Recaps

As merchants doubled food prices and residents turned to high-interest loans, Lady Lü ordered Zhou Huaili to rein in the shops. In Yi Prefecture City, Gu Moran accepted Yang Tie’s lavish donation for public repairs and schools, then insisted it be publicly recorded, leaving Yang Fugui uneasy about the gift’s purpose.

• Xu's Rice Shop raised prices, and a struggling burly man considered borrowing more money from Stable Loan to buy food for his sick mother.
• Lady Lü learned that city shops had doubled prices and told the matron to have Zhou Huaili stop them from going too far before the New Year.
• Liu Ruyan told Gu Moran that Yang Tie had cut off contact, fortified his residence, and brought in covered carriages after Chen Qing’s visit.
• Yang Tie sent Prince Yi’s Residence ten thousand taels of silver and a large quantity of timber and building materials.
• Gu Moran ordered the donation used for repairs in the southern shantytown, schools, and wind shelters, with its accounts posted publicly.
• Gu Moran told Yang Fugui that the donation would be publicized and asked whether Yang Tie had another purpose for sending it.

After hearing how Pu Yunshan had been humiliated and left in Yi Prefecture, Pu Qinghe decided to go there himself. The chapter ended with the temple master leaping from a cliff to descend the mountain.

• Gu Moran burned Yang Fugui’s visiting card and told Liu Ruyan to stop investigating the Yang residence for now.
• The eight deathsworn returned to Mount Qingcheng and told Pu Qinghe that Pu Yunshan was still in Yi Prefecture.
• The deathsworn recounted Pu Yunshan’s punishments, Zhao Wuxu’s death, and Gu Moran’s decision to release them with provisions and travel money.
• Pu Qinghe questioned the deathsworn about Gu Moran and grew angry that Pu Yunshan had been hauling night soil and carrying a pig.
• Pu Qinghe refused to send others or write a letter, took his sword, and leaped from the cliff to go see Pu Yunshan himself.

Pu Qinghe descended Mount Qingcheng to confront his son after learning Pu Yunshan had become a latrine worker in Yi Prefecture. He found Pu Yunshan at Public Latrine No. 12 and demanded an explanation, while Gu Moran prepared for the arrival of an unidentified expert.

• Pu Qinghe hurried down Mount Qingcheng toward Yi Prefecture after hearing that Pu Yunshan was working in the city’s alleys.
• Gu Moran tested his improved saber skills, then received a report that an unusually swift stranger was approaching Yi Prefecture.
• Gu Moran decided not to seal the city and told Xue Huan to let the stranger enter.
• Pu Yunshan finished work at Public Latrine No. 12 as Auntie Zhao asked him to help repair roofs the next day.
• Pu Qinghe arrived at the latrine, recognized Pu Yunshan, and stopped himself from striking him, cracking a wooden pillar instead.
• Pu Qinghe demanded to know why Pu Yunshan had become a latrine worker, and Pu Yunshan said his father had heard things incorrectly.

Pu Qinghe heard Pu Yunshan’s account of Yi Prefecture and went to meet Gu Moran, despite his son’s warning. Gu Moran recognized the first-rank grandmaster’s overwhelming strength and invited him inside, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Pu Yunshan told Pu Qinghe how Gu Moran had released the prisoners, concealed the Yun Clan’s disgrace, and punished him with night-soil hauling.
• Pu Yunshan described the improvements he had seen in Yi Prefecture, and Pu Qinghe decided to inspect Gu Moran for himself.
• Pu Qinghe hurried to the old princely residence while Pu Yunshan tried to explain what he had learned from his work.
• Gu Moran’s system warned him that Pu Qinghe was a first-rank grandmaster and identified him as Pu Yunshan’s father.
• Gu Moran went out to greet Pu Qinghe and invited him in for tea; Pu Qinghe asked why he would welcome him without knowing his purpose.

