Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• Wealthy households and officials’ families seek to take Guan Qiaoqiao as a concubine, but she and her family refuse, wary of the dangers and lack of protection inside powerful households.
• Lei Yaozu, the spoiled son of a low-ranking official, becomes infatuated with Guan Qiaoqiao after watching her sell tofu. When her family rejects his proposal, his friends mock him, and he resolves to make her submit.
• Lei stages an attack at her tofu stall: disguised as a poor laborer named Fang Jie, he hires thugs to harass her, then pretends to protect her and takes a real beating to make the rescue convincing.
• He refuses medical treatment to keep his disguise from being exposed. He later presents himself to Guan as hardworking, dutiful, and poor, helps at her stall, and brings her small gifts.
• Guan grows fond of him, unaware that he is a wealthy young master. Once away from her, Lei changes back into fine clothes, while his friends praise his success and urge him to bring her into his household.

Character developments and interactions

• Guan Qiaoqiao remains cautious about becoming a concubine, but Lei’s false heroism and attentive behavior gradually win her trust and stir romantic feelings.
• Lei Yaozu shifts from frustrated suitor to deliberate deceiver, exploiting Guan’s inexperience and compassion. His apparent humility and devotion conceal his plan to seduce her and force her into concubinage.
• Lei’s friends mock him after the rejection, then encourage his scheme and treat Guan as a prize.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua narrate and condemn the scheme, emphasizing the danger of powerful men exploiting vulnerable women.

Significant themes

• Deception and manipulation: Lei uses a manufactured crisis, a false identity, and calculated gifts to create intimacy.
• Power and gender inequality: Guan’s refusal protects her from a household where she could be abused without recourse, while Lei assumes his status entitles him to her.
• Appearance versus reality: Lei’s humble, self-sacrificing persona contrasts sharply with his privilege and cruel intentions.
• Trust and vulnerability: Guan’s kindness and gratitude make her susceptible to a scheme designed to exploit her emotions.

• Lei Yaozu’s scheme: A hidden conversation reveals that Lei Yaozu has been posing as a poor laborer under the name “Fang Jie” to win Guan Qiaoqiao’s trust. He intends to trick her into sleeping with him, then use the resulting scandal and her family obligations to force her into marriage. His friends know about and encourage the plan.
• Song Yaoyao intervenes: Outraged, Song decides to expose Lei before Guan’s feelings for him deepen. She tells the gathered young nobles what he has done and urges them to help bring him to account.
• Lei is confronted: When Lei approaches Guan’s tofu stall in disguise, he recognizes the powerful group and tries to flee. Their servants stop him. Song asks Guan to wait and watch rather than defend the man she knows as “Ajie.”
• His identity is exposed: The nobles publicly identify him as Lei Yaozu, the son of an official, and mock his poor disguise and his lies about his parents being dead or incapacitated. Guan is stunned to learn that “Fang Jie” is actually the privileged Lei Yaozu.
• The scheme comes to light: Lei’s servant and companions are brought before the crowd. They try to shift all blame onto Lei, then reveal the details of his deception. Guan listens in shock, her face turning deathly pale.
  Character developments and interactions: Song moves from private anger to decisive public action, rallying others to protect Guan. Guan’s early affection for “Ajie” is challenged as she learns his true identity and intentions. Lei’s carefully staged persona collapses when confronted by people with the power to expose him; his associates quickly abandon him.
  Themes: The chapter condemns sexual coercion, deception, and the abuse of privilege, while emphasizing collective responsibility and solidarity in protecting a vulnerable woman. It also shows how social power can be used both to manipulate and to hold a wrongdoer accountable.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao and her companions stop Guan Qiaoqiao from being further victimized by Lei Yaozu. After asking how Guan wants to handle it, Song takes charge when Guan cannot decide.
• Song orders Lei beaten severely, including a kick to the groin, and has his companions beaten too—but spares them the worst punishment because they were not involved in the assault. She then sends them home with word of what happened.
• One of the men threatens to have his father, an imperial censor, impeach Lei Yaozu’s father. Song approves, seeing this as a chance to curb Lei’s arrogance.
• Song comforts Guan and suggests she try selling her tofu to the successful Guests Like Clouds Hotpot Restaurant. She offers to arrange an introduction, while clarifying that the manager will make the final decision.
• Unable to find a suitable wedding gift while shopping, Song searches her space and chooses a crystal globe containing a deer. Its rarity in this world and symbolic meaning make it a fitting present for the War King and his bride.
• At court the next morning, Lei Yaozu and his father are impeached. The emperor, who already knew what happened through his Shadow Guards, demotes Lord Lei by four ranks rather than dismissing him, since he values the official’s abilities.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao shows decisive protectiveness toward Guan, combining harsh punishment for Lei with practical help for Guan’s livelihood. She also considers the consequences of her actions and gives Lei’s uninvolved companions a lesser punishment.
• Guan Qiaoqiao is shaken and unsure how to respond, but gains reassurance and a possible path to a safer, steadier business through Song’s offer.
• Lei Yaozu suffers both physical punishment and political consequences caused by his misconduct. His arrogance also damages his father’s career.
• Lord Lei is punished for his son’s behavior, though the emperor stops short of removing him entirely.
• Song and Guagua discuss the wedding gift and the emperor’s decision, with Guagua explaining that Lord Lei’s demotion is already a major setback.

