Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xiaobai returned to the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate after strengthening his political position, and he predicted that assassins would come that night. None appeared, but he found a mysterious note the next morning that shocked Tang Ningshuang.

• The Elder Princess and Liu Guanlan discussed Jiang Xiaobai's shrewd handling of the Ministry of Justice and left the rooftop.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Li Bingzhang that his actions had made the Emperor more wary but also less willing to openly seize the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate's military authority.
• Jiang Xiaobai returned to the estate, sent Zhang Xinnian to resume distributing goods, and warned Tang Ningshuang that assassins might come that night.
• Tang Ningshuang guarded Jiang Xiaobai through the night, but no assassins appeared.
• Jiang Xiaobai found a sheet of paper on the table the next morning and handed it to Tang Ningshuang, who was shocked by its contents.

Jiang Xiaobai attended Morning Court with Tang Ningshuang, where several ministers warmly approached him after his recent actions against the Ministry of Justice. Emperor Xiao Jinxuan arrived accompanied by Meng Chief Grand Secretary, leaving Jiang Xiaobai wary that they might be plotting against him.

• Tang Ningshuang wondered why the mysterious master had helped Jiang Xiaobai, and Jiang Xiaobai guessed the emperor had summoned him for an unpleasant reason.
• Jiang Xiaobai and Tang Ningshuang arrived at the Imperial Court, where Dong Qian, Lü Fang, and the Ministers of Works and War greeted Jiang Xiaobai and invited him to visit their ministries.
• Li Bingzhang arrived, drawing the ministers' attention and allowing Jiang Xiaobai to slip away from their conversation.
• Jiang Xiaobai noticed Chen Zhanqiu glaring at him and saw Zheng Yu looking dispirited.
• Xiao Jinxuan entered Morning Court with Meng Chief Grand Secretary beside him, and Jiang Xiaobai grew wary that they might be discussing how to deal with him.

At court, Zheng Yu sought to retire, but Xiao Jinxuan postponed his request until the Ministry of Justice investigation was complete. Meng Xiutang then proposed that Jiang Xiaobai receive delegations from Northern Yu and Qi, putting him in a potentially dangerous position.

• Xiao Jinxuan ordered the Ministry of Works to repair Wenxuan Bridge and instructed Chen Zhanqiu to continue preparing for the Autumn Sacrifice.
• Zheng Yu asked to retire and recommended Feng Quan as his successor, but Xiao Jinxuan delayed the decision until the Ministry of Justice investigation was over.
• Meng Xiutang announced that delegations from Northern Yu and Qi would arrive in half a month to discuss border markets.
• Meng Xiutang proposed that Jiang Xiaobai receive the delegations because of his Four Strategies and scholarly reputation.
• Li Bingzhang warned that Northern Yu resented the Jiang Family and that Jiang Xiaobai could be endangered, but Meng Xiutang argued the visit could help Jiang investigate hostile forces.

Jiang Xiaobai accepted Xiao Jinxuan’s order to receive the delegations from Qi and Northern Yu, but demanded permission to strike if they provoked him and to investigate Meng Xiutang if he succeeded. The emperor appointed him Two-State Reception Envoy and threatened to strip his posts and make him a live-in son-in-law if he failed.

• Meng Xiutang argued that Jiang Xiaobai should receive the Northern Yu delegation as a chance to investigate suspected collusion.
• Xiao Jinxuan appointed Jiang Xiaobai to receive the delegations, and Jiang accepted while asking permission to strike if provoked.
• Jiang Xiaobai accused Meng Xiutang of harboring selfish motives and asked to investigate him, prompting Xiao Jinxuan to stop their quarrel.
• Xiao Jinxuan authorized Jiang Xiaobai to deal with deliberate provocations but warned him not to damage Great Hua’s diplomatic relations.
• Xiao Jinxuan appointed Jiang Xiaobai Two-State Reception Envoy for the delegations arriving in half a month and threatened to make him a live-in son-in-law if he failed.
• Jiang Xiaobai agreed and asked to investigate Meng Xiutang if both delegations left satisfied.

Jiang Xiaobai secured Xiao Jinxuan’s approval to receive the Qi and Northern Yu delegations, tying the assignment to his chance to investigate Meng Xiutang. After warning him about Northern Yu’s feud with the Jiang Family, Li Bingzhang learned Jiang Xiaobai had no plan yet, and a palace maid approached him outside the court.

• Jiang Xiaobai accused Meng Xiutang of resisting scrutiny, and Meng agreed to an investigation if Jiang successfully handled the delegations.
• Xiao Jinxuan approved the assignment, and Jiang Xiaobai promised to receive the delegations well so he could investigate Meng.
• After court was dismissed, Meng challenged Jiang to prove he could receive the delegations properly, and Jiang replied that Meng should worry about the investigation.
• Li Bingzhang and Tang Ningshuang warned Jiang that Northern Yu’s blood feud with the Jiang Family made the assignment dangerous, but Jiang said he would think of a solution.
• A palace maid approached Jiang outside the court hall and asked whether he was Heir Jiang, Lord Jiang.

