Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Cai Yan married Qi Bijun, a Night Central Kingdom spy. She initially hid her loyalties, then staged an assassination attempt and took an arrow for Cai Yan, earning his complete trust.
• Qi Bijun later leaked military intelligence during Cai Yan’s campaign against the Night Central Kingdom, causing a devastating defeat for the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom.
• The emperor removed Cai Yan from command but, mindful of his past service and the effect on other generals, did not imprison or execute him. Cai Yan returned to the Capital under guard and continued secretly searching for the spy.
• Qi Bijun used her family’s return to the Capital to contact the enemy’s covert network and spend three years bribing, recruiting, and sowing division.
• Cai Yan finally followed Qi Bijun and discovered her treachery. When he was caught, she ordered him killed. To conceal his death and preserve her plans, she had a similar-looking subordinate disfigured and passed off as Cai Yan.
• Qi Bijun and the impostor then repeatedly told Cai Yan’s three sons that they were Night Central royalty and that the Heavenly Phoenix emperor was their enemy. Over time, the boys accepted this identity and became loyal to the Night Central Kingdom.

Character developments and interactions

• Cai Yan begins as a trusting husband and celebrated general. Even after suspecting a spy, he cannot imagine his wife is responsible; discovering the truth leaves him stunned, and he dies unable to believe Qi Bijun would betray him.
• Qi Bijun shifts from cautious infiltrator to ruthless conspirator. She exploits Cai Yan’s trust, kills him once he threatens her operation, and manipulates their children into serving the enemy.
• The three sons are gradually shaped by their parents’ deception and accept the identity and loyalties imposed on them.
• Song Yaoyao questions the implausibilities in the story—Qi Bijun’s convenient rescue, Cai Yan’s failure to suspect her, and the emperor’s response—and expresses sorrow over Cai Yan’s fate. Guagua explains the spy’s methods and the political reasoning behind events.
• The emperor and viewers watch the battlefield losses with grief; the revelation that Cai Yan was replaced leaves them shocked.

Significant themes

• Trust exploited: Qi Bijun turns marital affection and a staged act of sacrifice into cover for espionage.
• Deception and identity: The impostor replaces Cai Yan, while the sons are taught to believe they belong to another kingdom.
• Manipulation of children: Repeated, deliberate “brainwashing” transforms the boys’ loyalties.
• War’s human cost: The battle’s casualties and Cai Yan’s death show how espionage can devastate both a nation and a family.
• Duty and political judgment: The emperor’s restraint toward Cai Yan reflects the tension between punishing defeat and recognizing a commander’s past service.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Qi Bijun’s three sons serve the Night Central Kingdom in different ways: Cai Mingkun is a high-ranking official, Cai Jikun is pursuing a government career, and Cai Zikun manages businesses that finance Qi Bijun and the covert network.
• One of Cai Zikun’s businesses is the Heavenly Distance Horse Farm, a lavish entertainment complex for the capital’s elite.
• Guagua exposes that Cai Zikun built the farm by murdering the farmers who refused to surrender their land cheaply. He seized their property, buried the victims, and concealed the crime through bribery and false tax records.
• The farm is also a political tool. It cultivates and sends “slender horses”—girls groomed to become concubines—to officials, using them to gather information, influence household affairs, and create conflict among officials and their families.
• The emperor learns that officials had ignored the land’s suspicious history, while those who knew the truth were bribed or stayed silent.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao reacts with disbelief and anger, condemning Cai Zikun’s violence and the officials’ indifference. She initially finds the farm’s operation and political scheme difficult to follow.
• Guagua explains both the farm’s criminal origins and its role in the covert network’s strategy.
• The emperor struggles to contain his rage after learning that hundreds of civilians were killed and no one reported it.
• The ministers fall silent, aware that their past failure to investigate has exposed their complicity or negligence. The emperor is expected to hold them accountable.

Significant themes

• Corruption and complicity: Murder and land theft persist because officials accept bribes or avoid involvement.
• Abuse of power: Cai Zikun treats ordinary people as disposable and exploits his wealth and connections.
• Manipulation through private life: The horse farm uses concubines, household rivalries, and gossip to monitor and divide political opponents.
• Justice delayed: The truth emerges only after years of silence, leaving the emperor to confront both the perpetrators and the officials who looked away.

Key plot points and events

• A video reveals that the Heavenly Distance Horse Farm was a Night Central Kingdom operation to sow discord and corrupt officials in the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom. The footage implicates several people currently serving at court.
• Song Yaoyao urges Guagua to compile the evidence, including information about the Night Central Kingdom’s Secret Lodge, so it can be delivered to the emperor. She also suggests retaliating with similar tactics.
• After court, the emperor orders troops to surround the Cai Residence and arrest Qi Bijun, Fake Cai Yan, and the Cai family brothers. He also sends forces to raid the Secret Lodge.
• Of the officials who admit to visiting the horse farm, eight acknowledge having concubines supplied by it. The emperor has them taken away.
• Song Yaoyao passes the printed evidence to her father, Assistant Minister Song. Her parents forbid her from going out because of the recent assassination attempt, so she returns to bed.
• Later, General Pei visits with his wife and younger daughter, Pei Yiyi. He has been released after an investigation cleared him of being framed. The family comes to see Song Yaoyao, whom they regard as their savior.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows outrage at the foreign plot and takes the initiative to help expose it, though she remains unaware of how much the court has learned from her thoughts. At home, she is playful and sleepy, and feels a little guilty about keeping the food in her private space to herself.
• The emperor responds decisively, ordering arrests and investigations, but is furious at the extent of the infiltration.
• Assistant Minister Song and Madam Song prioritize their daughter’s safety and keep her from going out.
• General Pei expresses respect and gratitude toward Song Yaoyao, introducing his wife and daughter. Madam Pei warmly acknowledges her debt to the girl.
• Pei Yiyi is curious but skeptical: she cannot see what is extraordinary about Song Yaoyao and does not understand how she supposedly saved the Pei family.

