Recaps

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.

Fang Siwan comforted Lin Jinshu after realizing how deeply the household’s mistreatment had hurt him, while Jiang Yingcheng prepared a note for General Kan. At the Tan residence, Tan Wenhan confronted Weng Zizhen, who was secretly the Northern Frontier prince Su Hongzhen, until someone arrived and called him “Father.”

• Fang Siwan wrapped Lin Jinshu in her robe and carried him back, and Lin Jinshu wondered whether she loved him.
• Fang Siwan escorted Lin Jinshu out of the palace, leaving Jiang Yingcheng free to play before System Bro reminded her to write a note.
• Jiang Yingcheng put away her toys and began preparing a new note for General Kan.
• Tan Wenhan confronted the bound Weng Zizhen at his residence and demanded to know why he had come.
• Su Hongzhen, posing as Weng Zizhen, defended his uninvited visit until a voice at the entrance called, “Father?”

Tan Xinran confessed her feelings for Weng Zizhen, while Tan Wenhan secretly planned to separate them. Jiang Yingcheng set out with Jiang Yanchuan and the officials to visit her Great-Grandmother, hoping to prevent a future assassination, but her thoughts revealed an unexpected older male cousin at their destination.

• Tan Xinran pleaded with Tan Wenhan to release Weng Zizhen and bless their relationship, and Tan Wenhan ordered him untied before turning his anger toward the household servant named in the princess's note.
• Fang Siwan woke Jiang Yingcheng before dawn and learned that her daughter feared her Great-Grandmother would be assassinated and fall off a cliff six months later.
• Jiang Yanchuan took Jiang Yingcheng to the palace gates, where she announced in her thoughts that she would save her Great-Grandmother and Jiang Yanchuan resolved to investigate the threat.
• Jiang Yingcheng traveled with Jiang Yanchuan and the officials to the outskirts, then discovered in her thoughts that her Great-Grandmother's former beloved older male cousin was there.

Jiang Yingcheng uncovered that the Grand Empress Dowager’s cousin was a traitor trying to use his closeness to her to spy on Jiang Yanchuan. Jiang Yanchuan brought Jiang Yingcheng to meet his grandmother and warned her about the cousin, leaving the Grand Empress Dowager stunned by Jiang Yingcheng’s babyish voice.

• Jiang Yingcheng realized the cousin was pretending affection for the Grand Empress Dowager so he could gather information on Jiang Yanchuan, and she planned to warn her father.
• Jiang Yanchuan entered Lingji Nunnery with Jiang Yingcheng and the officials, completed the prayer ritual, and led the child to the Grand Empress Dowager’s courtyard.
• Jiang Yingcheng worried that the Grand Empress Dowager would dislike her, then hid behind Jiang Yanchuan when the older woman threw a game piece at him.
• Jiang Yingcheng gave the Grand Empress Dowager a pair of jadeite beads, and Jiang Yanchuan said that bringing his daughter was his gift.
• Jiang Yanchuan warned the Grand Empress Dowager that her cousin had been bought off by an enemy nation, and Jiang Yingcheng’s voice agreed, leaving the older woman dazed.

Jiang Yanchuan warned the Grand Empress Dowager about a rebel assassination plot, while Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed Tan Wenhan’s scheme and revealed that Tan Xinran was being targeted by a fake top scholar. The chapter ended with Tan Xinran hearing Jiang Yingcheng’s unspoken warning and reacting in shock.

• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed Tan Wenhan’s cruel intentions toward the Grand Empress Dowager, easing the old woman’s anger toward Jiang Yanchuan.
• Jiang Yanchuan told the Grand Empress Dowager that rebels were plotting to assassinate her and offered to leave his personal guards behind.
• Jiang Yanchuan sent Jiang Yingcheng off to play, then began a private conversation with the Grand Empress Dowager about her.
• Jiang Yingcheng found Tan Wenhan and Tan Xinran at the Bodhisattva hall, where Tan Wenhan hoped she would persuade his daughter.
• Tan Xinran took Jiang Yingcheng’s hand and heard her thoughts warn that a fake top scholar with a scarred face was trying to deceive her.

