Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Song Qingling insists that Song Yaoyao visit a clinic for her strained back, threatening to tell their mother if she refuses.
• A crowd of admirers follows the sisters to the Century-Old Clinic, claiming they want to protect Yaoyao but mainly hoping to hear gossip. Their numbers frighten the clinic apprentice, though they agree to wait outside.
• After a long wait, the physician examines Yaoyao, prescribes medicine and homemade medicinal oil, and advises her to use both as directed.
• As the sisters are leaving, a couple rushes in with their choking son, who swallowed a whole jujube. The physician believes he cannot help.
• Yaoyao steps in, positions the child, and gives repeated abdominal thrusts. The jujube flies out, saving him.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is initially reluctant to seek care and bemused by her sudden popularity, but acts decisively and compassionately when a child’s life is at stake.
• Song Qingling shows a firm, protective side, making sure Yaoyao gets medical attention.
• The old physician is cautious about Yaoyao at first and helpless in the emergency, while the child’s parents move from panic to hope.

Character interactions

• The crowd enthusiastically presses to accompany Yaoyao, while she struggles to understand their attention.
• Qingling supports Yaoyao into the clinic; the apprentice tries to manage the intimidating crowd and warns the physician about them.
• The parents plead with the physician to save their son, then place their hopes in Yaoyao when she offers help.

Significant themes

• Public admiration and celebrity: Yaoyao’s popularity turns an ordinary clinic visit into a spectacle.
• Compassion and responsibility: Yaoyao puts her own discomfort aside to help a child.
• Limits of expertise and decisive action: When the physician cannot provide a solution, Yaoyao’s quick intervention proves crucial.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao saves a choking child by using the Heimlich Maneuver. The child recovers, and she advises the parents to give them soft, plain food while their throat heals.
• She refuses payment, explaining that she was only helping and is not a physician.
• The old physician asks how she performed the rescue. Song Yaoyao names and demonstrates the Heimlich Maneuver, teaching it to him and everyone in the medical hall.
• When people outside ask what happened, she demonstrates the technique again and encourages them to teach it to others.
• The grateful parents offer pastries from their family shop. After initially declining, Song Yaoyao accepts them so they can express their thanks.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is shown to be resourceful, compassionate, and generous with knowledge. She prioritizes saving lives over payment or recognition, though she invents a story about learning the technique from a foreigner to explain her knowledge.
• The old physician moves from initial uncertainty—and a mistaken impression that Song Yaoyao is spoiled—to deep respect for her skill and generosity.
• The child’s parents go from panic and grief to relief and gratitude, insisting on finding some way to repay her.

Significant themes

• Compassion and selflessness: Song Yaoyao helps without expecting payment.
• Sharing knowledge: She believes a life-saving skill should be taught widely rather than kept within a professional lineage.
• Respect earned through action: The physician and crowd revise their opinions of Song Yaoyao after witnessing her ability and character.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao reassures the parents, refuses their payment, and gives practical aftercare advice.
• She respectfully teaches the old physician and the medical hall’s visitors, earning their admiration.
• The crowd bows to her after she shares the technique, while she redirects attention toward the lives it may save.
• The parents ultimately persuade her to accept pastries as a token of gratitude.

Key plot points and events

• Injured Song Yaoyao insists on going to the Fortune House for a meal rather than returning home. Song Qingling eventually gives in, and their large following trails after them.
• The popular restaurant is full, so the sisters are about to leave when Sixth Prince Chen Yixiao invites them to join his party.
• Yaoyao eagerly accepts because the meal will be free. She tells Qingling she intends to order the most expensive food, reasoning that the restaurant belongs to the emperor and the money is merely moving between family pockets.
• The Sixth Prince’s martial-artist companions overhear her plan. Though one is angered, the others stop him from reacting before their prince does.
• In a private room, Yaoyao openly admits she likes expensive dishes. The Sixth Prince calmly orders the restaurant’s signature dishes and its two costliest offerings. Yaoyao notices one of his companions glaring at her.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains shamelessly food-motivated, blunt, and opportunistic, even while injured. She treats the invitation as a chance to enjoy an extravagant meal at someone else’s expense.
• Song Qingling is protective and proper, urging Yaoyao to go home and later trying to restrain her appetite and bluntness. Yaoyao’s reasoning leaves her flustered and partly convinced.
• Sixth Prince Chen Yixiao behaves with composure and generosity, offering the sisters a place at his table and accommodating Yaoyao’s outrageous request.
• The prince’s companions are amused or offended by Yaoyao’s candor, but defer to the Sixth Prince rather than confronting her.

Significant themes

• Food, money, and opportunism: Yaoyao’s enthusiasm for costly dishes drives the chapter’s comedy.
• Proper manners versus blunt honesty: Qingling worries about etiquette, while Yaoyao says exactly what she wants.
• Power and social expectations: The gathering responds formally to the Sixth Prince, while Yaoyao treats his invitation casually—as a free meal.

Character interactions

• Yaoyao persuades Qingling to continue the outing, then accepts the Sixth Prince’s invitation before her sister can weigh in.
• Qingling quietly challenges Yaoyao’s behavior; Yaoyao defends it with her “moving money from one pocket to another” logic.
• The Sixth Prince’s party overhears the sisters’ private conversation, creating tension beneath the polite meal invitation.
• At the table, the Sixth Prince responds graciously to Yaoyao’s frank request, while one companion’s glare hints at lingering displeasure.

