Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• After the group’s escape, everyone examines Song Yaoyao’s Gatling gun and agrees it was crucial to their survival.
• Song Yaoyao asks Guagua why she was told to spare Zhang Zhixi’s bandits. Guagua reveals that Zhang Zhixi is actually Nian Jingran, the lost eldest princess of the Dragon Abyss Kingdom.
• During a palace coup years earlier, Jingran’s mother, Empress Meng Xiruo, sacrificed herself to help her daughter escape. The wet nurse and guard hid the child in the wilderness before being captured and killed. Jingran was later found and raised by a stronghold chief, who named her Zhang Zhixi.
• Guagua explains that sparing Zhang Zhixi preserves a possible political advantage: the Dragon Abyss Kingdom’s emperor has never stopped searching for his wife and daughter.
• The group later camps in the wilderness. Bored, Song Yaoyao asks Guagua for a joke and gets an increasingly crude place-name riddle instead. After several wrong guesses, Guagua gives the punning answer, “Shangqiu,” embarrassing the listeners.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao accepts the political reasoning behind sparing Zhang Zhixi, then jokes that her royal identity could make her a suitable match for Chen Yixiao.
• Guagua and Song Yaoyao tease each other over the dirty riddle, trading accusations of being indecent.
• Chen Yixiao is dismayed by the prospect of being matched with Zhang Zhixi and dreads their eventual reunion. Song Yaoyao and Guagua playfully speculate about which of them would win in a fight.
• Ning Chaorui and the others admire the Gatling but later blush at Song Yaoyao and Guagua’s vulgar humor.

Significant themes

• Mercy and strategy: Sparing enemies can preserve future options and prevent political bridges from being burned.
• Identity and fate: Zhang Zhixi’s hidden royal origins connect her past to the kingdom’s unresolved history—and potentially to Chen Yixiao’s future.
• Comedy and contrast: Serious revelations about loss and political upheaval give way to irreverent banter and an embarrassing riddle.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao and her system, Guagua, bicker over Guagua’s mangled, violent-sounding version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” which leaves their companions confused about the supposed “Bilian.”
• Half a month later, the group returns to Heavenly Fortune City. The effects of the drug used on Listening Thunder and Listening Wind have worn off.
• While they were away, rumors spread that Empress Hu Xiyu had an affair with Grand Tutor Han Zonghe and bore his two children. Emperor Teng Yetao responded by confining the empress and children, surrounding the Hu and Han households, and placing the Crown Prince’s Residence under guard. He appears to suspect that Crown Prince Teng Yiting is not his son.
• Song Yaoyao notes how quickly Noble Consort Pan and the Fifth Prince’s faction acted. She also learns that her maternal grandfather’s forces have captured another city. She and her companions lie low, waiting for a chance to rescue the captives.
• In the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom, people’s hunger for gossip about Song Yaoyao has become so disruptive that the emperor orders them to stop visiting the Song Residence. Soon afterward, news arrives that General Ning’s forces have captured two cities in the Heavenly Mystic Kingdom with few casualties.
• The Heavenly Phoenix emperor reads reports about Song Yaoyao and her companions’ adventures, including Chen Yixiao’s abduction by bandits. He shares the letters with Assistant Minister Song, who is shocked to learn how much his daughter has been involved in—and that she has helped bring about the imprisonment of the neighboring kingdom’s empress and crown prince.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua continue their familiar, childish quarrels, teasing each other’s terrible singing.
• Song Yaoyao remains practical and strategic: she sees the military advances as a way to create favorable conditions for a rescue.
• Teng Yetao’s reaction to the rumors reveals growing suspicion and insecurity about his heirs, while the rival court faction appears to have moved swiftly to exploit the scandal.
• The emperor and Assistant Minister Song react with alternating amusement, alarm, and disbelief as they read about the group’s exploits. The emperor particularly mocks Chen Yixiao for his misadventure.

Significant themes

• Rumor as political weapon: Scandal rapidly destabilizes the Heavenly Mystic court and fuels suspicion about the royal succession.
• War and leverage: General Ning’s victories may shift the balance of power and improve the captives’ chances of rescue.
• Comedy amid danger: The Song–Guagua banter and the emperor’s reactions provide humor alongside imprisonment, political intrigue, and military conflict.
• Public fascination with gossip: Song Yaoyao’s reputation turns her absence into a source of restless curiosity among the people.

Plot points and events

• The emperor reassures Assistant Minister Song that only certain people in the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom can hear Song Yaoyao’s inner voice. With the Sixth Prince and the Ning cousins protecting her, he believes she will be safe.
• In the Heavenly Mystic Kingdom’s capital, Yaoyao, her cousins, and disguised Sixth Prince Chen Yixiao go out to search for clues about rescuing people. Yixiao’s disguise is meant to prevent him from being recognized amid the war.
• They notice a porridge distribution on a busy street. Through Guagua, Yaoyao learns that it is being run by An Bingwen, whose family finances the Second Prince, Teng Xingrao, in exchange for political protection and influence.
• Guagua reveals that the porridge distributions are unusually frequent, take place in an odd location, and require recipients to register. These details suggest the charity may conceal a sinister purpose.

Character developments

• Assistant Minister Song’s anxiety over his daughter’s safety eases after the emperor’s assurances.
• Yaoyao remains initially uninterested in gossip, but becomes curious when Guagua links it to the Second Prince and the suspicious porridge operation.
• Chen Yixiao takes precautions by disguising himself, showing awareness of the danger of being identified in enemy territory.