Significant themes

• Justice and accountability: Abuse of privilege brings consequences, both personal and political.
• Women’s vulnerability and support: Song recognizes the pressures women face and uses her influence to help Guan protect herself and earn a living.
• Privilege and responsibility: Lei’s father’s position does not shield the family from scrutiny; in fact, his failure to discipline his son harms his standing.
• Pragmatism and mercy: Song punishes the guilty severely but distinguishes them from those who were not involved, while the emperor balances justice with the value of an official’s service.

Plot points and events

• On the War King’s wedding day, the Song family attends the celebration. Song Yaoyao presents a “With You All the Way” crystal-ball night light, explaining how it works and offering it as a wish for the newlyweds’ lasting happiness. Guests are astonished by its beauty and value.
• Song Qingling teases Yaoyao for keeping such a treasure hidden. Yaoyao promises to let her choose another crystal ball from the collection at home, and Qingling accepts.
• At the banquet, Guagua offers to reveal gossip. It singles out the Seventh Prince’s Consort, Zhuo Qingge, whose marriage to the Seventh Prince is widely admired.
• Guagua begins recounting Zhuo Qingge’s background: she is the beloved daughter of Grand Commandant Zhuo Weikang’s second wife and grew up cherished by her family. Her grace and accomplishments attracted many suitors, including men hoping to benefit from her father’s status and princes seeking principal consorts.
• To prevent political pressure from deciding her future, Zhuo Weikang asked the emperor to let Qingge choose her own husband. The emperor agreed. The chapter ends before revealing the promised scandal.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao is generous and good-natured, though she is surprised to learn that others regard her crystal ball as an extraordinary treasure. She responds warmly to her sister’s teasing.
• Song Qingling expresses playful jealousy but accepts Yaoyao’s offer without reservation, showing their affectionate sibling relationship.
• Zhuo Qingge appears confident and composed when Guagua names her. She came to enjoy the gossip, expecting it to concern someone else, and remains sure that her celebrated marriage leaves little to expose.
• The assembled guests eagerly follow Guagua’s revelations, while Qingge and the other attendees listen as her family history and marriage prospects are introduced.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Guagua warns that public impressions—such as the belief that Qingge and the Seventh Prince are a perfectly happy couple—may hide a more complicated truth.
• Choice and family influence: Qingge’s father secures her the right to choose her own marriage, despite intense social and political competition for her hand.
• Generosity and affection: Yaoyao’s gift and her exchange with Qingling highlight familial warmth amid the spectacle of the wedding.

Plot points

• Guagua explains that Seventh Prince Chen Haoran’s mother, Shen Lianrong, came from a minor family, leaving him without powerful maternal support. He therefore sought a prestigious bride—and influential secondary consorts—to strengthen his bid for the throne.
• Unable to compete for Zhuo Qingge’s hand on merit, Chen arranged for a maid to push her into a lotus pond at a palace banquet. He then rescued her publicly, creating pressure for her to marry him.
• Zhuo Qingge brought an enormous dowry into the Seventh Prince’s household. Her father, Grand Commandant Zhuo Weikang, had originally been neutral, but others assumed he supported Chen because of the marriage. Fearing the Zhuo family would be destroyed if a rival prince took power, he eventually chose to support Chen.
• The Zhuo family suspected Chen had engineered the pond incident, but found no proof and kept their suspicions from Zhuo Qingge to spare her distress.
• After marrying, Zhuo Qingge and Chen appeared devoted to each other. Chen deliberately spread stories of their affectionate life together, cultivating a public image that reinforced his hold over both Zhuo Qingge and her father.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao interrupts the political gossip to lament her lack of mooncakes; Guagua promises her a recipe before steering the conversation back.
• Zhuo Qingge is shaken to learn that her rescue and marriage may have been part of Chen’s scheme. She nevertheless recalls his kindness and believes their love is genuine.
• The Seventh Prince’s consort wants to defend him but holds back, waiting to hear more.
• Zhuo Weikang’s protectiveness keeps Zhuo Qingge ignorant of the political danger surrounding her marriage, while his eventual support for Chen grows from fear for his household’s survival.

Significant themes

• Marriage as political strategy: Chen seeks family alliances and wealth to compensate for his weak base of support.
• Manipulation and public image: A staged rescue and manufactured romance help Chen secure both a bride and political backing.
• Protective silence and unintended consequences: The Zhuo family hides the truth to preserve Qingge’s happiness, even as their silence leaves her unaware of the stakes.
• The tension between love and ambition: Qingge believes in Chen’s sincere affection, while Guagua’s account casts his tenderness as potentially calculated.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao explains that the Seventh Prince is building political support from both military and civil officials. After securing the Grand Commandant’s backing, he targets Zeng Shenbin, a senior official, by pursuing his daughter Zeng Bifu as a secondary consort.
• The Seventh Prince arranges for Zeng Bifu to be drugged and discovered lying beside him at a banquet. Unable to escape the resulting scandal, she is forced to marry him.
• The scheme also binds the Zeng family to the Seventh Prince, just as his earlier machinations had entangled Zhuo Qingge and the Zhuo family. Both fathers had previously been neutral.
• After Zeng Bifu enters the prince’s household, he tells her privately that he loves her and blames his political weakness for forcing him to trick her. He promises to make it up to her, while claiming he must hide his affection because of Zhuo Qingge’s powerful family.
• To Zhuo Qingge, he tells the opposite story: that Zeng Bifu pursued him shamelessly and that Zhuo is the only woman he loves. Trusting him, Zhuo despises Zeng Bifu.
• The prince’s lies turn the two women against each other. They begin fighting and plotting against one another, keeping the household in constant turmoil.
• At the War King’s wedding banquet, ladies from both the Zhuo and Zeng families arrive. They learn what Song Yaoyao has revealed and react with anger and disgust.

