Recaps

Jiang Xiaobai left with the Elder Princess after Xiao Zijing offered her to him, while he suspected she had a hidden motive. Fang Tong decided to become Jiang Xiaobai’s disciple and kept his calligraphy, and Xiao Zijing was left missing Jiang Xiaobai’s company.

• Xiao Zijing offered the Elder Princess to Jiang Xiaobai, and the Elder Princess walked over to him after agreeing to his request.
• Jiang Xiaobai accepted the Elder Princess as his maid and left with her and Tang Ningshuang, though he worried that the Elder Princess had an ulterior motive.
• Fang Tong took Jiang Xiaobai’s calligraphy and declared that he would become Jiang Xiaobai’s disciple, despite having an existing master.
• Fang Tong’s companions questioned his decision, but he insisted Jiang Xiaobai would accept him eventually and left with the calligraphy.
• After the others departed, Xiao Zijing sighed that things were boring without Jiang Xiaobai and said she found him more interesting.

On the ride home, Jiang Xiaobai tried to drive the Elder Princess away by making her massage his leg, but she kept up the painful kneading until they reached the Marquis's Residence. There, he learned his liquor business was booming and met his father's Dragon-Tiger Sect junior brother, while Jiang Jingcheng accepted the disguised Elder Princess as the Little Princess's deaf-and-mute maid.

• Jiang Xiaobai made the Elder Princess massage his leg in the carriage, and she squeezed it painfully while he endured in silence.
• Jiang Xiaobai returned to the Marquis's Residence with Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess, where Zhang Xinnian reported that demand for their liquor had exceeded supply.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Zhang Xinnian to expand liquor distribution across Capital City, then went to the Main Hall after learning Jiang Jingcheng had summoned him.
• Jiang Xiaobai saw Jiang Jingcheng's Dragon-Tiger Sect junior brother leave and learned who the man was.
• Jiang Xiaobai introduced the Elder Princess as a deaf-and-mute maid given to him by the Little Princess, and Jiang Jingcheng said it was fine as long as she was not from the Elder Princess.

Jiang Xiaobai told Jiang Jingcheng that he had been assigned to receive the delegations from Qi and Northern Yu, and the two agreed he could respond forcefully to their hostility toward the Jiang Family. After Jiang Xiaobai left with Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess, Jiang Jingcheng secretly ordered an investigation and an assassination if a particular traitor was among the Northern Yu delegation.

• Jiang Jingcheng warned Jiang Xiaobai against dealing with the Elder Princess, while Jiang Xiaobai tried to conceal that she was present and could hear him.
• Jiang Xiaobai explained that Meng Chief Grand Secretary had nominated him to receive the delegations from Qi and Northern Yu, and Jiang Jingcheng asked him to recount the Morning Court proceedings.
• Jiang Xiaobai said he had accepted the assignment and planned to thrash the delegations because they were working with people in the Imperial Court against the Jiang Family.
• Jiang Jingcheng supported Jiang Xiaobai and said he would back him even if he killed members of the delegations.
• After Jiang Xiaobai left with Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess, Jiang Jingcheng ordered an officer to investigate the delegations and assassinate a suspected traitor if he was among the Northern Yu envoys.

Jiang Xiaobai returned to his residence and kept writing while Tang Ningshuang pressed him for a plan to handle the Visiting Scholars and the delegations from Qi and Northern Yu. He wagered that his plan would succeed, leaving Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess curious—and the Elder Princess's unexpected laugh threatening to expose her deaf-and-mute act.

• Jiang Xiaobai suspected that Jiang Jingcheng knew more about the upcoming delegations than he had revealed.
• Jiang Xiaobai returned to his residence with Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess, where servants were busy brewing and sealing wine.
• Jiang Xiaobai resumed writing the Four Great Classical Novels, and the Elder Princess picked up a manuscript to read.
• Tang Ningshuang asked Jiang Xiaobai how he would deal with the Visiting Scholars and the delegations, and he claimed his plan would make them praise him even if he killed half their people.
• Jiang Xiaobai bet Tang Ningshuang that his plan would work, with her agreeing to wear a dress if he won and him promising to wear one if he lost.
• The Elder Princess laughed aloud, startling Jiang Xiaobai and leaving Tang Ningshuang unsure how to react without exposing her.

