Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xiaobai exposed the paid agitator in the Clear Pavilion, silenced the scholars, and ordered them to clean up. He then recruited the blue-robed scholar to help uncover the person behind the disturbance by passing off Jiang Xiaobai’s couplet answers as his own.

• The blue-robed scholar admitted that an unknown person had paid him a hundred taels to spread accusations against Jiang Xiaobai and the Chancellor’s Residence.
• Jiang Xiaobai challenged the scholars to match his couplets and ordered them to clean the Clear Pavilion within an hour or face its closure.
• Li Zhixing watched the chastened scholars clean the pavilion, then found Jiang Xiaobai speaking with the detained scholar in the side courtyard.
• Jiang Xiaobai promised the scholar merit if he reported what had happened to anyone who came looking for him.
• Jiang Xiaobai supplied matching lines for the couplets and told the scholar to claim that he had thought them up himself when speaking to the person behind the plot.

Jiang Xiaobai set a trap to draw out the person conspiring against him at the Clear Pavilion, while Li Zhixing began to reconsider his opinion of him. Back at Li Zhiwei’s quarters, Jiang Xiaobai collided with Li Zhiwei and discovered she had visited his home, though she denied waiting for him.

• Jiang Xiaobai instructed the scholar in blue to pass along the couplet answers and announce that he would return to the Clear Pavilion the next day.
• Jiang Xiaobai explained to Li Zhixing that he expected the mastermind to send someone influential, giving him a lead to pursue.
• When Li Zhixing asked how Jiang Xiaobai would handle the couplet answers, Jiang Xiaobai left without explaining his plan.
• Li Zhixing reflected on Jiang Xiaobai’s actions and wondered whether the rumor that his younger cousin had fallen for him was true.
• Jiang Xiaobai collided with Li Zhiwei outside her courtyard, caught her around the waist, and blurted out a remark about her figure.
• Li Zhiwei said she had visited Jiang Xiaobai’s mother but insisted she had not been waiting for him.

Jiang Xiaobai told Li Zhiwei about his confrontation with the scholars at the Clear Pavilion, and she urged him to stay composed amid political scrutiny. He then learned that Li Bingzhang had been questioned by the emperor about how Jiang Xiaobai’s father agreed to the marriage, and guessed that Li Bingzhang had threatened to expose the Top Graduate affair.

• Jiang Xiaobai teased Li Zhiwei about waiting for him and told her the Clear Pavilion scholars had tried to get his Top Graduate title revoked.
• Jiang Xiaobai said he had silenced the scholars and scolded them, prompting Li Zhiwei to warn him not to let others provoke him into reckless actions.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Li Zhiwei that the emperor had decreed their marriage and entered it into the Imperial Clan Register.
• Qingyi informed Jiang Xiaobai that Li Bingzhang had returned and wanted to see him, so Li Zhiwei led Jiang Xiaobai to her father’s study.
• Li Bingzhang praised Jiang Xiaobai’s performance at court and said the emperor had asked how he secured his father’s agreement to the marriage.
• Jiang Xiaobai guessed that Li Bingzhang had threatened to use the Top Graduate affair to have him put to death if his father refused.

Jiang Xiaobai and Li Bingzhang reasoned about who arranged the scheme that made Jiang Xiaobai buy the Top Graduate title and who stirred up the scholars at the Clear Pavilion. Jiang Xiaobai set a trap to expose the instigator, leaving Li Bingzhang and Li Zhiwei worried about his plan before morning court.

• Jiang Xiaobai concluded that the emperor had taken advantage of the marriage scheme but probably had not arranged it, and Li Bingzhang identified Chief Grand Secretary Meng as a possible suspect.
• Li Zhiwei suggested that another person might be directing Chief Grand Secretary Meng, and Jiang Xiaobai considered whether the emperor's children or Elder Princess could be involved.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Li Bingzhang that someone had deliberately incited the scholars who surrounded the Clear Pavilion.
• Jiang Xiaobai revealed that he had challenged the scholars to match two lines of verse, promising to relinquish his Top Graduate title if anyone succeeded.
• Li Bingzhang and Li Zhiwei worried that the challenge was too risky, but Jiang Xiaobai said he was confident and asked Li Bingzhang to perform another act with his father at morning court.