Significant themes

• Infiltration and political corruption: The horse farm is exposed as a tool for weakening the kingdom from within.
• Justice and accountability: The emperor acts against officials and conspirators once the evidence comes to light.
• Hidden influence and recognition: Song Yaoyao’s role in uncovering the plot is largely concealed, even as others benefit from her actions.
• Family protection and gratitude: Song Yaoyao’s parents shield her from danger, while the Pei family visits to honor the person they believe saved them.

Key plot points

• After being released, Song Yaoyao’s family thanks General Pei and his family. The Peis unexpectedly hear Song’s unspoken thoughts—and her banter with Guagua—without her realizing it.
• Guagua reveals that Pei Yining’s husband, Kong Yucheng, has long loved his cousin Fang Shishi. His family opposed their marriage, so Kong accepted Pei Yining as his principal wife while continuing a secret relationship with Fang.
• After General Pei’s household was falsely accused of rebellion and lost its influence, Kong and Fang began plotting to kill Pei Yining and her unborn child so Fang could take her place.
• Pei Yining is nine months pregnant. Kong has bribed the midwives, hiding large payments in their shoes, and the pair intend to arrange a fatal “accident” during the birth.
• Song resolves to warn General Pei’s family before the plot can be carried out.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains playful and self-confident, trading insults with Guagua, but shifts quickly to serious concern when she learns Pei Yining is in danger.
• General Pei and his family move from confusion at hearing Song’s thoughts to shock and alarm as they learn of the danger to Pei Yining.
• Kong Yucheng and Fang Shishi are exposed as selfish and ruthless: rather than accept the consequences of their relationship, they conspire to murder Pei Yining and her child.
• Guagua provides the information that reveals the conspiracy and urges Song to intervene.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and injustice: Pei Yining is endangered by a husband who never loved her and a household that knowingly enabled his affair.
• Power and vulnerability: The Pei family’s loss of status leaves Pei Yining more exposed to her husband’s schemes.
• Truth and intervention: Song’s unusual ability to uncover hidden events gives her a chance to prevent a concealed crime.
• Comic relief amid danger: Song and Guagua’s familiar bickering contrasts sharply with the lethal plot they uncover.

Character interactions

• Song and Guagua tease and insult each other before quickly making peace to discuss the gossip.
• The Pei family silently listens as Song’s thoughts and Guagua’s explanations reveal the truth about Kong and Fang.
• Kong and Fang are shown plotting together, while the Peis react with growing horror.
• Song prepares to act on the information and protect Pei Yining.

Key plot points and events

• General Pei and Madam Pei leave after Song Yaoyao warns them to investigate whether a midwife shown in a video truly exists. Yaoyao also discreetly advises Madam Pei to keep a close watch on her pregnant eldest daughter and assign her a trusted attendant.
• After days confined to the estate, Yaoyao eagerly prepares to go to Quietude House with her family and the Ji siblings to hear a popular new storyteller.
• The Sixth Prince, Chen Yixiao, stops their carriage and asks to join them. Yaoyao privately thinks poorly of him, blaming him for driving away his consort, though he can hear her thoughts.
• Their party yields to a funeral procession. Guagua alerts Yaoyao that a woman is still alive inside the coffin beside a dead man and is close to suffocating.
• Yaoyao decides to intervene and enlists the Sixth Prince. She tells him that the coffin contains a living woman, but the chapter ends before he responds or they act.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao shows concern for others through her warning to Madam Pei and her willingness to risk interrupting a funeral to save a stranger.
• Madam Pei and General Pei take Yaoyao’s warning seriously, choosing to investigate rather than gamble with their daughter’s safety.
• Ji Linlang admires Yaoyao after Yaoyao saved a child from drowning; her enthusiasm makes her cling to Yaoyao, though Ji Minyue steps in to give Yaoyao space.
• The Sixth Prince is portrayed as regretful and isolated after losing his consort, but Yaoyao remains openly contemptuous of his past behavior.

Significant themes

• Protecting the vulnerable: Yaoyao tries to prevent harm to both the pregnant Pei daughter and the woman trapped in the coffin.
• Responsibility and consequences: The Sixth Prince’s loss is presented as a result of his own actions.
• Courage and moral duty: Yaoyao is prepared to challenge a funeral procession because burying a living person is forbidden.
• Hidden knowledge and comic irony: Yaoyao and Guagua’s private exchange contrasts with the others’ limited understanding of what is happening.

