Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Madam Song keeps Song Yaoyao close after the wedding and has people watch her courtyard, suspecting she might try to eavesdrop on her eldest brother’s wedding night. Song Yaoyao realizes her mother has anticipated her mischief.
• The next morning, Song Qingyu and Ji Minyue are too tired to attend the tea ceremony, so it is postponed. Madam Song is delighted, already imagining a grandchild.
• Later, the newlyweds perform the formal tea ceremony. Ji Minyue receives red envelopes from the Song parents and siblings, while Madam Song’s pointed interest in her belly embarrasses her. Song Qingyu gently shields his wife and redirects his mother.
• Ji Minyue settles into the household. Madam Song teaches her to manage its affairs, intending eventually to hand her responsibility for the household.
• Half a month later, Sima Yifeng brings Song Yaoyao two recruits she requested: Meng Qiaoying, knowledgeable about fabrics and clothing, and Qiao Li, knowledgeable about cosmetics. Song Yaoyao begins assessing Meng’s expertise, starting with fabrics and ready-made clothes.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains independent and firmly opposed to marriage, insisting she can rely on herself. Her teasing curiosity about her brother’s wedding night—and Guagua’s own hypothetical marriage—sparks another argument between them.
• Madam Song is affectionate and perceptive: she anticipates Yaoyao’s antics, enthusiastically welcomes Ji Minyue, and prepares her to take over household management.
• Song Qingyu and Ji Minyue appear close and comfortable as newlyweds. Qingyu protects his embarrassed wife from his mother’s intense scrutiny.
• Ji Minyue is portrayed as gentle and capable, adapting quickly to her new role.
• Sima Yifeng supports Yaoyao’s plans by recruiting the specialists she needs; Meng Qiaoying and Qiao Li arrive promptly and respectfully.

Significant themes

• Independence and marriage: Yaoyao rejects the idea that a woman needs a husband for security, contrasting with the family’s hopes for a growing household.
• Family and tradition: The tea ceremony and red envelopes mark Ji Minyue’s formal welcome into the Song family.
• Women’s skills and responsibility: Ji Minyue’s household training and Yaoyao’s recruitment of experts show women exercising practical knowledge and influence.
• Humor and intimacy: Yaoyao and Guagua’s banter, alongside the family’s amused reactions, keeps the domestic scenes lighthearted.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao tests Meng Qiaoying and Qiao Li, confirms both are skilled, and gives Meng a set of her clothing designs. Meng will choose suitable fabrics and release the designs gradually to keep attracting customers; the shop premises are already being prepared.
• Wanting to give Qiao Li a comparable opportunity, Song shows her eight perfumes she has made. Qiao Li is impressed by their scents and notes that perfume lasts twelve to fourteen hours—far longer than incense.
• Song plans to teach Qiao Li how to make perfume and put her in charge of the perfume shop, warning that betrayal will not be tolerated. Both women promise to remain loyal.
• Song tells Sima Yifeng about her idea for a wedding-services shop, inspired by the burden her mother faced arranging her eldest brother’s wedding. The business would coordinate weddings, providing services such as hair and makeup, matchmakers, wedding attire, and banquets.
• Sima supports the plan and offers to find someone capable of running the shop.
• After the others leave, Guagua questions whether Song is risking betrayal by sharing her designs and perfume-making knowledge. Song says she has no fear and implies that stealing her creations would have serious consequences.

Character developments and interactions

• Meng’s expertise and admiration for Song are confirmed; she eagerly accepts responsibility for the clothing designs.
• Qiao Li is initially concerned that Song might favor Meng, then becomes excited by perfume and the prospect of managing its shop.
• Song acts as an ambitious mentor and business planner, entrusting trusted associates with distinct ventures while making her expectations about loyalty explicit.
• Sima demonstrates his support and willingness to take on practical work for Song, including recruiting a manager.

Significant themes

• Entrepreneurship and innovation: Song develops new businesses from her skills and observations of unmet needs.
• Trust and loyalty: She delegates valuable knowledge but expects absolute fidelity.
• Efficiency and service: The proposed businesses aim to make fashion, fragrance, and wedding arrangements more convenient for customers.

Plot and events

• On her day off, Song Yaoyao joins her newly married sister-in-law, Ji Minyue, and siblings Song Qingling and Song Qinghui for a family outing. Ji Minyue uses the trip to learn everyone’s preferences and buy them Mid-Autumn Festival gifts, hoping to make a good impression in her first festival with the Song family.
• The group spends the morning shopping. At lunch, they go to Yaoyao’s barbecue restaurant. Shopkeeper Niu welcomes her and takes the party to her private room, prompting complaints from customers waiting in line. He clarifies that Yaoyao is the restaurant’s owner and the top-floor room is reserved for her; the customers accept the explanation.
• As the family orders, Guagua offers Yaoyao gossip from a video of a couple dining downstairs. A Ning and Ming An describe their marriage as mutually convenient: he needed a wife, while she wanted a husband to stop her mother arranging matches. A Ning seems relaxed and focused on the food, while Ming An checks that she truly accepts their arrangement.
• Ming An’s manservant announces the arrival of Yan Chen. Ming An lets him in, and Yan Chen immediately sits on Ming An’s lap, ending the chapter on a suggestive cliffhanger.

