Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao helps Kong Siyu’s family leave the abusive Kong household by giving him silver and a house. Once they have settled in, she examines his frail younger sister and prescribes an affordable dietary treatment.
• Madam Song sends her maid Pearl to remind Yaoyao that the ten-day deadline is up: her parents will visit the next day to meet the man she claims to love.
• Yaoyao prepares by asking Song Yi to bring Kong Siyu to the teahouse so they can review their story.
• When her parents arrive, Yaoyao tells them the truth about Kong Siyu’s circumstances, then claims she fell in love with him at first sight. Her parents find the situation suspicious but wait to meet him.
• Kong Siyu arrives with pastries chosen for the visit. Yaoyao greets him warmly and introduces him to her parents. Lord Song begins talking with him while Madam Song quietly appraises him.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains composed under her mother’s scrutiny and takes practical steps to support Kong Siyu and his family. She is nevertheless acting a part when she describes their romance.
• Kong Siyu shows gratitude and consideration by bringing gifts suited to the Song parents’ tastes, despite his family’s limited means. Though outwardly calm, he is deeply nervous.
• Madam Song is motivated by concern that Yaoyao will remain unmarried, but her daughter’s sudden apparent interest in someone makes her suspicious.
• Lord Song tries to calm his wife and takes a more reassuring, conversational approach to meeting Kong Siyu.

Significant themes

• Family duty and care: Yaoyao’s help extends beyond Kong Siyu to his vulnerable younger sister.
• Honesty and appearances: Yaoyao tells her parents factual details they could verify, while presenting a fabricated love-at-first-sight story.
• Class and thoughtfulness: Kong Siyu’s modest pastries matter because they represent genuine effort and are costly relative to his family’s circumstances.
• Marriage expectations: Madam Song’s anxiety reflects the social pressure on an unmarried woman of Yaoyao’s age.

Character interactions

• Yaoyao and Kong Siyu coordinate their account before the visit.
• Madam Song questions Yaoyao directly, while Yaoyao tries to maintain her composure and romantic cover story.
• Kong Siyu respectfully presents himself to Lord and Madam Song; Lord Song welcomes him and opens a conversation, while Madam Song observes him in silence.

Plot points and events

• Lord and Madam Song meet Kong Siyu and approve of him as a courteous, promising young man, despite his family’s poverty.
• Madam Song asks when he plans to formally propose. Song Yaoyao is alarmed and quickly sends him home, since she had only recruited him to reassure her parents—not to pursue a real engagement.
• Yaoyao’s inner thoughts reveal her scheme to her parents, who realize she has been deceiving them.
• When Yaoyao returns, her parents press her to arrange another meeting with Kong. She resists, prompting Madam Song to accuse her of having something to hide.
• Yaoyao continues denying the deception. Madam Song loses her temper, throws a teacup, then chases Yaoyao with a stick as Yaoyao flees.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is shown as impulsive and evasive: she tries to control the situation but panics when her parents uncover her plan.
• Madam Song shifts from welcoming and hopeful to suspicious and furious once Yaoyao’s inner thoughts expose the truth.
• Lord Song initially shares his wife’s favorable impression of Kong, but learns that Yaoyao’s apparent romance may be staged.
• Kong Siyu remains respectful and composed, sincerely saying that he was the one who fell for Yaoyao.

Significant themes

• Deception and unintended consequences: Yaoyao’s attempt to placate her parents backfires when her private thoughts reveal her scheme.
• Marriage and parental expectations: Her parents’ concern about her unmarried status contrasts with her reluctance to commit.
• Family conflict and comic embarrassment: The misunderstanding escalates from polite matchmaking to an angry chase.

Character interactions

• Kong behaves deferentially toward the Songs, while Madam Song’s direct questions about marriage make Yaoyao uncomfortable.
• Yaoyao consults Guagua about how to avoid further meetings, unaware that her parents can hear her inner voice.
• Madam Song confronts Yaoyao, who deflects and denies the accusation; their exchange ends in a slapstick pursuit.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao’s mother, Madam Song, discovers that Yaoyao has staged a fake romance to avoid being pushed into marriage. She chases her around the Princess’s Residence with a blade, while Yaoyao jokes and tries to escape.
• The household staff refuse to intervene because they serve the Princess’s Residence, not the Song family. Lord Song offers to catch Yaoyao but secretly signals for her to run.
• Yaoyao flees after her mother tells her not to return. Madam Song then orders Lord Song to go find her, so he leaves intending to search only half-heartedly.
• Unsure where she can safely stay, Yaoyao discusses the mystery of how her parents uncovered the deception with Guagua. She decides against her own homes and an inn, fearing her mother will find her.
• Yaoyao goes to her elder sister Song Qingling’s home and asks to stay. After hearing what happened, Qingling agrees to take her in until their mother calms down.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains playful and resourceful under pressure, but her escape plan reveals how trapped she feels by her mother’s persistent matchmaking.
• Madam Song is fiercely determined and easily angered, convinced that Yaoyao’s deception merits punishment. She treats the conflict as a family rebellion.
• Lord Song is caught between wife and daughter. Though he outwardly offers to obey his wife, he quietly helps Yaoyao escape and later avoids searching in earnest.
• Song Qingling acts as a sympathetic but candid older sister: she questions Yaoyao’s choices, recognizes why their mother is angry, and still gives her refuge.

Significant themes

• Family conflict and loyalty: Yaoyao’s attempt to avoid matchmaking pits her against her mother, while her father and sister offer quieter support.
• Autonomy versus parental control: Yaoyao’s fake relationship is an improvised bid for control over her romantic future.
• Humor amid tension: Yaoyao’s quips, Lord Song’s excuses, and the staff’s evasiveness turn a serious dispute into comic chaos.

