Recaps

Meng Anci outwitted Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi when they tried to learn whose name was on the shop deed, while Meng Hongyi sent Wang Guihua to ingratiate herself with Jin Shanyao. At home, Lu Chi discovered Meng Anzhi fed expensive mushrooms to the dog and learned that Meng Anci was eating mushroom-filled meatballs too.

• Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi tried to coax Meng Anci into stealing the shop deed, but he loudly exposed their scheme to Meng Anzhi and warned them not to try again.
• Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi fled, then argued at home over who had pushed them to question Meng Anci.
• Meng Hongyi ordered Wang Guihua to get close to Jin Shanyao, and she reluctantly agreed after he argued that their children needed food for the New Year.
• Lu Chi complained that he had to eat the same fried meatballs as Dahuang, but their taste quickly won him over.
• Lu Chi saw Meng Anzhi serve morels to the wildcat and Dahuang, then learned from Meng Anci that the meatballs contained several prized mushrooms, including matsutake.

Jin Shanyao dismissed Lu Chi’s objections to her using wild ginseng and sent him to clean the latrine, where he overheard villagers discussing Meng Anci’s uncles and the risk they posed to the boy’s reputation. Lu Chi warned Jin Shanyao that the uncles could threaten Meng Anci’s eligibility for the imperial examinations, then bargained for food and wine in exchange for further help.

• Jin Shanyao used a wild ginseng root to make tea, and Lu Chi scolded her for wasting something valuable before she taught Meng Anci to put his own well-being first.
• Jin Shanyao ordered Lu Chi to clean the latrine, and he fled after vomiting from the stench.
• Lu Chi overheard two women say Meng Anci’s uncles might damage his reputation if he took the xiucai examination.
• Lu Chi told Jin Shanyao that exam candidates needed family records and guarantors, and that Meng Anci’s uncles could report him for disrespecting elders.
• Jin Shanyao agreed to excuse Lu Chi from cleaning the latrine, and he demanded braised meat and osmanthus wine before explaining how to handle the accusations.

Jin Shanyao planned to sever her family’s ties with the Meng branches and helped Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi target their uncles’ weaknesses. A staged fortune-telling scheme led Meng Hongde to blame Meng Hongyi for Tietou’s coma, and the brothers agreed to sever ties.

• Lu Chi told Jin Shanyao that moving households, making a living elsewhere, or being raised by someone else could justify severing family ties, and she ordered him to clean the latrine.
• Jin Shanyao reassured Meng Anci that he could take the county-level examination, and the children identified their uncles’ fondness for their sons and greed for money as weaknesses to exploit.
• Meng Anzhi placed a calming sachet on a path Tietou would take, while Meng Anci arranged for people to crowd a fortune-telling stall with questions about feuding brothers.
• After Tietou fell into a deep sleep, Meng Hongde brought the blind fortune-teller home, and the man blamed a brother for causing misfortune and financial loss.
• Diao Siniang accused Wang Guihua’s family of bringing trouble, and Meng Hongde suspected Meng Hongyi of conspiring with Jin Shanyao before declaring their relationship over.
• Meng Hongyi and Wang Guihua agreed to sever ties, but Meng Hongde demanded that Third Brother’s two children be called in too, prompting Meng Hongyi to ask whether he still suspected him of colluding with Jin Shanyao.

Jin Shanyao and the children signed and registered a document severing their ties with the Meng family. After moving into the renovated shop, Lu Chi found himself drawn into the children’s cloth-pouch throwing game, which left him confident he would win.

• Jin Shanyao brought Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to the Meng family gathering and agreed to sign the document severing ties between the branches and their children.
• Jin Shanyao took the signed document and household registration papers to the county yamen and registered the separation.
• When the first snow fell, Qing He, Qing Yang, and Lu Chi moved into the renovated shop, where Lu Chi resumed his chores and privately vowed to get revenge on Jin Shanyao.
• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci began tossing cloth pouches at a bucket, and Lu Chi demonstrated a successful throw before agreeing to compete with Meng Anzhi.
• Meng Anzhi’s first pouch caught on the bucket’s rim, and Lu Chi looked toward Jin Shanyao as if the miss proved his confidence was justified.

Lu Chi began teaching Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, including archery and combat, after Jin Shanyao challenged him to teach the six arts. On the day of the academy’s riding and archery competition, the family arrived, where other parents looked down on Meng Anzhi’s clothes.