Character developments and interactions

• Ji Minyue shows care and consideration toward her new family by quietly finding out what they like before buying gifts.
• Yaoyao handles the restaurant customers’ frustration calmly, understanding their impatience rather than taking offense. Shopkeeper Niu is deferential and protective of her position as owner.
• A Ning and Ming An present themselves as practical companions rather than a conventionally affectionate married couple. Their easy conversation suggests a negotiated, companionable arrangement, though Ming An appears concerned about her feelings.
• Yan Chen’s intimate gesture toward Ming An raises questions about Ming An’s undisclosed situation and the marriage arrangement.

Significant themes

• Family belonging: Ji Minyue seeks to build closeness with the Song family through thoughtful gifts.
• Fairness and status: The restaurant’s customers initially resent the party’s apparent privilege, but the explanation that Yaoyao owns the restaurant resolves the misunderstanding.
• Marriage as mutual arrangement: A Ning and Ming An describe marriage in terms of practical needs rather than romance.
• Secrets and curiosity: Guagua’s gossip reveals only part of the couple’s circumstances; Yan Chen’s arrival hints that more remains undisclosed.

Key plot points and events

• In the video, Yan Chen arrives at a barbecue restaurant and, jealous and wary of A Ning, sits on Ming An’s lap. A Ning tells them to stop being affectionate in front of her and invites Yan Chen to join the meal.
• Yan Chen repeatedly asks whether A Ning is attracted to Ming An. A Ning insists she is not: she knew Ming An liked men and had a soulmate before marrying him. Their marriage is a practical arrangement—she needed relief from her parents’ pressure to marry, while Ming An had his own reasons.
• Reassured, Yan Chen asks whether A Ning might be attracted to women. She clarifies that she likes men but has not met one she wants.
• Yan Chen offers to introduce her to his single male friends, who are waiting outside. A Ning eagerly agrees, and five handsome men join them.
• Watching the video, Song Yaoyao pieces together the arrangement and confirms her interpretation with Guagua. She wonders whether A Ning might eventually date one of the men, though neither she nor Guagua knows what will happen.

Character developments and interactions

• A Ning is blunt about her lack of romantic interest in Ming An and grows visibly excited at the prospect of meeting suitable men. She establishes firm boundaries with the couple while remaining friendly.
• Yan Chen begins jealous and suspicious, but A Ning’s repeated assurances calm him. He then turns supportive, offering to help her find a partner.
• Ming An reassures Yan Chen through affectionate gestures and confirms that he and A Ning are merely partners. He reacts with playful defensiveness when Yan Chen jokes that A Ning likes attractive men.
• Song Yaoyao moves from surprise to understanding, identifying the marriage as a mutually beneficial cover arrangement and the relationship between Ming An and Yan Chen as romantic.

Significant themes

• Marriage as a practical arrangement: A Ning and Ming An marry to meet separate needs, not out of romantic love.
• Trust and jealousy: Yan Chen’s repeated questions reveal his insecurity, which is resolved through A Ning’s candor and Ming An’s reassurance.
• Personal choice and romantic possibility: A Ning resists pressure to marry for her parents’ sake and remains open to finding someone she genuinely likes.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao jokes with Guagua that, instead of choosing one man, A Ning should keep all five of her admirers. Guagua teases her for being all talk.
• The women present find Song Yaoyao’s joke amusing, while Song Qingyu reassures his wife, Ji Minyue, that he is a good husband.
• A Ning tells Yan Chen that although the five men are pleasant company, she knows their respectable backgrounds make a relationship with her unrealistic. She prefers to enjoy the present rather than plan for a partner.
• After lunch, Song Yaoyao and her companions take a walk and encounter a crowd outside the Opera House. A baby girl has been abandoned in a basket because she has a cleft lip, which onlookers wrongly regard as a curse and an omen of bad luck.
• Recognized as Princess Jiahe, Song Yaoyao approaches, examines the baby, and finds no obvious problem beyond the cleft lip. She intends to conduct a fuller examination later. Some bystanders urge her to put the child down, warning that the baby is unlucky.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains playful and outspoken, but shows compassion and medical judgment when she takes the abandoned infant in her arms and examines her.
• A Ning demonstrates clear-eyed pragmatism: she distinguishes friendly conversation from a realistic romantic prospect and chooses to focus on the present.
• Yan Chen responds to A Ning’s circumstances by offering to look for a suitable man, though A Ning declines to pursue that question for now.
• Song Qingyu is briefly anxious that Ji Minyue might take Song Yaoyao’s teasing advice seriously, then relaxes when she affirms her trust in him.

