Chapter Summaries

Jin Shanyao learned that Xiaju’s death had helped set the embroiderers’ revenge plan in motion, then sent Lu Chi evidence naming those who had harmed them. Lu Chi brought the letter to Crown Prince Xiao Yuan, who prepared to investigate the people listed.

• Jin Shanyao watched a memory of Xiaju joining the Cloud Brocade Workshop and befriending Yao Yuniang.
• Jin Shanyao wrote down the embroiderers’ enemies and sent the evidence to Lu Chi with Xiaoli.
• Lu Chi and Fu Congxi read Jin Shanyao’s letter, and Fu Congxi found pregnancy-stabilizing pills in the bundle.
• Lu Chi took the letter to Crown Prince Xiao Yuan, who asked where the information came from.
• Lu Chi explained that Jin Shanyao had sent the evidence and urged Xiao Yuan to question the people on the list.

Xiao Yuan agreed to investigate Zhou Yan after Lu Chi reported his alleged crimes, and he set out for Jing'an Prefecture under the pretext of visiting the border troops. At the relay station, Zhou Yan continued detaining Jin Shanyao and Anzhi Hall, while Jin Shanyao demanded compensation for their losses.

• Lu Chi told Xiao Yuan why he trusted Jin Shanyao and gave him a letter accusing Zhou Yan of grave crimes.
• Xiao Yuan presented the letter to the emperor, who approved his trip to Jing'an Prefecture and told him to visit the Qin Household Army.
• A party of men and horses left for Jing'an Prefecture as the city gates opened.
• At the relay station, Zhu Huaizhang argued with Zhou Yan over Jin Shanyao's detention and proposed examining the corpse.
• Jin Shanyao asked for breakfast and demanded eighty taels a day in compensation if Zhou Yan continued detaining Anzhi Hall.
• Zhou Yan refused to sign Zhu Huaizhang's proposed document and ordered Fang Rui to keep watch over the group.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi, Meng Anci, and the silenced Fang Rui to the shore, where she and the children gathered seafood. After buying a local woman’s basket and shovel for a tael of silver, Jin Shanyao headed toward a village to have their catch cooked.

• Jin Shanyao used a talisman to silence Fang Rui and took him and the Meng siblings south in an ox cart to the sea.
• The siblings marveled at the sea and played at the water’s edge while Jin Shanyao bought a woman’s basket and shovel for a tael of silver.
• Jin Shanyao, the siblings, Dahuang, and Xiaoli gathered oysters, squid, and crabs along the shore.
• Jin Shanyao returned to the cart with the seafood and set off for a nearby village to find someone to cook it.
• The woman who sold the basket told her husband she would save the silver to buy Yuniang a bracelet when she returned.

Jin Shanyao learned that the couple hosting her were Yao Yuniang’s parents, who had been searching for their missing daughter for five years. Meng Anci told them Yuniang had died, and Jin Shanyao asked whether her skirt had borne a broom plum blossom embroidery.

• Jin Shanyao visited the couple with seafood and asked them to cook it for her and the children.
• As they ate, the woman told Jin Shanyao that her daughter Yuniang had disappeared five years earlier while working at the Cloud Brocade Workshop.
• The couple said the workshop owner claimed Yuniang had run away with a merchant, but they believed she would never have left without telling them.
• Jin Shanyao asked whether the couple’s family name was Yao, then struggled to tell them what she knew about their daughter.
• Meng Anci told the couple that Yao Yuniang had died five years earlier, and Madam Yao fainted.
• After Madam Yao recovered, Jin Shanyao asked whether Yuniang’s skirt had a broom plum blossom embroidered on its hem.

Jin Shanyao guided Yuniang’s parents toward seeking justice for their daughter, then poisoned Fang Rui into silence after he overheard her plan. Back at the relay station, Fang Rui lied about where they had gone, and Jin Shanyao told Zhu Huaizhang to hold out for two days without explaining what would happen.