Jiang Xiaobai continued writing and teased Tang Ningshuang over their bet, then sent Zhang Xinnian to deliver plans for a cannon to the Heavenly Mechanism Tower. He claimed the weapon would let him kill the Northern Yu and Qi delegations without consequence, and realized the Elder Princess had appeared behind him while he was drawing.

• Jiang Xiaobai joked that the Elder Princess had laughed at his manuscript, then Tang Ningshuang agreed to bet that he could not make the delegations praise him for killing their members.
• After writing all afternoon, Jiang Xiaobai ordered the Elder Princess to massage his shoulders, and she kneaded them painfully before he praised her technique.
• Zhang Xinnian returned with a bundle of money from the liquor business, and Jiang Xiaobai told him to take it to his father and come back.
• Jiang Xiaobai gave Zhang Xinnian plans for a cannon to deliver to the Heavenly Mechanism Tower, claiming it would make Northern Yu and Qi afraid to oppose him even if he slaughtered their delegations.
• Jiang Xiaobai noticed the Elder Princess standing behind him and realized she might have watched him draw the cannon plans.

Jiang Xiaobai wrote the musical score Ambush from Ten Sides and a frightening tale, Corpse Transformation, while the Elder Princess massaged his shoulders. That night, she met the master from Lake Pavilion and realized the score had been written for them.

• Jiang Xiaobai wrote Ambush from Ten Sides, intending to offer it to the Lake Pavilion master who had helped him.
• Jiang Xiaobai began writing Corpse Transformation, and Tang Ningshuang left after reading it.
• The Elder Princess was frightened by the story and squeezed Jiang Xiaobai's shoulders harder until he told her to stop.
• That night, the Elder Princess stayed awake in fear, then followed a faint sound to the roof.
• A white-clad figure arrived, and the Elder Princess recognized the visitor and asked whether Jiang Xiaobai had written the score for them.

The Elder Princess and the woman in white discussed Jiang Xiaobai’s music, his story, and the Hidden Edge Sect before reading his manuscripts together. The next morning, Jiang Xiaobai found a note praising his new score and supernatural tale, then pulled the Elder Princess inside to help him dress.

• The Elder Princess teased the woman in white for praising Jiang Xiaobai’s score, while the woman in white called it unparalleled.
• The woman in white warned the Elder Princess to be cautious while investigating the Northern Guardian Marquis’s Estate, then refused to promise Jiang Xiaobai a place in the Hidden Edge Sect.
• The Elder Princess gave the woman in white two of Jiang Xiaobai’s manuscripts, and they read them together through the night.
• Jiang Xiaobai found a note from the Lake Pavilion Guest praising his score, Ambush from Ten Sides, and commenting on his supernatural tale.
• Jiang Xiaobai saw Tang Ningshuang practicing swordsmanship and the Elder Princess watching, then took the Elder Princess inside and asked her to dress him.

Jiang Xiaobai spent several days enjoying his leisurely life with the Elder Princess before Fang Tong visited with news of the literary and martial arenas. Fang Tong then asked to become Jiang Xiaobai’s disciple, leaving Jiang Xiaobai stunned.

• The Elder Princess awkwardly helped Jiang Xiaobai dress, and he spent the following days writing, checking on his liquor business, and ordering her around.
• Fang Tong told Jiang Xiaobai that visiting scholars from Northern Yu and Qi had arrived and would open literary and martial arenas at the Drunken Immortal Restaurant in three days.
• Fang Tong offered to let the Elder Princess return to the Little Princess, but Jiang Xiaobai’s attempts to appear willing to part with her failed when Fang Tong took him at his word and dropped the matter.
• Fang Tong bowed and asked Jiang Xiaobai to take him as a disciple, saying he would sever ties with his current master.
• Fang Tong said his father was a renowned traveling merchant and that his family could help Jiang Xiaobai, surprising his companions with how far he went to secure Jiang Xiaobai’s agreement.