Significant themes

• Practicality versus romantic fantasy: A Ning understands the limits imposed by her circumstances, while Song Yaoyao prefers to joke about abundant romantic choices.
• Superstition versus knowledge: The crowd treats the baby’s cleft lip as a curse; Song Yaoyao recognizes it as a medical condition.
• Compassion and social responsibility: The chapter contrasts the infant’s abandonment with Song Yaoyao’s immediate willingness to help.
• Gender and stigma: The baby is rejected both for being a girl and for having a visible birth condition.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua trade teasing remarks about romance, with Guagua challenging her to put her playful ideas into practice.
• A Ning and Yan Chen discuss whether any of the five men could be a partner; A Ning firmly explains why she sees no realistic possibility.
• Song Qingyu and Ji Minyue share a brief, affectionate exchange that resolves his concern.
• At the Opera House, the crowd’s fearful warnings conflict with Song Yaoyao’s calm examination of the baby, setting up a likely confrontation between compassion and superstition.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao takes an abandoned newborn with a cleft lip back to the Marquis’s Residence, insisting the condition is treatable and not a sign of a curse.
• Guagua reveals that the baby is the legitimate daughter of Lu Ziqing and Wang Youxin. While Lu Ziqing and his father are away, Wang Youxin ordered the infant drowned, then substituted a purchased baby boy to pass off as her own child.
• Song Yaoyao decides to heal the girl before her family returns, knowing they may otherwise reject her because of superstition.
• At the Plum Garden, Song examines the baby and finds her otherwise healthy. She explains cleft-lip surgery to Sima Yifeng and says the operation should wait until the baby is three to six months old.
• Ying Huiyan and Leng Lingyi volunteer to care for the infant. Song plans to buy milking goats for the household so the baby can be fed without relying on a potentially unkind wet nurse.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao’s compassion and resolve are central: she protects the infant, commits to treating her, and refuses to entrust her care to someone who might mistreat her.
• Sima Yifeng moves from concern to enthusiasm, asking to learn the procedure so he can help other children. Song agrees to teach him.
• Ying Huiyan and Leng Lingyi support Song by volunteering to help care for the baby.
• Wang Youxin is revealed as ruthless and status-conscious, willing to endanger her daughter and deceive her husband’s family to secure her position.
• Guagua supplies the baby’s backstory and warns Song that the Marquis’s family may not accept her if superstition outweighs compassion.

Significant themes

• Compassion versus superstition: Song rejects the idea that the baby is cursed and treats her condition as a medical issue.
• Abuse of vulnerable children: The infant’s abandonment and near-drowning expose the danger faced by children born with disabilities.
• Medical knowledge as a means of rescue: Song’s expertise offers the child a chance at health and acceptance, while she encourages Sima to learn the procedure.
• Power, status, and family deception: Wang Youxin’s attempt to replace her daughter with a boy shows how the pursuit of status can corrupt family bonds.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao’s clothing and cosmetics shops open successfully. A runway show draws crowds to the clothing shop, while Qiao Li’s perfume demonstration sells out the cosmetics shop’s stock within hours, with orders booked months ahead.
• The wedding-services shop has been delayed while Song Yaoyao waits for suitable staff. Sima Yifeng brings her Mu Shaojun, the son of Divine Healer Valley’s Grand Elder, to manage it.
• Mu Shaojun is famously lazy but exceptionally persuasive. Song Yaoyao welcomes him warmly, lets him sit, and asks for his ideas. He proposes expanding the business to cover matchmaking, wedding rites and arrangements, and post-birth services.
• Song Yaoyao asks Mu to organize his proposals and encourages him to put his gift for speaking to use. She promises to leave the shop in his hands. He agrees to try.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows confidence as a business owner and a relaxed, supportive manner with people she considers her own. She recognizes that Mu’s laziness may stem from lacking a motivating purpose, and helps him see how his talent could benefit both himself and his family.
• Mu Shaojun arrives doubtful and reluctant, expecting little from work. His honesty and talent for flattery quickly emerge, but Song Yaoyao asks him to speak plainly. Her encouragement leads him to accept responsibility and imagine earning his parents’ pride.
• Sima Yifeng introduces Mu and urges him to behave respectfully, but Mu ignores his hints. Yifeng’s formal reverence toward Song Yaoyao contrasts with her easygoing treatment of him and Mu.

Significant themes

• Different talents have value: Mu’s silver tongue, though dismissed as mere charm, is well suited to wedding services.
• Purpose can inspire change: Song Yaoyao suggests Mu may be lazy because he has not found work he enjoys.
• Encouragement and confidence: Rather than condemn Mu, Song Yaoyao gives him responsibility and reassures him that he can succeed.
• Business through understanding customers: The shops’ early success—and Mu’s role—depends on creating appealing experiences and making clients feel pleased and valued.

Key plot points and events

• Three months after Mu Shaojun and Sima Yifeng leave, Mu’s wedding shop, A Match Made in Gold and Jade, opens to great excitement. Song Yaoyao has kept her promise to leave its management to him.
• The abandoned infant nicknamed Little Moon has grown healthy and strong in the care of Ying Huiyan and the others at the Plum Garden.
• Song Yaoyao examines the baby and confirms she is ready for surgery. On Song’s day off, she performs the operation successfully, correcting the condition that would otherwise prevent Little Moon from living like other children.
• After several days of recovery, Sima Yifeng asks when Song will inform Little Moon’s relatives. Song learns the Marquis of Suning and Lu Ziqing have returned from their assignment.
• Song tells the Marquis of Suning about the child. He is astonished but trusts Song’s medical skill, visits Little Moon, and says he wants to take her home because she is part of his family.
• Song asks him to wait until the infant has recovered further, so her incision can be monitored and cared for properly.

