Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui tells the Grand Elder that the Apocalypse she experienced in a previous life is about to begin, with roughly a week remaining. He doubts her at first, but divination focused on Lotus City confirms that disaster is already stirring there. The Wenren Family decides to warn its government contacts.
• A televised announcement describes the coming emergency as a new influenza strain and orders the nation into quarantine.
• At breakfast, Luoshui’s thoughts reveal the past-life fate of her cousin Wenren Xianqing: she died during the Apocalypse after her husband, Liu Qingjia, and his lover Jia Qing abused and exploited her.
• Xianqing learns that Jia Qing had deliberately encouraged her marriage to Liu Qingjia, then repeatedly urged her to stay despite the abuse. After Xianqing died, her son Liu Ci exposed what had happened to the Wenren family.
• Luoshui explains that Xianqing’s parents had always opposed the marriage but still gave her a substantial dowry. After learning of their daughter’s suffering, they detained the Liu family; Xianqing’s father eventually used the forbidden Soul-Searching Technique to uncover the truth.

Character developments

• The Grand Elder shifts from skepticism to alarm when his divination confirms Luoshui’s warning.
• Xianqing realizes how badly she misjudged Jia Qing and how her parents’ objections came from love. Anger at her former friend grows, followed by grief over her father’s willingness to risk severe backlash to learn what she had endured.
• Luoshui remains matter-of-fact as she shares painful knowledge from her previous life, while Yunjian listens and prompts her to explain further.

Significant themes

• Foreknowledge and responsibility: The Wenren family must act on a warning others may not believe.
• Betrayal and manipulation: Jia Qing exploited Xianqing’s trust, disguising harmful advice as concern.
• Family love and regret: Xianqing recognizes her parents’ past opposition as care, not rejection.
• Sacrifice and justice: Her father breaks a serious mystical taboo to uncover the truth about her abuse and death.

Character interactions

• Luoshui persuades the Grand Elder to investigate, and his confirmation prompts them to alert officials.
• Yunjian chats with Luoshui about the warning and later questions her through their shared mental communication.
• Xianqing overhears Luoshui’s account at breakfast and silently processes the revelations, concealing her tears from her cousin.

Plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui reveals the truth behind Wenren Xianqing’s disastrous first life. Jia Qing, secretly carrying a Bewitching Heart Gu, used it to manipulate Xianqing into falling for Liu Qingjia. She also drugged them to ensure they slept together, hoping Xianqing’s Wenren family connections would help rescue the struggling Liu family.
• Jia Qing further isolated Xianqing by deleting messages from her parents and controlling her accounts. Xianqing therefore believed her parents had not forgiven her, while they continued quietly helping the Liu family.
• The child Xianqing raised was actually Jia Qing and Liu Qingjia’s. Liu Qingjia’s mother had taken Xianqing’s newborn away and abandoned him; he was later lost in the waste-disposal system. Learning this overwhelms Xianqing, and she faints.
• In the new timeline, Wenren Luoshui’s family rescues Xianqing from the Liu household. As the apocalypse begins, the Dragon Nation’s early preparations—including medicine production, lockdowns, and the distribution of Detoxification Pills—help it remain orderly and suffer fewer casualties than other countries.
• Xianqing recovers and dedicates herself to refining pills, helping ordinary people awaken supernatural abilities. The apocalypse ends after a year. Once peace returns, she sends Liu Qingjia divorce papers and focuses on medicine; the Liu family’s attempt to return to the Wenren household ends in retreat.
• At the Imperial Preceptor’s Residence, Wenren Luoshui’s second uncle’s ghost dissolves after learning his daughter’s fate has changed. A trace of merit settles on Luoshui, who is too drowsy to notice.

Character developments

• Wenren Xianqing moves from shock, grief, and guilt toward recovery and purposeful work. She recognizes that her loving family remains behind her and proves herself through her talent for pill-making.
• Wenren Luoshui continues using knowledge of the previous life to protect her family and prepare the country for disaster, though she remains comically sleepy.
• Jia Qing is exposed as a calculating manipulator, while Liu Qingjia and his family are shown to have exploited Xianqing and concealed the truth about her child.
• Xianqing’s parents are revealed to have continued caring for her despite her estrangement.

Significant themes

• Parental love and forgiveness endure even when children are misled or estranged.
• Hidden manipulation can devastate lives, while truth and a second chance can make recovery possible.
• Family responsibility expands into collective responsibility: preparation, cooperation, and medical work help save the nation.
• The chapter contrasts a tragic past with a more hopeful present shaped by changed choices.

Character interactions

• Luoshui recounts the past to Xianqing, with Yunjian reacting angrily and emphasizing the parents’ devotion.
• Xianqing’s reunion with the truth about her family and child triggers a collapse, but her relatives’ support helps her rebuild.
• Xianqing severs her marriage to Liu Qingjia, while her parents confront the Liu family at the ancestral residence.
• Luoshui’s second uncle’s final release follows the news that his daughter has been saved.

Key plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui attends a tea-tasting banquet with her mother, hosted by the Grand Princess, who has recently recovered from illness after discovering that the daughter she raised was not her biological child and had hidden the truth.
• Luoshui, Yunjian, and the food-loving system sit apart from the other guests and share pastries. The system eats nearly everything, prompting playful scolding from the two women.
• Behind a rockery, Han Yunfan boasts to his lover, Tu Yanyan, that he plans to marry her elder sister, Tu Hua, then mistreat and divorce her so Yanyan can become his principal wife and claim Tu Hua’s dowry.
• Tu Hua overhears and slaps Han. Yanyan shoves her, and Tu Hua falls into the lake. The pair flee instead of calling for help.
• Luoshui hears Tu Hua struggling and rushes over. With no one else able to swim, she pulls Tu Hua from the water and carries her to change clothes.