Character interactions

• The emperor comforts Assistant Minister Song and invokes Master Liaoran’s authority to reassure him.
• Guagua guides Yaoyao’s attention from An Bingwen’s identity and political ties to the strange details of the porridge distribution.
• Yaoyao and Guagua reason through the apparent arrangement between the An Family and the Second Prince before recognizing that the charitable activity may involve more than mutual political and financial benefit.

Significant themes

• Power and patronage: The An Family funds Teng Xingrao in return for the protection and status his position provides.
• Charity as a possible cover: The unusual frequency, location, and registration process make the porridge distribution suspicious.
• Security and secrecy: Yixiao’s disguise and the limits on who can hear Yaoyao’s inner voice underline the need to protect identities and information.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua explains that the Second Prince’s porridge stall is a calculated show of charity: it wins praise from wealthy residents and officials while helping him gather popular support for his bid for the throne.
• Registration forms are used to identify vulnerable children, especially orphans and beggars. For five years, the Second Prince’s agents have abducted an estimated five or six thousand children across the kingdom.
• The children are taken to an estate and sorted for exploitation. Strong boys and some girls are made into Shadow Guards or assassins; attractive, frail children are trained as sexual companions; others are sold. Those selected for training are poisoned so they can be controlled, and subjected to brutal discipline and, in some cases, forced to kill one another.
• Many abducted children now serve the Second Prince’s Assassin Organization, the Three Lives Hall; others have been sent away or died.
• Outraged, Song Yaoyao asks Guagua to print the evidence. She and the others decide to expose the Second Prince by distributing leaflets. Ning Chaorui takes the papers and secretly scatters them among the people gathering for porridge. Some readers react with alarm.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao moves from seeking an explanation to taking action, refusing to ignore the children’s suffering despite the danger and her lack of martial-arts skills.
• Chen Yixiao recognizes the scheme as part of Teng Xingrao’s ruthless pursuit of the throne and helps consider a response.
• Ning Chaorui volunteers to distribute the evidence, while Ning Chaoyun and the others watch the revelations with horror.
• Guagua supplies the crucial information and evidence, enabling Song Yaoyao’s plan.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and political manipulation: Public charity masks a campaign to gain influence and power.
• Abuse of the vulnerable: Orphans and poor children are targeted because their disappearances are less likely to be reported.
• Power and cruelty: The Second Prince’s ambition turns children into tools for violence and exploitation.
• Justice and intervention: Song Yaoyao’s decision to expose the crimes challenges the group’s initial position as mere observers.

Plot points and events

• A leaflet exposes the Second Prince’s secret dealings, causing the porridge queue to scatter and officials and nobles to carry the news to rival princes. The scandal gives the other princes an opportunity to undermine him.
• Song Yaoyao predicts the emperor will need a scapegoat to appease public anger. Because An Bingwen has overseen the porridge distribution, she expects the An Family to be punished and its wealth confiscated.
• Hoping to keep that wealth from falling into Emperor Teng Yetao’s hands, Song proposes raiding the An Residence before confiscation. Ning Chaorui and Ning Chaoyun warn her against the risk, but Sixth Prince Chen Yixiao eagerly volunteers to join them. The others decide they cannot let the pair go alone.
• At midnight, Song uses a drone to spread enhanced knockout powder over the residence. After Guagua confirms the guards are unconscious, the group enters and uses knockout smoke to incapacitate everyone inside.
• Guided to the treasure vault, the others take bundles of valuables. Once alone, Song secretly transfers the entire vault’s contents into her storage space. She then urges the group to search the residence further, though Ning Chaorui points out that they cannot carry much more.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is shrewd, opportunistic, and increasingly comfortable using her unusual tools and storage space to seize wealth. Her excitement at the prospect of a “zero-cost” haul drives the raid.
• Chen Yixiao shows his taste for excitement by backing Song’s plan at once, countering the Nings’ caution.
• Ning Chaorui and Ning Chaoyun act protectively, reminding Song of their duty to keep her safe; despite their reservations, they join the mission.
• Guagua supplies intelligence about the political fallout, confirms the guards are incapacitated, and guides the group to the vault.
• The exposed scandal shifts the balance among the princes: rivals move quickly to exploit the Second Prince’s vulnerability, while the An Family faces the prospect of becoming a political scapegoat.

Significant themes

• Political ambition and accountability: The princes’ struggle for power turns scandal into a weapon, while the emperor’s need to calm the public threatens those closest to the controversy.
• Risk and consequence: The An Family’s involvement in succession politics may cost it its fortune, illustrating Song’s view that political opportunity carries danger.
• Cunning and opportunism: Song acts ahead of the state’s confiscation order, turning political upheaval into a chance to claim the An Family’s riches.

