Chapter Summaries

After the old man died, Chu Qingjiu honored him with a grand funeral and took up the title of Puppeteer. He later regretted leaving school to pursue their craft, reflecting on how his choices and illness led to his early death.

• Chu Qingjiu buried the old man with a grand funeral and marked the grave "Chu Puppet Master."
• Chu Qingjiu poured the old man's beloved wine at his grave and finally cried as memories of him returned.
• Chu Qingjiu returned to school, excelled in his exams, and turned down Deren Private Middle School's offer to pursue Puppet Soul-Locking.
• Chu Qingjiu later regretted leaving school, believing that working to support himself had contributed to his stomach problems and cancer.
• Chu Qingjiu reflected that the old man had never appeared in his dreams before he took his own life.

The old man recalled raising Chu Qingjiu from infancy while struggling with poverty, then hiding his terminal cancer so Chu Qingjiu could focus on school. Before he died, he comforted a suicidal boy named Yu Min and urged Chu Qingjiu to take care of himself.

• At sixty, the old man found an abandoned baby beside a rubbish heap, took him in, and named him Chu Qingjiu.
• The old man found a cheap rental by resolving its supernatural trouble, earned money through his craft, and raised Chu Qingjiu while teaching him puppetry.
• After learning he had late-stage stomach cancer, the old man hid his illness and delayed treatment, hoping to live until Chu Qingjiu entered high school.
• While waiting outside No. 1 Middle School, the old man met eleven-year-old Yu Min by the river, talked him out of despair, and gave him the name Yu Ming.
• As his health worsened, the old man finally let Chu Qingjiu see him gravely ill and asked him to take care of himself.
• A few days later, the old man died before Chu Qingjiu could enter high school.

Chu Qingjiu agreed to return to reality with Qi Wu and meet his family, where Qi Yue welcomed him warmly and revealed that their mother had died and their father was absent. At Qi Wu’s twenty-first birthday party, Chu Qingjiu gave him a private, intimate gift and wished him a happy birthday.

• Qi Wu asked Chu Qingjiu to meet his younger sister, and Chu Qingjiu agreed to visit his family the next day.
• Qi Wu and Chu Qingjiu returned to reality, dressed formally, and traveled to the Qi Family home.
• Qi Yue recognized Chu Qingjiu from a childhood visit and enthusiastically welcomed him as her brother’s boyfriend.
• Qi Yue told Chu Qingjiu that their mother had died and their father rarely returned, while Qi Wu had cared for her.
• Qi Yue hosted Qi Wu’s birthday party, where their friends approved of his relationship with Chu Qingjiu.
• Chu Qingjiu gave Qi Wu a cat-ear headband and other intimate gifts, then wished him a happy twenty-first birthday.

During a winter of famine and war, Chu Qingjiu rescued the starving Qi Wu and brought him to his residence in the capital. After confirming Qi Wu’s background and testing his martial skills, Chu Qingjiu took him into his household to work alongside Mo Dong and attend him.

• While traveling toward the capital, Chu Qingjiu saw a frail child collapse in the snow and ordered Mo Dong to bring him into the carriage.
• Chu Qingjiu warmed and fed the child, who introduced himself as Qi Wu and explained that his uncles had abandoned him after his parents died.
• Chu Qingjiu offered Qi Wu shelter at his residence while he recovered, and later ordered an investigation that confirmed Qi Wu’s story.
• When Chu Qingjiu asked what skills he had, Qi Wu demonstrated his martial arts by sparring with Mo Dong.
• Chu Qingjiu told Qi Wu to remain in the household, work alongside Mo Dong, and attend him.

During a brief New Year’s truce, Chu Qingjiu grew closer to Qi Wu while his illness worsened, and he wondered whether he would live to see the end of the conflict. On New Year’s Eve, Qi Wu gave him carved plum blossoms, and Chu Qingjiu promised to wait for the physician to arrive.

• Chu Qingjiu listened as Qi Wu described Gan City and asked whether he would see plum blossoms after the snow stopped; Qi Wu promised he would.
• As they walked through the residence, Chu Qingjiu invited Qi Wu to call him his elder brother, and Qi Wu agreed.
• On New Year’s Eve, Chu Qingjiu celebrated with Grand Tutor Chu, but Qi Wu stopped him from drinking too much.
• After returning to his room, Chu Qingjiu coughed blood and told Qi Wu he might not live until the physician arrived or the plum blossoms bloomed.
• Qi Wu gave Chu Qingjiu a wooden hairpin carved with plum blossoms and pleaded with him to stay; Chu Qingjiu promised he would wait for the physician.

The Person in Charge turned Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu into animal-like forms and sent Chu Qingjiu searching for Qi Wu in a new world, threatening to leave Qi Wu there if he was not found before nightfall. Chu Qingjiu found him just in time, and the two reunited as beastmen while Qi Wu recognized the Person in Charge’s Valentine’s Day scheme.

• Chu Qingjiu woke as a cat, and the Person in Charge told him to find Qi Wu before nightfall or Qi Wu would be trapped in the new world.
• Chu Qingjiu followed the unreliable Soul Puppet Threads through a world populated by people with animal features.
• Chu Qingjiu tracked Qi Wu to an empty palace and found him locked in a cage as a golden retriever.
• Qi Wu escaped the cage and tackled Chu Qingjiu, and both transformed into beastmen as night fell.
• Qi Wu learned that the Person in Charge had separated them on Valentine’s Day and kissed Chu Qingjiu before wishing him a happy Valentine’s Day.

Qi Wu, who had congenital colorblindness, met the puppeteer Chu Qingjiu and saw color for the first time. The story ended with Qi Wu planning to meet Chu Qingjiu again, followed by the author’s notes about future projects and returning to writing.

• Qi Wu saw Chu Qingjiu performing with a puppet at a deserted stall and recognized the purple of his eyes as the first color in his world.
• Qi Wu told Chu Qingjiu about his colorblindness, and Chu Qingjiu said his eyes were purple but left the color of his lips for another time.
• Qi Wu gave Chu Qingjiu his bracelet, and Chu Qingjiu gave him a miniature puppet of himself.
• Qi Wu promised to wait for Chu Qingjiu at the stall the next day, and Chu Qingjiu firmly agreed.
• Old Man Chu took Chu Qingjiu home, and Chu Qingjiu smiled at the bracelet as he said he could see colors now.
• The author answered readers’ questions, explained plans for future stories, and said they intended to return to writing an infinite-flow romance.