Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• On her first day at the Imperial Medical Academy, Director Li tells Song Yaoyao she can spend a few days settling in before taking on-call duty. Her regular work does not yet require her to be constantly available to the imperial family.
• Assistant Minister Song meets Yaoyao after work and takes her home by bicycle. She tells him that Director Li has been helpful and that the emperor arranged for lunch to be delivered to her daily.
• The Song family welcomes Yaoyao home with relief. At dinner, she explains that she has agreed to take talented Imperial Physician Li Mingyu as her disciple. Her father offers to arrange the apprenticeship banquet with Director Li.
• The ceremony takes place on the family’s day off. After paying respects to the God of Medicine and a grandmaster represented by a portrait of Yaoyao’s original mentor, Li Mingyu performs three formal bows, presents the traditional six gifts, and offers tea.
• Yaoyao gives him two books—Basic Surgical Skills and Basic Surgical Procedures—and promises to teach him everything she knows if he studies diligently. The ceremony ends and the banquet begins. Guagua then tempts Yaoyao with a new piece of gossip.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao settles into her new position with Director Li’s support and begins taking on the responsibility of teaching a promising colleague.
• Her parents are protective: Madam Song worries that Yaoyao’s lively nature could get her into trouble around the emperor and court, while Assistant Minister Song calmly takes charge of the banquet arrangements.
• The family’s affection is shown through their welcome home, concern about whether Yaoyao has eaten, and Madam Song’s plan to pack her pastries for work. Yaoyao jokingly leaves her father unnoticed while walking inside with her mother and eldest sister.
• Li Mingyu shows respect and sincerity through the traditional apprenticeship rites; Yaoyao responds as a generous, practical mentor.

Significant themes

• Family care and worry: Yaoyao’s family supports her while fearing the risks of her new palace position.
• Learning and mentorship: The ceremony emphasizes discipline, gratitude, and the transmission of knowledge.
• Tradition alongside innovation: Yaoyao follows customary rites while providing newly prepared surgical texts in the era’s writing.
• Humor and contrast: Formal palace life and ceremonial solemnity are balanced by domestic teasing and Yaoyao’s eager anticipation of gossip.

Key plot points and events

• At Song Yaoyao’s apprenticeship banquet, Guagua introduces gossip about Sun Yawei, the Imperial Medical Academy’s eighty-year-old former director, who appears remarkably healthy.
• The story reveals that when Sun was thirty-five, he found a foreign woman, Wu Tongyue, badly wounded in the woods. He treated her and left her food and medicine, expecting nothing in return.
• Five years later, Sun contracts consumption, then considered incurable. His family shuts him away in a secluded courtyard and leaves him without care, waiting for him to die.
• Wu Tongyue, now revealed as the holy maiden of the Witch Tribe, learns of his illness and visits him. She uses witchcraft to treat him and brings him food, returning every night.
• After seven days, Sun has nearly recovered, and Wu says she will not need to return the following night.

Character developments

• Sun Yawei is established as a compassionate, principled physician who helps others without expecting reward. His family’s abandonment devastates him and extinguishes his affection for them; Wu’s kindness restores his chance to live.
• Wu Tongyue proves grateful and resolute, repaying Sun’s earlier compassion by risking contact with his contagious illness and nursing him back to health.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with surprise at Sun’s age and curiosity about his longevity, prompting the account of how he was saved.

Character interactions

• Sun treats Wu as a stranger in need; years later, she remembers him and insists on saving him despite his warnings.
• Sun’s family treats him coldly once he becomes ill, contrasting sharply with Wu’s attentive care.
• Wu reveals her identity and explains that her treatment is repayment for the life Sun once saved.

Significant themes

• Kindness returned: A selfless act can create a bond that endures for years.
• Chosen compassion versus family duty: Wu, once a stranger, offers the care Sun’s own relatives deny him.
• Betrayal and disillusionment: Sun’s illness exposes how conditional his family’s respect had been.
• Medical skill and the supernatural: Sun’s reputation rests on medicine, while his recovery depends on Wu’s witchcraft.

Key events

• After saving Sun Yawei, Wu Tongyue refuses to take him as a disciple but gives him a booklet about witchcraft, warning him to keep it hidden because possessing it could be dangerous.
• When Sun Yawei recovers, his family discovers him reading in his room. They had assumed he would either die of consumption or starve after being locked away for seven days.
• The family tries to justify abandoning him, but Sun Yawei refuses to forgive them. He demands either a division of the estate or permission to leave; when his parents refuse to divide the property, he chooses to move out.
• He returns to his work at the Imperial Medical Academy and lives at another residence. He never goes back to the family home, though he continues sending his parents a regular allowance and holiday gifts.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Tongyue repays Sun Yawei for once saving her life, then leaves after fulfilling her obligation. Her gift gives him a private opportunity to study the art that saved him.
• Sun Yawei changes from a vulnerable, imprisoned patient into an independent man who draws a firm boundary with his family. He remains dutiful enough to support his parents financially, but refuses further personal contact.
• The Sun family, aware they acted wrongly, attempt to placate him. His parents invoke family duty and claim they had no choice, while his wife and other relatives also try to persuade him. Their appeals fail.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss the family’s betrayal and Sun Yaowei’s decision to leave. Guagua hints that the booklet Wu Tongyue gave him will become important later.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and forgiveness: Sun Yaowei’s recovery does not erase the family’s choice to abandon him in a crisis.
• Independence and boundaries: He rejects the idea that family ties obligate him to return to people who failed him.
• Duty without reconciliation: He keeps supporting his parents, but separates financial responsibility from emotional closeness.
• Knowledge and danger: The hidden booklet represents both a chance to learn and a potentially perilous secret.

Plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Sun Yawei used witchcraft not to cure his illness but to extend his life through a ritual called a witchcraft contract. The practitioner sacrifices something of personal value to a Mystical Creature in exchange for more years.
• Sun Yawei discovered the technique in a booklet Wu Tongyue had once given him. It is exceptionally difficult to learn, cannot be taught, and Sun Yawei is the only known person on the continent to have mastered it.
• After years of suffering from a severe heart condition, Sun Yawei tried the ritual repeatedly and succeeded on his sixth attempt. His first bargain exchanged his familial affection for ten extra years.
• The chapter shows his preparation: three months of incense, bathing, prayer, and reciting incantations before the Witch Ancestor’s portrait, followed by ten days of medicinal baths and a precise ritual dance.
• Guagua explains that Sun Yawei made three bargains in total—trading familial affection, romantic love, and friendship. Each added ten years, giving him thirty years. Because he began at fifty-five, he is protected from dying of illness until eighty-five; what happens after that is uncertain.
• A person can sacrifice only what they personally possess. Sun Yawei cannot trade away his family members to gain more life.

Character development and interactions

• Sun Yawei is shown as resourceful and determined, but deeply embittered. Having been abandoned by his family, he came to regard family, love, and friendship as worthless and surrendered all three for longevity.
• Song Yaoyao probes the limits and dangers of the magic, first questioning what Sun Yawei gave up and later asking whether he could sacrifice other people. She is relieved to learn that he cannot.
• Guagua supplies the history and rules of the contract, while the other listeners react with fascination and unease at the prospect of extending life.

Significant themes

• The cost of longevity: Extra years are purchased by surrendering essential human bonds.
• Betrayal and isolation: Sun Yawei’s abandonment shapes his distrust of affection and his willingness to give it up.
• Limits on power: The ritual is rare, difficult, restricted to three bargains, and cannot be used to sacrifice someone else.
• Moral unease: The possibility of extending life through sacrifice fascinates the group, but the idea of using others as payment horrifies them.

Plot and events

• After learning that the Witch Tribe’s booklet had vanished once it had been read a hundred times—and that its magic prevents readers from sharing or recording its contents—the guests give up on trying to obtain it.
• Song Yaoyao reflects that witchcraft, gu art, and medicine can all be used to help or harm; their morality depends on the people who practice them.
• She asks Guagua whether Sun Yawei has chosen the “Path of Ruthlessness.” Guagua confirms that Sun now has no feelings for anyone, and Song accepts the answer.
• A tearful young man arrives at the Marquis of Eternal Peace’s residence, begging the Imperial Physicians to save his elder brother, who is bleeding heavily. His family’s rank is too low to formally request their services, and the physicians are off duty without their medical kits.
• Song Yaoyao offers her own kit and arranges bicycles to get the two Metallic Wounds physicians, herself, and Li Mingyu to the Court Censor’s residence quickly. The young man’s shifty look makes the trip feel suspicious. Guagua questions why Song is hurrying when she does not even know the injury.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows compassion and decisiveness by helping despite the family’s low status and the physicians’ day off. Her curiosity about witchcraft remains strong, but she distinguishes a practice from the way it is used.
• Guagua challenges Song’s choices and supplies information about the Witch Tribe’s safeguards and Sun Yawei’s emotional detachment.
• Sun Yawei appears polite but impassive, reinforcing the impression that he has lost his capacity for personal attachment.
• The young man is desperate to save his brother, but his shifty behavior raises doubts about his motives.
• Assistant Minister Song allows the young man in and helps organize a swift response; the other physicians initially hesitate because they lack supplies and are off duty.

Significant themes

• Morality depends on use: Witchcraft, gu art, and medicine are neither inherently good nor evil.
• Compassion versus status and rules: The physicians must weigh a life-threatening emergency against rank, duty, and lack of equipment.
• Curiosity and caution: Song is fascinated by unfamiliar arts while recognizing their risks; the suspicious house call hints at danger ahead.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao learns from Guagua that Yin Luoning, eldest son of Court Censor Yin Xiwang, has never wanted to marry because he identifies with women. His mother forced him into an arranged marriage with Ding Yuan to continue the family line.
• After Ding Yuan gave birth to a boy and a girl, Yin Luoning hoped the pressure would end. When his mother urged them to have more children, he decided his anatomy was the cause of his troubles.
• After studying medical texts, he castrated himself. He threw the severed part into the courtyard, where the family dog ate it.
• His crude operation left him unconscious from severe bleeding, and the wound became infected. Local doctors could not help, so his younger brother, Yin Luowen, sought imperial physicians.
• Song Yaoyao arrives at the Yin residence with the physicians. When Yin Xiwang points out that the injury is to his son’s private parts, she sends the male doctors and Li Mingyu to treat him while Madam Yin receives her.

