Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke adjusted to life as the lowborn son of Lord Lin, the Minister of Rites, and endured the servants’ contempt in the household’s Firewood Shed. On his sixteenth birthday, he split firewood with unusual force, leaving the story with his strength and its cause unexplained.

• Lin Ke recalled that his mother had been a courtesan and that Lord Lin despised him because of his birth and status.
• Lin Ke reasoned that his lowly household registration had led the family and servants to treat him and his late mother as servants.
• A servant boy ordered Lin Ke to split wood, and Lin Ke put down his copy of the Royal Regulations and picked up the blade.
• Lin Ke reflected on his mother’s burial behind the Firewood Shed and began splitting logs with powerful, rhythmic blows.
• Lin Ke turned sixteen as he continued chopping the firewood.

Lin Ke considered how to escape his lowborn status and pursue a path in a rigidly ranked society. After splitting 108,000 pieces of firewood, he unlocked the Way of the Junzi and faced three choices that would determine his future.

• Lin Ke reflected on his incomplete education and resolved that studying was the best path to advancement.
• Lin Ke realized his lowborn registration barred him from the imperial examinations and that he first needed to shed that status.
• Lin Ke continued splitting firewood while considering his limited prospects and the strength of the body he had inherited.
• After Lin Ke split 108,000 pieces of firewood, the Way of the Junzi unlocked and offered him three choices, including becoming a Confucian junzi and relinquishing his lowborn registration.

After splitting 108,000 logs, Lin Ke activated a choice system and decided to pursue Confucianism while keeping his other paths open. His firewood work produced extraordinary Dao resonance, drawing the attention of two powerful men, and he ended the chapter reciting a poem.

• Lin Ke examined the system's three paths and chose the Confucian option because it left him free to explore the other ranks.
• Lin Ke split logs with uncanny precision, striking each weak point and dividing the wood into pieces of equal mass.
• Two middle-aged men playing Go discussed whether anyone could be summoned, and the man in black celebrated after making his choice.
• The two men sensed Lin Ke's Dao resonance and reacted in astonishment, while the man in white praised a fine poem.
• Lin Ke sat at the gate, watched the clouds, and recited, "Who first awakens from the great dream? My life... I alone know!"

Lin Ke completed all three system choices by reciting poetry and acting beneath his mother’s plum tree, then appeared before two powerful men and agreed to a year-long contest against a Confucian scholar. The reward was issued, and Lin Ke prepared to seize the chance to leave the bondservant register and take the preliminary examination.

• Lin Ke recited a poem with Daoist resonance and vowed at his mother’s grave to become as steadfast as a plum tree.
• After the system announced his choice was complete, Lin Ke appeared in a room before a man in black and a familiar man in white.
• The man in black offered Lin Ke a reward for helping him in a year-long contest against the man in white’s chosen pupil, with contests after three months, six months, and one year.
• Lin Ke accepted despite learning that his opponent would be a Confucian scholar, hoping to gain a chance to leave the bondservant register and take the preliminary examination.
• Lin Ke reasoned that he had completed all three available choices in sequence, and the system announced that his reward had been issued.

Lin Ke learned that Minister Qi had chosen him to compete against Qi Ye in three matches over the next year, and he negotiated conditions for taking part. He demanded that his prostitute-class registration be abolished so he could take the imperial examinations before reaching the age limit.

• Lin Ke realized the reward for his choice was the favor of an unidentified minister, whom he recognized as Minister Qi.
• Lin Ke's father summoned Qi Ye, and Minister Qi explained that he and Lin Ke's father had wagered on their sons competing in three matches within a year.
• Qi Ye questioned Lin Ke about his prostitute-class registration and doubted he could beat him, while Lin Ke calmly challenged his confidence.
• Minister Qi sent Qi Ye away to prepare and invited Lin Ke to name conditions for joining the contest.
• Lin Ke asked that his registration be removed if he won, explaining that he would turn seventeen next year and it was his last chance to take the preliminary scholar examinations.

Lin Ke negotiated with Minister Qi to have his servile status revoked if he won three contests within a year, and secured permission to keep chopping wood and bring his mother’s plum tree wherever he studied. The next day, Minister Qi came to take him away, and Lin Ke was already packed and ready to leave.

