Chapter Summaries

The Elder Princess entered Jiang Xiaobai’s room to guide the yin and yang internal energies in his body, then discovered that one force was following the Dragon-Phoenix Harmonizing Qi Art he had read. After the energies became unbalanced and Jiang Xiaobai collapsed against her, Tang Ningshuang helped her restore the balance, and the Elder Princess left to speak with her.

• Jiang Xiaobai struggled to sleep after reading the Dragon-Phoenix Harmonizing Qi Art, while the Elder Princess entered his room and knocked him unconscious when he woke.
• The Elder Princess sensed the two internal energies in Jiang Xiaobai had separated and found that one was circulating according to the manual.
• The Elder Princess tried to guide the other energy, but her slow pace caused Jiang Xiaobai to overheat and collapse toward her.
• Tang Ningshuang entered, misread the situation, then helped hold Jiang Xiaobai steady while the Elder Princess guided the energy faster.
• The Elder Princess restored the balance, pinched Jiang Xiaobai in annoyance, and asked Tang Ningshuang to speak with her outside.

The Elder Princess revealed her identity as Xiao Yunshu to Tang Ningshuang and asked her to keep it secret, while explaining Jiang Xiaobai’s unstable Yin-Yang Limitless Art foundation. The next morning, Jiang Xiaobai woke feeling unusually energetic and puzzled over a bruise on his arm, while Tang Ningshuang denied that anyone had twisted it.

• Xiao Yunshu told Tang Ningshuang that she was the Elder Princess and asked her to keep the secret.
• Xiao Yunshu explained that Jiang Xiaobai needed to reach the First Rank soon to stabilize his Yin-Yang Limitless Art foundation.
• Tang Ningshuang asked whether Jiang Xiaobai and Xiao Yunshu were all right, and Xiao Yunshu mistakenly reassured her about their kiss.
• Jiang Xiaobai woke feeling refreshed, noticed a purple ring of bruises on his arm, and put the Dragon-Phoenix Harmonizing Qi Art back under the bed.
• Jiang Xiaobai joked that he might be a martial arts prodigy, then asked Tang Ningshuang why his arm was bruised.
• Tang Ningshuang glanced at Xiao Yunshu and insisted that nobody had twisted Jiang Xiaobai’s arm the previous night.

Jiang Xiaobai received Helian Zhaoyue’s Northern Yu delegation and accompanied her to the First-Rank Tower, where she proposed a wager. He left the carriage ride wondering how she knew about Zhao Bintian after she offered to reveal a secret about the Elder Princess if she lost.

• Zhang Xinnian reported that the Heavenly Mechanism Tower had made thirteen cannons and that Mo Li would investigate a possible leak.
• Jiang Jingcheng watched Helian Zhaoyue meet his gaze outside the residence, then returned inside without confronting her.
• Jiang Xiaobai joined Helian Zhaoyue, Tang Ningshuang, the Elder Princess, Teng Zixiu, and the Elder to travel to the First-Rank Tower.
• Helian Zhaoyue proposed betting a Hidden Edge Token, but Jiang Xiaobai refused because she offered no stakes for losing.
• Helian Zhaoyue offered to reveal Zhao Bintian’s whereabouts if she lost, then proposed revealing a secret about the Elder Princess instead.

Jiang Xiaobai and Helian Zhaoyue wagered on which of them could win the support of five of nine major trading houses at the Capital Merchants' Guild's First-Rank Tower. Jiang Xiaobai planned to promote his scented balm, while Teng Zixiu assumed the wager was already won.

• Jiang Xiaobai traded the Hidden Edge Token for Helian Zhaoyue's promise to reveal a secret about the Elder Princess and information about Zhao Bintian.
• Helian Zhaoyue challenged Jiang Xiaobai to win the support of five of the nine trading houses through business negotiations, and he accepted.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked Tang Ningshuang and the Elder Princess to lend him perfume, but Tang Ningshuang left to fetch bottles instead.
• Jiang Xiaobai arrived at the First-Rank Tower and noticed that Xiao Qingxiu had written its signboard.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Helian Zhaoyue that he planned to sell a scented balm, and Teng Zixiu mocked him, confident that Helian Zhaoyue would win.