Plot and key events

• At a gathering with the Sixth Prince, Song Yaoyao notices his companion Su Mu rolling his eyes. She calls attention to it deliberately, embarrassing him in front of the group.
• Song privately gives Su Mu and his cousin Su Yu mocking nicknames. Su Mu nearly loses his temper, but others restrain him, and the Sixth Prince warns him to stay calm.
• Song and Guagua discuss Qin Youyou, the Minister’s biological daughter, who is being mistreated while the family favors Qin Mengdai, an impostor. The Sixth Prince and his companions realize there may be important facts about the Qin family they have not known and resolve to investigate.
• Guagua hints that someone present has “faulty brains,” then directs Song to consider the Sixth Prince himself. Song is startled; the Prince is offended but listens closely.
• Guagua begins revealing the Sixth Prince’s past: Chen Yixiao’s mother, Noble Lady Qi, was of low rank and became pregnant after one encounter with the emperor. She hid the pregnancy until it could no longer be concealed. The Empress Dowager worried that Qi’s low status and lack of powerful family support would leave her vulnerable.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows that her apparent naivety can be a deliberate act: she draws attention to Su Mu’s behavior to embarrass him. She is also quick to condemn the Qin family’s treatment of Qin Youyou.
• Su Mu is openly hostile toward Song, but his anger is restrained by the Sixth Prince and his companions.
• The Sixth Prince tries to keep the gathering composed, yet becomes personally invested when Guagua suggests he may be the one with poor judgment. He and his companions also take the Qin family revelations seriously.
• Guagua serves as Song’s source of hidden information, exposing others’ motives and steering the conversation toward the Prince’s history.
• Song’s inner thoughts—and Guagua’s replies—are audible to those around her, turning private gossip into public embarrassment and forcing the group to hear potentially sensitive revelations.

Significant themes

• Appearances and hidden truths: Qin Mengdai’s identity, Su Mu’s resentment, and the Sixth Prince’s family history all conceal deeper realities.
• Favoritism and injustice: Qin Youyou suffers neglect while the family protects the impostor they prefer.
• Power and vulnerability: Noble Lady Qi’s low rank and weak family connections make her pregnancy dangerous.
• Gossip as exposure: Song’s candid thoughts disrupt polite conversation and bring concealed matters into the open.

• Noble Lady Qi’s death: Eight months pregnant, Noble Lady Qi slipped on a path deliberately made dangerous with oil and soybeans. She went into premature labor, and someone tampered with the birthing arrangements as well. A planted midwife was caught, but killed herself with hidden poison. Noble Lady Qi gave birth to the Sixth Prince, then died from hemorrhaging.
• The Sixth Prince’s origins: Because the Empress Dowager could not bear to look at the newborn, the Empress raised him as her own. The palace suppressed the truth, and the Sixth Prince grew up believing the Empress was his biological mother. The Second Prince was her only biological son.
• A murder left unpunished: Noble Consort Liu arranged the oily path because she resented other consorts having children. Consort Liang learned of the plot and made it more dangerous by adding soybeans, while Consort Chi had planted the midwife who later interfered during childbirth. Though the Empress and Empress Dowager investigated, the women’s powerful families made prosecution politically difficult, and the case was left unresolved. The Sixth Prince, hearing the truth, became furious at the women implicated in his birth mother’s death.
• The “lifesaver”: At five, the Sixth Prince was pushed into a pond and nearly drowned. A little girl rescued him; he remembered only her necklace before losing consciousness. After recovering, he spent two years trying to identify her. At a palace banquet, he saw the necklace on Ou Baiqing and concluded she was his rescuer. From then on, he shared his best possessions with her and treated her lavishly.
• Character dynamics and themes: The Empress is portrayed as a caring mother to the Sixth Prince despite not giving birth to him, while the Empress Dowager tries to protect the infant after his mother’s death. Song Yaoyao and Guagua’s narration exposes the concealed history, as the surrounding listeners realize they have overheard an imperial secret. The chapter highlights palace intrigue, the vulnerability of women and heirs amid factional power, the suppression of truth, and the Sixth Prince’s deep gratitude to the person he believes saved him. It ends by raising the question of whether his devotion to Ou Baiqing is based on a mistaken identification.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points

• Guagua reveals that the Sixth Prince, Chen Yixiao, has spent years mistaking Ou Ruoxuan for Ou Baiqing. The girl who saved him from drowning was Ruoxuan, not Baiqing, and the necklace he associated with Baiqing originally belonged to Ruoxuan.
• Ruoxuan was neglected and abused after her mother, Han Lin, died. At age five, she saved the young Sixth Prince from the Lotus Pond, then woke in a carriage bound for a country estate, without her mother’s keepsake necklace.
• Ruoxuan lived at the estate until fourteen, when General Han secured an imperial betrothal between her and Chen Yixiao. Because Yixiao loved Baiqing, he resented Ruoxuan and treated her cruelly.
• Yixiao humiliated Ruoxuan before and after their wedding, repeatedly believed Baiqing’s accusations, and had Ruoxuan beaten. Their marriage remained unconsummated.
• Guagua explains that Baiqing found Ruoxuan and Yixiao unconscious after the rescue, then pretended to be unconscious herself. Her maid, who served Baiqing’s mother Chang Yan, kept quiet. Chang Yan took both girls back to the residence. The chapter does not yet fully explain how the necklace later came to be associated with Baiqing.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yixiao is exposed as gullible, cruel, and obsessively devoted to Baiqing; he ignored Ruoxuan’s explanations and never investigated her claims.
• Ou Ruoxuan is revealed as selfless and long-suffering: she saved Yixiao despite her own weakness, then endured years of mistreatment.
• Ou Baiqing appears calculating from childhood, using the aftermath of the rescue to conceal what she knew.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with disbelief and anger, mocking Yixiao’s blind loyalty. The gathered listeners share her shock and suspect a deeper conspiracy.

