Chapter Summaries

At the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion, Chu Siqing’s thoughts exposed the Crown Prince’s romantic troubles and revealed details about the candidates for crown princess. Emperor Chu Ming chose Xiao Wenshu, while Chu Siqing gained points for helping make the decision.

• Emperor Chu Ming arrived at the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion with Crown Prince Chu Yuheng, who eagerly held Chu Siqing.
• Chu Siqing thought that Ning Qingyan liked the married Second Prince, and Chu Yuheng realized his cousin believed he was about to be cuckolded.
• Chu Siqing’s thoughts revealed that the Second Prince had deliberately pursued Ning Qingyan, darkening Emperor Chu Ming’s view of his son’s conduct.
• When Tu Qingchen named Xiao Wenshu and Wen Minjing as possible brides, Chu Siqing’s thoughts exposed Wen Minjing’s forgotten betrothal and praised Xiao Wenshu as a good match.
• Emperor Chu Ming selected Xiao Wenshu as the Crown Princess, and Chu Siqing received 300 system points.

Xiao Wenshu became crown princess, while Ning Qingyan struggled with losing the position and being rejected by the Second Prince. The chapter ended as Chu Yuheng received a letter from Ning Qingyan, and Chu Siqing wondered whether she was seeking him as a backup.

• Emperor Chu Ming decreed that Xiao Wenshu would marry Chu Yuheng as his principal consort, delighting Duke An's family.
• Ning Qingyan learned the decree had gone to Duke An's Residence, and her parents urged her to pursue Chu Yuheng as a secondary consort.
• Ning Qingyan sent her jade pendant to the Second Prince, but he refused to meet her and offered to take her only as a secondary consort.
• Ning Qingyan smashed a cup and vowed to make Chu Yutao pay for rejecting her.
• Chu Yuheng visited Chu Siqing at the Heavenly Derivation Pavilion, where Yang An delivered a letter from Ning Qingyan.

Chu Yuheng rejected Ning Qingyan’s attempt to become his secondary consort, then learned that Chu Yuxi might have a childhood betrothal. Chu Siqing’s gossip revealed that Chu Yuxi had fled Prince Shun’s Manor after learning his fiancée could wield a whip.

• Chu Yuheng learned from Chu Siqing’s thoughts that Ning Qingyan had been involved with Chu Yutao and wanted to use him to get revenge on his brother.
• Ning Qingyan asked Chu Yuheng to marry her as his secondary consort, but he refused and had her escorted home.
• Chu Yuxi arrived to see Chu Yuheng, who suggested he ask Prince Shun about a possible childhood betrothal.
• Chu Yuxi became excited at the prospect of a future wife, while Chu Yuheng recalled that Miss Wen was skilled with a whip.
• Chu Siqing learned from the system that Chu Yuxi had refused to marry Miss Wen after hearing about her whip, been beaten, and run away from home.

Princess Consort Shun arranged for Wen Minjing to become Chu Yuxi’s adoptive elder sister, ending their engagement, but Chu Yuxi still did not return. Chu Siqing uncovered that he had been kidnapped and taken to Green Jade Tower, leaving the emperor and Prince Shun with a lead on his whereabouts.

• Princess Consort Shun asked Empress Dowager Pei to help end Chu Yuxi and Wen Minjing’s engagement by adopting Wen Minjing as her daughter.
• Madam Wen agreed to the arrangement, and Wen Minjing became Chu Yuxi’s adoptive elder sister, dissolving their marriage agreement.
• After Chu Yuxi remained missing for half a month, Prince Shun asked Emperor Chu Ming for help finding him.
• Emperor Chu Ming summoned officials and Chu Siqing, but Wen Yuanyi and Lu Huaiying reported they had found no trace of Chu Yuxi.
• Chu Siqing learned that Chu Yuxi had disguised himself as a beggar, been lured into a kidnappers’ trap, and taken to Green Jade Tower to be forced into becoming a male courtesan.

Wen Minjing secretly followed the rescue party to the Green Jade Tower and saved Chu Yuxi from an attacker in a hidden cellar. Chu Yuxi fell for his rescuer, then learned she was his fiancée, Wen Minjing.

• Emperor Chu Ming ordered Wen Yuanyi and Lu Huaiying to search the Green Jade Tower for Chu Yuxi.
• Wen Minjing secretly followed her father’s soldiers into the brothel and noticed the madam signal someone inside.
• Wen Minjing found an attacker strangling Chu Yuxi in a hidden cellar and struck him with her anesthetic-laced whip.
• Chu Yuxi returned to help Wen Minjing, and the two brought down the attacker together.
• Chu Yuxi asked his rescuer for her name and froze when Wen Minjing introduced herself as his rumored tigress fiancée.