Character interactions

• Yaoyao respectfully warns Madam Pei, who thanks her and agrees to be cautious.
• Ji Linlang clings to Yaoyao out of admiration; Yaoyao gently explains her discomfort, and Ji Minyue removes Linlang’s hand and apologizes.
• The Sixth Prince joins the outing despite Yaoyao’s private insults, which he can hear.
• When Yaoyao steps toward the funeral procession, Song Qingyu tries to keep her in the carriage. She insists she has something important to tell the Sixth Prince, then reveals the woman is alive.

Plot points and events

• The Sixth Prince stops the funeral procession of the Vice Minister of Revenue’s family after Song Yaoyao learns that a living woman may be sealed inside the coffin.
• The Vice Minister and an elderly woman try to block the inspection. The old woman invokes funeral customs and stirs the crowd against the prince, creating a public standoff.
• The Sixth Prince calls the Capital Prefect, Yang Zhian, and openly accuses the family of burying a living person.
• Soldiers force the coffin open. The man inside has been dead for days, and scratch marks on the lid show the woman had tried to escape. She is found barely alive and rushed to a clinic.
• The Vice Minister and his family are taken to the Capital Prefecture for questioning. He denies wrongdoing, claiming the woman appeared dead when they received her and may have been in a state of apparent death.

Character developments and interactions

• The Sixth Prince remains determined despite the old woman’s emotional appeal and the crowd’s criticism. He prioritizes saving the woman over avoiding public controversy.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua observe the confrontation and discuss how the old woman is manipulating custom and public opinion. Song recognizes how difficult it would be to intervene without authority.
• The old woman proves calculating: she uses grief, ritual rules, and the crowd to delay the coffin’s inspection, though she is ultimately restrained.
• The Vice Minister shifts from visible panic to a composed, self-serving defense once the family is taken to court.
• Yang Zhian responds to the Sixth Prince’s call, investigates the coffin, and begins formal proceedings.

Significant themes

• Justice versus social pressure: The crowd initially sides with the grieving family, showing how custom and public opinion can obstruct the search for truth.
• Abuse of authority and accountability: The case tests whether a high-ranking official will be held responsible for knowingly violating the law.
• Deception and appearances: The family presents the funeral as legitimate, while physical evidence exposes the hidden crime.
• Urgency and moral courage: Acting quickly is essential to save the woman, and the Sixth Prince refuses to be deterred by protest or embarrassment.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao’s supernatural revelations expose the Vice Minister of Revenue’s lie: a woman in a coffin woke before it was sealed, begged to be released, and was forced back inside on his orders.
• Lord Yang has the workers who sealed the coffin arrested. They confess and confirm the Vice Minister’s actions; the rescued woman also testifies. The evidence establishes that the Vice Minister knowingly tried to bury her alive.
• When asked her name and home, the woman falls silent. Guagua reveals she is Jiang Mengli, daughter of the seventh-rank official Jiang Jingxuan, and begins recounting her past.
• Jiang Jingxuan and his first wife, Madam Jiang, were loving childhood sweethearts. Madam Jiang died from hemorrhaging after a difficult childbirth, despite successfully delivering their daughter, Jiang Mengli.
• Rather than grieve without blame, Jiang Jingxuan held the infant responsible for her mother’s death, branded her ill-omened, and sent her to live with two matrons in a remote, dilapidated courtyard.

Character developments and interactions

• Lord Yang responds decisively to Song Yaoyao’s information, orders the workers arrested, and treats the rescued woman with consideration, letting her testify seated.
• The workers initially follow the Vice Minister’s orders for money, but quickly confess when confronted by the authorities.
• Jiang Mengli appears traumatized and sorrowful, struggling to speak about herself and expressing gratitude to those who saved her.
• Jiang Jingxuan is portrayed as having turned his grief into cruelty toward his newborn daughter, rejecting responsibility and treating her as an enemy.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua work together to uncover the truth: Guagua supplies the hidden history, while Song reacts with compassion for Jiang Mengli and furious condemnation of Jiang Jingxuan.

Significant themes

• Abuse of power and justice: The Vice Minister’s attempt to conceal a crime is challenged through testimony and evidence.
• Scapegoating and misplaced blame: Jiang Jingxuan punishes an innocent child for a death caused by the risks of childbirth.
• Grief turned into cruelty: His mourning becomes hatred rather than care, leaving Jiang Mengli isolated from birth.
• Compassion and accountability: Lord Yang’s respectful treatment of the victim contrasts with the officials and authority figures who exploit or mistreat the vulnerable.

Summary

• Jiang Mengli has been brought before Lord Yang after nearly being used as a funeral sacrifice. Song Yaoyao, watching from the hall, privately condemns Jiang Jingxuan before he even arrives.
• Jiang Jingxuan enters without asking what happened and immediately disowns his daughter, declaring that she alone should bear the blame and that he will accept any punishment for her.
• Lord Yang challenges him for condemning Mengli without knowing the facts. He then explains that she nearly was buried alive as a sacrifice. Jiang Jingxuan is shocked and asks how it happened, but Mengli remains silent; the others see his question as painfully obvious and belated.
• Guagua reveals that Mengli’s stepmother, Madam Wen, plotted against her. The excerpt ends as Guagua begins explaining Jiang Jingxuan’s history after his first wife, Madam Jiang, died: he grieved heavily, and his mother arranged for her niece to sleep with him while he was drunk.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Mengli remains outwardly composed when her father condemns her. Her silence reflects years of being blamed and abused at home, while servants and other family members escaped punishment.
• Jiang Jingxuan is shown as quick to sacrifice his daughter’s reputation but timid when challenged by Lord Yang. His shock at learning she was nearly killed exposes how little he knew—or cared to ask—about her situation.
• Song Yaoyao fiercely condemns Jiang Jingxuan’s conduct in her thoughts, voicing anger that others in the hall do not openly express.
• Lord Yang rebukes Jiang Jingxuan and defends Mengli, shifting the hall’s view of the father toward contempt.
• Guagua supplies the key revelation that Madam Wen was behind the plot against Mengli. Song’s unspoken commentary about men’s claims of devotion also embarrasses the married men present, many of whom keep concubines.

