Chapter Summaries

Lu Yao brought Jiang Yingcheng to Wu Leyong, who agreed to reproduce a jade pendant, while the rulers and their allies hid nearby. After overhearing Shao Xuan and the Ruler of Danxia discuss a poison plot against the ruler of Zhujin, Jiang Yingcheng tried to turn the gathered witnesses into proof by approaching the Ruler of Danxia.

• Lu Yao gave Wu Leyong the jade pendant, and Wu Leyong agreed he could copy its intricate carving.
• The Ruler of Danxia arrived at the courtyard and met Shao Xuan, who said Consort Hui had arranged a new identity for him.
• The Ruler of Danxia showed Shao Xuan a vial of poison and said three drops would make a person impossible to save.
• Jiang Yingcheng decided the hidden witnesses could expose the Ruler of Danxia’s secret meeting and poison plot to Zhujin.
• Standing on the ruler of Qiguang’s shoulders, Jiang Yingcheng called to the Ruler of Danxia and asked to visit as his new neighbor.

Jiang Yingcheng dragged the Ruler of Danxia and Shao Xuan into a late-night visit, using a gift and a meal to keep them from leaving. After she and the ruler of Qiguang joked about the Ruler of Danxia hiding his face, he lost his temper and removed his hood.

• The ruler of Qiguang lifted Jiang Yingcheng up so she could call over the wall to the Ruler of Danxia and invite him to visit.
• Jiang Yingcheng and the rulers entered the Ruler of Danxia's courtyard, where she gave him a pouch of silver as a greeting gift.
• When the Ruler of Danxia and Shao Xuan had no return gift, Jiang Yingcheng asked them to share a late-night snack she had already arranged.
• Liaochen and the others brought food to the courtyard, and the Ruler of Danxia reluctantly sat down to eat with everyone.
• Jiang Yingcheng and the ruler of Qiguang joked that the hooded Ruler of Danxia might be a fugitive or have a disfigured face, prompting him to slam down his bowl and remove his hood.

Jiang Yingcheng and the others schemed to make the Ruler of Danxia remove his robe so the other rulers could see the mole identifying him. After they succeeded, she asked the rulers to take her back to the palace.

• Jiang Yingcheng noticed the large black mole on the Ruler of Danxia's neck and enlisted the others' help in revealing it.
• Jiang Yingcheng spilled wine on the Ruler of Danxia and tried to get him to remove his robe, but he refused.
• Lu Yao overturned food onto the Ruler of Danxia, and Liaochen brought in a brazier to make him too hot to keep his outer robe on.
• The Ruler of Danxia finally removed his robe, and Jiang Yingcheng pointed behind him so the other rulers could spot his mole.
• Jiang Yingcheng and the others returned to the next room, where the rulers confirmed they had recognized the mole.
• Jiang Yingcheng asked the rulers which of them would take her back to the palace.

Jiang Yanchuan confronted Jiang Yingcheng after she returned late from investigating a case, explaining how frightened he had been and asking her to stay safely in the palace until the New Year's Banquet ended. Jiang Yingcheng understood his concern and threw herself into his arms, while Jiang Yanchuan secretly used his heartfelt appeal to keep her close.

• Jiang Yingcheng complained that her companions had abandoned her, then tried to escape when she realized Jiang Yanchuan was waiting for her.
• Jiang Yanchuan carried Jiang Yingcheng to Xianyang Palace, where she hid inside her quilt until he assured her he was not angry.
• Jiang Yanchuan reminded Jiang Yingcheng that she had promised to return after shopping and told her Xu Jiu had reported her trip with Lu Yao to investigate a case.
• Jiang Yanchuan told Jiang Yingcheng that he had been terribly worried and asked her to consider what might happen if someone hid or hurt her.
• Jiang Yanchuan promised to take Jiang Yingcheng on a tour after the New Year's Banquet if she stayed safely in the palace until then.
• Jiang Yingcheng hugged Jiang Yanchuan, convinced he was the best father in the world.

Jiang Yingcheng returned to the Academy and met foreign princes and princesses who had come to befriend her before the New Year's Banquet. After learning that Luo Fuying would become Jiang Qiuyu’s future consort and would harm his brothers, Jiang Yingcheng grew wary when Luo Fuying made a pointed remark about her figure.

