Chapter Summaries

Gu Moran visited Murong Xue in the stable, where their teasing drew them closer and the system raised her favorability. A warning about Ye Qingyun’s worsening arm and a growing conflict risk was followed by news that people from the Azure Wolf Courtyard and Iron Plum Courtyard were fighting by the rear well.

• Gu Moran returned from the south of the city and found Murong Xue tending the horses in the newly tidied stable.
• Murong Xue told Gu Moran that her father’s old riding whip hung in the stable, and she asked him to call before entering in the future.
• The system raised Murong Xue’s favorability by 10 and upgraded Gu Moran’s tag to “Entered private territory.”
• Batuer told Uncle Fu that entering Murong Xue’s stable carried intimate significance in the Northern Territory.
• The system warned that Ye Qingyun’s left arm had worsened after nighttime training and that conflict over the bamboo-slip cultivation technique had become more likely.
• A servant reported that people from the Azure Wolf Courtyard and Iron Plum Courtyard were fighting by the rear well.

Gu Moran settled a fight between Batuer and Zitang over the well by assigning buckets and making Batuer help sharpen a sword. After Murong Xue accepted his view of the household as family, the system raised her favorability, but warned that activity on Chu Tianxing's route had increased.

• Gu Moran arrived at the well and heard that Batuer and Zitang had fought over water, leaving Zitang's face swollen.
• Gu Moran assigned uses and turns for the wells, ordered more buckets, and arranged for Batuer to help Zitang sharpen a sword after Murong Xue's horse got water.
• Lin Qingdai and Murong Xue teased Gu Moran about visiting their courtyards, then left with Zitang and Batuer.
• Murong Xue asked whether Gu Moran feared she would draw her saber, and he said he trusted her not to harm family; she lowered her hand from the hilt and requested four buckets.
• The system raised Murong Xue's favorability to +25 and added the tag "Family," then warned that Heavenly Dao activity on Chu Tianxing's route had increased slightly.
• Gu Moran looked toward the south of the city and told Murong Xue that a doctor who charged five copper coins per consultation was involved.

Gu Moran and Murong Xue discussed the doctor Chu Tianxing before their teasing turned into a private moment in Murong Xue’s room. The chapter ended with Murong Xue holding Gu Moran by the neck and threatening to bite him if he kept talking.

• Murong Xue asked Gu Moran about Chu Tianxing and said she would meet him the next day, but Gu Moran tried to dissuade her.
• Murong Xue caught Gu Moran by the lapel, and the two exchanged flirtatious remarks before she led him to the Azure Wolf Courtyard.
• Gu Moran entered Murong Xue’s room after she called him and reminded him of their shared waterskin and their time together in the Northern Territory.
• Murong Xue set aside her saber, told Gu Moran that their closeness counted as a commitment in the Northern Territory, and said that tonight counted.
• Murong Xue wrapped her hand around Gu Moran’s neck and warned him to stop talking or she would bite him.

Gu Moran and Murong Xue spent the night together, and she gave him her cherished bronze bell as a sign that she claimed him. Gu Moran then returned to the study and asked Uncle Fu for details about Chu Tianxing.

• Gu Moran and Murong Xue kissed and became intimate after he reassured her and followed her pace.
• Murong Xue told Gu Moran that showing him her father's riding whip meant accepting him into her tent, then asked him to hold her.
• Murong Xue hid the bronze bell beneath her pillow so Batuer would not hear it, and later asked Gu Moran to come again the next night.
• Murong Xue gave Gu Moran the bronze bell and declared that no one could steal someone who belonged to her.
• Gu Moran went to the study, where Uncle Fu was waiting, and asked about Chu Tianxing's exact situation.

Gu Moran arranged a free clinic in the south of the city to give Chu Tianxing a chance to see patients, while Shen Ling'er discovered he had been at the Azure Wolf Courtyard and stayed with him as they prepared for the next day. After she fell asleep, Gu Moran carried her to the couch, promising not to hide danger or injuries from her.