Significant themes

• Mistaken identity and hidden truth: Yixiao’s false memory shaped his feelings and actions for years.
• Injustice and abuse of power: Ruoxuan suffers because of family neglect, social vulnerability, and her husband’s authority.
• Blind devotion and manipulation: Yixiao accepts Baiqing’s claims without question, allowing her to influence his treatment of Ruoxuan.
• Appearance versus reality: Ruoxuan’s true role in the rescue—and the necklace’s real owner—contradicts the story Yixiao believed.

Plot and revelations

• Guagua explains that Ou Ruoxuan was the one who rescued the young Sixth Prince. While he was unconscious, he kept asking for a necklace that belonged to her mother.
• Chang Yan stole the necklace and put it on her daughter, Ou Baiqing. She then helped conceal the truth by arranging for Ou Ruoxuan to be sent away.
• The Empress suspected the story was false: Ou Baiqing’s clothes had been dry, while the other girl’s were soaked. She tried to investigate and stop the family from misleading the Sixth Prince, but he refused to believe her and trusted Ou Baiqing instead.
• When Ou Ruoxuan returned and tried to reclaim the necklace, the Sixth Prince assumed she was bullying Ou Baiqing and falsely claiming credit. He had Ou Ruoxuan beaten with thirty strokes of the heavy paddle, nearly killing her. She never again told him she had saved his life.
• Hearing the truth, the Sixth Prince is stunned and realizes he mistook someone else for his savior and abused the woman who actually saved him. The people around him and in the other rooms are horrified by his cruelty.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao fiercely condemns the Sixth Prince, Ou Baiqing, Chang Yan, and Ou Yunxiao, as well as General Han for arranging marriages and making decisions for women without regard for their wishes.
• Guagua reveals that Ou Ruoxuan knows the truth but has been silenced by the Sixth Prince’s accusations and violence.
• Song suggests Ou Ruoxuan should leave her husband. Guagua points out that wives cannot divorce husbands in their era, then darkly proposes that she could become a widow. Song calls the suggestion unrealistic because the Sixth Prince is a prince.

Significant themes

• Deception and misplaced trust: The Sixth Prince accepts Ou Baiqing’s story despite warning signs and the Empress’s doubts.
• Abuse of power and injustice: Ou Ruoxuan is punished for trying to reclaim her own keepsake and tell the truth.
• Control disguised as care: Song criticizes General Han for claiming to act in his granddaughter’s best interests while overriding her agency.
• Gender inequality: The discussion of divorce highlights the limited choices available to women in the setting.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao’s “video” function shows the Sixth Prince the truth about his past: his birth mother’s death, Ou Ruoxuan rescuing him, and the later abuse Ou Ruoxuan suffered after marrying into his household.
• The Sixth Prince recognizes that the scenes of him beating Ou Ruoxuan are real. Song Yaoyao privately condemns him, while also disparaging his companions.
• At a meal, Song Yaoyao eats freely while the tense Sixth Prince and his party barely touch their food. The prince soon leaves.
• Back at his residence, the Sixth Prince orders the Shadow Guards to investigate. Their findings confirm that Ou Baiqing and her mother deceived him, and that he had trusted their claims without checking.
• Wanting to see Ou Ruoxuan but ashamed to face her, he goes to her courtyard. There, he discovers how poor and isolated her living conditions are, and overhears two servants insulting her as she silently washes clothes.

Character developments

• The Sixth Prince begins to grasp the harm he has caused and the extent of his gullibility. His shock turns into guilt and anger at Ou Baiqing, but shame makes him hesitate to face Ou Ruoxuan.
• Ou Ruoxuan is shown enduring neglect and humiliation without outward reaction, underscoring her isolation and quiet resilience.
• Song Yaoyao remains outspoken and protective of Ou Ruoxuan, even in her private thoughts, while being cheerfully undisturbed by the tense meal.
• Ou Baiqing and her mother are exposed as having manipulated the prince; the evidence against them appears easy to uncover.

Significant themes

• Truth versus deception: The prince’s assumptions collapse once he sees evidence and investigates.
• Accountability and remorse: Realizing the truth is only a first step; the prince must confront the abuse he inflicted.
• Power and cruelty: Ou Ruoxuan’s position as princess consort offers little protection from mistreatment.
• Appearance versus reality: The prince’s companions and household seem respectable, but their conduct reveals a cruel environment.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao’s condemnation of the Sixth Prince contrasts with his silent shock; her blunt thoughts also unsettle his companions.
• The Sixth Prince invites Song Yaoyao to eat, then leaves, while she readily accepts his hospitality.
• The Shadow Guards provide the evidence that turns his suspicion into certainty.
• At Ou Ruoxuan’s courtyard, the servants’ contempt—and her silence as she works—forces the prince to witness the degrading reality of her life.