Tan Xinran realized that Weng Zizhen was a Northern Frontier prince who had deceived her, while Jiang Yingcheng staged a Bodhisattva Jiayue manifestation in the temple. The chapter ended as Jiang Yingcheng singled out Xi Zhenghao and prepared to expose him with the System's gossip.

• Tan Xinran connected Jiang Yingcheng's clues and suspected Weng Zizhen wore a human-skin mask, while Tan Wenhan learned that she had been giving him money.
• Jiang Yingcheng's thoughts revealed that Weng Zizhen had many consorts in the Northern Frontier and had no intention of taking Tan Xinran with him, prompting Tan Xinran to resolve not to hinder her father's loyalty to his country.
• Jiang Yingcheng knelt before Bodhisattva Jiayue's statue, claimed to offer five pounds of fat for a manifestation, and collapsed before rising with a changed manner and introducing herself as Jiayue.
• When Xi Zhenghao dismissed the manifestation as a childish prank, Jiang Yingcheng decided he was the person she had been waiting for and called on the System for gossip.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed Xi Zhenghao’s humiliating childhood secrets until he accepted that she was a manifested Bodhisattva and ran off crying. She then turned her attention to Kou Wencheng, who dropped to his knees and welcomed Venerable Jiayue.

• Jiang Yingcheng told Xi Zhenghao about swapping dresses with his younger female cousin when he was five.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed how Xi Zhenghao had tricked a younger boy into disturbing a hornets’ nest and blamed him for it.
• Jiang Yingcheng exposed Xi Zhenghao’s childhood attempt to persuade his older male cousin to marry him, prompting Xi Zhenghao to believe her and flee in tears.
• Jiang Yingcheng focused on Kou Wencheng, who knelt and declared that he welcomed Venerable Jiayue’s divine arrival.

Jiang Yingcheng used her ability to expose ministers’ secrets and accepted silver offers in exchange for keeping them quiet. After collecting ten thousand taels in IOUs, she beckoned Tan Xinran over.

• Jiang Yingcheng began to reveal Kou Wencheng’s embarrassing childhood memory, but he offered a thousand taels to stop her.
• Jiang Yingcheng accepted Kou Wencheng’s offer and moved on to Cheng Yongyan, who also promised a thousand taels to protect his secret.
• Jiang Yingcheng allowed Cheng Yongyan and several other officials to buy her silence with silver.
• Jiang Yingcheng collected ten thousand taels in IOUs and then called Tan Xinran over.

Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Tan Xinran’s true match was the boy she had saved as a child, then collected donations and served health-strengthening pills to the court. The ministers learned that the person who bribed the grand empress dowager’s cousin was hiding in the mountains outside the city.

• Jiang Yingcheng told Tan Xinran that the boy she saved at age ten had searched for her for years and remained unmarried, prompting Tan Xinran to ask where he was.
• Jiang Yingcheng secretly put the ministers’ IOUs into Lingji Nunnery’s donation box and promised to urge the nuns to collect the money.
• Jiang Yingcheng joined Jiang Yanchuan and the grand empress dowager for a vegetarian meal, where she served bowls containing health-strengthening pills.
• Jiang Yanchuan and the ministers drank the pill-filled soup, and Jiang Yingcheng thought they would now be able to work overtime.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that the person who bribed the grand empress dowager’s cousin was hiding in the mountains outside the city, energizing the ministers to pursue him.

Jiang Yingcheng uncovered that Xi Zimo had hidden a vast fortune in an estate in Quan'an County, prompting Jiang Yanchuan to authorize a thorough search of nearby towns. The search began under Lei Zhixin’s command, while Jiang Yingcheng remembered she still owed Yuan Liangping a terrain map and left him to do the work.

