Chapter Summaries

Meng Zhou infiltrated the Right Chancellor’s residence disguised as a bride to investigate Wang Junyang’s alleged abduction of A-Juan, but his plans collided with Chu Huaiyin, who was escaping with evidence from the Chancellor’s study. They hid together in the bridal chamber as guards burst in, leaving the guards stunned by their compromising appearance.

• Meng Zhou disguised himself as the bride after the real bride eloped with her lover, intending to investigate Wang Junyang and search for A-Juan.
• Chu Huaiyin stole crucial evidence from the Right Chancellor’s study, triggered a mechanism, and hid in Wang Junyang’s bridal chamber after knocking Wang Junyang unconscious.
• Meng Zhou recognized that Chu Huaiyin had brought the guards to the room and clung to his leg, asking him not to hurt an innocent person.
• Chu Huaiyin pulled Meng Zhou onto the bed and covered them both with the wedding quilt when guards reached the door.
• Meng Zhou arranged their robes and pressed Chu Huaiyin’s face against his chest as the guards burst in, mistaking their scene for an intimate encounter.

Meng Zhou escaped the Wang residence with Chu Huaiyin’s help and returned to the Meng household, where he ignored his family’s birthday gathering. The chapter recounts how the Meng family mistreated him and reveals the promise his dying mother made him swear to keep.

• Meng Zhou fooled the guards at the Wang residence with Chu Huaiyin, then let Chu Huaiyin carry him out and accepted his promise that Wang Junyang would release A-Juan.
• Meng Zhou gave Chu Huaiyin the false name Zhang Zhou and confirmed that he had performed the wedding bows with Wang Junyang, leaving Chu Huaiyin unsettled.
• Meng Zhou returned to the Meng residence during Madam Meng’s birthday gathering and ignored Meng Huaihan’s insults and thrown chopsticks.
• Meng Huaihan and Lady Zhou mocked Meng Zhou after he left, while Meng Fushan withdrew to his study.
• Meng Zhou recalled how Meng Fushan betrayed Jiang Yao, how Lady Zhou and Meng Huaihan mistreated him, and how the original Meng Zhou drowned after Meng Huaihan pushed him into a lake.
• Meng Zhou remembered Jiang Yao’s deathbed command that he take no concubines and enter no powerful household, though he still did not understand the second part.

Chu Huaiyin exposed Wang Junyang’s abduction of a commoner’s daughter and used the ensuing scandal to bring down Right Chancellor Wang over his role in cutting off military supplies. The second prince lost a key ally, Yan Xiang became right chancellor, and Meng Zhou resolved to avoid Chu Huaiyin until he understood him better.

• Chu Huaiyin ordered an investigation into Zhang Zhou and arranged for news of Lin Wan’s disappearance to spread through the capital.
• Chu Huaiyin intervened in the dispute among Right Chancellor Wang, Yan Xiang, and the vice minister of war, then ordered guards to search the Wang residence.
• Chu Huaiyin’s guards found an injured commoner’s daughter, and Wang Junyang exposed his own abuse before the gathered officials.
• Yan Xiang submitted evidence that Right Chancellor Wang had misappropriated military funds and cut off Chu Huaiyin’s provisions during a campaign.
• Emperor Tianyuan stripped Right Chancellor Wang of office and sentenced him to exile, promoted Yan Xiang, and punished the vice minister of war.
• Meng Zhou learned of Chu Huaiyin’s victory over his rivals and decided to keep a low profile.

Chu Huaiyin learned that the man who had deceived him was really named Meng Zhou, while Meng Zhou intervened when Jiang Xin was about to lose the Jiang family estate to a gambling house. The chapter left the estate’s fate unresolved, with Boss Huang agreeing to wait three days.

• Chu Huaiyin ordered Ji Yang to stop investigating Zhang Zhou, and Ji Yang realized Chu Huaiyin had repeatedly written an idiom meaning to deceive and falsify.
• Boss Huang demanded the Jiang family estate after Jiang Xin failed to repay a gambling debt of six thousand taels, and Jiang Xin tried to kill himself.
• Meng Zhou stopped Jiang Xin from striking the stone lion, while Chu Huaiyin recognized him and recalled that he had promised to protect him.
• Meng Zhou refused to repay Jiang Xin’s debt himself but argued that the gambling house needed the emperor’s permission to remove an imperially bestowed estate plaque.
• Boss Huang agreed to wait three more days before taking the plaque, and Meng Zhou watched him leave.