Character interactions

• Yaoyao banters with her mother while trying to escape; her jokes only intensify Madam Song’s anger.
• Lord Song pretends to pursue Yaoyao but signals her to flee, then bears the brunt of his wife’s frustration.
• Yaoyao and Guagua speculate about how her parents detected the scheme and where she can hide.
• Qingling challenges Yaoyao’s deception but ultimately offers her shelter and reassurance.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao escapes her mother’s matchmaking pressure by staying with her eldest sister, Song Qingling, at the State-Guarding General’s Residence. Her brother-in-law welcomes her, while Lord Song lets her go rather than forcing her back.
• After half a month without Yaoyao, Madam Song admits she is no longer angry but still wonders why her daughter won’t understand that the pressure was meant for her own good.
• Lord Song argues that forcing Yaoyao to marry will not make her happy. He points to her achievements—and to women’s growing opportunities in government and medicine—to challenge the belief that marriage is the only acceptable path for a woman.
• Madam Song reflects and agrees to stop pressuring Yaoyao to meet prospective husbands. Yaoyao is delighted, but chooses to remain with her pregnant sister until after the birth, while promising to visit home.
• On a later visit, Madam Song welcomes Yaoyao with her favorite dishes.
• Yaoyao meets Kong Siyu, the man she hired to pretend to be a suitor. She tells him her parents saw through the act, reassures him that she is fine, and offers him another five hundred taels. He refuses, saying he has already been paid.

Character developments

• Madam Song shifts from insisting that marriage is necessary to accepting that Yaoyao should choose her own life.
• Lord Song openly supports his daughter and persuades his wife to reconsider her traditional assumptions.
• Song Yaoyao maintains her independence while showing affection for her family: she is pleased by her mother’s change of heart but stays away for her sister’s sake.
• Kong Siyu remains considerate and honest, declining extra payment because he feels he did not succeed in his assignment.

Significant themes

• Women’s autonomy: Yaoyao should be free to decide whether to marry.
• Tradition and change: The chapter challenges social expectations by suggesting that women can establish new precedents.
• Family understanding: Love can become controlling when parents assume they know what is best; listening and reconsideration help repair the relationship.

Character interactions

• Lord Song gently confronts Madam Song’s matchmaking plans, emphasizing Yaoyao’s unhappiness and her accomplishments.
• Madam Song’s concern and frustration give way to acceptance, while Yaoyao responds warmly but keeps some distance on her own terms.
• Yaoyao and Kong Siyu speak candidly about the failed performance; she expresses gratitude, and he refuses to take advantage of her generosity.

Plot points and events

• A brief flash-forward reveals that Song Yaoyao lends Kong Siyu money after he helps her stage an act. He later becomes Chief Minister but never gets the chance to repay her, since she has left Crimson Feather City.
• After spending a month at the State-Guarding General’s Residence, Song Yaoyao helps her eldest sister, Song Qingling, through labor. She monitors her progress, encourages her to walk, and delivers her twins safely: a boy, Liu Jinyi, and a girl, Liu Jingyuan.
• After the twins’ hundred-day celebration, Yaoyao asks the emperor for permission to visit her fief. He grants it, but later sends an Imperial Edict appointing her Imperial Preceptor, a rank beyond First Rank. The appointment gives her authority to travel on the emperor’s behalf, investigate injustice, and execute offenders before reporting back.
• Yaoyao is bewildered by the unexpected promotion. Eunuch Wang explains its practical meaning, accepts her congratulatory gift, and the Song family asks her what has happened.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao shows generosity toward Kong Siyu and later practical, reassuring care for Qingling during childbirth. She also remains uninterested in being drawn into the imperial center or marriage arrangements.
• Qingling endures a long labor with Yaoyao’s guidance and gives birth safely to twins. Liu Zheheng continues to address Yaoyao as “little sister,” reflecting their established closeness.
• The emperor recalls that Master Liaoran warned him not to force Yaoyao into marriage: her aspirations must be allowed to unfold naturally, or there could be consequences. Believing she wants freedom and purpose beyond court life, the emperor turns her request to visit her fief into an appointment that lets her travel with authority.
• Yaoyao’s easy gift-giving toward Kong Siyu and Eunuch Wang reinforces her warm, generous manner, even as her new office gives her formidable power.

Significant themes

• Compassion and reciprocity: Yaoyao helps others without demanding immediate repayment, while Kong Siyu remains grateful for years.
• Family care and resilience: Yaoyao supports Qingling through childbirth, and the family celebrates the safe arrival of the twins.
• Freedom and destiny: The emperor respects the warning not to force Yaoyao’s life down a predetermined path.
• Power used in service of justice: Her new authority allows Yaoyao to travel and act against injustice beyond the court’s immediate reach.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao tells her parents she intends to visit her fief. Though Madam Song worries about her traveling alone, Lord Song accepts that the imperial decree has settled the matter and encourages the family to prepare for her trip.
• Her brother Song Qinghui offers to accompany her, but she declines. Her sister-in-law Ren Jinjia hopes to travel too; Yaoyao tactfully promises that a visit will be easier once she has arrived.
• After her appointment as Imperial Preceptor becomes known, officials visit the Marquis’s residence with gifts. The emperor also sends gifts and assigns twenty elite Shadow Guards to protect her.
• Seven days later, Yaoyao leaves the Capital with Ying Huiyan; Bi Tao stays behind because she is married with a child. Yaoyao feels wistful about leaving her family.
• On the journey, she asks Guagua about its relationship with Lingling. Guagua explains that a system-world tragedy led the main system to ban romantic relationships between systems. Guagua and Lingling separated but remain friends, and Guagua is saving energy for upgrades.
• Yaoyao reaches her fief, where Yuan Jibai has prepared for her arrival. He and the people under her leadership welcome her warmly. At a banquet, they report on the fief’s progress and offer suggestions; Yaoyao asks them to organize their proposals in writing.
• The following day, she distributes gifts she brought for Yuan Jibai and the others, whose surprise reflects how much they value her thoughtfulness.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao asserts her independence while remaining considerate of her family: she declines her brother’s company and reassures her worried mother, though leaving still makes her homesick.
• Lord Song supports Yaoyao’s decision, while Madam Song’s concern shows her affection and protectiveness.
• Ren Jinjia’s eagerness to travel highlights her trust and enthusiasm for Yaoyao, even though she cannot realistically leave the Capital.
• Guagua reveals a painful past breakup with Lingling, but accepts the separation and focuses on future upgrades.
• Yaoyao’s warm, respectful treatment of her fief’s officials reinforces their loyalty and confidence in her leadership.

