Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xiaobai impressed Mo Li with the reach of the Numerical Calculation Method, and the two celebrated their new partnership over wine. Mo Li got drunk and gave Jiang Xiaobai his Soft Armor, while Jiang Xiaobai left promising to send over the method.

• Jiang Xiaobai explained that the Numerical Calculation Method could calculate curves, forces, and where falling objects would land, making Mo Li realize how valuable his knowledge was.
• Jiang Xiaobai noticed Mo Li's pleasant scent, and the two drank together while discussing calculations, mechanisms, and crafted objects.
• The conversation turned to the Mystic Scale Armor, and Mo Li offered Jiang Xiaobai his own Soft Armor as a temporary substitute.
• Chang Ying took Mo Li into the inner room, then returned with the armor and told Jiang Xiaobai that Mo Li had fallen asleep.
• Jiang Xiaobai accepted the Soft Armor, promised to send the Numerical Calculation Method, and left with Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang.
• After Jiang Xiaobai left, Mo Li briefly woke and confirmed he did not regret giving away the armor before falling asleep again.

After drinking too much at the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop, Jiang Xiaobai traveled to the Chancellor’s Residence and woke the next morning to find Li Zhiwei asleep beside his bed. When he gently lifted her, he felt her body stiffen and realized she might be awake.

• Jiang Xiaobai grew dizzy from the Green Bamboo Brew, while Tang Ningshuang wondered whether he had noticed that Mo Li was disguised as a man.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Zhang Xinnian to take the carriage to the Chancellor’s Residence so he could ask Li Bingzhang about Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bintian.
• Jiang Xiaobai passed out during the journey and later woke in a bed at the Chancellor’s Residence with Li Zhiwei keeping watch beside him.
• Jiang Xiaobai realized Li Zhiwei had apparently watched over him all night and gently lifted her into his arms.
• Jiang Xiaobai felt Li Zhiwei stiffen and wondered whether she was awake.

Jiang Xiaobai thanked Li Zhiwei for caring for him, kissed her forehead, and went to meet Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian. Zhang Xinnian revealed that Jiang Xiaobai had clung to Tang Ningshuang while drunk, leaving Jiang Xiaobai to wonder whether his dream about the carriage had been real.

• Jiang Xiaobai noticed Li Zhiwei was pretending to sleep, covered her with a quilt, and resisted lifting her veil.
• Jiang Xiaobai thanked Li Zhiwei for caring for him, kissed her forehead, and left to see his Father-in-Law.
• Li Zhiwei opened her eyes after Jiang Xiaobai left and felt embarrassed but pleased by his kiss and thanks.
• Jiang Xiaobai found Tang Ningshuang waiting in the courtyard and worried that his dream about the carriage might have been real.
• Zhang Xinnian arrived and told Jiang Xiaobai that he had kept burrowing into Tang Ningshuang's arms while drunk.

Jiang Xiaobai tried to smooth over Tang Ningshuang’s anger after Zhang Xinnian revealed he had told others about Jiang’s drunken behavior, then met Imperial College Chancellor Fan Xinghe. Fan reacted coldly to Jiang’s name and abruptly left, leaving Jiang and Li Bingzhang confused.

• Zhang Xinnian told Tang Ningshuang that Jiang Xiaobai had burrowed into her arms while drunk, and Jiang apologized while trying to quiet him.
• Tang Ningshuang declared the matter over, but Zhang revealed he had told Li Bingzhang, the madam, Elder Liu, Uncle Wang, and others, prompting her to chase Jiang with her sword drawn.
• Jiang fled toward the front courtyard, where he found Li Bingzhang arriving with Fan Xinghe, the Imperial College Chancellor.
• Jiang introduced himself as being from the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate, and Fan Xinghe recognized his name, reacted with a cold snort, and left abruptly.

Fan Xinghe condemned Jiang Xiaobai as unworthy of Li Zhiwei and urged Li Bingzhang to cancel their engagement. When Li Bingzhang asked who the Orchid Pavilion Tower’s assessment targeted, Fan Xinghe revealed that it was for Jiang Xiaobai.

• Fan Xinghe criticized Jiang Xiaobai for his idle reputation, his purchased Top Graduate title, and the couplet challenges he claimed Jiang could not have written.
• Fan Xinghe told Li Bingzhang that he was harming Li Zhiwei by letting her marry Jiang Xiaobai, then agreed to discuss matters in the inner hall.
• Fan Xinghe urged Li Bingzhang to cancel the engagement, while Jiang Xiaobai stayed quiet rather than challenge the senior scholar.
• Li Bingzhang asked Fan Xinghe who the Brush Holder’s assessment at Orchid Pavilion Tower was for.
• Fan Xinghe said the assessment was for Jiang Xiaobai.