• Jiang Yingcheng arrived at the Academy with pastries and was startled to find it full of unfamiliar royal children.
• Jiang Xingran introduced Luo Fuying, Yishui Kingdom’s Ninth Princess, and helped Jiang Yingcheng settle in among the visitors.
• Jiang Yingcheng used System Bro to learn that Luo Fuying would become Jiang Qiuyu’s future consort and would aid the Fourth Prince in poisoning and attacking Jiang Qiuyu and Jiang Xingran.
• Lin Jinshu offered Jiang Yingcheng’s pastries to the gathered children, who eagerly ate most of them.
• Luo Fuying hinted that Jiang Yingcheng was fat, and Jiang Yingcheng indignantly prepared to fight back.

Jiang Yingcheng turned Luo Fuying’s remarks about her figure into a supposed insult against her father, winning the other young royals’ sympathy as Luo Fuying became furious. The chapter ended with Jiang Yingcheng secretly smiling at Luo Fuying, who realized the little princess had been acting.

• Luo Fuying mocked Jiang Yingcheng’s rounded figure while claiming girls had to watch their weight to be liked.
• Jiang Yingcheng cried that Luo Fuying’s imperial father might dislike her, prompting Great Rui’s princes and the other children to defend her and condemn Luo Fuying.
• Jiang Yingcheng pretended to blame herself and begged the boys not to blame Luo Fuying, intensifying their disapproval of her.
• Jiang Yingcheng secretly flashed Luo Fuying a provocative smile, and Luo Fuying tried to alert everyone that the princess was smiling.

Jiang Yingcheng plotted to keep Luo Fuying from leaving easily, but her classroom plans gave way to a confrontation when Sheng Shixu thought she had been hurt. Jiang Huai'an arrived and challenged the group surrounding Luo Fuying, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Jiang Yingcheng admired the gifts her classmates had given her and secretly planned ways to deceive Luo Fuying into apologizing.
• Teacher Miao called on Jiang Yingcheng in class, and she pretended not to realize he meant her.
• Sheng Shixu found Jiang Yingcheng at school, helped her lift her unexpectedly heavy gift bag, and noticed her red eyes.
• Sheng Shixu and several older princes entered the classroom, and he fixed his attention on Luo Fuying as if to defend Jiang Yingcheng.
• Jiang Huai'an walked in and mocked the crowd for ganging up on Luo Fuying.

Jiang Yingcheng tried to turn hide-and-seek in the Cold Palace into a scheme to get Jiang Huai'an and Luo Fuying punished, but her companions followed her. She caught up with Luo Fuying, only to find Jiang Xingran and Sheng Shixu already behind her.

• Jiang Huai'an confronted the princes after Luo Fuying insulted Jiang Yingcheng by calling her fat, then left after hearing what she had said.
• Jiang Yingcheng caught Jiang Huai'an before he could leave and persuaded him and the others to play hide-and-seek in the Cold Palace.
• Jiang Yingcheng planned to trap Luo Fuying in a secret chamber and make her believe Jiang Huai'an had locked them inside, unaware that Emperor Mingze could hear her thoughts.
• Jiang Xingran and Sheng Shixu followed Jiang Yingcheng, while Jiang Qiuyu and Lin Jinshu went to alert their imperial father.
• Jiang Yingcheng caught up with Luo Fuying and asked her to hide together, but Luo Fuying pointed out Jiang Xingran and Sheng Shixu behind her.

Jiang Xingran led Jiang Yingcheng, Luo Fuying, and Sheng Shixu through the Cold Palace as Jiang Yingcheng guided him toward a hidden entrance. They uncovered a concealed staircase and descended into the passage, where a formidable Secret Chamber door awaited them.

• Jiang Xingran led the group through several paths while Jiang Yingcheng silently corrected his directions toward the Secret Chamber.
• Jiang Xingran spotted a latch hidden beneath dead grass, cleared the buried door, and broke its rusty lock.
• Jiang Yingcheng, Luo Fuying, and Sheng Shixu joined Jiang Xingran in opening the door and revealing a flight of Stone Steps.
• Jiang Xingran took Jiang Yingcheng's hand and led the group down the steps, with Sheng Shixu following behind.
• The group walked through the underground passage until they reached the imposing door to the Secret Chamber.

Jiang Yingcheng and the others opened the secret chamber, where Liaochen discovered signs that someone had recently been inside. The chamber door then locked behind them, and Jiang Huai'an taunted them from outside.

• Jiang Xingran used Jiang Yingcheng's thoughts to solve the intricate lock and open the great door.
• The group entered the underground chamber, where an unseen voice startled Jiang Yingcheng before Liaochen and Yu Xingmian revealed themselves behind the children.
• Liaochen found that the chamber's furniture and study had surprisingly little dust and ordered everyone to leave.
• The great door clicked shut, and Jiang Huai'an taunted the trapped group from outside.
• Jiang Yingcheng loudly demanded that someone open the door, pretending not to know who was outside.

