Chapter Summaries

Wang Yang thanked Xie Xinghan for helping him and tested whether she knew his identity was false. She invented a detailed story of their supposed meeting in Yixing and declared that his talent, learning, and insight proved he was no impostor, leaving Wang Yang privately questioning her judgment.

• Wang Yang accepted Yu Qianlou's offer of a servant to drive Liu Cheng's ox cart home and agreed to visit Yu's household another day.
• Le Zhan urged Wang Yang to discuss poetry, but Wang Yang hurried after Xie Xinghan's cart instead.
• Wang Yang boarded Xie Xinghan's cart and thanked her for overseeing the grain shipment and helping him at the banquet.
• Wang Yang asked where he and Xie Xinghan had supposedly met in Yixing, and she invented an elaborate encounter at the Pine-String Pavilion.
• Xie Xinghan argued that Wang Yang's extraordinary talent, learning, and insight showed he could not be an impostor, while Wang Yang wondered whether his confidence was genuine despite his false identity.

Xie Xinghan explained the Prince of Badong’s past and the court rivalry behind his fall from favor, warning Wang Yang to keep his distance. Wang Yang learned that the conflict between the Crown Prince and the Prince of Yuzhang might have driven the Prince of Badong out of the capital.

• Xie Xinghan defended her identification of Wang Yang as a member of the Langya Wang family, and Wang Yang concluded that she had not arranged his household registration records.
• Xie Xinghan warned Wang Yang against getting close to the Prince of Badong and explained that he had been impeached after misquoting a line in a rhapsody and striking a censor.
• Xie Xinghan recounted how the Prince of Badong had been adopted by the Prince of Yuzhang, returned to his original family line, and risen to prominent posts before being sent to govern Jiangzhou.
• Xie Xinghan told Wang Yang that rumors blamed the Crown Prince for driving the Prince of Badong from the capital because of the Crown Prince’s conflict with the Prince of Yuzhang.
• Wang Yang inferred that the Crown Prince’s move against the Prince of Badong had targeted the Prince of Yuzhang’s influence, and Xie Xinghan again cautioned him to stay away from the Prince of Badong.

Xie Xinghan advised Wang Yang to avoid making enemies of the Liu family, and he agreed to prioritize harmony while refusing to return Liu Cheng’s carriage. Wang Yang then asked her to investigate Liu Yin, and she agreed in exchange for Snow-Clad Red Bean Paste before he tried to add another favor.

• Xie Xinghan warned Wang Yang about the Prince of Badong and urged him to return Liu Cheng’s carriage, while he agreed to consider her advice for her sake.
• Xie Xinghan explained the Liu family’s influence and proposed hosting a banquet to reconcile Wang Yang with Liu Cheng and Liu Tan.
• Wang Yang argued that returning the carriage could insult Liu Cheng, but agreed to avoid turning the Liu family into enemies.
• Wang Yang asked Xie Xinghan to investigate Liu Yin’s background, career, connections, and character, and she agreed without pressing him for details.
• Xie Xinghan requested Snow-Clad Red Bean Paste as payment, and Wang Yang offered Candied Taro if she would help him with one more thing.

Wang Yang practiced riding outside Jingzhou City while explaining that he planned to send Little A-Wu to a school and hire help for the household. Little A-Wu feared that Wang Yang no longer needed her, but he reassured her by promising her a more important task.

• Wang Yang struggled to learn to ride as Chen Qing Shan coached him.
• Little A-Wu brought Wang Yang water, fruit, and a fan, then pleaded to keep serving him when he mentioned hiring help and finding her a school.
• Wang Yang explained that he wanted Little A-Wu to study and no longer carry the household’s heavy workload.
• Little A-Wu tearfully begged Wang Yang not to dismiss her, insisting she would work harder and stop making Mallow Soup.
• Wang Yang crouched to reassure Little A-Wu that he still needed her and would assign her something more important.

Wang Yang was summoned by a mysterious master after a messenger showed him reports documenting his impersonation of a member of the Langya Wang. He followed the messenger through a hidden passage into a secluded courtyard, where armed attendants tried to stop him.

• Wang Yang told Little A-Wu that studying would prepare her to serve as his book attendant, and she eagerly promised to learn.
• On the ride back to the city, Wang Yang carried Little A-Wu while Chen Qing Shan walked, and he joked about letting her ride in his place.
• At the city gate, a feminine-looking messenger showed Wang Yang official reports and soldiers' testimonies about his encounter in A Qu Forest, then invited him to meet his master.
• Wang Yang quietly instructed Chen Qing Shan before riding with the messenger to Ruyi Tower, where they entered a hidden passage leading to a secluded courtyard.
• Wang Yang ignored a sword-bearing maid's warning and strode into the courtyard as armed attendants emerged and ordered him to stop.