• Jin Shanyao told Madam Yao to gather villagers and go to the prefectural yamen in two days to seek Zhu Huaizhang’s help, and Yuniang’s parents bowed to her in gratitude.
• On the ox cart, Meng Anzhi gave Fang Rui a painful poison, and Jin Shanyao warned him to keep their business secret until they received the antidote.
• Zhou Yan pulled the talisman from Fang Rui’s forehead, and Fang Rui lied that Jin Shanyao had taken the children to see the sea.
• Zhou Yan reassigned Fang Rui to Zhu Huaizhang, who brought Jin Shanyao inside and asked why she had not escaped to the capital.
• Jin Shanyao gave Zhu Huaizhang a conch shell and told him to keep investigating or endure for two more days, then left him mystified.

Xiao Yuan arrived in Jing'an Prefecture and discovered that Zhou Yan had concealed a murder investigation involving Zhu Huaizhang. While Xiao Yuan kept Zhou Yan under watch, Zhu Huaizhang and Li Xiao caught Fang Rui helping smuggle Five Minerals Powder and persuaded him to testify.

• Zhou Yan learned that Lu Chi had arrived, then recognized Xiao Yuan as the Crown Prince and hastily paid his respects.
• Xiao Yuan learned that Yao Dahai and Madam Yao had come seeking Zhu Huaizhang, questioned Zhou Yan about the murder, and ordered the Provincial Surveillance Commission summoned.
• Xiao Yuan kept Zhou Yan beside him while the Yao couple waited for Zhu Huaizhang, preventing Zhou Yan from warning Fang Rui.
• Zhu Huaizhang, Li Xiao, and Fang Rui watched men load Five Minerals Powder onto a carriage, and Li Xiao held Fang Rui at knifepoint after the shipment left.
• Zhu Huaizhang offered to spare Fang Rui the death penalty if he helped expose the smugglers, and Fang Rui agreed to testify.

Zhu Huaizhang took charge of Yao Yuniang’s disappearance case after the crown prince ordered him to hear it, and his investigation exposed Zhou Yan’s fabricated confession against Jiang Wancheng. He cleared Jiang Wancheng and Anzhi Hall, while Zhou Yan realized the case had left him in serious trouble.

• Yao Dahai petitioned Zhu Huaizhang to investigate his daughter Yao Yuniang’s disappearance, and Xiao Yuan assigned Zhu Huaizhang to hear the case.
• Zhu Huaizhang summoned the Cloud Brocade Workshop’s staff and ordered Bai Yunjin’s coffin opened for examination.
• The coroner found that Bai Yunjin had been strangled with embroidery thread, not poisoned with sour jujube seeds.
• Jiang Wancheng told the court that Zhou Yan had tortured him and forced him to confess, prompting Zhu Huaizhang to challenge Zhou Yan.
• Zhu Huaizhang released Jiang Wancheng, declared him innocent, and ordered compensation for him and Anzhi Hall.
• Xiao Yuan’s cold gaze left Zhou Yan convinced that he was finished.

Zhu Huaizhang questioned Song Laifu about Yao Yuniang and Bai Yunjin’s murder, while evidence from Bai Yunjin’s study implicated the embroiderers and powerful officials. Jin Shanyao revealed the past through a plant-memory mirage, exposing He Liangzhong’s role in the events surrounding Yao Yuniang.

• Zhu Huaizhang questioned Song Laifu, who confessed to killing Bai Yunjin to avenge Yao Yuniang.
• Li Xiao brought Zhu Huaizhang records from Bai Yunjin’s study detailing the embroiderers’ suffering and the officials who visited the workshop.
• Xiao Yuan asked Jin Shanyao to demonstrate her abilities, and she used Spiritual Power to reveal memories from plants at the Cloud Brocade Workshop.
• The mirage showed Yao Yuniang discovering Bai Yunjin and He Liangzhong discussing Five Minerals Powder before Bai seized her.
• He Liangzhong accused Jin Shanyao of sorcery, but Zhu Huaizhang challenged him with evidence that someone had brought Five Minerals Powder into the country under his name.