Jiang Xiaobai accepted Fang Tong as his disciple, partly to gain access to his family’s merchant network, and resolved to crush the Visiting Scholars’ challenge. Two days later, Zhang Xinnian returned beaten by people from Northern Yu, revealing that they had deliberately sent a taunting message to Jiang Xiaobai’s father.

• Jiang Xiaobai accepted Fang Tong as his disciple, and Fang Tong promised to serve him and left with his two companions.
• Jiang Xiaobai concluded that the Visiting Scholars were preparing the way for the delegations from Qi and Northern Yu, and said they should be crushed.
• Two days later, Zhang Xinnian arrived at Jiang Xiaobai’s desk bruised and battered after fighting people from Northern Yu at the Drunken Immortal Restaurant.
• Zhang Xinnian told Jiang Xiaobai that the man who slapped him had ordered him to show the mark to the Marquis, and Jiang Xiaobai realized the slap had been deliberate.

After Zhang Xinnian revealed that a Northern Yu Visiting Scholar had beaten him, Jiang Xiaobai decided to confront and kill the man at the Drunken Immortal Tower. The next morning, Jiang Xiaobai set out with Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian, carrying a loaded Desert Eagle.

• Zhang Xinnian told Jiang Xiaobai that a Northern Yu Visiting Scholar had deliberately beaten him, and Jiang Xiaobai ordered him not to tell the Marquis.
• Jiang Xiaobai vowed to kill the Visiting Scholar at the Drunken Immortal Tower, and Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess warned that the killing could cause diplomatic trouble.
• That night, Jiang Xiaobai loaded Elder Liu's bullets into his Desert Eagle and prepared to use it against the Northern Yu group.
• The next morning, the Elder Princess helped Jiang Xiaobai dress, and he noticed that she had left his belt crooked.
• Jiang Xiaobai left the Marquis's Residence with Tang Ningshuang and the battered Zhang Xinnian, heading for the Drunken Immortal Tower to confront the Visiting Scholar.

Teng Zixiu waited at the Drunken Immortal Tower, planning to use the Martial Arena to provoke and humiliate the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate. As Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou watched from a carriage, a Great Hua man challenged Northern Yu and was swiftly defeated.

• Teng Zixiu told his companions to delay opening the arena until the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate arrived and the crowd grew larger.
• Li Zhiwei arrived with Lin Qinrou and anxiously wondered whether her sweetheart would come as the reception envoy.
• A Great Hua man leaped onto the platform and taunted the Northern Yu visitors into starting the contest.
• A Northern Yu fighter attacked the challenger, sent him flying, and broke his broadsword in two.

A Qiu defeated Great Hua martial artists at the arena while Teng Zixiu taunted the crowd and spotted Li Zhiwei. Jiang Xiaobai arrived, reunited with Li Zhiwei, and prepared to face A Qiu as Teng Zixiu recognized him and dismissed him as a mere youngster.

• A Qiu broke a third-rank martial artist’s saber and, at Teng Zixiu’s order, challenged the Great Hua crowd while warning him to hold back.
• Teng Zixiu noticed Li Zhiwei in her carriage, while A Qiu sent another Great Hua martial artist crashing to the ground.
• Jiang Xiaobai arrived with Zhang Xinnian, Tang Ningshuang, and the Elder Princess, and saw A Qiu defeat another opponent by tearing apart his spear.
• Lin Qinrou teased Li Zhiwei about missing Jiang Xiaobai, and Li Zhiwei hurried over to greet him.
• Jiang Xiaobai said he would deal with A Qiu, while Teng Zixiu compared him to a portrait and mocked the Northern Guardian Marquis’s Estate for sending a youngster.