• Gu Moran instructed Uncle Fu to set up a free clinic tent with free consultations, medicine-cost advances for the poor, and a trial period for visiting physicians, then planned to draw Chu Tianxing there with a genuinely sick child.
• Shen Ling'er recognized the scents of milk wine and perfume on Gu Moran's clothes and teased him about his visit to the Azure Wolf Courtyard.
• Gu Moran stopped Shen Ling'er from going to the clinic and gave her tasks involving Su Yao's throat and Lin Qingdai's bruises.
• Shen Ling'er stayed to prepare medicine and help Gu Moran draft the clinic regulations, adding a packet of coptis root as a warning to anyone who misbehaved.
• Shen Ling'er fell asleep at the writing desk after asking Gu Moran to tell her about danger and injuries, and he carried her to the inner room couch.

Shen Ling'er left Gu Moran a note and medicine before he arranged for Chu Tianxing to encounter Ye Qingyun at the martial arts school. After establishing himself as a physician at the free clinic, Chu Tianxing publicly diagnosed Ye Qingyun, provoking him and setting the stage for a confrontation.

• Shen Ling'er left coptis and a note telling Gu Moran not to lie to her, and Gu Moran called her considerate while discussing his plans with Uncle Fu.
• Gu Moran ordered Uncle Fu to keep watch on Chu Tianxing and arranged for him to meet Ye Qingyun, hoping their competing pride would spark a fight.
• Chu Tianxing began treating patients at the free clinic, earned five copper coins, and received meat congee for his work.
• Chu Tianxing treated several patients and exposed a man who had stolen flatbreads before hearing that Ye Qingyun was competing at the Dragon Abyss Martial Arts School.
• At Ye Qingyun's weapons trial, Chu Tianxing announced that Ye Qingyun's left hand was numb and accused him of having another training-related illness, angering Ye Qingyun.

Chu Tianxing confronted Ye Qingyun about his worsening illness, and their fight gave Gu Moran a chance to spread a story that served both men’s reputations in different ways. Meanwhile, Gu Moli left Ganye Temple and headed back to the palace after securing her father’s decree.

• Chu Tianxing diagnosed Ye Qingyun with qi-related damage, but Ye Qingyun punched him and Chu Tianxing warned that his left arm would soon become unusable.
• Gu Moran watched the confrontation and ordered Boss Zhao to circulate an account that portrayed Ye Qingyun as a scholar who struck a doctor and Chu Tianxing as a compassionate healer.
• Chu Tianxing told Shuhe that Ye Qingyun could still save his arm by stopping training and seeking treatment within three days, but that the damage would worsen if he continued.
• Gu Moli departed Ganye Temple in the rain, telling the Reverend Mother she had obtained her father’s decree to return to the palace for her imperial brother’s wedding.

Gu Moli returned from Ganye Temple and confronted Noble Consort Chen about Prince Yi’s six marriages, especially Liu Ruyan’s resemblance to her. When Gu Moli suggested that Brother Ran become emperor, Noble Consort Chen slapped her and warned her not to bring ruin on him.

• Gu Moli told Qingwu to leave some people at Ganye Temple to listen for gossip about her six new sisters-in-law.
• At Hanzhang Hall, Gu Moli asked Noble Consort Chen whether Liu Ruyan resembled her and said she wanted to see whether her brother had thought of her when he married.
• Gu Moli left a visiting card announcing that she would visit Prince Yi’s Residence the next day to pay her respects to her imperial brother and six sisters-in-law.
• Noble Consort Chen warned Gu Moli to keep away from Liu Ruyan, but Gu Moli insisted she only wanted to see her brother.
• Gu Moli asked what would happen if Brother Ran became emperor, and Noble Consort Chen slapped her and warned her not to bring ruin on Ran'er.

Gu Moli confronted Noble Consort Chen about helping her brother claim the throne, revealing the political connections she had quietly built and the dangers surrounding the succession. After Noble Consort Chen slapped her twice and warned that their father’s approval was essential, Gu Moli asked what would happen if he never gave it.

