Chapter Summaries

Cui Wanqiu confronted Ma Yuanyuan over quitting her job and cutting Wang Xiaoliang out of the video account’s earnings, while Wang Xiaoliang examined the account and realized how much money Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan had made. He began to suspect that Ma Yuanyuan and Li Le were together.

• Cui Wanqiu questioned Ma Yuanyuan about quitting, and Ma Yuanyuan revealed that she and Li Le had earned over three hundred thousand this month from videos, livestream tips, ads, and campaigns.
• Cui Wanqiu accused Ma Yuanyuan of taking advantage of Wang Xiaoliang and ordered her to hand over her work and leave.
• Wang Xiaoliang searched for Li Le’s account, found it under the name “Little Li's Swift Blade,” and saw it had 1.03 million followers and videos with advertising links.
• Wang Xiaoliang watched the videos and understood that Ma Yuanyuan had used a sob story about Li Le’s mother’s illness to boost their impact.
• Wang Xiaoliang reconsidered Li Le’s motives but then wondered whether Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan were a couple.

Wang Xiaoliang used the Book of Fate to reconsider his expectations of Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan and decided to let their choices go. After Li Le revealed that Ma Yuanyuan was pregnant, Wang congratulated him but declined his offer to return and work together.

• After a call with Wei Zijin, Wang Xiaoliang reflected on why Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan's decision to leave had angered him.
• Wang read the Book of Fate's advice about expecting nothing from others and forgiving them, then decided to stop trying to control Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan.
• Li Le messaged Wang to apologize and explain that Ma Yuanyuan was pregnant with his child.
• Wang congratulated Li Le and said his mother would be thrilled to hear the news.
• Li Le promised to return after the baby was born, but Wang told him to focus on his family instead and stopped replying.

Wang Xiaoliang reflected on Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan’s choices and kept his distance after they left his company. He accepted their wedding invitation but refused to be their witness, leaving it on his desk as their relationship entered a new phase.

• Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng discussed Li Le’s decision to listen to his family, and Luo Bisheng connected it to his own feelings about Cheng Huan.
• Li Le stopped running his lunchtime stall, and Ma Yuanyuan disappeared after handing over her work.
• Cui Wanqiu brought Ma Yuanyuan’s parents, who invited Wang Xiaoliang to Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan’s wedding and asked him to be their witness.
• Wang Xiaoliang accepted the invitation but declined to be the witness, telling Ma Yuanyuan’s parents that he and the couple had simply worked together.
• Wang Xiaoliang asked Yi Jiahui to give five hundred on his behalf, then joked that he would give only nine yuan if invited to her wedding.

After Huanhuan cut contact under pressure from her mother, Luo Bisheng accepted that their relationship was over and leaned on Wang Xiaoliang’s advice as he began considering what to do next. He remained prepared to feel hurt for a while but reaffirmed his plans to open another store and reconsidered whether he still wanted graduate school.

• Wang Xiaoliang learned from Tian Jiayi that Huanhuan’s mother had found her hidden phone and threatened to tell her father if she contacted Luo Bisheng again.
• Wang Xiaoliang told Luo Bisheng that Huanhuan felt unable to face him and likely intended to end the relationship, and Luo Bisheng accepted that they were breaking up.
• Wang Xiaoliang advised Luo Bisheng to accept the breakup, remember what he had gained from the relationship, and avoid contacting Huanhuan again.
• Luo Bisheng said he would feel miserable for a few days but would not shut himself away, and he reflected on Fan Qishan’s earlier character divination.
• Wang Xiaoliang urged Luo Bisheng to think about opening a second branch store and questioned whether graduate school was necessary, prompting Luo Bisheng to reconsider his reasons for taking the entrance exam.

Wang Xiaoliang reunited with old friends during Golden Week, and Li Xiaoman’s remarks about his success prompted Fang Dongxu to defend him. The dinner ended with Fang arguing that Wang’s success came from recognizing and seizing opportunities, not merely from influential connections.

• Wang Xiaoliang brought Luo Bisheng to work on the second and agreed to join Fang Dongxu for dinner with Li Xiaoman and others.
• Wang Xiaoliang met Li Xiaoman, his wife, Zhong Lili, and Chen Zhifei at the hotel before the group visited the crowded night market.
• Wang Xiaoliang spotted the fruit stall doing good business, but the group found no seats and moved to a restaurant near Fang Dongxu’s company.
• Li Xiaoman questioned Wang Xiaoliang’s income and attributed his success to help from influential people and his wealthy wife.
• Fang Dongxu told Li Xiaoman that Wang Xiaoliang’s eye for opportunity and ability to seize it had helped him succeed through his own efforts.