Character developments and interactions

• Mu Shaojun is inspired by Song’s encouragement and successfully opens his wedding shop; the narration foreshadows that he will later become a celebrated businessman.
• Song Yaoyao shows confidence as a surgeon and compassion as Little Moon’s protector, balancing the family’s wishes against the baby’s medical needs.
• Ying Huiyan and the others have become deeply attached to Little Moon after caring for her for three months.
• The Marquis of Suning moves from surprise to concern and acceptance, recognizing Little Moon as his family and wanting to bring her home.
• Sima Yifeng supports Song’s treatment of the baby and prompts the conversation about informing her relatives. Lord Song also joins Song when she approaches the Marquis.

Significant themes

• Compassion and responsibility: Little Moon is cared for and treated despite being abandoned.
• Trust in medical expertise: The Marquis accepts Song’s judgment and relies on her skill.
• Chosen bonds and family ties: The Plum Garden’s caregivers form a loving attachment to Little Moon, while her blood relatives also claim responsibility for her.
• Encouragement and ambition: Song’s words help inspire Mu’s future success.

Key plot points and events

• Princess Jiahe agrees to help with the matter, prompting the Marquis of Suning to return home angry.
• He confronts his wife, Madam Lu, for leaving the residence to pray while their pregnant daughter-in-law, Wang Youxin, was close to giving birth. Madam Lu says she thought the household servants could manage.
• The Marquis summons Lu Ziqing and Wang Youxin, then accuses Wang of secretly arranging something through her servants and asks whether their son, Lu Zhihong, is truly a Lu.
• Wang’s sudden pallor makes Ziqing and Madam Lu suspect adultery. Ziqing strikes her and demands a divorce, but the Marquis clarifies that Wang did not have an affair: Zhihong is nevertheless not of their bloodline.
• After the Marquis explains what happened, Madam Lu also strikes and condemns Wang for endangering the family’s lineage and inheritance. Wang continues to deny wrongdoing.
• The Marquis orders Wang’s wet nurse and her family brought in to testify. The wet nurse’s fear—and the threat hanging over her family—sets up the next revelation.

Character developments and interactions

• The Marquis shifts from anger at Madam Lu’s absence to determinedly exposing Wang’s deception. He controls the confrontation and seeks corroboration from the wet nurse.
• Madam Lu realizes her absence may have helped enable the crisis and becomes furious when she learns the family’s lineage was put at risk.
• Lu Ziqing reacts impulsively to the apparent implication of adultery, attacking Wang before learning the truth. Once the Marquis explains, the accusation is reframed: the child is not his family’s blood, but Wang did not conceive him through an affair.
• Wang Youxin tries to maintain a composed denial, but her pallor betrays her alarm. Even after the truth is described, she refuses to confess and privately hopes her wet nurse will do the same.
• The wet nurse is summoned as a key witness and is visibly frightened, especially when the Marquis hints that her family may suffer if she lies.

Significant themes

• Bloodline, legitimacy, and inheritance: The family sees the child’s unknown origins as a threat to its name and succession.
• Deception and accountability: Wang’s denial contrasts with the Marquis’s effort to establish the facts through testimony.
• Misjudgment and limited knowledge: Ziqing assumes adultery, while the Marquis clarifies that the actual wrongdoing is different.
• Duty and family responsibility: The confrontation raises questions about who was responsible for protecting the household during Madam Lu’s absence.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Youxin’s wet nurse confesses that Youxin is not Lu Zhihong’s biological child and reveals the crimes surrounding the birth, along with Youxin’s history of murdering maids she suspected of attracting Lu Ziqing’s attention.
• Lu Ziqing learns that the missing maids were not sold, as Youxin had claimed, but killed. He rejects her pleas and leaves her fate to his father, the Marquis of Suning.
• The marquis orders Youxin confined and decides to inform the Wang family, while sparing her from being handed over to the authorities for now.
• Lu Ziqing asks to visit the child at the Marquis of Eternal Peace’s Residence. His parents agree to send a formal visiting card and gifts. He promises to accept the child regardless of her appearance while her surgical wound heals.
• The Marquis of Suning tells Lord Wang what Youxin has done and confirms that evidence exists, including the wet nurse’s confession and the recovered remains of the maids. Lord Wang accepts responsibility for handling his daughter, and Youxin is sent back to the Wang Residence.
• Lord Wang’s second wife, Madam Wang, points out that he repeatedly defended Youxin in the past and used accusations against her to silence criticism. When he asks what she thinks now, she gives his old accusation back to him.

Character developments

• Lu Ziqing moves from ignorance to horror and anger when he learns of Youxin’s murders. He decisively rejects her and shows acceptance of the child he had not yet met.
• The Marquis of Suning acts firmly but cautiously: he protects his family’s interests, confronts the Wang family, and shows restraint by not immediately involving the authorities.
• Lord Wang is shocked to learn the truth about his daughter and recognizes that the marquis has shown mercy. He also begins to face the consequences of his long-standing favoritism.
• Madam Wang reveals her resentment toward Youxin and her husband’s past treatment of her. Her pointed reply shows that she will no longer quietly accept blame.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and possessive love: Youxin calls her violence an expression of love, but Lu Ziqing rejects that justification.
• Truth and concealed wrongdoing: The wet nurse’s confession exposes the gap between Youxin’s public image and her crimes.
• Favoritism and family responsibility: Lord Wang’s indulgence helped shield Youxin, while her actions now threaten the reputation and prospects of the whole Wang family.
• Acceptance and compassion: Lu Ziqing’s willingness to accept his child contrasts with Youxin’s cruelty.