Jiang Xiaobai left the Chancellor's Residence after arranging a plan with Li Bingzhang, while Li Zhiwei learned that Jiang had composed and solved the couplets that defeated the scholars at Clear Pavilion. Li Bingzhang explained part of Jiang’s strategy, and the chapter ended with news that Mr. Mou had gone to Clear Pavilion.

• Jiang Xiaobai teased Li Zhiwei, then secretly sent Elder Xin to follow and protect him.
• Li Zhiwei returned to Li Bingzhang’s study, where Li Zhixing showed her Jiang Xiaobai’s couplet lines.
• Li Zhiwei admitted she could not match the lines, and Li Zhixing revealed that Jiang Xiaobai had composed their flawless answers himself.
• Li Zhiwei inferred that Jiang Xiaobai planned to bait the person inciting the scholars and petition the Emperor to strip him of his Top Graduate title.
• Li Bingzhang said the Emperor would refuse the petition and likely reward Jiang Xiaobai, but avoided explaining the act Jiang had arranged.
• A servant told Li Bingzhang that Mr. Mou had arrived at Clear Pavilion instead of the Chancellor’s Residence.

Mou Yuanshan posted a notice promising matching couplets for the next day, making Li Bingzhang and Li Zhiwei suspect his visit was not a coincidence. As Jiang Xiaobai walked through the Capital, two attackers ambushed him, but Li Zhiwei’s gray-clad protector and an unknown young man intervened.

• Li Bingzhang and Li Zhiwei found Mou Yuanshan at the Clear Pavilion, where he had posted an invitation to see his matching couplets the following day.
• Mou Yuanshan declined to reveal his couplets, increasing Li Bingzhang and Li Zhiwei’s suspicions, then went with Li Bingzhang to the Chancellor’s Residence.
• Jiang Xiaobai walked through the Capital and sensed that someone was following him, so he picked up his pace and headed through crowded streets.
• Two men rushed from the crowd, blocked Jiang Xiaobai, and attacked him with their blades.
• Li Zhiwei’s gray-clad protector and an unknown young man appeared and stopped the attack, leaving Jiang Xiaobai wondering who the young man was.

Jiang Xiaobai survived an assassination attempt after Elder Xin and Lin Che intervened, and learned Lin Che had been assigned to protect him while he investigated the Examination Scandal. He reached the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate safely and resolved to find a way to defend himself.

• Elder Xin captured the two wounded assassins and took them away to question them at the Chancellor's Residence.
• Jiang Xiaobai learned that his rescuer was Lin Che, an inspecting company commander of the Shadowguard Bureau assigned by Pei Shen to protect him.
• Lin Che warned Jiang Xiaobai that many people might want him dead, but refused to act as his personal bodyguard and left across the rooftops.
• Jiang Xiaobai returned safely to the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate after traveling cautiously.
• Jiang Xiaobai realized he could not rely on others to save him and decided to find a way to protect himself.

After Jiang Xiaobai returned home, he asked Jiang Jingcheng to help stage a court dispute with Li Bingzhang and requested skilled craftsmen to make a self-defense device. Jiang Jingcheng learned that someone had tried to assassinate his son and prepared to confront the court with a coffin the next morning.

• Jiang Jingcheng warned Jiang Xiaobai that his Four Strategies and investigation of the Ministry of Rites had made him enemies, while Shen Yun welcomed him home and checked that he was unharmed.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked Jiang Jingcheng to petition the Emperor to strip him of his Top Graduate title and to argue with Li Bingzhang at court, and Jiang Jingcheng agreed to consider the plan.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked whether the household had skilled craftsmen who could help him make a device for self-defense, and Jiang Jingcheng ordered Elder Liu to assist him.
• A military officer reported that an expert from the Chancellor's Residence had taken away an assassin who had targeted Jiang Xiaobai in the street.
• Jiang Jingcheng ordered a coffin prepared so he could bring it to court and warn anyone who threatened his son.