Significant themes

• Independence and responsibility: Yaoyao takes charge of her fief and accepts the duties attached to her new imperial role.
• Family bonds and separation: Her departure is a step forward, but she already misses those she has left behind.
• Loyal leadership: Yaoyao listens to her people, values their contributions, and remembers them with gifts.
• Love constrained by rules: Guagua and Lingling’s story shows how institutional restrictions can force personal relationships to change.

Plot and events

• Song Yaoyao’s fief, now called Jiahe Commandery, consists of four counties whose local resources have been developed into profitable industries:
  • Holy Pursuit County processes potatoes into chips and starch.
  • Eternal Crossing County makes products from sweet potatoes.
  • Azure Luan County presses locally abundant olives into popular olive oil.
  • Falling Star County grows medicinal herbs.
• These ventures have brought prosperity to the counties, with families earning enough to build spacious homes.
• Song plans to use part of the tax revenue to improve infrastructure and establish free government schools. After surveying the counties, she and Yuan Jibai set out to assess local needs.
• On their first day, a young woman, Cui Miao, runs in front of their car seeking help. Her mother-in-law, Xu Xiangcao, and husband, Ge Dashan, try to take her home, insisting the family means no harm. Cui says she fears she will not survive if forced to return.
• Song’s aide, Song Yi, intervenes when Ge Dashan drags Cui away. Song questions Cui and warns Xu not to interfere. Intimidated by Song’s authority and Yuan Jibai’s standing, the family backs down. Cui begins to explain what happened, but the chapter ends before her account is revealed.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is shown as a capable administrator and reformer, focused on prosperity, infrastructure, and education. She advocates practical training as well as academic study, and equal access to schooling for girls.
• Yuan Jibai remains devoted to Song and eagerly supports her plans. Their brief recollection of his past attempt to stop her car adds a note of familiarity.
• Cui Miao emerges as a distressed woman seeking protection from her husband’s family.
• Xu Xiangcao, Ge Dashan, and Ge Dahe present themselves as respectable relatives, but their attempts to silence and forcibly remove Cui raise suspicion.

Significant themes

• Economic development and public welfare: Local resources are turned into livelihoods, improving ordinary people’s living conditions.
• Education and opportunity: Song proposes free schooling, vocational paths for children with different abilities, and education for girls so they can support themselves.
• Justice and protection of the vulnerable: Song’s response to Cui’s plea suggests her reforms also involve confronting abuse and unequal power.

Character interactions

• Song explains her education plan to Yuan Jibai, who enthusiastically supports it.
• Song and Yuan work together on the county survey.
• When Cui asks for help, Song challenges her relatives’ account, protects Cui from being dragged away, and gives her the chance to speak freely.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua explains that Cui Miao was orphaned at ten after her father drowned saving Ge Dashan. The Ge family took her in, arranged her future marriage to Dashan, and treated her as an unpaid servant while presenting themselves as generous benefactors.
• For years, Cui Miao endured relentless chores, insults, and little food. The family’s psychological manipulation convinced her that she owed them and should not complain.
• After marrying Dashan without any betrothal gifts, Cui Miao’s treatment worsened. She gave birth to three daughters, whom her mother-in-law, Xu Xiangcao, secretly sold. Each time, the family told Cui Miao the baby had been stillborn, then blamed her for supposedly bringing misfortune.
• Cui Miao has become pregnant again. While returning home early, she overheard Xu and Dashan discussing the sale of her third daughter for eight taels of silver. They planned to keep any boys and sell future girls, and Dashan admitted he was trying to get Cui Miao pregnant again. This discovery prompted her to seek help and lodge a complaint.

Character developments

• Cui Miao has long been submissive after years of abuse and coercion, but her repeated doubts about the “stillbirths” hint at growing awareness. Overhearing the truth gives her reason to resist.
• Xu Xiangcao is revealed as calculating and cruel: she sells the babies, deceives Cui Miao, and uses shame and superstition to keep her under control.
• Ge Dashan is complicit in both his family’s exploitation of Cui Miao and the trafficking of their daughters; he plans for her to keep bearing children.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with anger and condemns the Ge family’s hypocrisy and abuse.

Significant themes

• Coercive control and psychological abuse: The family uses guilt, insults, and superstition to make Cui Miao doubt herself and accept exploitation.
• Hypocrisy and reputation: The Ge family wins praise for supposedly taking in an orphan while privately mistreating her.
• Gender discrimination and commodification: Cui Miao’s daughters are treated as sources of income, while sons are to be kept.
• Emerging resistance: Cui Miao’s discovery of the truth may mark a turning point after years of enforced silence.

