Chapter Summaries

Wang Gang watched Wang Gui leave for exile, then met County Magistrate Li Yun to discuss suppressing the Fish-Dragon Gang. Li Yun promised him a share of the credit but kept the rest of his plan unexplained, leaving Wang Gang wary.

• Wang Gang watched Wang Zhong give Wang Gui money and offer support to Wang Gui’s wife and children before Wang Gui was sent into exile.
• Wang Gui told Wang Gang that he needed to become hard-hearted, and Wang Gang replied with an insult before leaving for the county yamen.
• Li Yun reprimanded County Commandant Yang for failing to catch the Fish-Dragon Gang’s leaders and gave him three more days to make progress.
• Li Yun explained how the Fish-Dragon Gang had grown from a group protecting downtrodden people into a gang whose members committed crimes.
• Wang Gang admitted that his elder sister had told him about Li Yun’s motives, and Li Yun said he needed achievements to advance his official career.
• Li Yun told Wang Gang that a thousand archers had been levied and that Wang Gang could command from the rear and receive part of the credit.

Wang Gang attended a meal with three Gusu restaurant stewards, who asked him to share the Drunken Immortal Tower’s stir-frying method. He refused to give it away but offered the Eight Immortals Tower a five-percent discount on stir-fried dishes, leaving the stewards to consider his terms.

• Wang Gang joked with Wang Zhong about attending the Eight Immortals Tower and went there alone.
• Shopkeeper Shen met with Shopkeepers Gu and Lu and introduced Jin Long, second leader of the Fish-Dragon Gang, as part of their plan to obtain the Wang Family’s stir-frying method.
• Jin Long snapped a corner off the table to demonstrate his strength, and Shopkeepers Gu and Lu welcomed his help.
• Wang Gang arrived, took the seat of honor, and heard the stewards’ request to share the stir-frying method.
• Wang Gang said the method’s price depended on their offer, then rejected free spoiled wine in exchange and proposed a five-percent discount on stir-fried dishes ordered by the Eight Immortals Tower.

Wang Gang refused the shopkeepers’ demands for his stir-frying method and fought Jin Long, the Fish-Dragon Gang leader, who tried to take his life instead of paying. Wang Gang discovered how to overcome Jin Long’s hard-trained body, but the fight left him cornered as Jin Long launched a deadly punch.

• Wang Gang demanded ten thousand taels from each shopkeeper for his stir-frying method, slapped Shopkeeper Shen, and rejected their threats to cut off his wine supply.
• Jin Long declared he would trade Wang Gang’s life for the method and attacked him, but Wang Gang’s Flame Blade wounded Jin Long’s palm.
• Jin Long revealed his Thirteen Grand Guardians Hard Training, withstanding Wang Gang’s sword and bending its blade against his throat.
• Wang Gang powered up his sword and struck Jin Long repeatedly, realizing that internal impacts could injure Jin Long even when his skin and bones resisted blades.
• Jin Long strengthened his body and pressed the fight through the restaurant until he cornered Wang Gang and swung a vicious punch at him.

Wang Gang defeated Jin Long, forced the three shopkeepers to agree to pay ten thousand taels each for his stir-fry recipes, and handed Jin Long over to County Commandant Yang. The other shopkeepers left angry at their losses, while Shopkeeper Shen remained behind, smiling as he smashed a wooden table.

• Wang Gang wounded and subdued Jin Long, then tied him up and sent a waiter to fetch County Commandant Yang.
• Wang Gang intimidated Shopkeeper Shen and secured the three shopkeepers’ agreement to pay ten thousand taels each for the recipes.
• Wang Gang warned the shopkeepers that Jin Long was a wanted Fish-Dragon Gang leader, and they denied knowing him.
• County Commandant Yang arrived, praised Wang Gang’s improved martial skills, and took Jin Long away in a sack.
• Shopkeepers Gu and Lu left lamenting their losses, while Shopkeeper Shen stayed behind and smashed a wooden table.

Wang Gang arranged to profit from teaching the Drunken Immortal Tower’s stir-frying methods, then realized he had nowhere he wanted to stay and decided to return to the academy. Meanwhile, the injured Duan Zhengchun refused to target Wang Gang’s family or Li Qingluo and planned to seek help from the Yellow-Browed Monk.

• Wang Gang explained his deal with three major restaurants, and Wang Yi agreed to teach their cooks in exchange for money and signature recipes.
• Wang Gang considered avoiding home, the restaurant, Swallow Dock, and the estate before Wang Zhong suggested he visit the academy.
• In Wuxi, Duan Zhengchun recovered from his injuries while Fu Sigui urged him to retaliate against Wang Gang.
• Duan Zhengchun rejected plans to attack the Wang family or ruin Li Qingluo’s reputation and agreed that they could ask the Yellow-Browed Monk for help.

