Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xiaobai traveled to Orchid Pavilion Tower with Tang Ningshuang and gave two scholars a ride after learning they were rushing to meet the celebrated writer Du Chong. He wondered whether Du Chong’s appearance at the assessment was connected to his investigation of the Imperial Civil Service Examination.

• Jiang Xiaobai admired the lively morning market around Orchid Pavilion Tower while Tang Ningshuang teased him about his calm attitude toward the assessment.
• Zhang Xinnian stopped the carriage when two scholars asked for a ride, and Jiang Xiaobai invited them aboard.
• The scholars explained that they were hurrying to get Du Chong’s autograph and praised his essay On the Impoverished Scholars and story Tales of the White-Clad Wanderer.
• The scholars said Du Chong had obtained a First-Grade Seal and would take the assessment, and they mentioned that the Brush Holder from the Azure Robe Society thought highly of him.
• Jiang Xiaobai wondered whether Du Chong had come to Orchid Pavilion Tower because of his investigation into the Ministry of Rites’ examination affairs.

Jiang Xiaobai rode to Orchid Pavilion Tower while two scholars disparaged him, unaware that he was the man they were discussing. After arriving, he gave them his name and revealed his identity.

• Two scholars discussed the rumors that Jiang Xiaobai had bought his Top Graduate title and stolen the essays attributed to him.
• The scholars doubted that Li Zhiwei could truly love Jiang Xiaobai, while Tang Ningshuang recalled seeing signs of her affection.
• Tang Ningshuang quietly asked Jiang Xiaobai whether he was angry, and he replied that the scholars did not know who he was.
• Zhang Xinnian announced that the crowd around Orchid Pavilion Tower forced them to continue on foot, so Jiang Xiaobai and Tang Ningshuang left the carriage.
• The scholars thanked Jiang Xiaobai for the ride and asked his name, and he answered, “Jiang Xiaobai.”

Jiang Xiaobai revealed his identity to two scholars who had spent their carriage ride insulting him, then joined Li Zhiwei, Lin Qinrou, Tang Ningshuang, and Zhang Xinnian at Orchid Pavilion Tower. As the tower’s reopening drew a crowd, Jiang Xiaobai suspected the organizers were waiting for him, and a gentle voice greeted Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou.

• Jiang Xiaobai told the two scholars that he was the very person they had been criticizing, leaving them stunned and regretful.
• Qingyi called Jiang Xiaobai over to Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou, and Li Zhiwei bashfully denied that she had been waiting for him.
• Lin Qinrou reflected on Jiang Xiaobai’s connection to the Imperial College’s new methods and the essays “On the Teacher” and “On the Horse.”
• Jiang Xiaobai learned that Li Bingzhang and Lin Qinrou’s grandfather had already gone inside Orchid Pavilion Tower.
• Jiang Xiaobai suspected the reopening would wait for his arrival so the people behind the event could carry out their plan against him, just as a gentle voice greeted Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou.

Jiang Xiaobai confronted Du Chong after Du Chong insulted him over the essays On the Teacher and On the Horse. Jiang Xiaobai humiliated Du Chong by declaring his signed books would be used as latrine paper, then made clear he would show no mercy to anyone who targeted him.

• Du Chong offered signed copies of Tales of the White-Clad Wanderer to Li Zhiwei, Lin Qinrou, and Tang Ningshuang, but all three refused them.
• Du Chong publicly questioned whether Jiang Xiaobai had written On the Teacher and On the Horse, using apparent praise to mock him.
• Jiang Xiaobai accepted Du Chong's books and told Zhang Xinnian to use them to stock the latrines at the Marquis's Residence.
• Du Chong left after Jiang Xiaobai taunted him by asking for more books once the first copies were used up.
• Jiang Xiaobai told Lin Qinrou, Li Zhiwei, and Tang Ningshuang that he would show no mercy to Du Chong or anyone else who deliberately targeted him.

Jiang Xiaobai went to Orchid Pavilion Tower despite Lin Qinrou's warning that many people hoped to see him fail. After learning that he had earned an A and may have solved the entrance questions faster than anyone, he headed inside as the gathering began, while the Elder Princess watched for him from upstairs.

• Lin Qinrou warned Jiang Xiaobai that many people doubted him and advised him that he did not need to prove himself at the gathering.
• Lin Qinrou told Jiang Xiaobai that thirteen people had earned an A, including Du Chong, and that the fastest had solved all three questions in less than a cup of tea.
• Zhang Xinnian said Jiang Xiaobai had taken about sixteen breaths to answer, and Lin Qinrou and Li Zhiwei saw the A mark on his hand.
• An announcement called scholars into Orchid Pavilion Tower in order of arrival, with those holding an A allowed to enter first, and Jiang Xiaobai led his companions toward the entrance.
• The Elder Princess watched the crowd from upstairs, denied looking for Jiang Xiaobai when Liu Guanlan teased her, then glanced down at him again.

