Chapter Summaries

Gu Moran used a Marrow-Cleansing Pill to restore his strength and learned Northern Territory horsemanship from a skill card. He invited Murong Xue to ride as a comrade-in-arms, and their three-lap test left him struggling to keep pace but beginning to find his rhythm.

• Gu Moran swallowed the Marrow-Cleansing Pill and felt his body grow stronger as it repaired his hidden injuries.
• Gu Moran activated the Northern Territory horsemanship skill card and asked Uncle Fu to buy him a sturdy horse.
• Gu Moran rode to Azure Wolf Courtyard and invited Murong Xue to ride alongside him using Northern Territory words.
• Murong Xue chose a larger gray-white horse for Gu Moran and challenged him to ride three laps with her.
• Gu Moran struggled through the first lap, then leaned into the turns and began matching the horse's rhythm as Murong Xue sped up.

Gu Moran survived a dangerous riding accident, earning Murong Xue’s respect and a chance to ride with her again. He sent Liu Ruyan an unrequested gift of writing supplies, while both women quietly reconsidered their views of him.

• Gu Moran held on when his horse stumbled at a bend, and Murong Xue praised his courage as a warrior’s “death grip.”
• Murong Xue told Gu Moran to bring his own horse next time, and his favorability with her rose by fifteen points.
• Gu Moran sent Liu Ruyan fine brush-and-ink supplies without signing his name or asking for anything in return.
• Liu Ruyan recognized the gift’s unusual thoughtfulness, wrote and discarded a thank-you, and her favorability toward Gu Moran rose by four points.
• Murong Xue recalled Gu Moran refusing to fall from the horse, then split a wooden stake with her saber.

Gu Moran managed a tense breakfast between Su Yao and Lin Qingdai, then investigated Ye Qingyun’s approaching arrival and political connections. Back at the residence, he learned Shen Ling'er had made another medicinal preparation and suspected she was trying to trick him.

• Gu Moran seated himself between Su Yao and Lin Qingdai, set a new first-come seating rule, and watched both women leave without eating much.
• Shen Ling'er shared the braised pork hock with Gu Moran and asked whether he was going out for a drink again.
• Boss Zhao told Gu Moran that Ye Qingyun had left Jizhou early and would arrive in the capital in ten days, then showed him Ye’s poems and reported his growing connections.
• Gu Moran ordered daily reports on Ye Qingyun, surveillance of Li Yuan, and a separate account of the Second Prince’s movements.
• Gu Moran returned to the residence and saw a system alert that Shen Ling'er had made a new preparation containing trace cattail pollen; he overheard her promise that he would not detect her method.

Shen Ling'er invited Gu Moran to test six incense burners, hoping to expose him to Spirit-Relaxing Powder, but he redirected the smoke toward her. After she accidentally praised his fingers and Gu Moran kissed her earlobe, she wondered whether her compliment reflected her real feelings; his favorability toward her rose to positive four.

• Shen Ling'er invited Gu Moran to choose his favorite among six incense burners, and he identified Spirit-Relaxing Powder in the third one.
• Gu Moran chose the fifth burner, then shifted the third burner's lid so its smoke drifted toward Shen Ling'er.
• Under the powder's influence, Shen Ling'er blurted out that Gu Moran's fingers were pretty, and he realized the incense had affected her.
• Gu Moran straightened the burner, brushed Shen Linger's hand with his cuff, kissed her earlobe, and left the courtyard.
• Shen Ling'er checked the pharmacopoeia and admitted to Cui'er that she found Gu Moran's fingers pretty even when clearheaded.
• Gu Moran saw Shen Linger's favorability rise to positive four, while the system confirmed that her elevated heart rate outlasted the medicine's effects.

Xie Wanqing, Lin Qingdai, and Su Yao each wrestled with new doubts and feelings as Gu Moran’s actions unsettled their impressions of him. Gu Moran learned that Noble Consort Chen had summoned all six wives to Hanzhang Hall, where they would face an unpredictable test, one day before Ye Qingyun’s expected arrival in the capital.

• Xie Wanqing recognized Gu Moran’s handwriting in a hidden note about wanting to see the moon over Lake Dongting, and her favorability toward him rose.
• Lin Qingdai successfully performed a sword technique that had always made her blade tremble, then angrily denied that anything had changed.
• Su Yao learned Ye Qingyun would reach the capital in ten days and that her father had visited the ancestral hall; she compared her investigation report with the incisive notes Gu Moran had written in his study.
• At lunch, Shen Ling’er asked Murong Xue about Gu Moran’s horse-riding technique, while Xie Wanqing and Su Yao exchanged a brief, civil conversation.
• Gu Moran learned that Noble Consort Chen had summoned all six wives to Hanzhang Hall the next afternoon and heard that the First Prince’s consort had left her previous audience in tears.
• Gu Moran reviewed the system’s warning about Noble Consort Chen’s abnormal protectiveness and began preparing for the meeting.

