Chapter Summaries

Wang Yang refused Liu Yin’s offer to buy two members of his retainer troops and rejected the Prince of Luling’s promised rewards for betraying them. He challenged Liu Yin to choose whether to become his ally or an enemy.

• Liu Yin offered Wang Yang two hundred thousand for the two soldier household members, but Wang Yang refused and mocked his threats and bargaining.
• Liu Yin offered money, a valuable object, or a career-starting office through the Prince of Luling if Wang Yang gave up the two men.
• Liu Yin urged Wang Yang to abandon what he called petty righteousness and accept the Prince’s patronage, but Wang Yang asked to begin his career as Chancellor.
• Liu Yin grew furious at Wang Yang’s demand, and Wang Yang explained that he would not sell out his country or harm the vulnerable.
• Wang Yang declared that he wanted to deal with bastards and told Liu Yin that they could be friends if Liu Yin chose the same path.

Wang Yang challenged Liu Yin’s claim that his lawbreaking served the law’s long-term good, arguing that vague future benefits could not justify certain harms done in the present. Liu Yin was left without a direct answer as Wang Yang contrasted their choices.

• Liu Yin defended his strict record and argued that some illegal acts were necessary for the law’s long-term good.
• Wang Yang cited Liu Yin’s release of Du Shubao, the silencing of witnesses, the attempt to frame Wang Yang, and the demand for his retainer troops as violations of the Qi Code.
• Liu Yin told a story about a monk who abducted a woman to secure grain and save a famine-stricken village, asking Wang Yang whether the monk had done wrong.
• Wang Yang rejected the story as a false choice that could not justify real actions, and questioned whether Liu Yin had truly had no other options or could guarantee the promised outcome.
• Liu Yin explained that he had compromised his conscience and the law while rising from poverty so he could enforce the law at a higher level.
• Wang Yang argued that sacrificing present lives for an uncertain bigger picture undermined the law, and told Liu Yin that his chosen path had merely been easier.

Liu Yin arrested Wang Yang under an Administrative Clerk’s warrant and questioned him in the Torture Chamber about his dealings with Liu Tan and the transfer of valuable property. Wang Yang treated the interrogation with mocking calm, and the chapter ended with the clerks struggling to keep straight faces as he explained the transfers.

• Liu Yin ordered Wang Yang arrested, and Wang Yang agreed to comply with the summons without being chained.
• Liu Yin had Wang Yang imprisoned and brought him to the Torture Chamber, where Wang Yang ignored the clerks’ attempts to unsettle him.
• Wang Yang mocked a young judicial clerk who demanded that he answer properly, and Liu Yin stopped the exchange from escalating.
• Liu Yin questioned Wang Yang about taking Liu Tan to brocade markets and transferring business contracts into Liu Tan’s name, and Wang Yang claimed they had done it for fun.
• Liu Yin questioned Wang Yang about Liu Tan’s property transfers through Zhou Xian, and Wang Yang claimed Liu Tan had given him the property out of admiration and that he had reluctantly accepted it.

Liu Yin interrogated Wang Yang over suspicious permits and attempted to force a confession, but Wang Yang maintained that the goods were only being sent to a local freight depot. As Liu Yin approached him with torture instruments, someone entered and challenged him.

• Liu Yin questioned Wang Yang about the route and permits for the brocade shipment, then ordered him tortured when Wang Yang refused to confess.
• The Southern Commandery Troops raided workshops and residences, seized the goods, and detained Liu Tan and the shipment’s escorts, but found no permits with them.
• Wang Yang said the goods were headed to his warehouse at the Linjiang Freight Depot, leaving Liu Yin without proof they were destined for the Southern Man.
• Liu Yin threatened to subject Wang Yang to private torture, and Wang Yang mocked his claims of serving the law.
• Liu Yin approached Wang Yang with iron tongs, but the door opened and an icy voice demanded to know what he was planning.

Liu Yin tried to continue interrogating Wang Yang despite Zong Rui’s objections, but Wang Yang’s supporters gathered outside the prison and demanded the release of Wang Yang and Liu Tan. As the crowd grew volatile, Liu Yin faced mounting pressure to decide what to do.

• Zong Rui challenged Liu Yin’s unauthorized arrests and demanded evidence, but Liu Yin ordered guards to remove him from the Torture Chamber.
• After Wang Yang nodded, Zong Rui withdrew, warning the officials that they would be punished if they unlawfully imprisoned the gentry or manipulated the law.
• Wang Yang told Liu Yin to “Form ranks,” and Zong Rui returned with news that students had surrounded the Commandery Prison.
• The students chanted for Wang Yang and Liu Tan’s release and demanded that Liu Yin answer for his actions, leaving the clerks alarmed.
• When Liu Yin accused Wang Yang of inciting the students, Wang Yang pointed to his scholarly reputation, and a jailer reported that the crowd was growing and might storm the prison gates.