• Gu Moli explained how she had misdirected the Imperial City Bureau’s investigations and argued that her brother deserved the throne.
• Gu Moli listed the powerful families connected to her brother through his marriages and revealed that Noble Consort Chen knew she had planted someone in the Flower-Between Pavilion.
• Noble Consort Chen accused Gu Moli of acting out of jealousy over her brother’s wives and warned her not to pursue her desires.
• Gu Moli questioned whether their father had honorably won the throne, and Noble Consort Chen slapped her a second time.
• Gu Moli argued that the crown prince, the second prince, and her brother were all caught in a succession struggle, then asked Noble Consort Chen what they should do if their father never approved her brother’s claim.

Gu Moli returned from Ganye Temple and pressed Noble Consort Chen about supporting her brother, then went to meet Gu Moran’s six wives at Prince Yi’s Residence. She gave each wife a carefully chosen gift and lingered over Liu Ruyan’s face without revealing what she thought.

• Gu Moli urged Noble Consort Chen not to delay helping her brother, and Noble Consort Chen warned her not to harm her sisters-in-law.
• Gu Moran learned Gu Moli was approaching and told Uncle Fu to notify the six courtyards that she would visit.
• The six wives prepared for Gu Moli’s visit, each choosing a gift or deciding how to receive her.
• Gu Moli arrived at Prince Yi’s Residence, greeted Gu Moran, and remarked that he had lost weight.
• Gu Moli gave Su Yao, Shen Ling'er, Murong Xue, Lin Qingdai, and Xie Wanqing gifts tailored to them.
• Gu Moli presented Liu Ruyan with a mirror and studied her features longer than she had studied the other wives.

Gu Moli visited Gu Moran’s estate, where her pointed compliments unsettled his six wives and her questions revealed her intense attachment to him. In Gu Moran’s study, she presented the jade pendant he had given her as a child and asked whether he was still truly her brother.

• Gu Moli recognized the resemblance between herself and Liu Ruyan, while Gu Moran’s system warned him that she had once helped him pursue the throne and died alongside him in the original plot.
• Gu Moli identified the scents of the estate’s six courtyards and exchanged cuttingly perceptive remarks with each of Gu Moran’s wives.
• Gu Moli asked to see Gu Moran’s study, and he let her in after Uncle Fu removed sensitive maps and documents.
• Gu Moli examined Gu Moran’s annotated book, accused him of lying about his reading habits, and reminded him she knew he used to fall asleep after three pages.
• Gu Moli placed the jade pendant Gu Moran had given her when she was eight on the desk and asked whether he was really still her brother.

Gu Moli visited Gu Moran and his six wives, using her old closeness with him to test their boundaries and stir up memories of his past. She left after asking whether a doctor whose nose had been injured was recovering, drawing all six wives’ attention to Gu Moran.

• Gu Moran returned the jade pendant to Gu Moli and told her he still considered her his younger sister, while Shen Ling'er warned him against indulging her.
• Shen Ling'er, Su Yao, Lin Qingdai, Murong Xue, Xie Wanqing, and Liu Ruyan each joined the tense meeting and exchanged pointed remarks with Gu Moli.
• Gu Moli said the jade pendant smelled better than osmanthus incense, prompting the six wives to react as Gu Moran stopped her from dredging up their past.
• Gu Moli left the study and asked Gu Moran whether the five-copper miracle doctor's nose had recovered, making his six wives turn to look at him.

Gu Moli visited Gu Moran’s residence and tested the household’s relationships over dinner, provoking the women with pointed remarks about Liu Ruyan. After Gu Moran escorted her out, she warned that the miracle doctor in the south of the city would meet people from the Crown Prince’s Residence the next day.

