Chapter Summaries

At Princess Yongle’s flower-viewing banquet, Ning Sang-sang’s unspoken thoughts became audible to everyone and exposed Duchess Su’s treatment of her biological daughter. Duchess Su tried to conceal her anger and reassure Su Miaoling, while the guests learned that Su Miaoling was not her biological child.

• Madam Jiang brought Ning Sang-sang into the hall, where Princess Yongle praised her beauty and identified her as Duchess Ning’s daughter.
• Ning Sang-sang silently called Duchess Su a grade-A freak, and everyone in the hall heard her thoughts despite her keeping her mouth shut.
• Ning Sang-sang revealed that Duchess Su’s biological child had been switched at birth and that Duchess Su rejected her after finding her, intending never to acknowledge her.
• The guests stared at Duchess Su, who was furious and embarrassed as she recalled deciding to hide her ill-bred biological daughter and favor Su Miaoling.
• Su Miaoling asked Duchess Su what was wrong, and Duchess Su suppressed her anger and gently assured her she was fine.

Ning Sang-sang’s unspoken thoughts revealed that Xiu Yu had deliberately switched Duchess Su’s baby and had secretly contaminated Duchess Su’s soups for years. As the gathering reacted to the revelations, Princess Yongle’s daughter Pei Yunluo arrived and invited Su Miaoling to the garden pavilion.

• Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts exposed Xiu Yu’s revenge plot: she had switched Duchess Su’s baby after her sister Chunhua’s death and had spat into Duchess Su’s soups for years.
• Duchess Su suppressed her disgust, while the others reacted with sympathy and tried to keep Ning Sang-sang from realizing they could hear her thoughts.
• Princess Yongle praised Ning Sang-sang, whose thoughts questioned why the princess liked her when Su Miaoling was supposedly her preferred daughter-in-law.
• Pei Yunluo arrived, greeted Princess Yongle and Su Miaoling, and invited Su Miaoling to play in the garden pavilion.

Pei Yunluo learned that she could hear Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts, which exposed the gossip about her devotion to Zhang Yu and her hostility toward Ning. After Princess Yongle sent Pei Yunluo, Ning Sang-sang, and Su Miaoling to the garden, Ning revealed that Zhang Yu had staged the attack that supposedly made him Pei Yunluo’s hero.

• Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts described Pei Yunluo as a love-struck fool who wanted to sever ties with her family for a lover, and Pei Yunluo angrily glared at her.
• Pei Yunluo tried to accuse Ning Sang-sang but could not speak, while Princess Yongle scolded her for confronting Ning without cause.
• Princess Yongle sent Pei Yunluo to show Ning Sang-sang and Su Miaoling around the garden, and Pei Yunluo agreed so she could hear Ning’s thoughts.
• Ning Sang-sang thought that Zhang Yu had targeted Pei Yunluo for her title and status, but Pei Yunluo defended him as the man who had saved her at Cien Temple.
• Ning Sang-sang revealed that Zhang Yu had hired the attacker and staged the rescue to win Pei Yunluo’s heart.

Pei Yunluo kept Ning Sang-sang with her and Su Miaoling while showing them around the Chancellor’s Residence, despite Ning’s suspicions and Pei’s growing frustration at hearing her thoughts. Pei remained unable to tell Su Miaoling why Ning annoyed her, and the three continued their tour.

• Pei Yunluo dismissed Ning Sang-sang’s claim that Zhang Yu had staged her rescue and decided to ask her eldest brother to investigate the incident after the Flower-Viewing Banquet.
• Pei Yunluo invited Su Miaoling to call her Yunluo, then insisted Ning Sang-sang join their tour of the Chancellor’s Residence.
• Ning Sang-sang wondered whether Pei Yunluo and Su Miaoling were plotting against her, and Pei Yunluo grew angry at her thoughts.
• Pei Yunluo tried to explain Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts to Su Miaoling but found she could not speak about them, so she called Ning’s face annoying instead.
• Ning Sang-sang agreed to accompany them and admired the Chancellor’s Residence as Pei Yunluo asked why she was quiet.

