Chapter Summaries

Su Yao interrupted Gu Moran and Shen Ling'er in their cabin, only to end up caught in a flirtatious, intimate moment with him. She later sent Gu Moran out to sleep in the shared cabin, while Shen Ling'er wondered whether she had given him too many tonics.

• Lin Qingdai banished Murong Xue to the stern after Murong Xue asked whether Gu Moran could rub her belly too.
• Xie Wanqing lay awake beneath her blanket, recalling Gu Moran's poem and the hand that had covered hers.
• Su Yao entered Gu Moran's cabin and scolded him for making noise while helping Shen Ling'er with her cramps.
• The rocking boat sent Su Yao onto Gu Moran's lap, and he teased her about being jealous of the poem he had given Xie Wanqing.
• Su Yao and Gu Moran were intimate, after which she ordered him to sleep in the shared cabin.
• Shen Ling'er asked Su Yao whether she had been giving Gu Moran too many tonics, and Su Yao told her to shut up.

Gu Moran and Liu Ruyan secretly shared a bed in the dark communal cabin while the other passengers slept. Liu Ruyan revealed she had been awake and listening for a long time, and the chapter ended with Gu Moran teasing her as she tried to stay quiet.

• Gu Moran entered the dark communal cabin and spread his quilt on the floor beside the sleeping Xie Wanqing and Liu Ruyan.
• When the boat tilted, Liu Ruyan slipped beneath Gu Moran's quilt and into his arms.
• Liu Ruyan quieted Gu Moran with a finger to his lips, and they kissed without waking Xie Wanqing.
• Gu Moran learned Liu Ruyan had been awake since he rubbed his belly and had heard what happened next door.
• Liu Ruyan said she had only wanted him not to get too tired, and Gu Moran embraced and kissed her again.
• As the boat jolted, Gu Moran teased Liu Ruyan for holding back and bit her shoulder, drawing a faint sound from her.

After Liu Ruyan left to heat water, Xie Wanqing revealed she had been awake and grew intimate with Gu Moran. Their moment was interrupted when Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai entered the cabin, and Gu Moran covered for Xie Wanqing.

• Liu Ruyan left Gu Moran to heat some water after their intimate encounter.
• Xie Wanqing reached for Gu Moran's hand, and he drew her beneath his covers.
• Xie Wanqing and Gu Moran kissed until Murong Xue called out from outside the cabin.
• Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai entered the cabin, and Gu Moran hid Xie Wanqing beneath the quilt.
• Gu Moran told Lin Qingdai that Liu Ruyan had gone to heat water and Xie Wanqing had gone to the stern for air.

Gu Moran hid Xie Wanqing beneath his quilt when Lin Qingdai and Murong Xue came to check on him, then the two resumed their intimacy after the women left. The next morning Shen Ling'er diagnosed Gu Moran as depleted and prescribed stronger medicine, while Lin Qingdai dismissed questions about the bite mark and Gu Moran worried about future sleeping arrangements.

• Lin Qingdai and Murong Xue found Gu Moran in the cabin, and he claimed that Xie Wanqing had gone to look at the moon and that the bite mark on his neck came from a bug.
• Lin Qingdai pulled Murong Xue out of the cabin but warned Gu Moran to explain himself when the boat docked for supplies.
• After the women left, Xie Wanqing emerged from beneath Gu Moran's quilt, and the two kissed and resumed their intimacy.
• The next morning, Shen Ling'er checked Gu Moran's pulse, judged that his qi and blood were depleted, and ordered him to drink three stronger bowls of medicine.
• Murong Xue wondered who Gu Moran had been with, but Lin Qingdai insisted the bite mark came from a bug, leaving Gu Moran concerned about where everyone would sleep.

