Chapter Summaries

Jin Shanyao learned how Zhen Shiqing had lost his mind during the provincial examination and visited the examination compound with Su Wenqian. She returned to Anzhi Hall and began building Meng Anzhi a practice examination cell beside the latrine.

• Shopkeeper Wang told Jin Shanyao about Zhen Shiqing’s past antics, and she went to the prefectural yamen to ask Su Wenqian about him.
• Su Wenqian warned Jin Shanyao that the two people she had sent him were involved in a dangerous case and urged her to consult him before acting recklessly.
• Su Wenqian explained that Zhen Shiqing had torn up his examination paper and fled his cell after breaking down under the pressure of the provincial examination.
• Jin Shanyao asked Su Wenqian to take her to the examination compound, then requested a plan of its cells.
• Jin Shanyao began building an examination cell beside the latrine so Meng Anzhi could get used to confinement before his academy examination.
• Qing Yang reported that the madman from the previous day had returned.

Jin Shanyao confronted Zhen Shiqing after he asked how to seduce his father’s concubine, then carried him to the Zhen Household and demanded they control his behavior. After she left, Zhen Shiqing revealed his resentment toward his family and his younger brother, while Master Zhen struggled to explain the family’s past choices.

• Zhen Shiqing paid Jin Shanyao to advise him on seducing his father’s concubine, and she gave him a scheme before knocking him unconscious.
• Jin Shanyao carried Zhen Shiqing to the Zhen Household, where she discovered that Zhen Shiming looked exactly like him.
• Jin Shanyao woke Zhen Shiqing in front of his parents, warned the family to keep him away from her shop, and threatened to break their legs if he returned.
• After Jin Shanyao left, Zhen Shiqing told his parents he had taken a hundred and fifty taels and said he did not like the name Shiqing.
• Madam Zhen begged Zhen Shiqing to stop and offered to send Xing'er to him, but he told her to let Zhen Shiming keep Xing'er.
• Master Zhen began to explain that Zhen Shiqing had been clever as a child and had taken the exam, but Zhen Shiming stopped him before he could continue.

Jin Shanyao tried to prepare Meng Anci for the wrong imperial exam by building him an exam cell beside the latrine, while Meng Anzhi’s friends planned a birthday gathering at the estate. Zhen Shiqing barged into Anzhi Hall and asked Jin Shanyao for a serious answer, leaving his question unanswered.

• Xiao Huzi told Jin Shanyao how he had added water to his father’s birthday noodles and been beaten after admitting it, and Jin Shanyao called out that his butt was made of flesh.
• Jin Shanyao built an exam cell beside the latrine for Meng Anci, then learned that the prefectural exam did not require overnight stays and still insisted on rebuilding it.
• Shiyan, Zhao Yushan, and Zhao Zhiyuan discussed celebrating Meng Anzhi’s birthday, and Meng Anzhi agreed to host them at the estate while she taught the orphans.
• Jin Shanyao saw Zhen Shiqing arrive in his underclothes and tried to send him away, but he entered Anzhi Hall and demanded to ask her a question.
• Zhen Shiqing invoked Jin Shanyao’s promise to a madman, prompting her to drag him into the study and warn that she could tell whether he was mentally ill; he then asked her for a serious answer.

Zhen Shiqing told Jin Shanyao how his family had forced him to take examinations under his brother’s name, and she urged him to reclaim his own identity. He returned to the Zhen family, resumed his studies, and ultimately became the top scholar, leaving his parents to realize what they had lost.

• Zhen Shiqing offered Jin Shanyao his treasured jade hairpin and asked what someone should do after losing his own path.
• Zhen Shiqing revealed that his parents had repeatedly made him take examinations under Zhen Shiming’s name and that he had ended the deception by tearing up an examination paper.
• Jin Shanyao told Zhen Shiqing to claim his own name, since official records and examination files identified him as Zhen Shiqing.
• Zhen Shiqing left Anzhi Hall and later resumed studying for the provincial examination.
• Zhen Shiqing passed the examinations, became the top scholar, and entered the Hanlin Academy, while his parents realized they had lost an outstanding son.

Meng Anzhi celebrated her birthday at the estate with friends, family, and the children she had taken in. The gathering ended with everyone sharing food and gifts, while Meng Anci watched closely as Zhao Zhiyuan and Meng Anzhi spent time together.

• Meng Anzhi traveled to the estate with Meng Anci, where Shiyan and Zhao Zhiyuan joined them.
• Zhao Zhiyuan helped Meng Anzhi prepare skewers, and Shiyan suspected that his friend had grown weaker before accidentally spilling the meat.
• Zhao Zhiyuan let Meng Anzhi believe Shiyan had hidden because he feared being scolded, leaving Shiyan convinced that Zhao Zhiyuan had set him up.
• The group grilled mutton and exchanged birthday gifts, including Shiyan's crab roe pomegranate buns, Zhao Yushan's porcelain pulse pillow, and Zhao Zhiyuan's nine-linked-ring puzzle.
• The estate's servants and children congratulated Meng Anzhi, and Lin Yue and Lin Mo gave her handmade gifts.
• Meng Anci moved his stool to sit beside Meng Anzhi and watched the others closely.

