Chapter Summaries

Jiang Wujie punished Jiang Liuli for insulting Jiang Shuyue and learned from the system that Jiang Liuli and their father were plotting against him. As Jiang Wujie began to recognize the danger in his household, Jiang Shuyue discovered that her seemingly refined eldest brother had a mischievous past and was devoted to his future wife.

• Jiang Liuli insulted Jiang Shuyue, and Jiang Chen defended her by exposing Jiang Liuli's contempt and reminding her that she was adopted.
• Jiang Wujie rebuked Jiang Liuli, ordered her to copy the Analects a hundred times, and apologized to Jiang Shuyue before inviting her and Jiang Chen to his courtyard.
• The system revealed that Jasmine was spying on Jiang Wujie and described how she would help Jiang Liuli and their father harm him.
• Jiang Wujie realized his courtyard had been infiltrated and resolved to watch Jasmine while concealing his suspicions.
• The system shared stories of Jiang Wujie's scheming youth and said he would be devoted to Ji Hanshuang, leaving Jiang Shuyue laughing at his hidden nature.

Jiang Shuyue returned to the Marquis’s Residence with Zhou Yunshen, while Jiang Mother subtly redirected the bird’s nest porridge meant for her toward Qin Wanru. Two days later, Jiang Shuyue attended Lin Shuangshuang’s coming-of-age celebration, where the system offered to reveal Lin Shuangshuang’s gossip.

• Jiang Shuyue left her family home with Zhou Yunshen, and Jiang Mother had the bird’s nest porridge sent to Qin Wanru instead.
• Jiang Mother persuaded Jiang Chen to study martial arts, while Jiang Wujie began suspecting that his family had changed in strange ways.
• Jiang Liuli and Qin Wanru resented Jiang Shuyue, and Qin Wanru ate the bird’s nest porridge despite remembering her plan to poison Jiang Mother.
• A servant named Jasmine tried to seduce a guard, ran naked through the estate after he rejected her, and was beaten to death on Jiang Mother’s orders.
• Jiang Chen brought Jiang Shuyue to Lin Shuangshuang’s coming-of-age celebration, where Lin Shuangshuang realized she could hear Jiang Shuyue’s thoughts.
• The system offered Jiang Shuyue Lin Shuangshuang’s gossip, and Jiang Chen realized Shuangshuang had juicy gossip too.

Jiang Shuyue learned that Yu Wenzhong and Chen Tingting planned to ruin Lin Shuangshuang, and Jiang Chen decided to propose to her first. The chapter ended with the Lin Family restraining Yu Wenzhong and Chen Tingting in the inner courtyard.

• Jiang Shuyue learned that Yu Wenzhong planned to stage Lin Shuangshuang's fall into the water, marry her, and abuse her, with Chen Tingting helping him.
• Jiang Shuyue vowed to protect Lin Shuangshuang, and Jiang Chen resolved to propose to her.
• Jiang Chen sent a servant to fetch Liu Sheng, who arrived at the Lin residence with thirty chests of betrothal gifts.
• Jiang Chen confessed that he liked Lin Shuangshuang, and she accepted his feelings.
• The Lin Family's people restrained Yu Wenzhong and Chen Tingting in the inner courtyard.

The Lin Family exposed Yu Wenzhong and Chen Tingting’s plot to harm Lin Shuangshuang and forced them to pay for it. Chen Tingting’s family was disgraced and impoverished, while Yu Wenzhong was sent to become a eunuch.

• Madam Lin and Liu Ning beat Yu Wenzhong after he claimed to love Lin Shuangshuang, and Liu Ning announced the betrothal between Lin Shuangshuang and Jiang Chen.
• Madam Lin confronted Chen Tingting and ordered a search after Jiang Shuyue’s system revealed that Chen Tingting had hidden poison in her clothes.
• The matrons found the poison, and Cui'er testified that Chen Tingting had ordered her to buy it to harm Lin Shuangshuang.
• The Lin Family made the Chen Family pay fifty thousand taels, kept Chen Tingting’s confession, and barred the family from returning.
• Madam Lin arranged for Yu Wenzhong to become a eunuch, and Jiang Shuyue regretted not handling his punishment herself.