Gu Moran and his wives passed the voyage with bitter medicine, embarrassing romance-novel readings, and a stop to buy supplies, while Yun Shuyue drilled the residents of Black Wind Mountain Stronghold in bandit slogans. The chapter left Yun Shuyue facing Tiedan’s question about whether her stronghold’s people were really bandits, since she always went on jobs alone.

• Shen Ling'er gave Gu Moran bitter medicine to replenish what she said he had depleted, while the women reacted to the bite mark on his neck.
• Shen Ling'er brought out romance novels, and she and the other women made Gu Moran read the male lead’s lines aloud.
• The women made the readings a nightly pastime, pelting Gu Moran afterward while treating him more gently when caring for him.
• At a riverside town, Murong Xue bought beef jerky, Lin Qingdai bought liquor, Shen Ling'er bought astragalus, Xie Wanqing bought a county gazetteer, Su Yao recorded market details, and Liu Ruyan gave Gu Moran cloth shoes.
• As the boat traveled deeper into Yi Prefecture, the old boatman warned that the waterways were dangerous.
• Yun Shuyue led the stronghold residents in practicing bandit slogans, and Tiedan challenged her over always scouting alone and never taking them on a job.

Yun Shuyue refused to rob a night-soil cart and taught the children at Black Wind Mountain Stronghold to read while they waited for a worthwhile score. Later, aboard a riverboat, Shen Ling'er fled from an embarrassing passage in a romance novel, and Su Yao questioned whether the book was pornography.

• Tiedan teased Yun Shuyue about the stronghold’s lack of successful robberies, and she defended her plans before promising to lead the children in a raid.
• Yun Shuyue and the others spotted a night-soil cart on the mountain road, but she refused to rob it because the stronghold had principles and it was not worth the effort.
• Yun Shuyue taught the children to write the character for “benevolence” and said they could choose their own paths when they grew up.
• Yun Shuyue reviewed the stronghold’s dwindling supplies with Auntie Zhao and remembered how she once fled from a traveler protected by armed guards.
• On a riverboat, Shen Ling'er blushed at a romance novel’s intimate passage and ran out of the cabin, while Su Yao asked whether the book was pornography.

As Gu Moran’s party traveled through Black Wind Pass, Yun Shuyue’s ragtag band of supposed bandits rushed to rob them before she could stop them. Gu Moran recognized Yun Shuyue as the daughter of the Jiannan Circuit Surveillance Office commissioner and decided that a fight could bring unwanted trouble.

• Several days after leaving the boat, Uncle Fu led the party through Black Wind Pass toward Yi Prefecture.
• Yun Shuyue spotted the carriages and hesitated over whether to rob them, but Tiedan charged downhill with several children before she could decide.
• Yun Shuyue chased after Tiedan and tried to organize the group as they confronted the carriages with a stumbling demand for passage money.
• Gu Moran’s system identified Yun Shuyue as a sixteen-year-old chivalrous thief and the eldest young lady of the Jiannan Circuit Surveillance Office.
• Gu Moran chose not to provoke a fight, reasoning that violence could draw the Surveillance Office’s attention and give the emperor an excuse to target him.

Su Yao and her companions met Yun Shuyue’s struggling bandit group and let them go without a fight. Gu Moran then learned that Zhao Wuxu, a ruthless Son of Destiny, was about to use a staged rescue to infiltrate Black Wind Stronghold and exploit Yun Shuyue.

• Su Yao stopped Murong Xue from attacking after realizing Yun Shuyue’s group was made up of old, weak, sick, and disabled people.
• Uncle Fu asked Yun Shuyue to let the carriage pass, and she stole beef jerky and medicinal herbs before leaving a flatbread in exchange.
• Tiedan exposed Yun Shuyue’s promise to rob the next travelers, embarrassing her before she led her group back into the forest.
• Yun Shuyue saw Su Yao force bitter medicine on Gu Moran and briefly pitied him before vanishing into the woods.
• Gu Moran’s system identified Zhao Wuxu as Yun Shuyue’s destined Son of Destiny and revealed his plan to fake an injury so she would shelter him.
• The replay showed Zhao Wuxu winning Yun Shuyue’s trust, betraying the Yun Clan, and rising to power by framing them for colluding with bandits and plotting rebellion.