Meng Anzhi received a set of gold medical tools and study notes for her birthday, while Jin Shanyao gave Xiao Huzi a divination that confirmed he was his parents’ son. After running away from home, Xiao Huzi met a man who claimed to be the steward of Anzhi Hall’s estate and asked him for shelter.

• Jin Shanyao gave Meng Anzhi a fine set of gold medical tools, and Meng Anci presented her with notes about medical cases and medicinal properties.
• Xiao Huzi paid Jin Shanyao five coins for a divination, learned that he was his parents’ own son, and cried before his mother beat him again.
• Wang Jinlian accused Jin Shanyao of swindling Xiao Huzi, but Shopkeeper Wang defended Jin Shanyao and gave Wang Jinlian face cream to take home.
• After his parents beat him over unfinished homework, Xiao Huzi packed clothes and twenty coins and ran away from home.
• Xiao Huzi met a man on the road who claimed to be the steward of Anzhi Hall’s estate, and Xiao Huzi asked him to take him in.

Meng Anci rescued Xiao Huzi from Liu San, who had impersonated an Anzhi Hall steward to abduct and assault the child. At the prefectural yamen, witnesses backed Meng Anci’s account, and Su Wenqian sentenced Liu San to beheading pending review by the Ministry of Justice.

• Meng Anci heard Xiao Huzi crying, entered Liu San’s house, and struck Liu San as he attacked the child.
• Liu San drew a short blade, but Meng Anci broke his wrist; Dahuang then knocked him into a wall.
• Meng Anci tied Liu San to Black Grand Marshal and took Xiao Huzi to the prefectural yamen while Xiao Huzi shouted at bystanders.
• Meng Anci told Su Wenqian what he had witnessed, and Xiao Huzi’s parents arrived at court.
• Constable Wang brought witnesses who identified Liu San, and Su Wenqian sentenced him to immediate beheading, pending review by the Ministry of Justice.

Meng Anci rescued Xiao Huzi from Liu San, then returned home to face Meng Anzhi’s fear and anger. The next day, Xiao Huzi’s family visited to thank them with carefully chosen bolts of cloth.

• Wang Jinlian and Xiao Huzi’s father thanked Meng Anci outside the prefectural yamen, while Xiao Huzi demanded that they give him money.
• Jin Shanyao praised Meng Anci for rescuing Xiao Huzi and warned him to call for help and protect himself in the future.
• Meng Anci returned home and found Meng Anzhi waiting; she checked him for injuries, cried, then scolded and hit him for risking his life.
• Dahuang bragged to Xiaoli about receiving a ginkgo leaf as a reward, while Xiaoli worried that the young masters no longer needed them as much.
• The next day, Wang Jinlian’s family visited Jin Shanyao and presented homemade cloth and fine green Jiangnan silk for the children.

Xiao Huzi fled Meng Anci’s study after mistaking his examination cell for a latrine-side reading place, then returned to warn Meng Anzhi to resist studying. A gravely ill old man arrived at Anzhi Hall, where Meng Anzhi and Jin Shanyao told his son Li Yuan that he had only about half a month left to live.

• Xiao Huzi asked Meng Anci to go horseback riding, but Wang Jinlian asked Meng Anci to show him the study instead.
• Meng Anci took Xiao Huzi to the study and examination cell, and Xiao Huzi fled after learning that Meng Anci read there beside a latrine pit.
• Xiao Huzi returned to Anzhi Hall to tell Meng Anzhi to resist if Auntie made her study, then left with Wang Jinlian.
• A man brought his frail father to Meng Anzhi, who said the old man had only a few days left; Jin Shanyao estimated he had fourteen and a half days.
• Li Yuan broke down and pushed his father’s cart away, while Meng Anzhi asked Jin Shanyao whether her estimate was true.

As Meng Anci prepared for the academy examination, Jin Shanyao staged a mock test and asked Su Wenqian to assess his essay. Su Wenqian judged it strong enough to pass but warned that its sharp style could offend the examiners, so Jin Shanyao agreed to bring Meng Anci to him for guidance.