Character interactions

• Youxin pleads with Lu Ziqing, but he rebuffs her and refuses to acknowledge her as his wife.
• The Marquis of Suning manages the conflict with Lu Ziqing, then confronts Lord Wang with the evidence and leaves Youxin’s punishment to her birth family.
• Lord Wang and Madam Wang’s exchange exposes their old pattern: he defended Youxin by accusing Madam Wang of resenting his first wife’s child, and she now uses that history to silence him in turn.

Key plot points and events

• Lord Wang asks Madam Wang to handle the crisis involving Wang Youxin, hoping to avoid being blamed for acting against his favored daughter.
• Madam Wang refuses, reminding him that he had once forbidden her from interfering in Youxin’s affairs.
• She confronts him over years of neglect and mistreatment of her and their children, especially his decision to send six-year-old Qisheng away. Qisheng nearly died there, and Madam Wang had to secure imperial help to save him.
• Madam Wang tells Lord Wang to stay out of her quarters and threatens to use her leverage against Youxin—even if it destroys the wider Wang family.
• Lord Wang leaves, unable to answer her accusations. Afterward, Madam Wang tells her matron that she now controls the household and will tolerate Lord Wang only for Qisheng’s sake; if he resumes bullying them, she may arrange an “accident.”

Character developments

• Madam Wang (Sun Yike) openly rejects her former submissive role. Years of resentment have hardened into defiance, and she now sees herself as powerful enough to protect her children and dictate the household’s future.
• Lord Wang (Wang Huaiqing) is exposed as self-serving: he wants Madam Wang to take responsibility for dealing with Youxin while preserving his own reputation. His past cruelty toward Qisheng has also permanently damaged their father-son relationship.
• Qisheng is not present, but his success in the imperial examinations and arranged marriage strengthen Madam Wang’s confidence and position.
• The matron is shocked by how far Madam Wang is prepared to go.

Character interactions

• Madam Wang turns Lord Wang’s own former instructions against him, refusing to take responsibility for Youxin.
• Their confrontation escalates from a dispute over Youxin to a reckoning over Lord Wang’s treatment of Madam Wang and their children.
• Lord Wang insults and threatens her, but Madam Wang counters with her leverage and refuses to yield.
• The matron questions Madam Wang’s decision to break openly with her husband; Madam Wang explains that she no longer needs to endure his conduct.

Significant themes

• Long-suppressed resentment and marital betrayal: Madam Wang’s confrontation reveals the accumulated cost of Lord Wang’s favoritism and cruelty.
• Power and self-protection: With the household effectively in her hands, Madam Wang can finally defend herself and her children.
• Favoritism and family consequences: Lord Wang’s indulgence of Youxin has harmed the rest of his family and may now threaten the entire household.
• Reputation and hypocrisy: Lord Wang wants to avoid public blame, while Madam Wang challenges the double standard that has protected him.

Key plot points and events

• Lord Wang visits his confined daughter, Wang Youxin, after she has been smashing furniture and insulting the servants. She expects him to rescue her and persuade her husband to forgive her.
• Instead, Lord Wang orders the room cleaned and shares a meal and wine with her, reminiscing about her childhood and her late mother.
• After Wang Youxin leaves, Lord Wang grieves and apologizes to his first wife’s portrait. He believes her actions have put the Wang family at risk and that the Marquis of Suning’s household will demand justice.
• Lord Wang has secretly poisoned the final cup of wine he gave Wang Youxin. She dies during the night. He orders her body cremated to conceal the poisoning and tells outsiders she died of illness; she is buried outside the city.
• Lady Wang learns the truth but chooses not to intervene, deciding to act as though she knows nothing.
• Some days later, Song Yaoyao learns what happened and is shocked by Lord Wang’s treatment of his family. Guagua dismisses him as foolish.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Youxin shifts from entitled confidence to pleading repentance, but she still believes her father can fix her marriage. She does not realize the meal is a farewell or that her father has chosen to sacrifice her.
• Lord Wang presents himself as a caring father during their final meal, recalling tender memories, while concealing his murderous decision. His grief and guilt afterward contrast with his calculation to protect the family’s reputation and interests.
• Lady Wang remains detached and cynical, condemning Lord Wang’s hypocrisy but refusing to get involved.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua reflect on Lord Wang’s favoritism and the harm it causes within his family.

Significant themes

• Family loyalty versus self-interest: Lord Wang’s affection for Youxin gives way to protecting the Wang household.
• Hypocrisy and appearances: His sentimental farewell and public mourning hide his role in her death.
• Favoritism and injustice: Song Yaoyao questions how Lord Wang could treat his children so differently.
• Guilt and concealed wrongdoing: Lord Wang mourns his daughter while taking steps to hide the crime.