Character developments

• Wenren Luoshui is shown as quick to act and physically capable, rescuing Tu Hua without hesitation. Her daring display makes a strong impression on the watching young women.
• Tu Hua is revealed as fiery and wronged: she confronts Han after hearing his cruel scheme, then is endangered by her sister’s shove.
• Tu Yanyan appears outwardly reluctant to continue the affair but protects Han and abandons her sister after pushing her into danger.
• Han Yunfan is exposed as selfish and calculating, intending to exploit Tu Hua and her dowry while arranging for his mother to abuse her.
• The system continues its comic role as a voracious eater, bantering with Luoshui and Yunjian.

Significant themes

• Deception and betrayal: The Grand Princess’s family revelation echoes the concealed affair and manipulation unfolding at the banquet.
• Gender and social expectations: The women cannot easily rescue Tu Hua because swimming is not considered a skill for noblewomen or their maids.
• Justice and action: While the crowd can only watch and worry, Luoshui acts decisively.
• Comedy amid melodrama: The system’s gluttony and the young women’s admiration of Luoshui lighten the chapter’s intrigue and peril.

Character interactions

• Luoshui and Yunjian tease the system over its appetite.
• Han and Yanyan discuss their affair and his plan to marry Tu Hua for financial and social advantage.
• Tu Hua confronts Han; Yanyan intervenes physically and causes Tu Hua’s fall.
• Luoshui rescues Tu Hua, while the gathered young women admire her courage and speculate about her appeal.

Key plot points and events

• Tu Hua wakes in an unfamiliar, ancient-style room and initially thinks she is dreaming. After the pain of slapping herself confirms she is awake, she realizes she has transmigrated.
• Her memories of her final moments in the apocalypse are incomplete. She recalls being part of a squad sent to retrieve a leading biologist from Yutao City.
• Wenren Luoshui reads an account revealing that Tu Hua stayed behind to fight an intelligent Level Eight Zombie, which self-destructed and killed her.
• Luoshui recognizes Tu Hua as her modern-world cousin and visits her with Yunjian. Tu Hua recognizes both women by their old online identities, and they share their experiences.
• Luoshui explains Tu Hua’s new circumstances: she is the legitimate daughter of a seventh-rank official, her fiancé was involved with her concubine-born younger sister, and that sister pushed her into a river.
• Tu Hua is outraged at being dropped into a familiar household-intrigue plot. Luoshui and Yunjian joke about women’s webnovel tropes while sharing snacks, and Tu Hua eventually joins them.

Character developments

• Tu Hua is practical, physically formidable, and blunt. She quickly adjusts to her surroundings but resists the idea of being caught up in domestic scheming.
• Wenren Luoshui takes the initiative to confirm Tu Hua’s identity and inform her about both her death and her new life.
• Yunjian helps connect Tu Hua to Luoshui and joins in the teasing commentary.

Significant themes

• Transmigration and second lives: Tu Hua moves from an apocalyptic future into an unfamiliar historical world.
• Genre awareness and satire: The characters recognize and mock familiar romance-webnovel conventions, especially sibling rivalry, romantic betrayal, and household intrigue.
• Found connections across worlds: Familiar online identities help the women recognize one another despite their changed circumstances.

Character interactions

• Tu Hua treats the maid roughly at first, then repairs her dislocated arms and sends her away so she can dress herself.
• Luoshui and Yunjian reconnect with Tu Hua through their shared modern-world history.
• Tu Hua interrupts Luoshui’s explanation in disbelief, while Luoshui and Yunjian try to comfort her with humor and snacks.

Plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui warns Tu Hua that her fiancé, Han Yunfan, intends to have his mother mistreat her after marriage, then blame her for being disrespectful and divorce her while keeping her substantial dowry.
• Tu Hua angrily resolves to end the engagement. She learns it is only a verbal agreement between their fathers; no betrothal gifts have been exchanged, so she has little to fear.
• Luoshui explains that Tu Hua’s mother has always protected her. The family originally expected the engagement to involve one of Tu Hua’s concubine-born half-sisters, until Han Yunfan manipulated Tu Hua into falling for him.
• The women leave to confront Han Yunfan and Tu Yanyan, Tu Hua’s younger half-sister and his true love. They discover the pair meeting intimately in a secluded room.
• The Grand Princess follows along to watch the spectacle. At her maid’s apparent accident, the door is opened, exposing the lovers to the gathered crowd.
• Luoshui and Yunjian privately make crude jokes about the couple, prompting those who can hear their thoughts to object to their lack of discretion.

Character developments

• Tu Hua shifts from believing she is trapped in a fixed marriage to feeling empowered to break the engagement. Her anger confirms she is no longer willing to sacrifice herself for Han.
• Wenren Luoshui acts as Tu Hua’s blunt, practical adviser, encouraging her to protect her rights and refuse to be exploited.
• Yunjian supports the confrontation and helps turn Tu Hua’s decision into action.
• The Grand Princess shows her growing appetite for public drama by following the women to witness the lovers’ exposure.

Significant themes

• Self-respect and cutting losses: Tu Hua decides that ending a harmful relationship is better than enduring it.
• Women’s rights and material security: The dowry and the threat of divorce underline the risks women face when marriage is used to exploit them.
• Rejecting romanticized suffering: The women mock the familiar fiction trope of a capable heroine becoming irrationally devoted to a scoundrel.
• Public exposure and spectacle: The lovers’ secrecy collapses into a humiliating scene, while the onlookers treat it as entertainment.

Character interactions

• Luoshui and Yunjian counsel Tu Hua with humor and bluntness, while Tu Hua reacts with outrage and resolves to act.
• The three women unite to confront Han Yunfan and Tu Yanyan rather than let the engagement drag on.
• The Grand Princess and her maid help bring the hidden affair into public view.
• Luoshui and Yunjian’s irreverent mental banter contrasts with the crowd’s discomfort at hearing their comments.

