Recaps

After Su Yao thanked Xie Wanqing for reclaiming the marriage contract, Ye Qingyun tried to blame his loss on an expert from Prince Yi's Residence. Gu Moran turned the accusation into a joke, leaving Ye Qingyun unable to respond before Qian Muzhi called for order.

• Su Yao thanked Xie Wanqing for recovering the marriage contract and said she owed her one.
• Ye Qingyun conceded defeat but claimed he had lost to an expert from Prince Yi's Residence.
• Gu Moran mocked Ye Qingyun by pretending the accusation referred to him and joking about his literary talent.
• Ye Qingyun clarified that he had not meant Gu Moran, but Gu Moran dismissed him as a sore loser who had lost to his wife.
• Qian Muzhi stopped the laughter and began addressing the gathering.

Qian Muzhi judged Xie Wanqing the clear winner of the poetry contest and rebuked Ye Qingyun for questioning her talent, while Gu Moran learned that the Heavenly Dao’s correction force had grown more active. Ye Qingyun refused to leave the capital and turned to the mysterious bamboo slips, whose final line he read as the chapter ended.

• Qian Muzhi praised Xie Wanqing’s improvised verses, chastised Ye Qingyun for accusing her of cheating, and declared that literature had no first place but that she had shown greater grace.
• Gu Moran saw the system report Ye Qingyun’s failed highlight event and increased Heavenly Dao Correction Force activity, then arranged drinks for Xie Wanqing, Su Yao, and Shen Ling'er.
• Ye Qingyun returned the marriage contract to Su Wenyuan, said he would reclaim the Ye Clan’s dignity himself, and left after arguing about the Su Clan’s treatment of him.
• Gu Moran bet five hundred taels that Ye Qingyun would not make literary headlines, while predicting that he would appear in other headlines.
• Ye Qingyun told Shuhe he would stay in the capital, opened the bamboo tube, and examined the mysterious slips, focusing on the final line.

After Xie Wanqing won the poetry gathering against Ye Qingyun, the women of Prince Yi’s Residence reflected on her victory and Gu Moran’s role in putting her onstage. Xie Wanqing burned Gu Moran’s poems and chose to write in her own hand, while Lin Qingdai began reconsidering her view of His Highness.

• In the carriage, Shen Ling'er encouraged Xie Wanqing to accept her victory, and Xie admitted her linked verses were her own.
• Su Yao told Biyu that Ye Qingyun had chosen the poetry gathering to demand dignity and had lost more than his reputation as a poet.
• Xie Wanqing burned Gu Moran’s drafts and decided to write new poetry herself.
• Su Yao wrote “May my writing usher in an age of peace” and considered how Gu Moran had pushed Xie Wanqing onto the stage.
• Murong Xue admired how Xie Wanqing had silenced the crowd with verse, while Lin Qingdai condemned Ye Qingyun for using a woman’s past to raise his reputation.
• Lin Qingdai recalled Gu Moran’s warning to scholars and admitted she had once viewed His Highness as a wastrel who deserved a beating.

Liu Ruyan reflected on Gu Moran’s role in the poetry gathering, while Uncle Fu revealed that he had long seen through Gu Moran’s feigned drunkenness and remained loyal to him. Gu Moran received invitations from both the Crown Prince and his second brother for the same day and recognized that they now considered him a political wild card.

• Liu Ruyan declined to congratulate Xie Wanqing and concluded that Gu Moran was intriguing but dangerous.
• Uncle Fu described signs that several guests at the poetry gathering had betrayed their feelings through small gestures.
• Uncle Fu admitted that he knew Gu Moran was pretending to be drunk, and Gu Moran learned that Uncle Fu guarded his interests despite serving his mother consort.
• Gu Moran remembered Uncle Fu’s future death defending Prince Yi’s Residence and told him, “I trust you.”
• Gu Moran received same-day invitations from the Crown Prince’s Residence and the Second Prince’s Residence and called himself the capital’s wild card.

Gu Moran arranged to visit both the crown prince and the second prince, then received Su Yao at his bedchamber after she came with sweet soup and confronted him about secretly helping her. Their conversation turned intimate, and the chapter ended with Gu Moran carrying her to the couch and promising to reveal who wrote the poem the next morning.

