Recaps

Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed foreign spies operating in Wind Brocade Commandery, including a connection to Western Liang, while Lu Yao accidentally revealed the first part of the plot by inventing intelligence that proved true. Emperor Mingze ordered a secret investigation, and Jiao Hongmiao urged a military response against neighboring countries.

• Jiang Yingcheng worried about warning Emperor Mingze in time, and Lu Yao claimed the Embroidered Uniform Guard had intelligence about suspicious foreigners in Jiangnan.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Lu Yao’s fabricated intelligence was true and that Western Liang and the commandery prefect were involved in a larger scheme.
• Jiang Yingcheng discovered that foreign spies had several bases in Wind Brocade Commandery and thought their locations aloud.
• Jiao Hongmiao proposed borrowing troops to patrol the streets, but Jiang Yanchuan ordered Xu Jiu to search the named locations and keep any discoveries under surveillance.
• Jiao Hongmiao urged Great Rui to use the spy affair as a reason to send troops against neighboring countries.

Minister Jiao Hongmiao and other officials urged Emperor Mingze to attack wealthy neighboring countries, while Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed the Pingxu Kingdom’s hidden gold and two ineffective spies. The officials began scheming to manufacture a pretext for war, but Censor-in-Chief Bi Honglang objected, leaving the court’s decision unresolved.

• Jiao Hongmiao called for an attack on neighboring countries, and Lei Zhixin mocked his sudden eagerness to spend military funds.
• The ministers urged Emperor Mingze to defend Great Rui’s national dignity, while Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed Western Liang’s immense buried treasures.
• Jiang Yingcheng realized Pingxu’s spies had sent only two greeting letters, then disclosed that the kingdom possessed two unmined gold mountains containing over a million taels of gold.
• Jiang Yingcheng imagined staging an accident and fabricating evidence against the spies, alarming the officials who could hear her thoughts.
• Chu Jiaxu suggested forging evidence, and Jiang Yingcheng’s violent plan involving torture and a false confession left the officials stunned.
• Bi Honglang stood beside Ding Ruihan and declared that the proposed course of action must not be taken.

Bi Honglang questioned the plan to send troops, prompting Lu Yao to invent a history of surveillance and praise a mysterious informant to explain why Great Rui had delayed. Chengcheng responded to the praise by revealing more intelligence about Pingxu Kingdom, while Ding Ruihan and Ying Sinan were left reeling after overhearing court secrets.

• Bi Honglang warned Jiang Yanchuan that dispatching troops could damage Great Rui's trade and economy.
• Jiang Yanchuan claimed Lu Yao had reported suspicious people in Wind Brocade three months earlier, and Lu Yao improvised an explanation about spies near classified strongholds.
• Bi Honglang pressed Lu Yao about why Great Rui had not used false intelligence sooner, so Lu Yao blamed a mysterious expert whose warnings had deterred Pingxu Kingdom.
• Lu Yao praised the expert, and Chengcheng, pleased by the compliments, revealed military and strategic information about Pingxu Kingdom and planned to send it to General Kan.
• After the lake excursion ended, Chengcheng told Ding Ruihan that Jiang Yanchuan was asking her a question, leaving Ding Ruihan nervous.

Jiang Yanchuan questioned Ding Ruihan about the letter, and she begged for a new identity so she could escape the Ding Mansion. As Jiang Yingcheng uncovered the women’s hidden scheme, Duke Wang prepared to plead for Ding Ruihan.

• Jiang Yingcheng asked Ding Ruihan why the women had given her the letter, then decided to investigate the matter herself.
• Jiang Yanchuan offered Ding Ruihan the chance to withdraw, frightening her into agreeing to speak.
• Ding Ruihan described being sold to the Ding Mansion, forced through its training classes, and sent to seek a wealthy patron.
• Ding Ruihan asked for a new identity to escape her life in the Ding Mansion.
• Duke Wang prepared to appeal to Jiang Yanchuan on Ding Ruihan’s behalf, while Jiang Yingcheng realized the women had set a chain of traps.