Key plot points and events

• The Grand Princess and other noblewomen discover Han Yunfan and Tu Yanyan in a compromising situation. The Grand Princess questions them and, believing them betrothed, reprimands Tu Yanyan for improper conduct.
• Tu Hua confirms the betrothal publicly, then slaps Han when he tries to challenge her account. She accuses him of wanting to marry both sisters and exploiting her family’s wealth.
• Wenren Luoshui’s thoughts reveal Han’s plan to drug Tu Hua and his interest in her merchant mother’s money. Tu Hua recognizes that he intends to take advantage of her and her dowry.
• Tu Yanyan tries to portray Han as devoted to Tu Hua and herself as merely responding to his suffering. Tu Hua rejects the story, insists she has never loved Han, and swears to prove her honesty.
• The Grand Princess ends the spectacle and clears the gathering. When Han tries to follow Tu Hua, Wenren Luoshui uses a Blazing Flame Talisman to block him.

Character developments

• Tu Hua emerges as forceful, sharp, and unwilling to be manipulated. She uses public etiquette and the betrothal to corner Han, while privately resolving to watch for his schemes.
• Han Yunfan is exposed as a calculating opportunist who wants Tu Hua’s wealth and plans to drug her. His charm fails once she stops playing along.
• Tu Yanyan attempts to defend Han and preserve an image of self-sacrifice, but Tu Hua refuses to be drawn into her narrative.
• The Grand Princess shows measured authority and a quiet willingness to protect Tu Hua by dismissing the crowd.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian act as Tu Hua’s supporters, prompting her to confront Han and helping her leave safely.

Significant themes

• Rejecting manipulation and exploitation: Tu Hua refuses to be used for Han’s money or treated as a convenient second wife.
• Reputation and social propriety: The public setting and the betrothal give Tu Hua leverage, while the Grand Princess’s authority controls the confrontation.
• Female solidarity and self-assertion: Tu Hua’s allies support her, and she claims the right to define her own feelings and future.
• Satire of hypocrisy: Han and Tu Yanyan disguise self-interest as romance and restraint, while the scene’s comic tone punctures their pretenses.

Character interactions

• Tu Hua confronts Han directly, striking him and demanding that he answer for his intentions.
• She challenges Tu Yanyan’s defense and firmly denies ever loving Han.
• The Grand Princess questions the couple, rebukes their conduct, then gives Tu Hua a chance to exit the scene.
• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian encourage Tu Hua and ultimately prevent Han from pursuing her.

Plot points and events

• After the banquet, Tu Hua returns to the Tu Residence with Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian, intending to settle matters with her family and end her engagement.
• The household servants show Tu Hua little respect, reflecting Lord Tu’s neglect of his eldest daughter.
• In the main hall, Lord Tu angrily blames Tu Hua for damaging Tu Yanyan’s reputation and throws scalding tea at her. Tu Hua easily dodges it.
• Madam Tu defends Tu Hua, pointing out that Tu Yanyan and Han Yunfan are responsible for their own disgrace. She also challenges Lord Tu’s hypocrisy and favoritism.
• Madam Tu recalls how she and her family supported Lord Tu’s rise, while he now acts as though his official status makes him superior to them.
• Han Yunfan kneels and claims to take all the blame, apparently hoping to win the family’s sympathy. Madam Tu sees through his performance and criticizes him for acting aggrieved after Tu Hua has stepped aside for him and Tu Yanyan.
• Tu Yanyan insists that Han Yunfan truly loves Tu Hua, citing his regular gifts of almond cake. Wenren Luoshui reveals that the cakes contained powdered Obedience Gu, exposing Han and Yanyan’s scheme.
• The revelation enrages Tu Hua’s parents. Lord Tu, especially, realizes Han has dared to manipulate his family and turns murderous, leaving Han confused by the sudden change in his father-in-law’s expression.

Character developments

• Tu Hua remains calm and self-possessed amid her family’s hostility; she neither seeks the servants’ approval nor is shaken by Lord Tu’s attack.
• Madam Tu emerges as a sharp, forceful defender of her daughter. Her business experience makes her adept at recognizing manipulation, and she directly confronts both her husband’s favoritism and Han Yunfan’s false remorse.
• Lord Tu is shown as ungrateful and self-justifying: despite the Tu family’s support in his rise, he now leans on his official status. His anger shifts from blaming Tu Hua to condemning Han once the Gu scheme is exposed.
• Han Yunfan tries to present himself as noble by accepting blame, but his manipulative intent is apparent to Madam Tu. He fails to understand why Lord Tu’s attitude suddenly turns hostile.
• Tu Yanyan uses a tearful, gentle manner to defend Han and appeal to Tu Hua, but her account inadvertently exposes the deception.
• Wenren Luoshui provides the crucial information about the Obedience Gu, helping reveal what Han and Yanyan have been doing.

Significant themes

• Family favoritism and neglect: Lord Tu condemns Tu Hua while protecting Yanyan, and even the servants’ disrespect reflects his treatment of his eldest daughter.
• Power, gratitude, and social status: Lord Tu has forgotten the family that funded and supported him, illustrating how success can breed entitlement and ingratitude.
• Manipulation versus appearances: Han’s performance of remorse and Yanyan’s claims of love conceal coercion and calculated deception.
• Women’s agency and discernment: Madam Tu’s business acumen and Tu Hua’s composure contrast with the men’s posturing and expose the schemes around them.

Character interactions

• Madam Tu and Lord Tu clash over his favoritism and his treatment of Tu Hua; she invokes her family’s past support, while he tries to dismiss her as merely a manager of accounts.
• Madam Tu confronts Han directly, rejecting his attempt to cast himself as a noble victim.
• Tu Yanyan addresses Tu Hua as a concerned sister and presents Han’s gifts as proof of love, but Wenren Luoshui’s revelation turns the exchange against them.
• Tu Hua’s companions silently support her, while Lord Tu’s response to the revelation makes the family conflict more dangerous for Han and Yanyan.