• Gu Moran decided to visit the Eastern Palace first and go to the second prince's residence if the crown prince did not keep him for a meal.
• Su Yao knocked on Gu Moran's door late at night with a bowl of sweet soup and brought up the poetry gathering.
• Su Yao accused Gu Moran of arranging for Xie Wanqing to oppose Ye Qingyun and identified him as the author of the annotations in Strategies for Governing the State.
• Su Yao told Gu Moran she judged people by their hearts, citing his efforts on her behalf, and challenged him to push her away.
• Gu Moran drew Su Yao into his embrace, carried her to the couch, and said he would tell her who wrote the poem if she could still ask him the next morning.

After spending the night together, Gu Moran helped Su Yao return to Clear Frost Courtyard without being seen. He then learned that the Second Prince was using Zhou Wenyuan’s memorial to win Ye Qingyun’s goodwill, and concluded that the plan would not revive the ghostwriting accusation against Xie Wanqing.

• Su Yao woke sore beside Gu Moran, and the two traded teasing remarks as he helped her dress and leave by the west corridor.
• Gu Moran returned to his study, where Uncle Fu reported that Clear Frost Courtyard had requested hot water and medicine for sore throats and swelling.
• Uncle Fu gave Gu Moran a report that Zhou Wenyuan had written a memorial questioning the poetry gathering’s fairness, Xu Wenli’s page had entered the Second Prince’s residence, and Ye Qingyun’s bookboy Shuhe had visited an abandoned martial arts school.
• Gu Moran burned the report and explained that the Second Prince’s memorial would not stir up the ghostwriting issue because the censors would question Zhou Wenyuan’s grounds for challenging the Hanlin Academy’s judgment.
• Gu Moran told Uncle Fu that the Second Prince was seeking Ye Qingyun’s goodwill by appearing to defend him after his defeat, while Ye Qingyun already held a grudge against Gu Moran.

Gu Moran prepared for the crown prince to test his ambitions, then met Gu Moyuan in the Eastern Palace, where Gu Moyuan questioned the purpose of his six marriages. Gu Moran was asked to tell the truth, but the chapter ended before he answered.

• Gu Moran told Uncle Fu that Ye Qingyun would borrow the second prince’s influence, and he ordered him to watch Shuhe without interfering with Ye Qingyun.
• Gu Moran learned that Boss Zhao’s full name was Zhao Si and confirmed that Uncle Fu had already changed their code signals.
• Gu Moran went to the Eastern Palace and discussed Xie Wanqing’s poetry with Crown Prince Gu Moyuan, who suspected that someone had helped her.
• Gu Moyuan listed the six powerful connections tied to Gu Moran’s wives and asked why he had married them.
• Gu Moran hesitated, then asked whether Gu Moyuan truly wanted to hear the truth.

Gu Moran concealed his growing martial strength from Gu Moyuan by portraying himself as a carefree prince weakened by his wives’ medicinal tonics. Gu Moyuan’s suspicions eased, but Gu Moran’s system panel showed that the crown prince remained wary as Gu Moran left the Eastern Palace.

• Gu Moran told Gu Moyuan that marriage gave him powerful relatives, then complained that Shen Ling'er made him take bitter medicine three times a day.
• Gu Moyuan warned Gu Moran that others suspected his six marriages were part of a scheme and promised to protect him, while Gu Moran professed harmless ambitions and joked about drinking and watching geese.
• After Gu Moran left, Gu Moyuan asked Han Zheng what he had noticed, and Han Zheng reported that Gu Moran’s qi and blood had surged despite no signs of hard training.
• Gu Moyuan concluded that Shen Ling'er's medicines had strengthened Gu Moran and sent two tiger penises to Prince Yi's Residence as supplements.
• Gu Moran's smile vanished in his carriage, and his system panel showed Gu Moyuan's wariness at 59%, goodwill at 23%, and probing at 18%.