Key plot points and events

• Guided by Guagua, Song Yaoyao and Chen Yixiao’s group break into the An Family Head’s study. They find detailed records linking the Second Prince, Teng Xingrao, to crimes including bribery and the trafficking of abducted children.
• Song Yaoyao and her companions take some valuables from the study’s hidden chamber. Song then secretly removes far more: over a hundred chests of gold, the An family’s private treasures, and even valuable furniture. She later hides her companions’ loot in her storage space when officials begin searching homes.
• The government conducts repeated, increasingly thorough searches but finds nothing. Rumors spread that the An Family moved its own wealth before the scandal broke; the family is imprisoned, and Emperor Teng Yetao becomes especially enraged over the missing treasure.
• Song releases the evidence against Teng Xingrao. The revelations spark public outrage and court impeachments. Teng Yetao confines his son and exiles implicated officials, though his real motive is to locate the vanished wealth. A search uncovers a passage connecting the An residence to Teng Xingrao’s residence, strengthening the emperor’s suspicions.
• Song and her companions also publish evidence that Empress Hu Xiyu had an affair with Grand Tutor Han Zonghe and bore two children by him. The emperor’s attempt to suppress the evidence confirms public suspicions; the Hu and Han families are imprisoned.
• As the capital is thrown into turmoil, news arrives that another city has fallen to the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom. Meanwhile, Ji Chengyuan’s wife, Lin Xiqian, and son, Ji Zhengming, are released from the palace, though kept under surveillance. They return to the War King’s Residence and begin Ji Chengyuan’s funeral.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is resourceful, opportunistic, and increasingly bold: she uses Guagua’s guidance to gather evidence and wealth, protects her group by concealing their loot, and deliberately fuels political disorder by publishing incriminating documents.
• Chen Yixiao and the others trust Song with their valuables despite not knowing how she will hide them. Their confidence grows after repeated searches fail to uncover anything.
• Teng Yetao is shown as possessive and self-serving. Though he publicly punishes his son and officials, his foremost concern is recovering what he considers his own wealth.
• Teng Xingrao, Empress Hu Xiyu, Han Zonghe, and their associates are exposed, provoking public and political consequences. The emperor’s response intensifies the scandal rather than containing it.
• The chapter closes on a more personal note as Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming reunite with the War King’s household and honor Ji Chengyuan.

Significant themes

• Corruption and abuse of power: The evidence reveals crimes among the royal family and court officials.
• Greed and possession: The emperor’s fury over the missing treasure exposes his selfishness.
• Public truth and political upheaval: Publishing evidence turns private scandals into nationwide crises.
• Cunning and trust: Song’s storage ability protects her companions and gives her leverage amid the searches.
• Chaos spreading on every front: Court scandals, imprisonment, military losses, and personal grief converge, leaving the capital unstable.

Plot points and events

• At Ji Chengyuan’s elaborate seven-day funeral, court officials attend after Emperor Teng Yetao goes to pay his respects. Song Yaoyao and her companions watch the War King’s Manor from a nearby teahouse, unable to approach Lin Xiqian.
• Guagua explains why Ji Chengyuan’s wife and children had been detained: Teng Yetao suspected Ji had faked his death and hoped to use his family to force him to appear. He released them only after learning that military officers refused to lead reinforcements because they feared their own families would be detained too. He continues to have the family watched.
• Song plans to wait until the funeral crowds disperse before approaching Lin Xiqian. Guagua warns that Teng Lingfeng, the Heavenly Mystic Kingdom’s Tenth Prince, has recognized the group before and bears a grudge against their kingdom. Song resolves to disguise everyone and eventually retaliate against him for his role in the loss of General Lin Xunhua.
• Guagua shares information about Teng Lingfeng’s wife, Cai Bingyu. The only daughter in a family of six sons, she was indulged above her brothers and grew into an arrogant, possessive woman. She had loved Teng Lingfeng since childhood and persuaded her father to arrange their marriage. Teng Lingfeng agreed, and they initially lived happily.
• Two years into the marriage, Teng Lingfeng brought home Bai Ranran and held a prominent wedding banquet for her. Cai Bingyu, furious at the public slight, deliberately spilled scalding tea on Bai Ranran during the tea-serving ceremony, burning her hands.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is strategic and protective: she waits for a safer opportunity to reach Lin Xiqian, takes the threat of Teng Lingfeng seriously, and looks for ways to exploit the information Guagua provides.
• Teng Yetao is shown as deeply distrustful. His treatment of Ji Chengyuan’s family has undermined the military’s confidence and left the court short of willing commanders.
• Teng Lingfeng is established as a dangerous adversary with a personal grudge against Song’s group; his marriage history also reveals a once-loving relationship with Cai Bingyu that turned contentious after Bai Ranran’s arrival.
• Cai Bingyu is revealed as spoiled and domineering, while Bai Ranran becomes the focus of her jealousy and hostility. Teng Lingfeng’s decision to bring Bai home and celebrate her publicly intensifies the conflict.

Significant themes

• Distrust and political coercion: Teng Yetao’s detention of a general’s family damages trust between the throne and military officers.
• Power and family loyalty: The emperor uses relatives as leverage, while Cai Xianghai’s indulgence shapes his daughter’s behavior.
• Jealousy and status: Cai Bingyu’s response to Bai Ranran reflects her fear of losing her privileged position.
• Strategy and revenge: Song balances her rescue plans with the need to avoid recognition and pursue retribution.

Key plot points

• After Teng Lingfeng spends the night with Bai Ranran, his principal consort, Cai Bingyu, is consumed by jealousy. Though confined for half a month, she behaves meekly around Teng but secretly punishes Bai whenever he is away.
• Cai disguises the abuse to avoid leaving evidence, making Bai kneel for long periods under the sun. After three months, Bai collapses and miscarries. Teng investigates, discovers Cai’s cruelty, and restricts Cai to her courtyard—but spares her from harsher punishment because he needs her father’s political support.
• Bai becomes pregnant again. Teng places her under close protection, but Cai bribes the midwives, who sabotage the birth. Bai and her child die. The midwives confess, yet Teng again cannot punish Cai without risking his alliance with Cai’s father.
• A year later, Teng marries Ke Tingting as a secondary consort. Unlike Bai, Ke has powerful backing: her adoptive father is a high-ranking official. Guagua hints that Ke may have a hidden identity.