Key plot points and events

• Yunjian calls out Tu Yanyan for defending Han Yunfan and trying to pressure Tu Hua into forgiving him. Tu Yanyan responds with staged tears, but Wenren Luoshui uses her system to edit the scene so that green snot pours from Tu Yanyan’s nose.
• Lord Tu blames Tu Hua for her friends’ behavior, prompting Madam Tu to strike him with a cane and defend her daughter. She reminds him that Tu Hua is his daughter too and that he has neglected his responsibilities as a father.
• Tu Yanyan rushes to comfort Lord Tu, but her snot lands on his hand. When she sniffs it back into her nose, he recoils in disgust.
• Wenren Luoshui spends system points to remove Lord Tu’s “rose-colored filter” toward Tu Yanyan. He then slaps both Tu Yanyan and Han Yunfan and criticizes them for coveting Tu Hua’s engagement.
• Tu Yanyan openly challenges her father, insisting that she and Han Yunfan are a better match and accusing Lord Tu of arranging her other proposed marriage to advance his own interests. Wenren Luoshui’s commentary and the system reveal that Tu Yanyan believes her father’s matchmaking is self-serving.
• Lord Tu argues that the wealthy, favored son of an Imperial Academy instructor could offer Tu Yanyan a comfortable life. She rejects the match, saying the man is an arrogant snob and accusing her father of trying to curry favor with him.

Character developments

• Yunjian is blunt and unapologetic, exposing Tu Yanyan’s hypocrisy rather than indulging her victim act.
• Wenren Luoshui uses her system edits and commentary to humiliate Tu Yanyan and change Lord Tu’s perception of her.
• Madam Tu openly asserts herself as Tu Hua’s protector, confronting Lord Tu when he mistreats their daughter.
• Lord Tu shifts from defending Tu Yanyan to expressing disappointment and anger once his idealized view of her is disrupted.
• Tu Yanyan drops her meek persona and reveals her resentment, ambition, and desire to marry Han Yunfan.
• Tu Hua is caught off guard by her father’s hostility and then his sudden slap, highlighting how little she expects his support.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and manipulation: Tu Yanyan’s helpless act is contrasted with her private resentment and romantic agenda.
• Favoritism and parental duty: Lord Tu’s preference for Tu Yanyan harms Tu Hua, while Madam Tu insists he is responsible for both daughters.
• Power and social advantage: Marriage is treated as a means of gaining comfort, influence, or favor, even as Tu Yanyan claims to want love.
• Comic humiliation and shifting perception: System interventions turn melodrama into farce and expose the gap between appearances and reality.

Character interactions

• Yunjian confronts Tu Yanyan directly over her attempt to guilt Tu Hua.
• Lord Tu scolds Tu Hua, and Madam Tu responds by striking him and defending her daughter.
• Tu Yanyan tries to comfort Lord Tu, but the snot incident repels him.
• Lord Tu attacks Tu Yanyan and Han Yunfan, while Tu Yanyan retaliates by accusing him of controlling her marriage prospects for his own benefit.

Plot and key events

• Tu Yanyan lashes out at her parents, accusing Lord Tu of planning her future for his own advancement. She demands that he take Madam Tu’s money and family property for her dowry so she can marry Han Yunfan.
• Lord Tu is devastated and enraged. He orders Han Yunfan out and declares the informal marriage agreement between the Han and Tu families void.
• Wenren Luoshui and the others’ unspoken observations remind Lord Tu that Tu Yanyan and Han were seen behaving improperly at the Grand Princess’s residence. Shocked by this revelation, he faints.
• Madam Tu calmly has Lord Tu carried away and leaves with Tu Hua and the others.
• Later, Tu Hua asks whether her mother might divorce her father. Madam Tu says she has little affection for Lord Tu, but will not divorce him, and explains why she agreed to marry him.

Character developments and interactions

• Tu Yanyan reveals how entitled and impulsive she is: she expects her father to surrender Madam Tu’s property for her benefit and is oblivious to the consequences.
• Lord Tu is shaken by his daughter’s accusations and the revelation about Han, though he remains focused on protecting his household’s interests.
• Madam Tu shows composure and independence. She refuses to interfere in the affair between Tu Yanyan and Han, and reassures Tu Hua that she can protect herself.
• Tu Hua shows concern for her mother and newfound willingness to challenge the family’s situation.
• Madam Tu recounts that a predatory, much older cousin once threatened her family and had already beaten several wives to death. To escape him, she chose Heiniu—later Lord Tu—because he was comparatively straightforward and allowed her to conduct business publicly. Their marriage was a practical arrangement in which both got what they needed.

Significant themes

• Entitlement and selfishness: Tu Yanyan treats her mother’s wealth as something she can claim for herself.
• Women’s agency and security: Madam Tu chose a marriage that offered safety and room to manage her own affairs, and maintains her independence within it.
• Practical marriage versus affection: Madam Tu’s union with Lord Tu was based on mutual advantage rather than love.
• Family power and reputation: Lord Tu’s official standing and the risk of public scandal shape his response to the family’s conflicts.

Key plot points and events

• Tu Yan’er defies Lord Tu’s punishment, runs away to the Han family, and begins living with Han Yunfan. Lord Tu, hurt by her choices, agrees to their marriage but provides only the dowry he had already saved for her: thirty-two loads rather than the 120 she expected.
• After the wedding, Han Yunfan repeatedly tries to approach Tu Hua. Strange mishaps and nightmares frighten him off, and he stops pursuing her.
• The Eldest Princess’s paper mill, aided by Wenren Luoshui and others, develops affordable coarse paper. The emperor proudly distributes it during an incognito tour, but gives away his entire supply within days.
• The emperor hopes to extend his trip and inspect the spread of potatoes, but a letter from the Empress scolds him for leaving without the family. He returns to the capital rather than risk her setting off on her own.
• At an inn, Wenren Luoshui sees a new book revealing the story of Ruan Xi, the pregnant innkeeper. The chapter introduces her past: a modern woman who escaped a son-preferring family, became an academic success, and later died from overwork before transmigrating. In her new life, loving parents give her freedom, but she chooses marriage out of gratitude and becomes unusually dependent on others’ approval.

