Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• Song Yaoyao confronts Prince Xiao, accusing him of running Extravagant Delight Manor, where young people are lured in, exploited, and sold. Xiao Jingche claims his subordinates acted without his knowledge, but she calls this an implausible excuse and points out that the public does not know the manor belongs to him.
• The group reveals they know Xiao Jingche has tens of thousands of private troops. His children, Simin and Sifan, deny it and say keeping such troops would be treason; they also insist their father would have used them during the recent succession struggle if they existed.
• Song suggests Xiao Jingche may not want the throne. When his children reject this and ask him directly, he admits he raised troops in secret.
• Xiao explains that Emperor Nian Cenyi, once his close friend, turned against him after securing the throne. Xiao surrendered his military command and moved out of the city to avoid suspicion, but remained under threat of assassination and feared for the people of his manor. He says he built up wealth and troops to defend them, and kept the plan secret when his children were young so they would not accidentally reveal it.
• Song challenges why he still has not told his adult children, arguing that his secrecy shows he trusts his confidants more than his own family. Simin and Sifan begin to doubt their father’s trust in them. Xiao recognizes Song is trying to divide the family but cannot deny the facts.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is confrontational and strategic: she attacks Xiao’s moral credibility, then uses his secrecy to unsettle his children and weaken family unity.
• Xiao Jingche shifts from denial and anger to explaining his motives. His account presents him as a man who sees his actions as necessary self-preservation, though his trafficking operation remains a serious accusation.
• Simin and Sifan initially defend their father and dismiss the claim of private troops, but his admission—and Song’s pointed questions—make them reconsider how much he trusts them.
• The exchange is a contest of persuasion: Xiao tries to justify secrecy as protection, while Song reframes it as exclusion and distrust.

Significant themes

• Power and survival: Xiao presents secret troops and illicit wealth as safeguards against political persecution.
• Family trust and secrecy: His attempt to protect his children has also kept them outside an important part of his life.
• Moral hypocrisy and accountability: Song rejects Xiao’s claim of ignorance about trafficking and insists that rank or excuses do not erase responsibility.
• Political manipulation: Song deliberately exploits the gap between Xiao’s intentions and his children’s feelings to sow discord.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao confronts Prince Xiao Jingche about the private army he has kept at Prince Xiao’s Manor. She argues that the Dragon Abyss Kingdom has fallen, the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom now rules, and Nian Cenyi is no longer a threat.
• Xiao Jingche initially defends the troops as protection. Song points out that a few tens of thousands of soldiers cannot challenge the unified kingdom’s army of over a million, and warns that maintaining a private force could be treated as rebellion.
• Xiao’s children, Simin and Sifan, object to surrendering the troops, fearing the imperial family will turn against them once they are no longer useful. Their warnings reflect the manor’s distrust of rulers after past betrayals.
• Xiao asks whether Song has authority to negotiate. She says she does, and he indicates he may surrender the troops—but insists on discussing it in person with the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom’s Sixth Prince.
• Before Song can finish arranging the meeting, Sifan stabs his father in the chest, blaming Xiao for choosing to give away what Sifan considers his inheritance.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains composed and forceful. She uses sharp humor and political realities to press her case, then speaks confidently on behalf of her kingdom.
• Xiao Jingche shifts from defiance to reluctant pragmatism. Though wary of the imperial family, he recognizes that resisting the unified kingdom would be futile and seems ready to negotiate.
• Simin and Sifan reveal their fear and resentment toward the ruling family, but Sifan’s concern for the troops and his inheritance turns into murderous entitlement.
• Sifan changes from a son arguing for his family’s security to an apparent patricide, abruptly escalating the conflict.

Significant themes

• Power and political survival: Xiao weighs the manor’s independence against the overwhelming strength of the unified kingdom.
• Distrust and betrayal: The children fear being discarded by the imperial family, while Sifan ultimately betrays his own father.
• Possession and inheritance: Sifan treats his father’s property and soldiers as already belonging to him.
• Persuasion and appearances: Song’s accusations of “sowing discord” are repeatedly challenged by the characters’ visible doubts and actions.

Character interactions

• Song verbally spars with Xiao, exposing the gap between his claims of security and the kingdom’s actual power.
• Simin and Sifan repeatedly pressure their father to resist surrendering the troops; Xiao eventually silences them and considers Song’s proposal.
• Song directs her final appeal to Xiao rather than his children, emphasizing that he must make the decision himself.
• Sifan interrupts the negotiation by attacking Xiao, transforming a political discussion into a family crisis.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Sifan stabs his weakened father, Xiao Jingche, to death, then claims Prince Xiao’s Manor and refuses to surrender its private troops.
• He threatens to kill Song Yaoyao and her companions and frame them for the murder.
• Song Yaoyao stays calm, hinting that Sifan has overlooked a danger. Xiao Simin then attacks him from behind, revealing her own resentment and ambition.
• The siblings argue over inheritance, gender discrimination, and their claims to moral superiority before fighting.
• Simin gains the upper hand because Sifan is already badly wounded. As she prepares to kill him, he tries to bargain with Song Yaoyao’s group, offering the private troops and a share of the manor’s profits. They do not respond.
• Song Yaoyao privately explains that she had intended to bring Xiao Jingche to justice for his role in years of human trafficking and deaths, not to spare him. She admits, however, that she did not expect Sifan to kill his father.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Sifan reveals himself as ruthless and paranoid, willing to murder his father and silence witnesses. When defeated, he abandons his threats and tries to buy protection.
• Xiao Simin openly admits she has long resented her father and brother for denying her inheritance because she is a woman. Yet her attack is also driven by a desire to seize control, complicating her claim of acting for justice.
• Song Yaoyao remains composed and morally resolute. She distinguishes pity for Xiao Jingche’s tragic life from excusing his crimes.
• Xiao Jingche is portrayed as both a victim of betrayal and a powerful man culpable in the trafficking and deaths of thousands. His children’s betrayal completes the tragedy of his life.