Gu Moran used a charred military token from the Liu Clan to win Pu Qinghe’s allegiance and secure Mount Qingcheng’s fighters and hidden assets for Yi Prefecture. Pu Qinghe also left his son Pu Yunshan in Gu Moran’s care to learn how to deal with the world.

• Pu Qinghe confronted Gu Moran over how Pu Yunshan had been humiliated, but Gu Moran showed him a charred military token from the Liu Clan.
• Pu Qinghe recognized the token, saluted Gu Moran as the young lord, and revealed Mount Qingcheng had guarded the Liu Clan’s hidden wealth and trade-route registers.
• Pu Qinghe pledged all 327 people of Mount Qingcheng to Gu Moran and promised to send the Liu Clan’s stores to Yi Prefecture in batches.
• Tuoba Mang and Auntie Zhao exposed Pu Yunshan’s humiliating chores, and Pu Qinghe questioned what his son had learned in Yi Prefecture.
• Pu Qinghe left Pu Yunshan with Gu Moran so he could gain experience and learn to judge people.

Gu Moran assigned Pu Yunshan to repair the Flower-Between Pavilion, intending for the sheltered young swordsman to learn how people could manipulate him. Pu Yunshan arrived at the brothel and clashed with its madam before Qin Hongxiu appeared at the railing.

• Pu Qinghe left Pu Yunshan in Gu Moran's care and returned to Mount Qingcheng, warning his son to raise the piglets properly.
• Gu Moran asked Liu Ruyan about the Flower-Between Pavilion's most manipulative courtesan, and she named Qin Hongxiu.
• Gu Moran sent Pu Yunshan to inspect and repair the pavilion's roof beams instead of continuing his work in the south of the city.
• Pu Yunshan arrived with his toolbox, endured the girls' teasing, and presented his work order to the dismissive madam.
• Qin Hongxiu appeared on the second-floor railing and looked over Pu Yunshan and his callused fingers.

Pu Yunshan repaired Qin Hongxiu’s beam and roof at the Flower-Between Pavilion, then split firewood after noticing she had little charcoal. As he worked, Qin Hongxiu praised his skills and asked about Mount Qingcheng, ending by saying she admired his young lord’s literary talent and hoped to meet him.

• Qin Hongxiu invited Pu Yunshan upstairs to inspect the creaking beam despite the madam’s objections.
• Pu Yunshan found damp damage in the beam, replaced its wooden wedge, and finished the repair while Qin Hongxiu praised his martial skills.
• Pu Yunshan repaired two loose roof tiles after Qin Hongxiu asked him to check the roof.
• Qin Hongxiu brought Pu Yunshan a brazier, and he noticed her thin clothes and the lack of good charcoal.
• Pu Yunshan split the pavilion’s firewood and told Qin Hongxiu that he had learned to chop wood on Mount Qingcheng.
• Qin Hongxiu said she admired her young lord’s literary talent and hoped to meet him.

Pu Yunshan spent far longer than planned repairing things at the Flower-Between Pavilion after Qin Hongxiu drew him into helping her. When he tried to leave, her account of her life softened his anger, and he refused the money she offered, insisting that her earnings were no dirtier than anyone else’s.

• Pu Yunshan repaired Qin Hongxiu’s bed, hung a lantern on the pavilion’s roof, and took care of several other chores.
• Pu Yunshan realized he had spent half a day doing extra work and told Qin Hongxiu that the other jobs had not been part of his assignment.
• Qin Hongxiu apologized and explained that she had come to the pavilion to support her younger brother after her parents died, and that she had mistaken Pu Yunshan’s willingness to help for permission to order him around.
• Pu Yunshan told Qin Hongxiu he did not look down on her and defended her honesty, though he still criticized the Flower-Between Pavilion.
• Qin Hongxiu offered Pu Yunshan a pouch of money to buy clean clothes, but he refused it and said her money was no different from anyone else’s.

Pu Yunshan returned to the Flower-Between Pavilion after promising Qin Hongxiu he would help with its repairs and heavy work, while Gu Moran arranged another work order to push him back there. The chapter ended with Pu Yunshan arriving again, now recognized by the pavilion’s women as its roof fixer and woodcutter.