Jiang Xiaobai enlisted Liu Guan, a former craftsman of the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop, to build a firearm from his designs. Liu Guan agreed to make a prototype within three days and keep its plans secret, leaving Jiang Xiaobai more confident about defending himself.

• An officer brought Liu Guan to Jiang Xiaobai, explaining that the former Heavenly Mechanism Workshop craftsman specialized in mechanisms and concealed devices.
• Jiang Xiaobai gave Liu Guan drawings for a weapon he called the Desert Bird and asked whether he could make it.
• Liu Guan studied the intricate design and agreed to try, saying he might need help from former fellow disciples.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Liu Guan to divide the work so no one else saw the complete drawings and demanded a prototype within three days.
• Liu Guan took the drawings and hurried off to begin preparations while Jiang Xiaobai anticipated how powerful the weapon would be.

Jiang Jingcheng brought a coffin to court and demanded that Jiang Xiaobai’s Top Graduate title be revoked, then accused Li Bingzhang of scheming to trap his son into marriage. The two argued over the imperial marriage decree, leaving the court in uproar while Jiang Xiaobai headed to the Chancellor’s Residence.

• Zhang Xinnian told Jiang Xiaobai that the Marquis had ordered him to provide protection, and Jiang Xiaobai set out with him for the Chancellor’s Residence.
• Jiang Jingcheng brought a coffin into Golden Chime Hall and asked Xiao Jinxuan to strip Jiang Xiaobai of his Top Graduate title because it had been bought.
• Li Bingzhang argued that Jiang Xiaobai had earned the title through his talent and service in exposing examination fraud, and said scholars had gathered at the Chancellor’s Residence.
• Jiang Jingcheng accused Li Bingzhang of engineering Jiang Xiaobai’s title purchase to force a marriage into Li’s household.
• Jiang Jingcheng demanded that the marriage be called off, but Li Bingzhang said Xiao Jinxuan had personally decreed it and it was already recorded in the Imperial Clan Register.
• Jiang Jingcheng and Li Bingzhang traded insults as officials watched their quarrel.

Xiao Jinxuan upheld Jiang Xiaobai’s Top Graduate title, approved his marriage into the Chancellor’s Residence, and gave him imperial protection to investigate the Examination Scandal. Jiang Xiaobai then arrived at Li Zhiwei’s quarters and heard Lin Qinrou inside.

• Xiao Jinxuan rejected Jiang Jingcheng’s demand to revoke Jiang Xiaobai’s title and confirmed that Jiang Xiaobai would marry into the Chancellor’s Residence.
• Li Bingzhang claimed that Li Zhiwei had privately pledged herself to Jiang Xiaobai, and Xiao Jinxuan ordered Jiang Jingcheng not to raise the marriage matter again.
• Jiang Jingcheng revealed that assassins had attacked his son and warned the court that he would kill anyone who targeted Jiang Xiaobai.
• Xiao Jinxuan granted Jiang Xiaobai an Imperial Silver Tally and appointed Tang Ningshuang to accompany and protect him during the investigation.
• Xiao Jinxuan ordered Eunuch Gao to tell the students at the Clear Pavilion that Jiang Xiaobai could not renounce his title and that troublemakers would be treated as rioters.
• Jiang Xiaobai entered the Chancellor’s Residence with Zhang Xinnian and heard Lin Qinrou speaking inside Li Zhiwei’s courtyard.

Jiang Xiaobai learned that Mou Yuanshan had claimed to solve his couplet challenges and went with Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou to the crowded Clear Pavilion. There, Crown Prince Xiao Qingheng questioned whether Jiang had written the couplets, while Xiao Qingxiu insisted they came from elsewhere.

