Recaps

Jin Shanyao went to the county yamen seeking the reward for locating a murderer and used her spiritual abilities to identify the killer’s hiding place. She stayed at the yamen after sending the officers to the Fortune Arrives Inn, while Zhang Banxian doubted her warning.

• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi to the county yamen to report that she knew where the murderer was, but a crowd of false informants and Zhang Banxian obstructed her.
• After a patrol constable reported that a woman's body had been found in the east-side moat, the gate attendant brought Jin Shanyao and Zhang Banxian before Magistrate Yang.
• Magistrate Yang ordered the attendant to take Jin Shanyao to the crime scene, where she meditated outside a sealed pawnshop and named the Fortune Arrives Inn, Heaven Room Two, as the killer's location.
• Jin Shanyao warned that the officers needed to hurry to prevent another death, and the attendant rushed off with constables to investigate.
• Zhang Banxian urged Jin Shanyao to flee, but she sat on the county yamen's steps instead.

Jin Shanyao exposed Meng Hongde’s scheme to take control of Meng Anci’s household registration and received fifty taels for helping catch a murderer. She took Meng Anzhi to the academy to collect Meng Anci, where he was being bullied by Shiyan.

• Jin Shanyao used the Truth Incantation on Meng Hongde, who revealed that he planned to make Jin Shanyao pay for his son’s schooling and block Meng Anci from taking the imperial examinations.
• Registrar Sun rejected Meng Hongde’s request, and Jin Shanyao frightened him into fleeing while Meng Anzhi mistook the incident for a sign that her dead father had returned.
• Jin Shanyao discovered that her inner core had healed and gained merit, then entered the county yamen as Constable Wang brought in the murderer.
• Magistrate Yang paid Jin Shanyao fifty taels for her help, and she left through the back gate with Meng Anzhi to collect Meng Anci.
• Shiyan and several children mocked Meng Anci’s clothes and tried to stop him leaving, but Shiyan charged after him and crashed into the teacher.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to the Top Scholar Tower to celebrate after earning fifty taels for helping Magistrate Yang catch a criminal. Though the children worried they could not afford the feast, the three eagerly ate the restaurant’s many dishes.

• Meng Anci left the academy after learning Jin Shanyao was waiting outside, and he joined her and Meng Anzhi on the ox cart.
• Jin Shanyao brought the children to the Top Scholar Tower, where a stable hand questioned whether they could leave their ox cart there.
• Jin Shanyao ordered one of every dish on the menu, and the waiter and shopkeeper worried about the cost.
• Jin Shanyao confused the shopkeeper by asking whether he checked every customer’s purse, and he told the kitchen to serve the dishes.
• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci feared they might have to wash dishes to pay, but Jin Shanyao encouraged them to eat as the three devoured the feast.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci out to eat, while Meng Anci stood up to Shiyan at the academy with a hand-slapping game. Outside a medical hall, Li Dequan asked Jin Shanyao to use her divination skills to find his missing son.

• Jin Shanyao paid for the meal and packed the leftover dishes, while Meng Anci realized that people treated them differently because of their money and status.
• Shiyan mocked Meng Anci at the academy, then challenged him to play a hand-slapping game.
• Meng Anci repeatedly slapped Shiyan's hand until it swelled, and the teacher arrived before Shiyan could get even.
• Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi set up a banner offering to find missing people and provide free medical treatment.
• Li Dequan told Jin Shanyao that his eight-year-old son had disappeared during the Lantern Festival six months earlier and begged her to help find him.

Jin Shanyao used her spiritual power to find Li Dequan’s missing son and learned the boy had died, leaving Li Dequan devastated. She and Meng Anzhi moved their free-treatment stall near Benevolence Hall, where Qin Baitang offered them chairs.

• Li Dequan told Jin Shanyao that his son had been missing for six months, and she agreed to search for him for one copper coin.
• Jin Shanyao found the boy bound beneath the third tree near the Land God Temple, dead and badly decomposed.
• Jin Shanyao told Li Dequan his son was dead, and Li Dequan angrily drove her and Meng Anzhi out of his clinic before collapsing in grief.
• After the rain stopped, Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi moved their stall farther down the street, near Benevolence Hall.
• Qin Baitang directed Jin Shanyao to a spot around the corner and ordered an assistant to bring her and Meng Anzhi two chairs.

Jin Shanyao attracted her first patient by shouting about free treatment, then impressed Qin Baitang with her diagnosis and prescription. After returning to Little River Village, she found Dahuang had brought home a silly roe deer, while Matchmaker Gao envied her food from Top Scholar Tower.