Wen Minjing rescued Chu Yuxi from the Green Jade Tower, and the young prince decided he wanted to marry her after all. His proposal was rejected when Princess Shun revealed she had already adopted Wen Minjing, leaving Chu Yuxi fainting from shock.

• Wen Minjing led Chu Yuxi out of the Green Jade Tower, where Wen Yuanyi, Lu Huaiying, and the madam learned he had been rescued.
• Princess Shun embraced Chu Yuxi, and Prince Shun realized his son had fled to avoid marrying Wen Minjing.
• Chu Yuxi thanked Wen Minjing and announced he would apologize to Wen Yuanyi and ask for her hand in marriage.
• Wen Yuanyi rejected Chu Yuxi's proposal, and Princess Shun explained that Wen Minjing was now her adopted daughter and Chu Yuxi's elder sister.
• Chu Yuxi fainted from the shock, and Prince Shun took him home to recover.
• Chu Siqing learned that Wen Minjing had rescued Chu Yuxi and heard that he had fallen for her, while Emperor Chu Ming and Empress Dowager Pei listened in surprise.

Chu Yuxi sought Chu Yuheng’s advice on marrying Miss Wen despite her adoption into his family, then won his way into Lord Wen’s manor by publicizing her rescue of him. The child-trafficking investigation led to the recovery of abducted children, and Chu Siqing received points for helping set events in motion.

• Chu Yuxi complained to Chu Yuheng about his impossible marriage situation, and Chu Yuheng advised him to reconcile with Lord Wen before seeking an imperial marriage decree.
• Chu Yuxi spread the story of Miss Wen rescuing him from a brothel, prompting Lord Wen to let him into the manor and scold him.
• The Ministry of Justice used the brothel madam’s confession and the traffickers’ testimony to locate abducted children and reunite them with their families.
• Chu Siqing learned from A-Tong that the children’s recovery earned her 500 points because her help had led to Chu Yuxi being found.

Chu Siqing used the System Shop to provide Tu Qingchen with instructions for movable-type printing and proposed spreading awareness of child abduction through newspapers, storytellers, and operas. Emperor Chu Ming put the plans into action, and the People's Gazette and public performances helped make Great Chu's people more vigilant.

• Chu Siqing suggested publishing child-snatchers' methods and learned from Tu Qingchen that Great Chu had no movable-type printing.
• Chu Siqing redeemed a book on movable-type printing from the System Shop and gave it to Tu Qingchen to present to Emperor Chu Ming.
• Chu Siqing proposed using storytellers and operas as well as newspapers to warn people about abduction, and Tu Qingchen reported her ideas to Emperor Chu Ming.
• Emperor Chu Ming ordered the Ministry of Works to develop movable-type printing, the Ministry of Justice to compile trafficking cases, and the Ministry of Rites to establish the People's Gazette and prepare stories and scripts.
• The People's Gazette began circulating cheaply, while storytellers and theatrical troupes spread warnings about child-snatchers.
• Prefects across Great Chu adopted these methods, and child-snatcher trafficking cases nearly disappeared in the following years.

Chu Siqing learned that her anti-trafficking advice had earned her 10,000 points, then warned her parents that Commandery Lady Yongfu’s confinement would end the next day. Chu Hongle pressed Emperor Chu Ming to arrange Yongfu’s marriage, and the emperor promised to hold a flower-viewing gathering to find a suitable match.

• Chu Siqing received 10,000 points because her anti-trafficking suggestions to Emperor Chu Ming could prevent future trafficking cases.
• Chu Siqing heard that Commandery Lady Yongfu’s confinement would end the next day and warned Chu Hongle and Han Wanqing to be careful.
• Chu Hongle told Han Wanqing that Emperor Chu Ming had promised to arrange Yongfu’s marriage, and vowed to remind him again.
• After court, Chu Hongle confronted Emperor Chu Ming for delaying Yongfu’s marriage arrangements for half a year.
• Emperor Chu Ming promised to have the Empress Dowager host a flower-viewing gathering to find Yongfu a suitable husband.

Commandery Lady Yongfu resented being forced to attend a flower-viewing banquet where Empress Dowager Pei meant to find her a husband. The banquet ended in awkward silence as the invited ladies avoided offering their sons, humiliating Yongfu.

• Empress Dowager Pei told Commandery Lady Yongfu that the emperor would arrange her marriage and that she must attend the banquet.
• At the imperial garden banquet, Empress Dowager Pei announced that she was considering Yongfu's marriage, while the ladies judged Yongfu in light of her past plot against Prince Yu's consort.
• Duke Cheng'en's wife praised Yongfu but made clear her son was already betrothed, and Duke Zhenguo's wife suggested her third son instead.
• The other ladies fell silent, afraid the Empress Dowager would choose their sons, while Yongfu seethed at being shunned.