Gu Moran spotted fresh tracks by the stream and met Yun Shuyue, who returned Shen Ling'er's prescription and warned him about trusting officials in Yi Prefecture. Their teasing conversation was interrupted when Shen Ling'er appeared with his cold medicine.

• Gu Moran examined fresh wheel ruts by the stream and found Shen Ling'er's prescription, which Yun Shuyue had thrown down from a tree.
• Yun Shuyue explained that she had returned the prescription because she worried Gu Moran might need it to stay alive.
• Gu Moran teased Yun Shuyue about being a kindhearted bandit and learned she had given the stolen beef jerky to children at Black Wind Stronghold.
• Yun Shuyue refused Gu Moran's request for porridge but warned him that officials and their runners might take advantage of him in Yi Prefecture.
• Shen Ling'er appeared in the doorway holding Gu Moran's now-cold medicine.

Gu Moran considered investigating the suffering in Yi Prefecture after Black Wind Stronghold’s chief warned him about corrupt officials. The night ended with Tuoba Mang announcing that he had fallen in love with three women there, leaving Gu Moran’s household stunned.

• Shen Ling'er and Liu Ruyan questioned Gu Moran about visiting the stream, and he explained that Black Wind Stronghold’s chief had returned Shen Ling'er's prescription.
• Gu Moran told the women that the chief had warned him not to trust officials in Yi Prefecture, and he decided to investigate before getting involved.
• Gu Moran drank Shen Ling'er's bitter medicine while the women teased him about his concern for them.
• Tuoba Mang arrived at the relay station and announced that he had found true love in Yi Prefecture.
• Tuoba Mang described meeting three struggling mothers with babies, and Shen Ling'er said she could not cure his infatuation.

Gu Moran directed Tuoba Mang to protect Black Wind Stronghold by befriending its widowed women and confronting suspicious scholars, then received alarming news from the capital. Xie Wanqing stopped while reading the letter’s final line, leaving the latest development unknown.

• Tuoba Mang recounted how he had given five taels to the widows near Black Wind Stronghold and called the disguised chief his brother.
• Gu Moran persuaded Tuoba Mang to watch over the widows and investigate frail-looking men, especially scholars, near the stronghold.
• Gu Moran teased Liu Ruyan with candied fruit, prompting playful remarks from the others.
• A carrier pigeon delivered a coded letter from the capital, reporting that Chu Tianxing had saved the empress dowager and that the emperor suspected Xiao Jinghan of using forbidden arts.
• Xie Wanqing read that Gu Moli had stirred the emperor’s suspicions and that the crown prince’s faction was in turmoil, then stopped at the letter’s final line.

Gu Moran learned that Yi Prefecture had been ordered to supply a ten-thousand-man northern campaign and suspected its long-serving prefect and garrison commandant were secretly aligned. As his convoy reached Yi Prefecture, he kept up his sickly guise while Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin argued over how to welcome him.

• Xie Wanqing told Gu Moran that Lin Yichen would lead ten thousand troops north and Yi Prefecture had to supply grain, fodder, and horses, while Gu Moli’s message warned that Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin might not truly be enemies.
• Gu Moran reviewed the officials’ long tenures and Yi Prefecture’s unpaid salt taxes and military wages, then told his companions to let the two men perform their rivalry before deciding how to respond.
• Gu Moran ordered his party to enter the city as usual and said he would wait to see how Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin presented the supply directive; his companions began investigating grain prices, transport precedents, and merchant ships.
• The next morning, Gu Moran rode into Yi Prefecture wrapped in a blanket and pretending to be ill as his convoy reached the city gate.
• Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin argued over the welcoming protocol before Gu Moran’s carriage had fully stopped.

