Chapter Summaries

Su Yao and Gu Moran launched a sanitation campaign that rewarded people with lottery tickets for using public toilets, drawing crowds across Yi Prefecture City. Meanwhile, Tubo spy Ge'er Lalong entered the city to investigate Prince Yi and its troop deployments, but he was caught after spitting phlegm in an alley.

• Gu Moran explained the lottery scheme to Su Yao, who set up the egg pots and arranged for people to receive up to three tickets a day.
• Old Man Zhang confirmed that the charity hall was handing out prizes, and people rushed to use the new public toilets for lottery tickets.
• Crowds lined up at all fifty toilets, and Tuoba Mang took charge of keeping order as a woman won a piglet.
• Ge'er Lalong slipped into Yi Prefecture at night on a mission to locate Prince Yi's residence and learn the city's troop deployments.
• Ge'er Lalong spat phlegm against a wall, and nearby voices immediately called for him to be caught.

Lalong investigated Yi Prefecture and found its public latrines suspicious, while Chen Qing concluded that Prince Yi was refining deadly gu poison from the city’s waste. Chen Qing sent a secret report to Gu Mochen urging him to alert the emperor and send an army against Prince Yi.

• Widow Wang and two other women caught Lalong spitting in public and forced him to pay a fine.
• Lalong saw a crowd lining up at a brightly lit public latrine and secretly watched the site from nearby.
• Chen Qing observed workers hauling waste from the latrine and connected it to Prince Yi’s furnaces, iron pots, and earlier explosion.
• Chen Qing decided Prince Yi was making world-destroying gu poison and wrote a report describing the latrines as gu vessels.
• Chen Qing sent the report by carrier pigeon to Gu Mochen in Anyang.

Lalong believed Gu Moran was making a poisonous gu vessel from the city’s filth, so he tried to contaminate it by eating spoiled food before collapsing in the public latrine. At daybreak, Yun Shuyue recognized him as a man from Tubo, and the soldiers prepared to report the suspected spy.

• Lalong read Chen Qing’s report, copied it for Tubo, and sent the original onward by pigeon.
• Lalong ate three bowls of spicy sheep offal and two plates of cold green fruit to contaminate Gu Moran’s gu vessel, then collapsed in a latrine stall.
• Erzhuzi and the old soldiers found Lalong unconscious, confirmed he was alive, and dragged him toward the latrine entrance.
• Yun Shuyue recognized the leather cord and boots as signs that Lalong was from Tubo and told Erzhuzi not to take him to a clinic.

Yun Shuyue and Erzhuzi captured Lalong, a Tubo spy, and Gu Moran used Shen Ling’er’s truth powder to question him. Lalong revealed that Chief Chisang wanted to seize Prince Yi and that people from Anyang had offered help in exchange for Gu Moran’s death, exposing possible collusion by Gu Moran’s second brother.

• Yun Shuyue identified Lalong as a Tubo spy carrying a poisoned blade, and she and Erzhuzi captured him with help from Tailwind Express veterans.
• Uncle Fu brought Lalong to the old prince’s residence, where Gu Moran ordered him cleaned and questioned.
• Shen Ling’er gave Lalong her medicine, and Gu Moran’s questions led him to reveal that Chief Chisang had sent him to scout Yi Prefecture and planned to capture Prince Yi.
• Lalong said Chisang wanted two tea-and-horse trading cities and considered Prince Yi valuable as a hostage.
• Lalong revealed that people from Anyang had contacted Chisang and offered assistance if the Tubo forces killed Gu Moran while heading north.

Gu Moran uncovered a plot in which Prince An's men had invited Tubo forces to exploit Anyang City's defenses and target him. He proposed requesting authority to command Jiannan Circuit troops under the guise of coordinating local defenses, leaving Si Renyou to weigh the dangerous plan.

• Gu Moran questioned Lalong, who confessed that Prince An's men had sent letters promising Tubo access to the Central Plains after Prince Yi died.
• Shen Ling'er and Lin Qingdai subdued Lalong and had him taken to the cellar, while Xie Wanqing recorded his confession and the Tubo-language statements.
• Gu Moran summoned Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin, who urged an immediate curfew, city inspections, a report to the capital, and troop deployments.
• Gu Moran warned that a direct report might be dismissed as unreliable or treated as part of a struggle for the throne, and that Zhen Daijin could not move troops beyond his jurisdiction without authorization.
• Gu Moran proposed asking the emperor for authority to coordinate Jiannan Circuit defenses, and Si Renyou recognized that the plan risked provoking both the emperor and Prince An.

Gu Moran prepared Yi Prefecture for war after Tubo spies infiltrated the city, while asking Prefect Si Renyou to seek permission to act and considering whether the Liu Clan Army's former soldiers could help defend the region. Gu Moran's Minnan song stirred Si Renyou to reconsider his cautious approach as the threat to Yi Prefecture grew.

