Chapter Summaries

Qi Yuanzuo went to the Southern Academy to prove he could study with the Eldest Prince, and amazed Grand Tutor Zhang Yao by mastering the three primers. Zhang Yao agreed to ask the Qi Emperor to let the brothers study together, while Jiang Liang grew suspicious of the Crown Prince’s extraordinary abilities.

• Qi Yuanzuo bet the Qi Emperor that he could pass the Grand Tutor’s test and earn permission to study with the Eldest Prince.
• The Eldest Prince escorted Qi Yuanzuo to the Southern Academy, where they encountered Shi Yu, sent to study by the Empress Dowager.
• Zhang Yao tested Qi Yuanzuo on the Thousand Character Classic, the Hundred Family Surnames, and the Three Character Classic, and found that he could recite and understand them all.
• Qi Yuanzuo’s handwriting proved far worse than his knowledge, so Zhang Yao began by teaching him how to hold a brush and agreed to discuss joint lessons with the Qi Emperor.
• After Qi Yuanzuo left for the privy, Jiang Liang suspected something was wrong with him and decided to test him.

Jiang Liang tried to determine whether the little Crown Prince shared her knowledge by testing him with Arabic numerals, but his reaction gave her no confirmation. She planned to investigate the Imperial Garden, while Qi Yuanzuo suspected that Jiang Liang’s system had exposed something about him.

• Jiang Liang questioned Bolao about the Crown Prince, and Bolao warned her against reaching above her station before sharing details about threats to His Highness and his habits in the Imperial Garden.
• Bolao told Jiang Liang that the Crown Prince often visited the Nine Bends corridor and gazed east from outside it.
• Jiang Liang drew Arabic numerals in the dirt and watched the little Crown Prince’s reaction, but he called them ghostly drawings and told her to erase them.
• Jiang Liang concluded that the Crown Prince did not recognize the numerals, yet decided to look for something unusual in the Imperial Garden.
• 88 told Qi Yuanzuo that Jiang Liang’s test had frightened it, and Qi Yuanzuo suspected that her system was why she sensed something was wrong with him.

Qi Yuanzuo reasoned out that Jiang Liang’s system likely rewarded her for others’ affection, and he understood why she was testing him. When he returned to class, Shi Yu challenged him to consider the human cost of the Crown Prince’s lavish clothes.

• 88 asked Qi Yuanzuo why he kept Bolao and Jiang Liang alive, and Qi Yuanzuo explained that he wanted to use them and observe their choices.
• Qi Yuanzuo deduced that Jiang Liang could earn random system prizes by gaining other people’s affection, and that she suspected he might also have an adult soul.
• Qi Yuanzuo concluded that Jiang Liang saw herself as a wage worker rather than a servant and wanted to confirm whether he was like her.
• Qi Yuanzuo found Shi Yu feeding ants outside the classroom and challenged his comparison of the ants to common people.
• Shi Yu pointed out that the Crown Prince’s firegrass clothes and pearl ornaments had cost the lives and labor of many people.

The little Crown Prince refuted Shi Yu’s accusation about tribute and humiliated him, winning the Qi Emperor’s approval and the Eldest Prince’s loyalty. Meanwhile, the Third Prince heard the Empress Dowager announce that she was pregnant.

• The little Crown Prince explained the tribute system to Shi Yu and argued that his fine clothes reflected Great Qi’s prosperity and the Qi Emperor’s governance.
• The little Crown Prince mocked Shi Yu for exposing himself, and Shi Yu fled in embarrassment.
• The Qi Emperor joyfully tossed the little Crown Prince into the air, while the Eldest Prince decided to support him and protect him from his brothers.
• The Qi Emperor ordered the little Crown Prince to attend lessons with the Eldest Prince, and the Crown Prince said he wanted to share his classroom.
• The Empress Dowager told the Third Prince that she was pregnant and ordered someone to summon the emperor and Princess Baozhu to celebrate.

The Empress Dowager announced that she was pregnant, provoking a vicious confrontation with the Qi Emperor while the Third Prince remained trapped between them. The Qi Emperor slapped her and fled, leaving the Empress Dowager laughing and raging on the floor.

• The Empress Dowager held the month-old Third Prince and said she wanted to raise him into a lecherous, vicious brute.
• Princess Baozhu arrived, and the Empress Dowager summoned the Qi Emperor to share her good news.
• The Empress Dowager announced that she was pregnant and told Chongsi he would become an elder brother.
• The Qi Emperor condemned the Empress Dowager and traded cruel insults with her as the Third Prince was thrown against a pillar and carried away for an Imperial Physician.
• The Empress Dowager cursed the Great Ancestor, and the Qi Emperor slapped her before fleeing with Fat Eunuch.
• The Empress Dowager lay on the floor, laughing and crying as she raged about her marriage and the child taken from her.