Character developments and interactions

• Cai Bingyu shifts from openly jealous rage to calculated, concealed cruelty. She exploits her status and Teng’s political dependence on her family to escape consequences.
• Bai Ranran has no support beyond Teng and endures abuse in silence, fearing that speaking up will turn him against her. Her pregnancies and eventual death expose how vulnerable she is.
• Teng Lingfeng shows concern for Bai and investigates her mistreatment, but political necessity repeatedly limits his ability to protect her or punish Cai.
• Song Yaoyao comments bluntly that Bai’s lack of backing makes her fate unsurprising. Her rejection of marriage and infidelity is also framed as sharply different from the era’s expectations.
• Ke Tingting’s arrival threatens to upset the manor’s balance: she is both well-connected and formally recognized, making her harder for Cai to intimidate.

Significant themes

• Power and political calculation: Teng’s reliance on Cai’s father outweighs justice, even after severe wrongdoing.
• Women’s vulnerability and status: Bai’s lack of family backing leaves her exposed to abuse and ultimately fatal betrayal.
• Jealousy and competition: Cai treats other women as rivals, but her apparent victory is temporary in a household where the prince can take more consorts.
• Appearance versus reality: Cai seems compliant in public while secretly abusing Bai; the birth is likewise manipulated behind a facade of legitimate care.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Ke Tingting is actually Bai Ranran’s biological younger sister, Bai Tingting. She entered Teng Lingfeng’s manor as a secondary consort to investigate Bai Ranran’s death and seek revenge.
• Years earlier, bandits attacked the sisters’ family. Their parents were killed; Bai Ranran hid her six-year-old sister and drew the bandits away, then fell from a cliff and was separated from her.
• Ke Yijie found Bai Tingting and adopted her, renaming her Ke Tingting. Bai Ranran was rescued by a hunter and his wife, whom she came to regard as her parents. Both sisters spent years searching for each other.
• Ke Tingting learned of Bai Ranran’s death only three months after it happened. Unable to uncover the truth because the manor had suppressed information, she chose to enter it herself.
• Ke Yijie had already aligned with the Fourth Prince, and his daughter Ke Xinxiao was promised as the Fourth Prince’s future principal consort. Ke Tingting persuaded him that marrying Teng Lingfeng would let her pass information to the Fourth Prince, advance Ke Xinxiao’s marriage, and investigate her sister’s death. He agreed.

Character developments

• Ke Tingting is revealed as resourceful, determined, and highly capable. Raised lovingly by the Ke family, she received the same education as Ke Xinxiao and also trained seriously in martial arts so she could protect herself.
• Bai Ranran is shown as courageous and self-sacrificing: she risked herself to save her little sister, then built a new life with the hunter’s family after losing her birth family.
• Ke Yijie treats Ke Tingting as his own daughter and ultimately supports her dangerous plan.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with surprise and heightened interest as she learns the sisters’ history and Ke Tingting’s hidden motives.

Character interactions

• Bai Ranran protects her younger sister by hiding her, while Ke Tingting later searches for Bai Ranran after learning how they were separated.
• Ke Yijie earns the frightened Bai Tingting’s trust with food, adopts her, and raises her alongside his biological daughter, Ke Xinxiao.
• Ke Tingting appeals to Ke Yijie by connecting her personal mission to the family’s political interests.
• Song Yaoyao questions Guagua about Ke Tingting, prompting the revelation of her identity, history, and plan.

Significant themes

• Sisterhood and sacrifice: The sisters are shaped by their efforts to protect and find one another, though they are ultimately separated by death.
• Identity and fate: Adoption gives each sister a different name, family, and social position, while their shared past continues to guide them.
• Grief and justice: Ke Tingting turns the loss of her sister into a mission to uncover the truth and avenge her.
• Family and political ambition: Her personal plan is intertwined with the Ke family’s alliances and the princes’ power struggle.

Key plot points and events

• After learning of Bai Ranran’s death, Ke Tingting grieved through the night and asked Ke Yijie to let her marry into the Tenth Prince’s household. After careful consideration and consultation with the Fourth Prince and his advisers, he agreed. Teng Lingfeng welcomed the marriage, expecting Ke Yijie’s political support.
• In the Tenth Prince’s Manor, Cai Bingyu tried to mistreat Ke Tingting as she had Bai Ranran, first using etiquette demands and then attempting poisoning and disfigurement. Ke Tingting handled each scheme flawlessly and avoided retaliation while she assessed the household.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua reasoned that Ke Tingting had not yet uncovered what happened to Bai Ranran because the household had suppressed the matter: staff from Bai’s courtyard were dismissed, and the courtyard was sealed.
• Song Yaoyao decided to send Ke Tingting evidence implicating Cai Bingyu in Bai Ranran’s death and Teng Lingfeng in covering it up, hoping the revelation would provoke a confrontation. She gave the evidence to Ning Chaorui to arrange its delivery, disguising him first so Teng Lingfeng would not recognize him.
• Song Yaoyao also disguised herself and Ning Chaoyun, then had him monitor Teng Lingfeng. Once Teng left a restaurant after dark, Song and her companions ambushed his carriage. They knocked out the guards and two Shadow Guards with knockout powder. The chapter ends as Teng, still inside the carriage, asks what happened outside.

Character developments

• Ke Tingting enters the Tenth Prince’s household with grief and a clear desire to uncover Bai Ranran’s death. Though she initially keeps her plans concealed, she is portrayed as patient, capable, and unwilling to accept mistreatment indefinitely.
• Song Yaoyao takes an active role in setting events in motion, using evidence, disguises, surveillance, and a carefully timed ambush. Her playful scheming contrasts with her concern about how readily her companions accept her unexplained evidence.
• Teng Lingfeng is shown as confident in the political advantage he expects from his marriage to Ke Tingting, unaware that she may become a threat. His hatred of Song Yaoyao is also emphasized.