• Gu Moran asked Gu Moli whether she was hungry instead of asking how she knew about Chu Tianxing and the five-copper miracle doctor.
• At dinner, Gu Moli took Su Yao’s seat, and Gu Moran assigned Su Yao and Gu Moli places while the other women discussed his household.
• Gu Moli implied that Gu Moran pitied Liu Ruyan because she resembled someone from his past, but Liu Ruyan said he had given her brushes and ink rather than things chosen to match old belongings.
• Gu Moran ended the meal and arranged to send Gu Moli back to the palace after she continued provoking the women.
• As she left, Gu Moli told Gu Moran that the miracle doctor in the south of the city would encounter people from the Crown Prince’s Residence the next day.

Gu Moran, Shen Ling'er, and Su Yao coordinated their response as the Crown Prince's Residence prepared to test Chu Tianxing at the free clinic. When the Crown Prince's Residence sent a gravely ill youth, Chu Tianxing recognized the blood he coughed up and asked who had given him a Life-Sustaining Pill.

• Gu Moran decided to let the Crown Prince's Residence watch Chu Tianxing at the free clinic while keeping his own men from intervening.
• Shen Ling'er deduced that the Crown Prince's Residence would test Chu Tianxing with a real patient and arranged for A Ling to help at the clinic.
• Su Yao offered to use her connections to watch the Chancellor's Residence, and the system rewarded Gu Moran with a modern Chinese and Western medicine diagnostic module.
• Gu Moran assigned A Ling to the clinic, Su Yao's people to watch the Chancellor's Residence, and Zhao Si's people to observe without intervening.
• The Crown Prince's Residence brought a pale youth to the clinic, and he coughed up dark blood before Chu Tianxing asked who had given him a Life-Sustaining Pill.

Chu Tianxing charged the Eastern Palace’s chief clerk ten taels to treat a boy who had been poisoned by a Life-Sustaining Pill, then stabilized him and sent him away by handcart. A Ling recorded Chu Tianxing’s diagnosis and treatment as the boy regained consciousness.

• Chu Tianxing diagnosed the boy with poisoning from a Life-Sustaining Pill and demanded ten taels to treat him.
• The chief clerk paid Chu Tianxing, and Chu Tianxing told A Ling to keep the silver while she recorded his examination.
• Chu Tianxing used silver needles and water to stabilize the boy, explaining that the pill’s poison remained and that he needed plain water and rice broth.
• Chu Tianxing instructed the chief clerk to transport the boy slowly on a padded handcart, and the boy woke before being taken away.
• A Ling showed Chu Tianxing her notes, and he criticized her handwriting and pointed out that she had recorded one acupoint incorrectly.

A Ling reported Chu Tianxing’s treatment of the poisoned boy, prompting Shen Ling’er and Gu Moran to assess his methods and plan to study them from afar. As Shen Ling’er prepared for more trouble around the city shelter, Gu Moran received word that the emperor was staying at Hanzhang Hall and had become obsessed with elixirs.

• A Ling delivered Chu Tianxing’s case notes and the ten-tael ingot to Shen Ling’er, explaining that he had identified the boy’s Life-Sustaining Pill poisoning before the boy was taken away.
• Shen Ling’er judged Chu Tianxing’s emergency needling dangerous but precise, and encouraged A Ling to keep observing him and taking notes.
• Gu Moran’s diagnostic module identified acute drug poisoning and strain on the boy’s heart and lungs; he wrote that the first priorities were safeguarding breathing and lowering the medicinal fire.
• Shen Ling’er decided to study Chu Tianxing’s needling technique through A Ling rather than visit him herself, and sent A Ling with an aconite antidote prescription and coptis.
• Gu Moran warned that the Crown Prince’s Residence, the Second Prince’s Residence, and the Chancellor’s Residence could all become involved in the south-city shelter.
• Uncle Fu delivered a palace note saying the emperor would stay overnight at Hanzhang Hall and had become obsessed with elixirs.

Noble Consort Chen tried to limit the emperor’s use of longevity pills while concealing the tension surrounding Liu Huaijin’s death sixteen years earlier. After taking the remaining pills into the outer chamber, Eunuch Zhang found the Flower-Between Pavilion’s mark on one of them.