Jiang Xiaobai entered the First-Rank Tower with Helian Zhaoyue and the envoy delegations, where Director Xie Qiulai dismissed him as someone he had never heard of. Jiang Xiaobai and the Elder Princess beat Xie Qiulai, and Jiang slapped him again when he tried to invoke his ties to the Eighth Prince's Residence.

• Jiang Xiaobai followed Helian Zhaoyue and the envoy delegations into the First-Rank Tower and looked over its goods.
• Xie Qiulai welcomed Helian Zhaoyue and said the Young Prince and representatives of the trading houses had not arrived yet.
• Teng Zixiu introduced Jiang Xiaobai, but Xie Qiulai said he had never heard of him.
• Jiang Xiaobai kicked Xie Qiulai to the floor, and the Elder Princess joined in by stomping him.
• Jiang Xiaobai claimed he had stomped a mosquito on Xie Qiulai, then slapped him when Xie began to protest.

Jiang Xiaobai beat Xie Qiulai, then charged him ten thousand taels for supposedly swatting mosquitoes. After Fang Tong arrived, he told Jiang Xiaobai that an important figure was coming and promised to introduce them.

• Xie Qiulai lunged at Jiang Xiaobai, but Helian Zhaoyue kicked him into a shelf, and Jiang Xiaobai beat him while claiming to swat mosquitoes.
• Jiang Xiaobai pressured Xie Qiulai into paying ten thousand taels, which a servant soon delivered.
• Jiang Xiaobai reminded Helian Zhaoyue that she owed him ten thousand taels from their wager, and she angrily refused to pay.
• Fang Tong arrived, greeted Jiang Xiaobai as his teacher, and said his father had told him an important figure would attend.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked Fang Tong who the important figure was.

Jiang Xiaobai learned that the important guest was the powerful owner of Wantong Money House and watched the Eight Great Trading Houses arrive at the First-Rank Tower. The woman leading them recognized him and asked whether he was Jiang Xiaobai.

• Fang Tong told Jiang Xiaobai that the Wantong Money House owner was a major Azure Robe Society sponsor, a renowned calligrapher, and the mother of Su City's Top Rank, with a powerful Martial World sect behind her.
• Jiang Xiaobai and the others went outside when the Eight Great Trading Houses arrived in a grand procession, and Xie Qiulai greeted them while explaining that the Young Prince had not yet arrived.
• Fang Tong identified the middle-aged woman from the first sedan chair as the Wantong Money House owner and pointed out his father among the merchants.
• Jiang Xiaobai noticed that several representatives of the Eight Great Trading Houses greeted Helian Zhaoyue, suggesting they intended to cooperate with her.
• The Wantong Money House owner stopped, looked at Jiang Xiaobai in surprise, and asked if he was Jiang Xiaobai.

Jiang Xiaobai encountered an openly hostile woman and learned that Fang Rongshan disapproved of Fang Tong becoming his student. At the First-Rank Tower, Jiang Xiaobai ignored Xiao Qingxiu’s seating arrangement, took the seat of honor, and demanded a fee for presiding.

• A middle-aged woman told Jiang Xiaobai she knew of him, then entered the First-Rank Tower after snorting at him.
• Fang Rongshan introduced himself to Jiang Xiaobai and said he hoped Jiang would not take Fang Tong’s change of teachers too seriously.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Fang Rongshan that Fang Tong could leave his tutelage whenever he wished, while Fang Tong insisted he would remain Jiang’s student.
• Xie Qiulai told Jiang Xiaobai that Xiao Qingxiu had ordered him to sit by the door, but Jiang claimed he should preside in Xiao’s absence.
• Jiang Xiaobai took the seat of honor and demanded ten thousand taels as his fee for chairing the gathering.