Significant themes

• Justice versus pity: A painful past does not erase responsibility for wrongdoing.
• Hypocrisy and ambition: Both siblings accuse each other of selfishness while pursuing power themselves.
• Gender inequality and inheritance: Simin’s resentment stems partly from being excluded because she is a woman.
• The consequences of corruption: Xiao Jingche’s crimes and family dysfunction culminate in betrayal, violence, and his death.

Key plot points and events

• Sifan tries to bribe Song Yaoyao with the profits from Extravagant Delight Manor to help kill his sister, Xiao Simin. Yaoyao refuses to intervene in their family conflict.
• After confirming she will not be interrupted, Simin kills Sifan. Yaoyao then reveals that Simin is also under arrest for luring young men into traps in Suyu City.
• Simin blames her actions on her father, Prince Xiao, and accuses Yaoyao of manipulating the siblings into fighting. Yaoyao calls this strategy and orders Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng to capture her.
• Qinghui defeats Simin. Rather than be taken to the authorities, Simin retrieves her sword and kills herself.
• Yaoyao sends her companions to search the corpses for money while she searches the residence for the military tally that commands Xiao Jingche’s private troops.
• After looting the rooms without finding it, Yaoyao asks her system companion, Guagua, for help. Guagua reveals a hidden chamber beneath Xiao Jingche’s bed. Yaoyao finds the tally there, along with chests full of gold.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao stays cool and calculating: she lets the siblings settle their own conflict, then arrests Simin for her crimes. She relies on strategy and her companions rather than fighting herself, and remains focused on acquiring both the military tally and valuables.
• Xiao Simin is first relieved by Sifan’s death, but becomes defensive when Yaoyao holds her accountable. Defeated and unwilling to face arrest, she chooses suicide.
• Song Qinghui reacts angrily when Simin insults Yaoyao and attacks her fiercely. Liu Zheheng supports the effort and later joins Qinghui in searching the bodies.
• Guagua provides the crucial clue that leads Yaoyao to the hidden chamber.

Significant themes

• Strategy over force: Yaoyao presents her manipulation of events as practical planning rather than needless combat.
• Responsibility and justice: Simin’s claim that she was merely following orders is challenged; Yaoyao insists she must answer for the harm she caused.
• Loyalty and protection: Qinghui’s fierce response to Simin’s insult reflects his devotion to Yaoyao.
• Greed and spoils: The chapter pairs a deadly family feud and a military secret with Yaoyao’s persistent pursuit of money and treasure.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao loots Xiao Jingche’s hidden chamber, taking its mostly gold contents, and acquires the military tally for Prince Xiao’s private troops.
• She declines the cash found on the bodies, telling Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng to divide it between themselves.
• Song Yaoyao sends Eagle One to Suyu City with instructions for the Sixth Prince to secure Extravagant Delight Manor quickly. Prince Xiao, Xiao Simin, and Xiao Sifan are dead, but the manor’s connection to Prince Xiao—and the fact that Nian Xiaoqing remains at large—could create problems if action is delayed.
• The next morning, government troops surround Extravagant Delight Manor and prevent its guests from leaving. Song Yaoyao confronts steward Wu Xian, explaining that the manor auctions people who were deceived, imprisoned, abused, and forced into servitude.
• When Wu Xian denies knowledge and tries to threaten her by invoking the manor’s hidden master, Song Yaoyao reveals that Prince Xiao and his relatives are dead. Wu Xian is shocked and demands to know who killed his master.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao acts decisively and pragmatically: she secures valuable assets, delegates the money to her companions, and moves quickly to take control of the manor. She refuses to be intimidated and insists that Wu Xian answer publicly.
• Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng follow Song Yaoyao’s lead and accept her decision to let them keep the cash.
• Wu Xian shifts from feigned ignorance to alarm when he learns that Prince Xiao is dead.