Gu Moran’s six wives met Noble Consort Chen, who welcomed them and revealed her care for them, while discreetly investigating her son. After their affection scores rose, Shen Ling'er visited Gu Moran’s study at night, leaving their encounter poised to continue.

• Gu Moran sent each of his six wives advice before their visit to Noble Consort Chen, while a system countdown showed Ye Qingyun would reach the capital in ten days.
• Noble Consort Chen spoke privately with the six women, praising Shen Ling'er’s medical knowledge, comforting Murong Xue in the Northern Territory language, and offering the others personal kindness.
• Noble Consort Chen concluded that Gu Moran was thoughtful and quietly ordered Eunuch Zhang to investigate his reading and visitors.
• Gu Moran reviewed the six returned notes and saw that all six women’s affection scores had increased after Noble Consort Chen accepted them.
• Shen Ling'er brought tea to Gu Moran’s study without pastries or other suspicious items, and he invited her inside.

Shen Ling'er visited Gu Moran to ask whether he was truly weary, and he admitted that he was a little before she accidentally kissed him. The chapter ended with Gu Moran teasing her about her reddening ears.

• Shen Ling'er brought Gu Moran tea and asked whether he was really a wastrel, then told him she wanted to know if he was tired.
• Shen Ling'er noticed Gu Moran rubbing his sore neck and shoulders and massaged them while they talked about her medical training.
• Gu Moran admitted that he was a little tired, and Shen Ling'er offered to pour him more hot tea.
• Shen Ling'er tripped over a chair and fell toward Gu Moran, and they kissed when he caught her.
• Gu Moran pinched Shen Ling'er's ear and teased her for turning red, and she told him to shut up.

Shen Ling'er admitted she did not want to leave and asked Gu Moran whether he liked her, then deliberately kissed him. Gu Moran returned her affection, and she followed him into the inner room, where they embraced and agreed she could take her time believing him.

• Shen Ling'er refused to leave Gu Moran and told him she had changed outfits three times before visiting him.
• Shen Ling'er asked whether Gu Moran liked her, and he answered that he did before kissing her.
• Gu Moran took Shen Ling'er by the hand into the inner room, where she saw that he had prepared a bed with two pillows.
• Shen Ling'er told Gu Moran not to smile at other people anymore, and he embraced her and told her to take her time believing him.

Gu Moran and Shen Ling'er spent the night together, deepening her trust in him. By morning, the system warned that the other five beauties' affection would likely fall, just as Su Yao's maid Biyu passed the study.

• Gu Moran asked Shen Ling'er to stay with him, and she agreed to let him loosen her clothes.
• Shen Ling'er told Gu Moran she would not know him the next day if he stopped, and they spent the night together.
• Cui'er waited all night at Green Vine Courtyard, then watched Shen Ling'er return wearing Gu Moran's robe and retreat beneath the quilt.
• Gu Moran saw Shen Ling'er's affection rise by 40 points, while the system warned that the other five beauties' affection would decrease.
• Gu Moran reached the study doorway as Biyu, Su Yao's maid, passed by carrying morning tea.

After Shen Ling'er spent the night with Gu Moran, the other consorts reacted in their own ways, while Shen Ling'er worried she had caused trouble. Gu Moran saw several affection scores fall, then received an invitation to a poetry gathering from the Hanlin Academy.

• Biyu saw evidence that Shen Ling'er had stayed the night with Gu Moran and told Su Yao, who struggled to keep her calligraphy straight and wore out three brushes.
• News spread through the six courtyards; Murong Xue chopped apart wooden stakes, while Lin Qingdai cracked a scabbard and ordered Zitang to learn how Shen Ling'er and Gu Moran had gotten together.
• Liu Ruyan wrote two lines and put them away, while Xie Wanqing delivered mung bean cakes to the other courtyards and left one at Shen Ling'er's door.
• Shen Ling'er ate the mung bean cakes and asked Cui'er how the others had reacted, then admitted she had not meant to take Gu Moran's first night.
• Gu Moran saw Shen Ling'er's affection rise while Su Yao's, Lin Qingdai's, and Murong Xue's fell, then received an invitation from the Hanlin Academy to attend a poetry gathering in three days.

