Recaps

After awakening with a new life in the Eastern Jin, Chen Caozhi worked to strengthen himself and restore his family’s standing. His calligraphy won Ding Youwei a reprieve from an unwanted remarriage, but she remained unable to return to the Chen household as he considered how to help her.

• Chen Caozhi awoke from his three-month existence as a soul in a temple lamp and began caring for his health and family while studying Confucian texts and calligraphy.
• Chen Caozhi rejected a land-transfer deal that would weaken the West Tower and promised Lady Li he would shoulder its obligations and pursue official rank.
• Chen Caozhi visited Ding Youwei with Zongzhi and Run'er, played the Keting Flute, and told her he hoped to restore the Chen family’s status and bring her home.
• Ding Youwei refused to marry a widower chosen by her uncle, so she challenged Ding Yi to let Chen Caozhi compete with Chu Wenqian in calligraphy.
• Chen Caozhi wrote with both hands, and Quan Li judged his calligraphy superior to Chu Wenqian’s, ending the immediate marriage pressure.
• Quan Li gave Chen Caozhi Huan Yi’s secret instructions for caring for the Keting Flute, while Ding Yi stopped arranging suitors but barred Ding Youwei from returning to the Chen household.
• Ding Youwei recorded the flute pieces as Chen Caozhi played, taught him wind-instrument notation, and Xiao Chan suggested asking Attendant Quan to help bring her back.

Chen Caozhi protected his family and Lai Fu’s household, earned a provisional sixth rank at the Riverside Gathering, and set out to study in Wu Commandery. At the Xu family’s school, he won Xu Zao’s welcome despite Chu Wenbin’s efforts to have him rejected.

• Chen Caozhi confronted Chen Liu over his demand for West Tower land, and Chen Xian expelled him from the Qiantang Chen Clan.
• Ge Hong treated Lady Li, helped the Chen Clan keep Lai Fu’s family as a protected household, and accepted Chen Caozhi as his disciple.
• Chen Caozhi impressed Quan Li at the Riverside Gathering with his discourse and flute playing, earning a provisional sixth rank and an invitation to Wu Commandery.
• Ge Hong left for Lingnan after recommending Chen Caozhi to Lu Na and Xu Zao, and Chen Caozhi departed with Liu Shangzhi to study.
• On the journey, Chen Caozhi advised Lu Weiwei how to save her broken ink chrysanthemum and passed Xu Miao’s entrance test with help from his knowledge of the Zhuangzi.
• Xu Zao welcomed Chen Caozhi despite Chu Jian’s demand that he be humiliated and denied admission, and Chen began lessons at the Xu family school.
• Chu Wenbin arrived expecting Chen to be rejected, then spoke with Lu Qin and slandered Chen over Lu Qin’s sister and her chrysanthemum, Jade Edition.

Chen Caozhi studied calligraphy, painting, and music in Wu Commandery, formed a close bond with Lu Weiwei, and thwarted Chu Jian’s attempts to discredit him. He left for Qiantang in the snow, promising Ding Youwei he would visit Run'er.

• Chu Jian ordered Chu Wenbin to draw Lu Qin into a conflict with Chen Caozhi, while Chen Caozhi befriended Xu Miao, Liu Shangzhi, Wei Xie, and Gu Kaizhi at Peach Grove Cottage.
• Chen Caozhi treated Lu Weiwei’s chrysanthemum Jade Edition, earned Lu Na’s respect, and began visiting Lu Weiwei despite Chu Jian’s efforts to turn their friendship into a scandal.
• Chen Caozhi misled Chu Wenbin through Ye Zhu, and Chu Jian responded by apologizing to Lu Na while vowing to ruin Chen Caozhi’s standing.
• At Lu Na’s gathering, Zhang Mo praised Lu Weiwei’s and Chen Caozhi’s paintings, while Gu Kaizhi’s work won first place.
• Chen Caozhi and his friends shared a final night of poetry and farewell gatherings before leaving Wu Commandery, and he played his flute for a traveling gentleman and his sister at Seven-Li Bridge.
• Lu Weiwei learned that Chen Caozhi had left and took his budding peach-tree painting, then arranged a large donation for repairs to the abbey’s mountain path.
• Chen Caozhi traveled through the snow with Ding Chunqiu and reached Ding Youwei’s home, where he described his studies and the Chu Clan’s hostility.
• Chen Caozhi gave Ding Youwei gifts, then crossed the river at Maple Forest Ferry and continued toward Run'er while Liu Shangzhi went separately.

Chen Caozhi traveled to Wu Commandery, deepened his bond with Lu Weiwei, and faced a false accusation engineered through Chen Liu and the Chu Clan. He cleared his name at the rank assessment, then left for Tongxuan Temple after sharing a promise of marriage with Lu Weiwei.

• Chen Caozhi returned home through the snow, reunited with Run'er and Zongzhi, and declined a marriage alliance with Feng Lingbo while preparing for his formal grading.
• Chen Caozhi visited the ailing Ding Youwei, treated her with herbs, and told her that he and Lu Weiwei loved each other and hoped to marry after he established himself.
• Chen Caozhi traveled to Wu Commandery with Liu Shangzhi and Ding Chunqiu, visited Lu Weiwei at Huating, and debated Zhu Yingtai at the Xu Clan School.
• Chen Caozhi painted peach blossoms and played Go with Zhu Yingtai, then asked Lu Weiwei not to marry anyone else, and she promised to wait for him.
• Ran Sheng broke Chen Liu’s shoulder after finding him at the Chu residence, and Chen Caozhi brought Ran Sheng to Governor Lu Na and vowed not to let the Chu Clan crush him.
• Chen Liu accused Chen Caozhi before Yu Xi, who tried to bar him from the rank assessment, but Lu Na secured his place and Chen Xian and Feng Mengxiong exposed the plot.
• Chen Caozhi completed the assessment, received word that the candidates had been ranked, and saw Lu Weiwei, who arranged to visit Tiger Hill with him.
• Chen Caozhi and Lu Weiwei admired peonies together and promised to keep marriage in mind when he returned from Qiantang, then Chen Caozhi traveled to Tongxuan Temple to worship Buddha.