Character developments

• The Seventh Prince is exposed as calculating and manipulative. He treats women and powerful families as tools for advancing his claim, using coercion and deliberate deception to secure support.
• Zeng Bifu is shown as a victim of his scheme: first forced into marriage by a staged scandal, then manipulated into resenting Zhuo Qingge.
• Zhuo Qingge realizes that the prince’s explanations were lies and that she, her family, Zeng Bifu, and the Zeng family have all been used as pawns.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with anger at the prince’s abuse of women and concern over who he might target next.

Significant themes

• Political ambition and manipulation: The prince converts marriage and scandal into tools for gathering political allies.
• Women’s vulnerability under social conventions: A staged loss of reputation leaves Zeng Bifu with little choice but to marry him.
• Divide and rule: The prince protects himself by feeding each woman a different story and directing their resentment toward each other.
• Trust and betrayal: Zhuo Qingge’s faith in the prince makes his deception especially painful, while both families are drawn into political conflict without consent.

Character interactions

• The Seventh Prince gives Zeng Bifu a sympathetic, self-blaming account in private, but denounces her to Zhuo Qingge in public.
• Zhuo Qingge and Zeng Bifu become enemies because of his conflicting stories, rather than because either knows the truth.
• Song Yaoyao’s revelations prompt the Zhuo and Zeng women to reassess the prince and react with hostility toward his conduct.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that the Seventh Prince deliberately lets Zhuo Qingge and Zeng Bifu quarrel, making himself look incompetent while benefiting from their rivalry.
• Zhuo Qingge learns that the prince secretly gave her sterilizing medicine on their wedding night, then arranged for physicians to conceal the truth while pretending to comfort her over her supposed infertility.
• He has also been poisoning her through a sachet she has worn for three years. The slow-acting poison causes symptoms resembling consumption and is meant to kill her.
• Zeng Bifu has likewise been sterilized and poisoned for a year. The prince plans to claim that Zhuo Qingge infected her with consumption.
• His next targets are Han Lingyu, Censor Han’s favored concubine-born daughter, and Leng Chuchu, Minister Leng’s daughter, who already loves him. He intends to sterilize and poison both.
• The prince reserves the possibility of having children for Ruan Xining, a beautiful woman who dresses as a healer. Guagua says his schemes are ultimately for a future with her.
• Han and Leng’s families resolve to tightly restrict their daughters’ movements after the War King’s wedding to keep them out of his reach.

Character developments

• Zhuo Qingge discovers that her childlessness and worsening health are not natural misfortunes but deliberate crimes by her husband. She removes and grips the poisoned sachet.
• The Seventh Prince is exposed as a calculating, ruthless schemer who treats women and their influential families as disposable assets.
• Song Yaoyao voices outrage and asks questions that uncover the prince’s successive layers of deception.
• Han and Leng family members shift from grim shock to protective resolve.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and control: The prince manipulates his wives’ bodies, health, and beliefs while disguising cruelty as affection.
• People as stepping stones: He exploits women and their families to build political influence, intending to discard them once they are no longer useful.
• Deception and appearances: His manufactured household chaos hides a deliberate strategy, while a false consumption diagnosis provides cover for murder.

Character interactions

• The Seventh Prince presents himself to Zhuo Qingge as caring, even as he secretly drugs and poisons her.
• Song Yaoyao consults Guagua, whose revelations expose the prince’s plans to the gathered families.
• Zhuo Qingge and the others react to the truth, while the Han and Leng families decide to shield their daughters from the prince’s reach.

Plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that the Seventh Prince and the physician Ruan Xining are conspiring to exploit powerful families’ daughters, turning them against one another and using poison to eliminate them. The prince intends to discard the families after securing their support, then make Ruan Xining empress.
• Song Yaoyao condemns their scheme but feels powerless to intervene in the succession struggle. She decides at least to warn Han Lingyu and Leng Chuchu, who have not yet been harmed.
• The War King returns with his bride. Song Yaoyao admires the wedding robes, attends the lavish feast, and leaves with Madam Song and Song Qingling.
• Before departing, Song Yaoyao secretly passes evidence of threats against the Han and Ministry of War Minister’s households to members of those families. Her attempt is conspicuously awkward, though the evidence does not reveal who is behind the threat.
• Back home, she searches her magical storage room for a crystal ball to give Song Qingling. Discovering a wide selection that automatically restocks, she chooses ten, along with skincare, cosmetics, and bath products, and has them sent to Madam Song’s courtyard.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao recognizes the danger of the prince’s plot but remains cautious about challenging people more powerful than herself. Still, her concern for Han Lingyu and Leng Chuchu prompts her to take a small, imperfect step to protect them.
• The Seventh Prince and Ruan Xining are exposed as ruthless conspirators. Ruan is not merely the prince’s beloved but an active strategist and supplier of poison.
• Song Yaoyao’s playful, practical side resurfaces quickly: after reflecting on power and suffering, she turns her attention to the wedding feast and to choosing gifts.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: The prince treats people and their families as disposable tools in his bid for the throne.
• Compassion versus self-preservation: Song Yaoyao knows intervention is risky but still tries to warn potential victims.
• Moral contrast: The conspirators’ calculated cruelty contrasts with Song Yaoyao’s modest, somewhat clumsy efforts to help.
• Everyday pleasures amid danger: A royal wedding feast and gift-giving provide lightness alongside the political intrigue.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua discuss the conspiracy, Song Yaoyao’s limited options, and her decision to warn two targeted households.
• At the wedding, Song Yaoyao’s abrupt shift from philosophical reflection to admiration of the bride’s clothes—and then enthusiasm for the feast—amuses the onlookers.
• Song Yaoyao discreetly approaches members of the Han and Ministry of War Minister’s households to deliver warnings.
• At home, Song Yaoyao prepares gifts for Song Qingling, arranging for the items to be brought to Madam Song’s courtyard.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao visits Madam Song with valuable crystal balls, then shares cosmetics, skincare, and bath products with her mother and eldest sister, Song Qingling. She demonstrates how to use them and tells them they can ask her for more.
• Yaoyao privately worries that she revealed too much and that her family might ask where the items came from. Madam Song and Qingling overhear her conversation with Guagua, but already know about her past-life memories and are untroubled.
• At court the next morning, officials present extensive evidence that the Seventh Prince, Chen Haoran, gave Zhuo Qingge and Zeng Bifu a Sterility Drug and a Slow-Acting Poison. His accomplice, Ruan Xining, has also been exposed and arrested.
• The emperor strips Chen Haoran of his title and reduces him to commoner status. He sentences Ruan Xining to Lingchi, orders the Ruan family’s three degrees of kin beheaded, and exiles the clan’s nine degrees of kin.
• Zhuo Weikang and Zeng Shenbin ask for their daughters to divorce the disgraced prince. The emperor grants their request.

Character developments and interactions

• Yaoyao remains impulsive and generous, treating rare crystal balls and unfamiliar products as ordinary gifts. Madam Song gently scolds her for her lack of decorum, while Qingling and their mother eagerly accept what she brings.
• Madam Song and Qingling keep Yaoyao’s past-life secret and show no alarm at learning that the gifts came from her former world.
• Chen Haoran’s denial collapses when the evidence is presented; learning that Ruan Xining has been caught makes him realize his fall is complete.
• The emperor reveals that his strongest concern is protecting his own authority. He chooses to ruin his son’s status rather than execute him, while imposing severe punishments on Ruan Xining and her clan.
• Zhuo Weikang and Zeng Shenbin act together to protect their daughters’ interests, securing permission for them to leave the Seventh Prince.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and exposure: Yaoyao fears her secret will be discovered, while the prince’s concealed crimes are brought fully to light.
• Power and self-interest: The emperor’s justice is shaped by his determination to defend the throne.
• Consequences and retribution: The prince’s schemes lead to his loss of status, while Ruan Xining and her family face extreme punishment.
• Family loyalty: Yaoyao’s gifts express affection, and the two officials unite to free their daughters from the disgraced prince.

Plot points and events

• The emperor rejects Chen Haoran’s pleas and confirms the edict stripping him of his title and confiscating his manor. With his former allies gone and many enemies still around him, his prospects look bleak.
• Zhuo Qingge accepts the Zhuo family’s summons and returns home. Zeng Bifu refuses to believe Chen Haoran has fallen, so her brother has her tied up and taken back to the Zeng residence. Onlookers interpret her resistance as either devotion or foolishness, and gossip spreads.
• Back home, Song Yaoyao asks Guagua for a lotus-paste mooncake recipe and starts making the pastries with Bi Tao. Because the recipe uses unfamiliar ingredients and measurements—and Bi Tao cannot read—Yaoyao must interpret it and guide the cooking herself.
• Song Qingling arrives and lends her pastry-skilled maid, Feicui, to help. The mooncakes go into a clay oven, though without molds they look plain and misshapen.
• Song Yaoyao is called to meet Xiao Minglang and Gao Jiayou, who have come to collect the Blue and White Porcelain guzheng sheet music she previously promised them.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Haoran’s downfall is complete: the emperor’s decision is final, and his former victims’ families are left to reclaim their daughters.
• Zhuo Qingge shows acceptance of the truth, while Zeng Bifu’s denial makes her resistant even to her own family’s intervention.
• Song Yaoyao remains enthusiastic about food and quick to delegate, but her unfamiliarity with practical details forces her to take part. Her quarrel with Guagua over the recipe’s unsuitable measurements and ingredients is playful and mutually stubborn.
• Song Qingling quietly supports Yaoyao by lending Feicui; Feicui and Bi Tao then work together on the mooncakes.