• Qin Baitang explained that poor people might not recognize written notices, so Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi shouted that treatment was free.
• An old woman came for help, and Jin Shanyao taught Meng Anzhi to recognize a wiry pulse before writing the woman a prescription.
• Qin Baitang examined the old woman and confirmed Jin Shanyao's prescription was well suited to her condition.
• Jin Shanyao picked up Meng Anci from the academy and returned to Little River Village with food from Top Scholar Tower.
• Jin Shanyao found that Dahuang had brought a silly roe deer into the courtyard and planned to ask Top Scholar Tower whether they would buy it.
• Matchmaker Gao mocked Jin Shanyao's food, while Old Woman Li defended her and considered breeding a dog with Dahuang.

Jin Shanyao sold a roe deer at the Top Scholar Tower, then set up on the street to offer limited divinations and medical treatment. A woman balked at Jin Shanyao’s ten-tael fee to find her husband’s mistress and insulted her.

• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci practiced reading and medicine at home, then failed again to catch the wildcat Jin Shanyao set loose in the courtyard.
• Wang Guihua learned Jin Shanyao had received a reward for her clue in the murder case and considered seeking a share, but Meng Hongyi warned her not to provoke Jin Shanyao’s family.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi to the Top Scholar Tower and sold the shopkeeper a ninety-three-jin roe deer for five taels, returning 350 wen to settle the exact price.
• Jin Shanyao set up her banner on the street and announced that she would perform one people-or-objects divination and treat three patients each day.
• A woman asked Jin Shanyao to locate her husband’s mistress, rejected the ten-tael fee, and called her a money-grubber.

Jin Shanyao used divination to find a missing girl’s body at the Land God Temple, then treated patients while teaching Meng Anzhi medicine. After the county yamen summoned her over the murder, Magistrate Yang explained that several children had been abducted half a year earlier and the investigation had stalled.

• A woman paid Jin Shanyao one copper coin to find her missing daughter, and Jin Shanyao located the girl’s body buried beside the well at the Land God Temple.
• The woman ran to the temple, while Li Dequan watched her go and struggled with whether to stop her.
• Jin Shanyao examined an old beggar, diagnosed his weakness, and gave him prescriptions; she then taught Meng Anzhi how to diagnose patients during free consultations.
• On White Head Mountain, Meng Anzhi asked to use gathered herbs to help poor patients, and Jin Shanyao agreed to teach her how to prepare medicine.
• Constable Wang summoned Jin Shanyao to the county yamen for one copper coin, where Magistrate Yang told her that a child-abduction case from half a year earlier had yielded a victim’s body.

Jin Shanyao helped Magistrate Yang uncover the remains of murdered children and identify Concubine Liu and Wang Wu as suspects. After Magistrate Yang arranged to bring them in for questioning, Jin Shanyao returned to her medical stall and reassured Meng Anzhi, who was shaken by the victims’ deaths.

• Jin Shanyao told Magistrate Yang that five more sets of remains were buried at the Land God Temple, and they went there with constables and yamen runners.
• Jin Shanyao showed the officers where to dig while Meng Anzhi watched them uncover the children’s bodies; Li Dequan resisted when they approached the tree where his missing son was buried.
• Jin Shanyao searched the plants’ memories and identified Concubine Liu of the Zhao Residence and Wang Wu as the killers.
• Magistrate Yang ordered officers to bring Concubine Liu and Wang Wu to the county yamen, collect the remains, and seek families to identify the children.
• Jin Shanyao returned to Benevolence Hall, where she comforted frightened Meng Anzhi and promised to teach her how to make poison.

Jin Shanyao helped Magistrate Yang expose Liu Ruyan and Wang Wu as the killers of five children, including Zhao Mingjing's son, Zhao Zhiyuan. The case ended with the victims' families claiming the bodies, while Li Dequan continued searching for his missing son.

• Jin Shanyao gave Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci poisonous sachets and protective necklaces, then promised to take them to the Top Scholar Tower.
• At the trial, Jin Shanyao used a Truth Incantation to make Wang Wu confess that he and Liu Ruyan had killed five children to make rouge red.
• Wang Wu revealed that Zhao Zhiyuan was their last intended victim, and Liu Ruyan admitted that she had killed children because Zhao Mingjing would not give her one.
• The victims' families attacked Wang Wu with stones, and Magistrate Yang restored order and dismissed the court after solving the case.
• Several days later, Li Dequan bought the Land God Temple and kept searching for his son, while his wife remarried.