Character interactions

• Xu repeatedly insults and blames Cui Miao, while Dashan remains silent or supports his mother’s plans.
• Xu and Dashan speak privately about selling the girls and deceiving Cui Miao, exposing their shared complicity.
• Song Yaoyao discusses Cui Miao’s circumstances with Guagua, expressing outrage and questioning why she endured the abuse; Guagua explains the manipulation that kept her trapped.

Plot and key events

• Cui Miao overhears that the Ge Family sold all three of her babies, falsely claiming they were stillborn. Realizing the family had kept the truth from her, she secretly leaves their home to seek her children and escape their control.
• When the Ge Family notices she is missing, Ge Dashan and Xu Xiangcao suspect she overheard their conversation. They discover she has left the village and mislead a villager about where she is going.
• The Ge Family guesses Cui Miao will seek help in Holy Pursuit County and travels there by ox cart, splitting up to watch the county and commandery offices.
• Cui Miao reaches the county on foot but spots the Ge Family at both offices, so she cannot safely approach either. Learning that Song Yaoyao—the respected, impartial Imperial Preceptor—is in the county, she waits for an opportunity and blocks Song’s carriage.
• After hearing Cui Miao’s story, Song promises to help her find her children and grant her justice. Cui Miao asks both to find her three children and to divorce Ge Dashan so she can leave the Ge Family.
• Xu Xiangcao loudly rejects the divorce and claims ownership over Cui Miao. Ying Huiyan intervenes, slapping Xu and warning her not to disrespect the Imperial Preceptor.

Character developments and interactions

• Cui Miao moves from fearful secrecy to determined action: she escapes, tries to seek official help, and finally asks directly for justice and freedom.
• Ge Dashan and Xu Xiangcao reveal their complicity and desperation, searching for Cui Miao and attempting to keep her under their control. Ge Dashan also deceives villagers to conceal the family’s wrongdoing.
• Song Yaoyao responds compassionately and offers Cui Miao protection and help.
• Ying Huiyan physically silences Xu Xiangcao when she threatens and humiliates Cui Miao in front of Song.
• Cui Miao and the Ge Family confront one another openly for the first time, with Cui asserting her wishes and Xu insisting she has no right to leave.

Significant themes

• Exploitation and family betrayal: The Ge Family treats Cui Miao as a means to bear children and sells the babies while concealing the truth.
• Powerlessness and resistance: Cui Miao’s lack of family support makes her vulnerable, but she continues seeking a way out.
• Justice and protection: Song Yaoyao’s reputation offers Cui Miao a chance to challenge abuse through authority.
• Control and dignity: Xu’s claim that Cui Miao belongs to the Ge Family contrasts with Cui’s demand to find her children and choose her own future.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao confronts Xu Xiangcao and the Ge family over their claims that Cui Miao owes them a debt for raising her. She argues that Ge Dashan owes Cui Miao’s family first: Cui Miao’s father died saving him. She also points out that Cui Miao was treated more like an unpaid servant than a daughter.
• Song questions Xu Xiangcao about the three children she sold. Xu’s sons, Ge Dashan and Ge Dahe, insist they know nothing and blame their mother for arranging the sales.
• The family turns on itself: Xu attacks her sons for abandoning her, Dashan knocks her down, then lets her scratch him while Dahe stays out of the fight.
• At the prefectural yamen, Song orders the three to be beaten and tortured. Xu eventually confesses that the buyer was disguised in black and concealed their face; she could not determine the buyer’s identity, gender, or voice.
• Song secretly asks Guagua for the answer. Guagua reveals that the buyer is Wu Jia, a leader of the Fuyang Sect, an organization seeking to restore the Night Central Kingdom.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is forceful and enjoys using the investigation as an opportunity to punish the Ge family. Although she already knows the buyer’s identity through Guagua, she interrogates Xu to expose and discipline the family.
• Xu Xiangcao is domineering but eventually breaks under torture. Her sons’ attempts to shift responsibility provoke her anger.
• Ge Dashan and Ge Dahe protect themselves by placing all blame on their mother. Dashan becomes physically aggressive when Xu attacks him; Dahe avoids involvement.
• Guagua provides Song with the crucial intelligence about Wu Jia and the Fuyang Sect.

Significant themes

• Family duty and hypocrisy: The Ge family invokes filial and moral obligations when demanding repayment from Cui Miao, but the sons readily sacrifice their mother to save themselves.
• Exploitation and injustice: Cui Miao’s supposed upbringing is exposed as a cover for years of servitude.
• Power, punishment, and justice: Song uses her authority to force a confession, while her private amusement complicates the image of the proceedings as impartial justice.
• Political danger: The child-selling case connects to a larger threat—the Fuyang Sect’s effort to restore the former kingdom.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Fuyang Sect leader Lan Jinyi is the old emperor’s illegitimate son and Qi Yanzhen’s half-brother. His mother, Lan Mo, was a Grassland princess who fell in love with the young emperor while he was traveling incognito.
• Before the emperor could bring Lan Mo into the palace, her father’s men took her home. She discovered she was pregnant but concealed the truth because the imperial court would not accept another foreign bride—and children of foreign-born consorts could not inherit the throne.
• To protect her unborn child, Lan Mo married Kasu and persuaded him that the baby was his. With the help of a bribed physician, she arranged for Lan Jinyi—whose birth name is Kaxi Yue—to be raised as Kasu’s son.
• After the Night Central Kingdom fell, Lan Mo told Lan Jinyi the truth and urged him to seek revenge. He abandoned any claim to Kasu’s title, intending for his legitimate younger brother, Kaxi Wen, to inherit instead, and left to establish the Fuyang Sect.
• The sect has existed for six or seven years and has roughly five or six thousand followers. Its six branches include the Clear Wave Palace, which bought Cuimiao’s child. The sect abducts or buys children: boys are trained as death soldiers, while girls are groomed as “lean horses” to infiltrate officials’ households and give the sect leverage.