Jiang Xiaobai joined the first-class candidates at Orchid Pavilion Tower and provoked them by defending the Northern Guardian Marquis's troops and mocking their assessment achievements. As the scholars turned against him, Du Chong noticed someone and abruptly stood to greet them.

• Jiang Xiaobai entered Orchid Pavilion Tower with Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang, while Lin Qinrou, Li Zhiwei, and Qingyi went upstairs.
• Jiang Xiaobai showed Du Chong his first-class mark and took a seat in the first-class section.
• A scholar mocked Jiang Xiaobai as someone who bought his Top Graduate title, and Zhang Xinnian reached for his saber before Jiang Xiaobai stopped him.
• Jiang Xiaobai rebuked the scholars for calling the Northern Guardian Marquis's soldiers brutes and claimed the first-class assessment had been easy.
• The other first-class candidates grew furious, while Du Chong rose and bent at the waist after noticing someone.

At Orchid Pavilion Tower, Jiang Xiaobai resisted Du Chong’s attempt to make him bow to the Third Prince, arguing that they met as fellow scholars. Upstairs, Lin Qinrou and Li Zhiwei joined the gathering, where the literati discussed Jiang Xiaobai’s authorship of the two essays and awaited his test.

• Du Chong introduced the Third Prince and urged Jiang Xiaobai to pay his respects, but Jiang Xiaobai said the scholar-robed prince was attending as a student and did not bow.
• The Third Prince took offense at Jiang Xiaobai’s response, but sat down rather than make a scene; Du Chong regretted that the two had not quarreled.
• Zhang Xinnian praised Jiang Xiaobai as steady as an old dog, making Jiang Xiaobai choke on his tea while Tang Ningshuang smiled.
• Lin Qinrou and Li Zhiwei arrived on the Fourth Floor and greeted Li Bingzhang, Lin Fengshuo, Fan Xinghe, Gu Zhiyan, and the other literati.
• Li Bingzhang said he trusted Jiang Xiaobai to surprise the gathering, while Fan Xinghe voiced doubt about the future son-in-law’s performance.

Jiang Xiaobai attended the reopened Orchid Pavilion Tower, where scholars and nobles gathered to assess the essays “On the Teacher” and “On the Horse.” When the Azure Robe Society’s Brush Holder asked the essays’ author to reveal himself, Jiang Xiaobai calmly announced that he was right there.

• Jiang Xiaobai spotted Guo Zhan and Zhong Yu in the Jia Character Area and discussed their hostility with Zhang Xinnian and Tang Ningshuang.
• Jiang Xiaobai greeted Chen Zhanqiu on the Fourth Floor, where Chen Zhanqiu and Zhao Sheng speculated that he had obtained his Jia character through connections.
• Xiao Qingxiu complained about Jiang Xiaobai, while Xiao Zijing watched him with interest and wondered whether he would surprise everyone again.
• The Azure Robe Society’s Brush Holder entered Orchid Pavilion Tower and announced that he had come to assess the two essays and their author.
• When the Brush Holder asked whether the author was present, Jiang Xiaobai raised his hand and said he was right there.

Jiang Xiaobai denied writing “On the Teacher” and “On the Horse,” then Lin Fengshuo said their author was among the thirteen candidates in the Jia Character Area. As the Brush Holder began the assessment, Jiang Xiaobai proposed a different approach.

• The Brush Holder invited Jiang Xiaobai to explain whether he had written the two essays, and Jiang Xiaobai denied authorship.
• Jiang Xiaobai pointed to Lin Fengshuo and Lin Qinrou as people who would know the essays’ author, then returned to his seat.
• Zhao Sheng and Chen Zhanqiu believed Jiang Xiaobai’s denial would not prevent him from being disgraced or stripped of his post.
• The Brush Holder asked Lin Fengshuo who had written the essays, and Lin Fengshuo said the author was among the thirteen candidates.
• As the Brush Holder prepared to begin the assessment, Jiang Xiaobai interrupted and suggested using a different approach.

Jiang Xiaobai proposed a defend-the-arena contest in which one person faced all twelve rivals, then volunteered to defend first after everyone else refused. He took his seat and challenged them all, leaving the Brush Holder about to pose a question.