Jiang Xiaobai seized the chairman’s seat at the First-Rank Tower and announced that the Eight Great Trading Houses must help distribute the Duke of the State’s liquor. When the merchants challenged his authority and dismissed his scented balm ambitions, he offered priority distribution rights to whoever supported him first.

• Jiang Xiaobai refused Xie Qiulai’s attempt to keep him out of the Young Prince’s seat and declared himself acting chairman.
• Jiang Xiaobai ordered the Eight Great Trading Houses to help distribute the Duke of the State’s liquor throughout Great Hua, threatening to cut off anyone who refused from the Capital Merchants’ Guild.
• Helian Zhaoyue raged at Jiang Xiaobai, while Teng Zixiu predicted that the merchants would not accept his authority.
• Jiang Xiaobai announced that he planned to drive the Young Prince’s scented balm business out of the market.
• An elderly trading house representative and a middle-aged man criticized Jiang Xiaobai’s business knowledge and demanded that he leave the seat of honor.
• Jiang Xiaobai offered priority distribution rights for his scented balm to the first trading house representative who supported him.

Jiang Xiaobai offered the Eight Great Trading Houses a chance to sell his scented balm, but they dismissed his claims, and the Fang Family agreed to support him. The arrival of four trading-house chairmen shifted attention to the vacant Young Prince's seat, and their leader ordered Jiang Xiaobai to get down from it.

• A middle-aged woman from the First Bank challenged Jiang Xiaobai's confidence and revealed that she had known his father, Jiang Jingcheng.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked the Eight Great Trading Houses to join his scented balm business, but they refused.
• At Fang Tong's urging, Fang Rongshan offered to sell the balm through the Fang Family's shops, and Jiang Xiaobai promised to help them become Great Hua's tenth great trading house.
• Four elderly chairmen entered and questioned Xie Qiulai about the absent Young Prince.
• The lead chairman saw Jiang Xiaobai in the seat of honor and ordered him to get down.

Jiang Xiaobai challenged the Capital Merchants' Guild leaders and claimed he could replace Xiao Qingxiu as president, despite the trading houses rejecting him. He unveiled his Scented Balm, but the hall laughed at the clear liquid in the bottle.

• Jiang Xiaobai argued that he should take Xiao Qingxiu's place as president of the Capital Merchants' Guild.
• An elder explained that a candidate needed to invest one million taels and win unanimous support from the Eight Great Trading Houses.
• The trading house heads declared that they would not support Jiang Xiaobai, while Fang Rongshan urged Fang Tong to return to Su City with him.
• Tang Ningshuang entered and set down the bottles she had prepared for Jiang Xiaobai.
• Jiang Xiaobai presented his Scented Balm, and an elder mocked him for calling the clear liquid a balm.

Jiang Xiaobai faced mockery from the merchants after presenting a bottle they thought was water, but the fragrance released when he smashed it astonished them. He revealed that the scent lasted for days and could reach beyond the hall, leaving the trading houses to reconsider his product.

• The merchants ridiculed Jiang Xiaobai’s bottle, while Fang Rongshan doubted it and Fang Tong continued to trust his teacher.
• A steward showed the crowd conventional scented balm, and Teng Zixiu laughed at Jiang Xiaobai while Helian Zhaoyue grew suspicious.
• Jiang Xiaobai smashed the bottle, and its spilled contents filled the hall with a fresh osmanthus fragrance.
• Helian Zhaoyue and the merchants realized the scent had come from Jiang Xiaobai’s bottle, and Fang Tong teased his father for doubting him.
• Jiang Xiaobai let the Elder Princess knead his shoulders and claimed one bottle’s fragrance would last at least three days and a bottle would last half a year.

Jiang Xiaobai’s scented balm sent the Eight Great Trading Houses scrambling to secure distribution rights, while he calmly chose to nap instead of negotiate. He offered the Capital Merchants’ Guild ten percent of the profits, prompting its chairmen to welcome him as president and leaving Xie Qiulai convinced he had lost his position.