Significant themes

• Hidden truth and justice: Bai Ranran’s death has been deliberately covered up, but Song Yaoyao seeks to expose those responsible.
• Patience and retaliation: Ke Tingting initially avoids open conflict while learning the household’s circumstances, suggesting that restraint may be strategic rather than weakness.
• Power and deception: Disguises, political marriages, secret evidence, and knockout powders all shape the characters’ attempts to gain control.
• Loyalty and trust: Song’s allies follow her plans without questioning the source of her evidence, prompting her to wonder about their trust in her.

Character interactions

• Ke Tingting negotiates her marriage with Ke Yijie, who weighs the proposal before agreeing.
• Cai Bingyu repeatedly tests Ke Tingting, but Ke Tingting refuses to give her an opening.
• Song Yaoyao coordinates with Guagua, Chen Yixiao, Ning Chaorui, and Ning Chaoyun to deliver the evidence and track Teng.
• During the ambush, Song distracts the guards while her companions help subdue the household’s protectors; Teng remains unaware of the full situation until he hears the sudden silence.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao and her companions find Teng Lingfeng, the Heavenly Mystic Kingdom’s Tenth Prince, and his guards unconscious. They search them for money and identifying items, change them into coarse hemp clothes, and move them to a secluded place.
• Song Yaoyao proposes selling the captives to a male brothel. To prevent them from exposing their identities or resisting, she has them given a drug that silences them for three months and Ten Fragrance Softening Powder, which weakens their martial abilities.
• Ning Chaorui, familiar with the city, guides the group to Yiyin House, its largest male brothel. After some teasing over the establishment’s name, they approach through its back entrance.
• The brothel keeper recognizes Teng Lingfeng and admits the deal is risky, but says the house has powerful backing. He initially offers 800 taels for the captives. Song Yaoyao argues that the prince’s identity makes them more valuable, and the keeper raises his offer to 1,000 taels.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is shown as audacious, calculating, and ruthlessly practical: she plans ahead to silence and subdue the captives, then bargains confidently over their sale.
• Ning Chaorui reveals that he knows Heavenly Fortune City well because he once lay low there; his knowledge helps the group reach Yiyin House.
• The brothel keeper appears shrewd and cautious. He recognizes the danger of taking a prince but is willing to proceed because his establishment has influential protection.
• Chen Yixiao and the others are startled by Song Yaoyao’s plan, but they follow her lead.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: Song Yaoyao turns a politically powerful prince into “merchandise,” while the brothel keeper evaluates the risk and profit involved.
• Cunning and survival: The group relies on disguise, drugs, secrecy, and negotiation to keep control of a dangerous situation.
• Comedy amid danger: Song Yaoyao and Guagua’s argument over the brothel’s name provides comic relief, while the companions silently pretend not to hear them.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao directs her companions through the capture, disguise, and sale plan; their shocked reactions highlight how extreme her scheme is.
• Chen Yixiao warns her about the consequences, but she turns his concern into a reason to use a muting drug.
• Ning Chaorui explains his familiarity with the city and volunteers to guide them.
• At Yiyin House, Song Yaoyao and the brothel keeper negotiate openly: he stresses the risks, while she emphasizes the captives’ value and condition.

Key plot points

• Song Yaoyao and her companions sell Teng Lingfeng and his men to Yiyin House, a powerful male brothel associated with the Miao Frontier. They take 8,000 taels in total and plan to share some of it with their guards and use the rest for meals.
• After seven days of watching the War King’s Residence, they wait until Ji Chengyuan’s funeral is over before considering a rescue of Lin Xiqian. Song worries that Lin may have sided with the emperor and that a rescue could be a trap.
• Guagua recounts how Lin and Ji first met: Ji rescued her from local bullies, and later she found and nursed him after he was wounded while gathering military intelligence. They grew close, and after Lin’s father died, Ji took responsibility for her and settled her in town.
• Guagua explains that Ji remained unmarried despite his high status because the emperor feared his influence, while officials feared that marrying their daughters to him would provoke the emperor.