• Gu Moran ordered Si Renyou to memorialize the Tubo spy's evidence and directed Zhen Daijin, Lin Qingdai, and Yun Shuyue to secure the city and investigate without alarming its people.
• Gu Moran asked whether former Liu Clan Army soldiers still lived in Chuan-Shu and said they might be invited to defend Yi Prefecture.
• Si Renyou worried that war would ruin the city's new prosperity, while Gu Moran warned that Tubo and Gu Moran's second brother in Anyang threatened it regardless.
• Gu Moran sang a Minnan tune for Si Renyou, whose lyrics recalled his father, Lord Liu, and the Liu Clan's fall.
• Si Renyou reconsidered whether his years of cautious guarding could truly protect Yi Prefecture from those who coveted its canals, fields, and trade routes.

Gu Moran rallied Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin to prepare Yi Prefecture for war, then revealed half of Lord Liu’s military command token and began planning to reconnect with the scattered Liu Clan Army. The chapter ended with Gu Moran considering a signal in the sky to reach the former soldiers without exposing them to intercepted letters or spies.

• Si Renyou knelt before Gu Moran and pledged to stake everything alongside him, while Zhen Daijin vowed to fight the Tubo invaders and Anyang.
• Gu Moran said he would seek imperial command of Jiannan Circuit’s troops and recall the former soldiers of the Liu Clan Army, while first holding Yi Prefecture and waiting for an opportunity.
• Gu Moran showed Si Renyou and Zhen Daijin half of Lord Liu’s military command token and explained that a burned, unnamed man had given it to him.
• Si Renyou fetched an old roster of Lord Liu’s former soldiers, and he and Gu Moran sorted possible contacts while deciding not to send letters that could be intercepted.
• Gu Moran considered using a signal in the sky to reach the former soldiers without alerting spies or the capital’s watchers.

Gu Moran designed fireworks to summon the Liu Clan's former soldiers at the year-end lantern market while keeping the signal and workshop secret. He and his allies planned the tests, coded displays, and security, leaving the preparations underway for the event.

• Gu Moran drew plans for rising fireworks, and Zhen Daijin ordered them tested on the downstream river flats before they were used in the city.
• Gu Moran and Si Renyou set out the coded fireworks sequence that would summon the former soldiers, with secondhand stalls to verify identities.
• Si Renyou proposed sealing off the workshop and limiting who knew each part of the fireworks plan.
• Gu Moran assigned Yun Shuyue to guard the riverbank cordon and watch for suspicious people near the fireworks frames and workshop.
• Lin Qingdai planned patrols and evacuation routes, while Zhen Daijin and Yun Shuyue added guards along the riverbank and rooftops.

Gu Moran and his companions planned a citywide fireworks display that would also signal surviving Liu Clan Army soldiers, while Su Yao devised a way to fund it through merchant sponsorships. At dinner, Yun Shuyue was kept from the meat and rice cakes by Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai.

• Lin Qingdai warned Yun Shuyue not to pursue anyone beyond the west gate alone and told her to use her whistle so Xue Huan could take over.
• Gu Moran and Si Renyou finalized a secret fireworks design whose colors and banner image would signal surviving Liu Clan Army soldiers to return and verify their identities.
• Su Yao calculated the costs of the public fireworks and proposed auctioning sponsorships and naming rights to merchants.
• Shen Ling'er took charge of fireworks materials and safety, forbade Gu Moran from handling the mixing or loading, and agreed to make gold and red fireworks.
• At dinner, Murong Xue rotated the ribs away from Yun Shuyue and told her to eat greens, while Lin Qingdai took the rice cakes before Yun could reach them.

Su Yao gathered the wives to discuss whether the estate should welcome more allies and supporters as danger and political uncertainty grew. The wives largely agreed that useful people should not be turned away, while the question of marriage remained unresolved.

• Yun Shuyue refused more food because she needed to run, but Gu Moran sent her to rest instead of checking courier orders that night.
• Su Yao invited the wives to the waterside pavilion to discuss the estate's rules and whether six wives were enough.
• Murong Xue and Lin Qingdai warned against admitting people who could bring trouble or could not protect themselves.
• Liu Ruyan argued that the estate should not reject useful allies who could provide supplies, intelligence, or troops amid the threat of changing imperial power.
• Shen Ling'er said greater influence could help Gu Moran investigate her parents' case and keep the estate from being caught unprepared.
• Xie Wanqing said she wanted Gu Moran to be happy and would not oppose him marrying more people, while asking Shen Ling'er to ensure he took his medicine and rested.