Jiang Chen won Lin Fang’s approval to marry Shuangshuang, while Jiang Shuyue returned to the Marquis’s Residence with Liu Ning and uncovered his dangerous feelings for Consort Hui. Back home, Jiang Chen prepared an enormous betrothal gift, leaving Jiang An distressed over the family wealth being spent.

• Jiang Chen awkwardly promised to treat Shuangshuang well, and Jiang Shuyue arranged for their parents to visit the Lin Family and discuss the marriage properly.
• Jiang Shuyue rode home with Liu Ning, whose questions about her parents revealed her private thoughts about Jiang An and her second uncle’s ruthless nature.
• At the Marquis’s Residence, Zhou Shiye welcomed Jiang Shuyue and stood by her as Liu Ning delivered a gift from her grandfather.
• Jiang Shuyue learned that Liu Ning loved Consort Hui, and Liu Ning hurried away, fearing the dangerous gossip would be exposed.
• Jiang Chen prepared fifty chests and ten cartloads of betrothal gifts, and Jiang An objected to the expense before Jiang Chen challenged his reluctance to spend the money.

Jiang Chen’s marriage to Lin Shuangshuang was settled, while Jiang Shuyue was carried into the palace asleep to meet the emperor. She woke in the Golden Chariot Hall, where her thoughts about Prince Huai amused him and angered Zhou Yunshen.

• Jiang Chen eagerly promised Jiang Mother that he would treat Lin Shuangshuang well and planned to obtain calligraphy for his future father-in-law.
• Jiang An lamented that the Lin Family would receive the wealth and gifts, but Jiang Wujie explained why Jiang Chen had gone to the Liu Family first.
• Jiang Mother and Jiang Wujie added their savings to the betrothal gifts, which were delivered in a grand procession the next day.
• Zhou Luming and Zhou Yunshen took the sleeping Jiang Shuyue to the palace after the emperor ordered her to appear.
• Jiang Shuyue woke on Zhou Yunshen’s lap and privately admired Prince Huai, who smiled while Zhou Yunshen glared at him.

Jiang Shuyue woke in the Golden Chariot Hall, where her gossip revealed the truth behind Prince Huai’s poisoning and the Empress Dowager’s strained relationship with the emperor. The emperor then began discussing Princess Chaohua’s marriage, and Jiang Shuyue learned that a forced match would lead to the princess’s misery and death.

• Jiang Shuyue discovered that Zhou Yunshen had carried her, still asleep, into the Golden Chariot Hall to meet the emperor.
• The emperor recalled holding Jiang Shuyue as a baby and laughed about how she had peed on him twice.
• Jiang Shuyue learned that the Empress Dowager had not poisoned Prince Huai and actually wanted to grow closer to him.
• The System revealed that Commandery Princess Qingping had arranged Prince Huai’s poisoning, while the Duke of Qi concealed his wife’s crime to protect the Qi Family.
• The emperor began discussing Princess Chaohua’s marriage, and Jiang Shuyue learned that Chaohua loved the Top Scholar and would suffer if forced into another household.

The emperor betrothed Princess Chaohua to Shen Zhiyi, then punished Jiang An for opposing the match. As Jiang Shuyue headed to visit Chaohua, the emperor, Prince Huai, and Zhou Yunshen established rules for hearing her thoughts and decided she was a treasure to Great Zhou.

• The emperor offered Princess Chaohua's hand to Shen Zhiyi, who eagerly accepted, and rebuked Jiang An when he objected to the match.
• Prince Huai condemned Jiang An's disrespectful remarks, and the emperor demoted him three ranks and docked six months of his salary after Zhou Yunshen interceded.
• Jiang Shuyue ate with the emperor and Prince Huai, while Zhou Yunshen warned the emperor not to harbor designs on his wife.
• The emperor, Prince Huai, and Zhou Yunshen worked out that only people without ill intent could hear Jiang Shuyue's thoughts, within about three hundred meters, and that she knew some future events because they belonged to the same book's storyline.
• Jiang Shuyue set off to visit Princess Chaohua, unaware that the three powerful men were following her to hear more gossip.