• Meng Anzhi outsmarted Lu Chi in a throwing game, then revealed she had been reading a wide range of books.
• Lu Chi offered to teach the children and agreed to teach Meng Anzhi archery, while Jin Shanyao arranged for her to get a bow and arrows.
• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci took on archery and combat lessons after academy classes, and Lu Chi also wanted to teach them music.
• On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi dressed in red to support Meng Anci at the academy’s riding and archery competition.
• Jin Shanyao, Meng Anzhi, Meng Anci, and Lu Chi arrived at Green Mountain Academy, where other parents whispered contemptuously about Meng Anzhi’s clothes.

At the academy horse race, Meng Anci rode ahead of Shiyan, whose horse suddenly bolted. Meng Anci risked a dangerous maneuver to bring the runaway horse down, while Jin Shanyao secretly protected him with spiritual power.

• Jin Shanyao mocked Madam Shi after she snubbed her, then watched Meng Anci enter the race on Black Grand Marshal.
• Meng Anci rode ahead of Shiyan as the children raced around the track, while Madam Shi urged her son to use his whip.
• Shiyan's horse bolted, and Meng Anci rode alongside him, demanding fifty taels of silver in exchange for saving him.
• Meng Anci ignored Lu Chi's order to return and charged at the runaway horse's hindquarters as Jin Shanyao enveloped him in spiritual power.
• Meng Anci knocked the runaway horse off balance, causing it to fall and throw Shiyan to the ground.

After Meng Anci nearly endangered himself during a horse race, Lu Chi spanked him, prompting Jin Shanyao to beat Lu Chi in return. Lu Chi then recognized Zhao Cheng, reunited with an old contact, and sent a letter to the Eastern Palace while remaining at Meng Anci’s home.

• Lu Chi spanked Meng Anci for recklessly controlling a horse, and Jin Shanyao seized Lu Chi and beat him for humiliating the child.
• Meng Anci stuffed a handkerchief into Lu Chi’s mouth and told him to accept his place as a servant, while Lu Chi vowed revenge against the Meng Household.
• Zhao Cheng approached Lu Chi at the riding ground, recognized him as the Young Lord, and Lu Chi embraced him with relief.
• Lu Chi asked Zhao Cheng whether he still had contacts in the capital and instructed him to deliver a letter to the Eastern Palace.
• Zhao Cheng offered Lu Chi a place to stay, but Lu Chi said he was staying at Meng Anci’s house and asked Zhao Cheng to pass any news to the child at the Enlightenment Academy.

Meng Anci was punished for recklessly saving someone, but Jin Shanyao forgave him and taught him to use a slingshot. The household celebrated his bravery over grilled meat, while Lu Chi received another poison treatment and discovered Jin Shanyao’s needles did not hurt.

• Meng Anzhi scolded Meng Anci for charging at a mad horse, and Jin Shanyao demonstrated her slingshot to Meng Anzhi.
• Meng Anci apologized to Jin Shanyao, who forgave him, gave him a slingshot, and taught him how to use it.
• Lu Chi arrived at Anzhi Hall and joined the household for a celebratory grilled-meat dinner.
• Meng Anci apologized to Lu Chi for stuffing a handkerchief in his mouth, explaining that he had been trying to protect him from Jin Shanyao.
• Jin Shanyao treated Lu Chi with silver needles, and Lu Chi was surprised that they only made his skin itch.

Jin Shanyao cured Lu Chi’s lifelong poisoning and the empress learned he was alive, while Jin Shanyao later treated a man who fainted in the street. The chapter ended with her taking Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci back to their New Year shopping.

• Jin Shanyao told Lu Chi that his poison was completely cleared and gave him white fruit to use if he was poisoned again.
• The empress received Lu Chi’s letter confirming he was safe and discussed whether he should avoid or reclaim his place as Marquis Zhenyuan.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to shop for New Year goods and bought them firecrackers and treats.
• Jin Shanyao examined a man who had fainted, diagnosed his heart trouble, and revived him with a silver needle.
• Jin Shanyao charged the man one tael and advised him to visit Physician Meng if he fainted again, then carried the children onward.

Jin Shanyao received a lovingly made hairpin from Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, then got a stiff neck from sleeping too carefully with it. Meanwhile, Lu Chi burned his father’s letter after learning that his father had requested his younger brother be named heir apparent, and Jin Shanyao congratulated him for reasons he misunderstood.

• Qin Baitang wished Meng Anci a happy birthday and gave the children twenty copper coins for the New Year.
• Meng Anci encountered Master Zhao at home and claimed that only a few policy essays remained unfinished.
• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci gave Jin Shanyao a wooden hairpin they had secretly commissioned, and the children kissed her cheeks.
• Jin Shanyao slept carefully to protect the hairpin and woke with a stiff neck, pretending she was showing it off.
• Lu Chi burned his father’s letter after learning his father had requested that his younger brother become heir apparent.
• Jin Shanyao noticed Lu Chi’s strong red luck and congratulated him, but he assumed she was celebrating his misfortune.