Jin Shanyao continued working from her cart while Zhang Banxian chattered beside her, but Meng Anzhi noticed that Jin Shanyao was tired and losing hair. After Meng Anzhi checked her pulse, Zhang Banxian returned and sat on the ox cart, where someone suddenly yelped and grabbed him.

• Zhang Banxian set up beside Jin Shanyao and tried to strike up a conversation, calling her his niece after she mistakenly called him a tree.
• Jin Shanyao told Zhang Banxian that a dog had run off with his banner, and he chased the dog away from his torn sign.
• Meng Anzhi noticed Jin Shanyao's hair was yellowing and falling out, but Jin Shanyao said it happened every autumn and would grow back in spring.
• Meng Anzhi checked Jin Shanyao's pulse, failed at first, then felt a strong and lively beat when she tried again.
• Zhang Banxian returned, put his banner back in place, and sat on the ox cart, where a yowl sounded and someone grabbed him.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, preparing an unusual offering for the moon goddess. The children ended the evening hoping the clouds would stay away so the goddess could see it.

• Madam Wang dragged Zhang Banxian home after his ritual failed to improve her son, while Jin Shanyao suspected a vicious ghost was involved.
• Jin Shanyao told Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci they would skip lessons and their stall to prepare food for the moon goddess.
• That night, the mountain civet knocked a man climbing onto Jin Shanyao's wall back outside, and Jin Shanyao suspected it was Fan Laizi.
• Jin Shanyao took the children to town for festival treats and explained she wanted to offer the moon goddess something more distinctive than mooncakes.
• Jin Shanyao laid out rice, chicken, greens, and a bowl of plant-ash fertilizer as a meeting gift for the moon goddess, baffling the children and neighbors.
• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci wished the clouds would stay away so the moon goddess could see their family's offerings.

At the Enlightenment Academy, Meng Anci endured Shiyan’s bullying and faced his first riding lesson, where the pony recoiled from the powerful demonic presence around him. The chapter left Master Zhao staring helplessly as the pony collapsed to its knees beneath Meng Anci’s touch.

• Jin Shanyao sent Meng Anci to the academy with ten copper coins and encouraged him to save or lend the money when needed.
• Shiyan mocked Meng Anci’s patched clothes, knocked Chen Zishan’s osmanthus cake to the ground, and challenged him, but Meng Anci baited him into refusing a game.
• Chen Zishan defended Meng Anci when Shiyan claimed he smelled bad, saying Meng Anci actually smelled nice.
• During the afternoon riding lesson, Shiyan mocked Meng Anci for not knowing how to ride, and Master Zhao reprimanded him.
• Meng Anci reached toward the pony, which dropped to its knees, while Master Zhao wondered what had frightened it.

Meng Anci surprised his classmates when a pony obeyed him, while Jin Shanyao refused Zhang Banxian’s request to save Young Master Wang. After picking up a troubled Meng Anci from school, Jin Shanyao sensed an evil presence coming from a carriage at the Meng Household gate.

• Master Zhao helped Meng Anci mount a pony, which stood up after Meng Anci gently told it to be good.
• Zhang Banxian asked Jin Shanyao to save Young Master Wang from a fierce ghost in exchange for Madam Wang’s fifty taels, but Jin Shanyao refused.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi to pick mushrooms and wild greens, then went to collect Meng Anci from school.
• Meng Anci hid his sadness after Shiyan insulted him about having no parents, and Jin Shanyao used the necklace’s Spiritual Power to see what had happened.
• Jin Shanyao stopped the ox cart near home after sensing an evil presence coming from the carriage at the Meng Household gate.

Jin Shanyao confronted Zhang Banxian for bringing the vengeful ghost to her courtyard, but he and Madam Wang tried to use Young Master Wang as bait and set fire to the Meng home. Jin Shanyao let the children see the ghost, who revealed that Young Master Wang had murdered her while she was eight months pregnant.

• Jin Shanyao threw Zhang Banxian away when he brought Young Master Wang’s carriage to her courtyard, and she refused Madam Wang’s plea to use her home as shelter.
• At midnight, Zhang Banxian placed Young Master Wang at the courtyard gate and used talismans, black dog blood, cinnabar, and a copper coin sword to guard against the female ghost.
• The female ghost shattered Zhang Banxian’s defenses, and he begged Jin Shanyao to open the gate before threatening to burn her home.
• Madam Wang’s servants hurled lit torches into the Meng courtyard, while Jin Shanyao kept Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci safe and used her Spiritual Power to let them see the ghost.
• The female ghost attacked Young Master Wang and revealed that he had pushed her into a dry well over gambling debts and taken her dowry while she was eight months pregnant.

