Recaps

Chen Caozhi built ties with Xi Chao and the Xie Clan while traveling home, where Zhu Yingtai revealed her identity as Xie Daoyun and helped secure medical care for Lady Li. As Lady Li’s health became the focus, Chen Caozhi reunited her with Ding Youwei and welcomed Lu Weiwei to Chen Family Cove, leaving Lady Li to recognize Lu Weiwei’s affection for him.

• Chen Caozhi debated Xi Chao, discussed his plan to restore the Qiantang Chen Clan’s gentry status, and agreed to build his reputation before entering Huan Wen’s service.
• At the Lu estate, Chen Caozhi and Lu Weiwei confessed their affection, and he promised to visit on her birthday and bring her a red cord.
• Chen Caozhi traveled home with Zhu Yingtai, who finally revealed that she was a woman and admitted she had followed him to hear his flute.
• Chen Caozhi prepared the clan’s gentry petition with Chen Xian, then chose to stay with Lady Li instead of attending the Dongshan Gathering.
• Chen Caozhi met Xie Daoyun, recognized her identity, and learned she had arranged for Master Zhi Mindu to treat Lady Li.
• Zhi Mindu diagnosed Lady Li’s congenital heart condition and offered a prescription to prolong her life, while Chen Caozhi also summoned Yang Quan for a second opinion.
• Yang Quan examined Lady Li, advised Chen Caozhi on her care, and Ding Youwei reunited with Lady Li at Chen Family Cove.
• Chen Caozhi welcomed Lu Weiwei to visit Lady Li, and Lady Li began to understand Lu Weiwei’s feelings for him.

Chen Caozhi stayed at his mother Lady Li’s grave through the mourning period, while his relationships, family duties, and the Qiantang Chen Clan’s political prospects remained unsettled. The arc ended with Chen Shang announcing that the clan had entered the Gentry Register as Chu Jian’s allies prepared to target it.

• Lu Weiwei visited Chen Caozhi and Lady Li, confessed her determination to marry Chen Caozhi, and promised Ding Youwei she would wait for him.
• Chen Caozhi stayed home to care for Lady Li as her health worsened, while the Qiantang Chen Clan pursued admission to the Gentry Register and Chen Caozhi’s friends gathered at the cove.
• Xie Daoyun visited Chen Caozhi before leaving for Jiankang, and Lady Li later made Xiao Chan promise to care for him and remain by his side.
• Lady Li died with Chen Caozhi playing music beside her, and Chen Caozhi buried her at Jade Emperor Mountain before beginning the prescribed two-year mourning period.
• Ding Youwei defied Ding Yi and stayed at Chen Family Cove, while Chen Caozhi sent Lu Weiwei a portrait and a landscape scroll and continued to grieve and study at his mother’s grave.
• Chen Caozhi confirmed to Chen Xian that he and Lu Weiwei loved each other and intended to marry, while Lu Weiwei denied the affair rumors when Zhang Wenwan confronted her.
• Chen Caozhi welcomed Ding Youwei, Zongzhi, and Run’er to spend New Year’s Eve with him at the grave, and later learned that Lu Weiwei had been summoned to serve as Minister of the Left.
• Chu Jian and Chu Wenbin plotted to use a land registration review against the Chen Clan, but Chen Shang returned and announced that the Qiantang Chen Clan had entered the Gentry Register.

Chen Caozhi helped secure the Qiantang Chen Clan’s gentry status, advanced its fortunes, and completed his mourning. He traveled to Jiankang to pursue Lu Weiwei and face the Grand Zhongzheng Assessment, while old rivalries and marriage disputes gathered around him.

• Chen Caozhi exposed Chu Wenqian’s abuses, and Wang Shao stripped the Chu Clan of its gentry status while granting its farmland to the Chen Clan.
• Chen Caozhi arranged the Chen Clan’s protected households and development plans as its standing and wealth grew.
• Lu Weiwei refused other marriage proposals, while Zhang Wenwan promised to consider helping her marry Chen Caozhi despite the Lu Clan’s objections.
• After completing his mourning, Chen Caozhi declined to choose between serving Huan Wen’s Western Headquarters and Yangzhou until after his assessment, then prepared to travel to Jiankang.
• Chen Caozhi persuaded Zhang Wenwan to support Lu Weiwei, and Zhang Mo joined his party as they traveled toward the capital.
• Zhi Fahan followed Chen Caozhi to Jurong, accepted his story about the Buddha’s flower, and gave Ran Sheng his white horse.
• Liu Shangzhi and Gu Kaizhi welcomed Chen Caozhi near Jiankang, where Sima Yu received him and scheduled his assessment on Laozi and Zhuangzi.
• Lu Shi drove Zhang Wenwan and Lu Weiwei from her home, while Kong Wang visited Gu Kaizhi’s Study and asked to speak with Chen Caozhi alone.

Chen Caozhi won over scholars and officials through his learning, passed the Grand Zhongzhengs’ assessment, and secured Mingsheng Lake for his clan. He reunited with Lu Weiwei, promised to marry her, and was summoned by the emperor after she returned to Jiankang.

• Chen Caozhi impressed Kong Wang with his scholarship and calligraphy, and the two agreed to visit each other often.
• Chen Caozhi advised Xi Chao against forcibly moving the capital to Luoyang, then joined Zhi Fahan at the Xie residence and helped Xie Daoyun defeat Fan Wuzi in debate.
• Chen Caozhi reunited with Lu Weiwei at Guo Pu Pavilion and promised to marry her, while she agreed to wait up to three more years.
• Chen Caozhi faced the Grand Zhongzhengs’ assessment, answered their questions on classical learning and metaphysics, and received Sima Yu’s approval, Mingsheng Lake, and twenty Protected Households for his clan.
• Chen Caozhi restored Lu Weiwei’s stained painting and later wrote Buddhist verses at Dong'an Temple, impressing Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, and Zhi Daolin.
• Chen Caozhi and Lu Weiwei walked together at Mount Hua, exchanged a kiss beneath a magnolia tree, and promised to marry each other.
• Zhang Wenwan brought Lu Weiwei back to Jiankang while Chen Caozhi stayed at Dong'an Temple, where riders arrived with the emperor’s summons.