Chapter Summaries

Yang Xiu gave Yue Niang the Ministry of Works activity records and urged her to help Cui Wan escape and take the paper to Second Young Master Chu to save Cui Wan's father. After discovering the message hidden in a pastry, Cui Wan realized Yue Niang had drugged the guards and fled toward A-Qi.

• The man threatened Yang Xiu and Cui Wan to force Yang Xiu to surrender the Ministry of Works activity records, then told her Cui Wan had been divorced by the Chu Family.
• Yang Xiu slipped the paper to Yue Niang and told her to get Cui Wan out and deliver the message to Second Young Master Chu so he could save Cui Wan's father.
• Yue Niang brought pastries to Cui Wan in the woodshed, secretly hid the paper inside one, and shared drugged pastries with the guards.
• Cui Wan found her mother's note, discovered Yue Niang and the guards unconscious, and escaped with the message hidden in her robe.
• Cui Wan ran away in the opposite direction, following her mother's instruction to return to A-Qi.

After learning that Cui Wan had escaped her father’s woodshed and disappeared in East Street, Chu Moqi searched for her despite his injuries. He rescued her from attackers, and she recognized him before fainting; he carried her away while refusing to let Cui Minghai take her.

• A Cui Family servant told Chu Moqi that Cui Wan had been locked in a woodshed, escaped, and vanished in East Street, so Chu Moqi ordered a search.
• Chu Moqi searched East Street with Yan Qin, Yan Huai, Changfeng, and Shadow Guard members, then confronted Cui Minghai and warned him to take responsibility if Wanwan was harmed.
• Chu Moqi and Yan Huai found Cui Wan being assaulted in a dilapidated house, and Chu Moqi killed the gang leader with a hidden weapon while the Shadow Guards seized the others.
• Chu Moqi covered Cui Wan with his cloak and comforted her until she recognized him as A-Qi, clung to him, and then fainted.
• Cui Minghai tried to claim Cui Wan, but Chu Moqi ordered him away and had the guards take Cui Wan back to the manor for a doctor.

After Cui Wan woke from her ordeal, Chu Moqi comforted her and reassured her that the papers from her mother were safe. He investigated the papers while pushing through severe injuries, then collapsed after ordering protection for Yang Xiu and Yue Niang and learning the attackers had all been killed.

• Cui Wan woke beside Chu Moqi, remembered her abduction, and clung to him as she cried.
• Cui Wan panicked over the two papers her mother had given her, and Chu Moqi told her Qiaoju had found them in her inner garment.
• Chu Moqi went to the study despite his worsening wounds and read Yang Xiu's papers, learning that the current Cui Minghai was an impostor and that an official record implicated him in a deadly waterworks disaster.
• Chu Moqi ordered Yan Qin to secretly protect Yang Xiu and Yue Niang and to watch Cui Minghai.
• Yan Huai told Chu Moqi that the men who attacked Cui Wan had all been killed, and Chu Moqi collapsed while clutching the papers.

After Cui Wan recovered enough to take her medicine, Chu Moqi went to the Censorate to accuse Cui Mingjiang and Cui Minghe of murder and impersonating an official. The court sent Chu Moqi and both defendants into custody pending a joint hearing, and Chu Moqi was carried from the hall in humiliating view of the crowd.

• Yan Huai treated Chu Moqi’s wounds, then told him Cui Wan had briefly woken and asked where he was.
• Chu Moqi visited Cui Wan, fed her medicine with candy, and told her to rely on Qiaoju or Changfeng while he was busy; Tang Xiang promised the Tang Family and the Marquis of Ningyang’s Residence would support him.
• Two days later, Chu Moqi arrived at the Censorate and formally accused Cui Mingjiang and Cui Minghe of conspiring to murder and impersonating an imperial official.
• Cui Mingjiang denied the charges, accused Chu Moqi of forcing his daughter into marriage, and claimed Chu Moqi had caused her to lose her chastity.
• Chu Moqi presented Yang Xiu’s statement and records of the Ministry of Works accident, while warning Cui Mingjiang to stay away from Wanwan.
• He Tan ordered Chu Moqi and both Cui brothers taken into custody for a joint hearing; Chu Moqi stopped Yan Qin from resisting and was carried out of court by bailiffs.

Chu Moqi was summoned from prison to meet Emperor Xiao Ling'an, who sentenced the Cui brothers but warned Chu Moqi against challenging the throne. After returning to Orchid Courtyard, Chu Moqi faced the humiliation of needing Yan Huai to clean him after nearly two days without care.

• Yan Huai lied to Cui Wan that he was massaging Chu Moqi's legs to keep her from discovering Chu Moqi was absent.
• He Tan told Chu Moqi that Xiao Ling'an wanted to see him and helped arrange for him to be carried to the audience.
• Xiao Ling'an made Chu Moqi kneel, then sentenced Eldest Cui and Third Cui to beheading and warned Chu Moqi to recognize the Marquis of Ningyang's diminished position.
• Yan Qin wheeled Chu Moqi back to Orchid Courtyard, where Chu Moqi stopped Yan Huai from fetching Cui Wan and asked to return to his room.
• Yan Huai discovered Chu Moqi had gone nearly two days without having his diaper changed and gently cleaned him while Chu Moqi trembled in silence.