As student unrest over Wang Yang’s imprisonment grew, Liu Yin ordered eight hundred Commandery Troops to disperse the students, despite Zong Rui and other officials’ objections. Liu Yin left to handle the unrest, while Wang Yang remained imprisoned and calmly ordered a banquet from the Fragrant Snow Tower.

• Liu Yin learned that Libationer Liu was away lecturing and blamed Wang Yang as students gathered to protest his arrest.
• Zong Rui entered the Torture Chamber as deputy examiner and challenged Liu Yin’s handling of the case.
• Liu Yin ordered eight hundred Commandery Troops to disperse the students and arrest anyone who resisted, while Zong Rui and other officials warned him against it.
• Liu Yin left the prison, ordered the prison deputy to guard Wang Yang, and threatened to hold Wang Yang responsible if anything went wrong.
• Wang Yang asked Prison Deputy Lü to have a banquet from the Fragrant Snow Tower delivered to the prison.

Wang Yang and Zong Rui relied on hidden allies while Liu Yin tried to force Liu Tan to confess. Liu Yin was left facing a military threat and a blockade by the Jiangling gentry as Wang Yang toasted the prison gates.

• Zong Rui worried Liu Yin would force Liu Tan to confess, but Wang Yang assured him that a surprise force was guarding Liu Tan.
• Liu Yin delayed twelve classics scholars and ordered the prison officer to mislead them about Wang Yang and Liu Tan's condition.
• Liu Yin punished a legal clerk, then claimed Wang Yang had confessed and named Liu Tan as the mastermind.
• Liu Yin offered Liu Tan a chance to blame Wang Yang, but Liu Tan refused and warned him to produce genuine evidence.
• A prison officer reported that fifteen Linju Army scouts had arrived with a bloody handprint, while another reported that Yu Yi and the Jiangling gentry had blocked the commandery troops.
• Wang Yang feasted with Zong Rui and the commandery officials, raised his cup toward the prison gates, and said, "Shatter the Army!"

Wang Yang learned about the Dao family's ties to the Prince of Yuzhang while dining with commandery officials, then warned Zong Rui that Liu Yin might retreat and urged relentless pursuit. As Liu Yin prepared to contain the scandal, Le Zhan arrived with news of a citywide commercial shutdown and rising grain prices, leaving Liu Yin reeling.

• Wang Yang drew the commandery officials into gossip about the Dao family, Dao Tan, and their connections to the Prince of Yuzhang.
• Zong Rui asked what Liu Yin would do after facing pressure from Wang Yang and Liu Tan, and Wang Yang predicted Liu Yin would retreat.
• Liu Yin drafted a statement blaming Zhao Jie and Qiu Ying for fabricating charges while revising his account to minimize his own responsibility.
• A military officer told Liu Yin that Zhao Jie and Qiu Ying had already been arrested on the Prince of Badong's orders.
• Wang Yang told Zong Rui to pursue Liu Yin relentlessly and said he would force Liu Yin to decide through encirclement.
• Le Zhan confronted Liu Yin over the Silk and Cloth Merchants' shutdown, the Ever-Normal Granary's closure, rising grain prices, and unrest across Jingzhou.

Le Zhan visited Wang Yang in the prison and joined him for a feast and a drinking game, where Wang Yang hinted that Liu Yin would not honor his promise to release him. Liu Yin gathered the prison staff and ordered them to seal the gates and prepare to act.

• Le Zhan forced his way into the torture chamber to see Wang Yang, despite the jailers' objections.
• Le Zhan and the officials joined Wang Yang's prison feast, and Le Zhan proposed a drinking game about criminal deeds.
• Zong Rui refused to recite criminal verses and drank a penalty, while Wang Yang turned his verse into a joke that delighted the gathering.
• Le Zhan asked why Wang Yang had not been released, and Wang Yang said Liu Yin was surrounded and would stake everything on a desperate move.
• Liu Yin assembled the prison staff, ordered Tian He to seal the prison gate, and led the remaining men onward.

Liu Yin tried to force a confession from Wang Yang, but the Prince of Badong’s order stripped Liu Yin of his office and ended his control of the prison. Xiao Baoyue learned Wang Yang had escaped and considered how difficult he would be to kill.

• Liu Yin ordered Xiao Qi to obtain a confession from Wang Yang and kill both Wang Yang and the accompanying official before the incense burned out.
• Wang Yang explained to Le Zhan and Zong Rui that Liu Yin was cornered and might risk everything rather than surrender.
• Liu Yin’s jailers stormed the Torture Chamber, but Kong Changyu arrived with the Prince of Badong’s order suspending Liu Yin and confining him to his residence.
• Liu Yin accused Wang Yang of baiting him into deeper trouble, and Wang Yang told him he had shaped the position to win before the soldiers took Liu Yin away.
• Xiao Baoyue learned that Wang Yang had left the Commandery Prison and that the Xie Family’s carriage had visited; she wondered whether killing him would be difficult.