Character developments and interactions

• Lord Tu gives up on trying to reach Tu Yan’er after repeated betrayals, though he still provides the dowry he had prepared for her.
• Tu Yan’er tries to regain his sympathy through a pitiful display, but it no longer works; she must accept the smaller dowry.
• Han Yunfan abandons his attempts to approach Tu Hua after a string of unnerving incidents.
• The emperor is enthusiastic and boastful about his daughter’s invention, but the Empress’s rebuke brings his leisure trip to an end.
• Wenren Luoshui, Tu Hua, Yunjian, and Sui Yun travel with the emperor. Yunjian playfully tests whether Sui Yun is ticklish; he remains composed but looks at her tenderly.
• Ruan Xi’s backstory contrasts her caring new family with the approval-seeking habits formed in her former life.

Significant themes

• Trust and its limits: Lord Tu’s affection cannot survive repeated rejection and manipulation.
• Consequences and accountability: Tu Yan’er’s choices cost her the generous treatment she expected.
• Innovation and public benefit: The new paper promises a practical improvement in everyday life.
• Family responsibility: The emperor’s pleasure trip is checked by the Empress’s insistence that he not neglect his family.
• Approval and gender expectations: Ruan Xi’s story highlights how a woman shaped by sexist pressures may continue to seek validation, even in a more supportive environment.

Key plot points and events

• Ruan Xi’s obsession with earning praise through fertility drove her to have children almost continuously. Despite serious physical consequences, she continued into her sixties and died during a difficult final childbirth after insisting that the baby be saved.
• Her husband was blamed for her death and suffered from depression fueled by years of gossip. He killed himself two months later.
• Ruan Xi was also a gifted businesswoman who built the Ruan family’s inn into the largest chain in the commandery. Her wealth passed to her husband when she died.
• Wenren Luoshui reacts with disbelief at Ruan Xi’s priorities. She and Yunjian joke about Ruan Xi’s fixation on bearing children while feeding the system, which has taken the form of a kitten.
• At the inn, Sui Yun notices a striking man at the counter. Wenren Luoshui recognizes him through a newly appearing story as Duan Yifan, the missing eldest son of the Duke of Anguo.
• The story reveals that Ruan Xi found Duan Yifan injured after he escaped assassins. Believing he was a rich, exceptional man—and her destined husband—she knocked him unconscious, left him in the river, and delayed getting medical help until he was delirious.
• After his injuries caused amnesia, Ruan Xi invented an orphan identity for him and claimed to be his rescuer. When he refused to marry her, she imprisoned him. She also repeatedly turned away search parties from the Capital, hoping to secure the greatest benefit before surrendering him.

Character developments

• Ruan Xi is presented as both an unusually capable entrepreneur and a woman whose need for approval led her to harm herself, her husband, and Duan Yifan.
• Her husband is left devastated by public blame and dies by suicide after her death.
• Duan Yifan is introduced as a nobleman whose disappearance resulted from Ruan Xi’s calculated exploitation of his vulnerability.
• Wenren Luoshui responds with incredulity and dry humor, while Sui Yun becomes alert to Duan Yifan’s identity through her thoughts.

Significant themes

• The destructive cost of seeking social approval, particularly when women’s worth is tied to childbirth.
• The gap between intelligence or modern education and genuinely progressive values.
• Coercion and exploitation disguised as rescue or care.
• Rumor and public judgment as forces that can ruin lives.

Character interactions

• Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian exchange sardonic thoughts about Ruan Xi’s fertility obsession.
• Sui Yun and Yunjian notice Duan Yifan at the counter; Wenren Luoshui’s thoughts reveal his identity to Sui Yun.
• Ruan Xi manipulates Duan Yifan while he is injured and amnesiac, then uses confinement and deception to keep him from returning to his family.

Plot points

• Three months pass with Duan Yifan still resisting marriage. Ruan Xi repeatedly torments him, then cures him when he falls ill; eventually he agrees, and they marry.
• Duan Yifan’s family has searched for him for years. His grandmother died longing to see him, and his father cannot pass the family title to his second son without proof that Duan Yifan is dead. Sui Yun has also been searching and is astonished to learn Duan Yifan lives only three days from the capital.
• At the inn, Ruan Xi’s young son tries to take Wenren Luoshui’s peach-shaped pendant. Tu Hua stops him, and Ruan Xi arrives and blames the women instead of correcting her child.
• Ruan Xi insults the women as improper and assumes they are the emperor’s concubines, then claims her son is entitled to the pendant. When he tries to snatch it again, Wenren releases her system, which transforms from a kitten into a huge tiger. The boy faints, the guests panic, and Duan Yifan brings out the other children. The tiger frightens them too, though Duan Yifan remains composed. Wenren returns the system to kitten form and goes back to her room.

Character developments and interactions

• Wenren Luoshui stays calm through Ruan Xi’s accusations, but finally uses the system to stop the theft and end the confrontation.
• Ruan Xi shows herself to be entitled and hypocritical: she lectures others about propriety while excusing her son’s attempted theft and insisting he deserves whatever he wants.
• Tu Hua instinctively protects Wenren’s property and confronts the boy in an intimidating manner.
• Duan Yifan is revealed to have been living close to the capital for years, despite the prolonged search for him; his calm in the face of the tiger distinguishes him from the others.
• The emperor and Sui Yun witness Ruan Xi’s absurd behavior, while the household’s history gives Duan Yifan’s disappearance and return greater stakes.

Themes

• Hypocrisy and entitlement: Ruan Xi’s moralizing contrasts sharply with her own behavior and her defense of her son.
• Character versus education or status: The women reflect that education does not necessarily produce good judgment or character.
• Family duty and legacy: Duan Yifan’s disappearance has burdened his family and complicated succession.
• Power and intimidation: The system’s transformation swiftly ends a conflict that reason and restraint could not resolve.