Character developments and interactions

• Song’s revenge on Teng is driven by anger, not profit; she nevertheless divides the proceeds fairly among her group and guards. Her confidence in the Miao Frontier’s power reassures her that Teng will be dealt with.
• Song is cautious about rescuing Lin, prioritizing confirmation of her loyalties and safety over acting impulsively.
• Lin is presented as gentle but resolute: she refuses the bullies’ advances and later risks herself to shelter the wounded Ji.
• Ji is portrayed as capable and politically constrained. His affection for Lin develops through repeated visits, while his awareness of court politics helps explain why he stayed unmarried.
• Song asks Guagua about Yiyin House and Lin’s past; Guagua supplies the information that shapes Song’s next decisions.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and self-preservation: Song questions whether Lin remained loyal to Ji after his death, echoing the chapter’s warning that crisis can divide even close partners.
• Power and political fear: The emperor’s suspicion isolates Ji, discouraging officials from forming ties with him.
• Compassion and mutual care: Ji protects Lin, and Lin later returns that kindness by nursing him.
• Justice and revenge: Song uses an unconventional punishment against Teng, while treating the money gained as a practical bonus rather than the goal.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss why Ji Chengyuan chose to marry Lin Xiqian: he hoped marrying someone without political influence would ease Emperor Teng Yetao’s suspicions, and he had fallen in love with her. When Ji Chengyuan was reported dead, Lin Xiqian grieved intensely, but the emperor kept her confined because he feared the death might be a trick.
• At midnight, Song Yaoyao, Chen Yixiao, and their companions infiltrate the War King’s Residence to rescue Lin Xiqian and her young son, Ji Zhengming. Using a drone and enhanced knockout powder, Song Yaoyao incapacitates the Shadow Guards and household servants; Chen Yixiao’s group kills the guards to prevent them from causing trouble.
• Song Yaoyao finds Lin Xiqian and proves her identity with Ji Chengyuan’s jade pendant. She tells Lin Xiqian that Ji Chengyuan is alive and that his reported death was staged. Lin Xiqian agrees to escape.
• While Lin Xiqian packs, Song Yaoyao locates and empties both Ji Chengyuan’s treasure vault and private vault, hoping to keep Teng Yetao from seizing their contents.
• The group leaves the residence with Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming, returns to their lodging, and prepares to leave the city at dawn.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is resourceful and decisive, combining modern tools with quick planning. Her concern for Ji Chengyuan’s family is paired with a sharp, opportunistic streak, especially when she takes the treasure.
• Lin Xiqian is shown as deeply devoted to Ji Chengyuan. Though devastated by the news of his death, she regains hope immediately when shown the jade pendant and told he is alive, then acts quickly to escape.
• Ji Chengyuan is further characterized as a capable but politically vulnerable prince who chose love while trying to manage the emperor’s suspicion.
• Teng Yetao is portrayed as distrustful and controlling, keeping Lin Xiqian and her child under heavy surveillance even though they pose little apparent threat.
• Chen Yixiao and the others support Song Yaoyao’s plan, handling the dangerous guards while she manages the rescue.

Significant themes

• Distrust and political oppression: Teng Yetao’s suspicion shapes Ji Chengyuan’s marriage choices and keeps Lin Xiqian under surveillance.
• Love and loyalty: Lin Xiqian’s enduring devotion to Ji Chengyuan contrasts with the emperor’s attempts to control her.
• Ingenuity and teamwork: The rescue succeeds through Song Yaoyao’s technology, Guagua’s information, and the group’s coordinated efforts.
• Survival and taking initiative: The characters act before Teng Yetao can exploit Ji Chengyuan’s absence and seize his property.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua exchange sarcastic commentary about Teng Yetao and discuss Ji Chengyuan’s history.
• Song Yaoyao reassures Lin Xiqian, uses Ji Chengyuan’s jade pendant to earn her trust, and urges her to leave quickly.
• Chen Yixiao’s companions neutralize the Shadow Guards while Song Yaoyao drugs the household servants and retrieves the treasures.
• Ning Chaorui carries the sleeping Ji Zhengming as the group makes its escape.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao, Lin Xiqian, and young Ji Zhengming escape the capital in disguise just as the gates open. Soon afterward, Teng Yetao discovers their disappearance, orders the city locked down, and sends troops to search for them.
• Realizing the carriage is too slow to outrun pursuit, Song Yaoyao proposes splitting up. Chen Yixiao agrees to travel with Ning Chaoyun and Ning Chaorui, while Song Yaoyao takes Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming.
• When government troops catch up and demand to search the carriage, Song Yaoyao secretly drugs Lin Xiqian and hides her and Ji Zhengming in her mysterious space. The soldiers inspect the apparently empty carriage and ride on.
• After the pursuit has passed, Song Yaoyao restores Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming to the carriage. The group reaches a county town and checks into an inn, where Song Yaoyao disguises Lin Xiqian’s unconsciousness as illness.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains calm and decisive under pressure. She takes responsibility for the vulnerable fugitives and uses her secret ability to conceal them, keeping even her own guards in the dark.
• Chen Yixiao trusts Song Yaoyao’s confidence despite not knowing how she will protect Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming. He accepts her plan and ends debate when the others object.
• Ning Chaoyun and Ning Chaorui worry that Song Yaoyao’s group is too small and defenseless. They reluctantly leave with Chen Yixiao after he makes the decision.
• Lin Xiqian is anxious about the pursuit and puzzled by the trust Song Yaoyao inspires. Song Yaoyao reassures her, then acts without revealing her secret.
• The Shadow Guards obey Song Yaoyao, though they are mystified when the pursuers fail to find the people who had been in the carriage.

Significant themes

• Trust amid danger: Chen Yixiao and the guards rely on Song Yaoyao without knowing the full extent of her abilities.
• Resourcefulness and secrecy: Song Yaoyao’s hidden power turns an apparently impossible escape into a successful deception.
• Protection and responsibility: Song Yaoyao prioritizes Lin Xiqian and the child’s safety, even when doing so requires separating from allies and maintaining a cover story.

Plot points

• Song Yaoyao escorts Lin Xiqian and her young son, Ji Zhengming, toward safety. When patrols search for them, she repeatedly drugs them and hides them in her mysterious space.
• In the Heavenly Mystic palace, Teng Yetao learns that the War King’s treasury is empty and that Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming have escaped. Furious, he orders wanted notices for Ji Chengyuan and his family and commands that they be killed if found.
• After seeing the notices, Song Yaoyao’s group leaves town immediately and camps outside rather than risk staying at an inn. Lin Xiqian apologizes for bringing danger to them, but Song Yaoyao says they are simply keeping their promise to His Highness.
• Unable to sleep, Song Yaoyao asks Guagua for news about Teng Lingfeng. Guagua shows her what happened after Teng Lingfeng and his companions were taken to Yiyin House: they were dressed up and brought to the male brothel.
• Teng Lingfeng learns from the brothel keeper that someone else drugged and sold the group. Outraged at being treated as a commodity, he rages about the people responsible.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains resourceful and guarded, using her space to protect the fugitives while carefully concealing it. She also shows a playful, curious side when Guagua offers gossip.
• Lin Xiqian is frightened by the pursuit but trusts Song Yaoyao’s discretion and capability. She recognizes the girl’s decisiveness and feels guilty for endangering the group.
• Teng Yetao grows more openly ruthless, ordering the execution of Ji Chengyuan’s wife and child to punish Ji Chengyuan.
• Teng Lingfeng reacts with pride and fury to his humiliating situation, while the brothel keeper calmly explains that he knows the prince’s identity and claims he merely bought the group.