Cui Wan watched Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang be executed, then learned that her mother Yang Xiu had taken her own life after her father’s wrong was avenged. As Chu Moqi supported her through the funeral, rumors about Cui Wan spread, and the chapter ended when he entered her room and saw something that made his pupils contract.

• Chu Moqi told Cui Wan that her father had likely died soon after being imprisoned and that Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang would be executed; Cui Wan decided to watch.
• Cui Wan visited her father’s unmarked burial place and watched Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang beheaded, while Changfeng struck down people spreading slander about Cui Wan.
• Yue Niang told Cui Wan that Yang Xiu had taken her own life, and Cui Wan returned to the Cui residence to find her mother dead and read her final letter.
• Cui Hong and Lady Li tried to drive Yang Xiu’s body out, but Chu Moqi arrived and took Cui Wan and her mother’s body back to the marquis’s residence.
• The marquis’s residence held Yang Xiu’s funeral while Cui Wan grieved, and rumors about her alleged assault spread through the city.
• Chu Moqi went to check on Cui Wan after she stopped eating and failed to answer him; he opened her door and froze at what he saw.

Chu Moqi saved Cui Wan from hanging herself and comforted her as she recovered, while she reassured him that she would keep trying to warm his feet. The chapter left them asleep together after Cui Wan sought comfort from a thunderstorm and a nightmare.

• Chu Moqi and Yan Qin rescued Cui Wan from hanging, and a doctor revived her after she nearly stopped breathing.
• Cui Wan told Chu Moqi that she had feared he would reject her after the East Street attack, and he reassured her that she was his wife and begged her not to harm herself again.
• Cui Wan gradually recovered while Chu Moqi stayed by her and began exercising harder to become stronger for her.
• During a thunderstorm, Cui Wan woke from a nightmare about East Street and asked to sleep beside Chu Moqi, who let her into his bed.
• Cui Wan pressed her warm feet against Chu Moqi's cold ones, and they both fell asleep together.

Cui Wan comforted Chu Moqi through his embarrassment and jealousy, then discovered him practicing how to stand on crutches. After he fell, she learned his legs were still numb and spasming, while Chu Moqi feared she would find him repulsive and useless.

• Cui Wan woke in Chu Moqi's arms, but he angrily covered himself when she saw his diaper, and Yan Huai revealed she had changed it for him during a fever.
• Chu Moqi searched the courtyard for Cui Wan and found her caring for a little girl named Nannan, whom he frightened by shouting.
• Cui Wan returned after taking Nannan home, and Chu Moqi complained that the child had called her big sister and him uncle before wheeling away in embarrassment.
• The next day, Cui Wan found Chu Moqi standing unsteadily on crutches in the study; he fell while trying to shield her from his weight.
• Cui Wan saw that Chu Moqi had strapped wooden slats to his numb legs for support, then undid them and offered to help him, while he feared she would reject him after seeing his spasms and smelling his incontinence.

Cui Wan discovered Chu Moqi practicing standing in the cloth shoes she had made, and he managed a small step before resting. Days later, Chu Moqi attempted to ride his horse to regain mobility and protect Wanwan, but a surge of traumatic memories forced Yan Qin and Yan Huai to carry him back.

• Cui Wan made soft blue-gray cloth shoes for Chu Moqi and found him practicing standing in them.
• Chu Moqi told Cui Wan he wanted to hold her while standing, and she embraced him before insisting he stop practicing for the day.
• Chu Moqi admitted his step had been only a small movement aided by wooden splints, while Cui Wan promised to wait for him to chase after her.
• Several days later, Chu Moqi went to the riding ground despite Yan Qin and Yan Huai warning him against riding, explaining that he wanted to protect Wanwan.
• Yan Qin and Yan Huai strapped Chu Moqi onto his horse, but after riding a short distance he was overcome by memories of his injury and began trembling.
• Yan Qin carried Chu Moqi back, and Chu Moqi told Yan Huai not to let Wanwan know about the attempt.

Tang Xiang confronted Li Yuezhou after he broke into the Marquis of Ningyang's Residence and tried to persuade her to leave with him. After he threatened the household and departed, she suspected someone was using him and resolved to warn A-Qi.

• Tang Xiang mourned Chu Molei by the window before Li Yuezhou suddenly entered her room and embraced her from behind.
• Li Yuezhou urged Tang Xiang to marry him or leave with him, while she rejected him and reaffirmed her loyalty to Chu Molei and the residence.
• Li Yuezhou suggested Tang Xiang loved her husband's younger brother, and Tang Xiang slapped him.
• Li Yuezhou revealed he had met Cui Wan and provoked Second Young Master Chu, then threatened to make Tang Xiang beg him if the residence fell.
• Li Yuezhou vanished into the night, and Tang Xiang concluded that someone was manipulating him and decided she had to tell A-Qi.