• Jiang Xiaobai suggested that one defender face the other twelve and keep first place by defeating them all.
• The middle-aged Brush Holder approved the contest and asked who would defend first, but Du Chong, the Third Prince, Guo Zhan, Zhong Yu, and the others hesitated.
• Jiang Xiaobai urged the others to volunteer, then rose and offered to defend first when none stepped forward.
• Jiang Xiaobai sat beside the Brush Holder and challenged all twelve in the Jia Area to defeat him.
• The Brush Holder agreed to pose a question, and Jiang Xiaobai asked him to make it easy so the twelve would not suffer a humiliating defeat.

Jiang Xiaobai matched the Azure Robe Society’s difficult couplet with a line that mocked his twelve opponents, winning the first round. He left them fuming by claiming they had let him win to spare him embarrassment.

• The middle-aged Brush Holder announced that the prepared first question was the Azure Robe Society couplet about Orchid Pavilion and its rippling waters.
• Jiang Xiaobai called the question easy and invited the twelve scholars to answer before him, then delivered a matching couplet that taunted them.
• Guo Zhan offered a weaker couplet, while Zhong Yu, Du Chong, and the Third Prince could not produce answers they thought could compete.
• The Brush Holder declared Jiang Xiaobai the winner of the first round, and Jiang Xiaobai acted surprised that he had won so quickly.
• Jiang Xiaobai told the twelve that they must have let him win to spare him embarrassment, then asked if he was right.

Jiang Xiaobai won the second couplet question by outmatching his rivals and then dominated the third with lines that challenged Du Chong. He declared that he would take Top Rank and invited every scholar in Orchid Pavilion Tower to try to defeat him, leaving the gathering stunned.

• Jiang Xiaobai answered the second question with a couplet about On the Horse, then offered a harsher line after Du Chong pointed out a flaw, silencing the twelve men.
• The Brush Holder declared Jiang Xiaobai the winner of the second question, and Jiang Xiaobai taunted the twelve by offering to let them speak first next time.
• Jiang Xiaobai immediately answered the third question with a couplet about golden honors and becoming a teacher to ten thousand ages, then withdrew it and challenged Du Chong to match a new line.
• Jiang Xiaobai declared that he would take Top Rank and challenged anyone in Orchid Pavilion Tower, apart from the twelve, to best him.
• Jiang Xiaobai sat back down and asked Zhang Xinnian to bring him tea, and Zhang Xinnian agreed.

Jiang Xiaobai stunned Orchid Pavilion Tower by defeating twelve scholars in the couplet round, then sat back as the poetry challenge began. After the other contestants presented four poems each, he woke from a nap and asked if they had all finished.

• Jiang Xiaobai overwhelmed twelve scholars with three couplets, while Zhang Xinnian brought him a table and Tang Ningshuang poured his tea.
• Chen Zhanqiu asked Zhao Sheng for another scheme, but Zhao Sheng had no response as others watched Jiang Xiaobai's performance.
• The Brush Holder ended the couplet round and announced a poetry challenge on wind, flowers, snow, and moon, requiring four shi or ci poems.
• Scholars including Du Chong, Guo Zhan, Zhong Yu, and the Third Prince presented their poems while Jiang Xiaobai sat with his eyes closed.
• The Brush Holder woke Jiang Xiaobai, who admitted he had fallen asleep and asked whether everyone had finished.

Jiang Xiaobai recited four poems on wind, flowers, snow, and the moon, stunning the students and judges in Orchid Pavilion Tower. The chapter ended with his final wish that people separated by a thousand miles could share the moon’s beauty.

• The Brush Holder told Jiang Xiaobai to compose four poems, and Jiang Xiaobai woke from his nap and asked what the themes were.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited a poem about wind without naming it, and the students and judges praised how vividly it captured the wind.
• Jiang Xiaobai followed with poems about plum blossoms and snow, leaving the hall silent and making Du Chong, Zhong Yu, Guo Zhan, and the Third Prince fall quiet.
• Jiang Xiaobai recited a poem about the moon, moving the listeners with its reflections on separation and reunion.
• Jiang Xiaobai ended by wishing that people could live long and share the moon’s beauty despite being a thousand miles apart.

Jiang Xiaobai recited and sang a moon lyric that stunned the scholars at Orchid Pavilion Tower and eclipsed the rival poems. The crowd praised him, while Xiao Zijing openly wished to marry him and the Elder Princess declared his poems the true meaning of wind, flowers, snow, and moon.