Significant themes

• Justice versus exploitation: Song Yaoyao exposes the cruelty behind the manor’s auctions and holds its operators accountable.
• Power and transition: The change of kingdom has left legal and political gaps, which the manor has apparently exploited.
• Responsibility and resolve: Song Yaoyao prioritizes preventing further harm and securing the manor before its crimes or ownership become harder to manage.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao refuses Song Qinghui’s offer of the recovered money, emphasizing trust and generosity toward her companions.
• She gives Eagle One clear orders, relying on him to coordinate with the Sixth Prince.
• In her confrontation with Wu Xian, Song Yaoyao lays out the evidence before the crowd, while he denies wrongdoing, seeks a private discussion, and finally resorts to threats.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao tells the gathered guests at Extravagant Delight Manor that Prince Xiao was killed by his son, Xiao Sifan, who was then killed by Commandery Princess Simin. Simin resisted arrest and died by suicide. The three Xiao family members were suspected of human trafficking, and the manor was the victims’ final auction site.
• Song Yaoyao orders the manor sealed. Guests may leave once their identities are checked, but all staff must remain. She also sends a letter directly to the Sixth Prince.
• She sets out with Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng for Black Mountain, where Xiao Jingche’s private troops are reportedly hidden. With the military tally in hand, she hopes to bring the soldiers to Suyu City, which needs reinforcements.
• Using a map supplied by Guagua, the group hikes for a little over three hours to the troops’ camp. They reach a plateau between two peaks, surrounded by steep cliffs, where soldiers are training and patrolling.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao takes charge of the manor’s lockdown and the next military steps, acting decisively amid the upheaval.
• Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng accompany her without challenging her plan. They quietly observe her frequent, comic arguments with Guagua.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua bicker throughout the journey, trading accusations about stinginess, nagging, and holding grudges, but quickly settle back into their familiar rapport.

Significant themes

• Justice and complicity: The manor is treated as part of a larger trafficking investigation, and even its guests must be checked before they can leave.
• Pragmatic leadership: Song Yaoyao moves quickly from the killings to securing evidence, informing the palace, and seeking troops for Suyu City.
• Loyalty and responsibility: The private army may not yet know of the Xiao family’s deaths, leaving Song Yaoyao to determine how to approach and mobilize them.
• Humor amid crisis: The playful friction between Song Yaoyao and Guagua contrasts with the serious crimes and political consequences.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao, Song Qinghui, and Liu Zheheng watch a Dragon Abyss Kingdom military camp from concealment. They identify its gates and observe its disciplined training.
• While Qinghui and Liu keep watch, Yaoyao rests, relying on Guagua to alert her to danger. They set out again after dark.
• Yaoyao uses a drone to spread immobilizing powder through the camp, targeting the Elite Shadow Guards at both gates before incapacitating the soldiers inside. The powder leaves its victims unable to move or speak.
• Once the camp is subdued, Qinghui and Liu gather the guards and officers at the training grounds. Yaoyao presents a military tally and announces that they have come to take command of the army.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao shows her usual practical resourcefulness: she chooses quiet food to avoid detection, rests when she can, and uses the wind and drone to neutralize a numerically superior force without fighting.
• Qinghui and Liu act as her trusted partners, keeping watch and helping collect the captives. They admire her night-vision telescopes and recognize their potential military value.
• Guagua serves as Yaoyao’s lookout and guide, waking her at the right time and helping locate the camp’s personnel.
• The captives’ initial hostility turns to surprise when they see the military tally, though the drug prevents them from responding.

Significant themes

• Strategy over force: The group relies on observation, timing, and incapacitating powder rather than open combat.
• Technology as an advantage: Telescopes, night vision, a drone, and a loudspeaker help Yaoyao overcome the camp’s defenses.
• Authority and military legitimacy: The military tally signals that the takeover rests on recognized command, not merely physical control.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao offers the captured soldiers an antidote, but first has her companions seal their acupoints to prevent them from attacking once they can speak.
• A soldier recognizes her loudspeaker, linking it to the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom’s mysterious flying object. Song confirms her identity and asks who commands the army.
• Guo Nanfeng identifies himself as commander and confirms that the Military Tally Song holds is genuine. She uses it to order the army to march to Suyu City.
• Deputy General Lin Xuyi challenges her authority, questioning why Prince Xiao would give the tally to the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom.
• Song explains that Prince Xiao, Heir Apparent Sifan, and Commandery Princess Simin are all dead. According to her account, Sifan murdered his father after a dispute over the private army; Simin then killed Sifan and later took her own life rather than face arrest.
• Lin blames Song and her companions for the deaths. Song rejects the accusation, arguing that Prince Xiao’s private army and the family’s longstanding rivalries made conflict inevitable.
• Guo explains that Prince Xiao had raised Lin, who regarded him as a father. Lin remains enraged and vows to take revenge on the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao demonstrates caution and authority: she anticipates the soldiers’ suspicions, secures them before administering the antidote, and asserts command through the genuine Military Tally. She stays composed when challenged, then responds sharply to Lin’s accusations.
• Guo Nanfeng acts as a measured commander. He verifies the tally, helps establish Song’s legitimacy, and later explains Lin’s grief to defuse the confrontation.
• Lin Xuyi moves from questioning Song’s authority to openly accusing her of causing the deaths. His personal devotion to Prince Xiao fuels his hostility, and he ends by declaring himself an enemy of the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom.
• Song and Lin clash over responsibility for the tragedy; Guo provides context for Lin’s grief, while the soldiers react with disbelief to Song’s account.

