Chapter Summaries

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.

Jiang Yingcheng attended the hearing over a woman’s missing ancestral treasure, which prefect Zou Cailiang recognized as a family heirloom hanging at her waist. Xu Qi insisted he had bought the jade ding from a mysterious seller, and Jiang Yingcheng learned he had been framed.

• Jiang Yingcheng arrived at the Government Office with Jiang Lifeng, and the gathered shopkeepers recognized her from visits to their snack shops.
• The woman accused Xu Qi of stealing her ancestral treasure and pleaded with Jiang Yingcheng and Jiang Lifeng for justice.
• Zou Cailiang recognized the jade thumb ring at Jiang Yingcheng’s waist as a treasure passed down through his family.
• Zou Cailiang asked Xu Qi to admit his guilt, and the crowd condemned him before hearing his account.
• Xu Qi said a mysterious person had sold him the Bluish-White Jade Rectangular Ding two nights earlier.
• Jiang Yingcheng learned from System Bro that Xu Qi had been set up.

Zou Cailiang heard competing claims over a Bluish-White Jade Rectangular Ding and examined a written statement as evidence. When the shopkeeper identified Guan Bin as the man who sold it, Guan Bin supplied a new handprint, while Jiang Yingcheng realized Uncle had fallen into a trap.

• Ying Sinan avoided criticizing the shopkeeper, and Zou Cailiang demanded evidence from both sides.
• The woman claimed her husband had treasured and displayed the ding, while the shopkeeper produced a written statement from its seller.
• Guan Bin arrived, described the ding’s distinguishing features, and strengthened the couple’s claim.
• The shopkeeper recognized Guan Bin as the seller and asked Zou Cailiang to compare Guan Bin’s handprint with the one on the statement.
• Guan Bin pressed a new handprint onto the paper as Jiang Yingcheng realized Uncle had fallen into a trap.

At the Wind Brocade Commandery court, Xu Qi accused Guan Bin of selling him a stolen rectangular ding, but Zou Cailiang turned the accusation against Xu Qi after their fingerprints failed to match. Jiang Yingcheng suspected the case was a deliberate scam and realized the reason the pair had targeted Xu Qi might reveal the proof they needed.

• Lu Yao and the others pushed through the crowd after hearing that the case had been solved and learned the townspeople recognized Jiang Yingcheng as the Little Highness.
• Xu Qi identified Guan Bin as the man who sold him the rectangular ding and accused him of setting a trap.
• Zou Cailiang called Xu Qi a thief who had stolen and sold someone else's heirloom, then tried to frame its owner.
• A comparison of the fingerprints showed they differed in size and ridges, and Xu Qi's print had a scar that Guan Bin's lacked.
• Xu Qi pleaded with Jiang Yingcheng to uphold justice, while she held back from revealing the case through Bodhisattva Jiayue because the Prefect might retaliate.
• Jiang Yingcheng realized she needed to ask why the swindling pair had targeted Xu Qi in particular.

Jiang Yingcheng exposed that the woman’s Bluish-White Jade Rectangular Ding was a recent forgery made by Fan Geng, and Lu Yao prepared to judge the case. Before he could finish, Ding Ruihan arrived at the government office to report that her ancestral treasures had been stolen.

• Jiang Yingcheng resisted the woman’s attempt to claim the ding was an heirloom and worried about exposing Yu Xingmian’s past.
• Lu Yao, Jiao Hongmiao, and Yuan Liangping pushed through the crowd and entered the government office to hear the case.
• Jiang Yingcheng recognized Fan Geng’s hidden mark inside the ding, revealing that it was a forgery rather than a Northern Zhou treasure.
• Lu Yao announced that he would deliver his judgment after quickly understanding the case.
• Ding Ruihan and her maid arrived at the government office, and Ding Ruihan beat the grievance drum to report her stolen ancestral treasures.

Ding Ruihan brought a theft complaint against the Ding Residence to the Government Office, hoping to use Prefect Zou Cailiang’s connections to her advantage. But the officials and spectators recognized her claim as another suspicious ancestral-treasure story, leaving her confused and unable to win their sympathy.

• Ding Ruihan arrived at the Government Office and was shocked to find Nie Wen, Jiang Lifeng, and the little one inside while spectators called her another claimant to a lost ancestral treasure.
• Ding Ruihan told Zou Cailiang that a thief had taken her family’s priceless heirloom and pleaded for justice, concealing her plan to exploit his ties to the Ding Residence.
• Zou Cailiang watched the little one nervously while Jiang Lifeng played with the child’s hands, and the constables and spectators reacted with hostility to Ding Ruihan’s story.
• Ding Ruihan presented a jeweled hairpin as evidence that she had found a trace of her stolen treasures.
• Zou Cailiang and Jiang Lifeng showed little interest, while the spectators mocked and cursed Ding Ruihan, leaving her baffled by their response.