Chapter Summaries

Li Wanyin launched her homemade sweet soup stall with Chen Shi'an accompanying her, and their first evening started better than she expected. After selling enough to break even to neighbors in their residential complex, they headed toward the West River, where Uncle Zheng became another potential customer.

• Li Wanyin served Chen Shi'an her mung bean sweet soup and taro sago dessert, and he praised both while they discussed costs and her goal of breaking even.
• Chen Shi'an offered to lend Li Wanyin money for milk tea equipment, but she firmly refused and said she had her own plans.
• Li Wanyin and Chen Shi'an prepared to go to the West River, and Chen Shi'an brought along his carvings, incense, calligraphy, and paintings to sell and offer fortune-telling.
• Chen Shi'an carried the sweet soup containers downstairs, and Fat Ink joined them as they set out with Li Wanyin's stall supplies.
• Chen Shi'an greeted elderly neighbors in the complex, and Li Wanyin sold them eleven bowls of mung bean sweet soup and ten bowls of taro sago dessert, breaking even before they reached the gate.
• As they left the complex for the West River, Chen Shi'an offered sweet soup to security guard Uncle Zheng.

Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin set up their stalls by the West River, where Li Wanyin became the first customer for one of his wood carvings. As she admired Chen Shi'an’s handmade art and learned how he priced it, she urged him to charge more, ending with a higher suggested price for his painting.

• Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin chose a spot beneath a lit banyan tree and set up their sweet soup and handmade-goods stalls.
• Li Wanyin examined Chen Shi'an’s wood carvings, incense, calligraphy, and paintings, and bought a wooden deer for twenty-nine yuan ninety.
• Chen Shi'an priced his wood carvings at four hundred yuan each after Li Wanyin encouraged him to raise the price.
• Chen Shi'an priced a tube of medicinal incense at six hundred yuan and explained that he made its ingredients himself.
• Li Wanyin admired Chen Shi'an’s mountain painting and insisted that he raise its price from eighteen hundred to twenty-eight hundred yuan.

Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin set up stalls by the West River, selling his handmade crafts and her sweet soup. After a customer’s wife secretly returned to buy the pen holder her husband had admired, Chen Shi'an blessed her family as she hurried away.

• Chen Shi'an explained how quickly he made his crafts and began carving figures of Li Wanyin, Wen Zhixia, and Lin Meng Qiu based on his memories of meeting them.
• At Li Wanyin’s suggestion, Chen Shi'an posted a photo of his stall on Douyin and found that his account had earned over eight hundred yuan in rewards.
• Li Wanyin made her first sweet soup sale, while a customer admired Chen Shi'an’s work but left without buying the four-hundred-yuan Pine Tree Pen Holder.
• Li Wanyin turned away young men asking for her WeChat by claiming she was seeing someone, and Chen Shi'an asked when she had started dating.
• The customer’s wife returned alone and bought the pen holder as a birthday surprise for her husband; Chen Shi'an wished her family good fortune and harmony.

Chen Shi'an sold his first wooden carving and drew a crowd of fans to his riverside stall, boosting Li Wanyin’s sweet soup business as well. Lin Meng Qiu and her father arrived, and Lin Ming offered to buy Chen Shi'an’s painting just as Wen Zhixia approached.

• Chen Shi'an sold a wooden pen holder for four hundred yuan and checked messages from Wen Zhixia and Lin Meng Qiu, who both began heading toward his stall.
• Lin Meng Qiu walked with her father, Lin Ming, along the West River before hurrying ahead to find Chen Shi'an.
• Fans gathered at Chen Shi'an’s stall, taking pictures, chatting with him, and buying sweet soup from Li Wanyin.
• Two middle-aged customers bought Chen Shi'an’s handmade incense and calligraphy, while a retired man admired his landscape painting.
• Lin Ming arrived and offered to buy the painting, while Lin Meng Qiu watched and noticed Wen Zhixia approaching.

Chen Shi'an's street stall drew a crowd as Lin Ming bought his painting and Chen Shi'an impressed onlookers with his knowledge of traditional crafts. Wen Zhixia and Lin Meng Qiu then competed over a wooden squirrel carving, and Lin Meng Qiu bought it for twelve hundred yuan.

• Lin Ming outbid a retired man for Chen Shi'an's painting, raising the price to five thousand yuan before Chen Shi'an sold it to him.
• Wen Zhixia, Lin Meng Qiu, and Wen Zhixia's cousin bought the remaining sweet soup from Li Wanyin and praised her business.
• Chen Shi'an answered customers' questions about carving, incense, calligraphy, and painting, turning his stall into a crowded discussion.
• Wen Zhixia and Lin Meng Qiu both grabbed for Chen Shi'an's squirrel carving and raised their bids until Lin Meng Qiu offered twelve hundred yuan.
• Wen Zhixia bought the last tube of handmade incense for six hundred yuan, while Lin Meng Qiu told her father to pay for the carving along with his painting.