Jiang Xiaobai was summoned to meet the Little Princess and a self-proclaimed talented gentleman at a palace pavilion, where he discovered the Elder Princess was also present. Fang Tong introduced himself as a disciple of Pavilion Elder Shen and claimed to have answered Jiang Xiaobai’s Four Couplet Riddles, but Jiang Xiaobai admitted he had no interest in seeing the lines.

• A palace maid invited Jiang Xiaobai to meet the Little Princess and a talented gentleman, and Tang Ningshuang followed to protect him.
• The palace maid led Jiang Xiaobai and Tang Ningshuang to a garden pavilion, where Xiao Zijing, the Elder Princess, and three young people awaited them.
• Fang Tong stepped forward and introduced himself, but Jiang Xiaobai said he did not know him or Pavilion Elder Shen.
• Fang Tong claimed he had composed matching lines for Jiang Xiaobai’s Four Couplet Riddles and had displayed them at the Clear Pavilion.
• Jiang Xiaobai recalled hearing that the riddles had been solved but told Fang Tong he was not curious about the answers.

Fang Tong presented matching lines for Jiang Xiaobai’s four couplets and challenged him with a difficult new one. Jiang Xiaobai answered immediately with several matching lines, leaving Fang Tong stunned.

• Fang Tong showed Jiang Xiaobai four couplets he had spent a week matching and sought his praise.
• Jiang Xiaobai called Fang Tong’s couplets good, then praised him more earnestly after Tang Ningshuang explained Fang Tong wanted admiration.
• Fang Tong wrote a new couplet about stars, constellations, and the moon, giving Jiang Xiaobai three days to answer.
• Jiang Xiaobai said the challenge was easy and immediately offered three matching lines.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked Fang Tong whether the challenge had really been difficult.

Jiang Xiaobai stunned Fang Tong by effortlessly matching his couplets and then gave him a five-element line he could not solve. Afterward, Jiang Xiaobai recognized the Elder Princess as the supposed deaf-mute palace maid and asked Xiao Zijing to have her massage his shoulders.

• Jiang Xiaobai matched Fang Tong's opening line with three couplets, leaving Fang Tong humiliated despite Xiao Zijing's praise.
• Fang Tong demanded a difficult line, and Jiang Xiaobai wrote, "Smoke Locks Willow by the Pond."
• Fang Tong and his companions realized the line cleverly incorporated the five elements and struggled to find a match.
• Xiao Zijing poured tea for Jiang Xiaobai and called them family, while Jiang Xiaobai pretended to ask who the Elder Princess was.
• Xiao Zijing claimed the Elder Princess was her personal palace maid, and Jiang Xiaobai asked her to have the woman massage his shoulders again.

Jiang Xiaobai humiliated Fang Tong with a succession of difficult couplet openings while making the Elder Princess massage his shoulders. Fang Tong finally recognized the gulf between their abilities, and Jiang Xiaobai offered to give him more lines.

• Jiang Xiaobai made the Elder Princess massage his shoulders, and she squeezed them in anger while Xiao Zijing watched tensely.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked why Fang Tong had missed the Orchid Pavilion Tower, and the young man claimed they had traveled to Tongzhou before visiting Xiao Zijing.
• Jiang Xiaobai downplayed his famous writings as a little display of his abilities, leaving Fang Tong and his companions stunned.
• Fang Tong gave up on completing “Smoke Locks Willow by the Pond,” then challenged Jiang Xiaobai to give him another couplet.
• Jiang Xiaobai gave Fang Tong several more difficult couplet openings, and Fang Tong grew increasingly defeated as he failed to solve them.
• Fang Tong accepted the gap between his talent and Jiang Xiaobai's, while Jiang Xiaobai asked whether he wanted another.

Jiang Xiaobai learned that the Visiting Scholars from Northern Yu and Qi were joining forces and might challenge the capital in literary and martial contests. As he left the Elder Princess’s residence, Xiao Zijing unexpectedly told him he could have the Elder Princess.

• Fang Tong conceded defeat to Jiang Xiaobai in their matching couplets contest and mentioned the Azure Robe Society had another talented member.
• A young man from the Azure Robe Society warned Jiang Xiaobai that Northern Yu and Qi’s Visiting Scholars had joined forces and were expected to reach the capital soon.
• Jiang Xiaobai learned the Visiting Scholars might challenge the capital in both literary and martial pursuits, and said he would consider taking part in martial challenges if killing was allowed.
• Jiang Xiaobai decided to leave after hearing the warning, joked with Xiao Zijing about taking her maid, and started out with Tang Ningshuang.
• Xiao Zijing stopped Jiang Xiaobai and told him he could have the Elder Princess.

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.