• Chu Jiaxu proposed intensifying inspections of surrounding towns before foreign envoys arrived, and Jiang Yingcheng encouraged the idea in her thoughts.
• Xi Zimo objected that a large-scale mobilization could alert Beiming, but Jiang Yingcheng reasoned that local searches would not reveal military preparations.
• Jiang Yingcheng discovered through the System that Xi Zimo had hidden his embezzled money in an estate in Quan'an County.
• Jiao Hongmiao invented a missing-child excuse to request manpower for searches, and Jiang Yanchuan assigned Lei Zhixin full authority over the operation.
• Jiang Yingcheng recalled that she owed a terrain map to Yuan Liangping and decided he could complete it himself.

After the group left Lingji Nunnery, Jiang Yingcheng slept peacefully while the ministers discovered that her letters contained maps and a dangerous accusation instead of the expected rewards. Back at the palace, Pan Jingwan appealed to the Grand Empress Dowager for justice, prompting her to wonder whether Jiang Yingcheng had suffered at Pan Jingwan’s hands.

• Jiang Yingcheng spent the afternoon whispering with Yuan Liangping, then gave him an envelope that he believed contained the money they had agreed on.
• Yuan Liangping teased Gao Siyuan about secretly spending money, while Gao Siyuan silently resolved to expose Yuan Liangping’s secret funds to his wife.
• The Grand Empress Dowager traveled back to the palace with Jiang Yingcheng, who imagined she could get away with skipping lessons before falling asleep in her arms.
• Kan Ruifeng and Lei Zhixin examined maps from Jiang Yingcheng and recognized the place names Capital City and Pinggu County, while Yuan Liangping found a note accusing Noble Consort Rou of harming him instead of banknotes.
• Pan Jingwan entered and asked the Grand Empress Dowager to uphold justice for her, making the Grand Empress Dowager question whether Jiang Yingcheng had suffered at Pan Jingwan’s hands.

Pan Jingwan tried to persuade the Empress Dowager to help bring Jiang Huai'an back, but Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed her motives and the Empress Dowager dismissed her. Meanwhile, Kan Ruifeng and the officers prepared a secret operation, and Wei Dairong asked Yuan Liangping about trusting her with his money.

• Pan Jingwan pleaded with the Empress Dowager to intercede for Jiang Huai'an, while Jiang Yingcheng’s sarcastic thoughts made the Empress Dowager see through her appeal.
• Jiang Yingcheng tapped the Empress Dowager’s legs and offered her snacks, prompting the Empress Dowager to dismiss Pan Jingwan.
• Jiang Yanchuan teased Jiang Yingcheng for eating so much, and the Empress Dowager affectionately took the child’s side.
• Kan Ruifeng and the officers divided up targets on terrain maps for a secret operation, with permission to consult Jiang Yingcheng if needed.
• Wei Dairong asked Yuan Liangping whether he would entrust her with increasingly large sums, leaving him stunned when she asked about two thousand taels.

Yuan Liangping was caught hiding money, while Jiang Yingcheng visited the Eastern Depot and uncovered the prisoner’s true identity and a Northern Frontier succession plot. The chapter ended with her approaching the Second Prince of the Northern Frontier and thinking of him as the God of Wealth.

• Wei Dairong found Yuan Liangping’s hidden banknotes and confronted him about planning to spend them on Snack Street.
• Lu Yao invited Jiang Yanchuan and Jiang Yingcheng to inspect the renovated Eastern Depot, and Jiang Yanchuan agreed.
• At the Eastern Depot prison, Lu Yao identified the prisoner as an impostor who had replaced the murdered top scholar Weng Zizhen.
• Jiang Yingcheng used her system to learn that Su Hongzhen planned to gain merit in Great Rui and had secretly swapped children and drugged the Northern Frontier’s first prince.
• Jiang Yingcheng walked up to the Second Prince of the Northern Frontier and thought of him as the God of Wealth.