• Pu Yunshan gave Qin Hongxiu silver, offered to help with repairs and protect her, and left after she wished him a peaceful new year.
• Qin Hongxiu told her maid not to hire a woodcutter and arranged for the courtyard’s firewood to be left for someone to split.
• Pu Yunshan returned to his home, where Tuoba Mang noticed Qin Hongxiu’s fragrance on him and was forbidden from visiting the pavilion.
• Auntie Zhao learned Pu Yunshan had split firewood, and Uncle Fu delivered Qin Hongxiu’s new repair order on Gu Moran’s instructions.
• Gu Moran laughed with Liu Ruyan about sending Pu Yunshan back to the pavilion, and Pu Yunshan changed into fine clothes before going.
• The Flower-Between Pavilion’s women recognized Pu Yunshan when he arrived, and the madam greeted him warmly.

Pu Yunshan repaired Qin Hongxiu’s room, accepted her red cord, and agreed to return the next day, leaving her pleased and himself delighted. At Prince An’s Residence, Chen Qing presented Gu Mochen with untested pills, and Gu Mochen prepared to take one despite Zhou Huaili’s warning.

• Pu Yunshan repaired Qin Hongxiu’s window, water jar, and lamp bracket while she flirted with him and offered him wine.
• Pu Yunshan drove off the drunken Shopkeeper Zhou when he tried to shove him, then accepted Qin Hongxiu’s red cord and agreed to return to inspect the creaking floor.
• Qin Hongxiu told her maid to pull up any two floorboards so Pu Yunshan would have a reason to visit again.
• Chen Qing brought Gu Mochen six pills he claimed Yang Tie had made to counter Prince Yi’s sinister arts.
• Zhou Huaili warned Gu Mochen that the pills were untested, but Gu Mochen rejected the warning and picked one up.

Gu Mochen’s attempt to visit a porridge shelter ended in a public, bizarre outburst after he took Chen Qing’s pill. In Yi Prefecture, Pu Yunshan arrived at the Flower-Between Pavilion with Gu Moran’s five-hundred-tael advance and found Qin Hongxiu being pressed to repay her brother’s debt to the Caoyun Gang.

• Gu Mochen took Chen Qing’s pill and went to the porridge shelter to show the people of Anyang that he cared for them.
• At the shelter, Gu Mochen became feverish, charged toward a young woman, and had to be restrained and dragged into his carriage as onlookers watched.
• Pu Yunshan arrived at the Flower-Between Pavilion wearing the new clothes Gu Moran had sent him and carrying a five-hundred-tael banknote.
• Pu Yunshan found Master Ma demanding that Qin Hongxiu repay her brother’s five-hundred-tael debt to the Caoyun Gang.
• Pu Yunshan asked for the IOU, but Qin Hongxiu warned him not to intervene because the Caoyun Gang controlled Central Shu’s waterways.

Pu Yunshan gave Qin Hongxiu five hundred taels to make Master Ma and the Caoyun Gang leave, then stayed to comfort her and promised to help with her brother’s debts. Gu Moran watched from a private room and ordered another rush job for Pu Yunshan, leaving him unaware that he was being drawn into further trouble.

• Pu Yunshan threw Master Ma a five-hundred-tael banknote and drove the Caoyun Gang men away from Qin Hongxiu.
• Qin Hongxiu thanked Pu Yunshan, urged him to leave, and asked him not to spend more money on her.
• Pu Yunshan learned from the madam that Qin Hongxiu’s brother gambled, drank, and fled his debts, then waited outside Qin Hongxiu’s room before going home.
• Gu Moran and Liu Ruyan discussed how Qin Hongxiu had arranged the confrontation and whether Pu Yunshan might challenge the Caoyun Gang.
• Gu Moran told Uncle Fu to place another rush order for repairs at the Flower-Between Pavilion, requesting Pu Yunshan by name.