Princess Chaohua welcomed Jiang Shuyue at a flower-viewing banquet, where the system exposed Consort Xian’s obsession with the princess and the crimes she had committed to pursue her. Chaohua and Shen Zhiyi learned that Consort Xian had arranged Chaohua’s future suffering and death, leaving them horrified and enraged.

• Princess Chaohua welcomed Jiang Shuyue and pledged to become her close friend after the Marquis of Zhennan helped her and Shen Zhiyi.
• The system revealed that Consort Xian had entered the palace because she loved Princess Chaohua, whom she had met as a child.
• The system explained that Consort Xian had replaced her sister by breaking her legs, drugged the emperor, and grown resentful when Chaohua did not return her affection.
• The system revealed that Consort Xian had arranged Chaohua’s marriage to the Duke of Qi’s family and had her nephew torment Chaohua to death when she refused to become Consort Xian’s lover.
• Princess Chaohua turned ashen, and Shen Zhiyi became furious after hearing what Consort Xian had done.

Jiang Shuyue accompanied Chaohua to Consort Xian's palace after learning the consort planned to frame the princess for a miscarriage. She recognized that the incense was intended to cause a miscarriage and confronted Consort Xian, leaving the trap exposed but the promised gossip still to come.

• The System revealed that Consort Xian was giving birth that day, and Jiang Shuyue remembered she had once framed Chaohua for causing her miscarriage.
• Jiang Shuyue insisted on accompanying Chaohua to visit Consort Xian despite the maid's attempt to exclude her.
• The emperor and Zhou Yunshen decided to follow the women so they would not miss the palace gossip.
• Shen Zhiyi waited outside Consort Xian's palace while Chaohua and Jiang Shuyue went inside.
• Jiang Shuyue recognized the incense as a miscarriage-inducing blend and distracted Consort Xian by praising her jade cabochon.

Jiang Shuyue exposed Consort Xian’s affair with Eunuch Chen and realized Consort Xian had planned to cause a miscarriage to frame Princess Chaohua. After Consort Xian’s scheme failed and she collapsed, the emperor decided to erase her from the palace.

• The system revealed that Consort Xian had deliberately induced her miscarriage because her unborn child was Eunuch Chen’s, and that Chen was a descendant of the Remnants of the Previous Dynasty.
• Jiang Shuyue and Chaohua stayed near the doorway as Consort Xian tried to lure them closer and offer Chaohua a ring.
• Consort Xian collapsed and began bleeding, but Jiang Shuyue pulled Chaohua away before Consort Xian could accuse her of causing the fall.
• Zhou Yunshen and the emperor remained hidden nearby, and the emperor declared that he did not know anyone named Consort Xian.

Jiang Shuyue learned that Consort Xian had died and that the Eighth Prince had been secretly placed with an adoptive family. As Zhou Yunshen took her home, she discovered the Fourth Prince had planned to drug her at a banquet, leaving their first encounter tense and unresolved.

• The emperor ordered Consort Xian's servants purged, while Zhou Yunshen left the Remnants of the Previous Dynasty investigation to Prince Huai.
• Jiang Shuyue decided to earn enough Green Tea Points to redeem a Spirit-Melding Pill for Prince Huai, and he resolved to help her gather points.
• The system told Jiang Shuyue that Consort Xian had died in childbirth, the Eighth Prince had been secretly adopted, and officials had obtained the remnants' list.
• Zhou Yunshen brought Jiang Shuyue home from the palace, but the system warned that the Fourth Prince had drugged the food prepared for her.
• Zhou Yunshen refused the Fourth Prince's banquet invitation and carried the drowsy Jiang Shuyue away, while the Fourth Prince complained of buzzing in his head.