Significant themes

• Authority and legitimacy: The Military Tally becomes the basis for Song’s command.
• Grief and blame: Lin’s loss distorts his judgment and turns sorrow into vengeance.
• Power and succession: The dispute over Prince Xiao’s private troops exposes the family’s competing ambitions and instability.
• Inevitable conflict: Song argues that the tensions among Prince Xiao, Sifan, and Simin predated her intervention and would likely have erupted regardless.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao shoots Deputy General Lin Xuyi after he challenges her authority, warning the assembled officers that she and her two companions have prepared for any resistance.
• When some men call for revenge, Song Yaoyao returns with a Gatling gun. Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng gather the avengers together, and Yaoyao kills them in front of the crowd to frighten the others into submission.
• With resistance broken, Yaoyao argues that the army has no leader since Prince Xiao is dead and will soon run out of food. Guo Nanfeng negotiates on the army’s behalf.
• Yaoyao promises that, if they sincerely submit to the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom, they will be treated equally with its other armies. She agrees to provide a written guarantee.
• Once the terms are settled, Yaoyao tells Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng to release the soldiers’ sealed acupoints.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao proves ruthless and decisive, using overwhelming force to suppress opposition and secure the army’s submission. She also shows practical political authority by negotiating terms and offering a formal guarantee.
• Guo Nanfeng shifts from observing the confrontation to raising the army’s concrete concerns—especially food shortages and possible mistreatment after surrender.
• Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng support Yaoyao’s actions, helping control the men while trusting her plans.
• The officers’ anger and loyalty to Lin Xuyi give way to fear after witnessing the Gatling’s power; Guo Nanfeng then becomes the main voice in negotiations.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: Yaoyao uses public violence as a warning, making force central to the surrender.
• Pragmatism and survival: The army’s impending food shortage makes submission a practical necessity.
• Trust and protection: Yaoyao’s promise of equal treatment, backed by a written guarantee, addresses fears of being absorbed and later ostracized.
• Loyalty and judgment: The avengers’ devotion to Lin is portrayed as misplaced because they ignore the army’s larger predicament.

Key plot points and events

• After resolving tensions with General Guo Nanfeng’s troops, Song Yaoyao releases most of their pressure points and writes Guo a signed guarantee. She gives him antidote for the drug used to immobilize the soldiers, explaining it was meant to prevent rash actions and needless deaths.
• Song Yaoyao orders the troops to rest, pack, and travel to Suyu City the next morning.
• She then asks the twelve Shadow Guards to serve her. They explain that they were poisoned in the Shadow Guard Camp and must take regular antidotes; without them, they will suffer increasingly severe pain and eventually die.
• Song Yaoyao promises to have Sima Yifeng, the renowned healer, examine and treat them. Reassured, the guards agree to pledge allegiance.
• Their leader introduces himself as Xiao One and identifies the others as Xiao Two through Xiao Twelve. Song Yaoyao releases their pressure points and gives them new names, beginning with Song Yi, Song Dong, Song Xi, Song Nan, and Song Bei.
• The next day, the group travels to the Extravagant Delight Manor. Song Yaoyao arranges food and lodging for Guo’s troops, then rides straight to the imperial palace, where Chen Yixiao is surprised by her swift return.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows restraint and practical leadership: she explains her actions to Guo, offers reassurance to the Shadow Guards, and promptly takes responsibility for their care.
• Guo Nanfeng accepts her guarantee and explanation, showing that he trusts her intentions and cooperates with her orders.
• The Shadow Guards move from resignation about their poisoned fate to cautious hope. Their willingness to serve depends on Song Yaoyao’s promise to seek a cure; they kneel to acknowledge her as their master.
• Sima Yifeng, though absent from the scene, becomes central to the guards’ hopes. Song Yaoyao also reflects that he has been persistently staying near her and seeking conversations about medicine.
• Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng assist Song Yaoyao by releasing the guards’ pressure points.

Significant themes

• Trust and leadership: Song Yaoyao earns cooperation through clear explanations, fair treatment, and concrete promises.
• Freedom and loyalty: With Prince Xiao dead, the Shadow Guards are free to choose a new allegiance, though their poison makes that freedom precarious.
• Hope amid despair: Song Yaoyao’s promise of medical help gives the guards a reason to believe their lives may not be predetermined.
• Names and belonging: Renaming the guards marks their transition from the former master’s control into Song Yaoyao’s household.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao gives Chen Yixiao the Military Tally for the sixty thousand soldiers stationed outside the city. She explains that she promised them equal treatment with Heavenly Phoenix troops, and Chen agrees to honor that pledge and report the new forces to his father.
• Chen reports that Prince Xiao’s household has been punished: its members were stripped of their titles, made commoners, and forced to leave, while the manor’s property was confiscated.
• Song tells Chen that twelve of Prince Xiao’s Elite Shadow Guards have accepted her as their master but were poisoned to keep them under control. She plans to ask Sima Yifeng to treat them and help find an antidote.
• After sharing a meal with her companions, Song returns to her lodgings with the guards. Sima quickly senses the newcomers and agrees to examine them.
• The guards learn Song is a woman and discover her true identity as Princess Jiahe and an Imperial Physician. She promises to help Sima develop an antidote, then sends them to rest.