Significant themes

• Parental neglect and scapegoating: Mengli has learned that her father accepts accusations against her without investigating.
• Hypocrisy and gendered double standards: Song questions Jiang Jingxuan’s professed love for his first wife given his later marriages and relationships.
• Silence versus truth: Mengli’s silence contrasts with Song’s outspoken inner criticism and Guagua’s revelations, which expose what the family has concealed.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao points out that Jiang Jingxuan’s claim of being completely drunk is implausible: if he was capable of sleeping with another woman, he was not truly unconscious. The observation makes him look guilty.
• Guagua recounts what followed: Jiang Jingxuan married Madam Wen, who bore him several children. Once she was secure in the household, she began neglecting and abusing his daughter Jiang Mengli, the child of his first wife.
• Jiang Mengli is deprived of food and proper clothing, beaten, and repeatedly framed by Madam Wen’s children and household servants. Jiang Jingxuan accepts the accusations and punishes her brutally, turning her into the household’s scapegoat.
• Madam Wen arranges for Jiang Mengli to be sent into a ghost marriage with the dead son of the Vice Minister of Revenue. She intends to conceal the girl’s death and keep her late mother’s dowry.
• Song Yaoyao notes that the dynasty’s law protects a woman’s dowry: it belongs to her and, if she has no children, must be returned to her natal family.
• Guagua reveals a further horror: the Vice Minister’s family also had twenty children—ten boys and ten girls, aged twelve or thirteen—killed with mercury and disguised as paper effigies for burial with their son.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is sharp and openly condemning, challenging Jiang Jingxuan’s excuses and calling Madam Wen’s actions murder and theft.
• Jiang Jingxuan grows pale and then red-eyed as the revelations expose his cruelty and failure as a father. His apparent distress does not erase his complicity.
• Madam Wen is revealed as calculating: she manipulates Jiang Jingxuan, engineers Jiang Mengli’s abuse and death, and seeks to secure both political connections and the girl’s inheritance.
• Jiang Mengli is presented as powerless and isolated, repeatedly abused by her stepfamily and punished by her father despite being the victim.
• Guagua supplies the detailed backstory and legal and factual information, while Song Yaoyao prompts and responds to the revelations.

Significant themes

• Abuse of power and family betrayal: Jiang Jingxuan and Madam Wen exploit their authority over Jiang Mengli.
• Scapegoating and injustice: The household routinely blames Jiang Mengli to protect the real offenders.
• Greed and social ambition: Madam Wen treats the girl’s life and inheritance as tools for her own family’s advancement.
• Cruelty hidden by custom: The ghost marriage and disguised human sacrifices expose how tradition can be used to conceal violence.
• Accountability: The chapter contrasts Jiang Jingxuan’s belated emotional reaction with the years of harm he permitted.

Plot points and events

• Evidence reveals that the Vice Minister of Revenue’s men used mercury, makeup, and paper clothing to disguise twenty victims as effigies. Guagua warns that the Vice Minister’s mother plans to destroy them that night; Lord Yang sends a bailiff to the burial ground to secure the evidence.
• Jiang Mengli’s maternal grandfather arrives, learns how badly she has suffered, and begs to take her home. Jiang Jingxuan objects, but Mengli chooses her grandfather. Lord Yang rules that she will live with him and orders an accounting of her late mother’s dowry and its accumulated income.
• Lord Yang orders the arrest of Jiang Jingxuan’s second wife, Madam Wen, and her household. Her children, Jiang Feiyan and Jiang Xinnian, are brought too after trying to prevent her arrest.
• Madam Wen and her children claim innocence. Jiang Jingxuan remains silent, unable to defend them after seeing evidence of their cruelty toward Mengli.
• Under questioning, Madam Wen’s servants confess that she secretly starved, beat, and overworked Mengli while pretending to treat her well in front of Jiang Jingxuan. They also reveal that Madam Wen ordered the attempted smothering to eliminate Mengli and seize her mother’s dowry.
• Madam Wen admits responsibility and asks Lord Yang to spare her children, who did not take part in the attempted murder or funeral-sacrifice plot.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Mengli asserts her wishes clearly and chooses the safety of her grandfather’s home.
• Her grandfather acts decisively to protect her, confronting Jiang Jingxuan over his failure to care for her.
• Jiang Jingxuan appears shaken and powerless, making no effort to defend Madam Wen after seeing how she and her children treated Mengli.
• Madam Wen’s servants turn against her and testify to protect their families, exposing the contrast between her public kindness and private abuse.
• Lord Yang protects Mengli, orders the arrests, and proceeds through the servants’ testimony rather than relying on Madam Wen’s denials.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua react indignantly to the villains; their exchange also adds humor when Guagua admits it cannot actually read faces.