Plot and key events

• Wenren Luoshui wakes after hearing suspicious noises and, with Yunjian and Tu Hua, uses a Teleportation Talisman to escape their room. They discover Ruan Xi’s six sons spreading tung oil on the door and setting the room on fire.
• The women evacuate the inn’s guests before the blaze spreads. Wenren Luoshui creates a magical image documenting the boys’ arson, though Ruan Xi’s family does not see it.
• Ruan Xi and her family accuse the women of starting the fire. Ruan Xi insults them as supposedly unable to bear children; Yunjian ridicules her obsession with fertility.
• Wenren Luoshui reveals that Duan Yifan is the missing eldest son of the Duke of Anguo. Ruan Xi had ambushed him, caused his memory loss, and forced him into marriage so she could gain wealth and status. His memories return, and he turns on her.
• Local officers arrive and arrest Ruan Xi, Duan Yifan, and the six boys, supported by the magical recording and the guests’ testimony.
• Back in the Capital, Sui Yun reports Duan Yifan’s conduct to the Duke of Anguo. The Duke replaces him as heir with a more capable son, and the emperor approves.

Character developments and interactions

• Wenren Luoshui stays composed and defiant, protecting the other guests and exposing both the arson and Duan Yifan’s past.
• Yunjian shifts from startled disbelief to sharp, comic retaliation against Ruan Xi’s insults.
• Ruan Xi presents herself as proud of bearing six sons, but her confidence collapses when Duan Yifan remembers the truth. She tries to use the children as leverage to secure a place in his family.
• Duan Yifan begins as an entitled man whose upbringing has made him unreliable; recovering his memories reveals his anger at being manipulated. His household ultimately rejects him as heir.
• The children show no remorse for endangering the inn’s guests and are arrested for their role in the fire. Sui Yun’s factual report helps ensure Duan Yifan faces consequences.

Significant themes

• Accountability: Evidence and witness testimony defeat the family’s attempt to blame the victims.
• Manipulation and self-interest: Ruan Xi’s marriage and claims about her sons are driven by ambition, while Duan Yifan’s own history of scheming catches up with him.
• Status versus character: Noble lineage cannot shield Duan Yifan from the consequences of his actions.
• Gender and fertility: Ruan Xi treats motherhood—especially bearing sons—as a measure of superiority, a belief Yunjian challenges through humor.

Key plot points and events

• Wenren Luoshui’s family visits her maternal grandparents for her grandfather’s birthday. Wenren Qiao, Prince of Beiping, is especially fond of his father-in-law and often runs to the Tie home to complain after quarrels with his wife, Tie Lihua.
• Wenren Qingluo wants to race the family’s cat, Big Yellow, up a tree. Before the race begins, a neighbor’s spoiled grandson grabs and mistreats the cat, then attacks Qingluo when he tries to intervene.
• Luoshui advises her brother to bite if he cannot fight back. Qingluo does so, making the boy cry. The boy’s grandmother, Auntie Ma, blames Qingluo, but he explains what happened. Tie Maternal Grandmother orders Auntie Ma not to visit again and has her escorted out.
• Before the birthday meal, the family learns that Tie Maternal Grandmother’s youngest sister, Chang Bingbing, has arrived. Luoshui reads Bingbing’s backstory and sees a long history of selfishness and family favoritism.

Character developments and interactions

• Wenren Qiao shows his closeness to his in-laws: he treats his wife’s family as his own refuge and is warmly accepted by Tie Maternal Grandfather.
• Wenren Luoshui is playful and indulgent toward her younger brother, while also backing him when he stands up for the cat.
• Wenren Qingluo proves willing to defend the kitten and acts boldly when challenged, despite being smaller than his attacker.
• Tie Maternal Grandmother is normally peaceable but firmly rejects Auntie Ma’s unfair accusations and ends their association.
• Chang Bingbing is introduced as entitled and troublesome. As a child, she was spoiled by her mother, who expected her elder sisters to yield to her; Bingbing routinely manipulated family members to get money and favors. Tie Lihua resisted her and her mother even as a small child, chasing them from the smithy with hot tongs.

Significant themes

• Spoiling and entitlement: Bingbing’s upbringing encourages selfishness, while Auntie Ma’s favoritism makes her grandson’s misbehavior seem acceptable to her.
• Standing up for oneself: Qingluo defends the kitten and follows Luoshui’s practical advice when attacked.
• Family loyalty and belonging: Qiao’s bond with his in-laws contrasts with his earlier family ties, while the Tie family protects its own and refuses to tolerate injustice.
• Consequences for bad behavior: Auntie Ma is excluded from the household, and Bingbing’s entrance hints that her old patterns may cause further trouble.

Key plot points and events

• In the past, Chang Bingbing demanded that her older sisters arrange an extravagant coming-of-age ceremony and later buy her a house in the Capital City so she could remain there with her husband. Their mother, Madam Chang, pressured the sisters to comply.
• The sisters’ husbands worked themselves to exhaustion to fund the house. Once Chang Bingbing continued making demands, the sisters began ignoring her and exposing the family’s behavior to their neighbors. Public ridicule eventually discouraged both Chang Bingbing and Madam Chang from visiting.
• After learning that Wenren Qiao had chosen Tie Lihua as his bride, Chang Bingbing decided her own daughters might also attract powerful husbands. Tie Lihua’s family drove her away when she came to propose the scheme.
• Chang Bingbing later attempted to switch places with Tie Lihua during her wedding procession, but the prince’s guards stopped her. She also tried to bribe Tie Lihua’s midwife to kill Tie Lihua and her baby. The midwife refused and informed Wenren Qiao.
• Wenren Qiao appealed to the emperor, who transferred Chang Bingbing’s husband to a remote post. Chang Bingbing now lives far from the Capital City.
• In the present, Chang Bingbing demands Wenren Luoshui’s fertility-wine recipe and asks Wenren Qiao to secure her husband a better appointment south of the Yangtze. Luoshui refuses, and Tie Lihua rebukes Chang Bingbing for failing to show respect to the prince and his consort.

Character developments

• Chang Bingbing remains entitled and manipulative, escalating from exploiting her sisters to attempting to seize Tie Lihua’s marriage and endanger her and her child. She continues to treat relatives as though they owe her favors.
• Tie Lihua is protective of her family and now firmly asserts her status and boundaries.
• Wenren Qiao responds decisively to threats against his wife and child, using his influence with the emperor.
• Wenren Luoshui is calm and sharp-tongued, refusing to reward Chang Bingbing’s demands.
• Tie Maternal Grandmother and the elder sisters eventually reject Chang Bingbing’s exploitation, while the neighbors’ disapproval helps curb the family’s pressure.

