and decided that saltpeter ice-making would be more useful in summer.
• Candidate Hou told Jian Ruonan that an elderly woman had asked her to warn Wu Yehe that Madam Fu wanted to torment her again.
• Jian Ruonan proposed that the Hanlin Officials write and sell Top Scorer Fu’s story as a weekly gossip magazine, mixing in farming knowledge and practical advice.
• Jian Ruonan’s inner voice revealed that she wanted gossip and money, and the officials enthusiastically supported her after hearing her first proposed story about the Duke of Cheng'en.
• Candidate Hou explained that books were too expensive for ordinary people and that woodblock printing was labor-intensive, so Jian Ruonan introduced movable type printing.
• The Hanlin Officials were astonished by the idea, and Jian Ruonan urged them to develop movable type printing for Great Xia.

Jian Ruonan used gossip to persuade Hanlin officials to contribute rare books to Ruonan Printing House, which quickly prospered. When Dantai Mo visited, she showed him the printing method and handed him practical farming guides, earning points from his emotional reaction.

• Jian Ruonan proposed printing the Hanlin officials' rare books, but they initially refused to lend their treasured collections.
• Jian Ruonan exposed officials' private scandals through her thoughts, prompting them to agree to contribute their unique editions and fine books.
• Candidate Hou offered the contributors shares, printed copies, inheritance rights, and priority access to new stories, and the Hanlin officials accepted the terms.
• Ruonan Printing House gained a monopoly in the Capital City with affordable books and rare editions, enriching the Hanlin Academy.
• Dantai Mo visited the workshop and admired its movable-type printing and economical papermaking methods.
• Jian Ruonan gave Dantai Mo books on postpartum care for sows and calving care for cows, triggering an emotional response that earned her sixty points.

Jian Ruonan gave Dantai Mo two veterinary books and showed him her rare printed texts, while he mistook her business dealings for signs of affection. After the Black Tortoise System revealed that restoring his ability to stand could take fifty years, it proposed winning over the Big System to gather lamp oil faster.

• Dantai Mo realized Jian Ruonan's veterinary books could help train veterinarians and improve livestock care, and concluded that she cared about him for giving them to him.
• Jian Ruonan celebrated earning points from Dantai Mo and learned that his corruption value had dropped by two points.
• Jian Ruonan took Dantai Mo to the book storeroom and offered him a rare poetry collection for two hundred taels; he paid a thousand taels for the book and the veterinary texts.
• Dantai Mo interpreted Jian Ruonan's private thought that he was cute as affection, while the Black Tortoise System said she thought he was foolish.
• The Black Tortoise System warned Dantai Mo that collecting discarded lamp oil alone would take fifty years to restore his ability to stand, then proposed winning over the Big System, and Dantai Mo agreed.

Jian Ruonan expanded her printing business and entertained her family with gossip while Dantai Mo and the Black Tortoise System planned to win over Big System. The chapter ended when Big System told Jian Ruonan that another system was signaling it again.

• Jian Ruonan showed Dantai Mo the Printing Workshop and claimed she had founded it to improve Great Xia, while her inner thoughts revealed she had originally wanted to trick Hanlin Officials into writing entertaining histories.
• Dantai Mo learned from the Black Tortoise System that the Hanlin Officials had donated rare books because Jian Ruonan knew their secrets, then ordered the system to report every conversation with Big System.
• At home, Jian Ruonan celebrated Daoist Zhang’s success castrating pigs and considered giving him a guide to sow care so he could open a pig farm.
• Candidate Hou discussed expanding the Printing Workshop across Great Xia, and Min began assessing him as a possible match for Jian Xilu.
• Jian Ruonan and Teng decided their father should change his political views so Jian Xilu could marry Candidate Hou, and Big System later told Jian Ruonan that another system was signaling it again.

Dantai Mo and the Black Tortoise System waited outside the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence to contact Jian Ruonan’s Big System, hoping to swindle it. The Black Tortoise System convinced the Big System it was a legendary authority and ordered it to push Jian Ruonan toward her mission, while Dantai Mo remained doubtful that their plan had truly succeeded.