• Minister Qi agreed to revoke Lin Ke’s servile status if Lin Ke won all three contests within a year.
• Lin Ke asked to chop firewood daily wherever he studied, and Minister Qi agreed after hearing Lin Ke describe the skill he had practiced.
• Lin Ke asked Minister Qi to move the plum tree planted by his mother to his place of study, and Minister Qi accepted the request.
• Minister Qi used supernatural power to send Lin Ke back to his courtyard, where Lin Ke resumed chopping wood and reflected on the world.
• The next day, Minister Qi appeared in Lin Ke’s courtyard, and Lin Ke picked up his packed belongings and prepared to leave.

Lin Ke left the Lin Residence with Minister Qi and was taken to Chaoyang Street, where he would live and prepare for a contest. Minister Qi explained the contest categories and topics, leaving Lin Ke to face an overgrown courtyard and plan for poetry, painting, and physical coordination.

• Lin Ke put on new clothes Minister Qi had arranged and paid respects at the mound beneath the plum tree before leaving the Lin Residence.
• Minister Qi brought Lin Ke to Chaoyang Street, told him not to leave, and said he would have to provide for himself.
• Lin Ke discovered that his assigned courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and Minister Qi vanished after saying Lin Ke would have to clean it himself.
• Minister Qi reappeared and explained that the contest would cover poetry, physical coordination, and painting, with the opposing side choosing categories and Lin Ke choosing topics.

Lin Ke followed the Noble Gentleman Choice System’s first prompt and helped Li Chungang draw water, discovering the old man was a powerful expert. He earned Li Chungang’s attention, but Minister Qi revealed that the well held something dangerous and identified Li Chungang as the Blood-Handed Butcher.

• After cleaning the courtyard, Lin Ke received three system choices involving Li Chungang, painter Wang Lin, and the Tongfu Grand Restaurant proprietor, and realized their rewards might not conflict.
• Lin Ke found Li Chungang beside the well and took the rope, enduring its enormous pull for three seconds to fulfill the first choice.
• Li Chungang stopped the bucket from dragging Lin Ke into the well, while Minister Qi struck Lin Ke and knocked him away after the required time had passed.
• Lin Ke recognized Minister Qi in his porter disguise and asked why he had returned.
• Minister Qi warned that the well held more than ordinary water and said Lin Ke had blundered into the Blood-Handed Butcher, Li Chungang.

Lin Ke sought apprenticeships at Li Chungang's tofu shop and Wang Lin's Immortal Realm Painting Studio. He secured work making blood tofu, then discovered Wang Lin's paintings were explicit and reacted with shock.

• Lin Ke visited Li Chungang's Tofu Shop and asked for odd-job work, completing the system's first choice.
• Li Chungang hired Lin Ke to help his granddaughter make blood tofu each morning, while Li Feiyu vowed that anyone opposing Brother Qi must die.
• Lin Ke went to the Immortal Realm Painting Studio and praised Wang Lin's paintings to fulfill his second choice.
• Wang Lin pulled Lin Ke into a locked room and lit candles to show him her private paintings.
• Lin Ke saw the paintings and stared in shock as blood rushed toward his nose.

Lin Ke persuaded Wang Lin to take him as her disciple so he could prepare for his three-subject contest against Qi Ye, though she warned that three months was far too little time. Their first lesson was interrupted by Bingbing, who misunderstood Wang Lin’s suggestive remarks about Lin Ke.

• Wang Lin showed Lin Ke her lifelike paintings and made increasingly suggestive offers before he asked her to teach him proper painting.
• Wang Lin learned that Lin Ke planned to compete against Qi Ye in painting, literature, and martial arts, and said he could not win in three months.
• Lin Ke told Wang Lin that Qi Ye had insulted people of low status, then pretended to leave until she agreed to teach him.
• Lin Ke arranged to keep studying books with Li Chungang during Wang Lin’s preferred lesson hours, and Wang Lin agreed to adjust the schedule.
• Wang Lin tried to examine Lin Ke’s physique, but Bingbing entered and misinterpreted their exchange, leaving Lin Ke embarrassed.

Lin Ke went to the Tongfu Grand Restaurant, where he saved its owner from choking and waited to see whether the encounter would help him in his coordination contest with Qi Ye. The owner recovered and punished his worker while Lin Ke waited in the dining hall.