Jiang Yanchuan confronted the captured Northern Frontier prince Su Hongzhen, while Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed the Northern Frontier’s political troubles and a gifted princess who could save its king. Su Hongzhen’s attempt to negotiate ended with Jiang Yingcheng mocking his debts and predicting his downfall.

• Jiang Yingcheng thought that the Northern Frontier king had been poisoned by the Second Prince and had only a few years to live.
• Jiang Yanchuan summoned Jiang Yingcheng, then ordered Lu Yao to wake Su Hongzhen by pouring cold water over him.
• Jiang Yanchuan accused Su Hongzhen of sending information to the Northern Frontier and offered to discuss the terms of his release.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts identified the Northern Frontier’s Third Princess as a brilliant healer who might have saved the king if she and her mother had been treated better.
• Jiang Yingcheng and Jiang Yanchuan mocked Su Hongzhen for owing Xinran money, and Jiang Yingcheng called him a poor old man whose death deserved respect.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed Su Hongzhen’s hidden wealth and accomplices while Jiang Yanchuan demanded a ransom and territory for his release. As the Embroidered Uniform Guard moved against the accomplices, generals waited outside the Eastern Depot, eager to bring Jiang Yingcheng home with treats.

• Jiang Yingcheng mocked Su Hongzhen until he suppressed his anger and asked Jiang Yanchuan to negotiate.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Su Hongzhen had wealth hidden near Yuntong Mountain and in his manor, while Jiang Yanchuan demanded three cities and three million taels of silver.
• Su Hongzhen threatened that his men and imperial father would retaliate, but Jiang Yingcheng identified his accomplices at the Luyang Tavern.
• An Embroidered Uniform Guard squad headed east, while generals outside the Eastern Depot prepared to welcome Jiang Yingcheng with egg pancakes and lotus pastries.

Jiang Yanchuan, Jiang Yingcheng, and Lu Yao inspected the prison, where Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts exposed the prisoners’ contempt for the emperor. They encountered Duke Wang visiting Su Hongzhen, and Jiang Yingcheng’s imagined “old flame” story left Duke Wang horrified when Jiang Yanchuan joined her in patting his back.

• Su Hongzhen spat blood after Lu Yao revealed that he knew about his schemes, then guards took him to a cell.
• Lu Yao praised Jiang Yanchuan’s prison reforms, but Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that prisoners cursed the emperor and the jailers tolerated it.
• The group heard Duke Wang laughing deeper in the prison and followed his voice to a cell where he stood opposite another man.
• Jiang Yingcheng ran up to Duke Wang and wondered whether he and the prisoner were former lovers, making Duke Wang choke on his explanation.
• Jiang Yanchuan patted Duke Wang’s back while Jiang Yingcheng helped guide his arm, frightening Duke Wang into imagining his own grave.

Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Zhuang Xuyao had been framed by Qiu Weizhi, prompting Zhuang to break down in tears. Jiang Yanchuan and Lu Yao moved to investigate the scheme and clear Zhuang’s name.

• Jiang Yingcheng’s energetic shaking left Duke Wang exhausted, and the men exchanged pleasantries while listening for her inner thoughts.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s inner voice explained how a treacherous official had lured Zhuang Xuyao into discovering a planted letter and then framed him for treason.
• Duke Wang grieved over Zhuang Xuyao’s suffering and wondered who had orchestrated the plot.
• Jiang Yingcheng noticed Zhuang Xuyao crying and promised to get revenge by telling Jiang Yanchuan that Qiu Weizhi was responsible.
• Lu Yao assured Zhuang Xuyao that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had gathered evidence, while Duke Wang doubted that they had investigated the case.

After Zhuang Xuyao was released from prison, Jiang Yingcheng discovered through her thoughts that his brothers and household guards had betrayed him. She began investigating his troubles over lunch, but Jiang Yanchuan stopped her before she could uncover more, and the group remained inside as Lei Zhixin waited outside the Eastern Depot.