Significant themes

• Persecution and survival: The fugitives must adapt constantly as the threat escalates.
• Loyalty and responsibility: Song Yaoyao continues protecting Lin Xiqian and her child because of a promise.
• Power and cruelty: Teng Yetao uses his authority to target a family, while Teng Lingfeng’s own status fails to protect him from humiliation.
• Secrecy and comic contrast: Song Yaoyao’s hidden abilities and enthusiasm for gossip provide humor amid the serious danger.

Key plot points

• The brothel keeper reveals that Teng Lingfeng and his men were sold to his establishment for a thousand taels. Though Teng threatens him, he is too weak to fight back: he has been drugged, and the keeper forces him to drink Mute Powder.
• The keeper gives Teng the brothel name “Young Master Mo” and makes clear that he and his companions must earn their keep before they can leave.
• Guagua reveals that the men have already been put to work taking clients. The keeper markets them as virgins and auctions their first nights to wealthy patrons.
• Teng is won by Liu Ruhua, a wealthy businesswoman. After the night together, she says he lacked stamina; Teng is left devastated, while the keeper mocks him and tells him to recover for more clients.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua recount the events through a video, with Song openly delighted by Teng’s humiliation. She then wonders whether anyone has noticed his disappearance.

Character developments and interactions

• Teng Lingfeng shifts from indignant threats to helpless silence and despair, unable to resist the keeper or his clients.
• The brothel keeper uses calculated cruelty: he offers Teng hope by restoring his speech, then silences him again, enforces control, and treats him as merchandise.
• Liu Ruhua is introduced as a wealthy, assertive patron who takes Teng for the night and bluntly judges his performance.
• Song Yaoyao revels in Teng’s misfortune, while Guagua supplies the details and lightly calls out her gloating.

Significant themes

• Powerlessness and humiliation: Teng’s status and martial skills offer no protection once he is drugged and controlled.
• Cruel irony: A prince who threatens others is reduced to an object for sale, while his captors mock his pride.
• Entertainment through misfortune: Song and the guards treat the ordeal as gossip and spectacle, contrasting with Teng’s suffering.

• Safe return and reunion: After more than a month on the road, Song Yaoyao brings Lin Xiqian and Ji Zhengming safely to Maternal Grandfather Ning. Her spatial storage helps her evade repeated searches. Meanwhile, Teng Yetao is so consumed by the affair scandal that he fails to notice Teng Lingfeng’s absence from the palace.
• Guilt and relief: Ning Chaorui and Ning Chaoyun had returned ahead of Song Yaoyao, earning a furious reprimand from their grandfather for leaving her behind. Chen Yixiao also feels deep remorse for having followed orders to part ways with her, fearing the danger she faced, but is relieved when she returns unharmed.
• Family reunion and precautions: Ji Chengyuan rushes to reunite with his wife and son, whom he has been separated from for over half a year. He thanks Song Yaoyao and takes them back to his courtyard. Song Yaoyao worries he might escape, but Maternal Grandfather Ning explains that Ji Chengyuan’s martial arts have been sealed and that he has little reason to return to the Heavenly Mystic Kingdom.
• Next steps: Maternal Grandfather Ning asks Song Yaoyao to rest before her cousins escort her to her grandmother in Cold Pass City. Song Yaoyao agrees, eager to see her grandmother and aunts after several months apart.
• Returned belongings and a stroll: Song Yaoyao gives Chen Yixiao and the others the bundles she had secretly kept from their shopping trip in Heavenly Fortune City. They trust her without checking and admire her resourcefulness. Later, the group explores Yu City, where shops are thriving and residents have resumed ordinary life. Ning Chaorui explains that the city’s commander surrendered after witnessing the Ning forces’ formidable weapons.
  Character developments and interactions: Chen Yixiao’s earlier confidence gives way to guilt and anxiety, while his reunion with Song Yaoyao brings relief. Maternal Grandfather Ning shows both concern for Song Yaoyao and practical control over Ji Chengyuan. Song Yaoyao remains clever, generous, and curious, trading playful banter with Guagua and sharing easy camaraderie with her cousins.
  Themes: Family separation and reunion; loyalty, responsibility, and remorse; ingenuity and trust; and the power of superior weapons to shape a conflict without destroying everyday life.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Chaorui explains that Yu City surrendered without a battle, so its people and buildings were spared.
• Song Yaoyao and her companions find a crowd abusing Ying Huiyan, a woman accused of being a “monster” because she is intersex. Her family has disowned her.
• Song Yaoyao stops the mob by warning that deciding Ying Huiyan’s fate is the Government Office’s duty and accusing the crowd of rebellion. The people scatter.
• Ying Huiyan tries to leave alone, fearing she will bring misfortune or damage her rescuers’ reputations. Song Yaoyao invites her to the General’s Residence and suggests finding a doctor who might help her.
• Ying Huiyan accepts. Some of the crowd follow, hoping to capture her, but turn back when she reaches the residence.
• Song Yaoyao asks Guagua about Ying Huiyan and learns that she is intersex.