Jiang Xiaobai entered the arena to avenge his Household Guard and confront Northern Yu’s brawny fighter. He killed the man with a rapid volley of One Yang Finger, leaving Teng Zixiu and the crowd stunned.

• Lin Qinrou and Li Zhiwei worriedly tried to dissuade Jiang Xiaobai from entering the arena, but he went ahead as Zhang Xinnian announced his arrival.
• Jiang Xiaobai faced the brawny Northern Yu fighter, while Teng Zixiu taunted him from the third floor and urged him to go home.
• Jiang Xiaobai said he had entered the arena to avenge his Household Guard and kill someone.
• The brawny fighter charged Jiang Xiaobai and boasted about how he should have smashed the Northern Guardian Marquis’s skull.
• Jiang Xiaobai unleashed a rapid-fire One Yang Finger volley, killing the fighter and leaving Teng Zixiu and the spectators stunned.

Jiang Xiaobai killed A Qiu with a hidden weapon in the Martial Arena, shocking the Northern Yu and Qi visitors and thrilling the crowd. Teng Zixiu suspended the fights until the next day and turned to the Literary Arena to challenge Great Hua’s scholars.

• Jiang Xiaobai shot A Qiu down, and the crowd cheered as his friends and the Elder Princess reacted with relief and astonishment.
• Teng Zixiu accused Jiang Xiaobai of killing A Qiu, but Jiang Xiaobai mocked him and warned that he would get used to more deaths.
• Teng Zixiu considered sending another fighter but held back because he did not know how Jiang Xiaobai had attacked.
• Jiang Xiaobai called for another opponent, but Teng Zixiu canceled the Martial Arena until the next day.
• Teng Zixiu announced that the Literary Arena would begin and challenged Great Hua’s scholars to prove their literary talents.

Jiang Xiaobai challenged the six Visiting Scholars from Northern Yu and Qi to face him in the Literary Arena and agreed that one loss would mean defeat. The scholars accepted the wager, and the contest was about to begin.

• As the Literary Arena opened, Jiang Xiaobai announced that he wanted to defeat all the Visiting Scholars from Northern Yu and Qi by himself.
• Jiang Xiaobai taunted the scholars, telling them to return home and till the fields if they could not beat him.
• Teng Zixiu proposed a wager: the loser would crawl between the winner’s legs, while the six scholars would challenge Jiang Xiaobai in turn and allow him three losses.
• Jiang Xiaobai rejected the rules and declared that even one loss would count as his defeat, calling this a concession.
• Teng Zixiu accepted the challenge in anger, and Jiang Xiaobai taunted him as the Literary Arena contest was about to begin.

Jiang Xiaobai faced Teng Zixiu and five other Visiting Scholars in a Literary Arena contest at the Martial Arena stage. After defeating Teng Zixiu with a wine-themed four-character poem, he announced that he would continue with five-character verse.

• Teng Zixiu agreed to hold the literary contest on the Martial Arena stage, where attendants set up tables and writing supplies beside A Qiu’s bloodstains.
• Teng Zixiu chose wine as the theme and proposed that the contest progress from four-character verse to seven-character verse.
• Jiang Xiaobai accepted, insisted on going first, and warned that Teng Zixiu should count it as a loss if he dared compose a poem afterward.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited a long wine-themed poem that left the crowd stunned and Teng Zixiu unable to respond.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Teng Zixiu to listen closely as he moved on to five-character verse.

Jiang Xiaobai outshone Teng Zixiu in their poetry contest by reciting a series of increasingly powerful poems, culminating in “Bring in the Wine!” The crowd was left stunned, and Teng Zixiu finally conceded in silence.