Ning Sang-sang’s inner thoughts revealed that Song Minghan and Song Mingze would become rivals over Su Miaoling and die fighting each other, while Pei Yunluo and Song Huanhuan discovered they could hear her thoughts. The chapter left the Song siblings realizing the same thing had happened to them.

• Pei Yunluo became irritated with Ning Sang-sang, then greeted her close friend Song Huanhuan and Huanhuan’s twin brothers, Song Minghan and Song Mingze.
• Ning Sang-sang’s inner voice predicted that the Song brothers would fight over Su Miaoling and kill each other, shocking Song Mingze.
• Song Huanhuan tried to ask whether the others had heard the voice, but a mysterious force prevented her from explaining.
• Ning Sang-sang tried to leave, but Pei Yunluo stopped her, and her thoughts about Pei Yunluo and Su Miaoling angered Pei Yunluo.
• Song Huanhuan and Pei Yunluo confirmed to each other that they had heard Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts, while Song Minghan and Song Mingze exchanged complicated glances.

At the flower-viewing banquet, Ning Sang-sang slipped away from Pei Yunluo’s group and met Hua Liuli in a secluded pavilion. Hua Liuli heard Ning’s unspoken thoughts about her and began to suspect she could hear them.

• Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts predicted that Song Minghan and Song Mingze would fall for Su Miaoling after her performance, but both brothers denied liking her.
• Ning Sang-sang claimed she had a stomachache and hurried away from Pei Yunluo’s group instead of entering the waterside pavilion.
• Ning Sang-sang wandered through the Chancellor’s Residence and settled in a secluded pavilion beside Hua Liuli.
• Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts described Hua Liuli’s future entanglement with Chu Aotian and lamented how it would ruin her life.
• Hua Liuli heard Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts despite her lips not moving and began to suspect they were inner thoughts.

At the Flower-Viewing Banquet, Hua Liuli heard Ning Sang-sang’s inner thoughts predicting she would fall hopelessly in love with Seventh Prince Chu Aotian, but she remained unimpressed when she met him. Chu Aotian then heard Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts too, leaving him puzzled as the story ended.

• Hua Liuli heard Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts claim that she would fall for Chu Aotian and become meek, and she resolved to see whether the prediction came true.
• When Hua Liuli’s nephew Hua Yun went missing, she asked Ning Sang-sang to help find him so she could hear more of her thoughts.
• Chu Aotian rescued Hua Yun from the artificial rockery, but Hua Liuli found him merely ordinary and denied being infatuated with him.
• Chu Aotian approached Hua Liuli, who answered him expressionlessly, while Ning Sang-sang wondered why Hua Liuli was acting differently from her predictions.
• Chu Aotian heard Ning Sang-sang’s unspoken thoughts and realized he could hear her voice without her speaking.

Seventh Prince Chu Aotian discovered that Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts were audible to him, while Hua Liuli enjoyed her irreverent commentary and decided to break off her engagement. When Gu Yunshen arrived, he also heard Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts and became unsettled by her gossip about him.

• Ning Sang-sang thought Chu Aotian’s tear mole looked like eye gunk, making Hua Liuli laugh and Chu Aotian nearly lose his composure.
• Chu Aotian realized Ning Sang-sang’s inner voice belonged to her and heard her say he was in love with Su Miaoling, prompting Hua Liuli to decide to end their engagement.
• Chu Aotian struggled to speak to Ning Sang-sang, eventually asking her name after she criticized his unfinished sentences.
• Gu Yunshen arrived and teased Chu Aotian, then heard Ning Sang-sang call him a purple-skinned scallion and consider digging up his gossip.
• Chu Aotian told Ning Sang-sang to stop, and she recalled one of his dramatic lines about a woman playing with fire.