Character developments

• Lan Mo is revealed as resourceful and protective: she concealed her relationship with the emperor and fabricated her son’s paternity to keep him safe.
• Lan Jinyi was raised believing Kasu was his father, then learned his true origins after the Night Central Kingdom’s destruction. He chose not to pursue Kasu’s inheritance and instead devoted himself to building a sect and seeking revenge.
• Song Yaoyao connects the sect’s child trafficking to a broader scheme to manipulate officials and recognizes that confronting it will become her next task.
• Kasu remains unaware that Lan Jinyi is not his biological son or that the young man has founded a sect.

Significant themes

• Identity and hidden parentage: Lan Jinyi’s real lineage is concealed for years and ultimately shapes his choices.
• Power and political suspicion: The court’s restrictions on foreign consorts reflect fears that maternal clans might gain influence or threaten the dynasty.
• Protection through deception: Lan Mo’s elaborate lies preserve her child’s place in her household and protect his future.
• Exploitation and control: The Fuyang Sect turns vulnerable children into weapons or tools for infiltrating powerful families.
• Revenge and its legacy: Lan Mo’s urging passes her grievance against the fallen kingdom on to Lan Jinyi.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao questions Guagua about Lan Jinyi’s origins, Lan Mo’s choices, and the Fuyang Sect, gradually uncovering the political and personal history behind the group.
• Lan Mo and the old emperor share a genuine romance, but her royal identity and pregnancy prevent her from joining him openly.
• Lan Mo deceives Kasu into accepting Lan Jinyi as his own son, while later urging Lan Jinyi to avenge her.
• Song Yaoyao’s discovery that the Clear Wave Palace took Cuimiao’s child turns the sect’s distant history into an immediate threat she plans to address.

Plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao chooses to rescue the children linked to the cult before conducting her field survey. She reports Clear Wave Palace’s activities to the emperor and gathers her Shadow Guards, issuing them Gatling guns.
• Under cover of night, the group travels to Rouge Mountain and approaches Clear Wave Palace. They eliminate its sentries, then use a drone to spread a potent knockout drug throughout the compound.
• Guided by Guagua, Song Yaoyao confronts Mu Lianxun, the palace master and a member of the Fuyang Sect. Song Yi seals his acupoints while he tries to expel the poison. After Mu Lianxun threatens her and the sect, Song Yaoyao shoots him.
• Song Yaoyao summons Yuan Jibai’s support team and orders the rebels dealt with. She distinguishes between indoctrinated adults, whom she considers dangerous, and children, whom she wants spared and taught. The team finds valuables and records documenting the children’s origins.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao acts decisively and pragmatically, prioritizing the children’s rescue and using whatever tactics will defeat the rebels. She remains defiant when Mu Lianxun challenges her authority and threatens her reputation. She also gives the looted silver to her guards rather than keeping it.
• The Shadow Guards, especially Song Yi, show enthusiasm at being reunited with the Gatling guns and follow Song Yaoyao’s orders closely. Song Yi handles the weapons distribution, helps subdue Mu Lianxun, and later sends for reinforcements.
• Guagua provides intelligence about the compound and warns Song Yaoyao not to underestimate Mu Lianxun’s martial arts.
• Mu Lianxun shifts from denying wrongdoing to recognizing Song Yaoyao and openly threatening her; his defiance ends when she kills him.
• Yuan Jibai and his support team arrive to help secure the compound and carry out Song Yaoyao’s instructions.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism over appearances: Song Yaoyao rejects concern for reputation when effective action is needed.
• Justice and protection of the vulnerable: The mission targets a child-trafficking network, while the children are treated as victims who can still be helped.
• Rebellion and accountability: Clear Wave Palace’s ties to the Fuyang Sect make it part of a broader threat Song Yaoyao intends to confront.
• Mercy shaped by responsibility: Song Yaoyao separates children from indoctrinated adults, balancing protection with the need to stop future danger.

Key plot points and events

• Yuan Jibai is tasked with verifying identities while Song Yaoyao searches for Cui Miao’s three missing daughters. With Guagua’s help, she finds Dayā, Er Ya, and San Ya and brings them to their mother.
• Cui Miao joyfully reunites with her children. Song approves her divorce and, after encouraging her not to believe the Ge Family’s insults about her, offers her a job in the prefectural yamen’s kitchen. Cui accepts.
• Song and Yuan decide the Ge Family should be executed for aiding the Fuyang Sect, an evil cult plotting rebellion, by selling children to it. They keep the punishment quiet to avoid alerting the sect’s other branches.
• After inspecting four counties over ten days, Song orders plans for government schools: two per county initially, with more added in later years as tax revenues arrive. Teachers will be assessed for knowledge and character, and specialist instructors will be recruited with good pay.
• Once the school plans are organized, Song intends to leave her fief and attack the Fuyang Sect’s remaining branches before they learn that the Clear Wave Palace has fallen.

Character developments and interactions

• Cui Miao moves from anxious uncertainty to relief and hope. Reunited with her daughters, she also begins to recover confidence after Song recognizes her abilities and gives her a way to support her family.
• Song Yaoyao combines personal compassion with political resolve: she protects Cui Miao, enforces punishment against the Ge Family, and advances plans for public education while preparing a broader campaign against the sect.
• Yuan Jibai supports Song’s decisions, advises on Cui Miao’s employment and the Ge Family’s sentence, and helps implement the school program.
• The Ge Family, especially Xu Xiangcao, protest that they did not know the children’s buyers were members of the Fuyang Sect. Their ignorance does not spare them, since their actions aided the rebellion.