Fan Xinghe accused Jiang Xiaobai of falsely claiming authorship of two famous essays, prompting Jiang Xiaobai to confirm the accusation. The chapter ended with Jiang Xiaobai admitting the essays were his.

• Fan Xinghe told Li Bingzhang that the Orchid Pavilion Tower assessment was aimed at Jiang Xiaobai because he had claimed authorship of On the Teacher and On the Horse.
• Li Bingzhang questioned where the rumor had come from, and Fan Xinghe said it was spreading at the Imperial College and the Clear Pavilion.
• Jiang Xiaobai suspected Zhao Sheng had deliberately spread the rumor, while Zhang Xinnian struggled not to laugh at Fan Xinghe's accusation.
• Fan Xinghe insulted Jiang Xiaobai, Zhang Xinnian, and Tang Ningshuang, and Jiang Xiaobai said he had something to explain.
• Jiang Xiaobai admitted that the accusation was true.

Jiang Xiaobai confirmed that he wrote “On the Teacher” and “On the Horse,” then decided to publicize the claim and turn his enemies’ scheme against them. He suspected Zhao Sheng had helped spread the rumor, though he and Li Bingzhang could not determine whether the Elder Princess was involved.

• Fan Xinghe warned Li Bingzhang about Jiang Xiaobai and stormed out, while Jiang Xiaobai stayed behind rather than pursue him.
• Jiang Xiaobai admitted to Li Bingzhang that he wrote “On the Horse” and ordered Zhang Xinnian to spread the news that he wrote both essays.
• Jiang Xiaobai said he would make his opponent’s attempt to target him into a larger public game.
• Jiang Xiaobai suspected Zhao Sheng after recalling that he had seen him talking with Chen Zhanqiu at the Minister’s Residence.
• Li Bingzhang explained Zhao Sheng’s ties to Elder Lin and the Elder Princess, and Jiang Xiaobai asked whether Zhao Sheng was connected to Zhao Bintian.

Jiang Xiaobai asked Li Bingzhang to investigate whether Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bintian were connected, while Li Bingzhang warned him and Li Zhiwei to prepare for the Orchid Pavilion Literary Gathering. Jiang Xiaobai left wearing the Soft Armor, and Mo discovered it was missing.

• Jiang Xiaobai asked Li Bingzhang to find out whether Zhao Sheng and Zhao Bintian were connected, and Li Bingzhang agreed to investigate.
• Li Bingzhang told Jiang Xiaobai to prepare for the Orchid Pavilion Literary Gathering, which might not be peaceful.
• Li Zhiwei arrived after Jiang Xiaobai had left, blushed when Li Bingzhang teased her about him, and agreed to watch carefully at the gathering.
• Jiang Xiaobai put on the Soft Armor in the carriage, while Tang Ningshuang warned that its owner might demand it back.
• Mo shrieked from the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop after discovering his Soft Armor was missing.

After discovering he had drunkenly given his Soft Armor to Jiang Xiaobai, Mo Li considered how to get it back. Meanwhile, rumors praising Jiang Xiaobai spread throughout the Capital City, alarming Chen Zhanqiu, though Zhao Sheng believed the false claims would eventually collapse.

• Mo Li learned from Chang Ying that he had given his Soft Armor to Jiang Xiaobai while drunk and planned to seek its return after the Mystic Scale Armor was finished.
• Jiang Xiaobai stayed at the Marquis's Residence while rumors about his essays spread from scholars to people across the Capital City.
• Chen Zhanqiu worried that the rumors he had arranged to spread were reaching the whole city too quickly.
• Zhao Sheng suggested that the Jiang Family or another enemy of the Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate might be amplifying the rumors.
• Zhao Sheng told Chen Zhanqiu that the claims would remain false no matter how widely people believed them.

Chen Zhanqiu and Zhao Sheng decided to intensify rumors crediting Jiang Xiaobai with two essays, expecting the Orchid Pavilion Tower reopening to expose him. Jiang Xiaobai continued sending numerical methods to the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop and planned to attend the event, leaving Tang Ningshuang asking whether he truly had a world-shaking essay.

• Zhao Sheng assured Chen Zhanqiu that the Orchid Pavilion Tower assessment would expose Jiang Xiaobai even if Lin Qinrou credited him with the essays.
• Chen Zhanqiu decided to spread the rumors about Jiang Xiaobai throughout the Capital City, and Zhao Sheng welcomed the plan.
• Jiang Xiaobai spent two days at the Marquis's Residence writing numerical calculation methods and sending them to the Heavenly Mechanism Workshop through Zhang Xinnian.
• Zhang Xinnian told Jiang Xiaobai that rumors praising his talent and promising another essay were spreading across the streets, then warned him that the praise might be a trap.
• Jiang Xiaobai said he would attend the Orchid Pavilion Tower event, and Tang Ningshuang asked whether he really had a world-shaking essay.