Key plot points and events

• The Sixth Prince overhears two servants cursing Ou Ruoxuan and orders them beaten to death. He then finds her silently washing clothes, seemingly unable to recognize him as someone safe.
• When he reaches for her, Ou Ruoxuan recoils and begs him not to hit her or force her to be Princess Consort. He carries her to his courtyard and promises reliable maids will care for her, but leaves when he sees how deeply she fears him.
• Alone, Ou Ruoxuan suspects his kindness is another trap and resolves never to trust him again. She regrets having once saved his life and believes his past abuse has destroyed any hope between them.
• Ou Ruoxuan also rejects her grandfather, General Han. When his messenger visits, she shows him the scars from her beatings and tells him to report her suffering, adding that he should no longer interfere in her life. General Han later learns the full extent of what happened and is devastated by her rejection.
• The Sixth Prince discovers the truth and tries repeatedly to make amends, but Ou Ruoxuan avoids him and shuts herself away. General Han considers seeking the Emperor’s consent to end the imperially arranged marriage, though divorce would be difficult.
• After the Sixth Prince leaves, Song Yaoyao encourages Song Qingling to eat. Qingling reflects on the footage of Ou Ruoxuan’s abuse and believes the scandal will discourage families from sending their daughters into the Sixth Prince’s household.

Character developments and interactions

• Ou Ruoxuan is physically and emotionally traumatized, distrustful of the Sixth Prince, and openly resentful of General Han for arranging the marriage and failing to protect her. She refuses both his attempts at care and her family’s later outreach.
• The Sixth Prince shows regret and belated tenderness, but his efforts cannot undo the abuse. His harsh punishment of the servants contrasts with Ou Ruoxuan’s inability to see him as a protector.
• General Han comes to recognize his responsibility and grieves that Ou Ruoxuan now hates him, but his remorse arrives after the damage is done.
• Song Yaoyao and Song Qingling discuss the Sixth Prince’s cruelty and Ou Ruoxuan’s suffering; Yaoyao’s blunt contempt contrasts with Qingling’s fear and compassion.

Significant themes

• Belated remorse cannot erase harm: the chapter’s central idea is that late affection is of little worth after repeated cruelty.
• Abuse and broken trust: Ou Ruoxuan’s fear shows how violence can leave lasting psychological wounds.
• Responsibility and consequences: the Sixth Prince and General Han must confront the suffering caused by their choices, while Ou Ruoxuan asserts her right to reject their control.

Key plot points and events

• After lunch, Song Yaoyao insists on packing up the uneaten food rather than wasting it, explaining that ordinary people may struggle to afford even basic meals. Song Qingling accepts her practical attitude.
• At home, Madam Song scolds Yaoyao for straining her back while imitating Su Yu. Despite her sternness, she arranges for an elderly servant to apply medicated oil and massage the injury. The treatment hurts, and Yaoyao comically protests when told she will need another session.
• The next morning, Yaoyao’s back feels better.
• At court, Censor Qian impeaches Qin Hanshan, the Minister of Revenue, for allowing a concubine to switch his legitimate daughter and for mistreating her after she was found. Yaoyao welcomes the news, and Guagua notes that Grand Tutor Su now knows the truth about Qin Mengdai’s parentage, limiting Madam Qin’s ability to protect her.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows thrift and disregard for social judgment, but remains timid around her mother. Her dramatic complaints about the painful treatment add humor, while her thoughts reveal her anger at Qin Hanshan’s conduct.
• Song Qingling is attentive to Yaoyao, notices her injury and explains the day’s events to Madam Song. She also shares Yaoyao’s meal, though she initially finds the decision to pack leftovers surprising.
• Madam Song is sharp-tongued and strict, yet clearly caring: she ensures Yaoyao receives treatment and checks with Qingling about their outing.
• Guagua provides information about the political consequences of the Qin family scandal. The emperor, already informed through people who can hear Yaoyao’s thoughts, is likewise astonished by Qin Hanshan’s behavior.
• The people who had been following Yaoyao for gossip finally stop to eat or go home, unable to trail her all day.

Significant themes

• Thrift and respect for food: Yaoyao refuses to waste an expensive meal, grounding her attitude in concern for people with less.
• Family care expressed through scolding: Madam Song’s harsh words contrast with her concrete concern for Yaoyao’s recovery.
• Accountability and justice: Qin Hanshan’s alleged misconduct reaches the imperial court, suggesting consequences for the stolen identity and subsequent mistreatment.
• Public curiosity and gossip: Yaoyao’s actions attract followers eager for news, but their interest has practical limits.

Key plot points and events

• After learning Qin Mengdai was actually Guo Bilian’s supposedly dead daughter, Minister Qin admits he did not know about the child swap. The emperor confines him to his home for a month, docks three years’ salary, and orders him to stop abusing Qin Youyou.
• The Grand Tutor asks to take Qin Youyou to his estate, and the emperor agrees to protect her from further mistreatment.
• Censor Wu impeaches the Sixth Prince for abusing his consort, Ou Ruoxuan. The emperor already knows about the abuse from a Shadow Guard’s report.
• The emperor reveals that General Han had previously requested a divorce for his granddaughter, though the reason was left unexplained at the time. He now understands General Han was responding to the Sixth Prince’s treatment of Ou Ruoxuan.
• The Sixth Prince begs to remain married and promises to make amends. The emperor points out that he concealed Ou Ruoxuan from palace banquets for a year, damaging her standing, and acknowledges that his own failure to investigate the match properly helped cause her suffering. The question of divorce remains unresolved.