Character developments and interactions

• Song readily hands over military responsibility, preferring to avoid burdens that are not hers to manage. Her playful “salted fish” outlook contrasts with the serious duties that keep falling to her.
• Chen accepts the sixty thousand soldiers as part of the kingdom’s army and supports Song’s decision to take responsibility for the Shadow Guards’ welfare.
• The twelve guards’ loyalty shifts fully to Song; learning who she is leaves them astonished but relieved to serve her.
• Sima welcomes Song back warmly and agrees to help the guards, while mentioning that he has a problem he wants her to help solve.

Significant themes

• Leadership and responsibility: Song passes military command to Chen, while still taking personal responsibility for the people who serve her.
• Trust and loyalty: The guards’ allegiance to Song contrasts with the coercion and poison Prince Xiao used to control them.
• Justice and accountability: Prince Xiao’s household is punished for benefiting from wrongdoing, even if its members were not directly involved.
• Identity and appearances: Song’s male disguise has practical value, but she reveals her true identity once circumstances allow.

Plot points and events

• Sima Yifeng asks why the twelve powerful martial artists were poisoned. Song Yaoyao explains their past identities; he agrees to help cure them now that they serve her.
• The emperor learns that Song Yaoyao has subdued Prince Xiao’s sixty thousand private troops. Their numbers give the court more confidence while Nian Xiaoqing remains missing and Suyu City is short of forces.
• Song Yaoyao proposes reopening Extravagant Delight Manor after removing its auctions of men and women. She also suggests featuring regional cuisines to attract guests and generate revenue for the army. Chen Yixiao approves both ideas.
• During patrol, Song Yaoyao and her companions encounter Yan Niang threatening to kill herself with scissors. She denies borrowing money, while debt collectors claim she and her husband borrowed one hundred taels and now owe one hundred and fifty.
• The officers intervene and calm Yan Niang. The collectors grow nervous because the kingdom has banned usurious lending. Song Yaoyao sets that broader issue aside temporarily to determine which side is telling the truth.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao continues to exercise authority pragmatically: she strengthens military resources, proposes reforming a sealed business, and intervenes in a potentially dangerous local dispute.
• Sima Yifeng shows loyalty by offering medical help for Song’s men.
• Chen Yixiao treats Song as a trusted younger sister and readily supports her economic proposals.
• Yan Niang is desperate and insists she is being falsely accused; the collectors threaten her property and child if she refuses to pay.
• Song Qinghui helps take control of the confrontation by demanding an explanation.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Song’s military gains and governance decisions are meant to protect the kingdom and serve the public.
• Reform and public welfare: Extravagant Delight Manor may be repurposed into a legitimate source of revenue, while predatory lending is officially prohibited.
• Justice and truth: The chapter ends on an unresolved dispute, emphasizing the need to examine evidence rather than accept either side’s confident account.
• Desperation and coercion: Yan Niang’s threat reflects the extreme pressure created by debt collection and the threat of losing her family and livelihood.

Key plot points and events

• Sun Liucai, a debt collector, says Yao Qi and Chen Yanniang borrowed money from his lenders a month earlier and failed to repay it. He produces IOUs bearing both their names.
• Chen Yanniang insists she never borrowed or signed anything. She says Yao Qi died after falling into a river, and neighbors confirm that they believed he had drowned and helped hold his funeral.
• Song Yaoyao learns from Guagua that Yao Qi faked his death to escape the debt and is hiding in West City. Since Chen never saw his body, Song points out that his death is not certain.
• Song takes Chen, Sun, and a growing crowd of onlookers to the place where Yao Qi is hiding, promising that the truth will soon emerge.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao stays composed amid the accusations, questions both sides carefully, and uses Guagua’s information to pursue the truth.
• Chen Yanniang appears genuinely distressed and maintains that she knew nothing of the loan. Her account of Yao Qi’s supposed death rests on circumstantial evidence.
• Sun Liucai presents the lenders’ case and the IOUs, believing Chen is denying the debt—but is surprised to learn Yao Qi was supposedly dead.
• Yao Qi is revealed to have deliberately staged his drowning and gone into hiding, though he has not yet appeared.

Significant themes

• Truth versus appearances: Documents and public belief seem to settle the dispute, but neither reveals the full story.
• Deception and responsibility: Yao Qi’s staged death lets him evade his creditors while leaving his wife to face the consequences.
• Justice through investigation: Song avoids rushing to judgment and looks for evidence that can resolve the conflicting accounts.
• Public spectacle: The townspeople’s growing procession highlights how quickly private conflict becomes communal entertainment.