Wang Yang used a cleansing ritual and a conversation about scholarship to probe Xie Xinghan, but his attempt to draw her into boasting about her friend Xiao Baoyue turned into a contest. Xie Xinghan saw through Wang Yang’s unusual display of competitiveness, leaving his carefully staged performance exposed to her scrutiny.

• Little A-Wu, Chen Qing Shan, Xie Xinghan, and Xiao Ning performed a traditional cleansing ritual for Wang Yang, while Xie Xinghan explained its customs and origins.
• Wang Yang praised Xie Xinghan’s learning, then had Chen Qing Shan and Little A-Wu steer the conversation toward talented women and Southern Barbarian Studies.
• Xie Xinghan claimed her friend Xiao Baoyue mastered many fields, and Wang Yang challenged the claim by saying he wanted to meet her and compare their knowledge.
• Xie Xinghan recalled Wang Yang’s past learning and recognized that his sudden competitive challenge did not fit his usual character.
• Xie Xinghan realized Wang Yang was probing her with a calculated performance, and she did not believe his display.

Wang Yang concealed his suspicions about Xie Xinghan’s knowledge of his false identity, then was summoned under guard to the Prince of Badong’s residence. Despite Xie Xinghan’s concern and the guards’ threatening arrival, he departed with easy confidence, leaving the household impressed by his bearing.

• Wang Yang abandoned his probing of Xie Xinghan and apologized with a display of humility, though she remained convinced her suspicions were right.
• Little A-Wu prepared to ward off misfortune as Black Han warned that men from the Prince’s Residence were forcing their way in.
• Kong Changyu arrived with eight armed guards and ordered Wang Yang to accompany him to the Prince’s Residence, prompting Xie Xinghan to challenge his conduct.
• Wang Yang declined to let Xie Xinghan or Chen Qing Shan accompany him and said he would discuss matters with the Prince before arranging a feast for everyone.
• Wang Yang took his Folding Fan and left with Kong Changyu and the guards, whose threatening escort became a path cleared for his dignified departure.

Xie Xinghan caught A-Wu and Chen Qing Shan trying to evade her, then assigned A-Wu calligraphy practice. At the Prince of Badong's Residence, Wang Yang endured the prince's intimidation and argued that he had acted to protect him, leaving the prince stunned by Wang Yang's claim about the shipment.

• Xie Xinghan questioned A-Wu about her learning and sent Chen Qing Shan away to practice swordsmanship.
• Xie Xinghan ordered A-Wu to write five hundred characters of calligraphy.
• The Prince of Badong tried to intimidate Wang Yang with his guards, but Wang Yang answered his taunt with a clever retort.
• The Prince of Badong accused Wang Yang of stirring up Jingzhou and using a shipment to set a trap.
• Wang Yang argued that Liu Yin had threatened the prince as well as himself, and that removing Liu Yin had protected the prince.
• Wang Yang asked whose goods the shipment could be if they were not his, leaving the Prince of Badong wondering whether Wang Yang meant to claim them.

Wang Yang convinced the Prince of Badong that his actions had served the prince’s interests, then bargained with him over money and a pair of feasts. The prince challenged Wang Yang to make him draw his saber, but Wang Yang turned the challenge around and won.

• Wang Yang explained that he had used the shipment, permits, and investigation to protect the Prince of Badong’s interests and bring down Wu Xiuzhi and Liu Yin.
• The Prince of Badong accepted Wang Yang’s explanation, then demanded one million cash as thanks for helping him.
• Wang Yang and the Prince of Badong haggled over rewards and expenses until they settled on a wager involving two feasts from the Fragrant Snow Tower.
• The Prince of Badong challenged Wang Yang to make him draw his saber of his own accord, and Wang Yang suggested instead that he could make him sheathe it.
• The Prince of Badong drew the saber to prove Wang Yang wrong, and Wang Yang pointed out that he had already fulfilled the original challenge and made the prince sheathe it.

Wang Yang used a discussion of barbarian trade routes to draw the Prince of Badong into revealing his interest in the proposed trial tribes. The prince assigned Kong Changyu to steer Wang away from the tribe that mattered, while deciding to keep Wang alive and make use of his talents.

• The Prince of Badong questioned Wang Yang about his book on Southern Barbarian Studies and renewed his promise of a military post.
• Wang Yang described a proposed trade strategy for governing the barbarians and said his uncle had narrowed the trial sites to the Yidu, Wuning, and Yongning Barbarian Tribes.
• The Prince of Badong offered to have Kong Changyu advise Wang Yang, and Wang Yang accepted.
• After Wang Yang left, the Prince of Badong ordered Kong Changyu to steer him toward one of the two less important tribes and investigate whether the court knew of the proposal.
• Kong Changyu urged the prince to kill Wang Yang, but the prince refused and warned him to keep the secret and sound Wang out cautiously.
• The Prince of Badong gave Kong Changyu a saber as a wager, and Kong Changyu panicked and begged forgiveness, thinking he was being ordered to kill himself.