Zhou Yunshen weighed the danger posed by the Fourth Prince, while the Empress Dowager uncovered Commandery Princess Qingping’s role in Prince Huai’s injury and retaliated against her. Jiang Shuyue and Zhou Luming later heard about a deadly fire before encountering Chu Xin’er on Phoenix Avenue.

• Zhou Yunshen covered the sleeping Jiang Shuyue with his cloak and decided to wait for the right time to deal with Jiang An and the Fourth Prince.
• Prince Huai told the Empress Dowager that Commandery Princess Qingping had caused his injury, and Nanny Gui reported that three palace maids confirmed his account.
• The Empress Dowager arranged for Cui’er to marry Commandery Princess Qingping’s nephew, then sent calming soup and steamed egg custard to the emperor.
• The Duke of Qi informed Commandery Princess Qingping that her title had been revoked, stripped her of household authority, and warned her to stop causing trouble.
• Officials investigated the Qingping Family, while news spread that Proprietor Shi and his wife had died in a fire, leaving their two sons behind.
• Jiang Shuyue and Zhou Luming met Chu Xin’er, who mocked Jiang Shuyue for becoming a stepmother, and Jiang Shuyue joked that Luming’s shopping was straining the household treasury.

At a teahouse, Jiang Shuyue’s system exposed Zhao Lushuang’s years of schemes against Chu Xin’er and Zhou Luming. Chu Xin’er attacked Zhao Lushuang, while Jiang Shuyue cheered her on.

• Jiang Shuyue showed off the jewelry Zhou Luming had given her, silencing Chu Xin’er and her companions.
• Zhou Luming took Jiang Shuyue to a teahouse for food and gossip, and Chu Xin’er followed with Zhao Lushuang and the others.
• The system revealed that Zhao Lushuang hated Chu Xin’er and had repeatedly manipulated her into opposing Zhou Luming.
• The system exposed Zhao Lushuang’s past plots, including framing Zhou Luming and causing Chu Xin’er to fall from a horse.
• Chu Xin’er seized Zhao Lushuang by the hair and attacked her, while Jiang Shuyue cheered her on.

Jiang Shuyue got drunk on a potent wine, interrupted Chu Xin'er and Zhao Lushuang's fight, and flirted with Murong Tianci before wandering into the street. Zhou Yunshen found her and took her home, while she mistook him for two husbands and declared him the better-looking one.

• Jiang Shuyue cheered Chu Xin'er and Zhao Lushuang on as they argued, and Zhou Luming knocked Zhao Lushuang's hairpin away when she attacked.
• Jiang Shuyue tackled Zhao Lushuang, then collided with Murong Tianci and mistook him for a talking wall spirit as she flirted with him.
• Jiang Shuyue pulled out handfuls of Zhao Lushuang's hair, prompting Zhao to flee in tears.
• Murong Tianci identified the wine as strong Peach Apricot Wine, and Zhou Luming and Chu Xin'er chased after the drunken Jiang Shuyue as she wandered into the street.
• Jiang Shuyue embraced Zhou Yunshen's black horse, mistook Zhou Yunshen for two husbands, kissed him, and let him carry her home.

After Jiang Shuyue apologized for her drunken declarations about Prince Huai and the Imperial Preceptor, Zhou Yunshen forgave her and indulged her jealousy-driven interest in the emperor’s ten newly bestowed concubines. She arranged for the women to stay nearby so she could uncover their gossip, and the system promised a surprise during a nighttime visit.

• Jiang Shuyue woke up, remembered straddling Zhou Yunshen and asking him to be her secondary husband, and went to apologize.
• Zhou Yunshen teased Jiang Shuyue about favoring Prince Huai and the Imperial Preceptor, then carried her in his arms and threatened to disfigure any man she liked.
• The steward brought ten concubines bestowed by His Majesty, and Jiang Shuyue asked Zhou Yunshen to let them stay because she wanted to hear their gossip.
• Zhou Yunshen agreed to have the concubines housed nearby, and the system offered to take Jiang Shuyue wall-climbing that night to investigate the woman at the front.