Jin Shanyao exposed Zhang Banxian’s fraud and watched Lady Li take revenge on Young Master Wang, then comforted Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci. The chapter ended with Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi surprising Meng Anci with a bow, arrows, and a foal, before revealing that Meng Anzhi had a horse too.

• Lady Li revealed that Young Master Wang had persecuted her, then possessed him and caused his death; Jin Shanyao drove Zhang Banxian away with a flaming torch.
• Jin Shanyao reassured Meng Anzhi that she should not live to please others and warned her that people could betray her.
• The next day, Jin Shanyao saw Madam Wang’s funeral procession and heard that Young Master Wang’s abuse of Lady Li had become village gossip.
• On the journey home, Meng Anci teased Meng Anzhi and insisted that the three of them should never keep secrets from one another.
• Meng Anci received a bow and arrows from Meng Anzhi, then discovered that Jin Shanyao had also given him a foal.
• Meng Anzhi revealed her own bow and arrows, and Meng Anci realized she had received a horse too.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi up White Head Mountain, where she played at being its fearsome ruler while the children hunted rabbits. The children each managed to shoot a rabbit, and Jin Shanyao agreed to roast them all for lunch.

• Meng Anci fed his foal and proudly told Meng Anzhi that he had named it Black Grand Marshal, while she named hers General White.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi up White Head Mountain with their bows and arrows so they could hunt.
• Jin Shanyao shouted and laughed on the mountain, then pretended to capture the children and make them her attendants.
• Dahuang and Xiaoli drove a group of wild rabbits toward the children, and Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi each hit one after several attempts.
• Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi argued over whose rabbit should be roasted first, and Jin Shanyao said they would roast them all.

Jin Shanyao spent the day on the mountain with Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, while Meng Anci eagerly prepared to ride to the academy with his bow and arrows. He placed first in his first exam, and the chapter ended with Shiyan charging at him and crashing into a wall.

• Jin Shanyao roasted rabbits with Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, then taught Meng Anzhi how to identify licorice while the children hunted and gathered herbs.
• Meng Anci stayed up late finishing his schoolwork, then carefully cleaned his bow and arrows and cuddled them under his quilt.
• Meng Anci rode Black Grand Marshal to Green Mountain Academy, drawing attention from the other families and Shiyan.
• Master Zhao announced that Meng Anci had taken first place, ahead of Zhao Zhiyuan, while Shiyan accused him of cheating.
• After class, Shiyan and the other children surrounded Meng Anci and demanded to see his paper; when Shiyan charged at him, Meng Anci dodged and Shiyan hit the wall.

Meng Anci came first in the academy’s year-end examination and returned home with Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi, while privately worrying that Shiyan’s family might confront him. The next day, Madam Shi blocked the academy entrance and accused Meng Anci of injuring her son.

• After Shiyan hurt his head, Meng Anci denied pushing him when Master Zhao questioned him, and Master Zhao let him go home.
• Meng Anci showed Jin Shanyao his examination paper and told her he had come first.
• Jin Shanyao made winter clothes for Meng Anzhi and suggested buying a shop in the county town.
• Meng Anci worried that Shiyan might die or that his family would come after him.
• Madam Shi arrived at the academy with Shiyan and servants, pointed out Meng Anci, and berated him for hurting her son.

Madam Shi accused Meng Anci of cheating and blamed him for Shiyan’s injury, but Jin Shanyao defended her nephew and fought the Shi Household men. Meng Anci beat Shiyan in a fight, and Master Zhao arrived as Jin Shanyao released Madam Shi.

• Madam Shi accused Meng Anci of cheating and causing Shiyan’s injury, but Jin Shanyao believed Meng Anci when he denied it.
• A Shi Household servant threatened Meng Anci, and Jin Shanyao kicked the man down before defeating the men Madam Shi had brought.
• Jin Shanyao made the servant who had insulted Meng Anci face him, and Meng Anci punched the man in the eye and mouth.
• Jin Shanyao released Shiyan and challenged him to fight Meng Anci; Meng Anci dodged Shiyan’s attacks, knocked him down, and struck his injured head.
• Madam Shi pleaded with Jin Shanyao to stop, and Master Zhao arrived and asked her to release Madam Shi, which she did.