Ding Ruihan pleaded with Jiang Yanchuan to free her, but Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed her careful schemes and her plans to escape the Ding Residence. The ministers learned that her chosen sucker, Yuan Liangping, had arrived to rescue her.

• Ding Ruihan begged Jiang Yanchuan to let her live an ordinary life, and the ministers initially sympathized with her.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Ding Ruihan had spent years selecting wealthy, lovestruck men and had refused to return to her birth parents despite their offer to buy her back.
• Jiang Yingcheng exposed Ding Ruihan’s hidden savings, her plan to approach Jiang Yanchuan if he desired her, and her backup plan to report the Ding Residence and disappear under a new identity.
• The ministers noticed Ding Ruihan had not pleaded for the maids waiting outside, who knelt in fear of their fate.
• A pleasure boat rushed toward them as Yuan Liangping called out to reassure Ding Ruihan, and Jiang Yingcheng identified him as the ultimate sucker.

Jiang Lifeng disguised himself as Nie Wen and tried to take Ding Ruihan away in front of Emperor Mingze, but she refused to leave. As Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice revealed that Lifeng had stolen the Prince of Nanyang’s official seal for Ruihan, the officials watched the confrontation unfold.

• Jiang Lifeng leaped onto the pleasure boat and claimed he was Nie Wen, there to rescue Ding Ruihan from the Ding Residence.
• Emperor Mingze asked Ding Ruihan whether she wanted to leave with Jiang Lifeng, and she said she could not go with him.
• Jiang Lifeng asked whether anyone had bullied Ruihan, while she shook her head and acted as though she could not reveal her grievances.
• Jiang Yingcheng and Lu Yao munched biscuits as they watched Jiang Lifeng plead with Ruihan to trust him and promised he had brought enough betrothal money.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice revealed that Jiang Lifeng had stolen the Prince of Nanyang’s official seal for Ruihan.

At the Painted Pleasure Boat, Jiang Lifeng realized Princess Mingxi could reveal his secrets through her thoughts, while she exposed how Ding Ruihan and the master of the Ding Residence had repeatedly deceived him. The chapter left Jiang Lifeng struggling to respond as he heard that his gifts had been used to buy more time.

• Jiang Lifeng accused Emperor Mingze of having learned something about him, then became distracted by Princess Mingxi’s cute appearance.
• Jiang Lifeng recognized Jiang Yingcheng as Princess Mingxi and nearly asked whether she had spoken before an exaggerated coughing fit interrupted him.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Ding Ruihan was older than Jiang Lifeng and that the master of the Ding Residence had helped her deceive him.
• Jiang Yingcheng explained that they had staged fake marriage offers to trick Jiang Lifeng into sending gold, silver, and jewels to buy Ding Ruihan more time.

Jiang Lifeng realized that Ding Ruihan and Master Ding had been deceiving him about the money he gave them, after Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice exposed their scheme. He asked Ding Ruihan where the money was now, leaving her stunned.

• Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice recalled how Master Ding repeatedly swindled Jiang Lifeng, and revealed that Master Ding and Ding Ruihan split the money between them.
• Jiang Lifeng reconsidered Ding Ruihan’s gifts and realized they had been cheap food, poor-quality tea, and trinkets, despite his belief that she had treated him with devotion.
• Duke Wang and Chu Jiaxu mocked Jiang Lifeng’s supposed devotion to love while he tried to hide his embarrassment.
• Ding Ruihan called to Jiang Lifeng anxiously, and he asked her where the money he had given Master Ding was being kept.
• Ding Ruihan’s eyes widened as everyone watched her.

Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed Jiang Lifeng’s thefts and gifts to Ding Ruihan, including an imperial Jade Pendant. Jiang Lifeng learned the pendant was still in Ding Ruihan’s purse and prepared to take it back, but someone sensed killing intent.

• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Jiang Lifeng had stolen two paintings by the Painting Sage and given them to Ding Ruihan.
• Jiang Yingcheng listed more stolen treasures Jiang Lifeng had given Ding Ruihan, including the Cloud-Rolling Sword, the Yanlin Bottle, and the Jade Pendant bestowed by Emperor Mingze.
• Ding Ruihan said her father had sold the other objects, but she did not know where; Jiang Lifeng panicked about the missing Jade Pendant.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Ding Ruihan still had the Jade Pendant in her purse, and Jiang Lifeng decided to snatch it back.
• Someone cried out that there was killing intent.

Jiang Yingcheng stole Ding Ruihan’s pouch amid a panicked search for assassins, first mistaking a dropped coin for danger. A Shadow Guard then confirmed that real villains had been apprehended and advised bringing the pleasure boat ashore.

• Jiang Yingcheng cried that she sensed murderous intent, prompting the courtiers to panic as she slipped away to steal Ding Ruihan’s pouch.
• A sound at the window intensified the alarm, but Jiang Yingcheng realized it came from a Shadow Guard accidentally dropping silver.
• Lu Yao threw his prized knife toward the window, and it fell into the water as Jiang Yingcheng snatched Ding Ruihan’s pouch and returned to Jiang Yanchuan.
• Jiang Yanchuan helped Jiang Yingcheng settle down and gave her fruit tea while the courtiers continued searching for danger.
• A Shadow Guard reported that he had apprehended the villains and recommended bringing the pleasure boat ashore, shocking Jiang Yingcheng and the courtiers.

After Shadow Guards uncovered an underwater gang extorting boat passengers and learned that the local Prefect protected them, Emperor Mingze ordered an investigation. As Ding Ruihan discovered her purse was missing, she accused Jiang Lifeng, while the real thief, Jiang Yingcheng, tried to avoid blame.

• A Shadow Guard reported that he had discovered and captured men hiding beneath the boat, and Emperor Mingze ordered their interrogation.
• Jiang Yingcheng's thoughts revealed that the criminals routinely robbed scholars on the river and that the Prefect secretly took bribes to let them continue.
• Emperor Mingze sent a Shadow Guard to deal with the corrupt Prefect and the extortion ring.
• Ding Ruihan realized her purse was missing and suspected Jiang Lifeng, while Jiang Yingcheng privately admitted she had taken it.

Ding Ruihan accused Jiang Lifeng of taking her pouch, but he appealed to the emperor to have every minister searched for it. The searches found nothing, leaving Ruihan terrified as Jiang Lifeng continued reassuring her.

• Ding Ruihan realized her pouch held nearly all her wealth and accused Jiang Lifeng of stealing it.
• Jiang Lifeng calmed Ruihan and appealed to the emperor for help recovering the pouch.
• Jiang Lifeng asked the emperor to order everyone present searched, claiming it was Ruihan's request.
• Jiang Yanchuan approved the searches and summoned shadow guards to search Jiang Lifeng and the assembled ministers.
• The searches found no pouch, and Ruihan trembled as Jiang Lifeng promised he would not let her suffer.

Jiang Lifeng accused Ding Ruihan of suspecting the Little Princess, and Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Ding Ruihan possessed pawn tickets for stolen valuables linked to her suitors. Jiang Yanchuan pardoned Ding Ruihan and Jiang Lifeng, but his cold call to Ding Ruihan left her fate unresolved.

• Jiang Lifeng told Emperor Mingze that the Little Princess had also been outside, implying she might have taken Ding Ruihan’s purse.
• Jiang Yanchuan asked Ding Ruihan whether she believed his daughter had taken her purse, and she denied it in panic.
• Jiang Yingcheng identified the valuables listed on Ding Ruihan’s pawn tickets as belongings stolen from wealthy families and found a residence deed among them.
• Jiang Yingcheng resolved to return the valuables to their rightful owners, while the officials listened to her thoughts about Ding Ruihan’s romances.
• Jiang Yanchuan pardoned Ding Ruihan and Jiang Lifeng, Ding Ruihan told Jiang Lifeng to shut up, and Jiang Yanchuan addressed her coldly.