Significant themes

• Restoring dignity and agency: Song counters the Ge Family’s efforts to make Cui Miao feel worthless and helps her build a future.
• Justice and complicity: The Ge Family are punished not simply for selling children, but for materially assisting a rebellious cult.
• Pragmatic governance: Song balances limited resources with gradual school-building and merit-based teacher recruitment.
• Strategic secrecy: The Ge Family’s execution is kept quiet so the Fuyang Sect’s remaining branches are not alerted.

Plot and events

• The emperor receives Song Yaoyao’s secret report about the Fuyang Sect and orders its destruction at any cost, placing the army at her disposal. He also sends troops toward the grassland border.
• At the border, General Han confronts Grassland King Axida, accusing his people of plotting against the Heavenly Phoenix throne. Axida denies any intent to rebel.
• Han explains that Lan Mo ordered her son Kaxi Yue—who has operated under the name Lan Jinyi—to lead the Fuyang Sect and seek to restore the Night Central Kingdom.
• Han reveals that Kaxi Yue is supposedly the son of Lan Mo and the former Night Central emperor, not General Kasu. He recounts how Lan Mo concealed her pregnancy and passed the child off as Kasu’s.
• Axida agrees to have Lan Mo seized. Kasu and Lan Mo’s son Kaxi Wen arrive with her, initially pleading for mercy without knowing the charges.
• After hearing the accusations, Kasu asks Lan Mo whether Kaxi Yue is really his son. Lan Mo denies the claims and insists Han is mistaken.

Character developments and interactions

• The emperor responds to the threat with anger and decisive military action.
• Axida shifts from confusion and denial to cooperation when confronted with the allegations against his daughter.
• General Han acts as the emperor’s representative, presenting the accusations and evidence to Axida and Lan Mo’s family.
• Kasu goes from pleading for Lan Mo to confronting her once he learns that Kaxi Yue may not be his biological son.
• Kaxi Wen displays loyalty to his mother, asking Axida to spare her before knowing what she has done.
• Lan Mo is exposed as the alleged instigator behind the rebellion, but continues to deny the revelations when challenged.

Themes

• Loyalty and betrayal: The grassland kingdom’s loyalty to the emperor is questioned because of Lan Mo and Kaxi Yue’s alleged plot.
• Hidden identities and secrets: The revelation of Kaxi Yue’s parentage reshapes the family’s understanding of him and his motives.
• Power and consequences: The emperor’s response shows that threats to his throne will bring military force, regardless of a region’s previous submission.
• Family loyalty versus truth: Kaxi Wen and Kasu respond differently to the accusations, while Lan Mo attempts to protect herself through denial.

Key plot points and events

• The Grassland King summons Lan Mo’s maid, Si Yue, and the physician Su Du to reveal what happened more than twenty years earlier.
• Under pressure—and after seeing that her family is at risk—Si Yue confesses that Lan Mo fled her arranged marriage while pregnant, later bribed Su Du to hide the pregnancy, and helped falsify the truth.
• Si Yue also reveals that Lan Mo eventually told her eldest son he was not Kasu’s child, then pressured him to seek revenge. He left the grasslands but continued sending letters.
• Su Du confirms the scheme. Lan Mo drops her denials and blames the Grassland King for arranging a marriage she did not want.
• Kasu divorces Lan Mo. He tells Kaxi Wen to choose between remaining his son and leaving with his mother; Kaxi Wen chooses Kasu.
• The Grassland King hands Lan Mo over to General Han. Han demands compensation for the costs of pursuing the rebels, turning down the proposed payment of 100,000 taels and imposing a threefold increase in annual tribute. When the king asks to reduce it, Han threatens to raise it to fourfold.

Character developments and interactions

• Si Yue shifts from Lan Mo’s loyal servant to a truth-teller, choosing to confess rather than endanger her family.
• Su Du admits his role in concealing Lan Mo’s pregnancy, corroborating Si Yue’s account.
• Lan Mo is exposed as having manipulated her family and concealed the truth for decades. She accepts no responsibility, instead blaming the king.
• Kasu, shocked by the revelations, ends the marriage and asserts his bond with Kaxi Wen.
• Kaxi Wen decisively sides with Kasu, despite the consequences for Lan Mo.
• The Grassland King confronts his daughter’s wrongdoing but is also forced to answer for it politically.
• General Han uses the scandal to extract a steep financial concession, refusing to negotiate.

Significant themes

• Truth and accountability: Long-hidden actions are exposed through testimony and corroboration.
• Loyalty and family: Si Yue protects her family by telling the truth, while Kaxi Wen must choose which parent to stand with.
• Manipulation and consequences: Lan Mo’s deception damages relationships and contributes to political conflict.
• Power and coercion: The Grassland King’s marriage decision is part of the conflict, while General Han exploits the crisis to increase tribute and pressure the grasslands.