Character developments

• Yin Luoning is portrayed as determined to escape the expectations imposed on him, but his desperation leads him to a dangerous, irreversible act.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with shock and dark humor to the story, then handles the propriety concern practically by delegating the examination.
• Yin Xiwang and Madam Yin remain focused on their son’s condition, though they are initially hesitant about Song Yaoyao attending to him.

Significant themes

• Family duty versus personal identity: Yin Luoning’s desire to live according to his sense of self clashes with his mother’s insistence that he marry and produce heirs.
• Coercive expectations and their consequences: Pressure to continue the family line drives Yin Luoning toward self-harm.
• Dark humor amid crisis: Song Yaoyao’s incredulous reactions contrast with the seriousness of Yin Luoning’s life-threatening condition.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss Yin Luoning’s history, with Guagua revealing the increasingly grim details.
• Yin Luowen seeks help from the imperial physicians when other doctors fail.
• At the residence, Yin Xiwang and Madam Yin greet Song Yaoyao; Yin Xiwang raises the concern about her examining his son, and Song Yaoyao assigns the male physicians and Li Mingyu instead.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao watches a video revealing Yin Luoning’s lifelong distress: he has wanted to become a woman since childhood, but family pressure forced him to hide it. After being pushed to have more children, he finally attempted to alter his body himself and badly injured himself.
• At the Yin residence, imperial physicians Li Mingyu, Pang Fei, and Zhuang Yiran find Yin Luoning unconscious and bleeding heavily. They stop the bleeding and clean the infected wound.
• The physicians are unsure how to use the unfamiliar infection-preventing medicine Song Yaoyao supplied. She arrives and guides Li Mingyu in administering penicillin after a skin test.
• Because Yin Luoning has lost a dangerous amount of blood, Song Yaoyao explains blood transfusion, tests his blood type, and helps the family find a compatible donor among more distant relatives. The transfusion steadies him and restores color to his face.
• Song Yaoyao leaves medicine and care instructions. Yin Xiwang asks the physicians to keep his son’s condition private, unaware that Song Yaoyao already knows the nature of the injury.
• After leaving, Zhuang Yiran asks Song Yaoyao to discuss medicine. She invites the physicians to the marquis’s residence.

Character developments and interactions

• Yin Luoning is revealed as deeply unhappy after years of suppressing his identity and enduring family expectations; his self-inflicted injury marks a desperate turning point.
• Song Yaoyao responds with sympathy and uses medical knowledge unavailable in the era to save him, directing the physicians through unfamiliar procedures.
• Li Mingyu follows Song Yaoyao’s instructions and performs his first injection despite trembling hands.
• Pang Fei and Zhuang Yiran initially rely on conventional medical practice but become fascinated by Song Yaoyao’s medicines and techniques.
• Yin Xiwang and Madam Yin are anxious about their son. Yin Xiwang protects the family’s privacy, while the relatives cooperate in finding a suitable blood donor.

Significant themes

• Identity and repression: Yin Luoning’s suffering stems from being forced to conceal who he is and conform to family expectations.
• Compassion and medical innovation: Song Yaoyao’s empathy and knowledge turn a life-threatening crisis into a chance of recovery.
• Privacy and stigma: Yin Xiwang’s request for secrecy reflects the shame and social pressure surrounding Yin Luoning’s condition.

Key plot points and events

• After the banquet, Song Yaoyao takes Li Mingyu and two others to Plum Garden, where they spend the evening asking her questions and learning from her.
• Yin Luoning recovers from his severe injury without developing a fever. His family believes someone attacked him, while he refuses to explain what happened.
• Ding Yuan, who secretly witnessed Yin Luoning castrate himself, is terrified of him and returns to her parents’ home. She requests a divorce; the Yin family objects, but Yin Luoning signs the Divorce Deed. Ding Yuan conceals the true reason from her family.
• The Imperial Medical Academy completes its sterile room. Song Yaoyao brings in modern medical equipment and solar power, despite some physicians’ skepticism.
• Song Yaoyao begins teaching surgery and guides Li Mingyu and the others in making penicillin. She wants the academy to produce antibiotics locally so they can reach more people. The students carefully document the process, encouraged by penicillin’s apparent role in preventing infection in Yin Luoning.
• With New Year approaching, Madam Song worries about how to reciprocate the valuable gifts sent to the family. Song Yaoyao searches her stored supplies for suitable presents, then consults Guagua, whose joking sales pitch reminds her that she can buy gifts from the shop.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao turns her medical knowledge toward building lasting local capacity, teaching others rather than relying only on the medicines in her own space. She is also shown as thoughtful toward her family and their gift-giving obligations.
• Li Mingyu and his colleagues become dedicated pupils, eager to learn and meticulous in recording the penicillin-making process.
• Ding Yuan chooses safety and separation after seeing Yin Luoning’s frightening self-harm, while Yin Luoning remains silent about his injury and accepts the divorce without protest.
• Guagua supports Song Yaoyao’s plans but keeps up a mischievous, irreverent banter, frustrating her even as it helps her remember the shop.