Pu Yunshan learned that Qin Hongxiu had pawned her jewelry and signed a binding three-year contract to repay his five hundred taels. When the madam tried to force Qin Hongxiu to entertain Squire Li, Pu Yunshan intervened and declared his identity as the young master of Mount Qingcheng.

• Pu Yunshan repaired the Flower-Between Pavilion’s stairs despite the madam’s complaints and remembered why he had given Qin Hongxiu the five hundred taels.
• Qin Hongxiu returned the money, explaining that she had pawned her jewelry and signed a binding three-year contract to settle the debt.
• Pu Yunshan tried to help Qin Hongxiu up after she knelt to thank him for saving her.
• The madam ordered Qin Hongxiu to drink with Squire Li, and Qin Hongxiu agreed to go that night.
• Pu Yunshan shielded Qin Hongxiu, threatened anyone who forced her, and announced that he was the young master of Mount Qingcheng.

Pu Yunshan learned that Qin Hongxiu’s lifetime contract could only be broken by buying her freedom, and he promised to do so despite having no money with him. The chapter ended with Qin Hongxiu questioning his offer.

• Pu Yunshan gave Qin Hongxiu a banknote to keep, then agreed to work at the Flower-Between Pavilion after the madam demanded he pay to free her.
• Pu Yunshan chopped wood, carried water, and accepted more repair work while asking a kitchen maid about Squire Li and Qin Hongxiu’s contract.
• The maid told Pu Yunshan that Qin Hongxiu’s freedom would cost at least a thousand taels, and he worried about how to get the money without asking his father.
• Pu Yunshan visited Qin Hongxiu in the music room and promised to buy her freedom, leaving her stunned.

Pu Yunshan learned that Master Wei had come to force Qin Hongxiu to entertain him, despite her irrevocable bond to the Flower-Between Pavilion. When Qin Hongxiu considered cutting off her hair to escape, Pu Yunshan left to borrow money to help her.

• Pu Yunshan promised Qin Hongxiu he would earn the thousand taels needed to resolve her situation, and she treated the wounds on his hands.
• Master Wei arrived at the Flower-Between Pavilion, paid a deposit, and demanded that Qin Hongxiu attend him.
• A maid told Pu Yunshan that Master Wei had tormented other courtesans and that Qin Hongxiu would rather cut off her hair than go with him.
• Pu Yunshan found Qin Hongxiu holding scissors and learned the madam claimed her bond left her no choice.
• Qin Hongxiu warned Pu Yunshan that he could not protect her every night, and he left to borrow money.

Pu Yunshan urgently borrowed a thousand taels from Gu Moran and signed a five-year work contract without asking what duties it required. After Pu Yunshan rushed off to the Flower-Between Pavilion, Gu Moran learned that his luck had fallen to rock bottom and received several new rewards from the system.

• Batuer tried to hide that she missed Chen Qing, while Murong Xue teased her about going to Anyang to find him.
• Pu Yunshan barged into Gu Moran's chamber and asked to borrow a thousand taels.
• Gu Moran offered Pu Yunshan the money in exchange for five years of unpaid work, and Pu Yunshan quickly signed the contract with his thumbprint.
• The system reported that Pu Yunshan's destiny line had deviated and his luck had reached rock bottom, rewarding Gu Moran with blueprints and techniques.
• Pu Yunshan took the money and hurried to the Flower-Between Pavilion, so Gu Moran told Song Wan to watch him from a distance.

Pu Yunshan bought Qin Hongxiu’s freedom at the Flower-Between Pavilion and tore up her binding contract. Qin Hongxiu struggled to understand his kindness, while Pu Yunshan blushed when she began to unfasten her robe.