Significant themes

• Abuse hidden behind appearances: Madam Wen’s respectable public image concealed years of cruelty.
• Justice and protection of the vulnerable: Mengli is removed from a dangerous household, while evidence is pursued to prevent further cover-ups.
• Greed and corruption: Madam Wen’s desire for influence and Mengli’s inheritance drives her crimes; the Vice Minister’s actions show the wider corruption surrounding the case.
• Loyalty under pressure: The servants choose confession when silence threatens their families, while Mengli’s grandfather demonstrates genuine family loyalty.

Plot and events

• After Madam Wen’s confession was signed, Lord Yang sentenced her to exile three thousand li away.
• The investigation then turned to the Vice Minister of Revenue’s household. Bailiffs returned from the burial ground with twenty paper effigies, which they stripped and cleaned, revealing the bodies of twenty people buried as living sacrifices.
• Because the crime violated the emperor’s decree against living burials, Lord Yang detained the household and adjourned court to report the case to the emperor.
• As Song Yaoyao and her companions left, Jiang Mengli and her grandfather knelt to thank them. Jiang recognized that Guagua’s warning and the Sixth Prince’s intervention had saved her life, and vowed both to remember their kindness and to repay those who had harmed her.
• The group decided to visit Quietude House teahouse. Ji Linlang, shaken by the attempted burial, wanted to be somewhere lively rather than alone at home. The Sixth Prince’s carriage followed them.
• At the teahouse, they listened to a new storyteller whose vocal mimicry gave each character a distinct voice, though the tale itself felt clichéd. Song Yaoyao considered writing more exciting stories herself and perhaps earning money from them. Guagua then offered to share gossip about women at a neighboring table.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Mengli expresses deep gratitude to Song Yaoyao’s group and shifts from fearing for her life to resolving to seek justice and repay both kindness and cruelty.
• Ji Linlang openly admits she is frightened after the living-burial case; the others accommodate her wish to go somewhere crowded.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua continue their playful, teasing banter. Guagua jokes that it learned its crude language from Song, while she denies responsibility; their exchange embarrasses Song Qingling and Ji Minyue and leaves Ji Linlang curious.
• Song Yaoyao is observant and entrepreneurial: she critiques the storyteller’s style and imagines introducing popular genres to the teahouse.
• The Sixth Prince continues to follow the group, prompting Song Yaoyao to wonder why he has so much free time.

Significant themes

• Justice and accountability: Lord Yang recognizes the gravity of the forbidden sacrifice and leaves the final judgment to the emperor.
• Gratitude and reciprocity: Jiang Mengli promises to repay those who saved her and those who persecuted her.
• Fear, safety, and companionship: After a traumatic event, the group’s company and the teahouse’s lively crowd comfort Ji Linlang.
• Storytelling and innovation: The chapter contrasts a familiar plot with a novel performance style and introduces Song Yaoyao’s idea of creating more engaging stories.

Key plot points

• Song Yaoyao and her companions hear gossip about six beautiful, concubine-born daughters of officials: Zhang Xiangxiang, Liu Sujia, Wei Yunjiao, Su Huiwei, Cheng Huaya, and Xue Yushu.
• Guagua introduces Wu Yinghong, a poor but educated scholar who once lived in hardship with his widowed mother. He genuinely rescued Zhang Xiangxiang from a thug, earning her gratitude and a hundred taels of silver from her mother.
• Zhang frequently visits Wu with gifts, and the two develop mutual feelings, though neither openly confesses them.
• Wu later becomes infatuated with Cheng Huaya. Rather than accept the difference in their social standing, he plots to recreate his earlier “heroic rescue”: he hires two thugs to threaten Cheng and her maid so he can intervene and win her acquaintance.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao eagerly follows the story, initially treating it as a familiar romance but quickly condemning Wu as a greedy, shameless man.
• Wu Yinghong shifts from a genuinely compassionate young scholar, whose first rescue of Zhang was spontaneous, into a calculating schemer willing to endanger Cheng for personal gain.
• Zhang Xiangxiang is grateful to Wu and grows emotionally attached to him, supporting him with money and food.
• Cheng Huaya is unknowingly targeted by Wu’s staged attack.
• The other four women are introduced as part of the gathering, but their roles in the events have not yet been revealed.
• The storytelling-hall audience recognizes Song Yaoyao’s magical gossip display and crowds closer to watch; Song herself barely notices the seat changes.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Wu’s image of an honest, self-reliant scholar conceals growing selfishness.
• Class and ambition: His attraction to official daughters is entangled with his desire to cross social boundaries.
• Gratitude and exploitation: Zhang’s sincere kindness becomes something Wu tries to leverage.
• The corruption of a heroic gesture: A genuine rescue is turned into a deliberately manufactured trap.