Character developments

• Minister Qin accepts responsibility for his household’s misconduct, though he claims ignorance of the daughter swap.
• Qin Youyou is given a chance to escape her father’s control and receive protection from the Grand Tutor.
• The Sixth Prince shows remorse only after being exposed, pleading for another chance while having previously neglected and mistreated his consort.
• The emperor balances punishment against the court’s practical dependence on Minister Qin, while also confronting his failure to protect Ou Ruoxuan through a poorly investigated marriage.
• Song Yaoyao openly hopes the Sixth Prince and Ou Ruoxuan will divorce; his hostile glare briefly frightens her, but Guagua reassures her.

Significant themes

• Abuse of power and family responsibility: Officials and princes are held accountable for mistreating those under their authority.
• Protection and justice: Qin Youyou and Ou Ruoxuan need protection from powerful men within their own families.
• Consequences versus excuses: The Sixth Prince’s kowtowing and promises cannot undo the harm or social humiliation he caused.
• Limits of imperial justice: The emperor’s punishment of Minister Qin is constrained by the state’s reliance on his role managing the treasury.

Character interactions

• The emperor questions Minister Qin, disciplines him, and grants the Grand Tutor’s request to take Qin Youyou in.
• Censor Wu formally challenges the Sixth Prince, prompting the emperor to address his abuse of Ou Ruoxuan.
• Song Yaoyao’s private thoughts criticize the Sixth Prince and support divorce; the Sixth Prince responds with anger, while Guagua comforts her.
• The emperor confronts his son with General Han’s request and the damage the Sixth Prince’s conduct has done to Ou Ruoxuan.

Key plot points

• The emperor confirms the Sixth Prince’s divorce from Ou Ruoxuan. He says the prince may court her again only if she freely agrees, and warns him not to force her.
• Song Yaoyao celebrates Ou Ruoxuan’s freedom, while suspecting the regretful Sixth Prince may try to win her back.
• Censor Wu impeaches Ou Yunxiao for mistreating his first wife and daughter, indulging his second wife and her daughter, and falsely claiming credit for saving a life. The emperor demotes him to a ninth-rank city gate post. Chang Yan and Ou Baijing are sentenced to confinement in the ancestral temple for life.
• The court turns to repeated flooding in Jiangnan: newly repaired dikes have already been washed away. Song Yaoyao and Guagua explain that embezzlement and limited construction methods perpetuate the cycle. The emperor knows corruption is widespread, but investigators sent to Jiangnan have died mysteriously.
• Song Yaoyao mentions that modern cement and concrete could make far more durable dikes, capturing the court’s attention.

Character developments and interactions

• The Sixth Prince accepts that the divorce cannot be reversed, though he remains determined to seek Ou Ruoxuan’s forgiveness.
• The emperor shows both sympathy for his son and resolve in upholding the decree. He also punishes Ou Yunxiao and his family, and privately takes pride in Song Yaoyao’s praise.
• Song Yaoyao’s irreverent inner commentary contrasts with the court’s serious politics. Her blunt thoughts about corruption unsettle the ministers, while her mention of cement and concrete gives them a possible solution to the flooding crisis.
• Censor Wu shifts attention from the prince to Ou Yunxiao, making the father answer for the harm he caused his family.

Significant themes

• Accountability and consequences: The divorce and punishments address abuses of power within the family and the court.
• Freedom and consent: The emperor makes clear that Ou Ruoxuan may remarry the Sixth Prince only by choice.
• Corruption and institutional failure: Embezzlement, intimidation, and failed investigations keep Jiangnan’s dikes weak.
• Knowledge as a means of change: Song Yaoyao’s modern engineering insight offers hope of breaking the cycle of flooding and waste.

Chapter summary

• At Morning Court, Song Yaoyao privately decides to write down modern formulas for cement and concrete, including instructions for their use, so they can help reinforce Jiangnan’s levees. She plans to give them to the emperor through her father, leaving the practical arrangements to the court. The emperor overhears and is relieved, intending to send trusted officials and funds directly to Jiangnan to reduce embezzlement.
• Song jokes to Guagua that the officials’ moods change like people having their periods. Guagua invents “Uncle Flo” for men, and Song praises its “culture.” The officials are furious at being insulted, while the emperor and Assistant Minister Song silently tolerate her because of the promised formulas. Her father, however, plans to discipline her at home.
• Before court can end, Princess Yu arrives with her bruised son, Dou Siyuan, carried in on a door plank. She tearfully claims he has been cruelly beaten and appeals to the emperor’s sympathy for her late husband, Prince Yu. The court is familiar with her repeated visits and rehearsed complaints.
• Guagua explains that Dou Siyuan is a notorious wastrel who has repeatedly relied on the emperor’s leniency because of his father’s past service. He was recently beaten after provoking someone—but the real reason is far worse: he abducts women from respectable families, abuses and tortures them, and has driven many to suicide or death.
• Guagua’s screen displays evidence of Dou’s crimes. The court is horrified, and Song becomes furious, condemning him and questioning why his victims’ families never reported him. The chapter ends before that question is answered.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows practical concern for flood control, but her irreverent humor continues to antagonize officials. After learning what Dou Siyuan has done, she shifts from curiosity to outright moral outrage.
• The emperor remains outwardly composed despite Song’s insults. He is eager to use her proposed formulas and has previously shielded Dou because of Prince Yu’s service.
• Assistant Minister Song is embarrassed and angry at his daughter’s behavior, though he also expects her contribution to benefit the state.
• Princess Yu presents herself as a grieving, wronged mother, relying on her late husband’s reputation to seek protection for her son.
• Dou Siyuan is revealed as a serial abuser whose apparent victimhood conceals severe crimes. His beatings prompt scrutiny rather than sympathy once the truth emerges.
• Guagua supplies context and evidence, helping Song—and the assembled court—understand what Princess Yu’s complaint leaves out.