• Master Wei demanded that Qin Hongxiu receive him, but Pu Yunshan arrived and offered the madam one thousand taels for her binding contract.
• Pu Yunshan confronted Master Wei and declared that Qin Hongxiu would never receive guests again.
• The madam handed Pu Yunshan Qin Hongxiu’s binding contract, and Master Wei backed down rather than fight him.
• Pu Yunshan went to Qin Hongxiu’s room and tore up the contract, telling her she was free.
• Qin Hongxiu recalled how a scholar had once deceived her and began to question Pu Yunshan’s motives.
• When Qin Hongxiu touched her collar and started undoing a button, Pu Yunshan blushed and asked what she was doing.

Pu Yunshan gave Qin Hongxiu his Mount Qingcheng sword tassel as a pledge to marry her after five years, and she broke down at his kindness. In Anyang, Gu Mochen had Chen Qing beaten over the woman he chased through the crowd and demanded to know what Chen Qing had given him.

• Pu Yunshan gave Qin Hongxiu his sword tassel, promised to marry her properly after five years, and said she could refuse him or leave freely.
• Qin Hongxiu called Pu Yunshan by his name for the first time and cried as he explained why he had helped her.
• Pu Yunshan went to get charcoal for Qin Hongxiu, then confronted the madam and demanded she provide it for someone in the prince's household.
• Gu Mochen, furious over the public scene at the South Street porridge stall, ordered his guards to beat Chen Qing in the dungeon.
• Gu Mochen asked Chen Qing what the item he had given him was.

Chen Qing endured a beating from Gu Mochen after the medicine caused a public scandal, while urging him to prepare for the threat from Yi Prefecture and Gu Moran. At the old princely residence, Qin Hongxiu saw Pu Yunshan working on the wall and hesitated to return his sword tassel and ask for his contract to be canceled, before Liu Ruyan confronted her.

• Gu Mochen rejected Chen Qing's explanation for the medicine's effects and ordered him beaten while Zhou Huaili warned that rumors from South Street were spreading.
• Chen Qing urged Gu Mochen to take Yi Prefecture's growing power seriously, and Gu Mochen ordered Yang Tie to send all his medicine to Anyang.
• Chen Qing endured the full beating while holding a scrap of cloth that reminded him of Batuer and his wish to return to Yi Prefecture.
• Qin Hongxiu watched Pu Yunshan labor on the residence's damaged wall and reconsidered returning his sword tassel and canceling his five-year contract.
• Liu Ruyan appeared behind Qin Hongxiu and asked whether she had come to see Gu Moran.

Liu Ruyan helped Qin Hongxiu confront her fear that Pu Yunshan would eventually reject her, and Gu Moran proposed opening a foot care hall that would employ older courtesans in skilled, voluntary work. He named the planned shop the Yi Prefecture Foot Care Hall.

• Liu Ruyan challenged Qin Hongxiu's plan to return to the Flower-Between Pavilion and explained that Qin feared Pu Yunshan would tire of her as she aged.
• Qin Hongxiu described how older courtesans were discarded, and admitted she would rather leave Pu Yunshan than risk his future disgust.
• Gu Moran asked whether older courtesans knew massage, acupressure, and how to read customers, then proposed opening a shop for them.
• Gu Moran described a business offering medicinal baths, massages, and prepaid membership deals to traveling merchants and other customers.
• Gu Moran promised that women who chose to work there would have lodging and wages, and named the shop the Yi Prefecture Foot Care Hall.

Gu Moran offered Qin Hongxiu work at a foot care parlor, while Qin worried that Pu Yunshan had signed a five-year contract for her sake. Pu Yunshan misunderstood the job as something indecent, but Gu Moran brought him to try a foot soak and massage, leaving Qin poised to treat his sore feet.

• Gu Moran offered Qin Hongxiu work at a foot care parlor and told her to stop deciding for Pu Yunshan whether she was worthy of him.
• Pu Yunshan saw Qin Hongxiu's reddened eyes, assumed Gu Moran had mistreated her, and protested that he would take any dirty work instead of letting her be harmed.
• Gu Moran explained the parlor's services, then invited Pu Yunshan to try a foot soak after his morning of heavy labor.
• Pu Yunshan soaked his blistered feet in hot water, and Gu Moran told Qin Hongxiu to massage them.
• Pu Yunshan tried to refuse Qin Hongxiu's touch, and she reminded him that he had said he did not look down on her.