Meng Zhou borrowed seven thousand taels from Chu Huaiyin to save the Jiang family residence and then confronted Jiang Xin about his gambling and neglect of the household. He left after putting the residence in Uncle Liu's hands, while Jiang Xin resolved to rebuild the family and train hard.

• Meng Zhou asked Chu Huaiyin to keep his earlier appeal to the emperor confidential, and Chu Huaiyin offered him a loan in exchange for a promise to do one task if he failed to repay it within a year.
• Meng Zhou negotiated the loan up from six thousand to seven thousand taels and signed the agreement with Chu Huaiyin.
• Meng Zhou took Jiang Xin into the general's residence, woke him with a bucket of water, and defeated him in a martial arts match.
• Meng Zhou warned Jiang Xin to stop gambling and gave Uncle Liu five hundred taels to repair the residence, hire and train guards, and arrange medical care for the elderly servants.
• Meng Zhou told Jiang Xin to find him at the Court of Judicial Review if he needed help, and Jiang Xin vowed to restore the Jiang family and began training with a spear.

Meng Zhou investigated Tianjiu Casino and discovered its weapons did not match Great Wei’s regulations, then sent Chu Huaiyin an anonymous warning. He left the child he used as a messenger to enjoy Prince Huai’s lavish meal while he was left hungry outside.

• Meng Zhou disguised himself, won silver at Tianjiu Casino, then let Goatee take his visible winnings while he secretly kept some money and inspected the casino.
• Meng Zhou noticed the casino’s weapons violated Great Wei’s standards and wondered whether Prince Huai was connected to the gambling house.
• After hearing that Chu Huaiyin had paid for A-Juan’s medical care, Meng Zhou decided the casino’s weapons were more likely a threat to Prince Huai than part of his operation.
• Meng Zhou fed a hungry child, wrote a warning about the casino, and sent it to Chu Huaiyin through her under the alias Haruki Murakami.
• Chu Huaiyin received the message and treated the child to a meal at the Gathered Fragrance Restaurant while Meng Zhou watched and went hungry.

During Meng Fushan’s birthday banquet, Meng Zhou uncovered more about the gambling den’s connection to a pawnshop and prepared to investigate further, while Meng Huaihan plotted to ruin him. Meng Huaidao let his sister carry out the scheme, despite remembering his childhood promise to protect Meng Zhou.

• Lady Zhou ordered Meng Zhou kept away from the birthday guests, while Meng Huaihan hinted that they had a spectacle planned for him.
• Meng Zhou recalled how Boss Huang’s gambling den trapped debtors into pawning family heirlooms and recognized that the den’s prostitute wore the other half of his hairpin.
• At the banquet, Meng Huaihan fixated on Chu Huaiyin and later arranged to use a sick prostitute to frame Meng Zhou.
• Meng Huaidao confronted Meng Huaihan, but she persuaded him that Meng Zhou had wronged their family and claimed Miss Lin preferred Meng Zhou over him.
• Meng Huaidao remembered Jiang Yao’s kindness and his childhood promise to protect Meng Zhou, yet let Meng Huaihan lead the woman away.

Chu Huaiyin visited Meng Zhou’s neglected quarters, fed him, and protected him from Meng Huaihan’s attempted scheme. After a child summoned Chu Huaiyin to the rear gate, Meng Huaihan set her plan in motion and swallowed the remaining drug herself.

• Chu Huaiyin slipped past the guards into Meng Zhou’s courtyard, where he found Meng Zhou hiding his calligraphy practice and testing the food for poison.
• Chu Huaiyin killed a rat with a thrown brush, then coaxed the hungry Meng Zhou into eating by feeding him chilled cake.
• Meng Huaihan interrupted them, pretended to care for Meng Zhou, and left after Chu Huaiyin’s displeased reaction frightened her.
• Chu Huaiyin told Meng Zhou to wait no more than three months, then left after a servant reported that a child was asking for him at the rear gate.
• Meng Huaihan revealed that she had planned to drug Meng Zhou and lure someone into his room, then arranged to draw Chu Huaiyin away and swallowed the remaining medicinal powder herself.