• Jiang Xiaobai blamed Zhang Xinnian for calling Lin Qinrou a fierce woman, and Zhang silently accepted the blame.
• Lin Qinrou told Jiang Xiaobai that his couplet challenges had drawn crowds of students and scholars to the Clear Pavilion.
• Li Zhiwei said her father's old friend Mou Yuanshan had posted a notice claiming to have matched both couplets and invited the Capital's scholars to inspect his answers.
• Jiang Xiaobai doubted Mou Yuanshan had solved the challenges by coincidence, then set off for the Clear Pavilion with Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou.
• At the Clear Pavilion, Crown Prince Xiao Qingheng asked whether Jiang Xiaobai had composed the couplets, and Xiao Qingxiu claimed they must have come from somewhere else.

Xiao Zijing visited the Clear Pavilion and defended Jiang Xiaobai after Xiao Qingxiu insulted him, while Li Zhiwei pressed Jiang Xiaobai about his secret conversation with her father. Jiang Xiaobai arrived to find the hall packed with students struggling over his couplets and challenged them to answer.

• Xiao Qingheng and Xiao Qingxiu speculated that Li Zhiwei had written Jiang Xiaobai’s couplets and called it a pity that she had been betrothed to him.
• Xiao Zijing joined Xiao Qingheng and Xiao Qingxiu, praised the couplets, and challenged Xiao Qingxiu when he called Jiang Xiaobai an ignorant good-for-nothing.
• Li Zhiwei asked Jiang Xiaobai what he had discussed privately with her father, but Jiang Xiaobai promised to explain after the right time.
• Jiang Xiaobai, Li Zhiwei, Lin Qinrou, and Li Zhixing arrived at the Clear Pavilion, where students silently struggled to answer his couplets.
• Xiao Zijing saw Jiang Xiaobai and teased Xiao Qingxiu that he was jealous because Jiang Xiaobai was better-looking.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked the gathered students whether anyone had solved his couplets.

Jiang Xiaobai faced Mou Yuanshan’s challenge to prove he had composed the couplets and promised to give up his Top Graduate title if Mou supplied a matching line. After Mou wrote an answer, Jiang Xiaobai rejected the Elder Princess as its reader, leaving the pavilion in suspense.

• Jiang Xiaobai repeatedly called Mou Yuanshan “Mr. Niu,” irritating him while mocking his criticism.
• Mou Yuanshan questioned whether Jiang Xiaobai had written the couplets himself and challenged him to honor his promise if Mou produced an answer.
• Jiang Xiaobai agreed to relinquish his Top Graduate title if Mou supplied a matching line, and Mou wrote one down.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked for someone else to read the answer aloud so others could judge it fairly.
• A woman offered the Elder Princess as a witness, but Jiang Xiaobai declared that she would not do.

At the Clear Pavilion, Jiang Xiaobai refused to let the Elder Princess or Crown Prince witness his wager, explaining that their involvement would make the Imperial Family appear to take sides. After Xiao Qingxiu accused him of plotting rebellion, Jiang turned the charge back on him by invoking the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate and its army.

• Jiang Xiaobai refused the Elder Princess's offer to serve as witness, then also declined the Crown Prince when Xiao Qingheng offered.
• Xiao Qingxiu accused Jiang Xiaobai of plotting rebellion for disrespecting the Imperial Family.
• Jiang Xiaobai challenged Xiao Qingxiu to clarify whether he was accusing the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate and its eight hundred thousand soldiers of rebellion.
• Xiao Qingxiu backed down, and Jiang warned him to think before making such accusations.
• Xiao Qingheng accepted Jiang's refusal, and Jiang explained that an Imperial Family witness would make the wager seem politically endorsed or coerced.

Jiang Xiaobai challenged Mou Yuanshan by guessing the matching lines written on Mou’s paper, then produced several more answers on the spot. The Clear Pavilion fell silent as Mou’s accusation that Jiang had no matching lines collapsed, while Jiang hinted that he still had more.

• Jiang Xiaobai chose a scholar who had insulted him the previous day to read Mou Yuanshan’s matching lines, presenting the choice as impartial.
• Before the scholar could read the paper, Jiang Xiaobai recited both matching lines exactly, leaving the scholar and the assembled scholars astonished.
• Mou Yuanshan tried to stop the scholar from reading, and Jiang Xiaobai suggested that Mou feared the paper would confirm his guesses.
• Jiang Xiaobai gave new matching lines for both opening lines, then supplied still more alternatives, and the scholars began writing them down in disbelief.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked Mou Yuanshan whether that was enough and said he still had more.