Ning Sang-sang’s unfiltered thoughts exposed Gu Yunshen’s embarrassing habit and led Hua Liuli to ask her to be friends. Ning Sang-sang agreed, and Hua Liuli offered her beautiful gems and jade.

• Gu Yunshen teased Seventh Prince Chu Aotian about the mole beneath his eye, while Ning Sang-sang thought it resembled eye gunk.
• Ning Sang-sang called Gu Yunshen a purple-skinned scallion and revealed that he sniffed his own armpits every day.
• Gu Yunshen coughed to interrupt Ning Sang-sang before she could reveal more of his strange habits.
• Hua Liuli asked Ning Sang-sang to be her friend after hearing Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts about her.
• Ning Sang-sang agreed and resolved to help Hua Liuli avoid ruining her life for a man.
• Hua Liuli offered Ning Sang-sang beautiful gems and jade.

Ning Sang-sang agreed to be friends with Hua Liuli, while Gu Yunshen also asked to be her friend, and her irreverent thoughts about Seventh Prince Chu Aotian made him furious. Chu Aotian finally looked away from her, but before he could respond, another young man spoke.

• Hua Liuli befriended Ning Sang-sang, and Gu Yunshen asked Ning Sang-sang to be friends with him as well.
• Ning Sang-sang thought that Chu Aotian had a poor personality and wondered whether his abs could be used as a washboard, prompting him to roar at her.
• Ning Sang-sang silently called Chu Aotian “Proud One” and teased him about his expression and his abs, while Gu Yunshen tried to stop him from glaring at her.
• Gu Yunshen nearly repeated Ning Sang-sang’s nickname for Chu Aotian, then joked that Chu Aotian was making her shy by staring at her.
• Chu Aotian shifted his gaze away from Ning Sang-sang, and a lively young male voice interrupted before he could speak.

At the Flower-Viewing Banquet, Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts revealed that Hua Yun would die in a future accident, prompting Hua Liuli to stay close to her. Ning Hui led Ning Sang-sang away, while several others followed, curious about her thoughts.

• Ning Hui arrived with Chen Zihao and told Ning Sang-sang he had been worried about her.
• Ning Sang-sang thought Chen Zihao would face more sadness, but a mysterious power prevented him from asking what she meant.
• Ning Sang-sang thought Hua Yun would drown at his grandmother’s birthday celebration, and Hua Liuli reacted by deciding to stay near her.
• Hua Liuli told Ning Sang-sang she wanted to be friends, while Ning Sang-sang wondered why Hua Liuli was not pursuing Seventh Prince Chu Aotian.
• Ning Hui hurried Ning Sang-sang away from Chu Aotian, and Hua Liuli, Hua Yun, and Chen Zihao followed them.
• Gu Yunshen accidentally called Chu Aotian “Proud One,” and Chu Aotian insulted him before walking away.

Ning Sang-sang and Ning Hui tried to avoid Seventh Prince Chu Aotian while her thoughts about him continued to reach those around her. After Chen Zihao left, Ning Sang-sang pressed Ning Hui to reveal the secret he had promised to investigate for him.

• Chu Aotian told Gu Yunshen to get close to Ning Sang-sang, then wondered why his male lead halo seemed to be acting strangely.
• Ning Hui warned Ning Sang-sang to stay away from Chu Aotian, while Chen Zihao heard her insulting thoughts and noticed Chu Aotian and Gu Yunshen following them.
• Ning Sang-sang imagined Chu Aotian was interested in Hua Liuli, and Hua Liuli privately disagreed before reminding her that Chu Aotian seemed to be there for her.
• Ning Sang-sang, Ning Hui, and Chen Zihao hurried away from Chu Aotian; Hua Liuli left with Hua Yun, and Gu Yunshen teased Chu Aotian about Ning Sang-sang running from him.
• Ning Hui told Chen Zihao to stop following them and promised to investigate his situation, then refused to tell Ning Sang-sang why he was helping him.
• Ning Sang-sang offered to share one of her own secrets if Ning Hui revealed his.