Gu Moran countered Zhou Wenyuan’s proposed poetry-gathering rules at a feast in the Second Prince’s Residence, then warned Gu Mochen that he would not tolerate Ye Qingyun using his wife. After learning Ye Qingyun was training and nearing a breakthrough, Gu Moran ordered an investigation into the martial arts schools and possible allies around him, as well as the Grand Commandant’s residence.

• Gu Moran rejected Zhou Wenyuan’s proposal to scrutinize poetry for ghostwriting by arguing that officials’ memorials should face the same scrutiny, and Feng Shouzheng ended the dispute.
• Gu Mochen privately urged Gu Moran not to push Ye Qingyun too hard, and Gu Moran replied that he was petty when someone used his wife as a stepping stone.
• The system reported that Ye Qingyun had left the Azure Cloud Inn, visited an abandoned martial arts school, reached the third level of cultivation, and could approach the sixth rank after a breakthrough.
• Uncle Fu told Gu Moran that Ye Qingyun had rented a courtyard in Shun'an Lane, was short of money, and was looking for a martial arts school.
• Gu Moran ordered Uncle Fu to watch Shun'an Lane, investigate southern martial arts schools and their financial or political connections, and look into the Grand Commandant’s residence.

Gu Moran prepared for the danger ahead by seeking out combat training and learned that Madam Lin and Murong Xue were skilled fighters. At the wives’ victory banquet, Liu Ruyan joined the others, and Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai nearly fought over the pork knuckle.

• Gu Moran asked Uncle Fu for brutal fighting techniques and sixth-rank death warriors, but learned that the strongest available fighters were already claimed or in the imperial palace.
• Uncle Fu advised Gu Moran to seek help from Madam Lin and Murong Xue, and told him Shen Ling'er was preparing a victory banquet for Xie Wanqing.
• Shen Ling'er arranged the feast and insisted the kitchen prepare Gu Moran’s favorite pork knuckle.
• Gu Moran gathered his wives for dinner; Lin Qingdai came despite claiming she was not hungry, and he sent for Liu Ruyan with the promise of crab roe tofu.
• Murong Xue drew her dagger to cut the pork knuckle, but Lin Qingdai blocked her with chopsticks, and the two argued over whether fighting over meat was proper.

At a lively dinner, Gu Moran’s wives grew closer and their favorability increased, while he learned that Ye Qingyun had gained a martial arts school backed by Zhou Wenyuan. Gu Moran planned to have Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai teach him martial arts and resolved to give Ye Qingyun a public stage in the capital.

• Gu Moran served food to his wives as they teased and bickered, and Xie Wanqing and Su Yao showed care for one another.
• Xie Wanqing became emotional over sharing a family meal, and the system reported favorability gains for the women at the table.
• Uncle Fu told Gu Moran that the Jizhou Chamber of Commerce had secretly bought and reopened a martial arts school for Ye Qingyun.
• Gu Moran decided not to disrupt Ye Qingyun’s training and instead planned to learn martial arts from Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai.
• Gu Moran resolved to let Ye Qingyun pursue fame while giving him another stage that the whole capital could see.

Gu Moran learned that Ye Qingyun’s bamboo-slip technique conflicted with orthodox martial arts and planned to exploit the danger by opening a rival school nearby. He arranged the school’s instructors, cover story, and free meals to attract Ye Qingyun’s attention, but had not yet explained why Ye Qingyun would leave his quiet training place.

• Gu Moran’s system confirmed that Ye Qingyun’s bamboo-slip technique circulated qi against the meridians and risked dangerous internal-energy circulation if practiced alongside orthodox martial arts for more than a month.
• Boss Zhao reported that the Shun'an Martial Arts School had been taken over with money linked to the Jizhou Chamber of Commerce and Zhou Wenyuan, and that Ye Qingyun was its sole practitioner.
• Gu Moran asked Boss Zhao to recruit trusted retired soldiers and three military martial-arts instructors, then chose the name Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School for a location two streets from Ye Qingyun.
• Gu Moran ordered the new school to offer a free first month, prioritize poor youths, and serve meat porridge, with Liu Laosan’s supposed vow to honor fallen comrades as its cover story.
• Gu Moran planned to attract Shuhe with open doors, free food, and visible martial training so he would tell Ye Qingyun about the school; Boss Zhao questioned why Ye Qingyun would switch from his secluded training place.