Jiang Shuyue climbed into Baili Dong’s residence to spy on him and learned through the system that the cross-dressing intelligence agent was plagued by unwanted admirers. Baili Dong overheard her thoughts and grew increasingly furious as she exposed his private troubles.

• Zhou Yunshen asked Zhou Shiye to watch Jiang Shuyue’s planned wall-climbing expedition and leave a ladder if the wall was too high.
• Jiang Shuyue found the ladder, climbed over the wall, and peeked through a hole in the window paper at Baili Dong changing clothes.
• The system explained that Baili Dong was a male intelligence agent who disguised himself as a woman, and Jiang Shuyue mistakenly guessed why his wife and concubines avoided him.
• The system revealed that Baili Dong’s domineering intimacy troubled his household and that his beauty attracted men who pursued him, including General Zhao Wujie.
• Baili Dong silently endured Jiang Shuyue’s gossip, while the system added that his eldest and third brothers were also infatuated with him.

Jiang Shuyue’s gossip about Baili Dong reached Zhou Yunshen, while the emperor tried to manage the Fourth Prince’s growing ambitions. The Fourth Prince set his sights on Jiang Liuli, and Jiang Shuyue decided to take advantage of her sister’s financial troubles.

• Baili Dong panicked when Jiang Shuyue considered delivering him to Zhou Yunshen’s room, and Zhou Yunshen received a report of her thoughts.
• The emperor explained that he had sent Baili Dong to Zhou Yunshen’s residence to uncover spies and asked Zhou Yunshen to coexist peacefully with the Fourth Prince.
• The emperor sent the Fourth Prince erotic books and announced that Consort Shu would hold a banquet to choose him a Princess Consort.
• The Fourth Prince rejected the idea of marrying and decided to pursue Jiang Liuli because Jiang Shuyue had married Zhou Yunshen.
• Jiang Shuyue learned that Jiang Liuli lacked money and clothes for Consort Shu’s birthday banquet, then decided to give her sister a surprise.

Jiang Liuli tried to obtain fine clothes and jewelry for the empress’s birthday banquet, then clashed with Jiang Shuyue at the old madam’s courtyard. Jiang Mother slapped Jiang Liuli after she shoved Jiang Shuyue, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Jiang Liuli berated her servants over the clothes allotted to her, and Sangshen suggested she ask the master for money.
• Qin Wanru accompanied Jiang Liuli to the old madam’s courtyard, where they found Jiang Shuyue showing off her luxurious outfit and ruby hairpin.
• Jiang Shuyue and the system revealed that Jiang Mother had arranged a bean-heavy breakfast with croton that caused Jiang Liuli to suffer embarrassing gas and lose face.
• The old madam told Jiang Shuyue to give Jiang Liuli her jewelry, and Jiang Shuyue placed the ruby hairpin in Jiang Liuli’s hair while insulting her under her breath.
• Jiang Liuli shoved Jiang Shuyue after hearing the insult, and Jiang Mother slapped Jiang Liuli as Jiang Shuyue fell to the floor.

Jiang Shuyue blamed Jiang Liuli for breaking an imperial gift and forced her to kneel in penance, while pretending she would seek the emperor’s forgiveness. She left the Jiang household without going to the palace, planning to let Jiang Liuli kneel until she fainted.

• Jiang Shuyue cried and claimed Jiang Liuli had broken a gift bestowed by His Majesty, frightening Jiang Mother and the old madam with the consequences.
• Jiang Shuyue offered to put in a good word for Jiang Liuli with His Majesty and the Fourth Prince, then demanded that Jiang Liuli kneel facing the Imperial Palace until an imperial decree came.
• Jiang Mother ordered Jiang Liuli to kneel on the painful Blue Stone Road, while her matron prepared an enormous incense stick.
• Jiang Shuyue left the household after telling Jiang Liuli to kneel properly, then privately told the system she would let her sister kneel until she fainted instead of going to the palace.