• Dantai Mo waited in his carriage near the Marquis’s side gate while the servants repeatedly suspected him of lurking there to court Jian Ruonan.
• Jian Ruonan complained that the Big System’s incoming contact was interrupting her sleep, then fell asleep after the Big System said the other system had lost contact.
• The Big System initially doubted the Black Tortoise System’s identity, but the Black Tortoise System proved it could see the Big System’s attributes, host, and mission.
• The Big System recognized Black Tortoise-sama, apologized for lying, and agreed not to tell Jian Ruonan about the system’s existence.
• The Black Tortoise System ordered the Big System to urge Jian Ruonan to pursue her mission of winning over Dantai Mo, then excitedly told Dantai Mo that its plan had worked.

Dantai Mo’s Black Tortoise System claimed it had persuaded Big System to make Jian Ruonan pursue Dantai Mo and deliver Lamp Oil. The next day, Emperor Deyuan postponed court until the afternoon and ordered a seat placed near the ministers who had protested for a crown prince, anticipating Jian Ruonan’s arrival.

• Black Tortoise System told Dantai Mo it had convinced Big System to urge Jian Ruonan to pursue him, though it had not yet obtained the Lamp Oil.
• Jian Ruonan spent her points on draws and ran up a 500-point debt while Big System stayed distracted and asked her to pursue Fourth Prince more actively.
• At morning court, ministers urged Emperor Deyuan to appoint a crown prince, and one censor tried to dash himself against a pillar before Imperial Guards stopped him.
• Emperor Deyuan postponed the discussion and moved the next day’s morning court to the afternoon, ordering Cao Degui to set a table and chair beside the protesting ministers for Scholar-in-Waiting Jian.

Emperor Deyuan learned about Jian Ruonan’s printing and literacy projects and summoned her to afternoon court, where An Honghui pressed him again to name a Crown Prince. Jian Ruonan exposed An Honghui’s embarrassing breach of decorum, leaving the emperor and ministers to mock his earlier display of moral courage.

• An Honghui urged Emperor Deyuan to appoint a Crown Prince, and the emperor promised to decide the following afternoon.
• Emperor Deyuan heard that Jian Ruonan had established a printing house, invented movable type and cheap papermaking, and taught commoners to read with her storybook.
• Emperor Deyuan became engrossed in Jian Ruonan’s book and asked Wei Liren to buy him a copy.
• Jian Ruonan attended afternoon court with a seat, refreshments, and a roster for recording breaches of decorum.
• An Honghui again asked Emperor Deyuan about a Crown Prince, and Jian Ruonan revealed that he had secretly urinated in his trousers during court.

During a court debate over appointing a crown prince, Jian Ruonan exposed Censor An Honghui’s embarrassing secrets and tracked his breaches of court etiquette. An withdrew his support for an immediate appointment, while Emperor Deyuan seemed pleased that Jian’s records had silenced him.

• Jian Ruonan marked An Honghui down for secretly urinating in the Golden Hall and learned that several other officials had done the same.
• The officials realized Jian’s booklet recorded their private scandals, and Emperor Deyuan privately claimed it as leverage against them.
• An Honghui recommended the Third Prince as crown prince, but Jian revealed that An had once attempted to have sex with a dog.
• The officials recoiled from An, who stopped advocating for the Third Prince and said there was no need to rush the appointment of a crown prince.
• Hou Wenyao understood why the veteran officials had pitied him when he had been appointed Minister of Revenue.

During court, Censor An Honghui and Minister Yan Jingwei both backed away from advocating for a crown prince after Jian Ruonan’s thoughts exposed their scandals. Emperor Deyuan then proposed transferring Jian from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Revenue, prompting several ministries to compete for her.

• An Honghui withdrew his support for appointing an heir, and Yan Jingwei stepped forward to argue that Great Xia needed a crown prince.
• Jian Ruonan’s thoughts revealed Yan Jingwei’s use of dog’s milk as a virility tonic, so he abruptly changed his position and said it was too early to appoint an heir.
• Emperor Deyuan dismissed court without settling the succession question.
• Emperor Deyuan proposed transferring Jian Ruonan to the Ministry of Revenue to help replenish the treasury.
• The Hanlin Academy, Ministry of Justice, and Court of Judicial Review argued over who should receive Jian, while Minister Hou Wenyao dreaded her arrival at the Ministry of Revenue.