Jiang Yingcheng and the others explored the secret chamber after pretending to be trapped, and she discovered a hidden side chamber packed with treasure. There, she realized the coffin was a cenotaph for Prince Xin’s mother, leaving Liaochen preparing to withdraw and report the discovery.

• Jiang Yingcheng pretended not to know that Fourth Imperial Prince had locked them in, and the group waited for rescue before Liaochen checked the corridor for danger.
• Liaochen led the group deeper into the chamber, where Jiang Yingcheng found a concealed stone door and he opened it.
• The group entered a brightly lit side chamber filled with rare treasures and gold, and Jiang Yingcheng rushed inside after Yu Xingmian confirmed it was safe.
• Jiang Yingcheng noticed a coffin, cried as Liaochen held her, and he examined the plain golden-silk-nanmu coffin and its memorial tablet.
• Liaochen prepared to leave the chamber, but Jiang Yingcheng recognized the coffin as a cenotaph for Prince Xin’s mother.

Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed Prince Xin’s hidden crimes and a passage leading outside the palace, so Liaochen continued through the Underground Palace toward its second Side Chamber. Yu Xingmian opened the concealed door by tripping Liaochen and catching the little girl before he hit the wall.

• Luo Fuying reached for the treasure, but Jiang Yingcheng’s sudden scream startled her into knocking gold bars aside.
• Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that Prince Xin had spread a false story about the late emperor’s succession plans and secretly dug a passage into the palace.
• Liaochen and the others learned the passage might lead outside the palace, while Jiang Yingcheng resolved to report Prince Xin to Emperor Mingze.
• Liaochen followed Jiang Yingcheng’s directions through branching corridors until they neared the second Side Chamber.
• Yu Xingmian tripped Liaochen, caught Jiang Yingcheng, and caused Liaochen to crash into the concealed stone door, opening it.

Jiang Yingcheng found a jewelry box in the Side Chamber, but opening it triggered a mechanism that locked the group inside. As smoke seeped through the sealed door, the others realized her thoughts had foreshadowed the danger.

• Jiang Yingcheng used System Bro's floor plan to locate a battered jewelry box atop a bookshelf, and Sheng Shixu retrieved it for her.
• Jiang Yingcheng shook the box, triggering a click that caused Liaochen to discover the concealed door had been locked from outside.
• Luo Fuying panicked and begged the others to find a way out, while Sheng Shixu tried to reassure her.
• Jiang Yingcheng thought that the group would be rescued by her Imperial Father, but also wondered whether someone might use poisonous smoke against them.
• Thick smoke began seeping through the cracks around the door, and the others recognized that Jiang Yingcheng's thought had predicted the threat.

Liaochen and Yu Xingmian escaped a smoke-filled chamber through a hidden passage and navigated the Underground Palace while avoiding an assassin. At a maze of corridors, Jiang Yingcheng prepared to guide them by pretending to be Bodhisattva Jiayue.

• Liaochen and Yu Xingmian sealed the chamber door with their robes as smoke poured in, then gathered the children in a far corner.
• Jiang Yingcheng used System Bro’s map to reveal a passage behind the wall, and Liaochen accidentally activated its mechanism after Yu Xingmian tripped him.
• Liaochen kicked over an iron vase, exposing a floor button that opened the hidden passage.
• The group fled through the passage, following Jiang Yingcheng’s information to avoid the mysterious pursuer and reaching a maze of junctions.
• Jiang Yingcheng announced herself as Bodhisattva Jiayue and offered to guide Liaochen.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed Luo Fuying’s past crime to prove her claims, then guided the group through the underground passage to its hidden exit. As they emerged into an empty courtyard and opened its gate, they came face-to-face with another group.

• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Luo Fuying had pushed her younger brother into a pond and framed the Fifth Prince, leaving Luo Fuying visibly shaken.
• Liaochen and the others accepted Jiang Yingcheng’s directions, followed the passage to its exit, and opened the heavy iron door.
• Yu Xingmian knocked Luo Fuying unconscious to keep her from learning the passage’s location.
• Jiang Xingran dodged the unconscious Sheng Shixu, who fell to the ground, while Yu Xingmian looked on in surprise.
• Liaochen found the courtyard outside empty, and the group climbed out through a dry well and headed for its gate.
• Liaochen opened the gate and found an astonished group standing outside.

Jiang Yanchuan found Jiang Yingcheng and the others after they escaped the secret passage, then caught them plotting how to hide what they had done. As they returned, Jiang Yingcheng tried to avoid punishment by playing the victim, but her lie fell apart when she offered her father a piece of cake after claiming she was starving.

