Recaps

Yun Zhengze confronted Gu Moran about Yun Shuyue, but Gu Moran revealed that she had pledged a secret ledger as collateral for a share in his granary venture. He offered to return the ledger if Yun Zhengze helped carry out agricultural improvements in Yi Prefecture, leaving Yun Zhengze weighing whether to support him.

• Yun Zhengze asked Gu Moran to let him take Yun Shuyue home and discipline her, but Gu Moran said she had helped him.
• Gu Moran showed Yun Zhengze the Land of Abundance Granary Shareholding Agreement, which gave Yun Shuyue thirty percent non-contributory shares and listed a treasured ledger as collateral.
• Yun Zhengze recognized the ledger as the hidden half-volume of old salt-tax accounts and realized Gu Moran knew what it contained.
• Gu Moran asked Yun Zhengze to facilitate land allocations, timber and iron purchases, and favorable treatment during inspections for plans to improve terraced fields, waterwheels, and granaries.
• Gu Moran offered to return the ledger while keeping Yun Shuyue's shares in place, and Yun Zhengze considered the benefits of backing his agricultural plans.

Yun Zhengze agreed to cooperate with Gu Moran after learning that Yun Shuyue had become a major shareholder and was formally employed at the prince's estate. He left her there with a reminder to take her medicine, and Gu Moran comforted her with a hot roasted taro.

• Yun Zhengze accepted Gu Moran's offer to cooperate, then asked him to let Yun Shuyue return home.
• Su Yao and Xie Wanqing showed Yun Zhengze records proving Yun Shuyue's business shares and explained why she needed to remain at the estate.
• Gu Moran presented Yun Shuyue with a granary supervisor's appointment contract that included a one-hundred-thousand-tael early termination penalty, and she signed it.
• Yun Zhengze recognized that the contract protected Yun Shuyue and chose not to take her home, while signaling that he understood Gu Moran's intentions regarding the salt-tax ledger.
• Yun Zhengze left after telling Gu Moran to make sure Yun Shuyue took medicine for her old ankle injury, and Gu Moran gave her a hot roasted taro when she began to cry.

Yun Shuyue accepted a place and employment at Prince Yi's Residence, and Gu Moran reassured her that the residence needed her alive. Her devotion unlocked a deathsworn tag and rewarded Gu Moran with plans for a running-water and sewage system, which he began to draw.

• Yun Zhengze left the residence after Yun Shuyue signed an employment contract with Prince Yi's Residence.
• Gu Moran assigned Yun Shuyue a sunny courtyard and invited her to stay for dinner.
• Yun Shuyue pledged her service to Gu Moran, who told her to keep herself safe rather than risk her life.
• The system raised Yun Shuyue's affection to 70, unlocked her deathsworn tag, and gave Gu Moran blueprints for a filtered running-water and urban sewage system.
• Gu Moran began drawing the system's plans, and Yun Shuyue offered to pay for the sleeve she had crumpled.

Gu Moran designed a raised-water and filtration system for the princely estate, and Fang Bi realized it could supply clean water across Yi Prefecture City. The chapter ended with Gu Moran identifying the western foothills as the site for a reservoir and Fang Bi offering to secure the land approval.

• Gu Moran drew plans for a water tower, bamboo pipes, filtration, and drainage, while Shen Ling'er and the other women discussed using the system across the estate and city businesses.
• Fang Bi delivered the prefect's approval document and secretly studied Gu Moran's sketches while visiting the estate.
• Fang Bi recognized that the pipe network could use Yi Prefecture's terrain to filter and distribute water throughout the city.
• Fang Bi asked to run a pipe to the prefect's office and offered to pay for materials if the system worked.
• Gu Moran showed Fang Bi the reservoir site at the western foothills, and Fang Bi said the prefect could approve the land.

Gu Moran explained the water-pipeline construction to Fang Bi, who left with instructions to prepare the work. At Bluestone Ridge, Xue Huan urged his 108 men to consider leaving banditry and joining Prince Yi’s projects, but the chapter ended before they answered.