Wang Yang confronted a mysterious woman who tested his claim to speak a Hu language and exposed the false identity behind his name. The woman threatened to send evidence to the authorities, and the chapter ended as she declared that Wang Yang had no backup plan.

• Wang Yang ignored Bai Si’s warning, approached the curtained hall, and backed away when the woman ordered him shot if he entered.
• The woman tested Wang Yang with Xianbei phrases, and he pretended to speak a dialect before denying that he understood her.
• Lian San showed Wang Yang a letter revealing that no one named Wang Yang from Yixing Commandery appeared in the investigated household records.
• Wang Yang refused to yield, while the woman threatened him with imprisonment and ordered Lian San to take him and the evidence to the Jiangling government office.
• The woman guessed that Wang Yang’s preparations were a bluff and said he had no backup plan, jolting him while he kept smiling.

Wang Yang tried to survive the mysterious woman’s control by pretending to submit, but she saw through his act and had Lian San punish him until he agreed to answer her questions. He began recounting the Prince of Badong’s banquet remarks, leaving the woman impatient as he insisted on listing them in order.

• The woman exposed Wang Yang’s bluff and ordered him to accept her as his Master in exchange for concealing his identity.
• Wang Yang lowered his head and acted obedient, but the woman warned him that she would allow only one attempt at defying her.
• The woman questioned Wang Yang about what the Prince of Badong had said at the banquet, and Lian San twisted Wang Yang’s arm when he resisted.
• Wang Yang recited the banquet’s idle chatter in detail until the woman stopped him and asked for the important remarks.
• Wang Yang admitted that the Prince of Badong had complained about Huashan Commandery belonging to Yongzhou and said that the old provinces had been Jingzhou, but claimed those remarks came later in his recital.

Wang Yang was forced to help a mysterious woman protect his false identity and report the Prince of Badong’s words, then learned that the woman connected to Third Master Du had been executed to conceal a scheme. After receiving an invitation whose poem hinted that Wang Tai knew his identity was false, Wang Yang went to meet him and found him waiting in a secluded courtyard.

• The woman ordered Wang Yang to report everything the Prince of Badong said during their ride and gave him details to memorize about Wang Yi, a real Cavalier Attendant he could claim as his second uncle.
• The woman promised to silence the soldiers who knew Wang Yang and arranged a false reply for Kong Changyu, while Wang Yang doubted her assurances.
• Black Han told Wang Yang that Xu Jiao Jiao had been executed for stealing government cloth and that the story linking her to Third Master Du had been fabricated.
• Wang Yang received an invitation from Wang Tai whose poem appeared to expose his false identity, so he went to Shoukang Lane despite his misgivings.
• The proprietor led Wang Yang to a secluded courtyard, where Wang Tai greeted him warmly as Zhi Yan.

Wang Tai welcomed Wang Yang with lavish praise, claimed kinship with him, and offered to secure his clan and gentry registration. Wang Yang remained skeptical of Wang Tai’s motives and was left unsure what the older man truly wanted.

• Wang Tai praised Wang Yang’s literary talent and apologized for failing to receive him earlier by blaming a servant, whom he ordered whipped after Wang Yang urged leniency.
• Wang Tai asked about Wang Yang’s descent from the Duke of the Right Army, then declared himself Wang Yang’s clan uncle.
• Wang Tai recounted how he had investigated Wang Yang’s claimed family background and said he had stopped clansmen from questioning it.
• Wang Tai offered to help Wang Yang join the clan or enter the Gentry Register, but Wang Yang doubted that the offer was genuine.

Wang Tai pressured Wang Yang to fabricate remarks against the Prince of Badong, promising to secure Wang Yang’s household registration in exchange. Wang Yang agreed only after Wang Tai swore an oath, but fighting broke out outside before he could finish writing.

• Wang Tai told Wang Yang that he had to earn merit by recording the Prince of Badong’s forbidden remarks before the Wang clan would amend his registration.
• Wang Tai urged Wang Yang to write fabricated accusations and warned that Wang Yang, his associates, and his retainers could face severe punishment over the false registration.
• Wang Yang pretended to fear for his life and asked whether completing the task would truly secure his place in the Langya Wang genealogy.
• Wang Tai swore by the river that he would help Wang Yang obtain registration after he completed the task.
• Wang Yang agreed to write, but shouts and fighting erupted outside, and someone kicked open the courtyard gate.

Wang Yang protected Chen Qing Shan from being harmed by Wang Tai's swordsman Wu Qian, then reassured her after she worried she had made trouble. Wang Yang left with Chen Qing Shan planning to test his suspicions another time, while Wang Tai explained that his courtesy toward Wang Yang was meant to lower his guard before a future betrayal.