Character interactions

• Song mediates between Chen’s denial and Sun’s accusations, warning them to remain calm while she investigates.
• The neighbors support Chen’s account of Yao Qi’s funeral, though they only know what they witnessed.
• Song privately consults Guagua, then leads the opposing parties and the curious crowd toward Yao Qi’s hiding place.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao’s constables knock at Yao Qi’s home, where Chen Yanniang discovers that her husband is alive and living with her younger sister, Chen Yanqiu.
• The near-identical sisters’ reunion erupts into violence: Yanniang attacks Yanqiu, and Yao Qi shoves Yanniang aside to protect his lover.
• Yanniang accuses the pair of betrayal. Yao Qi admits their affair has lasted a long time and says Yanqiu is pregnant; he intends to marry her and cast Yanniang out, claiming her consent is unnecessary.
• When Yanniang asks for a divorce, Yao Qi threatens her. Song Yaoyao rebukes him and orders constables to beat him, stopping only after one of his teeth is knocked out.
• Song asks Yanniang to explain the history behind the conflict. Yanniang begins recounting how she raised Yanqiu after their parents died and eventually married Yao Qi.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yanniang shifts from stunned disbelief to rage and despair, then seeks legal protection from Song Yaoyao. Her account shows the sacrifices she made for Yanqiu and the Yao household.
• Chen Yanqiu is revealed as Yanniang’s younger sister and Yao Qi’s lover. She claims to love him, but retreats rather than defend him when the constables attack.
• Yao Qi is exposed as alive and unfaithful. He treats Yanniang with contempt, asserts control over her, and loses his swagger after Song Yaoyao’s officers punish him.
• Song Yaoyao maintains control of the confrontation, protects Yanniang’s right to speak, and uses her authority to restrain Yao Qi.
• Yanniang’s neighbors help her up after Yao Qi knocks her down.

Significant themes

• Betrayal within marriage and family, especially the violation of Yanniang’s trust by the sister she raised.
• Women’s sacrifice and vulnerability under restrictive marital customs, as Yao Qi invokes the Seven Grounds for Divorce to threaten Yanniang.
• Justice and authority: Song Yaoyao challenges Yao Qi’s assumption that he can dictate his wife’s fate.
• The chapter ends mid-testimony, with Yanniang beginning to explain how hardship and family obligation shaped her marriage.

Plot points and events

• Chen Yanniang explains that she and her husband Yao Qi struggled through poverty, and that she raised her younger sister Chen Yanqiu.
• Yanniang arranged Yanqiu’s marriage to the promising scholar Ning Zhihong. He was poisoned by jealous enemies; his father was beaten to death while seeking justice, and his mother died from shock. Yanniang took the widowed Yanqiu into her home.
• Yanniang later learned that Yanqiu and Yao Qi had been having an affair. She recounts how Yanqiu hinted at a new relationship, then moved away after Yao Qi’s apparent drowning—without Yanniang realizing the affair was with her own husband.
• The crowd condemns both lovers, recalling Yanniang’s sacrifices for Yao Qi and his family. They mock Yao Qi and speculate crudely about his affair with two women who look alike.
• Yanqiu appeals to Song Yaoyao to stop the insults. Song rebukes her and pointedly says she wants to hear the answers too, leaving the crowd astonished by her bluntness.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Yanniang reveals the depth of her betrayal and grief: she had protected Yanqiu and devoted herself to Yao Qi, only to be deceived by both.
• Chen Yanqiu presents herself as wronged, but the crowd sees her as ungrateful. Her attempt to invoke Song’s authority is quickly checked.
• Yao Qi stays mostly silent after being beaten and is publicly humiliated by the crowd.
• Song Yaoyao listens to Yanniang’s testimony, confirms the fate of the family responsible for Ning Zhihong’s death, and responds to Yanqiu with sarcastic, unsympathetic bluntness.
• The crowd supports Yanniang and turns the confrontation into public ridicule of the adulterous pair.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and ingratitude: Yanniang’s care for her sister and husband is repaid with an affair between them.
• Justice and retribution: The family that destroyed Ning Zhihong’s household later perishes amid political conflict.
• Public judgment and humiliation: The crowd’s condemnation reinforces social outrage, while Song’s response shows little concern for sparing the accused from ridicule.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao exposes Chen Yanqiu’s betrayal, angrily condemning her for having an affair with her own brother-in-law, Yao Qi, and exploiting the sister who had cared for her.
• Sun Liucai recalls that Chen Yanqiu—not Chen Yanniang—borrowed money under her sister’s name, using their similar appearances to deceive the lenders. Yao Qi and Chen Yanqiu then faked their deaths, leaving Chen Yanniang burdened with the loan-shark debt.
• The crowd, enraged by the scheme, pelts the pair with stones until Song Yaoyao’s constables intervene.
• Song promises that the authorities will handle the case impartially. Chen Yanniang confirms she wants a divorce and asks to take her daughter, Nannan.
• Yao Qi objects, claiming Nannan as a Yao family child, but Chen Yanniang points out that she alone raised the girl and that Yao abandoned them. She is determined to keep Nannan, even if doing so makes remarriage harder.
• Song grants Chen Yanniang’s request and orders the constables to take Yao Qi and Chen Yanqiu to the yamen, where Lord Yang will decide their punishment.

Character developments

• Chen Yanniang stands firm at last: she seeks freedom from Yao Qi and chooses to raise Nannan herself.
• Yao Qi and Chen Yanqiu are exposed as calculating betrayers who used Chen Yanniang’s identity to incur debts and escape responsibility.
• Song Yaoyao shows fierce anger on Chen Yanniang’s behalf but ultimately channels the situation into official proceedings rather than allowing the crowd to deliver its own punishment.