Jiang Xiaobai silenced Mou Yuanshan’s challenge, then announced he would ask the emperor to strip him of his Top Graduate title if Mou revealed whether the person behind the scheme was present. Mou confirmed the person was in Clear Pavilion, and the chapter ended as an imperial edict arrived.

• Jiang Xiaobai answered Mou Yuanshan’s challenge with several matching lines, leaving Mou unable to defend himself.
• Jiang Xiaobai addressed the scholars and offered to relinquish his Top Graduate title, asking Mou to identify the person behind the scheme.
• Mou Yuanshan nodded when Jiang Xiaobai asked whether that person was in Clear Pavilion.
• Jiang Xiaobai promised to ask the emperor to strip him of his title, winning praise from the scholars.
• Gu Zhiyan and two other elders praised Jiang Xiaobai’s intelligence while questioning why he would give up his title.
• A messenger announced that the imperial edict had arrived, and the graceful woman remarked that Jiang Xiaobai knew how to play.

Eunuch Gao delivered the Emperor’s decree preserving Jiang Xiaobai’s Top Graduate title and giving him a Silver Tally to investigate examination fraud. Jiang Xiaobai persuaded the scholars that he had bought the title to expose the fraud, then learned Tang Ningshuang would be assigned to protect him and asked if he could refuse.

• Eunuch Gao announced that Jiang Xiaobai’s title could not be revoked while the examination scandal was under investigation, and bestowed him a Silver Tally with authority to investigate.
• Jiang Xiaobai told the scholars he had bought the title to investigate examination fraud and promised to uncover those responsible.
• The scholars apologized for condemning Jiang Xiaobai and offered to help with his investigation, while Mou Yuanshan reconsidered his judgment.
• Eunuch Gao gave Jiang Xiaobai the Silver Tally and announced that Tang Ningshuang would join the Shadowguard Bureau as his protector.
• Jiang Xiaobai reacted to the news that Tang Ningshuang would stay by his side and asked Eunuch Gao if he could refuse.

After receiving an imperial order to investigate the Examination Scandal, Jiang Xiaobai offered four new couplets and promised a surprise reward to anyone who could match one. The scholars were left baffled by the lines, while Xiao Zijing urged Xiao Qingxiu to try.

• Eunuch Gao delivered the emperor’s order appointing Jiang Xiaobai as Imperial Inspector and assigned Tang Ningshuang to protect him; Jiang accepted the imperial will.
• After the Imperial Guards left, Jiang invited everyone in the Clear Pavilion to try matching couplets and promised a surprise reward for anyone who succeeded.
• Jiang asked Li Zhixing to prepare writing materials, then wrote four couplets and had them displayed upstairs.
• The scholars, Lin Qinrou, Li Zhiwei, and Mou Yuanshan struggled to make sense of Jiang’s increasingly intricate lines.
• Xiao Zijing challenged Xiao Qingxiu to match a couplet and claim Jiang’s promised reward.

Jiang Xiaobai stunned the Clear Pavilion with four extraordinary couplets, then refused the Elder Princess’s invitation and kept his distance from her. As the Elder Princess vowed to make him come to her, Jiang Xiaobai reached the front courtyard and heard Li Bingzhang confronting the Ministry of Justice.

• Jiang Xiaobai’s four couplets left the scholars in the Clear Pavilion speechless, and he departed with Zhang Xinnian, Li Zhiwei, and Lin Qinrou.
• A middle-aged woman told Jiang Xiaobai that the Elder Princess wanted to speak with him, but he refused and continued walking.
• The middle-aged woman reported Jiang Xiaobai’s refusal to the Elder Princess, who decided to make him come to her of his own accord.
• Jiang Xiaobai reached the front courtyard with Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou as Li Bingzhang challenged the Ministry of Justice over seizing someone from the Chancellor’s Residence.