Significant themes

• Consequences and justice: Chen Haoran’s own schemes bring about his ruin.
• Loyalty versus delusion: Zeng Bifu’s refusal to leave him is viewed very differently by the people around her.
• Everyday humor and cooperation: The recipe mishap turns into comic banter and shows the household working together.
• Reputation and gossip: Zeng Bifu’s actions quickly become competing stories among onlookers.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Minglang and Gao Jiayou visit Song Yaoyao to ask for the original score of “Blue and White Porcelain.” The song has been widely imitated, with people misremembering and altering its melody.
• Song Yaoyao gives them the score, written in modern numbered notation, and spends four hours explaining how to read it. They leave delighted, realizing the system could help preserve and teach other famous pieces.
• Song Yaoyao samples the mooncakes made by Song Qingling and Song Qingyu. The flavor is right, but the appearance needs improvement, so she draws designs for mooncake molds and arranges to have them made.
• The court announces the arrival of the King of Miaojiang and his daughter, Princess Wan Qin. Song Yaoyao and Song Qingling reserve a teahouse room to watch the procession, but Wan Qin remains inside her carriage.
• At the evening banquet, Song Yaoyao finally sees the exceptionally beautiful princess. Guagua reveals that Wan Qin cultivates poisonous gu worms inside her own body and shows an image of the process. Song Yaoyao is horrified and dry-heaves; others who overhear the exchange react the same way.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao demonstrates her musical knowledge by teaching the visitors the unfamiliar notation, then turns her attention to improving the mooncakes. Her curiosity about the royal arrival gives way to disgust once she learns Wan Qin’s secret.
• Xiao Minglang and Gao Jiayou show deep respect for Song Yaoyao, treating her as a lifelong teacher. They seek her help to protect the integrity of her song and eagerly learn from her.
• Song Qingyu and Song Qingling listen to Song Yaoyao’s music lesson; Qingling also shares the mooncakes with her, and the sisters discuss improving their appearance.
• Guagua explains both the confusion surrounding the pirated song and the danger behind Wan Qin’s beauty. Its revelation spreads the horror through the banquet hall.
• Wan Qin is introduced as a strikingly beautiful princess, but Guagua’s account portrays her as ruthless and closely associated with poisonous gu worms.

Significant themes

• Preserving art and knowledge: Song Yaoyao’s notation offers a way to keep music accurate and accessible.
• Innovation and practical improvement: She adapts modern ideas to refine traditional crafts such as mooncake-making.
• Appearance versus hidden reality: Wan Qin’s beauty contrasts sharply with the disturbing secret beneath it.
• Curiosity and anticlimax: Song Yaoyao’s eagerness to witness the royal procession is disappointed, though the banquet brings an unexpected revelation.

Key plot points and events

• Song Yaoyao privately wonders whether Princess Wan Qin’s marriage alliance could result in children born as human-insect hybrids. Guagua explains that people who practice internal Gu cultivation are generally infertile, though no one knows what their children would be like.
• Guagua shifts to gossip about Wan Qin’s father, the current King of Miaojiang, Wan Qibin, and his rise to power.
• As children, the old king’s sons endured lethal tests involving medicinal treatments, venomous creatures, and gu cultivation. Ten surviving contenders then fought for the succession through permitted schemes, including poisoning, assassination, and planting gu.
• After two years of rivalry, only Wan Qibin and his highly capable elder half-brother, Wan Xinyi, remained. Unable to defeat Wan Xinyi directly, Wan Qibin targeted his marriage: he pursued Wan Xinyi’s neglected wife, Ge Susu, and the two eventually slept together.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao reacts with disgust and humor to both the imagined consequences of gu cultivation and the brutal succession trials. She also mocks Wan Qibin’s appearance and Ge Susu’s attraction to him.
• Guagua provides the backstory and unexpectedly makes a crude sexual remark about Wan Qibin and Ge Susu, shocking Song Yaoyao.
• Wan Qibin is revealed as cunning and ruthless, willing to exploit his brother’s unhappy marriage to gain power.
• Wan Xinyi is portrayed as capable and hard to outmaneuver, but emotionally inattentive to his wife.
• Ge Susu, once drawn to Wan Xinyi with romantic hopes, is left isolated and becomes vulnerable to Wan Qibin’s attention.

Significant themes

• Power and brutality: Miaojiang’s succession system treats violence, manipulation, and gu cultivation as normal parts of leadership.
• Cultural perspective: Practices that horrify outsiders are accepted as ordinary within Miaojiang society.
• Neglect and betrayal: Wan Xinyi’s devotion to ambition leaves Ge Susu lonely, creating an opening for his brother’s betrayal.
• Humor amid horror: Song Yaoyao’s irreverent inner commentary punctures the grimness of the story, while Guagua’s bluntness creates awkward comedy.

Character interactions

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua trade private thoughts and gossip, while the surrounding guests and emperor can hear Song’s thoughts but not Guagua’s explanations.
• The others watch Wan Qibin and Wan Qin uneasily, then relax when it seems neither can hear Song’s thoughts.
• Song’s judgments of Wan Qibin’s looks and Guagua’s sexual joke leave the men present visibly embarrassed.

Plot points

• Guagua reveals the history behind Wan Qin’s birth. Ge Susu had an affair with Wan Qibin, became pregnant, and arranged for Wan Xinyi—her husband—to believe the child was his. She gave birth to Wan Shan, later presented publicly as Wan Qibin’s illegitimate daughter, Wan Qin.
• After Wan Qibin infected Wan Xinyi with a gu parasite and confessed the affair and the child’s parentage, Wan Xinyi died. Wan Qibin then acknowledged Wan Qin and kept Ge Susu as his secret lover.
• At the banquet, Wan Qibin proposes a marriage alliance. Wan Qin points to the Second Prince, then two other princes; all refuse, and she drops the matter. Guagua explains that the requests were a test: Wan Qin has actually come for Cui Yuzhi, a handsome concubine-born son of a senior court official.