• Gu Moran taught Fang Bi how to layer sand, charcoal, and gravel for the pipeline and told him to have Commandant Zhen’s men prepare the bamboo pipes.
• Fang Bi left with Gu Moran’s notes and authorization, while Gu Moran told Uncle Fu that Si Renyou would visit the next day to see the complete pipeline plan.
• Xue Huan gathered his 108 men at Bluestone Ridge and showed them a Mixue Ice City leaflet, a storybook, and intelligence from Yi Prefecture City.
• Xue Huan described the Black Wind Stronghold bandits’ comfortable new lives at Prince Yi’s Residence and asked his men whether they wanted to remain on the mountain until they died.
• Xue Huan listed Prince Yi’s projects, including granaries, waterways, tea shops, agricultural administration, and planned roads, then asked what sort of lord Prince Yi was.

Xue Huan decided to leave Bluestone Ridge and pledge his band’s service to Prince Yi, bringing silver and captured bandits as gifts. He led 108 men toward Yi Prefecture City, intent on making a proper offer of service.

• Xue Huan persuaded his men to become security captains in Prince Yi’s service and offered silver and captured criminals as their pledge.
• Xue Huan gave those unwilling to leave the mountain the choice to depart with provisions and silver, while Song Wan led men to capture nearby bandits.
• At dawn, 108 men gathered at Bluestone Ridge with two chests of silver and twenty-two captives, including criminals identified with written notes.
• Xue Huan’s group set out for Yi Prefecture City, and merchants recognized and cursed some of the captives.
• As the city gate came into view, Xue Huan told Song Wan to keep the captives secured and prevent trouble in the streets.

Xue Huan brought 108 former soldiers, two chests of silver, and 22 captured bandits to Prince Yi's city to pledge their service. Gu Moran accepted Xue Huan's allegiance and considered putting the prisoners to work on road construction.

• Xue Huan presented his bronze token at the city gate and asked to enter with his former soldiers and prisoners.
• Fang Bi delivered Xue Huan's note to Gu Moran, who asked Shen Ling'er to summon Madam Su and Yun Shuyue.
• Gu Moran told Fang Bi to ask Commandant Zhen whether the captured bandits could join the road-building crew.
• Xue Huan offered his 108 men and the captured bandits to Gu Moran, declaring that they needed a lord who could use their abilities.
• Gu Moran used the Eye of Detection to assess Xue Huan's loyalty, then accepted his pledge.

Gu Moran assigned Xue Huan and his men to guard the roads linking Yi Prefecture’s granaries to the people, then led a team to begin building terraces and waterworks at Ten-Li Slope. Yun Shuyue struck a powerful spring while digging, soaking herself and startling everyone.

• Gu Moran ordered Xue Huan to guard every road from Yi Prefecture’s granaries to the people’s doorsteps, and Xue Huan and his men accepted the command.
• Si Renyou approved Gu Moran’s reservoir plans, and Gu Moran gave the credit for the project to the prefect.
• Gu Moran, Su Yao, Shen Ling'er, Yun Shuyue, Xue Huan, and the others began work on the terraces and waterworks at Ten-Li Slope.
• Yun Shuyue changed into practical clothes and chose to dig the steepest patch of hillside.
• Yun Shuyue’s hoe broke through to a high-pressure spring, drenching her as the workers exclaimed that she had dug one up.

Yun Shuyue helped uncover a powerful spring at Ten-Li Slope, while the Gan family planned to sabotage the new terraces and water network. She spotted their servants approaching at night, and Xue Huan’s men surrounded them, leaving the intruders in their hands.

• Gu Moran wrapped Yun Shuyue in his robe and cleaned the mud from her face after she was drenched by the newly opened spring, then ordered Xue Huan to direct its water into a storage ditch.
• Gan Lingmu concluded that the terraces and bamboo-pipe water network threatened the Gan family's control of water prices and ordered thirty-five servants to destroy them.
• Yun Shuyue kept watch from a tree near Ten-Li Slope and spotted the Gan family's servants approaching after midnight.
• Yun Shuyue signaled a hidden sentry, and Xue Huan led his men to surround the servants on the mountain path.
• Song Wan pointed out the compost pit, while Xue Huan told the captured intruders they could stay and reflect for the night.