Significant themes

• Public service and accountability: Song offers a practical solution for disaster prevention, while the emperor considers how to prevent corruption in carrying it out.
• Privilege and impunity: Dou’s status and his father’s legacy have repeatedly protected him from consequences.
• Appearance versus truth: Princess Yu’s tearful story presents Dou as a victim, but Guagua’s evidence reveals the women harmed by him.
• Justice for the powerless: The chapter highlights the suffering of women whose families may have lacked the influence or means to secure justice.

Plot points and events

• The chapter reveals that Dou Siyuan abducted commoner women and used his servants to beat their families into silence. Many victims’ relatives were killed or left near death; others gave up seeking justice because they believed the emperor would protect Dou.
• Dou Siyuan’s latest beating was carried out by a woman’s brother, a low-ranking military officer, and his soldiers. They attacked Dou after catching his men trying to abduct the woman.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discover where proof of Dou’s crimes can be found: the remains of women he tortured to death are buried beneath a flower bed in Prince Yu’s Manor, where Dou’s mother has proudly claimed he grows the flourishing plants.
• The emperor has already sent men to search the manor’s rear garden. He is furious at the revelations and ashamed that his past protection of Dou helped convince ordinary people justice was impossible.
• Meanwhile, Princess Consort Yu laments Dou’s injuries and asks the emperor to punish his attackers and provide financial help. Her request appears especially brazen in light of her son’s crimes.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao condemns Dou and the emperor’s protection of him, jokes darkly about Dou’s death, then turns toward a practical plan: uncover evidence and bring it to the authorities.
• Guagua supplies the hidden history and location of the evidence, while matching Song’s irreverent tone.
• The emperor shifts from anger at Song’s insults to deeper horror and remorse as he learns the extent of Dou’s abuse and the victims’ fear of reporting it.
• Princess Consort Yu remains focused on securing protection and money for her son, seemingly unaware—or indifferent—to the full weight of his crimes. Song and Guagua mock her entitlement.

Significant themes

• Abuse of power and failed justice: Dou’s status and the emperor’s perceived protection silence victims and their families.
• Complicity and accountability: The emperor must confront how shielding Dou enabled injustice.
• Cruelty after death: Burying victims beneath the flower bed underscores Dou’s dehumanization of them.
• Public exposure as a route to justice: The discovery of physical evidence may finally make Dou’s crimes impossible to conceal.

Plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Prince Yu was Dou Kai, a sworn brother of the late emperor and a celebrated military ally who was granted a princely title despite not being imperial kin.
• After the current emperor took the throne, Dou Kai resented having to serve a young ruler and secretly planned a rebellion. Trusting the late emperor’s recommendation, the emperor remained unaware of his ambition.
• Dou Kai volunteered to command troops on the frontier and gained control of half the Tiger Tally. There, he won several battles but deliberately avoided finishing the conflict so he could retain military power. He also secretly recruited soldiers and horses to build a private army.
• His supposed death in battle was a cover-up. Dou Kai actually died of a heart attack while indulging in sex with his concubines. Two aides killed the women who witnessed it and claimed he had died from worry over the war, earning him undeserved military credit.
• Only the aides knew the truth. The emperor, Dou Kai’s consort, and his son Dou Siyuan believed the official story, and the emperor’s guilt led him to protect the household.
• Song Yaoyao asks where the two aides are. Guagua identifies them as Fan Qingyun and Hu Chengming, frontier generals whose faces appear in the video. Song wants to give the emperor portraits but worries she cannot draw them.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is shocked and furious as Guagua exposes the deception; she focuses on holding the conspirators accountable and finding witnesses.
• Guagua provides the hidden history and names the two surviving aides.
• The emperor realizes that a man he trusted—and mourned—was a would-be rebel. His anger is so intense he grips his throne to keep from collapsing.
• Prince Yu’s aides emerge as accomplices who concealed his death and manipulated the court’s account of his service.
• Prince Yu’s consort and son remain unaware of the real cause of his death.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and misplaced trust: The late emperor’s confidence in Dou Kai helps blind the new emperor to danger.
• Manipulation of history: A false account turns a disgraced death into apparent sacrifice and military merit.
• Power and ambition: Dou Kai prolongs the frontier conflict to preserve his authority and build a rebellion force.
• Justice and accountability: Song’s anger reflects the need to expose the cover-up and punish those responsible.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao privately tells Guagua to prepare photographs of Fan Qingyun and Hu Chengming, cement and concrete formulas, and the location of Prince Yu’s hidden private army for the emperor.
• Guagua reveals that Fan and Hu maintain Prince Yu’s troops and intend to give them to Dou Siyuan to support a rebellion. Song decides to expose the plot.
• The emperor confronts Princess Consort Yu and Dou Siyuan over abducting women and killing commoners. He says evidence has been found in Dou Siyuan’s garden and orders them sent to the Celestial Prison.
• After court, Song prepares the formulas, photographs, information about the men’s families and connections, and a map to the army’s location. She delivers the bundle to her father, who passes it to the emperor.
• The emperor orders secret arrests of Fan Qingyun, Hu Chengming, their families, and their associates, and sends the construction formulas to Jiangnan.
• Investigators report finding more than thirty skeletons beneath the flower beds at Prince Yu’s Manor, confirming the scale of Dou Siyuan’s crimes.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao continues to use Guagua’s information to help the emperor, now supplying both intelligence and practical innovations. She takes care to verify her materials before passing them along.
• The emperor moves swiftly from public accusations to secret investigations and arrests, while realizing that Prince Yu’s influence has survived long after his death.
• Assistant Minister Song remains wary of his daughter’s indiscreet inner thoughts, but helps deliver her information to the palace.
• Princess Consort Yu and Dou Siyuan lose their composure once the emperor reveals that their crimes are known; they plead for mercy but are taken away.