Chu Huaiyin and Meng Zhou were drugged during Meng Huaihan’s scheme, and Chu Huaiyin returned in time to rescue Meng Zhou from a woman sent to his room. After Imperial Physician Wang said the drug could only be relieved, Chu Huaiyin and Meng Zhou gave in to their attraction, leaving Ji Yang to keep watch outside.

• Chu Huaiyin resisted the drug’s effects, kicked Meng Huaihan away, and went to find Meng Zhou while sending for Imperial Physician Wang.
• Meng Zhou recognized the woman at his door from a brothel and struggled to keep her out as the drug weakened him.
• Meng Zhou knocked over a vase to summon help, and Chu Huaiyin returned and carried him to safety.
• Imperial Physician Wang examined Meng Zhou and said the potent drug could only be relieved, while Ji Yang took the physician away.
• Meng Zhou asked Chu Huaiyin to help him, and the two gave in to their desire as Ji Yang moved the hidden guards farther away.

Meng Huaihan was caught with a brothel bouncer at the Meng residence, creating a scandal on Meng Fushan's birthday. After waking from their encounter, Meng Zhou asked Chu Huaiyin to take him in as a political aide, and Chu Huaiyin agreed to consider his abilities while ordering a shadow guard to watch over him.

• Lady Zhou separated Meng Huaihan from Wang Dafu and slapped her, while a guard revealed that Meng Huaihan had ordered the back gate left unguarded.
• Meng Fushan learned that Wang Dafu worked at the Thousand Reds House and announced that Meng Huaihan would marry him.
• Meng Zhou woke beside Chu Huaiyin after their encounter, insisted they had each gotten what they needed, and rejected any romantic expectations.
• Chu Huaiyin found papers showing Meng Zhou had investigated Jiang Xin's case and visited a gambling house, and Meng Zhou asked him to take him in as a future general or chancellor.
• Meng Zhou praised Chu Huaiyin's concern for the common people and promised to prove his ability; Chu Huaiyin warned him not to take risks.
• Chu Huaiyin told Ji Yang to have Ying Jiu watch Meng Zhou more closely and prevent him from putting himself in danger.

Meng Zhou investigated the Liu family after discovering that their weapons matched those at the gambling den, then found a burned scrap bearing part of a private seal. He left the chapter dining with Chu Huaiyin, still hungry and hiding the scrap that might connect the Liu family to the Zhou family.

• Meng Zhou overheard Lady Zhou admit that she had sent a midwife away and arranged to provoke Jiang Yao, hoping to kill her and her unborn child.
• Meng Zhou connected the Liu family's weapons to those at the gambling den and worried that Liu De's troops could threaten Chu Huaiyin.
• After Liu De died, Meng Zhou followed ashes from the Liu residence and found a burned scrap with part of a red seal on it.
• Meng Zhou tracked the scrap to Chu Huaiyin's sedan chair, deliberately bumped into it, and hid the paper before joining Chu Huaiyin for a meal.
• Meng Zhou eagerly ate the fish while Chu Huaiyin noticed his preference and wondered why he wanted to pick out the bones for him.

Chu Huaiyin arranged for Meng Zhou to receive prized fish after discovering how much he enjoyed eating them. Back at the Meng estate, Meng Zhou connected Lady Zhou’s family to Liu De and devised a plan to infiltrate the Liu Family’s funeral rites to find evidence.

• Chu Huaiyin ordered Ji Yang to have Chef Lin cook a Snow Spot for Meng Zhou every other day, and Ji Yang realized his lord was indulging Meng Zhou’s love of fish rather than preparing for a pregnancy.
• Meng Zhou accepted Chu Huaiyin’s offer of fish and returned to the Meng estate in high spirits, still wondering why Chu Huaiyin had protected him.
• After finding the side gate locked, Meng Zhou overheard Lady Zhou arranging a courtyard for her father, Zhou Hancai, and recognized part of his name on the charred seal.
• Meng Zhou linked the Zhou Family’s rise five years earlier with Prince Huai’s missing military funds, Liu De’s return to power, and the spread of illicit weapons.
• With Liu Hongbao likely to burn the letters after Liu De’s seventh day of mourning, Meng Zhou decided to shave his head, pose as a young monk, and search the Liu Family’s study and bedroom.