• The Eight Great Trading Houses praised Jiang Xiaobai’s scented balm and competed to offer him priority distribution rights and larger profit shares.
• Fang Rongshan, Fang Tong, Helian Zhaoyue, Teng Zixiu, and the First Bank’s middle-aged woman reacted to the merchants’ change of attitude and the balm’s appeal.
• Jiang Xiaobai silenced the hall, announced he would sleep for an hour, and closed his eyes while the merchants waited anxiously.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked the four chairmen of the Capital Merchants’ Guild whether he could nap in the First-Rank Tower and offered ten percent of the perfume profits to the guild.
• The chairmen eagerly welcomed Jiang Xiaobai as president and offered to bring him a bed, while Xie Qiulai collapsed, believing the Young Prince had lost the presidency.

Jiang Xiaobai’s perfume won the attention of the Eight Great Trading Houses, leaving Northern Yu’s delegation sidelined while he slept. Meanwhile, Xiao Qingxiu and the three Li heirs remained confined at the Elder Princess’s Residence, unable to attend the Border Market negotiations.

• The trading house managers recognized Jiang Xiaobai’s scented balm as perfume and eagerly considered the chance to profit from it, though the Fang Family had already secured his promise.
• The First Bank’s middle-aged manager assessed Jiang Xiaobai’s control over the merchants, while Helian Zhaoyue and Teng Zixiu resented how the attention had shifted away from Northern Yu.
• Xiao Qingxiu complained that the Elder Princess had detained him and the three Li heirs, then tried to leave the courtyard despite the guards’ orders.
• A maid struck Xiao Qingxiu back into the courtyard and warned that further defiance could extend his confinement.
• Xiao Qingxiu accepted that he could not escape, but reassured himself that Xie Qiulai could help the First-Rank Tower proceed with the negotiations in his absence.

Jiang Xiaobai won the Eight Great Trading Houses’ support after revealing the lucrative Perfume business, while Helian Zhaoyue denied their wager. He granted the Perfume launch rights to the Fang Family, and Fang Rongshan promised to smooth over Fang Tong’s apprenticeship with the Azure Robe Society.

• Jiang Xiaobai woke after an hour’s sleep as the trading house stewards tried to flatter him with increasingly extravagant offers of kinship.
• Jiang Xiaobai reminded the merchants of his wager with Helian Zhaoyue, and all eight trading houses declared support for him because of the Perfume opportunity.
• Helian Zhaoyue denied that the wager existed, leaving Teng Zixiu and the Northern Yu Delegation uncomfortable.
• Jiang Xiaobai awarded the Perfume launch rights to the Fang Family, and Fang Rongshan thanked him and promised to speak with the Azure Robe Society’s Pavilion Elder about Fang Tong.
• Fang Tong pointed out that his father had previously objected, but Fang Rongshan called him an unfilial son and insisted he had always supported the arrangement.

Jiang Xiaobai arranged the early supply of Perfume through the Fang Family, refused a major investment from the Wantong Money House, and took charge of talks over Border Market trade. The chapter ended with Helian Zhaoyue refusing to hear him speak.

• Jiang Xiaobai told the Eight Great Trading Houses that the Fang Family would receive Perfume first, with the other houses sharing supplies once production expanded.
• A representative of the Wantong Money House offered twenty million taels for ten percent of the Perfume profits, but Jiang Xiaobai refused because he had other sources of wealth.
• Jiang Xiaobai announced that he would lead the Border Market cooperation talks as President of the Capital Merchants' Guild.
• Helian Zhaoyue presented a list of goods for trade between Great Hua and Northern Yu and Qi, proposing a three-month trial period.
• When Jiang Xiaobai began to respond, Helian Zhaoyue angrily said she did not want to hear him speak.

Jiang Xiaobai forced Northern Yu to accept strict payment terms for the Border Market and arranged a coordinated perfume launch. As Helian Zhaoyue prepared to leave, a new carriage arrived, and she rushed toward it in surprise.