Significant themes

• Medical knowledge as public good: Song Yaoyao seeks to make modern medicine reproducible and widely available, especially for soldiers and other patients.
• Fear and self-preservation: Ding Yuan’s decision to leave reflects the danger she associates with Yin Luoning’s unpredictable behavior.
• Learning and trust: The Academy’s students overcome skepticism through firsthand experience and careful study.
• Humor amid serious work: Guagua’s jokes and sales patter provide a comic contrast to Song Yaoyao’s demanding medical responsibilities.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua promotes the system shop’s modest New Year discounts. Song Yaoyao jokes about its salesmanship, then buys a hundred each of several foods and gift items, trading a jade thumb ring for them.
• She brings the goods home in a carriage. Madam Song enjoys the unfamiliar pastries and yogurt, and—true to her family’s habit—doesn’t question where they came from.
• Song Yaoyao asks whether the family should send the emperor New Year gifts. Because her new title of commandery princess gives her a different status, Assistant Minister Song agrees they should.
• She prepares a generous collection, including modern foods, cosmetics, a telescope, and solar-powered lights. Her father approves and delivers the gifts to the palace, explaining how to use the unfamiliar items.
• The emperor visits Song Yaoyao at the Imperial Medical Academy to say he likes the lamps and request more for himself, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress. Song Yaoyao privately finds his request unnecessary but agrees; she sends ten more lamps and her father returns with rewards.
• On New Year’s Eve, the family dresses formally, travels by carriage to the palace banquet, and takes their seats among the guests.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is resourceful and generous, using her system goods to prepare gifts. She is also increasingly comfortable with her family’s lack of questions about her unusual supplies, though she still keeps their origins to herself.
• Guagua acts like an enthusiastic, transparent salesperson, while Song Yaoyao teasingly exposes its effort to encourage spending.
• Madam Song appreciates the new foods and guides her daughter through the etiquette of gift-giving to the emperor.
• Assistant Minister Song supports sending gifts, becomes interested in the modern devices, and personally delivers them.
• The emperor shows a more familiar, mildly needy side by asking Song Yaoyao for additional lamps, reflecting his enjoyment of her gifts and his trust in her.

Significant themes

• Generosity and reciprocity: Song Yaoyao’s gifts express gratitude for the emperor’s protection as well as respect for her elevated status.
• Tradition meeting modernity: Contemporary foods and solar-powered devices enter the world of formal court customs.
• Family trust and unspoken understanding: Song Yaoyao’s family accepts her gifts without pressing her for explanations.
• Power and personal warmth: Court protocol frames the family’s relationship with the emperor, but his casual request for more lamps adds an unexpectedly informal note.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua warns Song Yaoyao that she will meet someone unexpected at the Palace Banquet. When Liu Zheheng arrives, Song immediately admires his looks, while the others keep their distance in case her thoughts expose their secrets.
• Song eventually recognizes Liu as Noble Consort Liu’s younger brother and recalls that Cao Xiaolan murdered her own elder brother, Cao Dashan, who had raised her, for Liu’s sake.
• After bickering with Guagua, Song secures a promised gift: 100,000 jin of potatoes, which she asks him to hold until after New Year. Her playful questions about whether Guagua is male leave him exasperated.
• Song asks what happened in Liu’s story. The chapter’s vision shows that, after receiving a warning from his family, Liu investigates Cao Xiaolan and finds the physician who treated Cao Dashan. The physician confirms the warning. Liu then catches Cao Xiaolan putting drugged soup in his bowl.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains irreverent and opportunistic: she openly appreciates Liu’s appearance, negotiates a huge “apology” gift from Guagua, and quickly turns back to gathering gossip.
• Guagua is exasperated by Song’s teasing and bargaining, but ultimately agrees to her request.
• Liu Zheheng is introduced as handsome and begins investigating Cao Xiaolan cautiously, seeking proof before telling his companions. At the banquet, he is also startled by Song’s silent conversation and the vision.

Significant themes

• Comedy and teasing: Song’s banter with Guagua contrasts with the serious danger surrounding Liu and Cao Xiaolan.
• Truth revealed through supernatural means: Song’s thoughts and the projected vision expose events and hidden information to the gathered court.
• Trust and verification: Liu does not accept the accusation blindly; he confirms it through his family’s warning and the physician’s testimony.
• Betrayal and concealed danger: Cao Xiaolan’s past crime and attempted poisoning threaten Liu.

Character interactions

• Song and Guagua spar over Liu’s identity, Song’s memory, the potato reward, and Guagua’s supposed gender.
• Song’s unspoken remarks cause the banquet guests to focus on Liu and make his companions wary of being caught in her revelations.
• Liu silently observes Song, puzzled by her apparent conversation with Guagua.
• In the vision, Liu follows his father’s warning, gathers evidence, and catches Cao Xiaolan attempting to drug him.