Chen Shi'an’s first evening running a stall ended with his goods sold out, a profitable night for Li Wanyin, and an invitation from Lin Meng Qiu to play badminton the next morning. At home, Chen Shi'an refused payment from his friends for their purchases, leaving them to keep sending him money.

• Chen Shi'an packed up after selling his goods and promised to offer fortune-telling and answers at a future stall; Lin Ming admired his painting and asked him to mount it.
• Wen Zhixia declined Lin Ming’s invitation to eat, while Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin also headed home; Lin Meng Qiu invited Chen Shi'an to play badminton with her at nine the next morning.
• Li Wanyin tallied 248 yuan in profit from selling all her sweet soup and planned to keep running her stall, while Chen Shi'an said he had earned 13,800 yuan from his sales.
• Chen Shi'an returned Lin Ming’s 6,200-yuan transfer and agreed to accept only the 5,000 yuan for the painting after offering Lin Meng Qiu’s wood carving as a gift.
• Wen Zhixia and Lin Meng Qiu both urged Chen Shi'an to accept payment for their purchases, but he refused, and Lin Meng Qiu sent him an extra yuan as an apology.

Chen Shi'an made 120 sticks of incense from materials he had gathered, shared a video of the process, and left to meet Lin Meng Qiu for badminton. He reached her complex at exactly nine o'clock, leaving her stunned by his speed.

• Chen Shi'an made incense on the balcony while Black Cat watched, then posted a trimmed recording of the process on Douyin.
• Li Wanyin woke up, admired the incense, and agreed to buy groceries for a lunch Chen Shi'an would cook.
• Chen Shi'an left to meet Lin Meng Qiu and ignored the transfers she and Little Cicada had sent him.
• Lin Meng Qiu waited at her complex entrance and messaged Chen Shi'an, discovering he had only just left home.
• Chen Shi'an reached Lin Meng Qiu at exactly nine o'clock, and she told him he was not late.

Lin Meng Qiu and Chen Shi'an walked to the sports hall to play badminton, and Chen Shi'an invited her to lunch with Li Wanyin. They added a wager to their game, leaving Lin Meng Qiu determined to score a point and Chen Shi'an expecting her to wash his Taoist robes if she failed.

• Chen Shi'an ran to meet Lin Meng Qiu, and she handed him her racket bag as they headed to the sports hall.
• Chen Shi'an invited Lin Meng Qiu to lunch with him and Li Wanyin, and she agreed after asking who would be there.
• Lin Meng Qiu asked about Chen Shi'an playing badminton with Wen Zhixia, then claimed she could score more than a point against him.
• Chen Shi'an wagered that he would grant Lin Meng Qiu one request if she scored a point, while she agreed to wash his Taoist robes by hand if she failed.
• Lin Meng Qiu decided she would make Chen Shi'an wash her clothes if she won.

Lin Meng Qiu challenged Chen Shi'an to badminton, hoping to beat him, but he played as her practice partner and defeated her 0-63. Exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed, she agreed to wash his clothes, then shyly accepted his hand as he helped her up.

• Lin Meng Qiu brought Chen Shi'an to her badminton hall and prepared for their match.
• Chen Shi'an rallied gently with Lin Meng Qiu until she told him to smash, then she forbade him from smashing after he scored with a powerful shot.
• Lin Meng Qiu lost three games to Chen Shi'an without scoring a point and collapsed onto the court, declaring she was done.
• Chen Shi'an reminded Lin Meng Qiu that she had promised to wash his clothes, and she reluctantly agreed.
• Chen Shi'an helped Lin Meng Qiu to her feet, and she blushed, let go of his hand, and hurried toward the restroom.

Lin Meng Qiu returned to Chen Shi'an's apartment after playing badminton, where she met Li Wanyin and watched Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin prepare lunch. She struggled to act casually around Chen Shi'an but joined Li Wanyin in peeling garlic, ending the chapter pleased when Chen Shi'an praised them both.

• Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu packed up after badminton and agreed to head back to his apartment, where Li Wanyin had already bought groceries.
• On the walk home, Lin Meng Qiu wondered about Li Wanyin's closeness with Chen Shi'an and tried awkwardly to lean on him while climbing the stairs, but stopped when he turned around.
• Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu arrived at the apartment, where Li Wanyin welcomed Lin Meng Qiu and Chen Shi'an prepared her second steep of Stomach-Nourishing Tea.
• Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin chose braised ribs with pineapple, garlic chicken wings, and tofu with minced pork for lunch, while Lin Meng Qiu sat with Shi Mo and watched television.
• Lin Meng Qiu went to the kitchen to help, then peeled garlic with Li Wanyin in the living room and brought the finished cloves to Chen Shi'an.
• Chen Shi'an praised Lin Meng Qiu and Li Wanyin for peeling the garlic quickly, and Lin Meng Qiu felt pleased.