Significant themes

• The chapter condemns entitlement, familial exploitation, and coercion disguised as family duty.
• Public accountability and firm boundaries can resist manipulative relatives.
• Loyalty and power are shown through protection of loved ones, especially Wenren Qiao’s defense of Tie Lihua and their child.
• Chang Bingbing’s repeated schemes contrast with the relatives’ growing unity and self-respect.

Character interactions

• Madam Chang pressures her married daughters on Chang Bingbing’s behalf, while the daughters eventually unite in refusing further demands.
• Chang Bingbing’s schemes provoke confrontation with Tie Lihua’s family, and her attempted attack on Tie Lihua is exposed by the midwife.
• In the present, Chang Bingbing tries to command Luoshui and enlist Wenren Qiao’s influence; Luoshui rejects her outright, and Tie Lihua points out that Chang Bingbing has shown no respect to her elders’ household.

Plot points and events

• Aunt Chang demands that Wenren Qiao help her husband obtain a better official posting, insisting that her niece’s refusal insults her elders. Wenren Qiao calls out her hypocrisy and slaps her; when she attacks him and then wails curses against her sister, Tie Lihua intervenes. She repeatedly tosses Aunt Chang into the air and leaves her hanging in a ginkgo tree. The family then enjoys a peaceful birthday meal without her.
• Wenren Luoshui asks her system about Aunt Chang. It reveals that Chang Bingbing is a fellow transmigrator with a defective charm system, which bound her mother to favor her. Spoiled by that favoritism, she believes her older sisters should serve her. She came to the capital to pressure Wenren Qiao into helping her husband secure a more prosperous post.
• The next morning at court, the usually timid Second Prince unexpectedly urges the emperor to provide for refugees fleeing a drought in the neighboring Dongchang Kingdom. The emperor and ministers are baffled: Li Kingdom struggles to support its own people, and the prince’s sudden concern for foreign affairs seems suspicious. The other princes try to restrain him, but he persists. The emperor silently urges Luoshui to ask her system what is going on; the chapter ends before the mystery is resolved.

Character developments and interactions

• Wenren Qiao shows that, despite his carefree reputation, he has firm boundaries when his family is mistreated. He openly challenges Aunt Chang’s entitlement.
• Tie Lihua demonstrates her considerable strength and protective instincts, taking charge of the confrontation herself. Luoshui humorously encourages her mother with a song.
• Aunt Chang/Chang Bingbing is exposed as an entitled, manipulative transmigrator whose sense of superiority has been reinforced by her system and her mother’s favoritism.
• The Second Prince abruptly shifts from passive to politically assertive, alarming both the court and his father. Luoshui and the emperor share suspicions about the change.

Significant themes

• Entitlement versus genuine kinship: Aunt Chang expects help while showing contempt for the relatives she depends on.
• Family loyalty and protection: Wenren Qiao and Tie Lihua defend their household against abuse.
• Power and favoritism: Chang Bingbing’s system shapes her upbringing and feeds her superiority complex.
• Suspicion beneath public affairs: The Second Prince’s surprising proposal suggests that hidden influences may be at work.

Key plot points and events

• In court, the Second Prince promotes helping other nations even though Li Kingdom’s own people are going hungry. The emperor and his siblings find his arguments absurd.
• The Third Prince tries to silence him, and the Eldest Princess suggests that, if he is truly so compassionate, he should volunteer to defend the harsh frontier. He immediately goes quiet.
• Wenren Luoshui’s thoughts reveal that a foreigner has possessed the Second Prince. In his former life, he became obsessed with Wakoku and was recruited by an organization there to travel back in time and undermine the ancient Dragon Nation.
• The Eldest Princess, Third Prince, and Fifth Prince beat the impostor. The emperor refuses to defend him, and the ministers, too, call for severe punishment.
• Wenren reveals the most urgent threat: the foreign organization gave the Second Prince a highly contagious modern virus to release in a crowded place if his other plans failed.
• The emperor has him sent to the Heavenly Prison. Guards find a tiny transparent container hidden in his topknot, and the Imperial Preceptor agrees to seal it away.

Character developments and interactions

• The Second Prince is exposed as a hypocritical, foreign-obsessed infiltrator rather than a sincere humanitarian. He tries to play the victim after being beaten but gets no sympathy.
• The Eldest Princess shows sharp judgment: her frontier proposal quickly reveals that the Second Prince’s concern is performative.
• The Third and Fifth Princes join their sister in confronting the impostor, while the emperor and court officials unite against him.
• Wenren Luoshui provides the crucial information through her private thoughts, though she worries about how to warn the emperor about the virus.
• The emperor shifts from indignation at his son’s foolishness to alarm at the foreign plot, ordering the Second Prince detained and the dangerous object secured.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts genuine responsibility toward one’s own people with empty moral posturing.
• It emphasizes the danger of foreign interference and the misuse of future knowledge to destabilize the past.
• Family and political loyalties are tested, but the court’s collective response shows unity when the kingdom faces a real threat.

Plot points

• Wang Siwo, the ghost inhabiting the Second Prince, endures a month in the Heavenly Prison before breaking free. When he tries to escape the prison, its Purification Array destroys him. The Second Prince returns to normal, shaken but physically unharmed.
• At the newly opened Begonia Garden, Wenren Luoshui learns that her aunt, Chang Bingbing, has been disrupting business and driving away customers. The staff restrain Chang, who insists that her family ties entitle her to special treatment.
• Wenren’s system announces that she has caught two Wakoku spies and unlocked a low-accuracy spy-detection function. It identifies Chang as a spy with 99% certainty.
• Wenren sends Chang to the Court of Judicial Review with the system’s dossier and a list of her contacts. Authorities arrest the people implicated, including Chang’s husband and family.
• After being tortured during interrogation, Chang asks Wenren how she obtained the evidence. Wenren teases her instead of answering. Chang is later executed, still blaming Wenren’s family for her misfortunes.