At a gathering by the canal, Su Yao urged the women to focus on their husband’s safety amid political threats. In the capital, Gu Moli and Chen Qinglan recognized that the empress was considering Chen Qingyuan as a future bride for the fifth prince, and Chen Qinglan warned her sister about the danger of becoming the Chen Family’s political bargaining piece.

• Su Yao told the women that their well-being depended on their husband overcoming the threats surrounding him.
• Chen Qingyuan happily described the empress’s visits and the fifth prince’s gifts, unaware that palace attendants were hinting at a match between them.
• Gu Moli questioned why people were discussing a marriage for nine-year-old Gu Nianli, and Chen Qinglan realized the empress might be turning to her younger sister.
• Chen Qinglan explained that the empress wanted to use the Chen Family to secure influence over the fifth prince and that Chen Qingyuan could face danger if she entered the palace.

Gu Moli warned Chen Qingyuan not to let the Chen Family commit to the empress’s plan for the fifth prince, then helped Noble Consort Chen pass the empress’s maneuver to Gao Fu as palace gossip. At the riverbank, Gu Moran prepared a fireworks demonstration for skeptical merchants and the Gan Family’s observer.

• Gu Moli advised Chen Qingyuan to keep visiting the palace but refuse any private requests to pledge the Chen Family’s support.
• Gu Moli told Noble Consort Chen about the empress’s efforts to connect Chen Qingyuan with the fifth prince, and Noble Consort Chen ordered Eunuch Zhang to pass the information to Gao Fu as gossip.
• Gu Moli expected the news to reach the emperor and the discarded crown prince within three days.
• Gu Moran adjusted the fireworks launch frame as Xue Huan and his men prepared the bamboo tubes, while Shen Ling'er bundled Yun Shuyue into a cloak.
• Uncle Fu told Gu Moran that merchants would not sign contracts before seeing the fireworks and that the Gan Family had sent a steward to watch the demonstration fail.

Gu Moran and his allies launched elaborate fireworks that amazed the merchants and sparked fierce bidding for advertising spots. Gan Lingmu joined the auction, while Chen Qing watched from a corner and grew unsettled.

• Gu Moran prepared the fireworks display while Murong Xue, Lin Qingdai, and Shen Ling'er helped him manage the cold, security, and his comfort.
• Xue Huan launched fireworks that formed rice ears, a waterwheel, and Shu brocade in the sky, astonishing the assembled merchants.
• Su Yao and Uncle Fu auctioned the advertising spots, and grain merchants competed for the rice-ear display as bids climbed.
• The Gan Family's steward tried to claim the waterwheel spot but learned that a timber firm had already signed its contract.
• Gan Lingmu arrived and bid against a cloth merchant for the Shu brocade spot, raising his offer to one thousand taels.
• Chen Qing hid in a corner and became unable to remain composed as the bidding continued.

Chen Qing mistook Prince Yi's fireworks, workshops, and city projects for preparations to raise witch soldiers and sent Gu Mochen a warning. In Anyang, Gu Mochen received Chen Qing's letter alongside Zheng Hao's message that Chen Qing had gone mad.

• Chen Qing watched merchants bid for fireworks designs and saw bamboo tubes and covered crates being moved near Prince Yi's workshop, leading him to suspect Prince Yi was raising witch soldiers.
• Chen Qing wrote to Gu Mochen that Prince Yi was gathering filth, recruiting fighters, and stockpiling weapons, and asked him to rescue Shopkeeper Ba.
• Chen Qing sent the letter north by messenger pigeon, believing he would soon return with Prince An's men to save Shopkeeper Ba.
• Gu Moran told Lin Qingdai and Yun Shuyue that they should let Chen Qing send his letter rather than arresting him, while Su Yao counted the merchants' payments.
• Gu Mochen read Chen Qing's warning in his study and compared it with Zheng Hao's message, which said, “Chen Qing's gone mad.”

Gu Mochen suspected Gu Moran was secretly building power in Yi Prefecture and sent the emperor a memorial asking for an investigation. In the Eastern Palace, Gu Moyuan remained confined and volatile as Chen Qinglan, after enduring his abuse, recalled the people and words that had helped awaken her anger.

• Zhou Huaili warned Gu Mochen that reports from Chen Qing might be unreliable, but Gu Mochen connected Yi Prefecture’s manure collection, drainage work, and recruitment of bandits and refugees to possible military preparations.
• Gu Mochen ordered Zhou Huaili to send a memorial asking the emperor to investigate Yi Prefecture and to tell Chen Qing to keep probing Prince Yi’s organization.
• Gu Mochen compared Yi Prefecture’s growing commerce and popular support with the difficulties of his own army’s training in Anyang.
• In the Eastern Palace, Gu Moyuan sat beside his couch while confined, and Chen Qinglan knelt after he had smashed a cup and slapped her.
• Chen Qinglan recalled Gu Moli’s private words, the empress’s matron, and Gu Nianli’s kindness, and her suppressed anger surged.