Wang Gang advised the county commandant to set rival gangs against the Fish-Dragon Gang and suggested recruiting Gongye Qian. He then traveled to the academy, where he met Teacher Wen on the mountain steps.

• Wang Gang learned that Jin Long had confessed quickly, but the county commandant could not find the people named in the confession and feared they had been tipped off.
• Wang Gang told the county commandant to support a rival gang and help whichever side was weaker, then suggested that he approach Gongye Qian and his brothers.
• The county commandant agreed to try recruiting Gongye Qian and suspected Wang Gang had a personal motive because the Murong Family was related to him by marriage.
• Wang Gang hired an old coachman who drove so recklessly that Wang Gang was badly shaken before reaching Academy Mountain.
• Wang Gang climbed through the academy’s maple woods, heard someone call him, and bowed to Teacher Wen.

Wang Gang returned to the academy, where a confrontation with Liu Mo led the academy head to question him about scholarship and his views on the Cheng brothers. Wang Gang rejected the offer to become Master Yichuan’s disciple and argued for investigating the principles of the world, leaving the academy head impressed.

• Wen Zheng met Wang Gang on the way to the academy, where students gathered around Wang Gang to ask about the examinations.
• Wang Gang argued with Liu Mo over the importance of poetry and essays, then knocked Liu Mo down when he swung at him.
• The academy head summoned Wang Gang and asked about his views on the teachings of Masters Mingdao and Yichuan, then offered to recommend him as Master Yichuan’s disciple.
• Wang Gang declined, explaining that he wanted to investigate the principles behind the natural world and that practical learning could benefit the people and the nation.
• Wang Gang urged that this way of thinking could spread like a spark across the prairie, and the academy head praised his promise after he left.

Wang Gang was drawn into a heated debate at the academy over Wang Anshi's New Meanings of the Three Classics and defended its standardized exam interpretations as a way to make competition fairer. The academy head praised his having a viewpoint and told Wen Zheng to prepare for the prefectural academy's visit in three days.

• Wang Gang watched academy students denounce Wang Anshi and his officially required New Meanings of the Three Classics while privately considering how scholars shaped competing schools of thought.
• A student dragged Wang Gang into the gathering, where students debated whether to use the new commentaries for exams or boycott them until Wang Anshi was dismissed.
• Liu Mo needled Wang Gang into speaking, and Wang Gang challenged the students to read the book before condemning it, then praised its scholarship while separating that issue from the requirement to use it.
• Wang Gang argued that standardized exam interpretations could reduce the advantage of students with influential family connections and provide fairer competition, then suggested Liu Mo might be seeking to benefit from such connections.
• The academy head and Wen Zheng watched the debate; the academy head praised Wang Gang for having a viewpoint and told Wen Zheng that the prefectural academy would visit in three days.

Wang Gang was maneuvered into a poetry contest with the prefectural school, where his calligraphy and poem impressed the crowd before he hurried away. Wang Zhong told him that Gongye Qian had been gravely wounded.

• Wang Gang greeted scholars from the prefectural school, while Shen Yu kept his distance because Wang Gang had rejected his family’s marriage proposal.
• Liu Mo enlisted Lin Zhen and proposed a poetry contest, then pushed for Wang Gang to represent the academy despite Wang Gang’s protests.
• Wang Gang noticed Wang Zhong waiting anxiously, but agreed to write a poem after Liu Mo blocked him.
• Wang Gang wrote a poem that drew praise, then declared that poetry could not set the world to rights and left.
• Wang Zhong told Wang Gang that Gongye Qian had been gravely wounded.

Wang Gang rushed to see the injured Gongye Qian, leaving the academy before its students and teachers could praise him in person for his poem. He arrived at Gongye Qian’s place and found Murong Bo and all four retainers there.

• Wang Gang hurried away with Wang Zhong in Old Li’s fast carriage after learning Gongye Qian had been injured.
• The academy students and prefectural school students praised Wang Gang’s poem, while Liu Mo and Shen Yu suspected he could not have written it himself.
• Lin Zhen admitted he could not match the poem, and the instructor and Wen Zheng praised its scope and style.
• Wen Zheng learned Wang Gang had left on urgent business, and Liu Mo held back his accusation after an academy student stepped on his foot.
• Wang Gang arrived where Gongye Qian was recuperating and found all four retainers and Murong Bo present.