• Jiang Yanchuan learned that the only exit from the secret passage was guarded, but Lu Yao soon found another way out and led the search party after him.
• Jiang Yingcheng and the other children discussed how to explain their actions and keep Bodhisattva Jiayue a secret from Jiang Yanchuan.
• Jiang Yanchuan appeared in the courtyard and overheard Jiang Yingcheng planning to fake an injury, leaving her stunned and worried that she was in trouble.
• Jiang Yanchuan ordered Xing Junchu to take the captives back for questioning while the group returned through the tunnel.
• Jiang Yingcheng held Jiang Yanchuan's hand and pretended she had suffered terribly, but when he said he had not eaten, she offered him the Cloud-Slice Cake she had supposedly been unable to eat.

Jiang Huai'an was accused of locking Luo Fuying and the others inside the Secret Chamber, while Jiang Xingran struggled between joining the accusation and telling the truth. Jiang Yingcheng began to reveal that a mysterious man had locked Luo Fuying in, and realized she had forgotten him.

• Jiang Yanchuan flicked Jiang Yingcheng’s forehead as she silently planned ways to escape punishment.
• Luo Fuying woke at the Cold Palace, saw Jiang Huai'an, and fainted again, prompting the group to return to Wuyang Hall.
• Luo Fuying accused Jiang Huai'an of locking her, Sheng Shixu, Jiang Xingran, and the others inside the Secret Chamber.
• Sheng Shixu backed Luo Fuying’s accusation, and Jiang Xingran asked Jiang Huai'an where he had been while they were trapped.
• Jiang Yingcheng began explaining that a mysterious man had locked Luo Fuying inside, then realized she had forgotten about him.

Jiang Yanchuan punished Jiang Huai'an for failing to protect the others, then summoned Lu Yao and Xing Junchu to discuss the captured intruder. Jiang Yingcheng’s discoveries revealed that the man was a grandmaster and a spy planted by Prince Xin, while Xing Junchu improvised around the secrets she exposed.

• Jiang Yanchuan confined Jiang Huai'an in Fengjin Hall for seven days, then compensated Sheng Shixu and his companion and sent them away under orders to keep silent.
• Jiang Yingcheng learned that the mysterious intruder was a Martial Arts Grandmaster named Xing Hengyi.
• Xing Junchu reported that Xing Hengyi had hidden in the palace, followed the Little Highnesses into the Secret Passage, and was suspected of entering on someone’s orders.
• Jiang Yingcheng revealed that Xing Hengyi was Prince Xin’s spy, knew the Bone-Shrinking Technique, and had been disguised as a palace maid.
• Jiang Yingcheng disclosed that Xing Hengyi loved a consort in the Imperial Harem, but Xing Junchu hurriedly claimed the man was psychologically vulnerable because the technique had made him short.

Jiang Yanchuan opened Prince Xin’s redwood box and discovered a hidden note inside a jeweled hairpin. The note’s contents left his expression darkened.

• Liaochen and Yu Xingmian identified Xing Hengyi as the vanished grandmaster known as The Child and offered to investigate him.
• Jiang Yingcheng reluctantly gave Jiang Yanchuan the redwood box, then watched him open it and inspect its contents.
• Jiang Yanchuan searched the box for a hidden compartment while Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts revealed that a hairpin concealed a note.
• Jiang Yanchuan dismantled the hairpin, removed the hidden note, and darkened as he read it.

Jiang Yanchuan learned from Jiang Yingcheng’s thoughts that Prince Xin was the Late Emperor’s biological son, while Consort Shu had falsely claimed otherwise and used him to pursue revenge against Great Rui. He began considering helping Prince Xin, but Jiang Yingcheng’s anger at Prince Xin’s deception—and a sudden noise from Eunuch Changshun—interrupted the moment.

• Jiang Yanchuan opened the box and read the note revealing that Prince Xin was not the Late Emperor’s biological son.
• Jiang Yingcheng learned that Consort Shu had been an enemy general’s daughter whose family died in Great Rui’s conquest, and Jiang Yanchuan reconsidered his resentment toward her.
• Jiang Yingcheng discovered that Consort Shu had deceived and used Prince Xin, leaving him with a lifelong burden and a hidden plea for someone to stop or save him.
• Jiang Yanchuan realized Prince Xin was the Late Emperor’s son after all and considered reaching out to help him.
• Jiang Yingcheng remembered that Prince Xin had lied about the Late Emperor’s final edict and turned Jiang Yanchuan and Prince Jing against each other, then a thud drew her attention to Eunuch Changshun.