Key plot points

• General Han secures an agreement requiring the Grassland King to pay a vast sum—one hundred thousand taels of silver every year. Afterward, the king executes Lan Mo and everyone connected to Siyue and Sudu’s group, and permanently expels Kaxi Yue from the grasslands.
• Cut off from his homeland, Kaxi Yue receives no replies to his letters. His friends burn them, while people he sends to investigate are killed by the king or Kasu. He remains uneasy but does not yet know the full extent of what happened.
• The emperor informs Song Yaoyao that Lan Jinyi’s escape route has been blocked, freeing her to pursue the rebels. She leaves her fief, handing the nearly completed government-school arrangements to Yuan Jibai.
• Song and her companions reach Sunset Glow City, the prosperous tourist city where Purple Dawn Hall operates. Disguised as a handsome young man, Song attracts sachets from women in the street and jokingly boasts about her charm.
• Guagua reveals that Purple Dawn Hall controls three of the city’s many brothels—Three Lives Pavilion, Mortal Dust Hall, and Night Fragrance House—and serves as the Fuyang Sect’s main source of income. Song decides the group will visit a brothel that night to investigate.
• When Song tells her companions to dress well and avoid black, one says he owns only black clothes and offers to stay behind.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shifts from managing her fief to actively pursuing rebels. She is confident, playful, and willing to enter a potentially dangerous setting to get close to Purple Dawn Hall.
• Guagua acts as her information source and comic foil, teasing her vanity while she boasts about attracting admirers. Their banter continues even as they plan the mission.
• Kaxi Yue is increasingly isolated: his ties to the grasslands and former friends have been severed, though he does not yet understand why.
• The Grassland King’s anger over the costly agreement drives his harsh retaliation, while General Han’s deal and the emperor’s swift action advance Song’s larger campaign.

Significant themes

• Power and punishment: Political agreements bring consequences for those associated with defeated factions.
• Isolation and betrayal: Kaxi Yue’s unanswered letters show how fear can erase old loyalties.
• Disguise and infiltration: Song’s male disguise and planned visit to a Purple Dawn Hall brothel set up her effort to uncover the sect’s operations.
• Humor and confidence: Song and Guagua’s playful rivalry lightens the chapter’s political developments.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao, Ying Huiyan, Song Yi, and Song Dong visit the Three Lives Pavilion to gather information. Several performers eagerly crowd around Song Yaoyao, but the madam intervenes and brings the group inside.
• Song Yaoyao asks for the pavilion’s star courtesan, Chu Man. Ying Huiyan pays the madam 1,000 taels, believing the money will be recovered when they later raid the place.
• Guagua reveals that Chu Man is actually Chu Jiayu, a man who disguises himself as a woman and serves as a branch leader of Purple Dawn Hall.
• Guagua explains that Chu Jiayu’s family was murdered after Lan Jinyi arranged for a wealthy merchant to buy him. Lan Jinyi then staged a rescue to make Chu Jiayu see him as a savior and become devoted to him. Song Yaoyao suspects a conspiracy and asks who the merchant was.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains bold and practical, treating the brothel visit as part of an investigation while confidently requesting its most famous performer. She is shocked by Chu Jiayu’s identity and distrustful of Lan Jinyi’s story.
• Ying Huiyan supports Song Yaoyao by paying the fee, though she initially resents spending so much money.
• Chu Jiayu is introduced as a highly convincing female impersonator whose beauty and performance skills conceal both his identity and his role in Purple Dawn Hall.
• Lan Jinyi is revealed as manipulative and calculating: he engineered the murder of Chu Jiayu’s family to secure Chu’s loyalty.

Significant themes

• Deception and appearances: Chu Jiayu’s disguise and Lan Jinyi’s staged rescue show how appearances can conceal identity and motive.
• Exploitation and manipulation: Lan Jinyi treats Chu Jiayu as a means to make money and manufactures his dependence through trauma.
• Family love and loyalty: Chu Jiayu’s parents refuse to sell him despite their poverty, while Chu’s later loyalty is built on a false account of their deaths.
• Practicality and humor: Song Yaoyao’s matter-of-fact attitude and exaggerated reactions provide comedy amid the darker revelations.

Character interactions

• The performers compete for Song Yaoyao’s attention, while Song Yi and Song Dong’s intimidating presence keeps them away from the rest of the group.
• The madam courteously welcomes the visitors and negotiates the conditions for meeting Chu Man.
• Ying Huiyan pays on Song Yaoyao’s behalf; their exchange highlights Ying’s reluctance and Song’s assurance that the money will be reclaimed.
• Song Yaoyao’s internal conversation with Guagua uncovers Chu Jiayu’s identity and Lan Jinyi’s betrayal, prompting her to question the details of the scheme.

Key plot points

• Guagua reveals the truth behind Chu Jiayu’s family’s murder: Lan Jinyi’s men carried it out, although the wealthy merchant had only agreed to frighten the Chu family. Lan later killed the merchant, both to silence a witness and to pose as Chu Jiayu’s avenger.
• Song Yaoyao asks Guagua to prepare evidence against Lan Jinyi.
• Song meets Chu Jiayu, who is disguised as the courtesan Chu Man. She observes his convincing feminine manner and learns from Guagua that he is a highly skilled, ruthless martial artist.
• Song tests Chu Jiayu by offering to pay the stated price of 100,000 taels for his freedom. When the madam abruptly raises it to 200,000, Song exposes the deception.
• The madam admits she never intended to sell Chu Man, whom she considers essential to the pavilion’s business. Song confronts her publicly, while Chu Jiayu urges Song to stay calm.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao is cautious and strategic: she hides her knowledge of Chu Jiayu’s identity, tests his reaction to being freed, and challenges the madam when she changes the terms.
• Chu Jiayu appears gentle and composed as Chu Man, but beneath the disguise is a formidable fighter whose true loyalties and feelings remain unclear. His lack of anger when the madam refuses to release him raises questions.
• The madam shifts from confident salesmanship to panic when Song accepts the high price, then resorts to deception to keep Chu Man.
• Lan Jinyi is revealed as Chu Jiayu’s family’s true enemy, despite having been treated as his benefactor.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and misplaced loyalty: Chu Jiayu has served the very person responsible for destroying his family.
• Deception and performance: Chu Jiayu’s disguise is highly convincing, while the madam’s supposed freedom price is a sham.
• Power, money, and ownership: The attempt to buy Chu Man’s freedom exposes how the pavilion treats him as a source of income.
• Truth and painful revelation: Song’s evidence could overturn Chu Jiayu’s understanding of his past.