Significant themes

• Justice and accountability: The emperor acts against powerful figures accused of abusing his authority and harming commoners.
• Loyalty and misplaced allegiance: Fan and Hu’s devotion to Prince Yu leads them to sustain an army for Dou Siyuan, despite his incompetence.
• Knowledge as power: Song’s unusual access to information—and her ability to provide photographs, maps, and formulas—helps expose conspiracies and support state action.
• Corruption’s lingering reach: Prince Yu is dead, yet his money, army, and network remain active.

Character interactions

• Song and Guagua exchange intelligence and coordinate what should be given to the emperor.
• The emperor confronts Princess Consort Yu and Dou Siyuan; both initially deny wrongdoing, then beg for their lives when he cites evidence.
• Song delivers her findings to Assistant Minister Song, who forwards them to the emperor.
• The emperor responds to Song’s intelligence by ordering arrests and investigations, while officials and courtiers watch the court proceedings cautiously.

Key plot points

• The emperor delays killing Prince Yu’s mother and son until arrests at the frontier are confirmed, but orders jailers to torment them in the meantime.
• After seven days of recovery, Song Yaoyao returns to court and prepares to go out. Instead, she receives a visit from Ou Ruoxuan, General Han’s granddaughter Han Manxi, and Han Manxi’s older brother, Han Chuyu.
• The visitors hear Song Yaoyao’s unspoken thoughts and her banter with Guagua, realizing this ability is likely what makes her unusual. Ou Ruoxuan also understands why she was advised to visit without openly thanking Song: Song Yaoyao’s thoughts had exposed the truth about her ordeal.
• When Song Yaoyao begins to doze during the visit, she asks Guagua for gossip. Guagua reveals Han Manxi’s family history: Han Fei and his wife An Pingru struggled to conceive; Han Fei’s concubine, Mei, bore Han Chuyu and later Han Manxi, while An Pingru eventually had a daughter, Han Jingwan.
• Han Jingwan grew up, married her cousin An Lei, and had two young children. Now gravely ill, she fears what will happen to them if she dies and their father takes another wife.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is recovering, impatient to get out, and still irrepressibly playful. Her self-congratulatory thoughts about her charm prompt teasing from Guagua.
• Ou Ruoxuan appears healthier and more composed. She comes to meet Song Yaoyao and recognizes the role her unusual ability played in revealing Ou’s past.
• Han Manxi and Han Chuyu are introduced through Guagua’s revelations about their family. The visitors are startled by Song Yaoyao’s apparent access to private knowledge but enjoy her lively personality.
• Han Jingwan emerges as a loving, anxious mother whose illness makes her fear for her children’s safety.

Significant themes

• Hidden knowledge and truth: Song Yaoyao’s thoughts expose secrets that others cannot explain.
• Women’s vulnerability in family structures: Concubinage, pressure to produce heirs, and the prospect of a new wife shape the women’s lives.
• Motherhood and inheritance: Han Jingwan’s illness turns her concern for her children’s future into the central emotional thread of the gossip.
• Cruelty and political restraint: The emperor postpones execution for strategic reasons while still allowing the prisoners to suffer.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao’s spirit companion, Guagua, reveals Han Jingwan’s plan to arrange for her husband, An Lei, to marry Han Manxi after Han Jingwan’s death.
• Han Manxi would refuse, so Han Jingwan intends to drug and dishevel her, then stage a scene that makes it appear she seduced her brother-in-law. With her reputation ruined, Han Manxi would be pressured to marry An Lei.
• Han Jingwan also plans to force Han Manxi to drink a dangerously large dose of sterilizing medicine, ensuring she has no children of her own and will focus on raising Han Jingwan’s children.
• An Lei is willing to marry Han Manxi: he is attracted to her and expects the match to bring him support from the powerful Han family.
• As Han Manxi and her companions prepare to leave, Song Yaoyao warns her to guard against being drugged or trapped at a banquet. Han Manxi is moved by the warning. Song notices her distress and asks if she is unwell.