Key plot points and events

• Liu Zheheng confronts Cao Xiaolan after uncovering that she deliberately worsened her brother Cao Dashan’s infected wound, causing his death, and had tried to drug Liu. When pressed with the physician’s testimony, Cao Xiaolan confesses that she killed Dashan because he opposed her relationship with Liu.
• Liu and the other men take Cao Xiaolan to the Government Office. In a public trial, she is sentenced to be publicly beheaded in three days.
• At court, Liu realizes Song Yaoyao somehow knows details of events she could not have witnessed. He suspects that some people can see or hear the mysterious content appearing above her head; his father, General Liu, tells him they will discuss it at home.
• The Dragon Abyss Kingdom’s envoys arrive unexpectedly during the New Year. Song learns that the beautiful woman accompanying them is Zhang Zhixi, the former bandit chief who once abducted the Sixth Prince, Chen Yixiao, intending to make him her husband.
• The envoys have come for Chen Yixiao. Song and her unseen companion Guagua joke about Zhang’s devotion, prompting the court to gossip about the pair.
• Guagua explains that Zhang discovered her possible royal origins after meeting Nian Cenyi, emperor of Dragon Abyss, who was struck by her resemblance to his late empress. The chapter ends as Nian Cenyi sees Zhang and is moved to tears.

Character developments

• Cao Xiaolan shifts from denial to a furious confession, revealing the depth of her obsession with Liu and resentment toward her brother.
• Liu Zheheng gains justice for Cao Dashan but becomes increasingly curious about Song’s apparent knowledge of private events.
• Chen Yixiao remains alarmed and unwilling to be pursued by Zhang, while Song imagines them as a fitting couple.
• Zhang Zhixi reappears not only as Chen’s persistent pursuer but also as someone seeking the truth about her origins.
• Nian Cenyi appears deeply affected by Zhang’s resemblance to his late empress.

Significant themes

• Justice and accountability: Cao Xiaolan is exposed and punished for murder.
• Secrets and hidden knowledge: Song’s unexplained ability to know events raises questions about who can perceive the information above her.
• Love and obsession: Zhang’s determined pursuit of Chen is played for comedy, contrasting with Cao Xiaolan’s destructive fixation.
• Identity and family origins: Zhang’s resemblance to the late empress suggests a significant connection to Dragon Abyss’s royal past.

Character interactions

• Liu confronts Cao Xiaolan, and the other men witness her confession and take part in bringing her to justice.
• General Liu restrains Liu Zheheng and promises to explain matters later, while Liu watches Song closely.
• Song and Guagua exchange commentary on the arriving envoys, Zhang’s past with Chen, and the reason for her journey.
• The court reacts with curiosity and gossip as attention shifts between Zhang and the distressed Sixth Prince.
• Nian Cenyi’s emotional response to Zhang hints at a powerful connection between them.

Key plot points and events

• Nian Cenyi recognizes Zhang Zhixi as his long-lost daughter after she shows him the child-sized gold bracelets she was found with. He welcomes her back to the Dragon Abyss Kingdom and restores her birth name, Nian Jingran.
• When Nian Cenyi learns that Jingran once completed a wedding ceremony with a man who later abandoned her, he has her draw the man’s portrait. He recognizes him as Chen Yixiao, the Sixth Prince.
• Jingran remains determined to claim Chen Yixiao as her husband. Her father supports her, offering royal Shadow Guards to bring him into line.
• Nian Zhijing, the Dragon Abyss Kingdom’s Third Prince, announces that the delegation has come to settle his sister’s marriage. The emperor approves the match and issues a marriage decree without consulting Chen Yixiao.
• The banquet begins. Song Yaoyao jokes eagerly about attending another wedding feast, while secretly hoping to hear more gossip. The chapter ends as Guagua introduces a story about a woman who gained a dramatic amount of weight in three years, and her image appears above Song Yaoyao.

Character developments and interactions

• Nian Cenyi moves from cautious hope to tearful certainty, then becomes fiercely protective and supportive of his newly reunited daughter.
• Nian Jingran/Zhang Zhixi reveals her origins openly and accepts her father, but also makes clear she intends to hold Chen Yixiao to their marriage.
• Chen Yixiao is appalled by the decree and privately fears Jingran will make his household chaotic, but he does not dare object aloud.
• Song Yaoyao treats the unfolding marital drama as entertainment, teasing Chen Yixiao and looking forward to the wedding feast. Jingran, meanwhile, watches Song with curiosity and wonders about her place at court.
• Guagua supplies the commentary and gossip that keeps the banquet’s guests—and readers—attentive.

Significant themes

• Family reunion and identity: The bracelets confirm Jingran’s origins and restore her place in her birth family.
• Duty, marriage, and agency: Jingran claims the marriage she believes is hers, while the political decision is made over Chen Yixiao’s objections.
• Comic spectacle and gossip: Song Yaoyao’s amusement turns serious courtship and royal affairs into public entertainment.
• Power and protection: Nian Cenyi’s status lets him respond to his daughter’s mistreatment with the force of royal authority.

