Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yingcheng accompanied Jiang Yanchuan to Wuyang Hall, where her thoughts exposed Beiming’s military losses and a spy in Tan Wenhan’s household. The court learned that the spy was Xu Ruiming’s pregnant mistress, while Tan Wenhan silently began considering how to handle the breach.

• Jiang Yanchuan took Jiang Yingcheng to Wuyang Hall after a Shadow Guard reported that Jiang Huai'an had entered her classroom with his men.
• During the court’s debate over attacking Beiming, Jiang Yingcheng thought that a plague had devastated its army and that Jiang Yanchuan’s spy had betrayed him.
• Lei Zhixin reported the plague in Beiming’s army, and Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts confirmed the intelligence and revealed a spy in Tan Wenhan’s residence.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed Xu Ruiming as the man who had sent his mistress to Tan Wenhan’s son, and revealed that she was pregnant.
• Tan Wenhan recalled that his concubine-born son had brought a woman home to marry, while courtiers condemned Xu Ruiming.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed how Tan Siyuan had helped a woman take Tan Wenhan’s calligraphy and paintings, prompting Tan Wenhan to confront the danger of forged evidence. After the court session, Jiang Yanchuan saw through Jiang Yingcheng’s excuse to avoid school, while Tan Wenhan discovered his second son’s plan to marry his lover and summoned him out.

• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Tan Siyuan had given a woman Tan Wenhan’s calligraphy and paintings, which she intended to use for forgery.
• Tan Wenhan rebuked Xu Ruiming for relying on information obtained through a woman, and Xu Ruiming fell silent for the rest of the session.
• Jiang Yanchuan offered to take Jiang Yingcheng to visit her great-grandmother, but then realized she had raised the subject to avoid the schoolroom.
• Tan Wenhan brought his family to Tan Siyuan’s courtyard and overheard Tan Siyuan and his lover discussing how to make her his equal wife.
• Tan Wenhan angrily shouted for Tan Siyuan to come out.

Tan Wenhan caught Tan Siyuan and Zhang Shiliu with stolen calligraphy and had Zhang Shiliu arrested while punishing his son. Later, Yuan Liangping tried to draw military intelligence from Jiang Yingcheng, but her thoughts instead exposed more shocking gossip about the Tan household.

• Tan Wenhan ordered servants to search Tan Siyuan and Zhang Shiliu’s room after confronting them about the missing calligraphy.
• The servants found Tan Wenhan’s calligraphy and practice sheets imitating his handwriting, and Tan Wenhan accused Zhang Shiliu of wanting them for Xu Ruiming.
• Xing Junchu arrested Zhang Shiliu, while Tan Wenhan ordered Tan Siyuan to receive twenty strokes of the board and three months of confinement.
• Jiang Yanchuan summoned Yuan Liangping to keep him near Jiang Yingcheng and steer her thoughts toward useful subjects.
• Yuan Liangping asked Jiang Yingcheng about the coming war with Beiming, but her thoughts revealed that Tan Wenhan’s third son might not be his and that his steward had profited by helping political enemies plant household spies.

Jiang Yingcheng visited the Tan residence with Jiang Yanchuan, using a birthday banquet as cover to help Tan Wenhan expose the spies in his household. After giving Old Madam Tan a gift box, she stopped a maid from carrying it away, suspecting the woman of stealing its gold beans.

• Jiang Yanchuan read Yuan Liangping's report about Tan Wenhan's household and learned Jiang Yingcheng planned to stage an accident to visit the residence and drive out its spies.
• At court, Jiang Yingcheng imagined staging accidents at the Tan residence and having the spies beaten and thrown out, so Tan Wenhan invited Jiang Yanchuan to his mother's birthday banquet.
• Madam Zhang hurriedly arranged a birthday banquet at the Tan residence after receiving Tan Wenhan's message.
• Jiang Yingcheng gave Old Madam Tan a mahogany gift box filled with toys and gold beans, and Old Madam Tan accepted it before taking the princess's hand.
• Jiang Yingcheng blocked a maid carrying the gift box and accused her of trying to steal it, thinking the woman had stolen Old Madam Tan's jewelry before.