• Jiang Xiaobai recited five-, six-, and seven-character poems, leaving Teng Zixiu struggling to match their force.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited a poem about wine and war, moving the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate and silencing the crowd with its final line about how few soldiers returned.
• Jiang Xiaobai challenged Teng Zixiu to concede or hear another poem, then began “Bring in the Wine!”
• Jiang Xiaobai continued the poem with bold verses about talent, wine, and drowning the sorrows of all ages, astonishing the audience.
• Teng Zixiu stood dazed before Jiang Xiaobai, shocked by the poem's power.

Jiang Xiaobai stunned the crowd with the poem Bring in the Wine, then began a second literary contest by composing a lyric verse about a person. Its final lines seemed to point to Li Zhiwei, though Zhang Xinnian excitedly claimed they might describe him instead.

• Jiang Xiaobai recited Bring in the Wine, leaving the crowd and the Visiting Scholars speechless with admiration.
• Teng Zixiu refused to concede through a deliberately poor poem, and Jiang Xiaobai moved on to the second round.
• Yu Zhenglin of Maple Academy challenged Jiang Xiaobai to compose lyric verse on the theme of a person.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited a verse depicting a lantern festival and ended by looking at Li Zhiwei as he described finding someone beneath the dim lanterns.
• Li Zhiwei blushed and wondered whether Jiang Xiaobai had written about her, while Zhang Xinnian loudly suggested the poem might be about him.

Jiang Xiaobai’s striking lyric won over the crowd and prompted most of his challengers to concede. Min Zhe then challenged him to an arithmetic contest, leaving Jiang Xiaobai stunned by the simplicity of the first question.

• Jiang Xiaobai’s lyric moved Li Zhiwei and drew cheers from the crowd outside the Drunken Immortal Tower.
• Yu Zhenglin admitted defeat, and the third, fourth, and sixth men also conceded rather than challenge Jiang Xiaobai.
• Jiang Xiaobai learned that Min Zhe specialized in arithmetic, and Teng Zixiu urged Min Zhe to compete.
• Min Zhe challenged Jiang Xiaobai to mental arithmetic, and Jiang Xiaobai agreed despite saying he mainly studied the humanities.
• Min Zhe asked Jiang Xiaobai to add 135 and 347, leaving Jiang Xiaobai shocked by the question.

Jiang Xiaobai effortlessly defeated Min Zhe in an arithmetic contest, then challenged the final prose contestant, Xiao Qin, by announcing a piece inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The chapter left Jiang Xiaobai about to write Ode to the Goddess of Luo.

• Min Zhe posed increasingly difficult arithmetic problems, but Jiang Xiaobai answered each one quickly and correctly.
• Jiang Xiaobai challenged Min Zhe to find the sum of the numbers from one to one hundred and explained how pairing opposite numbers gave the answer, 5,050.
• Jiang Xiaobai turned to the final contestant and asked whether he would choose the prose topic or let Jiang Xiaobai choose.
• Xiao Qin of Northern Yu chose a topic centered on a person and led Jiang Xiaobai to the writing table.
• Jiang Xiaobai announced that his prose would borrow names and places from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and be titled Ode to the Goddess of Luo.

Jiang Xiaobai recited the complete Ode to the Goddess of Luo outside the Drunken Immortal Tower, astonishing the scholars and listeners with its vivid beauty and sorrowful parting. The crowd praised him as Fang Tong claimed him as his teacher, while Xiao Qin gave up on writing and set down his brush.

• Jiang Xiaobai introduced the rhapsody as a piece from his forthcoming Romance of the Three Kingdoms and began describing his journey to the Luo River.
• Jiang Xiaobai portrayed Fu Fei’s beauty in elaborate detail, leaving Xiao Qin and the assembled scholars stunned.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited the man’s growing affection for the goddess and her eventual departure, moving listeners with their separation.
• Jiang Xiaobai finished the rhapsody as the crowd remained silent, then listeners praised his work and Fang Tong shouted that Jiang Xiaobai was his teacher.
• Xiao Qin looked at his still-blank paper, lowered his brush, and abandoned his attempt to write.