• Wu Qian attacked Chen Qing Shan, and Wang Yang called her his guard before Wu Qian could kill her.
• Wang Tai ordered Wu Qian to lower his sword and accepted Wang Yang's promise that Chen Qing Shan would keep the hidden place secret.
• Wang Yang told Chen Qing Shan to wait outside and continued writing at Wang Tai's request, postponing a test of his suspicions.
• Outside the bookshop, Wang Yang reassured Chen Qing Shan that she had acted to save him, and she said the sword was not what she was good at.
• Wang Tai told Wu Qian that he treated Wang Yang courteously to lower his resistance before turning against him, while Wu Qian misunderstood and asked whether kindness would make Wang Yang resent him less when killed.

Wang Yang began training Chen Qing Shan in self-defense before the Prince of Badong arrived and attacked her without warning. Wang Yang stopped the prince from continuing by praising his strength and valor, leaving the prince pleased but confused by Wang Yang’s references to Pan Feng and Xing Daorong.

• Wang Yang offered to buy Chen Qing Shan a horse and said he had decided to begin martial training alongside his physical exercises.
• Chen Qing Shan demonstrated how to escape a wrist grab and counterattack, but the Prince of Badong arrived and challenged her without warning.
• The Prince of Badong struck Chen Qing Shan twice, knocking her to one knee, and Wang Yang stepped in front of her to stop his next punch.
• Wang Yang challenged the prince’s offer of a one-handed handicap by comparing him to Xiang Yu and Lu Bu, which delighted the prince.
• The Prince of Badong asked who Pan Feng and Xing Daorong were after Wang Yang compared them to warriors who could not withstand him.

Wang Yang joined the Prince of Badong’s outing, secured a fine horse for Chen Qing Shan, and entertained the prince with a joke and a poem. When an attendant secretly passed him a letter, Wang Yang suspected a trap and openly demanded to know who had sent it.

• Wang Yang struggled to ride until Chen Qing Shan mounted behind him and drove his horse at a gallop to the picnic site.
• The Prince of Badong teased Wang Yang about his frugality, and Wang Yang answered with a joke that made the prince laugh.
• Wang Yang recited a line about valuing smiles, prompting the Prince of Badong to offer him any horse except his own.
• Wang Yang chose Wang Chongtian’s horse for Chen Qing Shan, and the prince agreed to give it to him.
• An attendant secretly delivered a bamboo tube and claimed it held a message from the Master, so Wang Yang called him back and demanded an explanation.

Wang Yang exposed a staged secret-letter test by the Prince of Badong, then faced another test when the prince aimed a bow at him in the woods. The prince offered him a lucrative role buying cloth and arranging thousands of garments, leaving Wang Yang suspicious of the prince’s motives and of the Mysterious Woman’s influence.

• Wang Yang showed the attendant’s bamboo tube to the Prince of Badong and accused the attendant of secretly serving someone else, prompting Kong Changyu to take him away for questioning.
• Kong Changyu reported that the attendant had been bribed by a young woman to deliver a love letter, and the Prince of Badong ordered her identity protected.
• The Prince of Badong took Wang Yang alone into the woods, aimed the Great Yellow Bow at him, and demanded to know who had sent him before claiming it was a joke.
• The Prince of Badong asked Wang Yang about his book and fan sales, then offered him a two-million-coin profit to buy cloth and arrange two thousand brocade robes and two thousand crimson satin jackets within two months.
• The Prince of Badong said he trusted Wang Yang and hinted he would help him advance, while Wang Yang wondered whether the prince had learned about his false background through the Mysterious Woman.

Wang Yang accepted the Prince of Badong’s brocade business while secretly shaping a plan to turn the prince’s power against Wang Tai and the Mysterious Woman. On the ride back to the city, he resolved to conceal the deal from the pair and prepare his counterattack.

• Wang Yang rejected the Prince of Badong’s business proposal at first, then agreed after confirming the prices and promised profit.
• The Prince of Badong gave Wang Yang a contract and funds for the brocade trade, with goods to be stored at the Linjiang Freight Depot.
• Wang Yang decided not to tell Wang Tai and the Mysterious Woman about the business, fearing they would interfere or silence him.
• Wang Yang considered how to explain his resources and concluded he might need to repair the plank road openly while secretly crossing through Chen Cang.
• The Prince of Badong grew excited at the sight of two geese and took down his bow, while Wang Yang decided it was his turn to act against the two adversaries.