Significant themes

• Betrayal by family: Chen Yanniang’s deepest harm comes from the people closest to her.
• Accountability and justice: The debt scheme is uncovered, and the accused are sent to face formal judgment.
• A mother’s devotion and agency: Chen Yanniang prioritizes her daughter and chooses her own future despite the practical costs.

Character interactions

• Song confronts and shames Chen Yanqiu; the crowd then condemns both conspirators.
• Chen Yanniang challenges Yao Qi’s sudden claim to fatherhood, contrasting it with his years of neglect.
• Song supports Chen Yanniang’s decision, firmly rejecting Yao Qi’s objections and entrusting the case to the authorities.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao orders that Chen Yan Niang and Yao Qi divorce. Nannan will live with Chen Yan Niang, who receives all of the couple’s property; Yao Qi is left with nothing. Song also asks Lord Yang to establish a separate women’s household for Chen Yan Niang and register Nannan under her.
• Chen Yan Niang is told to go to the yamen as the injured party. As constables take Yao Qi and Chen Yanqiu away, Chen Yanqiu grabs her sister’s legs and begs her to stop the divorce and let her join the household.
• Chen Yan Niang refuses and declares that she wants no further relationship with Chen Yanqiu. When Chen Yanqiu continues to cling to her, Chen Yan Niang slaps her and orders her to let go. Constables restrain Chen Yanqiu so her sister can leave.
• Abandoning her pleas, Chen Yanqiu accuses Chen Yan Niang of ruining her life. She admits she seduced Yao Qi and borrowed from loan sharks in her sister’s name deliberately, intending to make Chen Yan Niang suffer.
• Chen Yan Niang rejects Chen Yanqiu’s appeal to their late mother’s wishes, says she will explain her decision to their parents after death, and severs their ties. Song orders Chen Yanqiu gagged and taken to the yamen; Chen Yan Niang follows.

Character developments

• Chen Yan Niang moves from enduring family obligations to firmly protecting herself and Nannan. She no longer lets affection or guilt bind her to her sister.
• Chen Yanqiu reveals the spite behind her actions. Her resentment over widowhood and social stigma has become a desire to ruin her sister’s happiness; she refuses genuine accountability.
• Song Yaoyao ensures the separation is backed by practical protections for Chen Yan Niang and her child, not merely a ruling against Yao Qi.

Significant themes

• Justice and consequences: Yao Qi loses his claim to the family property, while Chen Yanqiu and Yao Qi are taken to face proceedings.
• Betrayal and severed family ties: Chen Yanqiu’s betrayal destroys the bond between the sisters, and Chen Yan Niang ultimately chooses distance over obligation.
• Resentment and misdirected blame: Chen Yanqiu’s suffering under stigma helps explain her bitterness but does not excuse her deliberate harm.
• Independence and protection: Chen Yan Niang is given property, a separate household, and custody of Nannan, enabling her to begin again.

Character interactions

• Chen Yanqiu repeatedly uses their shared childhood and sisterly bond to pressure Chen Yan Niang, but Chen Yan Niang rejects those appeals.
• Their confrontation escalates from pleading to accusation and confession: Chen Yanqiu admits her schemes were meant to make her sister suffer, while Chen Yan Niang ends the relationship.
• Song Yaoyao directs the constables throughout, stepping in when Chen Yanqiu physically prevents Chen Yan Niang from leaving.

Key plot points and events

• After Yao Qi and Chen Yanqiu are exposed, Song Yaoyao’s companion, Song Qinghui, stops Sun Liucai and his men from slipping away.
• Song Yaoyao confronts Sun about illegal usurious lending. Sun initially insists he has done nothing wrong, but admits he and his crew work for a larger operation.
• To avoid taking the blame for his superiors, Sun names Shopkeeper Ding Wangchuan as the person who manages the lending and says a powerful official is behind the business. He agrees to lead the authorities to their operation.
• Song learns through Guagua that the scheme is connected to Minister of Rites Li Fengyang—but clarifies that Li himself is not running it. His concubine, Jiang Yunxin, has been using his name and status to lend at usurious rates for years, despite repeated government bans.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is alert and determined to pursue wrongdoing beyond the immediate case. She uses the threat of punishment to make Sun talk and is eager to identify the operation’s real leadership.
• Sun Liucai shifts from evasion to cooperation once he realizes he may face consequences. Resentful of being underpaid and made to do the dirty work, he chooses to expose his superiors rather than serve as their scapegoat.
• Jiang Yunxin is revealed as ambitious and reckless: she has continued the illegal lending because its profits seemed worth the risk.