Chen Shi'an spent the afternoon with Li Wanyin, then invited Wen Zhixia over to study and eat durian before evening self-study. The chapter ended with Wen Zhixia learning that Chen Shi'an had played badminton with Lin Meng Qiu and beaten her 63–0.

• Li Wanyin praised Chen Shi'an's high Chinese and English test scores and encouraged him to keep studying while they ate green jujubes.
• Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin discussed her evening sweet-soup stall, then both took afternoon naps.
• Chen Shi'an noticed Wen Zhixia's messages after waking and invited her over to study and stay for dinner.
• Wen Zhixia arrived with durian and spotted Lin Meng Qiu's badminton rackets at Chen Shi'an's home.
• Wen Zhixia learned that Chen Shi'an had played badminton with Lin Meng Qiu that morning and beaten her 63–0.

Wen Zhixia visited Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin, teased Chen Shi'an into trying durian, and spent the afternoon studying at their apartment. Chen Shi'an carved a keepsake of their first meeting for her, and the chapter ended with Lin Meng Qiu secretly taking his Taoist robes to wash.

• Wen Zhixia brought durian to Chen Shi'an's apartment, where Chen Shi'an reluctantly tried a small piece and Li Wanyin later enjoyed the rest with her.
• Wen Zhixia explored Chen Shi'an's room, tried his buckwheat pillow, and then sat down to study while he carved wood.
• Chen Shi'an showed Wen Zhixia a carving of their first meeting on the bus and promised to give it to her with the inscription “From Chen Shi'an to Little Cicada.”
• Chen Shi'an cooked dinner for Wen Zhixia, then he and Wen Zhixia helped Li Wanyin take her sweet-soup stall downstairs before heading to evening study.
• At school, Lin Meng Qiu quietly snatched Chen Shi'an's Taoist robes and hid them in her desk before he could ask about them.

Chen Shi'an prepared for his first monthly exams at Yunqi No. 1 High School while studying to catch up with his classmates. As the exam-room setup separated him from Lin Meng Qiu, she invited him to dinner after the exams and left him a bottle of milk to drink the next day.

• Chen Shi'an learned that he would take his exams in Senior Year One, Class Six, while Lin Meng Qiu and the top-ranked students were assigned to the laboratory building.
• Chen Shi'an reviewed his progress across the subjects and anticipated earning nonzero scores in his first monthly exam.
• Lin Meng Qiu agreed that Chen Shi'an could keep the middle school textbooks and told him her father had invited him to dinner after the exams; Chen Shi'an agreed to bring the books over.
• Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu moved their desks apart to set up the exam room, and Lin Meng Qiu felt a sense of emptiness as they stopped sitting together.
• Lin Meng Qiu gave Chen Shi'an her last bottle of milk and told him to drink it the next day.

Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia discussed their exam plans and arranged to travel back to their hometown together for National Day. Wen Zhixia invited him to lunch at her home and tried to persuade him to stay overnight, leaving Chen Shi'an unsure how far her plans would go.

• Chen Shi'an carried Wen Zhixia's books home and agreed to wait for her at lunch during the exams, using her meal card to buy her food.
• Wen Zhixia fed Chen Shi'an a grilled sausage, and they discussed their National Day plans; she could not join his trip to the Mountains because she had planned a road trip with her parents.
• Chen Shi'an told Wen Zhixia that he would return to the Mountains on the morning of the first after dining at the class monitor's home on the thirtieth.
• Wen Zhixia arranged to travel with Chen Shi'an at seven on the morning of the first and persuaded him to have lunch at her home before going to the Mountains.
• Wen Zhixia invited Chen Shi'an to stay overnight and show him around the county town, but he said they could discuss it later; she then headed home without taking her books.

Chen Shi'an visited Li Wanyin’s sweet soup stall by the West River, where his growing popularity drew a crowd eager to discuss traditional culture with him. As they headed home, Li Wanyin planned to use her earnings to start a milk tea stall and looked forward to traveling with Chen Shi'an, though his coming trip to the Mountains left her feeling wistful.

• Chen Shi'an went to Li Wanyin’s West River stall after evening study and found her sweet soup nearly sold out to fans waiting to meet him.
• Chen Shi'an ate the mung bean sweet soup Li Wanyin had saved and discussed calligraphy, crafts, Taoist cultivation, and classical studies with the gathered fans.
• Li Wanyin listened as Chen Shi'an spoke, then packed up the stall and walked home with him and Fat Ink.
• Li Wanyin thought about using her savings to start a milk tea stall and secretly planned to buy Chen Shi'an a new phone with her first earnings.
• Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin discussed their holiday plans, and he agreed she could join him on future travels.
• Chen Shi'an said he would return to the Mountains with Shi Mo for two or three days, and Li Wanyin felt reluctant at the thought of his absence.