Character developments and interactions

• Wenren Luoshui remains composed and wry: she ignores Chang’s demands, has her restrained, and treats the spy investigation as an unexpected windfall.
• Chang Bingbing moves from arrogant certainty—believing her auntly status will protect her—to panic, denial, and finally bitter resentment. She rationalizes her espionage by blaming relatives for her financial and personal disappointments.
• The Begonia Garden’s manager and staff try to protect the business from Chang’s persistent harassment, while the authorities initially fail to stop her because she behaves when they arrive.
• Wang Siwo and the Second Prince are separated when Wang’s ghost is destroyed; the prince survives and recovers.

Significant themes

• Consequences of betrayal: Chang’s paid espionage brings down not only herself but those connected to her.
• Self-deception and blame: Rather than take responsibility, Chang invents explanations involving family favoritism, stolen luck, and Wenren’s supposed role in her failures.
• Justice and power: Wenren’s supernatural system supplies evidence that ordinary investigation might not uncover, enabling a wider crackdown on Wakoku’s network.
• Isolation and survival: Wang’s imprisonment highlights the psychological cost of confinement, while the Second Prince’s resilience helps him recover.

Plot points and events

• The Grand Princess has begun hosting frequent banquets after learning that the child she raised was unrelated to her and had murdered her own child. The emperor supports her and encourages his family and acquaintances to attend.
• At one banquet, Wenren Luoshui, Tu Hua, and Yunjian observe the guests from a pavilion.
• Li Jingyu drags her younger sister, Li Jingyun, through the gathering in search of Heavenbright Manor’s eldest young lady, convinced that the young woman’s brother, Cui Yixuan, must be present too.
• Li Jingyu previously spent half a year in the South of the Yangtze pursuing Cui, despite his lack of interest. Her family eventually brought her home and punished her, but she has resumed trying to meet him.
• Wenren Luoshui sees a book revealing Li Jingyu’s story: she transmigrated from the modern world into a short romance novel, where she was supposed to meet Cui by chance, fall in love, and receive his marriage proposal. Trying to manufacture that destined encounter instead, she pursued him so relentlessly that he never returned her feelings. Cui also deliberately alerted the Li family to her behavior.

Character developments

• Li Jingyu is an obsessive, self-assured transmigrator who believes she can claim the romance promised by the novel and reshape the past into a “childhood-sweetheart” story. She dismisses the consequences of her actions with a glib claim that she and Cui are merely “brothers in spirit.”
• Li Jingyun is more sensible and increasingly exasperated by her sister. She repeatedly gets pulled into Li Jingyu’s schemes and is expected to act as her spokesperson.
• Cui Yixuan, though absent from the banquet scene so far, has shown clear disinterest and took steps to stop Li Jingyu’s pursuit by informing her family.
• The Grand Princess is coping with profound grief by hosting gatherings, while the emperor responds with support and deference.
• Wenren Luoshui learns the truth behind Li Jingyu’s unusual behavior through the revealed book.

Significant themes

• Fate versus self-determination: Li Jingyu assumes a novel’s original plot guarantees her romantic success, but her interference changes events.
• The gap between fantasy and reality: She treats Cui as a destined hero and their relationship as a romance, while he regards her as an unwanted pursuer.
• Consequences and accountability: Li Jingyu’s actions embarrass her family and affect the other Li daughters, despite her attempts to minimize them.
• Grief and coping: The Grand Princess’s banquets offer a way to carry on after devastating personal loss.

Character interactions

• Li Jingyu’s persistent pursuit contrasts with Cui Yixuan’s indifference and active rejection.
• Li Jingyun serves as her sister’s reluctant companion and is frustrated by being dragged along and made to cover for her.
• The Li family tries to correct Li Jingyu’s behavior through persuasion and punishment, while Cui’s warning helps bring the family’s concern to a head.
• The emperor encourages Wenren Luoshui and others to attend the Grand Princess’s gatherings, reflecting his respect and sympathy for his aunt.

Key plot points

• At a banquet, Li Jingyu approaches Heavenbright Manor’s eldest daughter and boasts about making shoes for Cui Yixuan. Li Jingyun tries to stop her from embarrassing the family, but the pavilion’s guests mock them.
• Wenren Luoshui’s thoughts reveal Li Jingyu’s future: unable to win Cui Yixuan’s affection, she drugs him and forces a night with him. When the Li family later apologizes, Li Jingyu ruins the reconciliation by accusing him of betraying their supposed love.
• Heavenbright Manor’s initial willingness to forgive the family turns to hostility. Li Jingyu’s later fixation escalates: she offers to be Cui Yixuan’s concubine, then is tricked into attempting to poison the emperor. She is executed, and the rest of the Li family is exiled.
• Li Jingyun hears this account, then pulls Li Jingyu away when she tries to approach Heavenbright Manor’s eldest daughter. Back home, she warns their father, who orders Jingyu sent to their hometown to be married off.

Character developments

• Li Jingyun shifts from protecting her elder sister to prioritizing her family’s survival. After learning what lies ahead, she is willing to sacrifice family reputation to prevent disaster.
• Li Jingyu remains oblivious and self-absorbed, clinging to her “serene as a chrysanthemum” persona even as her actions threaten her family.
• Heavenbright Manor’s eldest daughter is close to her brother and reacts with barely contained fury at the prospect of his being coerced.
• Wenren Luoshui and her companions comment on the unfolding danger; the system’s comic mishap with a pastry briefly interrupts the grim revelations.

Significant themes and interactions

• The chapter contrasts self-serving obsession with genuine responsibility: Jingyu pursues Cui Yixuan while Jingyun tries to protect the family.
• It critiques performative virtue and hypocrisy: Jingyu’s calm, refined pose clashes with her coercive and reckless behavior.
• Family reputation and gendered judgment shape the Li family’s response, but the revelations make survival more urgent than appearances.
• The central interactions are Jingyun’s strained attempts to manage Jingyu, Heavenbright Manor’s hostility toward her, and the sisters’ final conflict over how to prevent the family’s ruin.