Jin Shanyao waited outside her shop for trouble after reading that widows attracted it, while Lu Chi confided that his father had declared him dead and that his family had poisoned and sold him. Lu Chi walked away when Jin Shanyao answered his distress with awkward jokes, and she ended the chapter still waiting for a spectacle that never came.

• Jin Shanyao wished Lu Chi and his family well, then told him to wait outside the shop with her for trouble at a widow’s door.
• Meng Anzhi fed Jin Shanyao dumplings and worried that she was showing off the wooden hairpin he had given her.
• Jin Shanyao and Lu Chi squatted outside in the snow, where he told her his father had faked his death and everyone believed he was dead.
• Lu Chi said his mother had died giving birth to him, his father disliked him, and he had been poisoned repeatedly before being sold and renamed Gouya.
• Jin Shanyao tried to comfort Lu Chi with jokes, so he got up and left; she continued waiting outside, but no trouble appeared.

Jin Shanyao and the children celebrated the New Year together before Anzhi Hall reopened after the Lantern Festival. The chapter ended with Jin Shanyao confidently prescribing medicine to a young man whose embarrassing account of being bitten by his betrothed led her to mistake the incident for rabies.

• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to visit their parents' graves, then arranged care for the Meng Household and rented out its farmland.
• Jin Shanyao and the household celebrated New Year's Eve together, and Lu Chi revealed that his name was Qin Luchi.
• Jin Shanyao and the children welcomed the New Year while using cucumber slices as face masks, and Meng Anci kept eating them.
• After the Lantern Festival, Anzhi Hall opened, and Meng Anci returned to school while Lu Chi helped him prepare for the child scholar examination.
• A young man returned to Jin Shanyao for treatment and awkwardly explained that his betrothed had bitten him before he fainted.
• Jin Shanyao mistook the bite for a dog bite and prescribed a decoction, confident that she could treat rabies.

Meng Anci completed the first session of his county examination while Jin Shanyao waited outside, then returned home with her and Meng Anzhi. After a man accused Jin Shanyao of prescribing rabies medicine, she bought a bundle of romance books involving illness to learn about matters of the heart and shut herself away to read.

• Meng Anci left for his county examination after Jin Shanyao, Meng Anzhi, and the others cheered him on and Meng Anzhi poured her medicine onto his robe.
• Meng Anci finished the first exam session, met Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi outside the yamen, and said Master Qin had taught him everything on the paper.
• A man confronted Jin Shanyao about the rabies medicine she had prescribed, and his embarrassed explanation that he had fainted on his wedding night made the watching crowd laugh.
• Qin Baitang examined the man and explained that excitement during intimacy had caused him to faint, while Jin Shanyao grew angry at being called a quack and inexperienced.
• Jin Shanyao bought seventy-three books about love and illness, returned to Anzhi Hall, and shut herself away as Meng Anci prepared for the next exam session.

Jin Shanyao gave a distressed young wife reckless advice after mistaking her troubles for storybook plots, then urged a suspicious woman to divorce her husband. Word spread that Jin Shanyao disrupted marriages, and her reputation in the county collapsed.

• Jin Shanyao questioned Meng Anzhi about how she would respond to a cruel husband, then assigned her extra reading.
• A young woman told Jin Shanyao that her mother-in-law pressured her to have a third child, and Jin advised her to become troublesome enough to keep the family busy.
• The frightened young woman fled, while Magistrate Yang joked about his own mother pressuring him to have a third child.
• A woman paid Jin Shanyao fifty taels to locate her possibly unfaithful husband, and Jin found him and advised her to divorce him.
• People condemned Jin Shanyao's marital advice, and rumors that she caused household turmoil ruined her reputation across the county.

Jin Shanyao agreed to help Prefect Su Wenqian find two missing tribute chests in exchange for thirty favors, then set out for Qingzhou with the children and her animals. The search began without Lu Chi, whom the children hoped to see before leaving.

• Su Wenqian asked Jin Shanyao to find the missing tribute and offered five hundred taels, but she rejected his manner and negotiated thirty favors instead.
• Meng Anci told Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi about seeing a tiger on the mountain, and Jin Shanyao suspected it had fled from Dahuang.
• Jin Shanyao told her family she would travel to the prefectural city and decided to take Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi with her.
• The next morning, Su Wenqian and Magistrate Yang arrived to escort Jin Shanyao, who chose to travel by ox cart with the children, cat, and dog.
• Jin Shanyao departed for Qingzhou while the children looked toward Lu Chi's room and left without seeing him.