On the morning of the monthly Chinese exam, Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu grew closer as they studied together and prepared for the test. The chapter ended with Chen Shi'an sharpening a pencil for Lin Meng Qiu before they left for their exam rooms.

• Chen Shi'an found Lin Meng Qiu’s milk on his desk and thanked her before drinking it.
• Chen Shi'an moved his desk beside Lin Meng Qiu’s, and she reluctantly let him sit with her after stopping him from moving it back.
• Lin Meng Qiu told Chen Shi'an that she had hand-washed the clothes from their bet and would return them the next day.
• Lin Meng Qiu checked that Chen Shi'an had bought the correct 2B pencils for the exam.
• Lin Meng Qiu asked Chen Shi'an to sharpen one of her pencils, and he did; she thanked him before they headed to the exam rooms.

Chen Shi'an took his monthly exams in a Senior Year One classroom and relied on his growing knowledge and classical Chinese skills to complete the papers. After finishing Chinese and math and taking combined science, he headed to the cafeteria to get Little Cicada's lunch before the final English exam.

• Chen Shi'an found his seat in Senior Year One Class Six, settled the wobbly desk, and prepared for the exams alongside students who recognized him as the Daoist Master.
• Chen Shi'an finished the Chinese paper early and wrote an eight-hundred-character classical Chinese essay that impressed the invigilator.
• Chen Shi'an completed the math questions he knew and estimated that his answered problems were worth 102 points, leaving unfamiliar questions blank.
• Chen Shi'an earned what he expected to be around eighty points in biology and sixty-eight in chemistry, while answering only one physics question.
• Chen Shi'an packed his papers and went to the cafeteria to get Little Cicada's lunch before the afternoon English exam.

Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia ate lunch together before their English exam, and Chen Shi'an challenged her to beat his score. During the midday break, Lin Meng Qiu returned Chen Shi'an’s freshly washed Taoist robe and admitted she had washed it by hand.

• Chen Shi'an brought Wen Zhixia lunch, comforted her about her humanities exam, and said he aimed to score higher than her in English.
• Wen Zhixia told Chen Shi'an she would not wait for him that evening because he was dining at Principal Lin's, and they agreed to go home together the next morning.
• Chen Shi'an joined Lin Meng Qiu in the classroom during the midday break and studied math while she revised.
• Lin Meng Qiu gave Chen Shi'an his clean Taoist robe, explaining that she had washed it by hand on Sunday night.
• Chen Shi'an praised Lin Meng Qiu for keeping her promise and put the robe in his backpack.

Chen Shi'an guided Lin Meng Qiu through Seated Meditation, and she unexpectedly fell asleep, waking just before the English exam. After finishing the exam, Chen Shi'an estimated his monthly exam total at no less than 542 and wondered how Lin Meng Qiu and Wen Zhixia had scored.

• At lunchtime, Chen Shi'an taught Lin Meng Qiu how to settle her body, breathing, and thoughts for Seated Meditation.
• Lin Meng Qiu followed Chen Shi'an's instructions and drifted into a deep sleep, while his cultivation helped the other students focus.
• Chen Shi'an woke Lin Meng Qiu before the English exam, and she came to embarrassed after realizing she had fallen asleep in class.
• Teacher Liang reminded the students to return after the exam to arrange desks, clean, and collect their holiday homework.
• Chen Shi'an finished the English exam early, studied math while waiting, and estimated that his total score was at least 542.
• After the exam bell rang, Chen Shi'an wondered how Lin Meng Qiu and Wen Zhixia had done.

After the exams, Lin Meng Qiu and Wen Zhixia compared answers with Chen Shi'an and both bet that their English answer was right. Chen Shi'an declared that both girls had lost the question, and they headed home together with him to cook dinner at Lin Meng Qiu’s house.

• Lin Meng Qiu and Wen Zhixia told each other that their exams had gone well, while both privately believed the other had done poorly.
• Chen Shi'an told Lin Meng Qiu he expected nearly full marks in English, and she bet that he had chosen the wrong answer to a reading question.
• Lin Meng Qiu wagered that Chen Shi'an would do one thing for her if he lost, while she would fill his water bottle for a week if she lost.
• Chen Shi'an agreed to cook dinner at Lin Meng Qiu’s house, and she looked forward to his braised dishes and boneless steamed crucian carp.
• Wen Zhixia joined Chen Shi'an and Lin Meng Qiu on the walk home, and she and Lin Meng Qiu both backed answer C for the disputed question.
• Chen Shi'an insisted answer B was correct and told both girls they had lost 2.5 points.