Commandery Lady Yongfu arranged an assassination attempt on Princess Consort Yu and Chu Siqing, but the guards captured the assassins and exposed her. Stripped of her title and sent to guard Prince Fu's tomb for life, Sun Zhirou was left with no hope of escaping her punishment.

• Chu Siqing learned from the system that Commandery Lady Yongfu had sent assassins after her and Princess Consort Yu, and she warned her mother to stop the carriage.
• Princess Consort Yu and Lin Yuan arranged to capture the attackers alive while returning to the palace, and the guards apprehended the assassins.
• The Imperial Clan Court confronted Commandery Lady Yongfu with the assassins' confession and an imperial decree, and she admitted ordering the attack.
• Three days later, an imperial decree stripped Commandery Lady Yongfu of her title and sentenced her to guard Prince Fu's tomb for the rest of her life.
• Empress Dowager Pei refused Sun Zhirou's pleas for help, and attendants took her away to be sent to Prince Fu's Mausoleum.

Han Xiangru eagerly considered marrying the third son of the Marquis of Qingyuan, despite the Earl of Ningyuan's concerns. Chu Siqing and Princess Consort Yu uncovered the household's schemes and the young man's mistresses, but Han Xiangru dismissed her sister's warning.

• After Commandery Lady Yongfu was punished, Han Xiangru abandoned her hopes of marrying Prince Yu and favored a proposal from the Marquis of Qingyuan's Residence.
• Madam Wang supported the match, while the Earl of Ningyuan urged them to investigate the household's poor reputation and the third young master's character.
• Chu Siqing learned that the Marquis of Qingyuan's family was impoverished, sought a wealthy bride's dowry, and hoped to use the marriage to get close to Prince Yu; the third young master kept three mistresses.
• Chu Siqing warned Princess Consort Yu, who visited her parents and told the Earl of Ningyuan that the third young master was a bad match.
• After the Earl of Ningyuan told Han Xiangru about the mistresses, she accused Princess Consort Yu of being unable to stand seeing her do well.

Han Xiangru defied the Earl of Ningyuan’s refusal and secretly met the third young master from the Marquis of Qingyuan’s Residence. After Chu Siqing alerted Princess Consort Yu, she confronted Han Xiangru about the meeting and asked where her jade pendant came from.

• The Earl of Ningyuan forbade Han Xiangru from marrying the third young master, but she insisted she would rather marry into a marquis’s household than accept a lower-ranking match.
• The system told Chu Siqing that Han Xiangru had secretly met the third young master and was determined to marry him.
• Chu Siqing informed Princess Consort Yu, who returned to the Ningyuan Earl’s Residence and questioned Han Xiangru in front of her father and Madam Wang.
• Han Xiangru denied the secret meeting, and Princess Consort Yu asked her where the jade pendant at her waist had come from.

The Earl of Ningyuan discovered Han Xiangru’s jade love token from Qin Songyun and condemned her secret relationship, but ultimately agreed to their marriage after she insisted. Han Xiangru married Qin Sanlang and entered the Marquis of Qingyuan’s Residence with shabby betrothal gifts, leaving her future there uncertain.

• The Earl of Ningyuan recognized the character on Han Xiangru’s jade pendant as a reference to Qin Songyun, and Han Xiangru admitted he had given it to her.
• The Earl of Ningyuan slapped Han Xiangru and refused to approve the marriage at first, while Princess Consort Yu warned her not to expect help from Prince Yu’s Residence.
• Han Xiangru insisted that she loved Young Master Qin and would marry no one else, and the Earl of Ningyuan eventually agreed to the marriage alliance.
• The Marquis of Qingyuan’s Residence sent betrothal gifts that the Ningyuan household judged cheap and inferior, and the Earl of Ningyuan refused to increase Han Xiangru’s dowry.
• Han Xiangru married Qin Sanlang, though the chapter left her life in the Marquis of Qingyuan’s Residence uncertain.

Chu Siqing discovered that Princess Duanmin’s consort had deceived her with a fake Daoist priest, used an orphan girl to bear his child, and arranged to swap that baby with Princess Duanmin’s daughter. Princess Duanmin learned the truth through Chu Siqing’s inner voice and realized her marriage had begun as a calculated scheme.

• Princess Duanmin praised a Daoist priest who had supposedly helped her and her consort conceive after she took an orphan girl into their household.
• Chu Siqing’s inner voice revealed that the priest had been hired by Princess Duanmin’s consort, who had used contraceptive medicine to make her believe she was the one unable to conceive.
• Chu Siqing revealed that the orphan girl had been the consort’s former sweetheart and that he had swapped their son with Princess Duanmin’s newborn daughter.
• Princess Duanmin recognized the red mole matching her own as proof of the baby swap and resolved that Chu Siqing’s revelations were true.
• Chu Siqing’s inner voice explained that the consort had pursued Princess Duanmin to help his mother secure a noble title, and Princess Duanmin realized his courtship had been a scheme from the start.