• Eunuch Zhang told Noble Consort Chen that the emperor was bringing three boxes of longevity pills, despite Elder Shen advising him against taking them.
• Noble Consort Chen urged the emperor to take less, but he swallowed one pill and then half of another while discussing the crown prince, the second prince, and Ran'er.
• The emperor recalled the affair at the Grand Tutor's residence and asked whether Noble Consort Chen still resented him over Liu Huaijin; she denied it and said she had forgotten the past.
• Noble Consort Chen ordered Eunuch Zhang to prepare the water, and he persuaded the emperor to leave the remaining pills in the outer chamber.
• Eunuch Zhang opened the box and spotted the Flower-Between Pavilion’s mark on a red pill.

Noble Consort Chen and Eunuch Zhang investigated suspicious pills linked to the Flower-Between Pavilion, while old clues about Liu Huaijin and the Liu Clan resurfaced. The chapter ended with Chen suspecting Zhang was hiding a secret connected to Liu Huaijin.

• Eunuch Zhang told Noble Consort Chen that one pill smelled of sulfur and bore the Flower-Between Pavilion's hidden seal.
• Noble Consort Chen sent the marked pill to Shen Ling'er at Prince Yi's Residence for identification.
• Noble Consort Chen questioned Zhang about the emperor's renewed interest in Liu Huaijin and recalled that he had refused to restore the Liu family's household registrations.
• Noble Consort Chen confronted Zhang about his past as Zhang Yanchen and his concern for Liu Ruyan.
• Eunuch Zhang urged Noble Consort Chen to warn Prince Yi that the pills might be poisonous and admitted he had smelled something similar at the Flower-Between Pavilion.
• Noble Consort Chen accused Zhang of concealing something and asked whether it was connected to Liu Huaijin.

Gu Moran and Shen Ling'er examined the longevity pill sent from the palace and planned to identify its ingredients without drawing attention. The system warned that the emperor might suspect Gu Moran of regicide within a year, while Gu Moran prepared to miss another visit to Murong Xue's Azure Wolf Courtyard.

• Shen Ling'er wondered why the emperor believed in longevity pills, and the system warned Gu Moran that the emperor had two years to live and might suspect him of regicide in a year.
• Gu Moran asked Uncle Fu who had been on duty near the emperor's pill furnace, and learned that Eunuch Zhang had guarded Hanzhang Hall himself.
• A servant delivered a porcelain bottle from Eunuch Zhang, and Shen Ling'er identified its contents as a longevity pill containing cinnabar, sulfur, musk, deer antler, and other substances.
• Shen Ling'er agreed to analyze the pill, while Su Yao offered Clear Frost Courtyard as a discreet place to work and Uncle Fu planned to spread a story that Su Yao had punished him.
• Shen Ling'er planned to examine the pill at night, but Su Yao warned Gu Moran not to visit her courtyard again; Gu Moran realized he would also miss his appointment with Murong Xue.

Gu Moran received news that Ye Qingyun’s illness had worsened and learned that Eunuch Zhang’s hidden past might be connected to Gu Moran’s origins. With his questions unanswered, Gu Moran postponed visiting Murong Xue’s courtyard but promised to go after finishing his business.

• Gu Moran sent Shen Ling'er and Su Yao out with a warning not to push themselves, while Uncle Fu prepared roast lamb for Azure Wolf Courtyard.
• Uncle Fu reported that Ye Qingyun had missed the martial arts school’s tournament, his left arm had worsened, and he had accepted medicine sent by the second prince.
• Gu Moran learned that Chu Tianxing had seen Shuhe buying medicine and ordered Zhao Si’s people to watch the situation closely.
• Uncle Fu revealed that Eunuch Zhang had served Noble Consort Chen and that his former name might be unspoken, prompting the system to connect him to an old case and Gu Moran’s origins.
• Batuer relayed Murong Xue’s challenge for Gu Moran to visit Azure Wolf Courtyard, and Gu Moran promised to go there after finishing his business.