• Lin Ke left the Immortal Realm Painting Studio and headed to the Tongfu Grand Restaurant, wondering whether it held the answer to his third choice.
• Lin Ke found the restaurant worker calling for help beside the owner, whose face had turned blue-purple, and learned the worker had accidentally given him the wrong medicine.
• Lin Ke recognized that the owner was choking and used abdominal thrusts to dislodge the obstruction.
• Lin Ke realized the owner was pretending to be unconscious, sent the worker away for water, and waited for the owner in the dining hall.
• The owner changed clothes, then knocked the worker down and pretended to beat him while Lin Ke watched and drank milk.

After receiving rewards for his new apprenticeships and restaurant job, Lin Ke planned how to fit his studies and work into the next three months. A chaotic street-clearing commotion left Chaoyang Street spotless, and Lin Ke discovered that the stern man enforcing order was a constable.

• Lin Ke received approval from Li Chungang, established an apprenticeship with Wang Lin, and secured steady work at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant for one traditional hour each evening.
• Lin Ke planned a daily schedule for studying literature with Li Chungang, learning painting from Wang Lin, and working at the restaurant while making time to chop wood.
• A shouting man charged down Chaoyang Street, knocking Lin Ke over as residents hurried to close their shops and clean up.
• Lin Ke tried to ask Wang Lin and Li Feiyu what was happening, but Wang Lin's strange smile and Li Feiyu's killing intent sent him back home.
• From his doorway, Lin Ke watched the man scold Wang Lin and Li Feiyu about street regulations, then recognized the character for "Constable" on the man's uniform.

Lin Ke went to the Song-Listening Entertainment House at night to find a dance teacher, hoping to study local dance and combine it with what he knew. He told Matchmaker that he had prostitute status and wanted to prove people like him could achieve more than merely displaying their bodies, but she mocked his claim.

• Lin Ke practiced his old dance moves in his courtyard before heading to the Song-Listening Entertainment House late at night.
• A wary woman stopped Lin Ke at the door, and he asked her to tell the madam that the restaurant owner had sent him.
• Matchmaker met Lin Ke with several girls armed with brooms and other objects, and he asked her to teach him dance.
• Matchmaker refused and jokingly invited Lin Ke upstairs for a different kind of lesson, but he insisted he had come to study dance.
• Lin Ke claimed his mother had prostitute status and said he wanted to show that people with that status could achieve great things through dance.
• Matchmaker laughed and challenged Lin Ke’s claim that people with servile status could dance.

Lin Ke challenged the courtesans to a dance contest and learned the rules from Bingbing, an acquaintance from Wang Lin’s painting studio. Just as he prepared to begin, the madam called out the proprietor of Tongfu Grand Restaurant, drawing the neighborhood’s attention.

• Lin Ke told the madam he could dance, identified himself as Qi Dayan’s relative, and asked to compete with one of her girls.
• Bingbing stepped forward to dance against Lin Ke, and the madam learned he was Wang Lin’s disciple.
• Lin Ke admitted he had never learned the contest rules because his mother had passed away, so Bingbing explained continuity, quality, beauty, and rhythm.
• Lin Ke prepared to start, but the madam stopped him and shouted at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant proprietor to come out.
• The madam’s voice carried across Chaoyang Street, waking people and gathering an audience.

Lin Ke performed a Mongolian dance outside the Song-Listening Entertainment House to prove his dancing ability to the madam and the proprietor. His powerful, graceful performance astonished the crowd, which applauded and called for an encore.

• The madam summoned the Tongfu Grand Restaurant proprietor to watch Lin Ke's dance, and the proprietor agreed to stay as long as it was free.
• Lin Ke chose a Mongolian dance and began performing outside the Song-Listening Entertainment House as neighbors gathered to watch.
• Li Chungang, Wang Lin, and the butcher joined the audience and were impressed by Lin Ke's vigorous movements.
• Lin Ke finished his dance to stunned silence, and the madam, proprietor, and onlookers showed new respect for him.
• The crowd broke into applause and praised Lin Ke, with some asking him to dance again.