Key plot points and events

• Wu Yinghong wins Cheng Huaya’s affection by staging a heroic rescue. She gives him 300 taels, and he begins courting her alongside Zhang Xiangxiang.
• Wanting more money and influence, he repeats the rescue routine with four other officials’ daughters: Liu Sujia, Wei Yunjiao, Su Huiwei, and Xue Yushu.
• Wu plans to keep all six women interested, hoping to marry whichever would benefit him most and perhaps take the others as concubines. He carefully schedules his meetings so they will not encounter one another.
• For six months, he accepts silver and other help from the women, hinting that he is poor and needs money for his studies.
• Zhang Xiangxiang accidentally sees him meeting Liu Sujia, then follows him over several days and discovers he is seeing all six.
• Zhang gathers the women together. They realize each was “rescued” from thugs in the same way and conclude that Wu’s rescues were part of a deliberate scheme.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Yinghong grows bolder and more calculating, treating the women as sources of money and advancement while imagining himself a romantic scholar.
• Zhang Xiangxiang shifts from being one of Wu’s unsuspecting admirers to a determined investigator. Rather than confront him immediately, she follows him and brings the other women together.
• Cheng Huaya and the other four women initially trust Wu because of his staged rescues and offer him support. Their meeting reveals that they have all been deceived.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with disgust and condemns Wu and his mother, while Guagua narrates the scheme. The gathered onlookers share Song’s outrage and anticipation as the deception comes to light.

Significant themes

• Deception and exploitation: Wu manipulates romantic trust to obtain money and social connections.
• Greed and ambition: He pursues multiple women not out of affection, but to maximize his prospects.
• Female solidarity and discovery: Zhang’s persistence brings the women together, allowing them to recognize the shared pattern and challenge Wu’s manipulation.

Plot points

• Six women compare their past encounters with Wu Yinghong and realize he had deliberately arranged his “rescues” to deceive them.
• They decide to punish him by having him castrated and sent to a male brothel. Song Yaoyao hears about their plan through Guagua and eagerly follows along with her companions to watch.
• Zhang Xiangxiang’s servant reports that Wu Yinghong has already been captured and drugged. The women find him bound and unconscious in a woodshed, beat him, then hire two butchers to castrate him—insisting that he not be killed.
• The butchers, who have only ever slaughtered pigs, perform the procedure. Wu Yinghong wakes in agony, while the butchers confidently claim their family craft and bleeding-stopping powder will keep him alive.

Character developments and interactions

• The six women act together, turning their anger at Wu Yinghong’s deception into a coordinated revenge. Zhang Xiangxiang leads the confrontation, while Xue Yushu makes clear that they want him alive.
• Song Yaoyao is delighted by the prospect of watching Wu Yinghong face consequences, and Guagua supplies the gossip and narrates what happens when the video goes dark.
• The butchers’ confident assurances contrast comically with their complete lack of experience, unsettling the men who hear about the operation.

Significant themes

• Deception and consequences: Wu Yinghong’s calculated manipulation leads to severe retaliation.
• Women’s solidarity and revenge: The women combine their resources and act decisively against someone who betrayed them.
• Dark comedy: The chapter treats a brutal punishment with comic suspense, especially through Song Yaoyao’s commentary and the butchers’ misplaced confidence.

Key plot points and events

• The group watches a recording of six women—Su Huiwei, Wei Yunjiao, Liu Sujia, Cheng Huaya, Zhang Xiangxiang, and another accomplice—planning to dispose of Wu Yinghong. They have already had him mutilated and intend to send him to a male brothel after nightfall. They expect Wu’s mother to suffer without having to act against her directly.
• Song Yaoyao and her companions leave, and the gossip-loving crowd from the neighboring cooked-food shop follows them.
• Hungry, Yaoyao spots a wedding procession and insists on attending the feast. Song Qingyu objects because they know nobody and have no gifts, but Yaoyao points out that they can buy gifts and use the Sixth Prince’s status to secure entry.
• The Sixth Prince agrees, and the group is welcomed at the home of Wang Fugui, a wealthy merchant. The gossip-seekers soon arrive too, puzzling the household.
• After Wang Fugui’s wedding ceremony, a teenage girl storms in with a middle-aged man and interrupts the bride’s departure to the bridal chamber. She identifies the bride as Liu Qingqing and announces that Wang Fugui is her father, setting up a family confrontation.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is stubborn, resourceful, and focused on food: she clings to a tree until the group agrees to attend the feast, and confidently treats the Sixth Prince as a means of gaining entry.
• Song Qingyu tries to restrain Yaoyao, then gives in and arranges a gift. He apologizes to the Sixth Prince for her bluntness.
• The Sixth Prince accommodates Yaoyao’s request, despite being treated as a convenient source of authority.
• Song Qingling offers Yaoyao pastries, while Yaoyao saves her appetite for the banquet.
• Wang Fugui reacts angrily and anxiously to the girl’s arrival, suggesting that her appearance threatens to disrupt the marriage.
• The six women’s conversation reveals their coordinated cruelty toward Wu Yinghong and their shared hostility toward his mother.

Significant themes

• Cruelty and revenge: The women plan a horrific punishment for Wu Yinghong and regard his mother’s distress as deserved.
• Social status and access: The Sixth Prince’s rank opens doors that would otherwise be closed to the group.
• Gossip and spectacle: The crowd follows Yaoyao in hopes of witnessing drama, and the wedding feast quickly supplies a new public confrontation.
• Appetite and comic stubbornness: Yaoyao’s determination to eat at a feast drives the chapter’s lighter plot and contrasts with the grim opening.