Meng Zhou tried to enter Guang'en Temple so he could investigate the Liu family’s funeral rites and seek retribution for their victims, but Chu Huaiyin stopped him from becoming a monk. The chapter ended with Meng Zhou abandoning his pretense of indifference when Ji Yang arrived with grilled fish.

• Meng Zhou visited Guang'en Temple and asked the abbot to accept him as a monk, claiming he had suffered a crisis and had no attachments.
• The abbot refused at first, so Meng Zhou challenged him over the temple’s plan to conduct rites for Liu De despite the Liu family’s crimes.
• The abbot agreed to tonsure Meng Zhou, but Chu Huaiyin arrived and pulled him away, citing Meng Zhou’s debt of seven thousand taels of silver.
• Chu Huaiyin asked Meng Zhou why he wanted to become a monk, but Meng Zhou dismissed it as a passing whim.
• Ji Yang brought two plates of grilled fish, and Meng Zhou followed their smell to him despite pretending to be indifferent.

Chu Huaiyin persuaded Meng Zhou to give up becoming a monk, then showed him a stone called “Buddhist Affinity.” Meng Zhou went to Clear Void Daoist Temple to infiltrate the Liu family’s funeral rites, where Liu Hongbao noticed him and began to lust after him.

• Chu Huaiyin stopped Meng Zhou from eating grilled fish and threatened him with punishment if he became a monk, so Meng Zhou abandoned the idea.
• Ji Yang told Meng Zhou where to buy the grilled fish, and Chu Huaiyin invited him into Prince Huai's Residence to view a stone.
• Chu Huaiyin called the stone “Buddhist Affinity” and told Meng Zhou that he had no affinity with the Buddha.
• Meng Zhou rode to Clear Void Daoist Temple and persuaded Daoist Master Xiuming to let him join the Daoists infiltrating the Liu family’s funeral rites.
• Liu Hongbao spotted Meng Zhou among the Daoists and secretly signaled the steward as his lustful intentions surfaced.

Meng Zhou stole three letters from the Liu residence but was forced to stay behind, so he escaped disguised as a servant. Chu Huaiyin rescued him from the estate, then later brought the sleeping Meng Zhou back to the Liu residence.

• Meng Zhou slipped three letters signed by the Zhou family into his pouch while his eldest senior brother distracted the guards.
• The Liu steward ordered Meng Zhou to stay and keep vigil with Liu Hongbao, and Meng Zhou secretly gave the letters to his eldest senior brother to deliver to Prince Huai if he failed to return.
• Meng Zhou feigned illness, knocked out a servant boy, stole his clothes, and escaped from the privy as the Liu household raised the alarm.
• Meng Zhou tried to flee through the garden by way of a dark pond, but Chu Huaiyin caught him and carried him out of the Liu residence.
• Chu Huaiyin scolded Meng Zhou for risking his life, and Meng Zhou thanked him for the rescue.
• After Meng Zhou fell asleep at home, Chu Huaiyin woke him, soothed him back to sleep, and brought him to the Liu residence; Meng Zhou awoke there.

Chu Huaiyin took Meng Zhou to the Liu residence’s pond, where crocodiles nearly attacked them, and made him swear not to risk himself without permission. The next morning, Meng Zhou woke to an attentive breakfast from Chu Huaiyin’s servants, while Ji Yang insisted that Prince Huai treated all his trusted aides extremely well.

• Chu Huaiyin carried Meng Zhou to the pond, lit a lantern, and revealed the crocodiles gathered beneath the water.
• Chu Huaiyin demanded that Meng Zhou promise not to put himself in danger without permission, and Meng Zhou sincerely swore he would obey.
• A crocodile lunged at them, but Chu Huaiyin kicked it back into the lake, and the night patrol mistook the disturbance for a waterbird being eaten.
• Chu Huaiyin carried Meng Zhou back to his room, then laid the sleeping Meng Zhou on his bed.
• Ji Yang brought Meng Zhou fish congee and explained that another hidden guard would attend to him from then on.
• Meng Zhou asked whether Prince Huai treated all his trusted aides so generously, and Ji Yang emphatically said yes.

Meng Zhou uncovered evidence that the Liu family had secretly kept Mount Chongling’s iron mines operating and used a ghost-soldier legend to conceal the disappearance of laborers. Chu Huaiyin agreed the matter needed investigation but warned Meng Zhou not to rush to judgment, leaving their next move unresolved.