Gu Moran learned that Ye Qingyun would reach the capital in three days and prepared to counter his performance at the poetry gathering while managing tensions among the women in his residence. The chapter ended with Gu Moran suspecting that the Second Prince and Zhou Wenyuan were arranging a trap around Ye Qingyun’s arrival.

• Gu Moran ordered a covert operative to investigate Ye Qingyun’s journey and connections without confronting him, then learned that Ye Qingyun’s fortune and martial strength had increased.
• Gu Moran decided to use Xie Wanqing to present grand poems at the gathering, while asking Uncle Fu to invite Su Yao to his study.
• Su Yao rejected Gu Moran’s invitation and told him to restrain the unrest in the Green Vine Courtyard, so he sent her his treasured purple clay teapot instead.
• Gu Moran’s system reported that Zhou Wenyuan had met the emperor and stopped outside the Second Prince’s residence, leading Gu Moran to question whether his brother was preparing a stage for Ye Qingyun or a trap for him.

Gu Moran visited Su Yao after she sent him homemade cakes and found her reading his annotated book on statecraft. He pressed her about their relationship and said he wanted to stay the night, leaving her tense over the night they had spent together at the chancellor’s residence.

• Biyu delivered Su Yao’s white plum blossom cakes to Gu Moran, and the system recorded her first “proactive behavior” tag while her favorability stayed at -65.
• Gu Moran learned that Su Yao was reading volume seven of Strategies for Governing the State and went to Clear Frost Courtyard to see her.
• Su Yao questioned Gu Moran about his annotations and pointed out that he had resolved a debate about the salt and iron monopoly in a single sentence.
• Su Yao asked what Gu Moran had said to Shen Ling'er, and he admitted that he had taken her in when she came to him.
• Gu Moran told Su Yao their relationship was different, then said he wanted to stay the night and reminded her of what had happened at the chancellor’s residence.

Gu Moran asked Su Yao to relive their drunken encounter while sober, and she chose to let him kiss her. As they kissed in her study, he asked whether she had thought about him since the night at the chancellor’s residence.

• Gu Moran told Su Yao that pretending their accidental encounter never happened would not undo it, and asked her to remember it sober.
• Su Yao initially told Gu Moran to leave, but called him back and let him embrace her.
• Gu Moran teased Su Yao about her reactions, then kissed her when the lamplight dimmed; Su Yao closed her eyes and hooked an arm around his neck.
• Gu Moran deepened the kiss, knocking tea onto Su Yao’s only copy of Strategies for Governing the State, and she let him continue.
• Gu Moran loosened Su Yao’s collar and asked whether she had thought about him since their night at the chancellor’s residence.

Gu Moran spent the night with Su Yao, then learned that Ye Qingyun would reach the capital in two days and prepared poems to challenge him at the upcoming gathering. He traced Ye Qingyun’s travel support to a relative of Zhou Wenyuan and invited Xie Wanqing to attend the gathering, leaving her unsure whether she could properly go.

• Gu Moran and Su Yao spent the night together, and his system panel recorded a major rise in her favorability and a new autonomous-choice tag.
• Gu Moran saw that Ye Qingyun would arrive in the capital in two days and wrote three poems for the coming poetry gathering.
• Gu Moran learned that the Jizhou Chamber of Commerce had supplied Ye Qingyun with a horse and travel money, and traced its largest shareholder to Zhou Wenyuan’s cousin.
• Gu Moran ordered his agent to investigate the poetry gathering’s judges, then visited Xie Wanqing at Tranquil Ink Courtyard.
• After reading Xie Wanqing’s poem, Gu Moran invited her to the gathering, and she questioned whether it was proper for her to attend.

Gu Moran asked Xie Wanqing to recite his poem at a poetry gathering to protect her father from the second prince’s pressure, and she agreed after revising its final couplet. Ye Qingyun arrived in the capital intending to break off his engagement to Su Yao, but learned she had already been married by imperial decree.

• Gu Moran told Xie Wanqing that Ye Qingyun would attend the poetry gathering and asked her to outshine him with a poem he had written.
• Xie Wanqing revised two characters in Gu Moran’s final couplet and agreed to present the poem, hoping to protect her father from the second prince’s influence.
• Gu Moran learned that Ye Qingyun had arrived in the capital a day early and saw his carriage enter the city.
• Ye Qingyun checked into the Azure Cloud Inn and told his bookboy he planned to break off his engagement with Su Yao at the chancellor’s residence.
• The bookboy told Ye Qingyun that Su Yao had been granted an imperial marriage and was already married.