The court convicted the Bai Household and implicated officials after Xiao Yuan revealed the Cloud Brocade Workshop’s crimes, while declaring the embroiderers innocent. Jin Shanyao promised to summon the dead for Yao Yuniang’s parents, offered the embroiderers a cure and a fresh start, and gave them treated ginkgo nuts to ease their addiction.

• Xiao Yuan showed the court evidence of the abuse and murders at the Cloud Brocade Workshop, including Zhou Yan and Bai Yunduan’s plot to seize the Meng Household’s property.
• Zhu Huaizhang declared the embroiderers innocent, sentenced the Bai Household, and ordered the implicated officials imprisoned and tried.
• Qiuju led the embroiderers in thanking Zhu Huaizhang and Xiao Yuan, while Madam Yao begged Jin Shanyao to let her see Yao Yuniang once more.
• Jin Shanyao promised to summon Yao Yuniang, Xiaju, and Chunju at the workshop that night, and told the embroiderers she could cure their addiction and take them to her estate in Qingzhou Prefecture.
• Qiuju chose for the embroiderers to build lives of their own, and Jin Shanyao gave them treated ginkgo nuts that eased their discomfort.

Jin Shanyao healed Jiang Wancheng and helped him prepare to confront Zhou Yan, then brought Meng Anzhi and the children to the Cloud Brocade Workshop to bid farewell to the three ghosts. She gave Xiaju, Chunju, and Yao Yuniang temporary solid bodies so they could reunite with their loved ones, and Yao Yuniang tearfully embraced her parents.

• Jin Shanyao treated Jiang Wancheng's broken fingers with ginkgo leaf powder and Spiritual Power, then urged him to strike back at Zhou Yan in jail.
• Jin Shanyao gave Meng Anzhi the compensation money and took the children to an inn, where Meng Anci admired her and considered borrowing the Cloud Brocade Workshop's workflow for Anzhi Hall.
• Yao Dahai, Madam Yao, Qiuju, Laifu, and others gathered outside the Cloud Brocade Workshop with spirit money to see Xiaju, Chunju, and Yao Yuniang off.
• Jin Shanyao entered the workshop's back courtyard, summoned the three vengeful ghosts, and told them that Qiuju and the other embroiderers had killed Bai Yunjin.
• Jin Shanyao gave the ghosts temporary solid bodies and opened the barrier so they could say goodbye to their loved ones.
• Yao Yuniang reunited with her parents, and Madam Yao rushed to embrace her while Laifu watched and wept.

Jin Shanyao helped the ghosts of Yao Yuniang, Chunju, and Xiaju arrange ways to accumulate Merit and then took Jiang Wancheng’s grandson to beat Zhou Yan in jail. After the Ministry of Justice took over the case, she returned to Qingzhou Prefecture, where Qing He and the others welcomed her home.

• Jin Shanyao explained that the three ghosts could be reborn by accumulating Merit through their families’ good deeds or their own, and Chunju visited her mother in a dream.
• Jin Shanyao brought Jiang Wancheng’s grandson to jail, where he beat Zhou Yan while she restrained him and paid the guards to keep quiet.
• Three days later, Jin Shanyao left with Zhu Huaizhang after he completed the handover to the Ministry of Justice, and Lu Chi stopped them to say goodbye.
• Jin Shanyao returned to Qingzhou Prefecture with Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, then got Qing He to open Anzhi Hall’s gate by calling out that she was selling tofu.
• Qing Yang and Zhou Xiaosi welcomed Jin Shanyao back, and she told them the case was settled and the people who framed them were in jail.

After returning to Anzhi Hall, Meng Anzhi treated Old Kong for acid regurgitation and reviewed the shop accounts with Lin Mo. Later, Shiyan and Zhao Zhiyuan visited to borrow books, but Shiyan postponed speaking with Meng Anzhi and stayed to copy Meng Anci’s essay.