At dinner, Fang Dongxu invited Li Xiaoman and Wang Xiaoliang to invest in his bills business, while Li Xiaoman asked Wang Xiaoliang to help him meet Master Fan. On the drive home, Luo Bisheng reflected on how people make unfair judgments based on appearances, and Wang Xiaoliang recommended the Tao Te Ching as a starting point for reading the classics.

• Fang Dongxu offered Li Xiaoman, Wang Xiaoliang, and Chen Zhifei a chance to invest in his bills business, promising to bear the risk.
• Li Xiaoman asked Wang Xiaoliang to help him meet Master Fan, but Wang Xiaoliang said he could not find him without Liu Xinyu.
• Chen Zhifei told Wang Xiaoliang that her former dormmates had agreed to visit Fucheng for Chinese New Year.
• Luo Bisheng criticized Fang Dongxu and Li Xiaoman for judging Wang Xiaoliang by his connections and questioned why people judged others without understanding them.
• Wang Xiaoliang explained how to judge someone by their words and actions, then advised Luo Bisheng to start with the Tao Te Ching.

After Luo Bisheng’s question prompted him to reconsider how others saw him, Wang Xiaoliang studied the Book of Fate’s teaching on understanding people, things, and himself. His self-examination revealed his priorities and fears, and he ended by deciding to stop relying on others and take charge of the Media Company plan himself.

• Wang Xiaoliang reflected on the conflicting ways Fang Dongxu, Li Xiaoman, Liu Xinyu, Huang Xueli, Third Uncle, Ma Yuanyuan’s parents, Zhao Nan, and Wei Zijin viewed him.
• Wang Xiaoliang read the Book of Fate’s latest art and concluded that understanding people, things, and himself followed the same principle, with self-understanding the hardest.
• Wang Xiaoliang assessed his character, intelligence, strengths, health, and uncertainty about whether his devotion to Wei Zijin came from faithfulness or fear of losing her.
• Wang Xiaoliang identified his needs as stability with Wei Zijin, children, his parents’ well-being, and having his friends nearby, and admitted he feared Zijin suffering and losing his current life.
• Wang Xiaoliang questioned why he had shelved the Media Company plan after Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan failed, then decided he could pursue it himself.

Wang Xiaoliang and Wei Zijin spent the New Year together, welcomed friends to Fucheng, and saw Wei off at the airport. Wang later picked up Luo Bisheng, who said he had accepted his breakup with Cheng Huan and was ready to look ahead.

• Wei Zijin arrived in Fucheng, and Wang Xiaoliang welcomed her with a kiss before they celebrated New Year's Eve with Fu Zhaojun and Liu Xinyu's mother.
• Liu Xinyu's mother announced that the next New Year's Eve would be spent at the Fu family's home.
• Wang Xiaoliang, Wei Zijin, and Chen Zhifei picked up Li Lanxiang, Wang Fen, and Zeng Haiyan at the airport, and Wang left to work while the women caught up.
• Wang invited the women to dinner hoping Fan Qishan would meet Li Lanxiang, but Fan was away; the women then spent seven days touring Fucheng before returning home.
• On the Sixteenth Day of the First Lunar Month, Wang saw Wei off and picked up Luo Bisheng, who said his parents were glad he had broken up with Cheng Huan and that he was ready for better luck in love.

Cheng Huan’s parents pressed her to decide whether to accept young Tan, while she remembered how she had ended her relationship with Luo Bisheng under her mother’s pressure. Luo Bisheng sent proof that he had passed the graduate entrance exam and said goodbye, and Cheng Huan broke down after discovering he had deleted her.

• Cheng Huan’s father and mother asked what she intended to do about young Tan, and she said she wanted more time.
• Cheng Huan recalled how her mother found her hidden phone and threatened to tell her father if she contacted Luo Bisheng again.
• Cheng Huan told Tian Jiayi she had to break up with Luo Bisheng, and Luo Bisheng stopped contacting her after learning what she wanted.
• Cheng Huan began accepting young Tan’s invitations but still could not bring herself to touch him.
• Luo Bisheng sent Cheng Huan his graduate entrance exam score and a farewell message, saying he had passed and hoped they would never meet again.
• Cheng Huan replied with congratulations, discovered Luo Bisheng had deleted her, and hid her tears from her mother.

Luo Bisheng deleted his last photo of Cheng Huan and told Wang Xiaoliang he had passed the graduate entrance exam cutoff but would not continue to the next round. Wang Xiaoliang proposed founding Huanluo Media, then named himself as their first creator.

• Luo Bisheng deleted his remaining photo of Cheng Huan and called Wang Xiaoliang to share good news.
• Luo Bisheng told Wang Xiaoliang he had passed the preliminary graduate exam cutoff but had decided not to pursue graduate school.
• Luo Bisheng explained that Third Uncle supported his choice and would speak with his mother.
• Wang Xiaoliang proposed starting Huanluo Media with Luo Bisheng to build a content-creation business.
• When Luo Bisheng asked who their first creator would be, Wang Xiaoliang said it would be himself.

Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng agreed to start a video company called Xiaosheng and discussed how to build it carefully and honestly. Their conversation turned to luck and mysticism, and Wang Xiaoliang ended by asking Luo Bisheng whether he believed in fate.

• Luo Bisheng embraced Wang Xiaoliang’s proposal to make videos together and suggested names for their company before settling on Xiaosheng.
• Wang Xiaoliang told Luo Bisheng to take their work seriously and make money through honest means rather than harming others.
• Wang Xiaoliang asked Luo Bisheng to draft an employment contract from scratch, using Nuomi’s guidance and reviewing it for loopholes.
• Luo Bisheng laid out plans to contact Nuomi, practice editing, and search for a storefront, but Wang Xiaoliang warned him not to rush.
• Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng debated whether luck and the unseen could be real, and Wang Xiaoliang asked whether Luo Bisheng believed in fate.

Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan returned to the night market to restore the fruit-stall routine after viewers criticized their livestream persona. There, Li Le checked on his young helper, whose mother was also waiting for a kidney transplant.

• Ma Yuanyuan and Li Le lost viewers and brand partners after commenters accused them of abandoning the stall and exploiting Li Le’s story.
• Ma Yuanyuan decided they needed to return to the night market, and she rejected Li Le’s suggestion to hire someone to film them.
• Li Le admitted he was ashamed to face his former boss, but Ma Yuanyuan insisted they owed him no apology and agreed to leave earlier the next day.
• Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan arrived at the sparsely attended night market, where their young helper greeted them and took Li Le’s bag.
• Li Le asked the helper about his mother and her donor kidney; the helper said her condition was unchanged and there was still no news.

Ma Yuanyuan and Li Le struggled to attract viewers with their videos while working at the night market. When a new viral creator drew crowds to the market, Ma Yuanyuan recognized him as Wang Xiaoliang, her former boss and Li Le’s former boss.

• Ma Yuanyuan noticed their videos were losing followers and earning little, while Li Le found comfort in returning to work at the fruit stall.
• On the sixth evening, crowds of content creators flocked to the night market but passed their stall, prompting Ma Yuanyuan to investigate.
• Ma Yuanyuan watched three viral videos by Tang Heihu, whose black-faced scholar combined calligraphy and grilled chicken wings.
• Ma Yuanyuan saw Tang Heihu’s profile had over a million followers and recognized him as Wang Xiaoliang.
• Ma Yuanyuan called Li Le’s attention but hesitated and told him nothing.

Ma Yuanyuan watched Wang Xiaoliang’s videos gain millions of followers and expected people to expose him for not selling grilled chicken wings at the night market. When Tang Heihu announced he would sell them the next evening, bloggers flooded Doorway Starlight Night Market, where Li Le and Ma Yuanyuan saw the crowds arrive and Li Le was filmed working his stall.

• Ma Yuanyuan envied Wang Xiaoliang’s success but told herself his online persona would collapse when customers found no grilled chicken wings at the night market.
• A local food-review blogger accused Tang Heihu of misleading viewers, but Tang Heihu’s fourth video announced that he would sell two hundred skewers at eight the next night.
• Ma Yuanyuan urged Li Le to leave early, and they arrived to find bloggers and customers already gathering around the night market.
• Li Shumei directed workers as a queue formed at the Tang Heihu Grilled Chicken Wings stall beneath a new red banner.
• Li Le set up his fruit stall and cut watermelon while a blogger filmed him and promoted both the night market and Tang Heihu’s first night of sales.

Ma Yuanyuan watched Tang Heihu’s chicken wings sell out at Doorway Starlight Night Market and realized Li Le had recognized the disguised Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng. The next day, she understood that Tang Heihu’s latest video had directed customers to Old Wang Barbecue in Xicheng, leaving her overwhelmed by regret and jealousy.

• Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng, disguised as Tang Heihu, sold two hundred chicken-wing skewers at Doorway Starlight Night Market, drawing a crowd of content creators and customers.
• After the stall sold out, Ma Yuanyuan saw Li Le looking toward Wang Xiaoliang’s office and learned that he had recognized both men.
• Ma Yuanyuan watched Tang Heihu post a calligraphy video announcing a chicken-wing sale at Shuanglong Bridge Night Market in Xicheng.
• The next day, Ma Yuanyuan watched a food-review video showing a long line at Old Wang Barbecue, now renamed Tang Heihu Grilled Chicken Wings.
• Ma Yuanyuan reviewed Tang Heihu’s five videos and realized they had been planned to attract attention and send customers to other night markets and stalls.

Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng planned a calligraphy-and-grilled-chicken-wing video campaign that would also bring customers to Wang Xiaoliang’s parents’ night-market stall. After struggling through filming and Luo Bisheng’s nerves about performing in public, they opened the stall together in costume and began grilling.