Ding Ruihan agreed to return to the Ding Residence and help Jiang Yanchuan gather evidence against the Slender Horse trade before leaving for Liuyang Mountain. Meanwhile, Jiang Lifeng and Ying Sinan were sent to fulfill the little one's pastry requests, and Ying Sinan noticed they were being followed as they walked through Wind Brocade Commandery.

• Jiang Yanchuan arranged for Ding Ruihan to return to the Ding Residence and cooperate with his investigation into the Slender Horse trade.
• After the Painted Pleasure Boat departed, Jiang Lifeng revealed his identity to Jiang Yanchuan and was accused of deceiving the sovereign for using an alias.
• Jiang Yanchuan ordered Jiang Lifeng and Ying Sinan to satisfy the little one's requests, so they went around Wind Brocade Commandery buying pastries.
• Jiang Lifeng recalled receiving a warning about his Jade Pendant and commiserated with Ying Sinan as they continued their errand.
• Ying Sinan quietly warned Jiang Lifeng that people were following them and told him not to look back.

Ying Sinan told Jiang Lifeng that trained fighters had been following them, while Jiang Yingcheng investigated Jiao Hongmiao after suspecting he wanted her money. The chapter ended with Jiang Yingcheng discovering that Jiao Hongmiao’s younger brother had secretly siphoned money from his household.

• Ying Sinan took Jiang Lifeng into a pastry shop and warned him that two suspicious fighters were still following them.
• Jiang Yanchuan brought Jiang Yingcheng outside with Jiao Hongmiao and teased her by calling their conversation a secret.
• Jiang Yingcheng suspected Jiao Hongmiao wanted the pawn tickets that officials had failed to return.
• Jiang Yingcheng consulted System Bro, then discovered that Jiao Hongmiao’s younger brother had secretly siphoned money from his household.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed Jiao Hongxi’s scheme to swindle the Jiao family’s trading firm, and Jiao Hongmiao rushed off after learning his wife had not yet handed over all the goods. Jiang Yingcheng then wondered why Lifeng had not returned and asked the system to find out what he was doing.

• The Upright Officials arrived to pay their respects to Emperor Mingze and stayed to listen to Jiang Yingcheng’s gossip about Jiao Hongmiao.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Jiao Hongmiao’s wife managed the family businesses, which were registered under a distant relative’s name.
• Jiang Yingcheng exposed that Jiao Hongxi had invented a friend and hired a street thug to place a fake order, then stolen the deposit from the Jiao residence.
• Jiang Yingcheng realized the goods had not all been handed over because production was delayed, so Lu Yao warned Jiao Hongmiao that a thief had entered his house.
• Emperor Mingze gave Jiao Hongmiao permission to leave, and Jiao Hongmiao hurried away to stop the scheme.
• Jiang Yingcheng asked the system to find out why Lifeng had not returned and what he was doing.

Jiang Lifeng and Ying Sinan tried to stay in a pastry shop to avoid their pursuers, but their plan collapsed when Jiang Lifeng discovered the purse was gone and the shopkeeper caught them sneaking out. They fled through Wind Brocade Commandery, only to hear a voice from above as someone appeared to intercept them.

• Jiang Lifeng ordered the shopkeeper to pack one of every pastry so he and Ying Sinan could remain in the crowded shop while waiting for help.
• Jiang Lifeng realized the Gold Beans in the purse were gone, and he and Ying Sinan tried to sneak out before the pastries were packed.
• The shopkeeper caught them at the doorway, and Ying Sinan's burp exposed that they had eaten the samples.
• Jiang Lifeng and Ying Sinan ran from the shopkeeper and his assistants while the two people who had been following them pursued them too.
• As Ying Sinan dragged the exhausted Jiang Lifeng through the streets, a voice called down from above, making Ying Sinan suspect that a martial artist had been sent after them.