Gu Moran planned to draw Ye Qingyun to the Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School by making him wait and watch others train, then let him learn orthodox techniques alongside his wild boxing. The chapter left Boss Zhao understanding that Ye Qingyun’s impatience and mixed training could lead him to ruin without Gu Moran openly interfering.

• Gu Moran concluded that Ye Qingyun wanted an audience and someone to test his moves on after losing at poetry.
• Gu Moran ordered Boss Zhao to make Ye Qingyun queue for three days and have an instructor perform grounded military boxing nearby.
• Gu Moran instructed the school to let Ye Qingyun join and teach him every technique without holding back.
• Boss Zhao realized Gu Moran intended to let orthodox training clash with Ye Qingyun’s wild boxing and impatience.
• Gu Moran said the school would follow its posted rules and leave Ye Qingyun responsible for the consequences of his training.

Gu Moran arranged a charity scheme that kept Ye Qingyun waiting while explaining why Chancellor Su feared Ye’s ties to the Su Clan and Prince Yi’s Residence. As Ye Qingyun trained in Shun'an Lane, Gu Moran decided to improve his own martial skills and brought food to Lin Qingdai; she asked whether he had come to hide from someone.

• Gu Moran ordered Boss Zhao to route the silver through the teahouse, hire instructors under the escort agency’s name, and advertise free lessons and porridge for the poor without linking the effort to Prince Yi’s Residence.
• Gu Moran read a note from Li Yuan warning that Ye Qingyun had stayed in the capital, then explained that Chancellor Su feared Ye might expose the Su Clan’s old debt to Ye’s family and force Su Yao into a conflict.
• Gu Moran chose not to reply to Chancellor Su, deciding that letting him remain uneasy would be more useful.
• Gu Moran saw that Ye Qingyun was training with his bamboo-slip technique and resolved to train at the residence, choosing Lin Qingdai as his first instructor.
• Gu Moran carried a food box into the Iron Plum Courtyard, where Lin Qingdai was wiping her sword, and she asked whether he had come to hide from someone.

Gu Moran brought food to Lin Qingdai and asked her to teach him martial techniques, claiming he feared being unable to protect himself. Lin Qingdai agreed to train him while suspecting he was hiding strength and secrets, and their first lesson began in Iron Plum Courtyard.

• Gu Moran brought Lin Qingdai a pork knuckle and asked her to teach him moves that could keep him alive.
• Lin Qingdai tested Gu Moran by pressing chopsticks into his wrist, and his training protection activated the Essence-Fortifying Hard Shirt.
• Lin Qingdai agreed to train Gu Moran for two hours a day and set rules, including that he could not ask where she learned her moves.
• Lin Qingdai ate some pork knuckle, then had Zitang fetch a wooden staff to begin training Gu Moran.

Lin Qingdai tested Gu Moran’s ability by striking him with a staff during his first martial arts lesson, while he hid his sixth-rank strength and concealed how much he could already perceive. After sending Zitang away, Lin Qingdai revealed she had long suspected Gu Moran was not entirely useless and questioned how his body had gained its strength.

• Lin Qingdai made Gu Moran take staff strikes to learn how to stand firm, and he endured the first two without falling.
• Gu Moran subtly deflected Lin Qingdai’s strikes, prompting her to notice his skill and question his claims about having never trained.
• Gu Moran blocked the strike aimed at his waist and claimed he had learned to run for his life after falling from a horse.
• Gu Moran anticipated Lin Qingdai’s sweep at his knees and let the staff pass his leg without stepping away.
• Lin Qingdai sent Zitang outside, told Gu Moran she had known since he took three moves from her father that he was not a complete good-for-nothing, and questioned how his body had gained its strength.

Lin Qingdai trained Gu Moran in how to survive a fight, and he admitted he was thinking about Ye Qingyun’s training. Gu Moran went to the Azure Wolf Courtyard to learn from Murong Xue, who asked whether someone was trying to harm him.