• Meng Anzhi heard Li Yuan tell Shopkeeper Liu that his father's condition had improved, while Old Medicine Zhou said Old Man Li was gravely ill and Li Yuan's examination prospects depended on his recovery.
• Jin Shanyao recreated an examination setting in the courtyard and watched Meng Anci write an essay under pressure.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anci's completed essay to Su Wenqian and asked him to assess it.
• Su Wenqian praised the essay's arguments and structure, confirmed Meng Anci could pass, and warned that its sharpness might offend the examiners.
• Jin Shanyao agreed to bring Meng Anci to Su Wenqian for advice.

Su Wenqian advised Meng Anci to temper the sharp criticism in his essay so he could pass the academy examination, while Jin Shanyao gave him a more ruthless interpretation. The examination began the next day, and Meng Anci entered the compound with Zhao Zhiyuan as Jin Shanyao noticed Li Yuan among the candidates.

• Su Wenqian praised Meng Anci's essay but warned that its criticism of disaster relief could anger cautious examiners and cost him a passing rank.
• Jin Shanyao told Meng Anci to appear harmless to examiners before striking when they let down their guard, leaving him alarmed by her interpretation.
• Jin Shanyao gave Meng Anzhi a milder account of Su Wenqian's advice, and Meng Anzhi mentioned seeing Li Yuan buy gently nourishing medicine for his supposedly dying father.
• Jin Shanyao made Meng Anci a wooden hairpin to replace his forbidden necklace, then accompanied him and Meng Anzhi to the academy examination compound.
• Zhao Zhiyuan exchanged words with Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci before he and the other candidates joined the line to enter the examination compound.
• Jin Shanyao spotted Li Yuan in the candidates' line, where he brushed off a question about his father's illness.

Meng Anci began the prefectural examination while Jin Shanyao waited outside with Meng Anzhi and tried to promote Anzhi Hall. Xiao Huzi turned Jin’s divination stall into a running joke by paying her to answer simple sums, leaving Wu Zhuangzi furious and Wang Jinlian hurrying him away.

• Meng Anci entered his assigned examination cell and began answering the questions.
• Jin Shanyao set up outside the examination compound, but Wu Zhuangzi watched her to stop her from earning money there.
• Constable Wang escorted an indecent man into the yamen and refused to tell Jin Shanyao the details of his offense.
• A woman told Jin Shanyao that the man had been frightening young women, but Wu Zhuangzi drove her away.
• Xiao Huzi paid Jin Shanyao copper coins to divine the answers to simple sums, and she repeatedly answered three.
• Wu Zhuangzi lifted Xiao Huzi and shouted for his family to claim him, so Wang Jinlian covered the boy’s mouth and hurried away.

Jin Shanyao helped Meng Anci through the prefectural examination while dealing with Wu Zhuangzi and the workers at Anzhi Hall. When the second examination began, Constable Wang blocked her stall and provoked her by introducing his grandfather as Grandpa.

• Jin Shanyao forced Wu Zhuangzi to agree that she could set up a stall during the second examination.
• Jin Shanyao learned that Yu Mancang was Miao Dou's son and told Fan Er not to let him work for free.
• Jin Shanyao smiled when Zhou Xiaosi brought buns for Fan Er, and she urged Fan Er to eat them.
• During the second examination, Constable Wang claimed Wu Zhuangzi had not told him Jin Shanyao could set up a stall and sent her to the village for Wu Zhuangzi's grandfather's birthday.
• Constable Wang introduced the old man at Jin Shanyao's feet as his grandfather and told her to call him Grandpa, prompting her to grab Constable Wang by the collar.

Jin Shanyao and Old Wang competed to expose each other’s free fortune-telling outside the examination compound. Their argument escalated into a battle of wits, and Old Wang was left facing a question about whether a youth’s brother would pass the academy examination.

• Jin Shanyao challenged Old Wang for taking her spot, but he pretended to be hard of hearing and provoked her into sitting beside him.
• Old Wang offered a curious passerby free advice about making a fortune, but Jin Shanyao challenged his claim that wealth came from hard work and virtue, driving the man away.
• Old Wang advised a woman whose husband and brothers were fighting over family property to stick together, but Jin Shanyao snapped his bamboo sticks and warned the woman that compromise could hurt her.
• Old Wang rejected Meng Anzhi’s offer of a ginseng pill and ignored Constable Wang’s suggestion that he leave, insisting he would defeat Jin Shanyao.
• Old Wang called over a youth and demanded that he ask a question; the youth reluctantly asked whether his brother would pass the academy examination, leaving Old Wang stunned.

After the prefectural examination, Jin Shanyao helped Meng Anzhi diagnose sick children in a village and learned unsettling details about Old Man Li’s death. On the ride home, she spotted a man relieving himself and chased him, calling him a pervert.