Jin Shanyao used her spiritual power to locate the missing tribute, but the chief constable found nothing at the burial ground and accused her of swindling. She realized someone in the prefectural yamen had moved the tribute and agreed to go with Su Wenqian to find it.

• Su Wenqian brought Jin Shanyao and the children to Qingzhou Prefecture after another chest of tribute went missing.
• Jin Shanyao traced the tribute through the memories of pine trees and identified a grave in the burial ground as its location.
• The chief constable searched the burial ground, found no tribute, and called Jin Shanyao a swindler.
• Jin Shanyao sent Dahuang and Xiaoli to follow her spiritual power and discovered that someone had moved the tribute.
• Jin Shanyao told Su Wenqian there was a thief in the prefectural yamen and agreed to accompany him to find the tribute.

Jin Shanyao recovered the stolen tribute for Su Wenqian and accepted his promise of three conditions before taking Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi to explore Qingzhou Prefecture. The chapter left them inside a large medical clinic that inspired Meng Anzhi to dream of opening one herself.

• Jin Shanyao led Su Wenqian and the constables to a hidden mountain god temple, where they found the tribute guarded by Dahuang and Xiaoli.
• Su Wenqian thanked Jin Shanyao and promised to grant her three conditions, which she said she would choose later.
• Jin Shanyao booked the inn's most expensive room for three nights and paid the waiter extra to accommodate her cat and dog.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi sightseeing through Qingzhou Prefecture, where the children watched street performers and admired the city.
• Jin Shanyao and the children entered a spacious medical clinic, and Meng Anzhi imagined opening a clinic like it one day.

Jin Shanyao and the Meng children explored the prefectural city, discovering that medicine and food cost far more than in their county. After accidentally entering a brothel, they left and spotted another brightly lit establishment where a young gentleman played the xiao, leaving Jin Shanyao puzzled about what kind of place it was.

• Jin Shanyao asked a medicine shop about herb prices and learned its apprentice would not buy medicinal herbs from them.
• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci worried about the cost of the prefectural city’s food and a future house in the capital, while Jin Shanyao planned to save herbs to sell there.
• Jin Shanyao took the children into Hidden Fragrance Tower, mistaking the brothel for an opera venue.
• A drunk man accosted Jin Shanyao and threatened Meng Anci, but the madam took the man away and Jin Shanyao struck him with Spiritual Power as they left.
• Jin Shanyao saw a young gentleman playing a jade xiao at Jade Terrace House and wondered what kind of establishment it was.

Jin Shanyao discovered that Lu Chi’s relatives were searching for him and planned to kill him, then faced a madam who tried to drug and detain her party at Jade Terrace House. The chapter ended as the madam demanded fifty taels and eyed Meng Anci, provoking Jin Shanyao’s anger.

• Meng Anzhi recognized Lu Chi in a portrait held by a man, and Jin Shanyao took the portrait before the man entered Jade Terrace House.
• Jin Shanyao brought Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci into the pleasure house and learned through her Spiritual Power that Lu Mingzhe was searching for Lu Chi and had ordered his men to kill him.
• The madam offered the children fruit laced with knockout powder, but Meng Anci refused it and Meng Anzhi snatched the pear away.
• When Jin Shanyao tried to leave, the madam blocked her and demanded fifty taels, then eyed Meng Anci while Jin Shanyao grew angry.

Jin Shanyao rescued Meng Anci from the madam of Jade Terrace House, whose threats and claim of ties to the subprefect ended when Jin Shanyao defeated her men. Afterward, Lu Mingche resolved to prevent Lu Chi from returning to the capital, while the children spent the night writing phrases about brothels.

• The madam offered to keep Meng Anci in exchange for money, then threatened Jin Shanyao when he cited the law and she revealed Jade Terrace House belonged to the subprefect’s family.
• Meng Anci questioned whether the law could protect them, and Jin Shanyao threw the madam onto a table.
• Jin Shanyao defeated the madam’s men, destroyed their clubs with a tablecloth, and demanded that they fetch the subprefect and Su Wenqian.
• The madam backed down when Jin Shanyao mentioned Su Wenqian, and Jin Shanyao left Jade Terrace House with the children.
• Lu Mingche considered the court’s struggle over Lu Chi and vowed to stop him from returning to the capital alive.
• Back at their lodging, Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci spent half the night writing phrases about brothels.