Princess Duanmin reclaimed the daughter she had unknowingly exchanged for Lady Ye’s son and confronted Lady Ye and Zheng Zhiyi. She had them and the birth attendants taken to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation.

• Empress Dowager Pei urged Princess Duanmin to focus on getting her child back before seeking revenge.
• Princess Duanmin summoned Lady Ye and the wet nurse, then held her frail daughter and questioned how the baby had been cared for.
• When Zheng Zhiyi arrived to defend Lady Ye, Princess Duanmin asked whether her newborn had been a son or a daughter.
• Princess Duanmin accused Zheng Zhiyi and Lady Ye of switching the babies and pointed to a red mole as proof that the child in her arms was hers.
• Princess Duanmin ordered guards to take Zheng Zhiyi, Lady Ye, and the women who attended both deliveries to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation.

Princess Duanmin uncovered Zheng Zhiyi and Ye’s scheme to switch the children, and Emperor Chu Ming punished them and stripped Marquis Changning of his title. After Zheng Zhiyi’s execution was confirmed, Chu Siqing learned through the system that her cousin had recovered her biological daughter.

• At Marquis Changning’s estate, Lin urged Marquis Changning to rescue Zheng Zhiyi, while Zheng Zhili insisted they first learn what had happened.
• Under interrogation, the servants revealed that Zheng Zhiyi and Ye had conspired to switch Princess Duanmin’s daughter with their son.
• After the evidence confirmed the crimes, Emperor Chu Ming ordered Zheng Zhiyi and Ye beheaded and stripped Marquis Changning of his title and office.
• Princess Duanmin rejected Zheng Zhiyi’s pleas for mercy and left him to face execution.
• Chu Siqing learned from the system that Princess Duanmin had recovered her biological daughter and gained 300 points.

After a fake Daoist’s dangerous elixirs killed a country gentleman, Chu Siqing helped Emperor Chu Ming find a way to expose folk scams. The court circulated a guide through the People's Gazette and began cracking down on unlicensed temples, while Chu Siqing’s future role at court came under discussion.

• The Ministry of Justice arrested the fake Daoist who had sold harmful elixirs and seized his money to compensate his victims.
• Emperor Chu Ming asked Tu Qingchen how to curb folk scams, and Chu Siqing obtained Complete Guide to Exposing Folk Scams from the System Shop.
• Chu Siqing gave the book to Tu Qingchen, who presented it to Emperor Chu Ming and explained that the Holy Maiden had also given him Movable-Type Printing.
• Emperor Chu Ming proposed that Chu Siqing attend court with Tu Qingchen, and Tu Qingchen agreed despite noting that she was young.
• The court distributed scam explanations through the People's Gazette and inspected credentials at Buddhist monasteries and Daoist temples.
• During an outing with Princess Consort Yu, Chu Siqing saw a scholar explain how a Daoist's supposed supernatural tricks were faked.

Chu Siqing was ordered to attend court as the Holy Maiden, where the Left Censor-in-Chief objected to her presence. Her first comment about his embarrassing ailment shocked the court.

• Chu Siqing watched a scholar expose a fake Daoist, earning 10,000 points for helping combat folk scams.
• After officials praised Emperor Chu Ming’s crackdown, he decreed that Chu Siqing would attend court with the Imperial Preceptor.
• Chu Hongle agreed to bring Chu Siqing to court after learning she could eat and nap there, though Chu Siqing complained about losing sleep.
• Chu Hongle brought Chu Siqing to the palace, but Emperor Chu Ming required her to stay beside the Imperial Preceptor during court.
• The Left Censor-in-Chief argued that Chu Siqing was too young to attend court, and Chu Siqing revealed to the assembled court that his foul temper came from an embarrassing ailment.

Chu Siqing’s thoughts exposed the Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Dezheng’s painful chest condition and his wife’s refusal to share his bed, turning the court into a gathering of eager gossips. After learning that staying cheerful and exercising could help him recover, Wang reversed his opposition to the Holy Maiden attending court and declared his support.

• Chu Siqing’s thoughts revealed that Wang Dezheng bound his swollen chest and suffered from a secret ailment, prompting the officials to stare and mock him.
• Chu Siqing’s thoughts disclosed that Madam Wang refused to share Wang’s bed because of his ample bosom, leaving him mortified.
• Chu Siqing’s thoughts said that Wang’s constant anger caused his mammary hyperplasia and that cheerfulness and exercise could help him recover.
• Emperor Chu Ming teased Wang about opposing the Holy Maiden’s attendance at court, and Wang quickly professed his support for her listening to affairs of state.