At Old Madam Tan’s birthday banquet, Jiang Yingcheng exposed servants and spies hidden in Chancellor Tan’s residence, including a shocking secret about Tan Yueze’s parentage. She kept identifying infiltrators by staging falls, but after more than twenty attempts, many spies remained.

• Old Madam Tan ordered Zhang Yanjun to take Cailü after Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that the maid had been stealing and selling her jewelry.
• Old Madam Tan led Jiang Yingcheng away, and the little princess noticed several suspected spies among the banquet’s servants while Tan Wenhan listened in alarm.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Tan Yueze was not Tan Wenhan’s biological son, and Tan Wenhan recognized Kou Zhixing as the boy’s father.
• After the officials entertained Old Madam Tan, they followed Jiang Yingcheng as she staged falls to identify spies in the residence.
• Jiang Yingcheng ended up bruised and crying after more than twenty falls, while 007 still marked many spies as undiscovered.

Jiang Yingcheng enlisted Yuan Liangping to help write a coded list of spies hidden in the Tan household, which she passed to Tan Wenhan. Tan Wenhan and Madam Zhang recognized the papers as a warning and prepared to use the information against their enemies.

• Jiang Yingcheng approached Yuan Liangping and persuaded him to help write unfamiliar characters instead of giving her a primer.
• Jiang Yingcheng and Yuan Liangping used paper and a brush to create a stack of coded sheets while whispering in a corner.
• After the birthday banquet, Tan Wenhan showed the papers to Madam Zhang and Old Madam Tan in the ancestral hall.
• Madam Zhang recognized names from the list as suspected spies and realized Jiang Yingcheng had exposed the household’s hidden danger.
• Tan Wenhan stopped Madam Zhang from immediately expelling the spies and hinted that he would return his colleagues’ grand gift.

At morning court, Ji Yingrui accused Tan Wenhan of taking bribes, but Tan revealed that the letter was a trap set after his guards caught Ji’s spy stealing confidential documents. Jiang Yanchuan ordered Xing Junchu to take Ji away and show him the evidence.

• Jiang Yingcheng worried that Tan Wenhan had not yet driven the spies from his residence, while ministers considered asking her to inspect their own homes.
• Ji Yingrui accused Tan Wenhan of accepting bribes and described a hidden room of gold and silver.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Ji had sent the spy Mingyi and exposed scandalous gossip about Tan’s household.
• Tan Wenhan explained that his guards had caught a spy copying confidential documents, and that his son Chengbi had written the anonymous letter to expose the people behind him.
• Tan Wenhan presented Chengbi’s writing samples and the spy’s intercepted letter to Jiang Yanchuan.
• Jiang Yanchuan ordered Xing Junchu to take Ji Yingrui away and show him what the letter contained.

Jiang Yingcheng returned to the Academy, where Jiang Xingran offered her a foul-smelling Egg Pancake, and Jiang Tinghuai discovered he could hear her thoughts. The chapter ended with Jiang Yingcheng offering her portion to her Crown Prince Brother after thinking that he would die young.

• Jiang Yingcheng worried about warning Grandpa Tan about Tan Yueze and Tan Siyuan before arriving at the Academy.
• Jiang Xingran welcomed Jiang Yingcheng with an Egg Pancake that looked like coal, and she feared it was poisonous.
• Jiang Qiuyu and Lin Jinshu tried to avoid eating the Egg Pancake, while Jiang Yingcheng divided it among the boys and herself.
• Jiang Yingcheng recoiled from the Egg Pancake's terrible smell, and Jiang Tinghuai entered the Academy and asked whether someone had stomach trouble.
• Jiang Tinghuai heard Jiang Yingcheng's unspoken thoughts for the first time, including her claim that he would die young.
• Jiang Yingcheng offered Jiang Tinghuai her share of Jiang Xingran's Egg Pancake.