Jin Shanyao and the children returned from Qingzhou Prefecture to Anzhi Hall, where their gifts and stories brought the household together and gave Jin Shanyao a sense of home. The next day, an old woman came to the reopened shop seeking a fortune reading, and Jin Shanyao went to meet her.

• Meng Anci reflected on how officials’ rank and power shaped who could bully others during the journey home.
• Lu Chi and Qing He and Qing Yang welcomed Jin Shanyao and the children back, and the children gave them gifts from the prefectural city.
• The household shared dinner, where Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci excitedly described their trip and Lu Chi grew concerned when he heard they had visited brothels and courtesan houses.
• Jin Shanyao and the children settled into bed at home, and she felt for the first time that she was home.
• The next day, an old woman came to Anzhi Hall for a fortune reading, and Jin Shanyao entered the shop to see her.

Jin Shanyao used her powers to find an old woman’s missing piglets and discussed with Lu Chi whether people needed to be taught through feelings and relationships. After Jin Shanyao agreed to consider his point, Lu Chi secretly prepared to leave but treasured a ring from one of the children; meanwhile, Meng Anzhi faced angry customers who refused to pay her new consultation fee.

• Jin Shanyao charged an old woman one copper coin and used her Spiritual Power to find her nine missing piglets in her son’s cellar.
• Jin Shanyao told Lu Chi how she had taken the children to a brothel after seeing his portrait, and Lu Chi worried about the danger and influence on them.
• Lu Chi argued that people had feelings and needed to learn to weigh advantages and maintain relationships, while Jin Shanyao defended her choices through her understanding of trees and survival.
• Lu Chi left the argument and packed to depart, then cleaned and admired the thumb ring a child had given him.
• Jin Shanyao approved Meng Anzhi’s diagnosis and prescription for a woman with a cold.
• The woman and other longtime customers rebuked Meng Anzhi for charging a five-copper consultation fee after she had previously treated them for free.

Jin Shanyao defended Meng Anzhi after a patient insulted her, while Lu Chi spent the day caring for Meng Anci and offering him guidance. The chapter ended with Lu Chi watching the household at dinner, quietly savoring the time he had with them.

• Jin Shanyao confronted a woman who disparaged Meng Anzhi, demanded five copper coins for the treatment, and barred her from Anzhi Hall.
• Meng Anzhi asked Jin Shanyao why people cursed at her, and Jin Shanyao warned her that excessive kindness could encourage others to take advantage.
• Lu Chi chopped extra firewood, requested red-braised pork, and went to ask Meng Anci what he wanted for dinner.
• Meng Anci said he had lost faith in the laws, and Lu Chi urged him to study hard and use authority to uphold justice.
• Lu Chi taught Meng Anci how to ride Black Grand Marshal and carefully reminded him how to handle a horse.
• At dinner, Lu Chi served chicken legs to Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, then ate slowly as he watched everyone at the table.

Lu Chi's first escape attempt failed when Jin Shanyao and the household caught him, but he later slipped away while doing chores. After Meng Anzhi found him missing, Jin Shanyao located him with her Spiritual Power and rode out to bring him back.

• Qing He and the others caught Lu Chi trying to leave at night, and Jin Shanyao refused to let him go because she had paid seventy taels to buy him and cured his poison.
• Lu Chi returned to his chores the next morning with his face covered, while Jin Shanyao assured him that no one would dare harm him under her protection.
• Qing He and Qing Yang realized Lu Chi had disappeared after he took the slop bucket outside, and they found the latrine empty.
• Meng Anzhi found Lu Chi's bundle left behind, took out the household's indentures and banknotes, and broke down in tears when she learned he had run away.
• Jin Shanyao comforted Meng Anzhi, used her Spiritual Power to locate Lu Chi, assigned Xiaoli to guard Meng Anzhi, and rode after him.

Jin Shanyao stopped Lu Chi from fleeing after he revealed that he was the heir of the Marquis of Zhenyuan’s residence and that his stepmother posed a danger to the household. Half a month later, Meng Anci passed the county examination in second place, and Jin Shanyao urged him to prepare for the prefectural examination.

• Jin Shanyao caught Lu Chi as he tried to escape, carried him back to Anzhi Hall, and beat him for running away.
• Lu Chi revealed his identity and explained that Lady Wei might kill him and anyone who sheltered him.
• Jin Shanyao refused to let Lu Chi go, insisting that keeping him gave her a bargaining chip against their enemies.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi to see the county examination results, where Meng Anci placed second behind Zhao Zhiyuan.
• Jin Shanyao comforted Meng Anci and took him home to keep preparing for the prefectural examination.