Jiang Yingcheng and her guards turned an attempt to abduct Jiang Lifeng into a farcical ambush and captured a group of spies from the Pingxu Kingdom. She brought the captives to Jiang Yanchuan and urged him not to spare them, while Jiang Lifeng wondered if anyone else had been hurt by the ordeal.

• Ying Sinan tried to send Jiang Lifeng running, but Jiang Lifeng revealed that guards were already present, and Jiang Yingcheng teased Ying Sinan for his dramatic act.
• Jiang Yingcheng stayed behind with Jiang Lifeng while Liaochen and Yu Xingmian drew away the pastry-shop men and the bandits.
• The bandits surrounded Jiang Lifeng, who called for Liaochen to attack them.
• Jiang Yingcheng returned to Jiang Yanchuan with Jiang Lifeng and her guards, who brought the captured bandits along with parcels of desserts.
• Jiang Yingcheng's inner voice revealed that the captives were spies from the Pingxu Kingdom who planned to use Jiang Lifeng as leverage against the Prince of Nanyang, and she urged Jiang Yanchuan to punish them.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed a plot against the young prince from the Prince of Nanyang's Residence, prompting Great Rui to prepare action against the Pingxu Kingdom. When a Pingxu envoy arrived to plead his kingdom’s innocence, Jiang Yingcheng staged another divine possession that stopped his crying and bewildered Jiang Lifeng.

• Jiang Yanchuan agreed to Lu Yao’s plan to capture the Pingxu Kingdom group after Jiang Yingcheng revealed they had targeted the young prince from the Prince of Nanyang's Residence.
• Lu Yao’s men let a captive escape so the Pingxu Kingdom would learn of the incident, and its envoy arrived to plead with Jiang Yanchuan.
• The envoy’s sobbing continued because no interpreter was present, while Jiang Yingcheng privately decided his tears sounded fake.
• Jiang Yingcheng choked on the chestnuts, appeared to faint, and then claimed she was Jiayue.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s act stopped the envoy from crying, and Lu Yao told the confused Jiang Lifeng that he would understand what Jiayue did.

Jiang Yingcheng used System Bro to speak Pingxu’s language and heard the envoy explain that Pingxu’s ruler claimed someone had falsely acted in their name to threaten Great Rui’s young prince. She summed up his appeal to Emperor Mingze as, “hurry up and release their people,” leaving Jiang Yanchuan and the officials stunned.

• Lu Yao knelt before Jiang Yingcheng and asked her to help communicate with the Pingxu envoy.
• Jiang Yingcheng spoke fluent Pingxu and invited the envoy to explain his urgent matter.
• The envoy said Pingxu’s ruler had received a letter blaming a mysterious impostor for the plot against Great Rui’s young prince.
• Jiang Yingcheng privately dismissed Pingxu’s excuse, recalling that its captured spies had confessed after she spent points to make them tell the truth.
• Jiang Yingcheng translated the envoy’s lengthy explanation as a demand to release Pingxu’s people, shocking Jiang Yanchuan and the officials.

Jiang Yingcheng mistranslated the Pingxu Kingdom envoy’s pleas and denials, turning the audience with Emperor Mingze into a declaration of war. The envoy left believing he had been granted time to investigate, while the court historian recorded that he had threatened armed conflict.

• Jiang Yingcheng withheld the envoy’s insults, then told the officials he had openly disgraced Great Rui, prompting them to condemn him.
• The envoy denied that the captured spies belonged to Pingxu and blamed Western Liang, but Jiang Yingcheng told Jiang Yanchuan that he refused to accept responsibility.
• Jiang Yingcheng told the envoy that Great Rui had evidence from Western Liang merchants, and the envoy protested that Western Liang had agreed to ally with Pingxu.
• The envoy asked for time to investigate, but Jiang Yingcheng told Jiang Yanchuan that he had declared they would meet on the battlefield; Jiang Yanchuan agreed.
• The envoy thanked Emperor Mingze and Jiang Yingcheng before leaving, and the court historian recorded that he had declared his intent to fight Great Rui.