Jiang Tinghuai faked fainting after eating Jiang Yingcheng’s egg pancake, then discovered his mother could hear the girl’s inner thoughts. Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Kan Nianzhen was being poisoned, leaving the empress shaken but with a possible cure in reach.

• Jiang Tinghuai accepted Jiang Yingcheng’s egg pancake after hearing her think it could help him escape a villain’s plot, then vomited and pretended to faint so he could skip class with the younger children.
• At Lingxi Palace, Kan Nianzhen caught Jiang Tinghuai faking illness and scolded him, but froze when she heard Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts and saw the prince signal her not to reveal that she could hear them.
• Kan Nianzhen treated Jiang Yingcheng and the other children gently while Jiang Yingcheng asked 007 about the plot involving the empress and Jiang Tinghuai.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Yue Tao had been bribed to poison Kan Nianzhen, and the empress realized the maid’s recent family troubles might have been connected.
• Jiang Yingcheng thought that she could redeem an affordable antidote by helping officials in poor health the next day, giving Kan Nianzhen hope of surviving the poisoning.

Kan Nianzhen learned through Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts that she, Kan Ruifeng, and Jiang Tinghuai would die within two years, while Kan Ruifeng learned his household sheltered many hidden wrongdoers. Kan Ruifeng brought Jiang Yingcheng and the others to his residence, where she planned to help identify them.

• Kan Ruifeng arrived at Lingxi Palace, reassured Kan Nianzhen about his campaign against Beiming, and learned that Jiang Yingcheng wanted to prevent his future death.
• At lunch, Jiang Yingcheng realized Kan Ruifeng’s household contained many bad people and worried about how to expose them without making him dismiss longtime servants.
• Kan Ruifeng announced he would arrange retirement residences for elderly members of his household, and Jiang Yingcheng asked to visit so she could choose who went first.
• Jiang Yingcheng persuaded Kan Ruifeng to bring Lord Yuan along, and the group traveled to the General's Residence.
• Lord Yuan greeted the group at the entrance as Jiang Yingcheng and the others called him “Sucker.”

At Kan Ruifeng’s banquet, Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed Beiming’s plague, valuable mineral deposits, and the captive mechanism master Li Hongjun. Kan Ruifeng left to urge Emperor Mingze to advance the campaign, while Yuan Liangping was left to keep the young princes and princess company as Jiang Yingcheng prepared to draw a terrain map.

• Yuan Liangping asked Kan Ruifeng about the planned march, and Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Beiming’s great general had caught the plague.
• Kan Ruifeng and Yuan Liangping learned through Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts that Beiming held vast copper and gold deposits and had abducted Li Hongjun.
• Jiang Yingcheng decided to draw a terrain map showing Li Hongjun’s hidden location, and Kan Ruifeng left Yuan Liangping to stay with the young royals.
• Kan Hongxi apologized for his father’s abrupt departure and turned his attention to Jiang Yingcheng.

Kan Rongxuan took Jiang Yingcheng and the princes to investigate a supposedly haunted courtyard, hoping to impress the little princess by protecting her. Just as they approached the open gates, an eerie woman’s voice sounded behind them, and the group screamed.

• Kan Hongxi asked Yuan Liangping to join him in the study so he could question him about the court.
• Kan Rongxuan told Jiang Yingcheng and the princes that a courtyard was haunted, and Jiang Xingran tried to lead the frightened children away.
• Kan Rongxuan provoked Jiang Yingcheng and Jiang Qiuyu into agreeing to enter the courtyard, while Jiang Xingran kept Jiang Yingcheng clinging to his arm.
• A cold gust pushed the courtyard gates open, and Kan Rongxuan realized the movement did not match any of his planned pranks.
• An eerie woman’s voice asked who they were from behind the group, and everyone screamed.