• Wang Xiaoliang explained his calligraphy-blogging experience and presented a video plan that combined calligraphy with his father’s grilled chicken wings.
• Luo Bisheng praised the plan, which Nuomi had helped organize, and agreed to start making the videos with Wang Xiaoliang.
• Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng spent a day laughing through takes before filming a usable video, then Wang Xiaoliang taught Luo Bisheng how to edit it.
• Wang Xiaoliang challenged Luo Bisheng to join him in costume at the stall, and Luo Bisheng accepted after insisting he was not afraid.
• Wang Xiaoliang and Luo Bisheng opened their stall at Doorway Starlight Night Market in Tang Suits with their faces painted black, and Luo Bisheng began grilling chicken wings.

Wang Xiaoliang won Wei Zijin's support for his short-video and grilled chicken wing business plan, then secured Wang Keqin's help. His father sent detailed recipes and cooking instructions, leaving Wang Xiaoliang ready to learn the stall's preparation process.

• Wang Xiaoliang identified Luo Bisheng as his preferred cameraman but still needed support for his plan.
• Wei Zijin initially opposed the plan, but Wang Xiaoliang explained that he wanted another source of support in case trouble arose.
• Wei Zijin admitted her fears and distress over their lack of communication, and Wang Xiaoliang reassured her before she agreed to let him try.
• Wang Xiaoliang told Wang Keqin that he planned to combine short videos with a chicken wing stall at the Doorway Starlight Night Market and eventually direct customers to his father's stall.
• Wang Keqin agreed to help and sent photographs of his detailed chicken wing recipes, followed by additional grilling instructions the next morning.

Wang Xiaoliang recruited Li Shumei and the Master Chef to help prepare and sell braised grilled chicken wings, which quickly became a hit at Doorway Starlight Night Market. He then posted a comedic promotional video announcing Heartbreak Chicken Wings at two more night markets, leaving Ma Yuanyuan eager to see what he would do next.

• Wang Xiaoliang hired Li Shumei and the Master Chef on a trial basis to prepare chicken wings and help run his stall.
• Wang Xiaoliang taught Li Shumei his father's wing-braising procedure, and the group tested the flavorful wings with staff and Chengyou's office.
• Li Shumei, Wang Xiaoliang, and Luo Bisheng sold three hundred skewers in under two hours at Doorway Starlight Night Market.
• Ma Yuanyuan watched the busy stall and wondered what Wang Xiaoliang would film next.
• Wang Xiaoliang posted a video pretending to cry over a spicy wing and announced that Heartbreak Chicken Wings would be sold at Mendong Night Market and Shuanglong Bridge Night Market the next day.

Wang Xiaoliang persuaded Wang Keqin to prepare three hundred skewers of chicken wings and rename his stall after Tang Heihu. Despite Wang Keqin's doubts, customers queued before opening and bought every skewer he brought.

• Wang Xiaoliang asked Wang Keqin to sell three hundred skewers of chicken wings and replace the Old Wang Barbecue sign with Tang Heihu Grilled Chicken Wings.
• Wang Keqin bought the chicken wings and showed Zhao Xiuqin their son's promotional video while preparing them.
• Zhao Xiuqin cried over her family's efforts, and Wang Keqin reassured her that he enjoyed his work and felt proud of their son.
• Wang Keqin joked about having a daughter after Zhao Xiuqin recovered, making her laugh.
• Wang Keqin brought two hundred extra small skewers and found customers already waiting when he and Zhao Xiuqin arrived at the stall.
• Wang Keqin sold all three hundred chicken-wing skewers in ninety minutes and the remaining small skewers within three hours, and he agreed to introduce a purchase limit.

Li Le arranged for Ma Yuanyuan to try Tang Heihu’s new chicken wings, and she became increasingly hooked on both the food and his videos. At the Huanluo Esports Hotel, Wang Xiaoliang persuaded Luo Bisheng to reconsider buying a sports car, leaving him willing to settle for one that was attractive and practical.

• Li Le sent his helper to buy one original and one Heartbreak Chicken Wing from Tang Heihu’s stand, and Ma Yuanyuan ate both despite the extreme heat.
• Ma Yuanyuan spotted the Tang Heihus leaving the night market and later checked Tang Heihu’s profile, disappointed that he had not posted that day.
• Ma Yuanyuan watched Tang Heihu’s new video, in which he replaced the final line of a familiar poem with his introduction, and replayed it despite her annoyance.
• Wang Xiaoliang advised Luo Bisheng to wait before accepting sponsorships, saying their online persona needed more time to develop.
• Luo Bisheng said he wanted to buy a sports car, but Wang Xiaoliang argued that its speed was useless on public roads, and Luo Bisheng settled on a good-looking, practical car.