Gu Moran arranged for Qin Hongxiu to manage a foot-care parlor that would offer honest work to women from the Flower-Between Pavilion and gather local intelligence. As Pu Yunshan rushed to ask Gu Moran about Qin Hongxiu returning his sword tassel, urgent news arrived that the Emperor had suffered a severe stroke and could barely write.

• Qin Hongxiu massaged Pu Yunshan’s sore feet while Gu Moran explained that the foot-care parlor would provide legitimate work and gather information from its customers.
• Qin Hongxiu agreed to try managing the business, and Gu Moran assigned her recruitment and management while Liu Ruyan, Su Yao, Shen Ling'er, and Pu Yunshan took on other tasks.
• After the others left, Qin Hongxiu served Pu Yunshan noodle soup and returned his jade sword tassel, but he refused to take it and ran to find Gu Moran.
• Uncle Fu brought Gu Moran urgent dispatches from the capital and Anyang and reported that the Emperor had awakened after a stroke with his right side limp and his speech and writing impaired.

Gu Moran learned that Anyang’s refugees were suffering as merchants raised prices amid Lady Lü’s failed charity scheme, and he arranged to sell supplies while recruiting workers to Yi Prefecture. As Qin Hongxiu prepared to lead women and children away from the Flower-Between Pavilion, Pu Yunshan guarded the exit in case the madam changed her mind.

• Gu Moran learned that Anyang’s grain and cloth prices had risen and refugees were receiving only thin porridge.
• Gu Moran ordered old grain and coarse cloth sent to Anyang at market prices and offered workers three-month contracts in Yi Prefecture, prioritizing blacksmiths.
• Pu Yunshan asked Gu Moran why Hongxiu had returned his sword tassel, and Gu Moran suggested she feared burdening him.
• Gu Moran reassured Xie Wanqing that he did not understand every girl’s thoughts and drew her into his arms.
• Qin Hongxiu gathered women and children outside the Flower-Between Pavilion to leave for Yi Prefecture while Pu Yunshan guarded the back door against a possible attempt to detain them.

Pu Yunshan and Liu Ruyan arranged for the Flower-Between Pavilion courtesans to begin new lives working at the Foot Care Hall. Qin Hongxiu voiced her fears about marrying Pu Yunshan, but he refused to take back his sword tassel, and they shared a meal together.

• The madam tearfully sent the courtesans to the Foot Care Hall, where Liu Ruyan offered contracts with wages, food, and lodging.
• Pu Yunshan guarded the group and accepted a food box from Qin Hongxiu, who told him she feared his family and sect would judge her past.
• Pu Yunshan refused to take back the sword tassel and promised to wait as long as Qin Hongxiu needed.
• Qin Hongxiu put the tassel away, then sat with Pu Yunshan to share noodle soup and osmanthus cakes.
• Liu Ruyan watched the pair and left them together while Tuoba Mang drove the courtesans away.

The emperor tried to summon Prince An, but Chancellor Su Wenyuan and the ministers claimed his garbled writing said “secure agriculture” and issued orders to stabilize the realm instead. The emperor raged helplessly and collapsed as Elder Shen rushed to support him.

• The emperor wrote two characters and Gao Fu understood them as a request to summon Prince An back to the capital.
• Su Wenyuan told the ministers the characters meant “secure agriculture,” and the minister of war agreed with his interpretation.
• The grand commandant backed Su Wenyuan, warning that Prince An’s return could provoke a struggle for power and bloodshed.
• Gao Fu concealed his understanding of the emperor’s wish and claimed the emperor was delighted that the ministers had grasped his intent.
• Su Wenyuan ordered preparations for spring plowing, grain inspections and relief, and restrictions preventing regional princes from leaving their fiefs or mobilizing troops.
• The emperor’s anger overwhelmed him, and Elder Shen called for help as the emperor collapsed onto the bedding.