• Lin Qingdai taught Gu Moran to evade, retreat, and strike back, then warned him not to show off when Murong Xue taught him the saber.
• Gu Moran told Lin Qingdai that Ye Qingyun was training and explained he could not safely kill or drive him away; Lin Qingdai understood he did not want Ye Qingyun killed by the princely estate.
• Gu Moran left the courtyard with medicinal liquor, and the system reported that Lin Qingdai’s favorability had increased by ten after she approved of his seeking instruction.
• Gu Moran asked Uncle Fu to prepare supplies and treats for Batuer before heading to the Azure Wolf Courtyard.
• Murong Xue agreed to teach Gu Moran how to stay alive, and asked whether someone was trying to harm him.

Gu Moran trained with Murong Xue as she taught him to evade saber strikes, then learned that Ye Qingyun had shattered nine blue bricks with his palm. To draw Ye Qingyun into a trap, Gu Moran had Boss Zhao open the Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School in the south of the city and make sure Ye heard about it but could not get in.

• Murong Xue taught Gu Moran to read an opponent’s shoulder, waist, and feet, then tested him with two live saber strikes; he dodged both and earned five favorability points.
• Murong Xue promised to protect Gu Moran from Ye Qingyun, while Gu Moran told her to let Ye stew rather than provoke him.
• Uncle Fu delivered Boss Zhao’s report that Ye Qingyun had shattered nine blue bricks, and Gu Moran ordered the Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School’s sign put up to attract Ye Qingyun.
• Gu Moran instructed Boss Zhao to make sure Ye heard about the school but could not enter, hoping Ye would come to its entrance on his own.
• The next day, Boss Zhao told Gu Moran that the school’s sign was up.

Gu Moran watched the Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School take shape with three instructors and a crowd of poor apprentices, expecting Ye Qingyun to be drawn in by the chance to show off. Shuhe saw the school’s meals and camaraderie while his young master went hungry, then ran off, leaving Gu Moran and Boss Zhao wondering whether to follow.

• Gu Moran approved Boss Zhao’s three instructors and learned that twenty-seven working-class apprentices had enrolled, with no scholars among them.
• Gu Moran disguised himself and went to watch the martial arts school, believing Ye Qingyun would come to display his skills after losing face at a poetry gathering.
• Liu Laosan encouraged a struggling water carrier with meat porridge, while Ma Liu and Sun Kui taught the apprentices punches and stances; Gu Moran decided to raise their wages.
• Shuhe arrived with two baked flatbreads and saw the apprentices eating porridge and enjoying their lessons, while his young master had refused help and left them short of food.
• Shuhe turned and ran, and Boss Zhao asked Gu Moran whether they should follow him.

Ye Qingyun hesitated outside Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School while its instructors mocked his pride and Shuhe eyed the free meat congee. He left without signing up, but when Shuhe suggested getting a free bowl, Ye Qingyun still had to decide whether to return.

• Gu Moran told Boss Zhao not to interfere as Ye Qingyun watched the martial arts school from Shun'an Lane.
• Shuhe told Ye Qingyun about the school’s fist lessons and meat congee, but Ye Qingyun refused to enter.
• Ma Liu, Liu Laosan, and Sun Kui challenged Ye Qingyun to line up to learn or come in to fight, while Shuhe defended his reputation as a renowned talent of Jizhou.
• Gu Moran told Boss Zhao that the extra meat in tomorrow’s congee was bait for people who genuinely wanted to learn fist techniques.
• Ye Qingyun left the school entrance without signing up and gave Shuhe two copper coins for hot soup.
• Shuhe suggested getting a free bowl at the Dragon Abyss entrance, where congee was free for the first thirty days.

After losing the poetry gathering, Ye Qingyun suspected Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School had ulterior motives, but watching Liu Laosan teach convinced him its instructors could help him improve. When Ma Liu offered Shuhe free leftover congee, Ye Qingyun insisted on knowing the price.

• Ye Qingyun refused to accept the Jizhou Chamber of Commerce's help and returned to the Shun'an courtyard with Shuhe, suspecting the martial arts school’s free lessons and porridge concealed a scheme.
• Shuhe described how Ma Liu and Liu Laosan taught students to improve their punches and balance, prompting Ye Qingyun to realize that practicing alone could not prepare him to face an opponent.
• That night, Ye Qingyun and Shuhe watched Liu Laosan train a water-carrying boy at Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School, and the boy improved by following his instructions.
• Liu Laosan noticed Ye Qingyun and Shuhe hiding outside, then welcomed Ye Qingyun to watch after he introduced himself as a passerby.
• Ma Liu offered Shuhe free leftover congee, but Ye Qingyun asked how much it cost.