• Lei Zhixin and the other generals waited at Binglan Alley while squads continued leaving the Eastern Depot with information gathered by Lu Yao.
• Jiang Yanchuan arranged Zhuang Xuyao's early release, and Jiang Yingcheng gave him a candy ball to cheer him up.
• Lu Yao served lunch to Jiang Yanchuan, Duke Wang, Zhuang Xuyao, and Jiang Yingcheng, who resolved to find justice for Zhuang Xuyao.
• Jiang Yingcheng's thoughts revealed that Zhuang Xuyao's brothers had insulted him and looted his household while he was imprisoned.
• Jiang Yingcheng's thoughts exposed that household guards had sold information about Zhuang Xuyao, but Jiang Yanchuan interrupted her before she could reveal more.
• Jiang Yingcheng fell asleep while Jiang Yanchuan reviewed memorials in Lu Yao's warm chamber, as Lei Zhixin continued waiting outside.

Jiang Yingcheng learned that Kan Ruifeng and the other generals had waited outside to see her, then joined Jiang Yanchuan at the Kan Residence, where they reported a hidden copper deposit in Beiming. Her curiosity turned to suspicious refugees from the northwest, leaving the generals eager for intelligence about the deposit but waiting on the wrong news.

• Jiang Yingcheng glimpsed a memorial about suspicious movements by refugees from the northwest, but Jiang Yanchuan distracted her with a peach blossom pastry.
• Kan Ruifeng and several generals met Jiang Yanchuan and Jiang Yingcheng after waiting outside in the cold, and the emperor redirected the procession to the Kan Residence.
• Jiang Yingcheng passed pastries to the generals, and Jiang Yanchuan ate the extras she could not finish.
• Kan Ruifeng handed Jiang Yanchuan letters reporting an untapped copper deposit near Kangyang County in northwestern Beiming.
• Jiang Yingcheng asked System Bro to reveal gossip about refugees who had traveled from the northwest to the capital, surprising the generals who wanted her to investigate the copper deposit.

At a gathering with Emperor Mingze and Kan Ruifeng, Jiang Yingcheng uncovered that Song Liqun had bribed officials and obtained the emperor’s itinerary while pursuing Cheng Yongyan. As her countdown reached zero, Song Liqun arrived at the entrance accusing a court official of seducing and abandoning him.

• Jiang Yingcheng learned that a refugee had traveled to the capital to find his lover, who was an official.
• Jiang Yingcheng remembered that the official was Cheng Yongyan, whom the man had met three years earlier during an assignment.
• Jiang Yingcheng discovered that Song Liqun had bribed officials and learned Emperor Mingze’s itinerary.
• Jiang Yingcheng counted down to Song Liqun’s arrival while the people at the gathering grew alarmed.
• A maid told Kan Ruifeng that Song Liqun had gathered a crowd outside and demanded justice against an important court official.

He Puyu accused Cheng Yongyan of seducing and abandoning him, but Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that He Puyu was concealing his own affairs. Cheng Yongyan arrived at court, while Jiang Yingcheng wondered why He Puyu had come to the capital without telling Emperor Mingze the real reason.

• He Puyu knelt before Jiang Yanchuan and claimed he had suffered an injustice at Cheng Yongyan’s hands.
• Jiang Yingcheng pointed out that He Puyu had failed to recognize Emperor Mingze and made him pay respects to her and the generals.
• He Puyu told the court that he and Cheng Yongyan had fallen in love three years earlier before Cheng Yongyan cast him aside.
• Jiang Yingcheng realized Cheng Yongyan had left Qingliao County only months after arriving, and that He Puyu had later been involved with a wealthy merchant.
• Cheng Yongyan hurried into the hall as Jiang Yingcheng wondered why He Puyu had traveled to the capital to meet Emperor Mingze.