• Constable Wang carried his grandfather away after Jin Shanyao exposed the youth’s lie about having an older brother and defeated Old Wang.
• Wu Zhuangzi asked Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi to treat village children who had rashes, fevers, and spells of unconsciousness.
• Meng Anzhi diagnosed the children with intestinal parasites, and Jin Shanyao confirmed her diagnosis and approved a deworming prescription.
• Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi overheard villagers describe Li Yuan’s grief and the hurried burial of Old Man Li.
• Meng Anzhi wondered how Old Man Li had survived so long, and Jin Shanyao spotted a man relieving himself by the roadside and chased him.

Jin Shanyao brought a man she accused of indecent behavior to Su Wenqian, then later agreed to help Li Yuan see his deceased father in exchange for his possessions. She planned to meet Li Yuan at midnight, while Meng Anzhi arranged to go along, and Li Yuan prepared offerings at home.

• Jin Shanyao dragged a man to the prefectural yamen and accused him of exposing himself, and Su Wenqian accepted the case.
• Wu Zhuangzi brought Jin Shanyao five taels of reward silver, and she hinted that her past experience had taught her to recognize such men.
• Meng Anzhi applied a new mint ointment to Jin Shanyao's face at Anzhi Hall as Li Yuan arrived asking to see his dead father.
• Li Yuan offered his savings and a deed to fifty mu of farmland, and Jin Shanyao agreed to visit him at midnight.
• Meng Anzhi told Meng Anci they were going out that night, while Li Yuan bought paper money and copper coins to take home.

Jin Shanyao brought Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi to the Li Household to help Li Yuan say goodbye to his dead father. Old Man Li was summoned from his grave, and the chapter ended with him confronting Li Yuan over the danger to his examination prospects.

• Meng Anci reluctantly joined Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi on their nighttime trip after learning they were going to help Licentiate Candidate Li see his dead father.
• At the Li Household, Jin Shanyao spotted the grief-filled obsession clinging to the eaves, and Li Yuan prepared offerings, wine, and a paper ox.
• Jin Shanyao used her Spiritual Power to pull Old Man Li from his grave and into the courtyard.
• Old Man Li recognized Li Yuan and angrily scolded him for summoning a ghost, fearing that word would ruin his imperial examination prospects.
• Old Man Li's Yin Qi surged as he realized his death could be exposed, but Jin Shanyao slapped him down and Li Yuan explained that he had invited her to help them say goodbye.

After Old Man Li’s spirit appeared, Jin Shanyao helped him receive offerings and urged Li Yuan to release his guilt over his father’s sacrifices. Later, Jin Shanyao and the Meng brothers waited for the academy examination results, and Meng Anci searched the posted list anxiously.

• Li Yuan and Old Man Li blamed themselves for the hardship each had endured for the other, while Jin Shanyao reminded them that time was running out to burn the offerings.
• Li Yuan burned the paper money and ox, and Jin Shanyao dotted in the ox’s eyes before Old Man Li accepted the offerings and said goodbye to his son.
• Jin Shanyao gave Li Yuan a bundle and told him not to let gratitude bind him, then explained to Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci that repayment should preserve a person’s dignity.
• At the prefectural office, Meng Anci struggled to see the examination list until Shi Chang'an lifted him up.
• Meng Anci scanned the results and, finding his name in neither the first three places nor the top of the list, began to worry that he had failed.

Meng Anci passed the academy examination in fifth place and celebrated with Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi. At the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, they overheard that Xuanjizi was wanted by the Third Prince, the capital governor, and Young General Shen for secretly using soldiers as stakes.

• Meng Anci learned he had placed fifth and celebrated becoming a xiucai with Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi.
• Shiyan revealed he had passed in last place, while Zhao Zhiyuan had placed fourth.
• Jin Shanyao encouraged Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi to shout that they were the best as they walked home.
• Jin Shanyao took the children to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion to celebrate Meng Anci's success.
• Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi overheard diners say that Xuanjizi was wanted for secretly using soldiers as stakes, and that a five-thousand-tael reward had been offered.

Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi dealt with estate matters as Fan Er worried about Miao Dou’s behavior and asked for work for her son, Yu Mancang. Jin Shanyao gave Xiao Huzi a one-use talisman to protect him from a beating, but it burned away when Wang Jinlian punished him for his poor test.

• Jin Shanyao, Meng Anci, and their companion discussed a man’s sudden departure and the search for Xuanjizi.
• Fan Er told Jin Shanyao that Miao Dou had returned bruised after meeting Yu Manzi, and Jin Shanyao supplied medicinal wine for her.
• Fan Er asked Meng Anzhi to consider hiring Yu Mancang to harvest herbs, and Meng Anzhi said she would consider it.
• Fan Er caught Miao Dou peering into the ointment workshop and warned her to stay out of the inner courtyard.
• Jin Shanyao drew Xiao Huzi a one-use defensive talisman in exchange for a coin.
• Wang Jinlian beat Xiao Huzi over his test mistakes, and the talisman turned to ash without sparing him pain.