Gu Moran tried to draw Ye Qingyun into Dragon Abyss by offering him food and a chance to learn proper footwork, then arranged a tournament to give him a stage. When the system warned that Chu Tianxing was heading for the capital, Gu Moran ordered a citywide welcome designed to steer the new chosen one.

• Ye Qingyun watched a young water carrier train at Dragon Abyss and recognized that the man’s firm stance could address a weakness in his own cultivation, but he left without accepting Liu Laosan’s invitation.
• Gu Moran saw that Ye Qingyun’s martial fame milestone was beginning and ordered more meat porridge, while Boss Zhao reported that Shuhe was nearly out of money.
• Gu Moran planned a small tournament in seven days, offering training clothes and meat porridge, and arranged to keep its funding and instructors’ pay separate from the school’s accounts.
• The system reported that Chu Tianxing was rapidly approaching the capital, so Gu Moran ordered Uncle Fu to watch every road and arrange distractions at inns and teahouses for a young man carrying a medicine chest.

Gu Moran recognized that the crown prince and second prince were both investigating the Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School, and devised a plan to draw Ye Qingyun into its tournament. As he mapped the competing interests around the school, Shen Ling'er arrived with medicine.

• Xiao Shitou brought kidney-nourishing pastries from the crown prince and probed Gu Moran about the martial arts school, but Gu Moran deflected his questions.
• Gu Moran told Uncle Fu that both princes wanted to win him over and explained how he planned to stir up their political contest while pressuring his marriage-alliance families to choose sides.
• Boss Zhao reported that the second prince's people had investigated the school and that Ye Qingyun had sold his only table for flour and salt.
• Gu Moran ordered a five-tael tournament prize and plans to build a platform near Shun'an Courtyard, hoping the contest and the sight of meat-eating trainees would tempt Ye Qingyun.
• Gu Moran reviewed the crown prince's, second prince's, and Ye Qingyun's actions around Dragon Abyss as Shen Ling'er arrived to deliver medicine.

Gu Moran spent the night with Shen Ling'er before turning his attention back to the southern city's martial arts tournament. Ye Qingyun joined Dragon Abyss's minor tournament, passed the stance test, and was told to return the next day to learn basic fist techniques with the other students.

• Shen Ling'er visited Gu Moran with tea and stayed with him in the study's inner chamber after he set aside his work.
• Dragon Abyss's tournament notice offered five taels of silver for first place and meat porridge even to those who lost, drawing a crowd of hopeful contestants.
• Ye Qingyun refused the Second Prince's silver and went with Shuhe to register at Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School.
• Gu Moran watched Ye Qingyun join the line and told Boss Zhao to let the school's rules test him rather than have Liu Laosan pressure him.
• Ye Qingyun held his stance for half an incense stick and passed, but Liu Laosan told him to return tomorrow for basic fist practice with the other students.

Ye Qingyun joined the training queue, while Gu Moran trained with Lin Qingdai and Murong Xue to improve his strength and riding. During his third attempt to stay on Murong Xue’s horse, he grabbed her belt, leaving her demanding to know where he was holding on.

• Ye Qingyun asked Liu Laosan when the porters would get training clothes and agreed to compete for them by winning the minor tournament.
• Gu Moran told Boss Zhao and Uncle Fu that Ye Qingyun should train under the usual rules, then returned to Iron Plum Courtyard for Lin Qingdai to teach him staff work.
• Lin Qingdai recognized Gu Moran’s improved ability to redirect force, ended the lesson, and shared pork knuckle with him before he left for Azure Wolf Courtyard.
• Murong Xue made Gu Moran practice riding and sent him tumbling twice, while Batuer commented on his falls.
• On his third attempt, Gu Moran grabbed Murong Xue’s belt to keep from falling off the horse, and she asked where he was grabbing.