Key plot points and events

• The Marchioness of Suning and her son, Lu Ziqing, visit to see the infant recovering under Song Yaoyao’s care. Song confirms that the child is their biological granddaughter and has been temporarily named Little Moon.
• Song explains that Little Moon’s frequent crying is normal while her surgical wound heals. She assures the family that the child should recover fully.
• The Marchioness and Lu Ziqing wash their hands before holding Little Moon. The Marchioness brings her a large bundle of baby supplies, and Song later learns she also brought three chests of gifts for Song.
• A month later, the emperor’s renovations to the Medical College are complete. Song and Sima Yifeng inspect the premises and plan separate eastern and western sections for traditional and Western medicine, along with treatment, examination, laboratory, and operating rooms.
• They agree to recruit students with some medical training for the first class, then expand admissions after gaining teaching experience. Song entrusts Sima with the setup and the emperor’s funds, while she supplies Western medical equipment.
• With the emperor’s permission for Song to divide her time between the Imperial Medical Academy and the college, the Medical College is fully equipped and ready after more than a month of work.

Character developments and interactions

• The Marchioness’s concern is for Little Moon’s future welfare, especially the possibility that her injury might expose her to gossip—not a reluctance to accept her. Song initially misreads her question but is reassured by the family’s commitment.
• The Marchioness and Lu Ziqing show affection and care by visiting, holding Little Moon, and bringing supplies.
• Song acts as Little Moon’s medical caregiver and as the Medical College’s organizer. She trusts Sima Yifeng to manage the practical preparations, while he contributes a cautious, workable admissions plan.

Significant themes

• Care and responsibility: Little Moon’s recovery is supported by careful medical attention and the family’s growing involvement.
• Compassion over prejudice: The Marquis’s family accepts Little Moon and worries about protecting her from social judgment.
• Building medical education: The college’s separate medical traditions and measured admissions policy reflect Song’s effort to establish a practical, inclusive institution.
• Collaboration and public service: Song, Sima, the emperor, and the Divine Healer Valley’s disciples all contribute to the college’s development.

Key plot points and events

• The Medical College completes recruitment, admitting sixty students: forty for traditional Chinese medicine and twenty for Western medicine.
• Song Yaoyao discovers that Su Yu has enrolled in Western medicine. Concerned about his motives, she asks Sima Yifeng why he accepted him; Sima explains that Su Yu refused to leave and threatened to complain.
• Su Yu insists that he wants to use medicine to save lives, but Song suspects he hopes to alter his own body. She offers to accept him if his family approves, and sends the students to tour the college.
• Song Yaoyao learns from Guagua that Su Yu has studied medicine for years, initially with a tutor and later through his own research. His skills are respectable, and he avoids experimenting on himself until he is sure a medicine is safe, though he tests new medicines on small animals.
• The next day, Song asks Grand Tutor Su about Su Yu’s enrollment. He reveals that Su Yu told him he would study traditional Chinese medicine, not Western medicine. Feeling deceived, Grand Tutor Su takes him home.
• Song believes the problem is settled, but Grand Tutor Su returns several days later looking exhausted.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is cautious and pragmatic: she doesn’t reject Su Yu outright, but seeks his family’s consent before letting him study Western medicine. She is relieved when Grand Tutor Su intervenes.
• Su Yu remains determined and theatrically persistent, even kneeling and claiming to be misunderstood. He has secretly pursued Western medicine despite telling his grandfather he would study traditional medicine.
• Sima Yifeng admits he was cornered by Su Yu’s refusal to leave. Lu Xuangu Gui feels guilty for admitting him without recognizing him, but Song tells him not to dwell on it.
• Grand Tutor Su initially believes Su Yu’s account, then becomes angry when he learns the truth and removes him from the college.
• Song and Guagua discuss Su Yu’s medical research, revealing that his persistence is matched by genuine knowledge and caution about his own safety.

Significant themes

• The chapter plays comic tension between Su Yu’s persistence and Song Yaoyao’s exasperation.
• It explores trust and deception, as Su Yu conceals his true course of study from his grandfather.
• Family authority and consent shape the decision about Su Yu’s education, while his medical ambitions raise questions about how he might use his knowledge.
• Su Yu’s research also suggests the complicated boundary between determination, eccentricity, and ethical experimentation.

Key plot points and events

• Grand Tutor Su tells Song Yaoyao that Su Yu tried to take his own life after his family refused to let him study Western medicine. After learning how serious his determination is, the family agrees to let him enroll at the Medical College.
• Su Yu arrives at the college only two days later with his wrist bandaged. Song Yaoyao warns him not to endanger his health or hands again, examines the injury, and promises to teach him Western medicine.
• Su Yu studies diligently, earns top marks, and keeps his promise not to harm himself. He later treats the injured and helps teach new students.
• Five years pass. Song Qingyu has two children and works as a fifth-rank official; Song Qingling is pregnant with healthy twins. Song Qinghui, once reluctant to marry, meets Ren Jinjia while investigating a case. After initially fighting because of a mistaken identity, they fall in love and marry.
• Song Yaoyao is now the only unmarried member of the Song household. Her mother repeatedly pressures her to choose a husband, but Yaoyao insists that she has not yet met someone she likes.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yu proves his determination through a dangerous act, then channels that resolve into serious study and service. Song Yaoyao rebukes him but also supports and mentors him.
• Song Yaoyao remains firm and compassionate: she respects Su Yu’s choice while urging him to consider his family’s care. In her own life, she resists pressure to marry before finding a suitable partner.
• Madam Song is anxious to see Yaoyao married and confronts her with increasingly blunt questions. Yaoyao tries to deflect her mother’s demands with humor and appeals to fate.
• Song Qinghui and Ren Jinjia begin as opponents, but their encounter develops into romance and marriage. Ren Jinjia is revealed as a spirited, justice-seeking bounty hunter.