• Ji Yang told Meng Zhou that all three letters mentioned Mount Chongling, where Prince Huai had sent men to investigate.
• Meng Zhou found a case file about villagers being forced into Startled Horse Trough during supposed ghost-soldier incidents and brought its hidden contents to Chu Huaiyin.
• Meng Zhou deduced that officials had concealed the active iron mines and that missing villagers had been used as smelting laborers, while the Zhou family’s caravans might have carried weapons.
• Liu Hongbao arrived with an imperial decree requisitioning the Jiang family’s training grounds, but Chu Huaiyin sent him away before he could approach Meng Zhou.
• Chu Huaiyin cautioned Meng Zhou that the evidence needed to be verified in person before they accused the Liu family or mobilized troops.

Chu Huaiyin planned a troop deployment to Mount Chongling while telling Meng Zhou to keep away from Liu Hongbao, and Meng Zhou later learned about Guan Jiasheng's family troubles. After noticing the resemblance between Guan Jiasheng's father and the boy he had adopted, Meng Zhou began to suspect the boy was actually his father’s son.

• Meng Zhou rejected the snow grouper, and Chu Huaiyin pinched his cheek before sharing the fish he had prepared for him.
• Chu Huaiyin ordered Ji Yang to mobilize troops and march to Mount Chongling, while warning Meng Zhou not to appear before Liu Hongbao until the Liu family matter was settled.
• Meng Zhou's appetite grew erratic, and he worried that he might be seriously ill.
• Jiang Liangzhe invited Meng Zhou to dinner and told him how Guan Jiasheng had left the capital after his father adopted a boy and caused discord in the family.
• Jiang Liangzhe noticed that Meng Zhou resembled Guan Jiasheng, and Meng Zhou later heard Guan Jiasheng's father promise the adopted boy A-Bao that the family estate would be his.
• Meng Zhou noticed that Guan Jiasheng's father and A-Bao shared the same build and narrow, triangular eyes, and suspected A-Bao was the father's biological son.

Meng Zhou uncovered the Zhou family's role in smuggling weapons and learned that he was capable of bearing children after Li Wenle revealed that he was pregnant. The chapter ended with Meng Zhou realizing the pregnancy might be Chu Huaiyin's and fearing the consequences of his secret.

• Chu Huaiyin trained the capital troops at the Jiang residence, and he carried cramping Meng Zhou in his arms while Meng Zhou asked about Ji Yang.
• Meng Zhou recognized a mark on the Zhou family's carts as the same one used by the gambling house, confirming that the family had brought weapons into the capital.
• Meng Huaihan attacked Meng Zhou, who confronted her about Lady Zhou's attempt to have his mother and him killed before his birth, and her outburst drew a crowd.
• Meng Zhou sold one of Chu Huaiyin's ginseng roots and gave another to Li Wenle, who invited him home for his birthday and examined him.
• Li Wenle told Meng Zhou and the nursemaid that Meng Zhou was pregnant, and the nursemaid revealed that Jiang Yao had concealed his ability to bear children.

After Li Wenle confirmed that Meng Zhou was pregnant, Meng Zhou decided to keep the pregnancy secret and planned to leave the capital when an opportunity arose. When Chu Huaiyin refused to let him travel to Shu Prefecture, Meng Zhou struggled to hide his reasons for insisting, leaving Chu Huaiyin suspicious.

• Li Wenle confirmed that Meng Zhou was pregnant and warned him to avoid anyone trained in medicine; Meng Zhou resolved not to tell Chu Huaiyin and considered escaping the capital to give birth.
• Meng Zhou brought the medicine packets Li Wenle had given him to the Jiang Clan residence, where he encountered Chu Huaiyin and pretended he had caught a chill.
• Chu Huaiyin explained that flooding and repeated robberies had disrupted grain deliveries to Shu Prefecture, and Meng Zhou volunteered to investigate the matter.
• Chu Huaiyin refused Meng Zhou's request to go to Shu Prefecture, while Meng Zhou tried to conceal his true reason for insisting and reacted nervously when Chu Huaiyin touched his abdomen.
• Chu Huaiyin demanded an honest explanation and reminded Meng Zhou of his oath, while Meng Zhou moved Chu Huaiyin's hand away from his belly.