Master Zhao defended Meng Anci at Green Mountain Academy and warned Madam Shi to stop causing trouble, while Shi Chang'an later reprimanded her. Jin Shanyao bought a shop in Meng Anzhi’s name and hired locals to clean it, ending up with a basket of vegetables as a pledge.

• Madam Shi demanded that Master Zhao expel Meng Anci, but he refused and threatened to bar the Shi Household’s children from Green Mountain Academy if she insulted his student again.
• Madam Shi sent Shiyan into class and left with her injured servants, while Jin Shanyao urged Meng Anci to go to class and accepted Master Zhao’s advice about teaching him to use reason.
• Shi Chang'an confronted Madam Shi at home, blamed her for taking Shiyan to make trouble, and ordered her not to fight with household servants again.
• Jin Shanyao bought a main-street shop near Qin Baitang’s and had the deed written in Meng Anzhi’s name.
• Jin Shanyao offered payment for people to clean the shop, and one woman left her basket of vegetables as a pledge while she went to fetch help.

Jin Shanyao opened her new county-town shop with Meng Anzhi and arranged to hire servants to keep it clean. She put the shop in Anzhi’s name, leaving Anzhi and Meng Anci stunned and determined to honor her generosity.

• Jin Shanyao showed Meng Anzhi their newly bought shop, and the two welcomed patients while a local woman and her family cleaned the premises.
• After paying the cleaners, Jin Shanyao decided to hire servants and took Meng Anzhi to collect Meng Anci from the academy.
• Meng Anci eagerly explored the shop, and Jin Shanyao told the children they would visit it after eating at Top Scholar Tower.
• On their way back to Little River Village, Meng Anzhi asked why the property deed bore her name, and Jin Shanyao explained that Anci already had a house and land, so Anzhi should have property too.
• Meng Anzhi reflected on how unusual her opportunities were, while Meng Anci resolved to study hard and care for Jin Shanyao in her old age.

Jin Shanyao bought several servants to help with her work and teach the children, including the dangerous-looking Lu Chi, whom she recognized as having extraordinary fortune. She left the two cousins, now named Qing He and Qing Yang, at the empty shop while she went to find a carpenter.

• Jin Shanyao harvested the garden’s talking vegetables and decided to buy people to handle the work.
• Jin Shanyao advised Meng Anci to avoid public violence, and Meng Anzhi resolved to act whenever her brother could not.
• At the slave market, Jin Shanyao noticed Lu Chi’s dense red fortune and bought him for seventy taels despite his hostility.
• Jin Shanyao also bought the famine-stricken cousins Qing Zhaodi and Qing Pandi, whom she renamed Qing He and Qing Yang.
• Jin Shanyao carried Lu Chi to the empty shop, checked the contracts, and left with Meng Anzhi to find a carpenter.

Jin Shanyao hired a carpenter to renovate her property and examined Lu Chi, discovering that he had endured years of abuse and carried several poisons. As she opened Anzhi Hall and treated customers, Lu Chi learned that she planned to purge his poisons and began wondering who she was.

• Jin Shanyao ordered an old carpenter to rebuild the rooms and furnish the shop as Anzhi Hall.
• Jin Shanyao examined Lu Chi, treated his wounds, and found several poisons in his body that would take three months to purge.
• Jin Shanyao opened her shop to a crowd seeking fortune-telling and consultations, while Qing He and Qing Yang watched in amazement.
• Lu Chi regained some movement, dressed himself, and recalled that he was the heir of the Marquis of Zhenyuan and had been abducted and sold.
• Lu Chi realized Jin Shanyao might cure the poison that famous physicians had failed to treat, and wondered who she was when the door opened.

Lu Chi met Meng Anci, who challenged him about his identity and learned that his sale deed named him Gouya. Meanwhile, Diao Siniang persuaded Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi to exploit Meng Anci’s possible future success, and the two uncles began ingratiating themselves with him.

• Meng Anci confronted Lu Chi, called himself his master, and teased him about the name Gouya on his sale deed.
• Villagers learned Jin Shanyao had bought servants and a county-town shop registered in Meng Anzhi’s name, prompting resentment from the first and second branches of the Meng Household.
• Diao Siniang proposed letting Jin Shanyao fund Meng Anci’s education so the family could later benefit from his status, and suggested they could disqualify him by accusing him of being unfilial if he resisted.
• Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi approached Meng Anci with candy and fruit, claiming they had missed him and that his father had appeared in a dream asking them to look after him.
• Meng Hongde mistook Meng Anci’s dejected expression for proof that his flattery had worked.