Plot and events

• Wan Zunrui leaves for military service to preserve the Wan family’s count title, leaving his grandmother, mother, and fourteen-year-old sister, Wan Xiwen, at home.
• Zu Yaoming, Xiwen’s childhood fiancé, arrives penniless with their marriage contract. The women ask him to join the family as a live-in son-in-law, and he readily agrees.
• Though outwardly humble and respectful, Zu resents the Wans for what he sees as their humiliation of him. He aims to gain control of their household and assets.
• Zu wins the family’s trust by acting dutiful and especially by cooking for them. He cultivates Xiwen’s approval because her praise could strengthen his standing with the older women.
• After marrying Xiwen, Zu decides to eliminate all three women so he can take the family’s wealth. He plans to overfeed Xiwen, believing her death would devastate the older women and eventually leave him in control.
• He begins bringing Xiwen increasing amounts of her favorite foods, but she soon feels uncomfortably full. The chapter ends as she is tempted by another dish but can barely eat.

Character developments and interactions

• Zu Yaoming shifts from a desperate, seemingly courteous outsider to a calculating, resentful would-be murderer. His politeness and cooking are deliberate tools for gaining trust and influence.
• Wan Xiwen is young, initially distant from Zu, and gradually becomes more comfortable with him because of his apparent kindness. She does not know his real motives.
• Old Madam Wan and Mother Wan accept Zu as a potential male head of the household and trust his helpful behavior, unaware that he wants their property.
• Wan Zunrui is absent, but his departure leaves the women more vulnerable and creates the opening Zu exploits.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua comment on Zu’s hypocrisy, with Song voicing suspicion and disgust as Guagua reveals his plan.

Significant themes

• Deception and calculated kindness: Zu uses domestic care to conceal greed and violence.
• Power and vulnerability: The absence of the family’s male protector makes the women easier targets.
• Greed and resentment: Zu’s desire for wealth is joined to a grudge against the people who offered him refuge.
• Appearances versus reality: The household sees a respectful son-in-law; beneath that façade, he is plotting murder.

Key plot points and events

• Zu Yaoming covertly forces Wan Xiwen to eat by pretending her reluctance means he is a failure, even slapping himself until she gives in. This has increased her meals from three a day to twelve, including food brought to her during the night.
• Song Yaoyao realizes the pattern is psychological manipulation: Zu is making Wan dangerously overweight as a way to kill her without obvious violence, apparently to seize the Wan family’s wealth.
• Wan Xiwen’s grandmother and mother noticed her weight gain, but Wan concealed Zu’s role, claiming she simply enjoyed his cooking. Zu comforts her about her appearance while privately showing disgust.
• Concerned by what he has learned, Liu Zheheng takes Wan Zunrui aside and warns him that Zu is plotting against Wan Xiwen and the family. Wan Zunrui is alarmed and plans to investigate.
• When Wan Zunrui asks how Liu learned this, Liu tries to reveal that the information came from Song Yaoyao’s thoughts, but he is mysteriously unable to say it.

Character developments and interactions

• Wan Xiwen is loving and trusting toward Zu, repeatedly sacrificing her own judgment to soothe him and protect him from her family’s blame. She remains unaware of his true intentions.
• Zu Yaoming is revealed as calculating and cruel: he disguises coercion as self-pity and affection while pursuing a slow, concealed murder.
• Song Yaoyao understands the danger but worries the family will dismiss her warning without evidence, since Zu is their son-in-law.
• Liu Zheheng chooses to warn Wan Zunrui despite the difficulty of explaining his source. Wan Zunrui takes the warning seriously and wants to know how Liu discovered the plot.

Significant themes

• Psychological manipulation can disguise violence as care and make a victim participate in their own harm.
• Trust and family loyalty can protect a predator when the victim hides the truth.
• The chapter contrasts apparent affection with concealed malice, while raising the difficulty of acting on serious claims before there is concrete proof.

Plot and key events

• Liu Zheheng tries to explain that he knows something about Zu Yaoming, but saying “inner thoughts” brings back a suffocating sensation. He stops, urges Wan Zunrui to investigate Zu, and leaves without revealing how he knows.
• Wan Zunrui watches Zu Yaoming behave affectionately toward his wife, Wan Xiwen. Though the warning seems hard to reconcile with Zu’s appearance, Wan Zunrui decides to investigate once he gets home.
• Song Yaoyao learns from Guagua that Liu has already warned Wan Zunrui, so she no longer needs to find a way to alert him. She hopes that investigating Wan Xiwen’s health will encourage lifestyle changes and help her live longer.
• Guagua then reveals the story of Bu Songru, a newly titled military officer. Raised and trained for the army, Bu Songru spent long periods at the Frontier. Worried he might die without an heir, his mother arranged his marriage to Feng Miaochan. He agreed partly to ease his mother’s worries, but left for the Frontier only half a month after the wedding.
• While Bu Songru was away, Feng Miaochan initially cared for his mother, but later grew unhappy with her life as a wife whose husband was constantly absent.
• The chapter also introduces Bu Songru’s half brother, Bu Xinming, whom their father repeatedly berates and compares unfavorably with Bu Songru. Xinming resents his elder brother but stays silent to avoid punishment. His story is left unfinished.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu Zheheng is determined to warn Wan Zunrui but is constrained by an unexplained force that prevents him from discussing his source of knowledge.
• Wan Zunrui shifts from trusting appearances to taking Liu’s warning seriously enough to investigate Zu Yaoming.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua eagerly trade and follow the palace’s “gossip,” while Yaoyao’s concern for Wan Xiwen shows her interest in the consequences behind the revelations.
• Bu Songru appears dutiful and self-sacrificing: he accepts an arranged marriage to comfort his mother, then returns to military service.
• Bu Mother is portrayed as deeply anxious for her son’s safety and future. Feng Miaochan struggles with the long separation, while Bu Xinming suffers from constant comparison and develops resentment.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus hidden truth: Zu Yaoming’s affectionate behavior contrasts with Liu’s alarming accusation, prompting Wan Zunrui to question what he sees.
• Duty and personal cost: Bu Songru’s military service protects the country but leaves his mother worried and his wife lonely.
• Family expectations and resentment: Bu Mother’s fear drives her matchmaking, while Bu Father’s comparisons deepen Xinming’s bitterness.
• Health and prevention: Yaoyao hopes that discovering Wan Xiwen’s risks will lead to changes that improve her future.