Ning Sang-sang and Ning Hui exchanged secrets before going to the Flower-Viewing Banquet’s Back Garden, where the crowd began hearing Ning Sang-sang’s unspoken thoughts. As Su Miaoling played the zither, Pei Yunluo confronted Ning Sang-sang, and Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts announced that Proud One had arrived.

• Ning Hui lied that Chen Zihao had asked him to learn how many mistresses his father kept, and Ning Sang-sang thought Chen Zihao would later be devastated by his father’s plot with his mistress to kill his mother.
• Ning Hui worried that their father might keep a mistress, but Ning Sang-sang assured him that their father was devoted to their mother, then shared gossip about Lord Li’s unusual fondness for his concubine’s bound feet.
• Ning Sang-sang took Ning Hui to the Back Garden to watch the noble young ladies perform, and nearby guests began hearing her inner thoughts and staring at her.
• Su Miaoling played the zither, and Ning Sang-sang thought that the supporting female character’s powerful halo made her performance sound heavenly.
• Pei Yunluo confronted Ning Sang-sang for avoiding her, and Ning Sang-sang thought that Pei Yunluo was temperamental before announcing that Proud One was approaching.

Ning Chengxiao rescued Ning Sang-sang from the Flower-Viewing Banquet, where her unfiltered thoughts angered Seventh Prince Chu Aotian, and took her and Ning Hui to the countryside. As they enjoyed the quiet scenery, a wheelchair creaked nearby.

• Seventh Prince Chu Aotian and Gu Yunshen arrived, and Ning Sang-sang privately mocked them while Pei Yunluo tried to keep her close.
• Su Miaoling greeted Chu Aotian, whose mood darkened after Ning Sang-sang's thoughts exposed her teasing remarks about him.
• Ning Chengxiao pretended their mother needed Ning Sang-sang and led her and Ning Hui away from the banquet.
• Ning Chengxiao took Ning Sang-sang and Ning Hui to the countryside, where Ning Hui asked about the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley where she grew up.
• As the three walked along a woodland path, they heard the creaking of a wheelchair.

Ning Sang-sang encountered Yan Xuanjing, the novel’s future archvillain, and thought about the suffering that had left him masked and crippled. Yan Xuanjing focused on her after hearing her thoughts, which revealed that Imperial Uncle Yang had arranged the poisoning through Hei Zi.

• Ning Sang-sang recognized Yan Xuanjing as the ultimate villain when he arrived in a wheelchair.
• Ning Hui greeted Yan Xuanjing warmly, and Ning Chengxiao brought Ning Sang-sang over to meet him.
• Yan Xuanjing fixed his attention on Ning Sang-sang, intrigued by the voice he could hear.
• Ning Sang-sang thought that Imperial Uncle Yang had bribed Hei Zi to poison Yan Xuanjing, ruining his face and crippling his legs.

Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts revealed that Yang Wenguang and Heizi had betrayed Yan Xuanjing, stirring Ning Hui and Yan Xuanjing’s anger. As Ning Sang-sang wondered whether anyone could hear her thoughts, Ning Chengxiao realized Yan Xuanjing could and steered her away from him.

• Ning Hui grew furious at Yang Wenguang and Heizi for harming Yan Xuanjing, but Ning Chengxiao calmed him down.
• Yan Xuanjing realized Heizi had betrayed him and wondered how Ning Sang-sang knew so much and why he could hear her thoughts.
• Ning Sang-sang suggested the group look around, then asked Little Melon whether anyone could hear her thoughts and accepted its reassurance.
• Ning Sang-sang privately wondered what Yan Xuanjing looked like after his restoration, and Yan Xuanjing listened to her thoughts.
• Ning Chengxiao noticed Yan Xuanjing could hear Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts and led her away; she decided to keep her distance from Yan Xuanjing.

Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts revealed Yan Xuanjing’s brutal childhood and vengeful nature, alarming Ning Chengxiao about his younger brother’s closeness to him. When Ning Hui and Yan Xuanjing caught up with them, Ning Chengxiao suspected Yan Xuanjing might be the man coveting Ning Hui, but Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts implicated Yang Wenguang instead.

• Ning Hui reassured Yan Xuanjing that Ning Sang-sang meant him no harm, though Yan Xuanjing had sensed her hostility.
• Ning Chengxiao warned Ning Sang-sang to be careful around Yan Xuanjing, and she agreed while thinking about his villainous reputation.
• Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts revealed that Yan Xuanjing had endured abuse as a child and secretly planned revenge on those who harmed him.
• Ning Chengxiao worried that Ning Hui’s closeness to Yan Xuanjing might put him in danger.
• Ning Hui and Yan Xuanjing caught up with Ning Chengxiao and Ning Sang-sang, prompting Ning Chengxiao to suspect Yan Xuanjing coveted Ning Hui.
• Ning Sang-sang’s thoughts identified Yang Wenguang as coveting Ning Hui and Yan Xuanjing, and Ning Chengxiao grew furious with him.

Ning Sang-sang, Ning Hui, and Ning Chengxiao left Yan Xuanjing’s residence after Ning Hui apologized for bringing up Bai Xinrou. Meanwhile, Pei Yunluo grew troubled by Ning Sang-sang’s warning about Zhang Yu and sneaked out to confront him.

• Ning Hui protested that Ning Sang-sang still treated him like a child, and Ning Chengxiao insisted the siblings head home.
• Ning Hui accidentally mentioned Bai Xinrou, angering Ning Chengxiao, then apologized and worried that his brother would demand repayment of the thirty thousand taels he owed.
• Ning Chengxiao warned Ning Hui to stay away from Yan Xuanjing, but Ning Hui and Ning Sang-sang defended Yan, and Ning Chengxiao relented.
• Pei Yunluo brooded over Ning Sang-sang’s claims about Zhang Yu, then told Feicui to cover for her as she slipped out to find him.

Pei Yunluo found Zhang Yu with Peony and discovered that Ning Sang-sang had been right about his intentions. She ended their relationship and left, while Zhang Yu’s plans to benefit from her status collapsed.

• Pei Yunluo visited Zhang Yu’s shabby courtyard, doubting Ning Sang-sang’s accusation but growing uneasy when she heard a woman inside.
• Pei Yunluo overheard Zhang Yu praise the woman on his lap and insult her, admitting he pursued her because of her status.
• Pei Yunluo entered the room, saw Zhang Yu with Peony, and slapped him when he tried to explain.
• Pei Yunluo declared that she and Zhang Yu were finished and threatened to have Pei Xingjian jail him if he blocked her.
• Zhang Yu let Pei Yunluo leave and seethed over losing his chance to use her family’s influence to rise in rank and grow rich.

Zhang Yu blamed Peony for exposing their affair and prepared to flee, while Pei Yunluo left in anger. Ning Sang-sang went shopping and ate with Ning Hui and Ning Chengxiao before Pei Yunluo confronted her and asked to speak with her.

• Zhang Yu slapped Peony, then decided to pack his belongings and run away with her after she warned that Pei Yunluo would not spare them.
• Pei Yunluo left Zhang Yu's home and headed to the main street, regretting that she had trusted him.
• Ning Hui invited Ning Sang-sang to explore the street, and Ning Chengxiao agreed to buy her whatever she wanted.
• Ning Sang-sang and her brothers went to a restaurant, where Pei Yunluo appeared and angrily demanded to know why Ning Sang-sang was eating outside the Chancellor's Residence.
• Pei Yunluo calmed herself and told Ning Sang-sang that she wanted to ask her something.