Gu Mochen tried to copy a military spectacle from a booklet, while Xue Huan punished thirty-five Gan Family retainers by soaking them overnight in a compost pit. The retainers were pulled out at daybreak and told they would be kept at Ten-Li Slope to work on waterways and foundations.

• Xue Huan and Song Wan dumped thirty-five household retainers into the compost pit and kept them submerged overnight under orders from Gu Moran.
• Yun Shuyue asked whether to report the punishment, but Xue Huan said Gu Moran had already instructed them how to handle troublemakers.
• Gu Mochen arranged for eight soldiers to stack themselves on a horse, but they fell off, and the horse fled.
• Gu Mochen told the soldiers to practice stacking on grass first, while his adviser urged him to verify whether Prince Yi actually used the method.
• Xue Huan had Song Wan and his comrades haul the thirty-five retainers out of the pit at daybreak and told them they would help build waterways and foundations at Ten-Li Slope.
• The burly retainer protested that he and his men belonged to the Gan Family in Yi Prefecture.

Xue Huan forced the Gan Family’s thirty-five men to work at Ten-Li Slope after they sabotaged Prince Yi’s waterworks, while Yun Shuyue presented Gan Lingmu with a bill for the damage. Gan Lingmu paid the silver after learning the men had been assigned to the water affairs brigade and hearing Prince Yi’s warning against further interference.

• Xue Huan stopped a Gan Family man from refusing work and sent all thirty-five men to wash before they joined the construction crew.
• Yun Shuyue collected Xue Huan’s itemized bill for the damage at Ten-Li Slope and rode back to the city.
• Yun Shuyue presented the bill to Gan Lingmu and explained that his thirty-five men had sabotaged the waterworks.
• Yun Shuyue told Gan Lingmu that the thirty-five men had been assigned to the Yi Prefecture City Urban Management Water Affairs Brigade.
• Uncle Fu delivered Prince Yi’s warning to Gan Lingmu and said Prince Yi would remember any silver contributed to support the project.
• Gan Lingmu agreed to pay the twenty-three taels and six mace and ordered his steward to fetch the silver.

Yun Shuyue collected the exact payment from Gan Lingmu, while Gu Moran defused Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai's suspicions by explaining that he lent Yun Shuyue his robe. Chen Qing sent a report to Anyang, convinced that his new duties brought him closer to stripping Prince Yi of power, as Gu Mochen's soldiers failed to master a horse-stacking formation.

• Yun Shuyue counted the twenty-three taels and six mace from Gan Lingmu and left, prompting him to order his household to avoid Ten-Li Slope.
• Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai confronted Gu Moran about his missing outer robe, but he explained that he had lent it to Yun Shuyue while she kept watch at Ten-Li Slope.
• Chen Qing sent a detailed report to Anyang by carrier pigeon and assigned thirty-five Gan household servants to the Yi Prefecture City Urban Management Water Affairs Brigade.
• Gu Mochen watched his soldiers collapse while practicing the human-pyramid-on-a-horse formation and blamed their poor comprehension and lack of endurance.

Gu Mochen dismissed concerns about the Human Pyramid Formation and trusted Chen Qing’s report that Gu Moran was misusing laborers and governing poorly. As injured veterans continued practicing, Zhi Tianfeng obeyed the order but reminded them that they were soldiers, not acrobats.

• Gu Mochen ordered the injured Zhi Tianfeng to keep practicing the Human Pyramid Formation until the soldiers could stack eight men.
• Gu Mochen rejected his adviser’s doubts about Chen Qing’s assessment of Yi Prefecture and read a letter claiming Gu Moran forcibly conscripted laborers to build bathing pools for his six wives.
• Gu Mochen praised Chen Qing’s report and said the human pyramids would entertain the people and improve his standing in Anyang City.
• The adviser praised Gu Mochen despite fearing the plan would backfire, then left the platform.
• Zhi Tianfeng told the injured soldiers they had to obey the order, but reminded them that they were soldiers, not acrobats.