Wang Yang tried to conceal his dealings with the Prince of Badong by staging a horse-fall injury and pretending to seek investment for a business venture. Wang Tai then coached him to invent a more useful account of the prince’s words, but Wang Yang’s injured arm caused him to drop his brush just as he began writing it down.

• Wang Yang asked Chen Qing Shan to injure his arm so he could claim he had fallen from his horse, and she struck him with her sword scabbard.
• Wang Yang told the veiled woman at Ruyi Tower a partial account of meeting the Prince of Badong, then pitched her a fake investment opportunity to explain his planned purchases.
• Wang Yang decided the business pitch had laid groundwork for his future purchases and planned to use a similar deception with Wang Tai.
• Wang Yang repeated his partial account to Wang Tai, who supplied a fabricated quotation from the Prince of Badong and warned that Register Verification could threaten Wang Yang’s household registration.
• Wang Yang agreed to claim the prince had said the invented words, but when he began writing the account, pain made him drop the brush.

Wang Yang feigned an arm injury to avoid writing down the Prince of Badong’s taboo remarks, while realizing Wang Tai might be planning to use his written testimony against him. After Wang Yang returned home, Chen Qing Shan told him Black Han was waiting with news about the fan business.

• Wang Yang pretended his arm was injured, and Wu Qian examined it while Wang Tai arranged medicinal liniment and postponed the dictation until after the Dragon Boat Festival.
• Wang Yang concluded that Wang Tai wanted his handwriting as testimony and might eliminate him once he had written it, so he decided to accelerate his plans.
• Wang Yang invited Wang Tai to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and pitched his business venture, but Wang Tai neither accepted nor refused to invest.
• After Wang Yang left, Wu Qian said a blunt instrument could have caused the injury, and Wang Tai considered whether Wang Yang had been pretending before dismissing the possibility.
• Wang Yang returned home, learned Chen Qing Shan had helped Black Han with the fan business, and called Black Han into the courtyard.

Wang Yang settled the folding-fan dispute, rewarded Black Han, and urged him to spend time with A-Wu. At the Prince of Luling’s residence, Xiao Ziqing spared Third Master Du but secretly ordered his death, then ordered Du Lier strangled as well.

• Black Han told Wang Yang that Shopkeeper Luo and several workshops had tried to raise fan prices, and that Chen Qing Shan had helped settle the dispute.
• Wang Yang confirmed the contracted price, arranged storage at the Linjiang Freight Depot, and returned Black Han’s thousand-coin gift as a reward.
• Black Han and A-Wu thanked Wang Yang, and Wang Yang told them to take a day off and prepare A-Wu’s school clothes.
• Third Master Du pleaded with Xiao Ziqing, who reassured him and then directed A-Po to kill him.
• Du Lier asked Xiao Ziqing about her father, and he told her they would reunite the next day before ordering A-Po to strangle her.
• Xiao Ziqing watched the moon and hummed about parting after sending A-Po to kill Du Lier.

Xiao Ziqing instructed Wang Chen to investigate the Wang boy and arrange to bring him from Jingzhou, while warning that everything must be handled according to the law. In Jingzhou, Wang Yang’s lecture on reading was interrupted when a crowd from the Old Text School surrounded the Commandery Academy demanding to see him.

• Xiao Ziqing told Wang Chen to use Qiu Xiong to investigate the Wang boy and arrange for Liu Yin to bring the child from Jingzhou, using lawful means to handle any resistance.
• Wang Yang lectured the students on storming cities and conquering territory as methods of reading, emphasizing foundations, bibliography, philology, and pre-Qin studies.
• A messenger reported that more than a hundred people from the Old Text School had surrounded the Commandery Academy and demanded to see Wang Yang.
• The students rose to defend the gate, while Le Zhan sent an attendant to the Jiangling County Office to request men to maintain order.

Wang Yang went out to confront the crowd gathered at the Commandery Academy, while Zong Ce led the students to join him. The gathering turned into a plea for Wang Yang to teach the Book of Documents, and the two schools sat together as he lectured on scholarship and ideals.

• Liu Zhao ordered his students to stay seated and went outside, but Wang Yang insisted on accompanying him and warned that he would answer any trouble with his sword.
• Xie Xinghan sent the Four Attendants to protect Wang Yang, while Le Zhan and Le Pang also went outside.
• Zong Ce persuaded Yu Yuling and the other students to leave the classroom and follow him to support their teacher.
• Lu Huan and Xu Bozhen led the Old-Text School scholars in asking Wang Yang to teach them the Book of Documents, and Wang Yang agreed to learn and explore its principles with them.
• The New-Text and Old-Text scholars sat together as Wang Yang lectured that intellectuals should pursue truth and ideals beyond personal wealth, rank, and family advancement.