Emperor Mingze visited Prefect Zou Cailiang in Wind Brocade Commandery, where Jiang Yingcheng and the Upright Officials hoped to uncover the prefect’s secrets. At the feast, Zou Zi’ang finally noticed Jiang Yingcheng reaching repeatedly for food, and she realized her plan had worked.

• Zou Cailiang knelt before Emperor Mingze and apologized for failing to know he had arrived, while Lei Zhixin recognized the prefect’s suspiciously convenient ignorance.
• Jiang Yingcheng wanted to visit Zou Cailiang’s residence, and the Upright Officials eagerly backed the invitation.
• Lu Yao asked Zou Cailiang to summon his son, and Zou Zi’ang entered dressed elegantly and offering polite excuses for his late arrival.
• Jiang Yingcheng insisted that Zou Zi’ang sit beside her and repeatedly reached for distant dishes until he noticed her.

Jiang Yingcheng revealed the Zou family heirloom thumb ring at a gathering, forcing Zou Cailiang to confront how it had ended up with her. Jiang Lifeng explained that a mysterious person had taken it from a woman in the Ding Residence, leaving Zou Cailiang to realize his son had given the heirloom to her.

• Jiang Yingcheng drew Zou Zi’ang’s attention to the thumb ring tied at her waist and announced that Jiang Lifeng had given it to her.
• Zou Cailiang recognized the thumb ring as his family heirloom and asked Jiang Yanchuan how Jiang Lifeng had obtained it.
• Jiang Lifeng said a mysterious person had retrieved the ring from the private possessions of a woman who had deceived him.
• Zou Cailiang recalled giving the heirloom to Zou Zi’ang and realized his son had given it to a woman from the Ding Residence.

Jiang Yingcheng used claims about Ding Ruihan and the jade thumb ring to provoke Zou Cailiang and Zou Zi’ang, while Jiang Lifeng added rumors about her suitors and their family’s crimes. The chapter ended with Zou Cailiang trying to placate Jiang Lifeng as the ring’s ownership remained an uncomfortable subject.

• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Zou Zi’ang had given Ding Ruihan a treasured jade thumb ring and suggested the Zou family’s wealth came from the Slender Horse business.
• Zou Zi’ang defended Ding Ruihan, but Lei Zhixin, Chu Dong, and Jiao Hongmiao confirmed that the mysterious letter’s claims about her other suitors had checked out.
• Jiang Yingcheng accused Ding Ruihan of collecting prominent families’ secrets and asked whether Zou Zi’ang was one of her male confidants.
• Jiang Lifeng backed Jiang Yingcheng by recounting how Ding Ruihan had allegedly shared damaging secrets about her suitors, including a story about a commoner killed on a hunting trip.
• Zou Zi’ang’s reaction suggested that the hunting death involved his family, and Zou Cailiang struck him before Jiang Lifeng could press further.
• Jiang Lifeng reminded Zou Cailiang that the thumb ring’s giver remained in question, leaving the prefect forced to agree uneasily.

Jiang Yingcheng went to buy a gift for Jiang Yanchuan and became angry after discovering that he had sent her away to handle official business. At a flea market, she stumbled upon a public dispute over a supposedly stolen family heirloom and was drawn into the investigation.

• Jiang Yingcheng happily carried the thumb ring she had taken from the Zou family and offered to buy Jiang Yanchuan a gift.
• Jiang Yanchuan persuaded Jiang Yingcheng to shop on her own while he and the uncles handled official business, and she grew angry when she learned the truth.
• Jiang Yingcheng and the guards found a crowd outside a shop where a woman accused the shopkeeper of stealing and reselling her family heirloom.
• Jiang Lifeng carried Jiang Yingcheng toward the shop, but soldiers arrived and invited her party to the government offices to witness the prefect's investigation.
• The woman rushed out, called on the Little Highness to uphold justice, and dramatically struck her forehead on the ground as the crowd condemned the shopkeeper.