• Jiang Xiaobai proposed rotating Border Market negotiators and requiring Northern Yu to pay in advance with a twenty percent security deposit, citing Helian Zhaoyue's broken wager.
• Helian Zhaoyue drew her saber and charged at Jiang Xiaobai, but Elder Dong and Teng Zixiu restrained her.
• Teng Zixiu led the meeting to settle the Border Market arrangements, including Northern Yu's payment terms and the three parties' joint approval of goods.
• Jiang Xiaobai promised the Eight Great Trading Houses perfume samples and told them to promote the fragrance without selling it until its coordinated launch.
• Jiang Xiaobai invited Helian Zhaoyue to visit the Duke of the State's Estate military camp, then watched the delegates prepare to leave.
• A carriage arrived outside the First-Rank Tower, and Helian Zhaoyue rushed toward it after someone lifted its curtain.

Helian Zhaoyue’s elder brother, Helian Mingchuan, arrived in the capital and joined Jiang Xiaobai’s carriage ride to the Duke of the State’s Estate. Jiang Xiaobai teased him about sharing Zhaoyue’s pillow, then challenged him to judge the characters on his family’s sign.

• Helian Mingchuan arrived and reunited with Helian Zhaoyue, who claimed her mission had gone smoothly.
• Jiang Xiaobai accepted Helian Zhaoyue’s offer of a ride and said goodbye to the First-Rank Tower’s chairmen and Fang Tong.
• On the carriage, Jiang Xiaobai introduced himself as the one who had shared Helian Zhaoyue’s pillow, shocking Helian Mingchuan.
• Helian Mingchuan criticized Jiang Xiaobai in comparison with his two elder brothers, and the rest of the ride passed in silence.
• At the Duke of the State’s Estate, Jiang Xiaobai asked Helian Mingchuan to judge whether any characters on the family sign were crooked.

Jiang Xiaobai taunted Helian Mingchuan about the Jiang family’s new Duke of the State’s Estate title, while Helian Mingchuan and Helian Zhaoyue discussed how Jiang Xiaobai had turned their plans against them. Back at the estate, Jiang Xiaobai ordered cannons delivered to the military camp and asked after an investigation before being summoned to meet an honored guest: the middle-aged woman from the First Bank.

• Jiang Xiaobai showed Helian Mingchuan the Duke of the State’s Estate plaque and teased Helian Zhaoyue about the title she had helped the Jiang family gain.
• Helian Zhaoyue explained how Jiang Xiaobai had used Jiang Jingxuan’s rebellion to thwart their plan to control the Northern Guardian Marquis’s Estate, and Helian Mingchuan recognized Jiang Xiaobai’s skill.
• Helian Mingchuan told Helian Zhaoyue that an expert from Great Hua’s Free-and-Easy Sword School had agreed to obtain two Hidden Edge Tokens for him.
• Jiang Xiaobai returned to the estate pleased about becoming Capital Merchants’ Guild President and ordered Zhang Xinnian to send the finished cannons to the Jiang family’s military camp and check on Mo Li’s investigation.
• A servant summoned Jiang Xiaobai to the main hall, where he saw the middle-aged woman from the First Bank.

Jiang Xiaobai learned that Ning Xinlan was the widow of his father’s cousin, and he accepted her offer to invest twenty million taels in his perfume. After visiting the Jiang Family Ancestral Hall, Ning Xinlan asked Jiang Xiaobai for a favor.

• Jiang Jingcheng introduced Ning Xinlan as the owner of Wantong Money House and revealed that she was his cousin’s widow.
• Ning Xinlan explained that she had come to invest twenty million taels for ten percent of the perfume’s profits, and Jiang Xiaobai accepted.
• Ning Xinlan agreed to visit the Jiang Family Ancestral Hall with Jiang Jingcheng and the others.
• Ning Xinlan offered incense at her late husband’s memorial tablet and told Jiang Jingcheng she no longer blamed him, but asked him to call her Boss Ning.
• Ning Xinlan stopped Jiang Xiaobai as she was leaving and asked him for a favor.