Plot points and events

• At Wang Fugui and Liu Qingqing’s wedding, Wang Xixi storms in and denounces her father, Wang Fugui, for marrying her best friend only a month after Xixi’s mother died—an affair she says helped drive her mother to her death.
• Xixi announces that she will marry Liu Qingqing’s father, Master Liu, and taunts the couple by threatening to become their stepmother and mother-in-law. Master Liu supports her and shields her when Wang Fugui tries to strike her.
• Xixi uses Wang Fugui and Liu Qingqing’s own past arguments in defense of their age-gap relationship against them. She insists her affection for Master Liu is genuine, not merely revenge.
• Liu Qingqing protests that her mother will not die; Xixi slaps her several times. Master Liu comforts Xixi and offers to handle the confrontation himself.
• Xixi leaves with Master Liu. Wang Fugui escorts the veiled Liu Qingqing to the bridal chamber, then returns to apologize and pay respects to the Sixth Prince and the other distinguished guests. The wedding banquet proceeds.

Character developments

• Wang Xixi is furious at her father and former best friend, but presents herself as composed and defiant. She turns their own reasoning back on them and claims she truly loves Master Liu.
• Master Liu openly protects and indulges Xixi, strengthening the impression that their relationship is affectionate, though its future remains uncertain.
• Wang Fugui shifts from asserting authority over Xixi to being publicly humiliated and finally resuming his duties as groom and host.
• Liu Qingqing is frightened and dependent on Wang Fugui during the confrontation, then briefly stands up for her mother before being slapped.
• Song Yaoyao watches in disbelief, treating the spectacle as astonishing gossip.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and double standards: Xixi exposes the couple’s inconsistency by repeating their claims that age does not matter when love is genuine.
• Revenge, grief, and loyalty: Xixi’s anger stems from her mother’s death and the betrayal by her father and best friend, though she denies that revenge is her only motive.
• Public scandal and social appearances: A private family conflict erupts at a wedding before elite guests, yet the ceremony and banquet continue.

Character interactions

The central confrontation pits Xixi against Wang Fugui and Liu Qingqing, with Master Liu taking Xixi’s side and physically intervening. Xixi and Master Liu exchange affectionate reassurances, while Wang Fugui repeatedly shields Liu Qingqing. Meanwhile, Song Yaoyao and the assembled guests silently observe the chaos before Wang Fugui formally acknowledges their status.

Plot points

• Wang Xixi and Liu Qingqing grew up in very different circumstances. Wang Xixi was cherished by her parents, while Liu Qingqing was neglected by her father, Liu Changsheng, and resented by him after her maternal family lost its wealth.
• Wang Xixi rescued Liu Qingqing from bullying, then she and Madam Wang treated her generously—feeding her, welcoming her into their home, and giving her money.
• Liu Qingqing interpreted their kindness as condescending, though she continued accepting their help. At thirteen, jealousy of Wang Xixi’s loving family turned into a desire to ruin her life.
• Liu Qingqing deliberately drew close to Wang Fugui, eventually beginning an affair with him. When Madam Wang and Wang Xixi discovered it, Liu Qingqing revealed she was pregnant. Madam Wang, already frail, died from the shock.
• Wang Fugui hurried to marry Liu Qingqing as his second wife. Devastated and furious, Wang Xixi decided to retaliate by seducing Master Liu, leading to the confrontation seen earlier.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Xixi begins as a loyal, generous friend who tries to ease Liu Qingqing’s hardship. Betrayed by Liu Qingqing and devastated by her mother’s death, she turns toward revenge.
• Liu Qingqing shifts from a mistreated child into an envious and calculating antagonist. She sees compassion as humiliation and deliberately destroys the family that supported her.
• Madam Wang is dignified and kind, treating Liu Qingqing almost like family; her death marks the story’s tragic turning point.
• Wang Fugui is devoted to Wang Xixi but readily enters an affair with Liu Qingqing and then moves quickly to marry her.
• Liu Changsheng neglects his wife and daughter, helping establish the unhappy circumstances that shape Liu Qingqing’s resentment.

Significant themes

• Kindness met with betrayal: Wang Xixi and Madam Wang’s generosity is repaid with calculated harm.
• Envy and resentment: Liu Qingqing’s fixation on what Wang Xixi has transforms her sense of injustice into a desire for destruction.
• Cycles of revenge: Wang Xixi responds to betrayal by planning to hurt others in turn.
• Family affection and neglect: The contrast between Wang Xixi’s loving home and Liu Qingqing’s rejection fuels the conflict.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss Wang Xixi’s revenge against Liu Qingqing and Wang Fugui. They acknowledge the betrayal and grief behind her actions without judging her choice. The feast’s guests, now aware of the scandal, sympathize with Wang Xixi.
• After the feast, Song mistakes a group of gossip-seekers who followed her for people hoping to get a free meal. They awkwardly pay their respects to the Sixth Prince as the party leaves.
• At morning court, Song senses something is wrong. Guagua explains that the Heavenly Mystic Kingdom has raised the price of the salt it sells to Heavenly Phoenix by 30%, creating a serious supply problem.
• Heavenly Phoenix has lake salt, but it is bitter and unusable without processing. Song realizes she can refine it. She and her father make ten jin of clean, white salt, then prepare instructions for the emperor.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows sympathy for Wang Xixi while declining to pass judgment, then quickly turns her knowledge and confidence toward solving the kingdom’s salt crisis.
• Assistant Minister Song helps his daughter in the kitchen, tastes the refined salt, and is impressed by its purity. He takes half the salt and her written method to the palace.
• The emperor and ministers, initially anxious after failing to find a solution, regain hope when they hear Song can process the local salt.
• The Sixth Prince quietly acknowledges the gossip-seekers, leaving them unsure how to interpret his response.