Character development

• Song Yaoyao shows compassion and courage, stepping in to protect Ying Huiyan and using her authority to disperse the mob. She also offers practical shelter and help.
• Ying Huiyan is revealed as kind, considerate, and cautious despite her mistreatment. She worries more about burdening others than about herself, but accepts help when Song Yaoyao offers hope.
• The crowd acts cruelly and superstitiously, though it quickly retreats when confronted with the possibility of legal consequences.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and dehumanization: Ying Huiyan is attacked for being intersex and labeled a monster.
• Compassion and dignity: Song Yaoyao insists that Ying Huiyan is a person whose life deserves protection.
• Authority versus mob justice: Song Yaoyao challenges the crowd’s attempt to decide someone’s fate outside the law.
• Hope and refuge: Ying Huiyan’s acceptance of Song Yaoyao’s offer opens the possibility of safety and medical help.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao confronts the mob and persuades it to disperse.
• Ying Huiyan initially refuses help to protect Song Yaoyao and her companions, but trusts Song Yaoyao enough to accompany them.
• Song Yaoyao later consults Guagua to understand Ying Huiyan’s condition.

Plot points and events

• Ying Huiyan was born intersex. Her mother, Quan Chutong, concealed the condition and told the household that she had given birth to a daughter.
• To protect the secret, Quan Chutong personally cared for Ying Huiyan and eliminated the midwife and other servants who had witnessed the birth. Ying Huiyan grew up under her mother’s close protection.
• When Ying Huiyan was thirteen, several concubines poisoned Quan Chutong, who died within six months. Ying Xuejie soon remarried Jiang Ruoshui, a sharp and calculating woman who consolidated control of the household.
• Jiang saw Ying Huiyan as a potential threat to her future children’s standing and sought to weaken her through an unfavorable marriage. Ying Mingkang, Ying Huiyan’s older brother, tried to protect her, assigning two martial-trained maids to guard her.
• While Ying Mingkang was away on business, Jiang lured Ying Huiyan out of the estate, distracted her guards, and arranged for her abduction. The man meant to assault Ying Huiyan discovered her condition and spread the news, exposing her secret.
• Ying Xuejie learned of the scandal, called Ying Huiyan a “monster,” and expelled her from the family home.

Character developments and relationships

• Quan Chutong is shown as courageous and deeply devoted to her daughter, risking her reputation to keep Ying Huiyan and shielding her throughout childhood.
• Ying Huiyan grows up aware that she is different and guards her privacy, but loses her protection after her mother’s death.
• Ying Mingkang is portrayed as a caring, responsible brother who actively protects Ying Huiyan, though his absence leaves her vulnerable.
• Jiang Ruoshui establishes herself as ruthless and politically strategic, using household rivalries and Ying Huiyan’s marriage prospects to secure her own children’s future.
• Ying Xuejie is indifferent to Quan Chutong and ultimately rejects his daughter when her secret becomes public.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts modern medical understanding with the danger and stigma attached to intersex people in the ancient setting.
• It explores a mother’s love and sacrifice, alongside the fragility of a child’s safety when that protector dies.
• Household politics, inheritance, and rivalry drive cruelty: Ying Huiyan becomes a target because of her potential influence on her brother’s position.
• Secrecy offers temporary protection, but prejudice turns exposure into public humiliation and exile.

Key plot points and events

• Ying Huiyan has been living in danger after being expelled from her home; people have harassed and beaten her, and recently tried to burn her alive. Her brother, Ying Mingkang, is away and unaware of her situation.
• Song Yaoyao learns that only one man has actually seen Ying Huiyan’s body; the rest of the accusations about her are rumors. She decides this makes it easier to address the situation.
• Back at the General’s Residence, Song arranges for Ying Huiyan to bathe, eat, and stay in a guest courtyard. She reassures the others that Ying has a medical condition and that she intends to treat it.
• Ning Chaoyun and the others bombard Song with questions about intersex people and possible surgery. Song eventually escapes their curiosity.
• Song visits Ying Huiyan and promises she can cure her. To build trust, she describes successfully repairing her brother Song Qinghui’s severed tendons.
• Ying Huiyan agrees to trust Song. Song asks to examine her, but her blunt request to “take off your clothes” frightens Ying until Song clarifies that an examination is necessary for treatment.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is confident in her medical ability and protective of Ying Huiyan, while also displaying impatience when overwhelmed by the others’ questions.
• Ying Huiyan is vulnerable and isolated, but gradually gains hope and chooses to risk trusting Song.
• Ning Chaoyun reveals an intensely curious, somewhat naïve side; Ning Chaorui is more perceptive and recognizes that Song is fleeing their questioning.
• Ying Mingkang’s absence leaves Ying Huiyan without family support, raising the stakes of Song’s help.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and rumor: Ying Huiyan is persecuted based on hearsay rather than verified knowledge.
• Compassion and dignity: Song gives Ying shelter and promises medical care without treating her condition as shameful.
• Trust and hope: Ying’s decision to accept Song’s help marks a possible turning point.
• Curiosity versus sensitivity: The others’ questions are educationally motivated but become intrusive and exhausting.

Character interactions

• Song reassures the household that Ying will be treated and housed discreetly.
• The three curious relatives question Song about Ying’s condition and possible surgery, prompting Song to withdraw.
• Song speaks privately with Ying, explains her medical credentials through her brother’s recovery, and asks to examine Ying—initially causing alarm before she clarifies her intentions.