Ye Qingyun learned that Su Yao had been married by imperial decree to the third prince, Gu Moran, before he could reach the capital to break off their engagement. After the chancellor refused to see him, Ye Qingyun received an invitation to meet at a poetry gathering and vowed to reclaim the recognition he believed he was owed.

• Ye Qingyun learned from his page that Su Yao had become one of six women married to Gu Moran, the third prince, and grew furious that she had married before he could break their engagement.
• Ye Qingyun went to the Chancellor's Residence to demand an explanation from Su Wenyuan, but adviser Li Yuan told him the emperor had ordered Su Yao's marriage.
• Ye Qingyun asked whether Su Yao had agreed to the marriage, and Li Yuan said a prime minister's daughter's marriage could not be decided by a simple yes or no.
• Li Yuan gave Ye Qingyun a note from Su Wenyuan inviting him to a poetry gathering the day after tomorrow.
• Ye Qingyun left determined to attend the gathering and reclaim the recognition he believed was owed to him.

Gu Moran learned that Ye Qingyun’s fortune was rising ahead of the poetry gathering and investigated the judges and Ye’s preparations. After arranging to monitor Ye and his allies while refusing to have Su Yao watched, Gu Moran encountered Su Yao limping toward him.

• Gu Moran saw that Ye Qingyun’s fortune was increasing and that the Heavenly Dao Correction Force’s pull on Su Yao had reached 17%.
• Gu Moran received reports naming the poetry gathering’s judges and revealing that Xu Wenli had ties to the second prince and Ye Qingyun had spent the night preparing at a bookshop.
• Gu Moran ordered his agent to monitor Ye Qingyun, Zhou Wenyuan, and Xu Wenli’s son, but said there was no need to watch Su Yao.
• Gu Moran chose bamboo-green fabric for Xie Wanqing’s dress and ordered adjustments so she could recite poetry comfortably.
• Gu Moran heard that Su Yao had barely eaten because her throat hurt, then saw her limping toward him with a volume of Strategies for Governing the State.

Gu Moran prepared Xie Wanqing for the poetry gathering and planned how to counter Ye Qingyun, while the system reported changes in the women’s affection toward him. Ye Qingyun finished six poems for the contest, though his book attendant judged the darkest, most ink-covered one the likeliest to win.

• Su Yao passed Gu Moran without speaking, and he chose not to follow her.
• Gu Moran coached Xie Wanqing on the poetry gathering, gave her likely topics and verses, and urged her to stand firm if challenged.
• Uncle Fu delivered Noble Consort Chen’s note telling Gu Moran not to lose too badly, and Gu Moran planned the gathering’s proceedings and possible variables.
• The system reported that Su Yao’s affection had risen to nine, Shen Ling’er’s to fifty-two, and Xie Wanqing’s to thirty-two.
• Ye Qingyun completed six poems and asked Shuhe which one looked likeliest to win; Shuhe picked the one with the most ink.

Ye Qingyun prepared to make his name at the capital’s poetry gathering, refusing Aide Tian’s offer of the secret prompt while accepting silver for new clothes. Gu Moran learned that Ye Qingyun had declined the prompt, while Xie Wanqing decided she wanted to take the stage herself.

• Ye Qingyun reviewed his poems about his hardship, the broken betrothal, and his coming triumph, then steadied himself with the ancient scroll at his waist.
• Aide Tian brought Ye Qingyun the gathering’s proceedings and offered him the secret prompt, but Ye Qingyun refused it and accepted silver for clothes instead.
• Ye Qingyun chose a humble-looking blue-gray robe and planned to use his poems to expose the Su Clan and confront Su Yao and Gu Moran.
• Gu Moran read a covert report about Aide Tian’s visit and realized Ye Qingyun did not know that Xie Wanqing would be among his opponents.
• Xie Wanqing reread the poem in front of her and decided she wanted to take the stage at the gathering.

Shen Ling'er brought Su Yao soup and a throat-soothing pill, while warning her that Ye Qingyun would attend the next day's poetry gathering. Gu Moran arranged surveillance and preparations for the event as several women planned to watch, each for her own reasons.

• Shen Ling'er visited Su Yao with snow fungus soup and a pill, and told her Ye Qingyun would be at the poetry gathering.
• Su Yao took the pill and tasted the soup, then called Shen Ling'er a clever woman.
• Gu Moran assigned agents to watch the Second Prince's people, Ye Qingyun's attendant, and the chancellor's spies, and warned them not to intervene.
• Gu Moran arranged clothes, ornaments, and carriages for the women who might attend the poetry gathering.
• Murong Xue declined horse racing and said she would watch the poetry gathering, while Lin Qingdai planned to watch Gu Moran make a fool of himself.