Character developments and interactions

• Ge Susu is revealed as beautiful, calculating, and determined to secure protection for her daughter. She blackmailed Wan Qibin into recognizing Wan Qin.
• Wan Qibin is shown as manipulative and powerful: he used Ge Susu and Wan Xinyi to secure his position, then maintained the affair once he became King of Miaojiang.
• Wan Xinyi was deceived into raising another man’s child; learning the truth enraged him and hastened his death.
• Wan Qin appears composed and ambitious, but her real interest is not the princes she publicly names—it is Cui Yuzhi.
• Song Yaoyao reacts with disgust and alarm at the family’s history and the dangers she associates with Wan Qin’s gu parasites. Her inner commentary fuels the group’s curiosity.
• The princes reject Wan Qin, while the court watches closely. The Cui family is stunned to learn that Wan Qin may be pursuing Cui Yuzhi, whom few present have even seen.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden parentage: Wan Qin’s identity and upbringing rest on a carefully maintained lie.
• Power and impunity: Wan Qibin’s authority lets him conceal an affair and silence potential critics.
• Marriage as political strategy: The proposed alliance masks a more personal target.
• Status and family hierarchy: Cui Yuzhi’s concubine-born status keeps him out of the banquet, even as he becomes central to its intrigue.

Plot and events

• Guagua reveals that Wan Qin left the Miao Frontier to hunt the wanted traitor Miao Peiyi and gain experience in the outside world.
• During her travels, Wan Qin crossed paths with scholar Cui Yuzhi. He and his fellow students were captured by bandits led by Duan Jiaojiao, the burly young mistress of Whirlwind Stockade.
• Duan Jiaojiao chose Cui Yuzhi as her intended husband, praised his looks, and threatened her men when they mocked him.
• Before the bandits could take their captives to the stockade, they tried to abduct Wan Qin as well. She fought them off with martial arts, suffering only minor injuries, and inadvertently rescued Cui Yuzhi’s party.
• Cui Yuzhi and his companions took Wan Qin to a clinic. She and Cui grew close and gradually fell in love.
• At the height of their relationship, Wan Qin received word from the King of Miaojiang that there was news of Miao Peiyi. She returned home without explaining who she was, leaving Cui only a note that she had urgent business. Cui was shocked and heartbroken, and fell ill after her departure.

Character developments and interactions

• Wan Qin is revealed as a capable martial artist as well as a princess of the Miao Frontier. Her duty to pursue Miao Peiyi ultimately outweighs her new relationship. She keeps her identity from Cui Yuzhi and leaves abruptly.
• Cui Yuzhi moves from a helpless captive to Wan Qin’s companion and lover, but her sudden departure leaves him feeling abandoned and questioning whether their time together was real.
• Duan Jiaojiao is forceful and openly assertive in pursuing Cui Yuzhi, yet protective of him against her own bandits.
• Song Yaoyao treats the account with amused curiosity, correctly predicting that Wan Qin will save Cui’s party, though Guagua clarifies that Wan Qin acts only after the bandits target her.

Significant themes

• Reversed gender expectations: The episode unsettles the women watching by showing a woman abducting and pursuing a man, rather than the familiar pattern of men abducting women.
• Duty versus love: Wan Qin’s obligation to her homeland and her search for Miao Peiyi pull her away from Cui.
• Appearance versus reality: Wan Qin looks delicate but is formidable, while Cui’s scholarly frailty attracts Duan Jiaojiao’s attention.
• Misunderstanding and heartbreak: Wan Qin’s unexplained departure leaves Cui with no context for her choice and turns a promising romance into painful uncertainty.

Key plot points

• Song Yaoyao and Guagua explain that Princess Wan Qin’s marriage proposal is really a request for Cui Yuzhi to marry into her family in the Miao Frontier. This custom is accepted there, though considered humiliating in the Heavenly Phoenix Kingdom.
• Song Yaoyao warns that Wan Qin’s gu insects could pose a grave danger if she used them to control influential people, even the emperor. The court recognizes the risk and is relieved when the emperor considers the broader consequences rather than rejecting the request to protect national pride.
• Wan Qin confirms she came specifically for Cui Yuzhi, whom she has known for a long time, and formally asks permission to take him as her husband and have him join her household.
• The emperor consults Cui Yuzhi’s father, Cui Qili, who agrees. Worried about Wan Qin’s power and the danger she might bring to his household, he is willing to let his concubine-born son go.
• The emperor grants Wan Qin’s request, citing the kingdom’s prior wrongdoing over Miao Peiyi. No wedding will be held in the capital; the couple will celebrate according to Miao customs after returning home.

Character developments and interactions

• Wan Qin presents her request as sincere and formal, while remaining determined to bring Cui Yuzhi back to the Miao Frontier.
• Cui Qili chooses family safety over his son’s status or reputation, viewing the marriage as a way to remove a dangerous threat from his household.
• The emperor acts pragmatically, accepting the marriage arrangement despite its perceived loss of face.
• Song Yaoyao and Guagua provide a comic counterpoint to the tense court proceedings. Song worries about the political threat of gu, while Guagua teases her about being overworked. Their exchange ends with Song snapping at the irrepressible system.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism over pride: The emperor and Cui Qili accept an unconventional marriage arrangement to avoid greater risks.
• Power and political danger: Gu insects could become tools of control, making Wan Qin’s presence a matter of national security.
• Family status and sacrifice: Cui Yuzhi’s position as a concubine-born son makes his family more willing to send him away.
• Humor amid tension: Song and Guagua’s bickering lightens a chapter shaped by fear and political calculation.