Jiang Xiaobai defeated Teng Zixiu and the visiting scholars in the Literary Arena, then declared aspirations that moved the scholars and students present. The chapter ended with them bowing and thanking him for the lesson.

• Xiao Qin admitted that he could not match Jiang Xiaobai's Ode to the Goddess of Luo and conceded.
• Teng Zixiu accepted defeat, crawled beneath Jiang Xiaobai's legs as their wager required, and announced that he would close the Literary Arena and Martial Arena.
• Teng Zixiu mocked Jiang Xiaobai by asking whether he had come for all of Great Hua, and Jiang Xiaobai answered that he had come to establish a heart for Heaven and Earth and to serve future generations.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited all four of Zhang Zai's Four Maxims, leaving Teng Zixiu pale and moving the spectators.
• An elder of the Azure Robe Society and the gathered scholars and students bowed to Jiang Xiaobai and thanked him for the lesson.

After Jiang Xiaobai’s poems and Four Sentences of Hengqu stunned the Literary Arena, the scholars bowed to him and his name was set to shake Great Hua’s literary world. On the ride home, Lin Qinrou recognized something familiar about the Elder Princess, whom Jiang Xiaobai had called a maid.

• The scholars and students bowed to Jiang Xiaobai, while Teng Zixiu and the other Visiting Scholars recognized the gulf between their outlooks and his.
• Jiang Xiaobai left the Drunken Immortal Tower with Zhang Xinnian, and Lin Qinrou and Li Zhiwei joined Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess in his carriage.
• Teng Zixiu decided to file a formal complaint against Jiang Xiaobai at Great Hua’s Ministry of Justice over A Qiu’s death.
• Jiang Xiaobai told the women that defeating the Visiting Scholars would weaken the confidence of the Northern Yu and Qi delegations when they reached the capital.
• Lin Qinrou noticed that Li Zhiwei kept looking at the Elder Princess and said she felt she had seen the supposed maid somewhere before.

Jiang Xiaobai saw Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou safely to the Chancellor's Residence, while Teng Zixiu tried to file a complaint against him at the Ministry of Justice and was turned away. Teng Zixiu then decided to take the petition to the Court of Judicial Review.

• Jiang Xiaobai invited Li Zhiwei to visit the Marquis's Residence, but she bashfully declined.
• Jiang Xiaobai watched Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou enter the Chancellor's Residence, then told Zhang Xinnian to drive to the Marquis's Residence.
• Teng Zixiu and Xiao Qin brought a complaint petition against Jiang Xiaobai to the Ministry of Justice, where a bailiff kicked Teng Zixiu and ordered them to leave.
• Feng Quan refused to accept the complaint and told Teng Zixiu to go to the Censorate or the Court of Judicial Review.
• Teng Zixiu left with Xiao Qin and A Tuo, determined to submit the complaint to the Court of Judicial Review.

Pei Shen failed to make progress on the Ministry of Rites examination case and imprisoned three Northern Yu Visiting Scholars who tried to file a complaint against Jiang Xiaobai. As Jiang Xiaobai's poems, novels, and wine became wildly popular in the Capital City, Zhang Xinnian summoned him to the Main Hall because Eunuch Gao had arrived.

• Pei Shen grew frustrated by missing clues in the Ministry of Rites case and ordered the three Northern Yu Visiting Scholars arrested when they came to complain about Jiang Xiaobai.
• Teng Zixiu and Xiao Qin discussed seeking help from the Censorate or the Chancellor after the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review rejected their complaint.
• Jiang Xiaobai's poems spread across the Capital City, and the Azure Robe Society began selling his Four Great Classical Novels to eager buyers.
• Demand for wine from the Marquis's Residence surged, so Jiang Xiaobai had the Heavenly Mechanism Tower add brewing equipment.
• Jiang Xiaobai spent two days writing manuscripts while the Elder Princess helped him, until Zhang Xinnian arrived to say that Eunuch Gao was waiting in the Main Hall.