Jiang Xiaobai told Tang Ningshuang the stories of Hua Mulan and Dream of the Red Chamber, captivating her with tales unlike the battlefield. That night, Tang Ningshuang appeared beside his bed and asked to hear more.

• Jiang Xiaobai reassured Tang Ningshuang that he had work worthy of Orchid Pavilion Tower, then lounged in the courtyard instead of preparing.
• Tang Ningshuang said she wanted to join the army, and Jiang Xiaobai told her the story of Hua Mulan, earning her admiration.
• Jiang Xiaobai began telling Tang Ningshuang Dream of the Red Chamber, and she became engrossed in its hidden tensions and characters.
• Jiang Xiaobai stopped the story when night fell, and Tang Ningshuang left after denying how interested she was.
• Tang Ningshuang appeared beside Jiang Xiaobai's bed that night and asked him to continue Dream of the Red Chamber.

After staying up all night telling Tang Ningshuang Dream of the Red Chamber, Jiang Xiaobai visited Orchid Pavilion Tower ahead of its reopening. Learning that visitors had to pass an examination to enter, he decided to try it for fun, drawing a scholar’s scorn.

• Jiang Xiaobai woke exhausted after telling Tang Ningshuang Dream of the Red Chamber through the night, while she remained energetic and eager for the story to continue.
• Jiang Xiaobai summoned Zhang Xinnian and rode with Tang Ningshuang to Orchid Pavilion Tower to inspect the preparations before its reopening.
• Jiang Xiaobai saw a crowd gathered outside Orchid Pavilion Tower and learned from a young scholar that an entrance examination had been running for seven days.
• The young scholar explained that passing one, two, or all three questions granted increasingly valuable privileges at the reopening.
• Jiang Xiaobai decided to take the examination for fun, and the young scholar mocked him for underestimating its difficulty.

Jiang Xiaobai drew three difficult questions at the Azure Robe Society’s examination and answered all of them correctly, earning a grade A mark that admitted him to Orchid Pavilion Tower and its assessment. He left for the carriage with Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian, while the scholar who had mocked him realized who he was.

• Jiang Xiaobai joined the line and drew three questions from the attendant.
• Jiang Xiaobai quickly completed the couplet about Orchid Pavilion with a matching line about mountains and an ancient desk.
• Jiang Xiaobai solved the riddle with the character for table and answered the attendant’s spoken question with the character for trust.
• The attendant stamped a grade A mark on Jiang Xiaobai’s hand, granting him entry to Orchid Pavilion Tower and the assessment.
• Jiang Xiaobai showed the mark to the mocking young scholar, introduced himself, and left with Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian.
• The young scholar froze and exclaimed in shock when he recognized Jiang Xiaobai’s name.

After answering all three questions correctly at the Orchid Pavilion Tower, Jiang Xiaobai visited Tinglan Tower with Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian. His Grade A mark earned him access to the Fourth Floor, where he went alone to meet its exclusive guests.

• Jiang Xiaobai surprised Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang by answering all three questions correctly, and Tang Ningshuang reconsidered how much talent he had hidden.
• Jiang Xiaobai asked Zhang Xinnian to find a nearby teahouse, and the three entered Tinglan Tower beside the lake.
• An attendant explained that guests needed to leave a poem to enter the third floor, but Jiang Xiaobai's Grade A mark let him go up to the Fourth Floor.
• Jiang Xiaobai overheard scholars discussing whether he had written "On the Teacher" and "On the Horse" and how his appearance at the Orchid Pavilion Tower tomorrow might unfold.
• Jiang Xiaobai learned that only one table of guests occupied the Fourth Floor and went upstairs alone, leaving Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian behind.

Jiang Xiaobai reached Guanlan Tower’s quiet Fourth Floor, where he met its proprietor, Liu Guanlan, and a beautiful woman who did not speak. After Jiang Xiaobai revealed he was from the Northern Guardian Marquis’s Estate, Liu Guanlan recognized his name, then explained that the woman was mute.

• Zhang Xinnian worried that Jiang Xiaobai might be walking into danger on the Fourth Floor, but the attendant assured him Guanlan Tower was safe and said the upstairs guest had the proprietor’s token.
• Jiang Xiaobai reached the Fourth Floor and found Liu Guanlan and a young woman seated by the window.
• Liu Guanlan invited Jiang Xiaobai to sit and noticed his A-Character Plaque, while Jiang Xiaobai learned that Liu was Guanlan Tower’s owner and the woman was his friend.
• Liu Guanlan asked where Jiang Xiaobai was from, and Jiang revealed he was a Capital City local from the Northern Guardian Marquis’s Estate.
• Liu Guanlan recognized Jiang Xiaobai’s name and introduced himself before Jiang asked about the silent woman; Liu explained that she was mute.