Plot points and events

• The marriage alliance between Wan Qin and Cui Yuzhi is settled, easing the banquet’s tense atmosphere.
• Song Yaoyao observes how much King Wan Qibin favors Wan Qin. Guagua explains that Wan Qin is exceptionally skilled and capable, and might have inherited the throne if she were a man.
• Song Yaoyao praises Wan Qin’s independence and argues that women should cultivate abilities they can rely on. Her remarks leave the women at the banquet reflecting on the limits imposed by their upbringing.
• Seven days later, Song encounters Wan Qin and Cui Yuzhi shopping with the Second Prince. She tries to avoid them, but the Second Prince’s guards stop her.
• Song’s private complaints make the Second Prince realize he is an unwanted chaperone—and that Wan Qin could potentially use gu against him. He quickly excuses himself, leaving the engaged couple together.
• Song learns that Cui Yuzhi’s illness had delayed their departure, and that Miao Peiyi has already been dealt with: the Miaojiang King’s gu king subdued her insects, after which she was killed and her body burned.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao admires Wan Qin’s competence but dislikes being near her because of her insects. Her outspoken thoughts also prompt other women to question conventional expectations.
• Wan Qin is shown as confident, strategic, and highly capable; she speaks for herself during the alliance negotiations and is set to marry the man she chose.
• King Wan Qibin demonstrates deep affection and respect for his daughter, while regretting that custom bars her from inheriting his position.
• Cui Yuzhi is recovering after the marriage arrangement resolves the emotional distress behind his illness.
• The Second Prince goes from insisting on accompanying Wan Qin and Cui Yuzhi to withdrawing once Song’s thoughts expose how awkward—and potentially dangerous—his role is.
• Song and Guagua exchange sardonic commentary throughout, while Song’s inner voice is overheard by those nearby, creating humor and influencing others’ perspectives.

Significant themes

• Women’s independence and capability: Song’s praise of Wan Qin challenges traditional assumptions about women’s roles.
• Expertise over brute helplessness: Miao Peiyi’s defeat illustrates that specialists can handle threats others cannot.
• Choice and agency: Wan Qin’s ability to marry the person she wants reflects the power that comes with strength and self-determination.
• Humor and dramatic irony: Song’s private rants are heard by others, shaping events while she remains unaware of their reactions.

Summary

• Guagua tells Song Yaoyao that Cui Yuzhi has been formally registered as Madam Cui’s legitimate son, a decision made to respect Miao Frontier and agreed to by the Cui family and emperor. The King of Miaojiang’s party will remain in the capital while Cui Yuzhi recovers.
• Wandering with the Second Prince, Song Yaoyao wonders how they became companions, then spots a crowd and asks him to investigate with her. He agrees, and they find a distressed woman, Dai Shubei, kneeling before debt collectors.
• Dai begs for more time to repay a loan. The collectors say her debt has risen from 150 to 250 taels with interest and threaten to sell her to a brothel if she cannot pay that day. Dai says her husband is paralyzed and that her sewing and embroidery earnings have gone toward his medicine.
• Guagua offers to reveal the story behind Dai’s situation. As it recounts her past, images appear above Song Yaoyao’s head, attracting onlookers—including people Song recognizes from the Miaojiang king’s banquet. The Second Prince notices their interest in the display.
• Guagua identifies Dai’s husband as Ye Gengming, heir to a wealthy merchant family. Raised by his father to manage the family business, Ye proved exceptionally capable. At eighteen, while away on business, he found Dai unconscious and injured by the roadside. She had lost her memory; a jade pendant identified her by name.
• Ye brought Dai to the capital for treatment. After she recovered, she could remember nothing about herself. Unable to abandon her, Ye arranged a courtyard residence for her. The excerpt ends before explaining how their lives developed afterward.

Character developments and interactions

• Song Yaoyao remains curious and eager for gossip, readily drawing the Second Prince into her explorations.
• The Second Prince accompanies her and quietly observes the audience gathering around Guagua’s revelations.
• Dai Shubei is presented first as a desperate debtor, then as a once-young, amnesiac woman rescued by Ye.
• Ye Gengming is shown as a gifted, dutiful merchant heir whose decision to save and shelter Dai suggests compassion.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Dai’s visible hardship initially invites sympathy, but Guagua hints that her story is more complicated than it seems.
• Debt and vulnerability: Dai’s circumstances expose how illness and poverty can leave people vulnerable to coercion.
• Compassion and responsibility: Ye takes in a stranger with no memory, while also carrying the expectations of his family’s sole male heir.
• Public curiosity: Song’s supernatural gossip display turns private histories into entertainment for a growing crowd.

Key plot points and events

• Dai Shubei, an amnesiac with no support in the Capital, grows close to Ye Gengming, who hides that he is heir to the wealthy Ye family and claims his family are modest merchants.
• Dai discovers she can support herself through embroidery. Ye admires her independence, and they fall in love.
• When Ye tells his family he wants to marry her, they object: they expect him to marry someone of equal status and suspect Dai is pursuing his wealth. Their accusations make Ye doubt their relationship.
• To test Dai’s motives, Ye stages the Ye family’s ruin and his own injury. He uses fake blood, bruising medicine, a bribed physician, and former servants to convince Dai that he has been beaten and is now poor.
• Dai believes the story, spends her embroidery earnings on his care, and stays to look after him. Ye then pretends to be unconscious and paralyzed. She faithfully cleans him, eventually even washing him despite her embarrassment, while he remains perfectly still.