Key plot points and events

• After Bu Father scolds him, Bu Xinming tries to push Feng Miaochan into a pond to spite his elder brother, Bu Songru. Feng dodges, and Xinming falls in himself.
• Feng tells Xinming not to blame her for his conflict with his brother. Her composure surprises him, and he becomes increasingly interested in her.
• Their shared resentment toward Bu Songru brings Xinming and Feng closer. They begin meeting secretly and start an affair, despite Feng being Songru’s wife.
• About six months later, Bu Songru’s sister, Bu Lanwei, discovers them together in a storeroom. Xinming attacks her with a club, believing he has killed her; he and Feng hide her and agree to act as if nothing happened.
• Bu Lanwei is eventually found by servants. She survives, but her head injury leaves her mentally impaired.

Character developments

• Bu Xinming shifts from hostility toward Feng to attraction and then an affair with her. When their secret is exposed, he resorts to violence and concealment.
• Feng Miaochan initially shows independence and calm, but later becomes Xinming’s lover and helps hide the assault on Bu Lanwei.
• Bu Lanwei becomes an accidental witness and suffers a severe, lasting injury.
• Song Yaoyao, watching the events unfold, recognizes the danger in Xinming’s growing interest in Feng and reacts with alarm to the affair and attack.

Significant themes

• Forbidden desire and betrayal: Xinming’s affair with his sister-in-law violates family and marital bonds.
• Resentment as a bond: Shared hatred of Songru draws Xinming and Feng together.
• Secrecy and consequences: Their attempt to protect their secret leads to brutal violence and lasting harm.
• Moral hypocrisy and self-interest: Xinming and Feng prioritize their own safety over Bu Lanwei’s wellbeing.

Character interactions

• Feng’s first direct exchange with Xinming is a measured rebuke: she separates herself from his conflict with Songru.
• As confidants who share resentment toward Songru, Xinming and Feng become lovers and discuss the impossibility of openly being together.
• When Bu Lanwei discovers them, they act in concert to silence and conceal her, with Xinming carrying out the attack and Feng helping hide her.
• Bu Mother responds to Lanwei’s disappearance by organizing a search, leading to Lanwei’s discovery and medical care.

Key plot points and events

• Bu Xinming and Feng Miaochan continue their affair in a rented courtyard. Bu Xinming’s wife, Bu Lanwei, survived the earlier incident but lost her wits.
• Feng Miaochan is a month pregnant with Bu Xinming’s child. The lovers first consider ending the pregnancy, but after Bu Songru returns to the capital, they decide to pass the child off as his.
• Feng plans to get Bu Songru drunk and sleep with him on New Year’s Eve, but has not yet managed to do so.
• Song Yaoyao decides to expose the affair and Bu Lanwei’s mistreatment. She asks Guagua to prepare printed evidence for Bu Songru.
• Bu Songru’s master, Ge Guantian, tells him what he has heard and advises him to have Feng examined by a physician. He also warns Bu Songru to accept any evidence Song Yaoyao provides without revealing that he knows about it.
• At the banquet, Bu Songru returns to his seat and reassures his anxious mother, while silently watching Feng. The singing and dancing continue.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao moves from outrage to action, determined to protect Bu Songru from being deceived and to help bring the lovers to justice. She remains irreverent and easily distracted by her own thoughts.
• Bu Songru is initially confused by the pitying looks around him, then learns of the possible betrayal. Though shocked, he stays composed and plans to verify the claims.
• Ge Guantian acts as a discreet mentor, passing along the information and guiding Bu Songru on how to investigate.
• Bu Xinming and Feng Miaochan grow more brazen: rather than end the pregnancy, they plan to deceive Bu Songru and build a future around the child.
• Mother Bu is nervous about her first palace banquet but is reassured by her son.

Significant themes

• Deception and betrayal: Feng and Bu Xinming seek to make Bu Songru unknowingly raise another man’s child.
• Justice and intervention: Song Yaoyao’s evidence may prevent the scheme and expose the harm done to Bu Lanwei.
• Appearances versus reality: Feng’s refined public image contrasts with her secret conduct.
• Gossip as revelation: Song Yaoyao’s private thoughts expose truths that those affected do not yet know.