Gu Moran entered Yi Prefecture posing as a frail, medicine-averse prince and probed Prefect Si Renyou and Commandant Zhen Daijin about the neglected princely residence and salt merchants. A system scan revealed that both officials belonged to Lord Liu’s Old Faction and were waiting to see whether Gu Moran could govern.

• Gu Moran staged a coughing fit at the city gate while Shen Ling'er and Uncle Fu presented him as too frail to endure the journey.
• Uncle Fu asked Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin to arrange a quiet residence for Gu Moran and his entourage.
• Gu Moran asked about the drafty residence and suggested Yi Prefecture’s salt merchants might be delaying payment for its repairs, making both officials wary.
• Gu Moran thanked Zhen Daijin for steadying him, then pointed out that the commandant’s saber needed replacing.
• After the convoy entered the city, Gu Moran used the Eye of Detection to learn that Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin were members of Lord Liu’s Old Faction and were watching to see whether he could govern.

Gu Moran and his wives inspected the decrepit residence in Yi Prefecture and began identifying its weaknesses while he sent pointed gifts to Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin. At Black Wind Stronghold, Tuoba Mang found a pale scholar being shoved near a stream and suspected he had come to seduce his sisters-in-law.

• Gu Moran noticed signs of manipulation and hardship on the road into the city while Liu Ruyan heard rumors about Prince Yi and his wives.
• Gu Moran insisted that the old residence could be shabby as long as it had room for his wives and their work, and Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin promised to finish the new princely residence.
• Su Yao, Shen Ling'er, Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, Liu Ruyan, and Xie Wanqing inspected the residence and reported its accounts, water, defenses, stable, back alley, and history.
• Gu Moran told Uncle Fu to send Si Renyou weak tea and Zhen Daijin medicine for aching legs, each with a pointed message.
• Tuoba Mang carried provisions up the mountain to visit his sisters-in-law and saw two thugs shoving a pale scholar near the stream.
• Tuoba Mang remembered Gu Moran's warning about scheming scholars and suspected the stranger was waiting to approach his sisters-in-law.

Tuoba Mang interrupted Zhao Wuxu's staged attempt to make Yun Shuyue rescue him and exposed his false story. As Tuoba Mang slapped him repeatedly, Zhao Wuxu concealed his anger and readied a poisoned dart.

• Tuoba Mang scared off the two thugs who were pretending to bully Zhao Wuxu.
• Zhao Wuxu abandoned his planned river-jump ruse and claimed he was a lost scholar passing through.
• Tuoba Mang noticed Zhao Wuxu's disguise and accused him of lurking near the mountain to pursue one of the women there.
• Tuoba Mang misheard Zhao Wuxu's plea to endure as an admission of intent to violate someone and slapped him repeatedly.
• Zhao Wuxu claimed he had come to gather medicinal herbs, but Tuoba Mang challenged the excuse and struck him again.
• Zhao Wuxu gripped a concealed poisoned dart and watched the blood vessels in Tuoba Mang's neck.

Yun Shuyue watched Tuoba Mang beat Zhao Wuxu and recognized that Zhao was faking helplessness while concealing a weapon. Convinced he had come for her, she left the hillside with Tiedan to deal with Tuoba Mang.

• Tuoba Mang questioned Zhao Wuxu, accused him of lusting after Yun Shuyue, and shoved him into the creek.
• From a tree, Yun Shuyue noticed Zhao could swim, controlled his falls, and had a hidden weapon strapped beneath his sleeve.
• Yun Shuyue realized Zhao was pretending to drown and had been looking toward her hiding place.
• Tuoba Mang pulled Zhao from the creek and warned him not to approach the mountain again; Zhao left without retaliating.
• Yun Shuyue told Tiedan that Zhao was no scholar and headed back to deal with Tuoba Mang.