Gu Moli persuaded the emperor to delay choosing a husband for her, then told Noble Consort Chen she had arranged to use seven women resembling her mother to secretly weaken the emperor. She left the plan in motion as she returned to her palace.

• The emperor told Gu Moli that several ministers wanted their sons to seek her hand, but she wept and convinced him to postpone her marriage.
• Gu Moli went to Hanzhang Hall, where Noble Consort Chen was pretending to be ill to avoid suspicion while Gu Moli's elder brother was away in Yi Prefecture.
• Gu Moli revealed that she had trained seven women who resembled Noble Consort Chen to imitate her habits and serve among the emperor's attendants.
• Gu Moli said the women would quietly exhaust the emperor, and Noble Consort Chen remained silent rather than stop her.
• Gu Moli told Qingwu that the arrangements were complete and headed back to her palace.

Chu Tianxing praised Prince Yi’s imperial bearing while making dangerous claims about the emperor and crown prince, prompting Elder Shen to warn him to stay silent. At Yi Prefecture, Gu Moran repeatedly sneezed as he oversaw irrigation plans and heard about Chen Qing’s attention to Batuer.

• Chu Tianxing told Elder Shen that Prince Yi had the qualities of an emperor and suggested he be made crown prince, while also predicting the emperor and crown prince were in poor health.
• Elder Shen dragged Chu Tianxing into the Imperial Medical Bureau and warned him not to discuss the royal family’s health or succession.
• Gu Moran sneezed twice while discussing irrigation channels with Fang Bi outside Yi Prefecture City.
• Uncle Fu told Gu Moran that Mixue Ice City had opened another branch and that Chen Qing was bringing Batuer roast lamb every day.
• Gu Moran said Chen Qing was trying to impress Murong Xue and allowed him to continue, then sneezed again while reviewing affairs at Prince Yi’s Residence.

Gu Moran faced a month-long delay after the Ten-Li Slope canal crew found an unbreakable rock seam at Severed Dragon Ridge, and he considered making gunpowder despite his uncertainty about the formula and risks. His companions offered help with his health and the iron shortage, while Shen Ling'er asked to hear the formula so she could assist.

• Xue Huan delivered a report that the canal excavation had reached strange rock at Severed Dragon Ridge, where tools and ordinary methods had failed.
• Gu Moran considered using explosives but worried that his imperfect memory and lack of experience could endanger his workers.
• Uncle Fu mistook Gu Moran's coughing for a serious illness and alerted Prince Yi's Residence, bringing Shen Ling'er, Lin Qingdai, and Su Yao to his room.
• Gu Moran explained that the rock seam and a shortage of pig iron threatened the canal project, and Su Yao offered to source iron from Jiangnan within ten days.
• Gu Moran said he knew of a method more powerful than fire-setting and water-quenching but could not safely recall its formula, and Shen Ling'er offered to help with her pharmacology knowledge.

Gu Moli arranged for seven young women to enter the palace and attend to the emperor, intending to use them to end his life and avenge her mother. Meanwhile, Yun Shuyue worried about Gu Moran’s worsening health and realized she wanted to stay by his side, while Gu Moran told Su Yao he was still unsure about something.

• Gu Moli inspected seven young women at an estate outside the city and ordered them to enter the palace the next day, warning them to follow her instructions precisely.
• Gu Moli told Qingwu that the emperor’s health had improved and that the seven women’s attendance would bring his life to an end.
• Yun Shuyue washed Gu Moran’s robe and recalled how he had gently wiped mud from her face.
• Yun Shuyue worried that Gu Moran might not live more than a few years and decided she wanted to remain by his side, then fled to the kitchen to escape her thoughts.
• Gu Moran told Su Yao that he was still not confident about something.