Le Xiaopang argued with Le Zhan for money to treat Wang Yang, prompting Le Zhan to nearly beat him before Madam Le intervened and gave him thirty thousand coins. After Le Xiaopang left, Madam Le explained that his generosity and enjoyment of life could benefit the family if guided well.

• Le Xiaopang asked Le Zhan for money to take Wang Yang to Fragrant Snow Tower, and Le Zhan offered only a small loan after recalling his son's debts.
• Le Xiaopang threatened to sell his carriage, so Le Zhan ordered the guards to seize him and bring a rattan rod.
• Madam Le stopped Le Zhan from beating their son, made Le Xiaopang apologize, and gave him thirty thousand coins on the condition that he not take Wang Yang to a brothel.
• After Le Xiaopang left, Madam Le told Le Zhan that his son's generosity and boldness could help the family, then completed Le Zhan's poem with a line about the butterfly rising into the heavens.

Wang Yang and Le Pang relaxed at a grotto hot spring, where Wang Yang asked Le Pang about Lady Xie’s friend surnamed Xiao. Le Pang identified her as Lady Xiao, daughter of Xiao Luan, and shared rumors about her as Wang Yang appeared pleased to have found his target.

• Wang Yang and Le Pang soaked in the grotto’s hot spring and joked about their dramatic cries of pleasure.
• Wang Yang and Le Pang planned to climb the mountain, eat there, and enjoy the scenery with wine and simple food.
• Wang Yang asked Le Pang about the Three Beauties of the Imperial Capital and Lady Xie’s friend surnamed Xiao.
• Le Pang identified Lady Xiao as the daughter of Xiao Luan and described her prodigious childhood, withdrawn temperament, and conflicting rumors.
• Wang Yang realized Lady Xiao was the person he had been looking for.

Kong Changyu advised Wang Yang on which barbarian tribe should open a trade route, while each man tried to gauge the other's intentions. Kong Changyu left believing he had outmaneuvered Wang Yang, who judged Kong Changyu too simple.

• Kong Changyu waited all afternoon at the Wang Residence before Wang Yang returned with Qing Shan and A-Wu.
• Wang Yang asked Kong Changyu to compare the Yongning, Wuning, and Yidu Barbarians as potential trading partners.
• Kong Changyu rejected the Yidu Barbarians because of their hostility toward Han people and lack of unified leadership, then recommended the Yongning Barbarians over the Wuning Barbarians.
• Wang Yang challenged Kong Changyu's reliance on the Wuning Barbarians' century-old betrayals and raised concerns about the Yongning Barbarians' constant warfare.
• Kong Changyu and Wang Yang argued over the tribes' risks without changing each other's minds, then privately mocked one another as too young and too simple.

Wang Yang reviewed Kong Changyu’s advice about the three Barbarian Tribes while Kong explained to the Prince of Badong how he had manipulated Wang’s suspicions. Kong was rewarded for his supposed victory, but Wang’s final notes suggested he had seen through the scheme and chosen the Yongning Barbarians.

• Wang Yang wrote down the Yongning, Wuning, and Yidu Barbarians as he reconsidered Kong Changyu’s advice.
• Kong Changyu explained how he had used layered misdirection to make Wang distrust the Yidu and Wuning Barbarians and reject Yongning.
• Kong argued that Wang’s knowledge and practical judgment made him predictable, and the Prince of Badong praised Kong and awarded him two hundred thousand in cash.
• Chen Qing Shan brought Wang Yang tea and saw that he had crossed out Wuning and Yidu and circled Yongning, beside the note, “When you scheme against others, others scheme against you.”

Wang Yang confirmed that Baoyue had brought medicine from the marquis’s residence, then fooled Xin Yi into believing he knew a martial art called the Arcane Curve Finger. He persuaded her to dance for him, and the chapter ended with Xiao Baoyue arriving to find her personal guard performing for Wang Yang.

• Wang Yang coaxed Baoyue’s maid into confirming that her young mistress had brought medicine from the marquis’s residence.
• Xin Yi tried to attack Wang Yang, then challenged the lyrics of “May We Be Mandarin Ducks and Scorn Immortality.”
• Wang Yang invented the Arcane Curve Finger and convinced Xin Yi that he had used it on her.
• Wang Yang persuaded Xin Yi to dance and sing “May We Be Mandarin Ducks and Scorn Immortality.”
• Xiao Baoyue arrived and saw Xin Yi dancing for Wang Yang.