Significant themes

• Personal choice and family concern: Su Yu’s wish to choose his own path clashes with his family’s protective instincts; Yaoyao similarly insists that marriage should depend on genuine affection.
• Determination and responsibility: Su Yu’s persistence becomes constructive once he commits to study, healing, and teaching.
• Love and changing circumstances: Several siblings build families in different ways, while Yaoyao’s unmarried status becomes the focus of family pressure.
• Fate versus social expectations: Madam Song emphasizes the practical timetable for marriage, while Yaoyao argues that a match cannot simply be arranged on demand.

Key events

• Madam Song lectures Song Yaoyao about marriage and gives her ten days to find a husband. Once her mother leaves, Yaoyao admits she would rather remain single than risk conflict with a husband’s family.
• Yaoyao wants to visit her fief but postpones the trip until her pregnant eldest sister safely delivers twins.
• Guagua suggests hiring a man to pose as Yaoyao’s boyfriend to placate Madam Song. They set out to find a suitable candidate among the commoners, using the melodramatic profile of a hardworking young man burdened by family troubles.
• Disguised in plain clothes and a veil, Yaoyao explores the commoners’ district with Bi Tao. They stop at a busy wonton stall, where Yaoyao insists on trying the local food.
• Nearby, a drunken man chases a woman with a stick, demanding money for alcohol. She says the money is for their daughter Xue’er’s medicine, but he dismisses the child’s life as worthless.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao remains independent and wary of marriage, but she is also devoted to her family, especially her pregnant eldest sister.
• Guagua acts as a playful confidant and offers a practical, if contrived, way to help Yaoyao escape her mother’s pressure.
• Bi Tao, now married to Ying Mingkang and a mother, continues to serve Yaoyao and follows her into the city.
• The confrontation at the end introduces a mother trying to protect her sick child from an abusive, uncaring father; Yaoyao’s response is not shown in this excerpt.

Significant themes

• Marriage and autonomy: Yaoyao resists expectations that she marry, valuing independence over a potentially oppressive household.
• Family care and responsibility: Her concern for her sister and the woman’s efforts to secure medicine for her daughter contrast with the drunk man’s cruelty.
• Class and everyday life: Yaoyao ventures beyond the palace into commoners’ neighborhoods, where she encounters ordinary food and hardship.

Plot points and events

• Kong Laosan, a violent alcoholic, demands money from his wife, Sixth Madam, to buy liquor. When she refuses, he chases her and tries to take her pouch.
• Their son, Kong Siyu, returns and steps between his father and mother. Song Yaoyao recognizes him as the person she has been seeking.
• Through Guagua, Song learns that Kong Laosan has abused Sixth Madam for years. His violence while she was pregnant caused their daughter, Siqin, to be born prematurely and chronically ill. Kong Siyu now protects his mother and sister, and Kong Laosan usually waits until he is away to attack them.
• Song Yi intervenes at Song Yaoyao’s signal, knocking Kong Laosan down. Kong Laosan retaliates by falsely accusing Song Yi and Sixth Madam of adultery and threatening to report them.
• Kong Siyu and Sixth Madam thank Song Yi, then Song Yaoyao, for rescuing them. Kong Laosan turns his threats toward Song Yaoyao, claiming he has powerful backing.

Character developments

• Kong Siyu appears as a protective, courageous son, willing to confront the father who has terrorized his family.
• Sixth Madam is revealed as a hardworking, long-suffering woman who was effectively sold into marriage by her stepmother and stayed with Kong Laosan to protect her children.
• Song Yaoyao shifts from observing the conflict to taking action, sending Song Yi to stop the beating.
• Kong Laosan is shown as both abusive and shameless: after being defeated, he invents a scandal to intimidate his rescuers.

Character interactions

• Siyu’s return briefly deters Kong Laosan, but Kong Laosan attacks him too; Song Yi then intervenes on Song Yaoyao’s command.
• Song Yi directs the family’s gratitude to Song Yaoyao, who dismisses their thanks as a matter of helping someone in need.
• Kong Laosan’s accusations pit him against Song Yi and Song Yaoyao, ending with a new threat whose significance is not yet explained.

Significant themes

• Family abuse and vulnerability: Sixth Madam and her children endure years of violence and deprivation.
• Protective courage: Siyu risks himself to defend his family, while Song Yaoyao and Song Yi step in to help.
• Injustice and exploitation: Sixth Madam’s stepmother treated her as a commodity, and Kong Laosan uses threats and slander to maintain control.
• Compassion and intervention: The chapter contrasts bystanders’ sympathy with Song Yaoyao’s decision to act.