• Madam Jiang visited Jin Shanyao and thanked her for warning her about the Cloud Brocade Workshop.
• Old Kong came to Anzhi Hall with Kong Xiaobao, and Meng Anzhi diagnosed his acid regurgitation and prescribed medicine.
• Meng Anzhi checked Old Kong’s pulse diagnosis with Zhou Xiaosi and told him to memorize the prescription.
• Lin Mo brought Meng Anzhi an account book, and they reviewed the accounts together.
• Meng Anci returned with Shiyan and Zhao Zhiyuan, who borrowed books from the study.
• Shiyan decided to copy Meng Anci’s essay and put off talking with Meng Anzhi while Zhao Zhiyuan waited nearby.

Meng Anci discovered Zhao Zhiyuan had secretly altered his chessboard, while the academy prepared for more frequent examinations. At Anzhi Hall, Jin Shanyao teased Constable Wang with riddles and told an exhausted Meng Anzhi to rest briefly before returning to her lessons.

• Meng Anzhi noticed the chessboard had changed, and Meng Anci realized Zhao Zhiyuan had secretly moved the black pieces.
• Zhao Zhiyuan ground ink for Meng Anci at the academy, where Master Li announced the provincial examination would take place in the eighth month of the following year and academy examinations would be held every two months.
• Constable Wang told Jin Shanyao that those implicated in the Cloud Brocade Workshop case had been punished, with the Bai Household's men executed and its women exiled to make salt.
• Jin Shanyao challenged Constable Wang and Meng Anzhi with riddles, then asked Meng Anzhi whether her lessons tired her.
• Jin Shanyao told Meng Anzhi to rest a while and get back to work, then ordered Qing He to prepare pig brains and candied walnuts.

Wu Shaoyang married Miao Shuihua, and the couple prepared to leave the Wu household and live near the river. The next month, Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi inspected Anzhi Hall’s herb harvest and its work on Crescent Moon Mountain.

• Wu Shaoyang and Miao Shuihua held their wedding, and Miao Shuihua reminded him to greet Jin Shanyao and see if she needed help.
• Guests gossiped that the couple would move into a riverside residence after separating from the Wu family, though their children would keep the Wu surname.
• Xiao Huzi gave Meng Anci two candies after getting firecracker soot on his face.
• In the tenth month, Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi traveled between mountains to oversee Anzhi Hall’s medicinal herb harvest.
• Meng Anzhi reassured Fan Er about his work on Crescent Moon Mountain and reminded him to limit work hours and make sure the workers boiled river water.

Meng Anzhi and Jin Shanyao finished selling the household’s medicinal herbs and counted the year’s profits as the New Year approached. The chapter ended with the family decorating their home for the holiday.

• Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi met Meng Anci and Zhao Zhiyuan near the fields, and Meng Anzhi invited Zhao Zhiyuan onto their ox cart.
• Meng Anzhi told Zhao Zhiyuan she had solved their unfinished Go game and suggested they play together sometime, but Shiyan and Meng Anci sat between them on the cart.
• Anzhi Hall sold its dried medicinal herbs after the Cloud Brocade Workshop case brought the shop widespread attention, and Meng Anzhi learned the household had made fifteen thousand taels in net profit.
• Jin Shanyao, Qing He, Meng Anzhi, and Meng Anci prepared for the New Year by putting up door gods and paper-cut decorations.

Meng Anzhi treated Old Kong after he was found freezing at his wife’s grave with a dumpling in hand. Jin Shanyao accidentally broke Shopkeeper Wang’s ice lantern, then carved two lotus lanterns to replace it and sell him another.