Character interactions

• Ge Guantian privately informs Bu Songru of the affair, pregnancy, and Song Yaoyao’s expected evidence.
• Bu Songru reassures his mother, who fears that they may have committed some breach of etiquette.
• Bu Songru and Feng Miaochan share a table, but he watches her warily after hearing the accusations.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua coordinate the plan to provide Bu Songru with evidence.

• A comic interlude: Song Yaoyao proudly sings a humorous song encouraging women to value themselves and live freely at every age. Guagua then shows her a modern street-interview video. The joke hinges on a man misunderstanding “childhood nickname” as a sexual question; Song Yaoyao laughs, while several guests choke on their tea. She wonders why everyone is coughing, and the emperor alone remains composed.
• A marriage request: After a performance, a man kneels before the emperor and asks permission to marry his cousin. His father says he is drunk and insists that marriage should be arranged by parents and a matchmaker. The son replies that his feelings are sincere and asks for a blessing.
• Song Yaoyao’s warning: Alarmed, Song explains to Guagua that marriage between close relatives—direct relatives or collateral relatives within three generations—raises the risk of inherited disorders and can harm children. Guagua adds examples of possible conditions and contrasts modern prohibitions with ancient customs that favored marriages to preserve or strengthen family ties. The court listens in stunned silence.
  Character developments and interactions: Song remains playful and outspoken, but shifts into an earnest educator when confronted with the proposed cousin marriage. Her banter with Guagua drives both comic moments and the medical explanation. The young man openly defends his love, while his father tries to restrain him; the other guests react with surprise, laughter, and shock, and the emperor maintains his composure.
  Themes: The chapter mixes humor with social instruction, promotes women’s self-worth, and questions customs that prioritize family ties over individual and children’s well-being.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao explains to the emperor and court that marriages between close collateral relatives can greatly increase the risk of illness, birth defects, and early death in their children. The emperor orders an investigation and temporarily forbids marriages between relatives within three generations, with execution as the penalty for disobedience.
• After the banquet, Song Yaoyao discreetly slips Bu Songru a note containing evidence of his wife Feng Miaochan’s wrongdoing. Bu Songru reads it and summons his family, as well as a physician.
• Feng Miaochan and Bu Xinming try to discourage the examination. The physician confirms that Feng Miaochan is more than a month pregnant. Rather than celebrate, the family is shocked.
• Bu Mother strikes Feng Miaochan and demands to know who her lover is. Bu Songru reveals that he knows not only about the affair but also that Feng Miaochan harmed his younger sister, Lan Wei.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao uses her knowledge to persuade the court to address the dangers of close-relative marriage, then quietly helps Bu Songru confront his family’s secrets.
• Bu Songru acts with deliberate resolve: he conceals his purpose from his relatives, obtains a physician’s examination, and confronts Feng Miaochan with the evidence.
• Feng Miaochan tries to prevent the examination but is exposed as pregnant and remains silent when questioned about her lover.
• Bu Xinming joins Feng Miaochan in resisting the examination, hinting at his anxiety about what it might reveal.
• Bu Mother reacts with fury, striking Feng Miaochan and demanding answers; Bu Songru stops her from questioning the physician and takes control of the confrontation.

Significant themes

• Public health and reform: The chapter challenges accepted marriage customs by presenting evidence of the risks of close-relative marriage.
• Truth and accountability: Song Yaoyao’s note enables Bu Songru to bring concealed misconduct into the open.
• Family loyalty and betrayal: The affair and the alleged harm to Lan Wei fracture the Bu family’s trust.
• Knowledge as power: Information—both Song Yaoyao’s scientific explanation and the evidence she passes along—drives the chapter’s major actions.

Key events

• Bu Songru reveals that Feng Miaochan was involved in the attack that left Bu Lanwei mentally impaired. Bu Mother has Feng beaten.
• Bu Xinming, exposed as Feng’s lover, tries to blame her. They accuse each other, then Feng admits that Lanwei caught them together. Bu Xinming struck Lanwei repeatedly with a stick, intending to kill her.
• Bu Mother refuses to forgive him, and Bu Father collapses from shock. After recovering, he orders Feng divorced and sent away, and allows the family to punish Xinming as it sees fit, provided he is kept alive.
• Feng is rejected by her parents and sent to a temple. She is bullied there, miscarries, and later dies. Xinming is drugged into a permanently witless state and confined with his mother, Concubine Bai, to a remote courtyard.
• In a separate development, Wan Zunrui questions Wan Xiwen’s personal maid. After initially refusing to talk, she reveals what she knows under pressure.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng and Xinming turn on each other when exposed, each trying to shift blame. Their affair and joint role in Lanwei’s assault come to light through their quarrel and Feng’s confession.
• Bu Mother’s grief over Lanwei becomes fury at Feng and Xinming; she rejects Concubine Bai’s pleas for mercy.
• Bu Father, devastated by Xinming’s actions, loses faith in him and authorizes severe punishment.
• Wan Zunrui uses threats to overcome the maid’s reluctance and extract information.

Significant themes

• Betrayal within the family and the consequences of abusing trust.
• Justice and retribution: the pair’s actions bring disgrace, punishment, and death.
• Parental grief, family reputation, and the danger of concealing wrongdoing.