Character developments

• Dai Shubei is shown as capable and self-reliant through her embroidery, but also compassionate and devoted. She helps Ye despite believing he has lost everything.
• Ye Gengming initially appears caring and sincere, but his insecurity leads him to devise an elaborate, deceptive test. His scheme grows increasingly outrageous, including pretending to be helpless while Dai tends to him.
• The Ye family are status-conscious and distrustful, treating Dai’s unknown background as proof that she may be calculating.

Significant themes

• Love versus suspicion: The Ye family’s doubts undermine Ye’s confidence in his relationship.
• Class and social status: The family believes Ye’s future wife must match his standing and devalues Dai because of her unknown origins.
• Trust and deception: Ye tries to prove Dai’s sincerity through a test that itself betrays a lack of trust.
• Independence and care: Dai’s ability to support herself contrasts with her willingness to sacrifice her earnings and comfort for someone she loves.

Character interactions

• Ye and Dai build affection through frequent visits and shared time; he protects her, while she pursues work on her own.
• Ye clashes with his family over his intention to marry Dai, but their accusations make him question her motives.
• During the staged crisis, Dai responds with practical kindness—paying for medical care and nursing Ye—while he secretly observes her commitment by pretending to be incapacitated.

Plot points and events

• Ye Gengming continues pretending to be paralyzed and unresponsive while Dai Shubei works long hours embroidering to pay for his care.
• After Dai leaves, his hidden Shadow Guard reports on the Ye family’s affairs. Ye gives instructions, then walks around freely before instantly resuming his act when he hears Dai return.
• The Shadow Guard secretly replaces Ye’s prescribed medicine with nourishing broth, since Ye is not actually ill and the medicine could harm him. Dai, unaware, feeds him the broth.
• Ye even soils the bed to make his supposed condition convincing. Dai patiently cleans him, his clothes, and the bedding, while onlookers recoil in disgust.
• Believing Ye needs help recovering, Dai studies massage and acupuncture. She cannot afford a physician, so she persuades an old doctor to teach her, then practices with embroidery needles heated over a flame. Though she sometimes inserts them incorrectly and draws blood, Ye remains motionless.

Character developments

• Dai Shubei is shown as hardworking, compassionate, and deeply devoted. She sacrifices her time and money, cares for Ye without complaint, and goes to great lengths to help him recover.
• Ye Gengming proves remarkably committed to his deception: he secretly manages family business, moves freely when alone, and endures discomfort and even painful acupuncture without breaking character.
• Song Yaoyao becomes increasingly outraged and disgusted by Ye’s treatment of Dai, voicing the audience’s sympathy for her.
• The gathered onlookers shift from curiosity to shock and anger, and resolve to investigate the Ye family.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts genuine care with calculated deception: Dai’s devotion is sincere, while Ye’s apparent helplessness is a performance.
• It highlights the cost of manipulation, as Dai’s compassion is exploited through exhausting labor and distressing care.
• Ye’s extreme endurance underscores how far people may go to maintain a lie, while also exposing the cruelty of treating another person’s kindness as a test.

Character interactions

• Dai treats Ye as her husband and caregiver, tending to his needs and trying to restore his health, unaware that he is faking.
• Ye and his Shadow Guard coordinate privately to preserve the deception, concealing his mobility and substituting safe broth for the medicine.
• Song Yaoyao reacts to the footage through conversations with Guagua, while the surrounding crowd watches, sympathizes with Dai, and condemns Ye’s actions.

Key plot points and events

• Guagua reveals that Ye Gengming has pretended to be paralyzed for three years. Though he learned early that Dai Shubei sincerely loved and cared for him, his family urged him to keep up the deception. As he grew fond of her, he became increasingly afraid that confessing would make her leave.
• Dai Shubei’s devotion has left her in severe debt: loan sharks threaten and abuse her while she struggles to care for Ye Gengming.
• Song Yaoyao condemns Ye Gengming for letting Dai suffer and decides to expose him.
• She pays the loan sharks the 250 taels Dai owes. They release Dai and leave after handing over the IOU.
• Dai gratefully promises to repay Song. Song accepts, explaining privately that helping someone does not mean forgiving a debt—and that Ye Gengming or his wealthy family should ultimately cover the money spent on him.
• Song offers to examine Ye Gengming for free. Dai, doubtful of the young girl’s medical ability but unwilling to refuse her after the rescue, agrees to take her home.

Character developments

• Song Yaoyao acts decisively and compassionately, while maintaining practical boundaries. She also intends to use the medical examination to uncover Ye Gengming’s deception.
• Dai Shubei is shown as loyal, hardworking, and proud. Even in crisis, she insists on repaying help rather than accepting it as a gift.
• Ye Gengming is exposed as a cowardly, dependent deceiver: he cares for Dai but prioritizes his fear of losing her over honesty, allowing her to suffer.
• Guagua provides the backstory and remarks that Song is ignoring the sentimental conventions of storybooks.

Significant themes

• Deception and responsibility: Ye’s prolonged lie causes the suffering Dai endures.
• Love versus selfishness: Ye’s attachment to Dai does not excuse his refusal to tell the truth.
• Compassion with boundaries: Song helps Dai without pretending that repayment is irrelevant.
• Pride and dignity: Dai’s insistence on repaying reflects her desire to preserve her independence.

Character interactions

• Guagua tells Song how Ye’s deception began and continued; Song responds with outrage and resolves to expose him.
• Song pays off Dai’s debt, then reassures her that repayment can happen slowly and that she need not work for Song.
• Dai expresses profound gratitude and agrees to let Song examine her husband, setting up Song’s confrontation with Ye.