After Yun Shuyue's feelings changed to romantic affection, Gu Moran received the Subduing Fire Thunder formula and prepared to test it as a way to blast through Severed Dragon Ridge. He mixed the ingredients with his trusted companions and planned a small test for the next day, but Shen Ling'er worried that it could injure someone.

• The system reported that Yun Shuyue had fallen in love with Gu Moran and rewarded him with steelmaking instructions and the Subduing Fire Thunder formula.
• Gu Moran ordered Shen Ling'er to gather saltpeter and sulfur, and sent Lin Qingdai to summon Xue Huan and Mu Lu for a meeting.
• Gu Moran told Su Yao that he could blast through the rock at Severed Dragon Ridge in less than seven days.
• Gu Moran explained the formula to Xue Huan and Mu Lu, then prepared a small jar of Subduing Fire Thunder for a test the next day.
• Shen Ling'er asked Gu Moran whether the explosive could hurt someone.

Gu Moran prepared to use the Hidden Fire Thunder to blast through Severed Dragon Ridge, while also studying a steelmaking method that could give Yi Prefecture its own forge. The blast shattered the ridge, astonishing the onlookers and leaving Chen Qing convinced Gu Moran had mastered witchcraft.

• Gu Moran confirmed that his illness had cleared and told everyone to keep a safe distance during the test.
• After the others left, Gu Moran reviewed the Hidden Fire Thunder formula and the steelmaking diagrams Yun Shuyue had provided, then ordered Uncle Fu to check the saltpeter and sulfur supplies.
• Gu Moran wrote a memorial of self-reproach in preparation for the commotion his plan would cause.
• At Ten-Li Slope, Gu Moran filled two jars, lit their fuses, and blasted a breach through Severed Dragon Ridge.
• Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, Master Gan, and the gathered craftsmen and magnates stared in shock as Gu Moran called the method blasting.
• Chen Qing decided to report that Gu Moran had used something like heavenly thunder to shatter a mountain and suspected witchcraft.

Gu Moran blasted open Severed Dragon Ridge and used a new furnace to produce iron harder than ordinary pig iron, while persuading Si Renyou to conceal his ambitions as failed alchemy. The chapter ended with Zhen Daijin inspecting the first forged implements and finding iron pots and thick kitchen knives instead of weapons.

• Shen Ling'er confirmed that the blasting had injured no one, and Gu Moran ordered the workers to clear the breach while Gan Lingmu watched him before leaving.
• Gu Moran completed a blast furnace at Ten-Li Slope, where Mu Lu tested iron more than twice as hard as their usual pig iron; the new iron picks sped up the work at Severed Dragon Ridge.
• Gu Moran showed Si Renyou an alchemical classic and a self-incriminating memorial, explaining the blast and the hard iron as accidental results of his attempts to make pills and save his life.
• Si Renyou accepted Gu Moran's cover story and arranged for the memorial to be delivered to the court.
• Zhen Daijin inspected the first forged implements at the smithy and found iron pots and thick kitchen knives, prompting him to ask Gu Moran whether he planned to open a restaurant in the army camp.

Gu Moran secretly repurposed iron pots and cleavers as military equipment and ordered Zhen Daijin to outfit trusted soldiers. Meanwhile, the emperor dismissed Gu Moran as a harmless failure, while Gu Mochen profited from turning his soldiers’ drills into a circus and ordered a more dangerous stunt.

• Gu Moran demonstrated that an iron pot could withstand a saber strike, then told Zhen Daijin to use the pots as helmets and refit cleavers into armor-breaking mo sabers for trusted soldiers.
• Zhen Daijin agreed to quietly replace the equipment of the Garrison Command’s core soldiers.
• In the capital, the emperor read Gu Moran’s memorial about blowing up a mountain while refining pills and dismissed him as useless, though he wondered whether to summon him back.
• In Anyang, Gu Mochen laughed at a secret report accusing Gu Moran of witchcraft and took satisfaction in believing it could lead to his death.
• Gu Mochen watched soldiers perform a paid circus act for commoners and calculated the profits, while his adviser warned that it degraded veterans and hurt military morale.
• Gu Mochen ordered the soldiers to attempt a four-tier human tower the next day despite the adviser’s concerns.