Chen Qinglan confronted Gu Moyuan with the truth that the Empress was preparing to replace him and that the Chen Family might no longer support him. Gu Moyuan began writing to Consort Xian to expose the Eastern Palace’s buried secrets, while Chen Qinglan left to protect Chen Qingyuan and her family.

• Chen Qinglan told Gu Moyuan that the Empress was arranging a marriage for Gu Nianli and might abandon him as heir apparent.
• Chen Qinglan reminded Gu Moyuan that he had rejected Consort Xian and warned that his inability to have offspring made him a liability to the Empress and the Chen Family.
• Gu Moyuan tried to summon Consort Xian, but a eunuch refused, citing the Eastern Palace’s confinement.
• Gu Moyuan accepted that the Empress meant to abandon him and began writing to Consort Xian, intending to reveal the secrets and alliances of the Eastern Palace.
• Chen Qinglan left the hall, determined to act before the Empress could threaten Chen Qingyuan and the Chen Family further.

Yi Prefecture prepared for its New Year's Eve fireworks festival as Gu Moran and his household managed expenses, rules, and patrols. Gu Moran gave Yun Shuyue a warm, snowman-embroidered cloak, and she wondered at its cost.

• Yun Shuyue reassured children that Gu Moran's fireworks were meant to show Yi Prefecture's improving fortunes, not to swallow the Gan Family.
• Su Yao reviewed the festival accounts, while Gu Moran dismissed the Gan Family's threats and Shen Ling'er made him drink his medicine.
• Su Yao insisted Mixue Ice City's snowman keep the highest lantern-market spot and said the shop would pay its own sponsorship fee.
• Craftsmen and soldiers prepared the riverbank and patrol routes as Yun Shuyue repaired her snowman hat before heading out.
• Gu Moran stopped Yun Shuyue and draped a rabbit-fur cloak embroidered with a snowman over her shoulders.

Gu Moran prepared for the fireworks festival while waiting to see how the court would react to reports from Yi Prefecture. After the emperor received Gu Mochen’s absurd claim that Gu Moran was refining excrement into gu poison, he questioned the judgment of his second son and his advisers.

• Gu Moran told Yun Shuyue to watch for suspicious people at the fireworks festival and gave her permission to watch the finale from closer by.
• Lin Qingdai confirmed that Chen Qing had sent messenger pigeons, and Gu Moran said the festival would proceed as usual and be even livelier.
• Chen Qinglan ordered Caiwei to notify her family about her leg injury and to keep the door locked for the day.
• The emperor read reports from Yi Prefecture about a Tubo spy and Gu Moran’s request to command local garrison forces.
• The emperor read Gu Mochen’s secret letter claiming Gu Moran was refining excrement into gu poison and demanding troops be sent south.
• The emperor learned that the spy Chen Qing was Gu Mochen’s adviser and wondered what his second son’s advisers could accomplish.

Consort Xian secured Gu Moyuan’s release from confinement so he could attend the year-end family banquet, where the emperor planned to announce Gu Nianli’s place in the Eastern Palace. Gu Moli left Gu Nianli alone with the crown prince, and the child’s innocent remark about having no nephew turned Gu Moyuan pale.

• The emperor ordered Chen Dehai to investigate Prince Yi’s actions and Chen Qing’s background, then lamented that his grown sons caused him trouble.
• After reading Gu Moyuan’s letter, Consort Xian asked the emperor to let him attend the year-end family banquet, and the emperor agreed.
• Gu Nianli proudly showed Gu Moli the jade chessboard the emperor had bestowed on him.
• Gu Moli hinted that the chessboard looked like a token for a future heir, then left as Gu Moyuan approached the pavilion.
• Gu Nianli greeted Gu Moyuan and told him that his mother said he could not produce a nephew and should eat more pomegranates, leaving the crown prince pale.

The crown prince lost control and struck Gu Nianli in the head with a jade chessboard, leaving the child gravely injured. When the empress rushed to Gu Nianli’s side, Consort Xian blamed her for her son’s downfall and attacked her.

• The crown prince recalled the insults and political threats surrounding his fertility and Gu Nianli’s future, then seized the jade chessboard from the child.
• Gu Nianli warned the crown prince not to take the board, but the crown prince wrenched it away and swung it into Gu Nianli’s forehead.
• The chessboard shattered as Gu Nianli fell to the floor, bleeding, and the crown prince laughed while a young eunuch ran for help.
• The empress and Consort Xian arrived at the heated chamber, where the empress called for imperial physicians and cried over Gu Nianli.
• Consort Xian seized the empress by the hair and accused her of causing her son’s ruin.