Tuoba Mang joined Black Wind Stronghold by donating supplies and eagerly helping with repairs, while Yun Shuyue warned everyone that a deceptive scholar was targeting the stronghold. At the old prince’s residence, Gu Moran received construction knowledge after Zhao Wuxu’s luck chain was severed and immediately noticed a drainage problem.

• Tuoba Mang introduced himself as Tuo Qing and won over the children and women of Black Wind Stronghold by donating food and silver and doing repairs.
• Yun Shuyue ordered the stronghold to prepare for danger after explaining that a disguised scholar with hidden weapons had been watching the mountain.
• Yun Shuyue moved the children and elderly to a safer house, relocated grain, and arranged warning signals at the foot of the mountain.
• At the old prince’s residence, Shen Ling'er insisted that Gu Moran finish his medicine while Su Yao and Liu Ruyan declined to help him avoid it.
• Gu Moran received terrain construction knowledge when Zhao Wuxu’s critical luck chain was severed, then pointed out that the residence needed a drainage ditch.

After Xiao Jinghan’s death earned Gu Moran a system reward of business knowledge and construction expertise, Gu Moran used his new ideas to plan repairs for the damp residence and stables. He arranged for Uncle Fu to search the west storeroom, where the system had hidden six books containing the business knowledge, and ended by hinting that the old residence might contain treasures.

• Gu Moran received rewards after Xiao Jinghan’s destiny line was severed, including construction expertise and a modern business knowledge package.
• Gu Moran drew plans for drainage, raised storeroom racks, ventilation, and waterproofing, and asked Uncle Fu to hire masons.
• Shen Ling'er, Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, Xie Wanqing, and Liu Ruyan each identified further problems or proposed ways to apply the improvements across the residence and Yi Prefecture.
• The system told Gu Moran that six physical books containing the business knowledge were hidden in the west storeroom.
• Gu Moran instructed Uncle Fu to search the storeroom carefully and keep any books, while telling Shen Ling'er that the old residence might hold treasures.

Gu Moran and his consorts planned a tea-drink shop called Mixue Ice City, using sheep’s milk, locally sourced supplies, and a proposed saltpeter ice-making method. As renovations began the next day, Steward Fang arrived with bean cakes from the prefectural governor and looked around the residence.

• Uncle Fu brought out old recipe and business books, and Su Yao found a guide to running chain shops while Shen Ling'er identified fresh milk as the main obstacle to selling snow milk tea.
• Murong Xue offered sheep’s milk from her fifty sheep and promised to arrange more from the Northern Territory, while Liu Ruyan proposed testing the book’s saltpeter ice-making method and said her agents were investigating local honey and sugar merchants.
• Gu Moran chose fruit tea and limited daily snow milk tea as the shop’s first offerings, naming it Mixue Ice City after Murong Xue’s contribution.
• Su Yao volunteered to prepare the shop-opening expenses and warned the others not to let Murong Xue near the tailoring books, prompting Murong Xue to protest about the horse blankets she had made.
• Renovations began at the old princely residence as Shen Ling'er made Gu Moran drink bitter medicine; Steward Fang then arrived with bean cakes from the prefectural governor and surveyed the courtyard.

Fang Bi and Lin Xin inspected the renovations at the prince’s residence and discovered that Gu Moran had designed clever drainage and ventilation improvements. Their reports impressed Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin, who decided to test Gu Moran’s stable design at the military camp.

• Fang Bi inspected the concealed drain, raised storeroom racks, and ventilated stable, then reported their measurements to Si Renyou.
• Lin Xin recognized the stable’s high and low windows and raised fodder rack as a ventilation design he had long advocated, and learned that Gu Moran had sketched it.
• Si Renyou questioned Fang Bi about Gu Moran’s condition and asked him to return the next day to see what else Gu Moran could draw.
• Lin Xin told Zhen Daijin about Gu Moran’s design, and Zhen Daijin ordered one old camp shed rebuilt to test it.