Gu Moran learned that Prince An was humiliating veteran soldiers in Anyang by forcing them to perform for paying crowds, and he promised Zhen Daijin he would avenge the insult while quietly recruiting those who hated their treatment. Five days later, Zhen Shizhong urged Zhi Tianfeng to leave the army as they suffered another degrading performance.

• At the canal, Yun Shuyue told Gu Moran that Zhao Wuxu was exploiting Lady Wang’s name to take benefits from merchants, and Gu Moran said he would let Zhao keep going until he fell.
• A messenger summoned Gu Moran to the old princely residence, where Zhen Daijin presented a letter describing Prince An’s exploitation and humiliation of Anyang’s veterans.
• Gu Moran promised to avenge the soldiers and told Zhen Daijin to let disgruntled veterans leave Anyang for Yi Prefecture; Zhen Daijin swore loyalty and drew his saber.
• Five days later, Zhi Tianfeng and Zhen Shizhong fell during a staged human-pyramid performance as spectators jeered and the herald announced their pay would be halved.
• Zhen Shizhong crawled to Zhi Tianfeng and urged him to trust him and stop being a soldier.

Zhi Tianfeng and eighty veterans escaped military service by taking a dangerous medicine that got them discharged for grave illness. In Yi Prefecture, Chisang planned to kidnap Gu Moran, while Gu Moran confronted Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai over their jealousy of Yun Shuyue.

• Zhi Tianfeng persuaded eighty soldiers to drink a medicinal brew that made them appear gravely ill, despite the risk of dying.
• Physicians diagnosed the soldiers with severe injuries, and the garrison commandant discharged all eighty; Zhi Tianfeng led them away in disguise.
• Chisang learned that Gu Moran was an invalid prince living in Yi Prefecture and ordered scouts to investigate the city's defenses and his residence.
• Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai questioned Gu Moran about Yun Shuyue, and Gu Moran briefly pulled both women close before telling them to stop wasting their abilities by watching her.
• Lin Qingdai asked whether Gu Moran thought she and Murong Xue were annoying him.

Gu Moran recruited eighty veterans from Anyang to expand Tailwind Express across Chuan-Shu, but the men arrived expecting weapons and a military mission. The chapter ended with Lin Qingdai explaining their delivery assignments and pay.

• Gu Moran ordered Murong Xue to manage Tailwind Express across Chuan-Shu and told Lin Qingdai to prepare a farm tool assembly plant at Ten-Li Slope.
• Eighty veterans from Anyang arrived at Prince Yi's Residence, hoping to serve Gu Moran as soldiers.
• Gu Moran welcomed the veterans and pointed them toward piles of Tailwind uniforms instead of weapons and armor.
• Murong Xue announced that the veterans were now employees of the Tailwind Express Brigade and explained their delivery work.
• Gu Moran promised performance-based earnings, and Lin Qingdai began outlining delivery rates based on distance and speed.

Gu Moran and Lin Qingdai put veterans to work as couriers, turning their military skills into fast deliveries for extra pay. After Zhi Tianfeng’s team raced across the countryside on mules, Gu Moran began testing infantrymen with heavy loads on a steep slope.

• Lin Qingdai offered veterans courier work with bonuses for speed and good reviews, and Zhi Tianfeng and Zhen Shizhong accepted an old man as a passenger delivery.
• Zhi Tianfeng assigned Chen Mo and the other riders urgent east-route orders, including hot cured pork for wealthy Master Zhang’s household.
• Zhen Shizhong, Chen Mo, and the veterans raced their mules along the roads and used coordinated maneuvers to pass a blocked mountain path without slowing down.
• Murong Xue paid Zhi Tianfeng’s team two and a half taels of silver for their deliveries and warned them not to exhaust the mules.
• Gu Moran gave infantrymen eighty-jin cage packs and ordered them to make three daily round trips up and down a steep slope for the Tongda Large and Heavy Goods Transport Factory.