Jiang Yingcheng and the other children met Xi Youshan in the supposedly haunted courtyard and grew suspicious of her. When strange noises and slamming doors frightened Jiang Yingcheng and Jiang Qiuyu, Kan Rongxuan realized the commotion came from traps he had set, but he did not explain.

• Jiang Xingran stopped Jiang Yingcheng from screaming by telling her Xi Youshan was the pretty auntie she liked, but Jiang Yingcheng still panicked when Xi Youshan came close.
• Xi Youshan invited the children into her tidy but dilapidated room, and they suspected her because she claimed to live in the courtyard without recognizing Kan Rongxuan.
• Kan Rongxuan told Xi Youshan they had hidden belongings in the courtyard, and she offered to retrieve them while he watched her cautiously.
• Kan Rongxuan remembered that he had set traps in the room just as the window slammed, a vase crashed, and the door shut.
• Jiang Yingcheng and Jiang Qiuyu ran around in terror as Xi Youshan spoke in a chilling voice, and Jiang Yingcheng cried for Mother Consort.

Kan Hongxi brought Kan Rongxuan and Xi Youshan to apologize for frightening the children, but Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice revealed Xi Youshan’s family would face a terrible fate. Xi Youshan collapsed after realizing the little princess knew about her family’s future and was arguing with her System Bro over a gossip fee.

• Kan Hongxi confronted Kan Rongxuan and Xi Youshan for scaring the children with a knife and sent them to apologize.
• Jiang Yingcheng silently blamed her System Bro for abandoning her during the scare while Jiang Tinghuai held her.
• Xi Youshan began apologizing, but Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice praised her name and revealed that her ending would be awful.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts described the Xi Family’s confiscated property, exile, and deaths, prompting Xi Youshan to realize everyone could hear the princess’s inner voice.
• Jiang Yingcheng argued with System Bro about paying Merit Points for gossip, and Xi Youshan collapsed onto the floor.

Jiang Yingcheng uncovered that Xi Youshan's uncle had been drawn into a rebellion-funding scam and imagined a plan for the Xi household to infiltrate and expose the plot. Xi Youshan went with Jiang Tinghuai and the others to report the matter to the emperor, while Jiang Yingcheng suddenly remembered she had misplaced her large sucker.

• Xi Youshan pretended to be upset, and Jiang Yingcheng blamed Jiang Tinghuai for not protecting her quickly enough.
• Jiang Yingcheng checked her points history, found that System Bro had spent her points on sunflower seeds, and received information about Xi Youshan's uncle.
• Jiang Yingcheng learned that Xi Youshan's uncle had joined a scheme run by a Guangfu Kingdom prince seeking to restore his kingdom by raising money for troops and horses.
• Jiang Yingcheng thought the Xi household could pretend to join the rebels before exposing them, and Xi Youshan resolved to report the plot to His Majesty.
• Jiang Tinghuai and the others left for the imperial palace with Xi Youshan, and Jiang Yingcheng realized her large sucker was missing.

Jiang Yingcheng used Jiang Tinghuai’s impromptu tutoring session to recite names she hoped to learn about, then joined her brothers in play at Lingxi Palace. During dinner, she recognized Snow-Soul Powder in a dish and realized it was poisoned.

• Yuan Liangping realized Jiang Yingcheng had forgotten him and stopped at a roadside stall to eat.
• Jiang Tinghuai invited Jiang Yingcheng, Jiang Xingran, Lin Jinshu, and Jiang Qiuyu to Lingxi Palace for makeup lessons.
• Jiang Yingcheng recited the names Zhao You, Xin Nian, Fan Guang, Liang Man, and Wei Gaoyi while Jiang Tinghuai wrote them down.
• Jiang Yingcheng kissed Jiang Tinghuai, then helped him chase Jiang Qiuyu with Jiang Xingran and Lin Jinshu.
• Kan Nianzhen invited the children to dinner, and Jiang Yingcheng recognized Snow-Soul Powder in a dish and realized it was poisoned.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed a poisoned meatball at dinner, prompting Kan Nianzhen to summon the imperial chef and confront him. The chef denied deliberately making the food bitter, then blamed a woman in the hall for giving him powder to add to the dishes.