• Kong Dongsheng brought his frostbitten father, Old Kong, to Anzhi Hall after finding him at his mother’s grave clutching a dumpling.
• Meng Anzhi treated Old Kong, who woke confused and failed to recognize Kong Dongsheng.
• Jin Shanyao accidentally split Shopkeeper Wang’s ice lantern while trying to help him make a new one.
• Jin Shanyao and the Anzhi Hall household froze blocks of water, but she broke several before learning to carve the ice carefully.
• Jin Shanyao carved a lotus lantern and brought it to Shopkeeper Wang, who paid her for another.
• Jin Shanyao had Zhou Xiaosi bring out a second identical lantern and returned to Anzhi Hall.

Wang Xiaohua visited her parents and Anzhi Hall, where she complained to Meng Anzhi about her husband’s family and worried about her unborn son’s future. Jin Shanyao reminded Meng Anzhi that Xiaohua’s life might not feel bitter to her, and Meng Anzhi was left tasting the bitterness of a walnut partition.

• Shopkeeper Wang welcomed Wang Xiaohua, who brought candied fruit and braised meat to her parents for the Lantern Festival.
• Meng Anzhi and Zhou Xiaosi examined a patient, and Meng Anzhi approved Zhou Xiaosi’s prescription with an added ingredient.
• Wang Xiaohua told Meng Anzhi that her father-in-law favored his new wife and that she feared her son might lose out in the family inheritance.
• Meng Anzhi gave Wang Xiaohua walnuts and worried that her friend had become burdened by constant calculations about family life.
• Jin Shanyao told Meng Anzhi that Wang Xiaohua and her husband loved each other and that she should not assume Xiaohua saw her life as bitter.
• Meng Anzhi tasted a walnut partition, realized its bitterness, and carried the walnut shells to the back courtyard.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to see the lanterns and fireworks, where they discovered Fan Er trying to reconcile with Du Hongdou. The next morning, Fan Er asked Jin Shanyao to let him buy his freedom so he could marry Du Hongdou.

• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to see the ice lanterns and buy fireworks for the festival.
• Jin Shanyao and the children overheard Du Hongdou reject Fan Er because he was bound by a twenty-year indenture.
• Fan Er told Du Hongdou he had enough money to buy his freedom, and she agreed to wait while he sought her parents’ approval for their marriage.
• Fan Er came to Anzhi Hall before dawn and asked Jin Shanyao to let him buy his freedom so he could marry Du Hongdou.

Jin Shanyao helped Fan Er change his status from servant to commoner and gave him the money he had saved for his freedom as a wedding gift. Fan Er went to ask Hongdou’s parents for her hand, and Hongdou’s mother began questioning whether he could provide for her.

• Jin Shanyao took Fan Er to the prefectural office, where Zhu Huaizhang registered him as a commoner.
• Jin Shanyao waived Fan Er’s freedom price, gave him the money as a wedding gift, and asked him to keep the gift secret.
• Jin Shanyao told Meng Anzhi she trusted Fan Er and asked her to prepare a wedding gift for him and Hongdou.
• Fan Er showed Hongdou’s parents his commoner registration, and they let him into the Du Household to discuss marriage.
• Hongdou’s mother asked Fan Er about his family, housing, and work, then urged him to demand a commoner’s wage from Anzhi Hall.

Fan Er secured Hongdou’s father’s approval by agreeing to buy a house, then prepared to formally propose with Jin Shanyao’s help. The chapter ended with Jin Shanyao and Fan Er arriving at the Du family home, where Hongdou’s father’s five sons gathered to inspect their future brother-in-law.

• Hongdou’s father agreed to Fan Er marrying Hongdou if Fan Er bought a house and promised to treat her well.
• Fan Er gave Hongdou his household registration, and she learned that her father had approved the match.
• Fan Er bought a house with Hongdou and her family, and the Du family agreed to let him propose.
• Jin Shanyao studied marriage customs, prepared betrothal gifts, and dressed as a high-ranking matchmaker.
• Jin Shanyao and Fan Er brought the gifts, including a live rooster, to the Du family home for the proposal.
• Hongdou’s father introduced his five sons, who had gathered to see their future brother-in-law, leaving Jin Shanyao awkwardly wondering if they were showing force.