Character interactions

• Song’s internal exchanges with Guagua establish the hidden history and help her assess Chu Jiayu.
• Song keeps the conversation with Chu Jiayu light while probing whether he wants freedom.
• The madam and Song clash over Chu Man’s price and ownership; Song calls out her dishonesty in front of others.
• Chu Jiayu intervenes to calm Song, but his response to being kept at the pavilion remains unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao challenges Chu Jiayu’s claim that he wants to leave the brothel, suspecting he is pretending. To pressure him, Song Yi chokes the madam; Chu Jiayu intervenes to save her, revealing his concern for her and the establishment.
• Song Yaoyao exposes Chu Jiayu as a man secretly posing as the brothel’s star courtesan. He attacks, but she draws a pistol, forcing him to stop.
• Chu Jiayu takes Song Yaoyao and her companions to a private room upstairs, where a group of armed men appears. Song Yaoyao produces a Gatling gun and threatens them; Chu Jiayu dismisses his men so they can talk.
• Song Yaoyao reveals that she knows the Fuyang Sect’s hidden history and identifies Chu Jiayu as the master of its Purple Dawn Hall. She also names the sect leader, Lan Jinyi, and discloses his real identity and motives: he is Kaxi Yue, the unacknowledged son of the former Night Central Kingdom emperor and Lan Mo, and founded the sect to pursue revenge.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao proves herself composed, strategic, and overwhelmingly well-equipped. She uses threats and precise information to control the situation rather than relying only on force.
• Chu Jiayu shifts from hiding behind his courtesan persona to confronting Song Yaoyao directly. His concern for the madam suggests a personal attachment, while his astonishment at her knowledge makes him wary and unsettled.
• The madam appears to be more than a casual employer to Chu Jiayu; he risks himself to save her.
• Song Yi and Song Dong consistently shield Song Yaoyao and support her intimidation of Chu Jiayu’s men.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden identities: Chu Jiayu’s disguise and Lan Jinyi’s concealed past expose the secrets beneath the public face of the brothel and sect.
• Power and intimidation: Song Yaoyao’s advanced firearms overturn the apparent advantage of Chu Jiayu’s home ground and armed followers.
• Knowledge as leverage: Song Yaoyao’s detailed intelligence gives her control of the conversation and threatens the sect’s secrecy.
• Loyalty and attachment: Chu Jiayu’s rescue of the madam hints at loyalties that complicate his claim that he wants to leave.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao tests Chu Jiayu by targeting the madam, then confronts him with his secret identity.
• Chu Jiayu alternates between challenging Song Yaoyao and trying to control the meeting, but her weapons and knowledge repeatedly force him to yield.
• Song Yaoyao’s exchanges with Chu Jiayu turn from suspicion and threats into an information-driven interrogation, leaving him stunned by how much she knows.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao confirms to Chu Jiayu that she is the legendary Imperial Preceptor. He threatens to kill her to protect Lan Jinyi, whom he believes is his benefactor.
• Song Yaoyao gives Chu Jiayu evidence showing that Lan Jinyi was actually responsible for killing Chu Jiayu’s family and deceiving him into serving him. Shocked and shaken, Chu Jiayu says he will investigate.
• Song Yaoyao leaves with her companions, then deliberately spends several hours acting like a wealthy, frivolous young man at the establishment, discouraging the staff from interfering with her group.
• Once back at the inn, she explains Chu Jiayu’s feminine appearance and the evidence’s significance to her subordinates. She expects him to verify the claims himself and decides to wait.
• Over the next ten days, Song Yaoyao and her companions enjoy Sunset Glow City. As she prepares to retire, an unidentified person enters through her window.

Character developments

• Chu Jiayu is forced to confront the possibility that his loyalty to Lan Jinyi rests on a lie. His confidence collapses as he reads the evidence, and he orders a discreet investigation into events from seven years earlier.
• Song Yaoyao shows her strategic side: she uses provocation to make Chu Jiayu read the evidence, then maintains a carefree public persona while waiting for him to uncover the truth.
• Ying Huiyan, Song Yi, and Song Dong remain loyal and deferential, though they are uncomfortable with Song Yaoyao’s exuberant performance at the establishment.

Significant themes

• Truth and deception: Chu Jiayu’s devotion may have been built on a false story, and evidence challenges his understanding of his past.
• Loyalty and betrayal: He risks his life for Lan Jinyi, unaware that Lan may have destroyed his family.
• Performance and identity: Song Yaoyao shifts between refined gentlemanly behavior and deliberate extravagance; Chu Jiayu’s mannerisms, meanwhile, were reportedly trained for someone else’s profit.
• Patience and strategy: Rather than force Chu Jiayu to believe her, Song Yaoyao lets him investigate for himself.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao confronts Chu Jiayu, taunts him into examining the documents, and leaves him to verify their claims.
• She encourages her subordinates to relax and enjoy themselves, while they politely decline her offer to choose companions.
• Chu Jiayu warns the establishment’s staff not to provoke Song Yaoyao’s group, then sends a Shadow Guard to investigate his family’s past.
• Back at the inn, Song Yaoyao explains the situation to Ying Huiyan and the others, who condemn Lan Jinyi’s alleged betrayal and agree to wait.