• Jiang Yingcheng spat out a bitter meatball and warned in her thoughts that the imperial chef had poisoned the empress's food.
• Kan Nianzhen summoned the chef, while Jiang Tinghuai and Kan Nianzhen reacted with fury and alarm after learning they had been eating poisoned food for half a year.
• Yao Qi arrived and denied knowing why the meatball was bitter when Jiang Yingcheng accused him.
• Kan Nianzhen ordered Yao Qi to taste the meatball, and he confessed that a woman had given him medicinal powder and claimed the empress had ordered it added to the food.

Kan Nianzhen confronted Yue Tao after Yao Qi exposed her role in secretly adding medicinal powder to the empress’s meals. Yue Tao confessed but tried to protect the banknotes hidden in her room, while Kan Nianzhen ordered the search and resolved to have the powder examined.

• Yao Qi claimed he had evidence against Yue Tao and revealed that she had given him banknotes wrapped in a handkerchief embroidered with the character “Tao.”
• Kan Nianzhen recognized that Yue Tao’s reaction confirmed the little one’s suspicions and ordered Yue Tao’s room searched for clues.
• Jiang Yingcheng reassured Kan Nianzhen that she could obtain an antidote and help change her fate, and Kan Nianzhen held her close.
• Yue Tao confessed that she had asked Yao Qi to add the powder to Kan Nianzhen’s meals, claiming it was a restorative folk remedy.
• Kan Nianzhen said the Imperial Physician would determine what the powder was and ordered the palace maids to continue searching Yue Tao’s room.

Pu Taichu confirmed Snow-Soul Powder had poisoned the meatballs, and Kan Nianzhen had Yao Qi and Yue Tao taken away after they named Consort Xuan and Consort Hui as the people behind their plot. As Jiang Yingcheng ran off with Lin Jinshu and the money, she thought about his mother bringing him into the palace, and Lin Jinshu realized she knew his secret.

• Pu Taichu confirmed the meatballs contained Snow-Soul Powder, and Yao Qi attacked Yue Tao before Kan Nianzhen questioned them.
• Yao Qi and Yue Tao both named Consort Xuan and Consort Hui as their backers, and Kan Nianzhen ordered guards to take them away.
• Jiang Yingcheng divided the banknotes among the princes and herself, then fled with Lin Jinshu when Jiang Tinghuai asked for a share.
• Jiang Yingcheng told Lin Jinshu he was her little brother, easing his fear that he was an outsider in the family.
• Jiang Yingcheng thought that Lin Jinshu's mother should bring him into the palace, and Lin Jinshu stopped in fury, realizing she knew.

Lin Jinshu learned from Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice that his aunt had mistreated him to make him depend on her, while Jiang Yingcheng planned to reunite him with his birth parents. The chapter ended with Lin Jinshu holding Jiang Yingcheng and Fang Siwan’s hands as he began to understand his aunt’s scheme.

• Jiang Yingcheng imagined telling Lin Jinshu that he was her biological brother, then worried about being punished for concealing the identity swap.
• Lin Jinshu embraced Jiang Yingcheng after hearing that she planned to help him, and he answered her naturally when she called him little brother.
• Fang Siwan met the children on the path and hugged both of them, then walked back with them holding hands.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice revealed that Fang Yiwan had arranged for Lin Jinshu to be isolated, bullied, and emotionally dependent on her.
• Lin Jinshu questioned why his aunt had schemed against him and heard that she had sold his mother’s gifts and neglected his clothes.