Jiang Xiaobai discussed the authorship of two essays with Liu Guanlan before assassins attacked the woman in Guanlan Tower. Jiang Xiaobai escaped with her by jumping from the fourth floor into the lake, where she wrapped herself around him.

• Jiang Xiaobai joked about the woman being deaf and mute, then discussed the essays with Liu Guanlan and said the Orchid Pavilion Tower gathering would reveal the truth.
• Black-clad assassins burst through the ceiling and attacked the woman, while Liu Guanlan wounded one attacker with a bamboo chopstick.
• More assassins appeared, and Liu Guanlan urged Jiang Xiaobai and the woman to escape.
• Jiang Xiaobai grabbed the woman and ran for the window, firing his Desert Eagle as an attacker struck his back.
• Jiang Xiaobai and the woman plunged into the lake, and she wrapped herself around him underwater.

Jiang Xiaobai rescued a deaf and mute woman after they fell into the lake, using chest compressions and rescue breaths to revive her. She mistook his lifesaving efforts for an offense and left with Liu Guanlan, while Jiang Xiaobai remained stranded on shore awaiting another boat.

• Jiang Xiaobai dragged the woman onto the opposite shore and collapsed from exhaustion.
• Jiang Xiaobai noticed the woman was barely breathing, performed chest compressions and rescue breaths, and revived her.
• The woman woke and glared at Jiang Xiaobai after noticing his muddy handprints and remembering his rescue breaths.
• Boats arrived, and the woman boarded Liu Guanlan's boat and gestured for him to leave without Jiang Xiaobai.
• Liu Guanlan propelled the boat away, and he asked the woman, whom he called the Elder Princess, whether she was all right.

After an assassination attempt at Guanlan Tower, the Elder Princess ordered Liu Guanlan to find and kill the attackers, then revealed she was testing Jiang Xiaobai by pushing him toward Orchid Pavilion Tower. Jiang Xiaobai reunited with Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang, who had been wounded defending him, but insisted the assassins had not been targeting him.

• The Elder Princess questioned Liu Guanlan about the attackers and ordered him to show no mercy once they were found.
• Liu Guanlan noticed muddy prints on the Elder Princess's clothing and wondered what Jiang Xiaobai had done, while she asked for his assessment of Jiang Xiaobai.
• The Elder Princess said someone was pushing for Orchid Pavilion Tower to reopen and that she had given Jiang Xiaobai a chance to prove himself; she planned to visit the imperial physician and return the next morning.
• Jiang Xiaobai met Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang ashore, and Zhang Xinnian checked that he was unharmed.
• Jiang Xiaobai noticed Tang Ningshuang's arm wound, while Zhang Xinnian described the fierce attack; Jiang Xiaobai said the assassins had not come for him.

After assassins attacked at Guanlan Tower, Jiang Xiaobai learned they had been targeting a mysterious deaf and mute young woman, while his family revealed the teahouse also served as a Martial World gathering place. He returned to the Marquis’s Residence with Tang Ningshuang and was left wondering what Jiang Jingcheng had wanted to tell him.

• Jiang Xiaobai told Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang that the assassins had targeted the young woman who fell into the lake with him, though he did not know who she was.
• Jiang Xiaobai returned to the Marquis’s Residence and urged Tang Ningshuang to have her arm wound treated, but she took the ointment and bandaged herself in private.
• Shen Yun and Jiang Jingcheng arrived, checked that Jiang Xiaobai was unharmed, and heard his account of the attack.
• Jiang Jingcheng explained that Guanlan Tower was a teahouse by day and the Blade-Questioning Tower, where Martial World figures met, by night.
• Jiang Jingcheng told Jiang Xiaobai to rest before his planned visit to the Orchid Pavilion Tower, then left without saying what else seemed to be on his mind.

Jiang Xiaobai treated Tang Ningshuang’s shoulder wound and teased her about blushing the next morning before heading to Orchid Pavilion Tower with Zhang Xinnian. Jiang Jingcheng watched him leave and decided to ask him for financial help for the Northern Frontier after his business was finished.

• Jiang Xiaobai noticed Tang Ningshuang’s shoulder wound was untreated, then went out at night to apply medicine and bandage it while telling her Dream of the Red Chamber.
• Tang Ningshuang asked Jiang Xiaobai to keep telling the story, and he continued for half an hour before going to bed.
• The next morning, Jiang Xiaobai teased Tang Ningshuang when she blushed, then called Zhang Xinnian and set off for Orchid Pavilion Tower.
• Jiang Jingcheng and a general discussed the Northern Frontier’s shortages of military pay, weapons, armor, and provisions.
• Jiang Jingcheng decided to speak with Jiang Xiaobai about borrowing money after his business at Orchid Pavilion Tower was over.