Lin Ke performed a dance for the residents of Chaoyang Street, then watched Bingbing’s sword dance and Ling’er’s classical dance to study the local styles. After he left, two people discussed whether Qi Dayan was Minister Qi and exchanged remarks about hidden identities.

• Lin Ke’s dance won the crowd’s applause, while Li Chungang praised him as a dragon and phoenix and called him his disciple.
• When the matchmaker tried to end the evening, Lin Ke framed the gathering as an exchange of dancing pointers, and she agreed to have Bingbing perform a sword dance.
• Bingbing danced with a sword and earned the crowd’s applause.
• Lin Ke asked to see an unarmed dance, so the matchmaker had Ling’er perform “Fairy Lake” while he studied her movements.
• The matchmaker sent everyone home, and two people later wondered whether Qi Dayan was Minister Qi before the matchmaker told one of them to get lost.

Lin Ke began learning from Li Chungang, who tested his approach to reading and agreed to teach him over the next three months. The chapter ended as Li Chungang assigned him the history books for his first month of study.

• Lin Ke reviewed his contest preparations and decided that poetry and martial arts were his strongest categories, while painting made him less confident.
• Lin Ke visited Li Chungang at the tofu shop and formally addressed him as his master.
• Li Chungang revealed that he was a Great Confucian and led Lin Ke through a blood-stained courtyard to a study filled with books.
• Lin Ke explained that every book had something to offer, though a wise reader separated its essence from its dross, impressing Li Chungang.
• Li Chungang told Lin Ke to spend the next three months reading books and making tofu, starting with the history books.

Lin Ke read two history books while grinding soybeans for Li Chungang, then impressed him by recalling and interpreting their contents. The histories revealed a world shaped by powerful sages and extraordinary figures, and Lin Ke shared a tense but quiet lunch with Li Chungang and Li Feiyu.

• Li Chungang told Lin Ke to read history while turning the millstone, and corrected him on the direction it had to turn.
• Lin Ke read Treatise on the Warring States and National History while grinding the beans, finishing both by noon as Li Chungang dozed on the millstone.
• Li Chungang tested Lin Ke on the books, and Lin Ke answered questions about historical events and Su Tai's persuasion of King Hui of Qin.
• While cleaning the millstone, Lin Ke reflected on the world's altered history, including Sage Kong, Qin Shi Huang, and the Great Wei Sage Emperor.
• Lin Ke helped Li Chungang prepare lunch, and Li Feiyu returned and traded sharp remarks with him before the three ate in silence.

Lin Ke began painting lessons under Wang Lin, who made him dot a grid while wearing a heavy bracelet. After he completed a thousand dots and collapsed, Wang Lin revealed that the bracelet was called the Coiling Dragon Bracelet.

• Lin Ke entered Wang Lin’s painting studio and saw Butcher Zhang leaving the dark room.
• Wang Lin set up an easel and brush beneath the western osmanthus tree, then gave Lin Ke a yellow bracelet to wear.
• Wang Lin ordered Lin Ke to dot a thousand grid intersections while keeping his arm above chest level.
• Lin Ke struggled through the task but completed all one thousand dots before collapsing into Wang Lin’s embrace and then onto the ground.
• After Lin Ke woke, Wang Lin explained that the bracelet was forged from starfall tear crystal, sunlight iron, and precious metals, and named it the Coiling Dragon Bracelet.

Lin Ke learned that the Coiling Dragon Bracelet made painting difficult by shifting its pull, and Wang Lin set him a steadily increasing endurance challenge. He continued training toward his contest with Qi Ye, with eighty-seven days remaining, as the chapter hinted that his routine might not stay peaceful.

• Lin Ke realized the Coiling Dragon Bracelet disrupted his arm with shifting forces, while Wang Lin was impressed that he had worn it for over two hours.
• Wang Lin told Lin Ke to wear the bracelet while painting and leave it off otherwise; he kept painting until he collapsed, then fled when she teased him.
• Lin Ke worked at the Tongfu Grand Restaurant, ran up and down Chaoyang Street, and received two steamed buns from a worker.
• Lin Ke practiced dance and flexibility exercises until midnight, then marked another day on his countdown to his contest with Qi Ye.
• Wang Lin moved Lin Ke's easel outside and raised his daily dot-painting target from one thousand to eleven hundred, increasing it by one hundred each day until he could reach ten thousand.