Key plot points

• Kong Laosan boasts that a powerful patron is backing him, while the crowd mocks him.
• Song Yaoyao learns through Guagua that the patron is Li Tiekui, an escort-agency chief who offered Kong Laosan a hundred taels to obtain Kong Siyu.
• Song Yaoyao exposes the arrangement. Kong Laosan admits it and threatens her, claiming Li will punish anyone who crossed him. Song Yi dismisses Li as insignificant and kicks Kong Laosan again.
• Sixth Madam slaps Kong Laosan and condemns him for trying to sell his own son. She says she will risk her life to protect Siyu and his sister, Siqin.
• Kong Siyu, who has studied in hopes of freeing his family through success in the Imperial Examinations, angrily vows to stop his father—even if it means dying with him. Kong Laosan retreats in fear.
• Kong Laosan announces that Li Tiekui has arrived, setting up a confrontation.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is confident and sardonic, using her knowledge to expose Kong Laosan’s scheme. She also checks that Kong Siyu is not interested in men, since Li has become infatuated with him.
• Kong Laosan is revealed as greedy and abusive: he is willing to sell his son for money, despite claiming it is for the family’s benefit. His bravado fades when his wife and son openly threaten to resist him.
• Sixth Madam shifts from a silent victim to a fierce defender of her children, confronting Kong Laosan directly.
• Kong Siyu reveals both his devotion to his family and his desperation. Being sold would end his hopes of taking the examinations and rescuing them from poverty.
• Song Yi supports Song Yaoyao physically, while the crowd’s mockery gives way to shock as Kong Laosan’s claim proves true.

Significant themes

The chapter centers on parental betrayal, domestic abuse, and the desperation of a family trapped in poverty. It also contrasts Kong Laosan’s selfishness with Sixth Madam and Kong Siyu’s fierce loyalty to one another, while Song Yaoyao’s exposure of the scheme turns hidden exploitation into public confrontation.

Key plot points

• Kong Laosan twists the story to Chief Escort Li, claiming Song Yaoyao’s group insulted him and tried to take Kong Siyu.
• Chief Escort Li believes him and orders his men to attack. Six skilled guards protect Song Yaoyao and quickly defeat the escort guards.
• Capital patrol soldiers arrive. Their officer recognizes Song Yi as someone serving Princess Jiahe and realizes the veiled Song Yaoyao is likely the princess. He defers to her and leaves without punishing her group.
• Realizing Song Yaoyao is too powerful to offend, Chief Escort Li apologizes and pays compensation. Song Yi accepts the silver notes with Song Yaoyao’s approval; she later tells him to distribute the money among their people.
• Chief Escort Li flees with his battered men. Kong Laosan then begs for mercy, offering his son, young daughter, and wife to save himself. Song Yaoyao ignores his pleading and asks Kong Siyu how he wants his father dealt with.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains composed and quietly authoritative. Her identity and status become evident to the patrol officer, and she leaves the decision about Kong Laosan to Kong Siyu.
• Song Yi defends the group, openly rebukes Chief Escort Li for being gullible, and handles the compensation with Song Yaoyao’s consent.
• Chief Escort Li shifts from arrogant aggression to fearful submission once he sees the guards’ skill and the patrol officer’s deference to Song Yaoyao.
• Kong Laosan is exposed as manipulative and utterly self-serving: he slanders the group, then offers his own family as payment for his safety.
• Kong Siyu is given the chance to decide what should happen to his father.

Significant themes

• Power and status: Song Yaoyao’s concealed identity changes how officials and adversaries treat her.
• Reckless gullibility: Chief Escort Li’s willingness to accept Kong Laosan’s lies leads to his defeat and humiliation.
• Selfishness versus loyalty: Kong Laosan sacrifices his family to protect himself, while Song Yaoyao shows generosity toward her own people.
• Agency and justice: Song Yaoyao invites Kong Siyu—not Kong Laosan—to determine the next step.

Key plot points

• Kong Siyu and his mother, Sixth Madam, ask to end their ties with Kong Laosan. Song Yaoyao makes his release conditional on a formal divorce and kinship-severance deeds. Kong Laosan agrees, and Song Yaoyao has the documents sent to the Government Office for processing.
• After Sixth Madam leaves to pack, Song Yaoyao takes Kong Siyu aside and reveals that she is Princess Jiahe.
• She asks him to pose as her boyfriend so she can satisfy her mother’s demand that she bring home a potential son-in-law and escape further matchmaking pressure.
• Song offers him money and a small house. Though he initially refuses, he accepts the support as a loan after realizing that his newly divorced mother and sister have nowhere to go and that he needs to focus on his studies.
• Song arranges help with the family’s move and plans to rehearse a convincing story with Kong Siyu before introducing him to her parents.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao uses her authority to secure Sixth Madam and her children’s freedom, then asks Kong Siyu for help with her own family troubles. She is relieved to have found a solution but anxious about maintaining the pretense.
• Kong Siyu shows gratitude and integrity: he agrees to help without initially seeking payment, then accepts Song’s assistance as a loan for his family’s sake. He is briefly shy, thinking Song may genuinely like him, and a little disappointed when he learns the relationship will be pretend.
• Sixth Madam firmly chooses divorce and custody of her children, then leaves to prepare for their new life.
• Song and Kong Siyu establish a practical arrangement built on mutual assistance; Song also offers to examine his sister’s illness.

Significant themes

• Freedom and self-determination: Sixth Madam and her children break away from Kong Laosan, while Song resists pressure to marry.
• Family responsibility and compassion: Kong Siyu accepts help because his mother and sister need security.
• Pride and mutual obligation: Song insists on compensation, but Kong frames it as a loan to preserve his dignity.
• Deception as a coping strategy: Song plans a staged romance to avoid matchmaking, though she knows her shrewd mother may expose the ruse.