• Jiang Xiaobai recited a moon lyric that left the scholars, Lin Fengshuo, and Li Bingzhang in awe and silenced the Jia Character Area.
• Jiang Xiaobai sang the lyric with a melody, moving listeners to tears and astonishing Tang Ningshuang and Zhang Xinnian.
• The scholars cheered and begged Jiang Xiaobai to sing again, while Xiao Zijing asked Xiao Qingheng if she could make him her prince consort.
• Li Bingzhang celebrated Jiang Xiaobai's success, and Li Zhiwei and Lin Qinrou recognized how well matched Jiang Xiaobai and Li Zhiwei were.
• The Elder Princess praised Jiang Xiaobai's poem and melody, saying they showed what wind, flowers, snow, and moon truly ought to be.

Jiang Xiaobai won the poetry round and denied writing the celebrated essays, while the Brush Holder began an untitled essay challenge. After weighing several famous works, Jiang Xiaobai found one that suited the occasion and prepared to write it.

• The Brush Holder declared Jiang Xiaobai the winner of the wind, flowers, snow, and moon round, and Jiang Xiaobai said he had casually composed his poems.
• The Brush Holder asked whether Jiang Xiaobai had written “On the Teacher” and “On the Horse,” but Jiang Xiaobai denied any connection to them.
• The Brush Holder announced that the fourth question was to compose an essay on any topic, and the other contestants began writing.
• Jiang Xiaobai stayed still as he considered famous essays, then decided he had found one suited to the literary gathering.

Jiang Xiaobai stayed motionless throughout the essay round, convincing many that he had given up. When the Brush Holder began collecting the essays, Jiang Xiaobai called out that his essay had not been collected and handed over a blank sheet of paper.

• Jiang Xiaobai closed his eyes instead of beginning to write while the other participants started their essays.
• Du Chong, Guo Zhan, Zhong Yu, and the Third Prince finished their essays as Jiang Xiaobai continued to sit still.
• The Brush Holder asked Jiang Xiaobai whether he would write, and Jiang Xiaobai replied that he would not.
• The round ended with Jiang Xiaobai still motionless, and the Brush Holder announced that time was up.
• As the essays were collected, Jiang Xiaobai stopped the Brush Holder and handed over a blank sheet of paper.

Jiang Xiaobai submitted a blank sheet for the prose examination while the other students’ essays were read and praised. When asked to explain, he claimed that no topic meant no words, leaving the Brush Holder stunned.

• Jiang Xiaobai handed in a blank sheet and told the Brush Holder he would explain after the other essays were read.
• The Brush Holder read Du Chong’s, Guo Zhan’s, and Zhong Yu’s essays, drawing praise from the audience.
• The Brush Holder read several more strong essays, including the Third Prince’s ‘Strategy on the Way of Letters.’
• Jiang Xiaobai took back his blank sheet and declared that no topic meant no words, startling the Brush Holder.

Jiang Xiaobai recited a sweeping essay about Orchid Pavilion Tower, guiding the audience from sorrow and joy to a scholar’s duty toward the people and the realm. He concluded with a call to worry first over the woes of all beneath heaven, leaving the tower stunned and Du Chong’s essay diminished by comparison.

• Jiang Xiaobai announced that he would recite an essay as he composed it, provoking skepticism from Du Chong and the scholars in Orchid Pavilion Tower.
• Jiang Xiaobai began by describing Orchid Pavilion Tower, Long Lake, and the surrounding scenery, impressing the Brush Holder and the elders on the Fourth Floor.
• Jiang Xiaobai depicted the sorrow of exiled scholars and travelers in stormy weather, then contrasted it with the joy of a clear, tranquil lake.
• Jiang Xiaobai declared that benevolent men neither rejoiced over outward things nor grieved over their own lot, and that they worried for the people in court and for their sovereign in the Martial World.
• Jiang Xiaobai ended by saying that worthy scholars should be first to worry over the woes of all beneath heaven and last to rejoice in its joys, leaving the tower silent and Du Chong pale.

Jiang Xiaobai stunned Orchid Pavilion Tower with his essay, “Record of Yueyang Tower,” and won the fifth question, earning widespread admiration. Just as the Brush Holder began announcing the contest’s Top Rank, someone challenged whether Jiang had really written the essay himself.

• Jiang Xiaobai’s essay left the contestants and scholars speechless, and Zhong Yu and Du Chong recognized how far his work surpassed theirs.
• The Brush Holder declared Jiang Xiaobai the winner of the fifth question, and the assembled scholars praised his writing and reconsidered their doubts about his earlier essays.
• Lin Fengshuo celebrated Jiang Xiaobai’s achievement, while Li Bingzhang, Li Zhiwei, Fan Xinghe, and Lin Qinrou reacted to his talent.
• Xiao Zijing proudly praised Jiang Xiaobai, and Xiao Qingheng admitted that he was truly talented.
• The Brush Holder began announcing the contest’s Top Rank, but an unidentified speaker interrupted and questioned whether Jiang Xiaobai had written the essay himself.