After the Empress Dowager’s violent confrontation left the Qi Emperor and Third Prince unconscious, Qi Yuanzuo cared for them and pieced together his father’s childhood wounds and growing need for control. The Third Prince woke with a serious head injury and repeatedly forgot who Qi Yuanzuo was, leaving the Crown Prince to wonder whether he had become stupid.

• Princess Baozhu fled the Hall of Nurturing Origin as guards rushed in and killed people amid the bloodshed.
• The Qi Emperor summoned Qi Yuanzuo, clutched him while lamenting his lonely childhood, and then fainted after vomiting blood.
• Imperial Physicians treated the Qi Emperor and examined the Third Prince, whose skull had caved in after the Empress Dowager knocked him against something.
• Qi Yuanzuo stayed beside his father and injured brother, reflecting that his father’s unmet need for affection could turn into controlling behavior toward him.
• The Third Prince woke, briefly recognized Qi Yuanzuo, then repeatedly forgot him and resumed sucking his hand, prompting Qi Yuanzuo to wonder if he had turned stupid.

Qi Yuanzuo arranged care for the injured, hungry Third Prince while the Qi Emperor remained unconscious. Jiang Liang went to investigate the Imperial Garden, where Zhaoyi Wei had her beaten, leaving Jiang Liang determined to stop pursuing dangerous clues.

• The Fat Eunuch changed San'er's wet diaper, and Qi Yuanzuo arranged for Wet Nurse Zhang to care for the hungry Third Prince.
• Qi Yuanzuo entrusted San'er to the wet nurse and asked where Jiang Liang had gone.
• Jiang Liang walked through the Nine Bends covered walkway and stood among the chrysanthemums to gaze east.
• Zhaoyi Wei accused Jiang Liang of damaging the flowers and ordered her servants to slap her twenty times.
• Jiang Liang returned to the Hall of Inherited Blessing bruised and dusty, deciding not to seek justice or pursue her suspicions.

Qi Yuanzuo comforted the heartbroken Qi Emperor with a handmade strand of grass beads and resolved to help him kill the Empress Dowager. After sending Qi Yuanzuo to lessons, the Qi Emperor headed to the Hall of Nurturing Origin with a cruel plan, while Qi Yuanzuo noticed Jiang Liang’s injuries and Bolao’s subtle reaction.

• Qi Yuanzuo gave the waking Qi Emperor honey water and handmade grass beads, promising to protect him and comfort him when he was hurt.
• Qi Yuanzuo told 88 that the Empress Dowager had to die and that he would help the Qi Emperor do it, despite the consequences.
• The Qi Emperor joked with Qi Yuanzuo about getting him an ox to ride to school, then prepared to visit the Hall of Nurturing Origin and torment the Empress Dowager.
• Qi Yuanzuo saw that Jiang Liang’s face was swollen, learned that Zhaoyi Wei had hit her, and noticed Bolao’s faint, shrewd smile.

The Qi Emperor weighed the Empress Dowager’s military leverage and decided to publicize her pregnancy, while she relived the grievances that fueled her hatred of the imperial family. After lessons, the little Crown Prince gathered ten people and set out to fight Zhaoyi Wei for hitting one of his people.

• The Qi Emperor recognized that the Empress Dowager’s military tally and Sima Shu’s command of the Garrison City Army prevented him from moving against her, so he planned to expose her pregnancy and prepare for the worst.
• The Empress Dowager recalled being separated from the Qi Emperor as an infant and resolved to keep tormenting him, then sent word that she wanted to see the Crown Prince.
• After afternoon lessons, the little Crown Prince returned to the Hall of Inherited Blessing and learned that the Qi Emperor had left.
• The little Crown Prince asked Fat Eunuch for ten strong people and announced that he was going to fight Zhaoyi Wei because she had hit one of his people.
• The Eldest Prince followed the little Crown Prince eagerly, while Jiang Liang reacted to the mention of Zhaoyi Wei and Bolao silently ground his teeth.

Qi Yuanzuo punished Zhaoyi Wei and her servants for beating Jiang Liang, then exposed Wei’s attempt to use him to win the emperor’s favor. The emperor was delighted by the Crown Prince’s actions, while Qi Yuanzuo later joked to 88 about a grotesque plan for his family if they ever became enemies.

• Zhaoyi Wei invited the emperor to the Bright Elixir Pavilion, expecting the little Crown Prince’s arrival to help her win favor.
• Qi Yuanzuo questioned Jiang Liang, then ordered Zhaoyi Wei and the two servants who had slapped her to be restrained and beaten.
• After Jiang Liang and Zhaoyi Wei admitted fault, Qi Yuanzuo ordered the three to be beaten to death, but let them go once Wei confessed that she had overstepped.
• Qi Yuanzuo revealed that Wei had hoped to use his visit to curry favor with the emperor, while the emperor watched and celebrated his fighting spirit.
• The Eldest Prince admired Qi Yuanzuo’s manner and asked why he had spared Wei; Qi Yuanzuo said he had gone to fight, not to kill.
• Qi Yuanzuo told 88 that if he and his family ever became enemies, he would kill them all and arrange their bodies to disgust them.