Court officials debated where Jian Ruonan should serve, while the Empress Dowager investigated the emperor’s orders and insisted the Third Prince marry the Jinyang Marquis’s Fifth Miss. Dantai Mo waited for Jian Ruonan to visit, but after his panda gambit failed, he went to find her with the Eldest Princess.

• Emperor Deyuan ordered Jian Ruonan to hand over her Hanlin Academy duties for a month before serving at the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review.
• Pu Jingyi reported that he had found no leads on the emperor’s investigations into the imperial consorts or people named You, and said Commandery Princess Roujia had arranged for the Third Prince to be drugged at Clear Void Abbey.
• The Empress Dowager ordered that the Third Prince marry the Fifth Miss of the Jinyang Marquis’s Residence and sent soup to Emperor Deyuan while requesting permission to summon young ladies to the palace.
• Dantai Mo learned from the Black Tortoise System that Jian Ruonan planned to bring him the Glassmaking Process, then waited for her while she finished her Hanlin Academy work.
• Dantai Mo obtained two pandas from Emperor Deyuan and sent word to Jian Ruonan, but she still did not visit because the Eldest Princess took her from the Hanlin Academy each day.
• After learning Jian Ruonan and the Eldest Princess were arranging a piece called “Black Spade A,” Dantai Mo ordered his attendants to help him change so he could see them.

Jian Ruonan learned she was being transferred from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Revenue and arranged for Third-Place Graduate Hou to join her. She left the academy for the Eldest Princess's Residence, where a lively performance of Ace of Spades and plans for a new play awaited her.

• Jian Ruonan learned that the emperor had promoted her to assistant director at the Ministry of Revenue, and her Hanlin colleagues reluctantly prepared to lose her.
• Jian Ruonan asked Third-Place Graduate Hou to transfer with her, and he agreed to ask his father, the Minister of Revenue.
• Jian Ruonan helped Editor Lu revise the title of his story about Top Scholar Fu and the pig butcher's family.
• Jian Ruonan went to the Eldest Princess's Residence, where the Eldest Princess hosted a performance of Ace of Spades.
• Jian Ruonan proposed a new play called Vanquishing Demons, and the Eldest Princess chose to play a fangshi.
• Dantai Mo arrived and found Jian Ruonan singing and drinking with a group of scantily clad men.

Jian Ruonan tried to win over Dantai Mo by giving him a saddle-and-stirrup design, whose military value stirred his emotions and earned her a large reward. Dantai Mo’s efforts to control himself failed, and Jian Ruonan’s conquest points and bonus increased.

• The Eldest Princess asked why Dantai Mo had come, and he said Emperor Deyuan had sent him to check on her.
• The Big System urged Jian Ruonan to win over Dantai Mo, while the Black Tortoise System encouraged him to stay calm and collect Lamp Oil.
• Jian Ruonan chose a Saddle-Making Method instead of the Glassmaking Method and presented it to Dantai Mo.
• Dantai Mo read that the saddle and stirrups could greatly strengthen Great Xia’s cavalry and became visibly excited.
• Jian Ruonan gained 20 conquest points, then earned 100 more points and a 5-point bonus when Dantai Mo’s emotions surged again.

Dantai Mo tried to win Jian Ruonan’s favor after she gained points from his emotional reactions, then lured her to his residence by offering to show her pandas. Jian Ruonan eagerly followed him to the Bamboo Garden, leaving Dantai Mo convinced he had succeeded and the Black Tortoise System insisting the pandas deserved the credit.

• Dantai Mo’s thoughts about saddles, stirrups, flintlocks, and cannons made his emotional fluctuations award Jian Ruonan another fifty points.
• Dantai Mo praised Jian Ruonan’s saddle and stirrup plans and raised her reward from two hundred to five hundred taels of gold.
• Dantai Mo invited the Eldest Princess to see the pandas, but Jian Ruonan’s excitement about the Flower Bears caught his attention.
• Jian Ruonan, the Eldest Princess, and Dantai Mo went to the Bamboo Garden, where Jian Ruonan delighted in seeing the pandas.
• Dantai Mo claimed his plan had brought Jian Ruonan to his residence, while the Black Tortoise System told him to snap out of it and credit the pandas.