Significant themes

• Accountability and justice: Clearing up one accusation does not excuse the gang’s separate crime of usurious lending.
• Corruption and abuse of status: Jiang Yunxin exploits her connection to a high-ranking official to lend money and evade scrutiny.
• Self-preservation and betrayal: Sun cooperates partly out of self-interest, but his resentment of unequal profits also motivates him to implicate those above him.
• Risk and greed: Jiang’s belief that wealth must be pursued through danger explains her disregard for the law.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao challenges Sun’s excuses and persuades him to disclose what he knows by offering possible leniency.
• Sun’s account exposes the hierarchy of the lending operation: he and his men handle collections, Ding Wangchuan manages the money, and Jiang Yunxin is the hidden mastermind.
• Song’s exchanges with Guagua reveal key information while also showing her impatience when Guagua gives an incomplete explanation.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua explains Li Fengyang’s history to Song Yaoyao. As a low-ranking official, he married An Qiyue, the frail but beloved daughter of Minister An Ruizhang. Her family chose him because his household was modest and seemed safe for her.
• Li and An were happy together, but after a physician warned that pregnancy could kill An, Li secretly took medicine to prevent conception.
• An overheard the truth and, longing for a child, secretly replaced his medicine. She became pregnant and revealed it to him at three months.
• Li begged her to end the pregnancy, fearing for her life. An refused and protected herself by avoiding food from the main kitchen.
• An gave birth to a son, then died when her heart condition worsened. Grief-stricken, Li blamed the child and would not care for him. Madam An took her grandson to raise.
• Years later, Li remained unmarried. His mother, Madam Li, drugged him and arranged for him to sleep with her niece, Jiang Yunxin. Though angry, Li acknowledged Jiang as a woman of his household but refused to marry her. The chapter ends with Madam Li surprised that he agrees to give Jiang a recognized place.

Character developments

• Li Fengyang is portrayed as loving and protective, but his fear of losing An leads him to oppose her pregnancy. After her death, grief turns into resentment toward their son; later, he is manipulated into a new relationship.
• An Qiyue moves from a devoted wife to someone determined to have a child, even at serious risk to herself. She stands firm against Li’s pleas.
• Madam Li first appears gentle, but later takes drastic, coercive steps to secure her son’s future.
• Madam An protects her daughter in marriage and later assumes responsibility for the abandoned grandson.
• Jiang Yunxin is introduced as the woman Madam Li brings into the household; her own perspective and motives are not yet shown.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss the case, with Guagua supplying the backstory and a video of the confrontation.

Significant themes

• Love can become controlling when fear overrides another person’s choices.
• The dangers of secrecy and deception: Li hides the medicine, while An secretly replaces it.
• Grief, blame, and the consequences of treating a child as responsible for a parent’s death.
• Family protection and duty, contrasted with coercion within the family.

Character interactions

• An and Li’s disagreement over the pregnancy is the central conflict: she wants their child, while he fears childbirth will kill her.
• Madam An shields her grandson after Li rejects him.
• Madam Li pressures Li into accepting Jiang, using deception and then appealing to family duty.
• Song Yaoyao prompts Guagua for details, and Guagua presents the events through narration and recorded footage.

Plot points and events

• Madam Li urges Li Fengyang to marry Jiang Yunxin, but he refuses, insisting Yue’er is his only wife. He offers Jiang the choice of becoming his concubine or taking compensation.
• Jiang Yunxin accepts concubinage. Guagua explains that Li Fengyang remains emotionally distant, though Jiang later has his daughter, Li Youran.
• Unable to win Li Fengyang’s affection, Jiang turns to business and eventually becomes a loan shark. She secretly amasses over three million taels, several residences, and two estates, while keeping her wealth hidden from the Li family.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua realize Jiang’s fortune could fund Chen Yixiao’s struggling Extravagant Delight Manor and his sixty-thousand-man army. Song Yaoyao and her companions begin thinking about how to put the money to use.
• Sun Liucai leads Song Yaoyao and the officers to Jiang’s secret courtyard. After entering through a coded birdcall exchange, they quietly disable guards and confront Shopkeeper Ding, whose hired thugs hesitate when officers point guns at them.
• Ding accuses Sun of betraying him. Sun counters that he and his fellow collectors did the dangerous debt-collection work but received only two taels to divide, while Ding and his superior kept the profits.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Fengyang remains devoted to Yue’er and refuses to treat Jiang as a wife, though he accepts her as a concubine.
• Jiang Yunxin shifts from hoping to win Li Fengyang’s love to pursuing wealth and independence through illicit lending, carefully concealing her success.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua treat Jiang’s hidden fortune as a possible solution to Chen Yixiao’s financial problems; their eagerness amuses and unsettles Song Qinghui and Liu Zheheng.
• Sun Liucai openly challenges the unfair treatment he and his fellow collectors endured, while Shopkeeper Ding responds with anger and accusations.
• Liu Zheheng and the officers act decisively to prevent the alarm from being raised and use their weapons to control the confrontation.

Significant themes

• Unrequited love and compromise: Jiang settles for proximity to Li Fengyang, but his lack of affection leaves her to build a separate life.
• Wealth, secrecy, and moral risk: Jiang’s fortune brings opportunity but comes from predatory lending and must be hidden.
• Exploitation and resentment: Sun’s account exposes how those doing dangerous work are denied a fair share of the gains.
• Power and leverage: The officers’ weapons and the prospect of Jiang’s money shift the balance in both the raid and the wider plans.