Character developments and interactions

• Han Manxi learns that her elder sister intends to sacrifice her freedom and future. She tries to conceal her shock, while Ou Ruoxuan supports her.
• Han Chuyu is furious as she discovers the extent of Han Jingwan’s cruelty.
• Song Yaoyao condemns the scheme and chooses to warn Han Manxi, despite their having just met.
• Han Jingwan is revealed as calculating and ruthless, motivated by fear that a new wife might neglect her children.
• An Lei is exposed as self-serving: he welcomes the marriage for Han Manxi’s beauty and the political and family advantages it offers.

Significant themes

• Betrayal within family: Han Jingwan targets her own sister for personal and maternal security.
• Women’s vulnerability and reputation: A staged scandal could leave Han Manxi with few choices, while stepmothers are judged harshly regardless of how they treat their stepchildren.
• Power and self-interest in marriage: An Lei and Han Jingwan view marriage as a means to secure status, support, and control.
• Compassion versus calculation: Song Yaoyao’s sincere warning contrasts with the conspirators’ manipulation.

Key plot points and events

• Han Manxi disguises her distress as a chill and says she will attend the upcoming banquets. She leaves Assistant Minister Song’s residence with her brother, Han Chuyu.
• Song Yaoyao discovers two chests of lavish gifts: one from Ou Ruoxuan and one from General Han. Madam Song knows they are tokens of gratitude for Song Yaoyao’s role in helping Ou Ruoxuan, but cannot explain this openly. Yaoyao assumes everyone simply wants to befriend her.
• Yaoyao shares some of the border ornaments with her sister Song Qingling and the maids, joking that good management requires both kindness and authority.
• Three days later, the Song women attend a banquet at Duke Anguo’s Estate. The guests have arranged prime seats so they can watch the gossip revealed through Yaoyao’s inner voice.
• Guagua alerts Yaoyao that Han Manxi has been lured away by a maid. Yaoyao’s family and a crowd of guests follow, but Guagua says Han Manxi can manage on her own. A vision shows Han Manxi being knocked unconscious and carried toward a room—then the person carrying her is themselves ambushed.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains cheerful, food-loving, and oblivious to the real reason behind others’ gratitude and attention. She is eager to witness the unfolding gossip but accepts Guagua’s reassurance that Han Manxi needs no help.
• Madam Song protects the secret behind the gifts and gently follows Yaoyao’s lead at the banquet.
• Song Qingling and Song Qingyu show their closeness to Yaoyao by joining her when she goes outside.
• Han Manxi appears composed despite her earlier distress and is at the center of the banquet’s unfolding intrigue. Han Chuyu is visibly grim and promises to discuss matters with her at home.
• The banquet guests reveal their shared enthusiasm for Yaoyao’s gossip more than for the event itself, following her in hopes of seeing the latest revelations.

Significant themes

• Gossip as entertainment: The Capital’s guests treat Yaoyao’s revelations as a spectacle and organize themselves to see them clearly.
• Hidden motives and gratitude: The gifts and the guests’ interest have explanations Yaoyao does not recognize.
• Appearances versus reality: Han Manxi claims to be well, while the vision exposes danger around her; the seemingly leisurely banquet becomes a setting for a planned abduction.

Key plot points and events

• Han Manxi confirms that everything is prepared, and Youping Commandery Princess Chen Jiaping steps out of hiding.
• Song Yaoyao’s companion, Guagua, explains Chen Jiaping’s background: she has been mocked for her weight, and her marriage has stalled because her parents insist that any husband agree not to take concubines.
• Chen Jiaping fell for An Lei after he once defended her, but she later learned he was married and had several concubines. After discovering Han Jingwan’s scheme against Han Manxi, Chen Jiaping secretly agreed to help expose it.
• Chen Jiaping enters a room where Han Chuyu and Han Manxi are concealed. An Lei arrives, and the aphrodisiac incense Chen Jiaping has lit takes effect.
• Song Yaoyao presses Guagua to show her what is happening, but it refuses because she is a minor. Her mother, Madam Song, overhears the implication, smacks her, and scolds her.
• Han Jingwan arrives pretending to search for Han Manxi. The gathered guests follow her to the room, where they hear the sounds inside. Han Jingwan orders the door opened; seeing who is inside, she turns deathly pale.

Character developments

• Chen Jiaping shifts from a lonely, marriage-anxious admirer of An Lei to an active participant in the plan, accepting the risk of acting without her parents’ knowledge.
• Han Jingwan maintains a public performance of concern while pursuing her scheme, but the scene ends with her visibly shaken by the discovery.
• Song Yaoyao remains irrepressibly curious and irreverent, while Madam Song’s reaction shows her concern about her daughter’s conduct and prospects for marriage.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Han Jingwan’s show of sisterly concern conceals hostile intent.
• Marriage, status, and gender expectations: Chen Jiaping’s prospects are shaped by her appearance, family position, and the conditions placed on a husband.
• Reputation and public exposure: The plan turns on what the guests will hear and see when the door is opened.
• Comic contrast: The tense intrigue is undercut by Song Yaoyao’s curiosity and her mother’s exasperated response.

Character interactions

• Chen Jiaping’s affection for An Lei is rooted in his earlier kindness, but his existing marriage and concubines complicate her feelings and choices.
• Chen Jiaping cooperates with Han Chuyu and Han Manxi, helping set the trap in motion.
• Song Yaoyao’s banter with Guagua contrasts with Madam Song’s sharp reprimand.
• Han Jingwan leads the guests to the room under false pretenses, turning them into witnesses to the scene she has engineered.