Significant themes

• Betrayal, grief, and revenge: Wang Xixi’s actions are presented in the context of profound personal loss, prompting sympathy rather than easy condemnation.
• Knowledge as practical power: Song’s education becomes a resource for addressing a national crisis.
• Dependence and self-sufficiency: Heavenly Phoenix’s reliance on imported salt leaves it vulnerable to price increases; refining its own salt offers a path toward independence.

Key plot points and events

• After revealing how to make refined salt, Song Yaoyao wonders why her father, Assistant Minister Song, never questioned how she knew so much. Guagua distracts her with their usual bickering.
• At court, the emperor is delighted by the salt-making method, which will free the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom from dependence on its rival and allow it to trade refined salt abroad.
• Hearing that Yaoyao dislikes official duties and prefers gold and silver, the emperor decides not to promote her. Instead, he plans to reward her wealth for her many contributions, including refined salt, cement, and epidemic treatment.
• The emperor grants Assistant Minister Song the title Marquis of Eternal Peace. Yaoyao receives a large reward, keeps most of it, and shares a few gifts and two gold ingots with each close family member.
• Yaoyao secretly brings fresh fruit from her storage space into the household, pretending she bought it at a street stall. Madam Song accepts the explanation and asks her to share some with her siblings.
• Madam Song later tells Assistant Minister Song that Yaoyao possesses “Heaven and Earth in the Sleeve,” leaving him astonished.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains cheerfully self-interested: she rejects promotion because she finds official life exhausting, hopes for money instead, and enjoys keeping most of her reward. Beneath her comic scheming, she wants to share special things with her family.
• Assistant Minister Song is elevated to marquis. His quiet support of Yaoyao continues to puzzle her, and he is stunned to learn of her storage-space ability.
• The emperor recognizes Yaoyao’s contributions while respecting her dislike of greater responsibility, choosing wealth over promotion for her and honoring her father.
• Madam Song responds warmly to Yaoyao’s nervous attempt to explain the fruit, unknowingly giving her daughter’s secret a plausible cover.
• Guagua banters with Yaoyao, warns her to keep her storage space secret, and helps her manage the risks of using it.

Significant themes

• Recognition and reward: The court rewards Yaoyao’s practical innovations and her father’s service.
• Family affection and trust: Yaoyao shares her gifts and fruit with relatives, while her parents show patience and support.
• Secrecy and the extraordinary: Yaoyao’s hidden storage space is a valuable secret that must be concealed in a world where such powers belong to legend.
• Comic rejection of ambition: Yaoyao’s childlike preference for leisure and money contrasts with the prestige and burdens of official rank.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao receives an invitation from the Qian family to attend the opening of the hot pot restaurant they are launching together.
• She arrives with only Bi Tao, hoping for a quiet meal. She meets Qian Liming, Old Madam Qian’s refined, scholarly-looking son, who welcomes her and prepares to take her inside.
• Su Yu calls after Song Yaoyao, accompanied by Qin Youyou and another unidentified woman. Qin Youyou explains that they want to treat Song Yaoyao to a meal. Yaoyao accepts, reasoning that there is no point refusing free food.
• Qin Youyou’s real motive is gratitude: Song Yaoyao helped expose her as the family’s true daughter, allowing her to leave her former family and improve her circumstances. She intends to repay Yaoyao’s kindness over time.
• Before they can enter, the Fifth Prince arrives with several attendants and proposes that they all eat together. Since the restaurant has not officially opened and the auspicious opening time has not arrived, Song Yaoyao delays them, falsely claiming she had only been going inside to rest because her chest felt uncomfortable.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao remains blunt and opportunistic, eager to avoid unwanted company but happy to accept a free meal. She also thinks irreverently about the Fifth Prince, even while behaving respectfully to his face.
• Qin Youyou has visibly recovered from her former extreme thinness and appears grateful and respectful toward Song Yaoyao. She is quietly committed to repaying her.
• The Fifth Prince is accustomed to Yaoyao’s audible inner thoughts, while his attendants are startled to hear them for the first time.
• Qian Liming is introduced as a polished, scholarly man involved in the restaurant venture.

Significant themes

• Gratitude and repayment: Qin Youyou remembers Yaoyao’s past help and seeks to return the kindness.
• Appearance versus reality: Qian Liming looks more like a scholar than a merchant, while Yaoyao’s respectful outward manner contrasts with her irreverent inner commentary.
• Fate and public benefit: The chapter recalls the emperor’s belief that Yaoyao is a lucky star for her family and the kingdom, linking her success to the restaurant venture.

Character interactions

• Qian Liming greets Song Yaoyao and guides her toward the restaurant.
• Qin Youyou and Su Yu approach Yaoyao; Qin Youyou explains their invitation and gratitude, while Yaoyao cautiously agrees to join them.
• The Fifth Prince joins the group and suggests dining together. Yaoyao must balance his authority with the restaurant’s opening arrangements, so she postpones entry with an improvised excuse.