Chapter Summaries

After selling valuable herbs, Jin Shanyao spent freely on clothes, supplies, and an ox cart for Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci. At the bookshop, she learned the young master of the Zhao Residence had been missing for three days and set off to find the residence, hoping the case could help restore her spirit pill.

• Jin Shanyao collected 1,700 taels from Qin Baitang, who then ordered his assistant to investigate where she came from.
• Jin Shanyao rebuked a clothing-shop assistant who insulted Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, then bought the children outfits and shoes at the Silk Pavilion.
• Jin Shanyao bought an ox and flatbed cart to carry rice, flour, oil, and other necessities, while Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci ate pork buns on the cart.
• At the bookshop, Jin Shanyao heard scholars say the young master of the Zhao Residence had been missing for three days and Zhao Mingjing was frantic.
• Jin Shanyao asked how to reach the Zhao Residence and headed toward its vermilion gate with the ox cart.

Jin Shanyao used her spiritual power to locate the kidnapped young master of the Zhao Residence and earned a hundred taels for helping Zhao Mingjing rescue him. She left the city with Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci, who dreamed of earning enough money to live in a big house.

• Jin Shanyao demanded a hundred taels to divine the Zhao young master's whereabouts, but Zhao Mingjing had her and the children thrown out before she could explain.
• Jin Shanyao asked the plants in the Zhao Residence where the young master had gone and learned that Concubine Liu had taken him to a warehouse west of the city.
• Jin Shanyao warned Zhao Mingjing about the warehouse and a traitor in his household, and Zhao Mingjing rescued his son there.
• Zhao Mingjing paid Jin Shanyao a hundred taels, and she told him to cut down the disrespectful osmanthus tree before leaving with Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci.
• On the ox cart, Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci talked about earning money for a big house, and Jin Shanyao explained that a thousand copper coins equaled one tael.

Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to Master Han’s school, but he refused to teach them because of their dispute with their paternal uncles. When Master Han insulted the children, Jin Shanyao angrily cursed him and left the confrontation unresolved.

• Jin Shanyao brought home supplies and learned from Old Woman Li how to salt venison for storage.
• The next day, Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to Master Han’s school with books and gifts for their classmates.
• Master Han recognized the children’s family name and rejected them, claiming the school was full and criticizing them for turning against their clan.
• Meng Anci defended himself, explaining that his uncles had stolen the family property, bullied his mother, and tried to sell Meng Anzhi.
• Jin Shanyao cursed Master Han at length from the Record of Admonishing Evil, leaving him furious and calling her vulgar.

Jin Shanyao encouraged Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci after they were discouraged by school, then brought them to Green Mountain Academy, where only Meng Anci was allowed to enroll. Back in Little River Village, Jin Shanyao bought books to learn human customs, poorly planted the garden, and offered the children lion’s mane mushroom dumplings.

• Jin Shanyao comforted Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci with a story about little trees enduring hardship and encouraged them to keep learning.
• At Green Mountain Academy, Master Zhao told Jin Shanyao that girls could not attend, so Jin Shanyao promised to teach Meng Anzhi herself while enrolling Meng Anci for two taels of silver a year.
• Jin Shanyao left the academy without giving Master Zhao the food gift he expected, then bought a stack of books at a bookshop.
• Jin Shanyao planted the vegetable garden by scattering seeds without covering or watering them, and Meng Anzhi suggested they rent out the farmland.
• Jin Shanyao agreed to rent out the farmland and began preparing lion’s mane mushroom dumplings, delighting Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci.

Jin Shanyao learned to make dumplings with Old Woman Li and taught the children that sharing with helpful neighbors could benefit their household. The next day, Meng Anci started at the academy, where Shiyan mocked him for arriving by ox cart, until Zhao Zhiyuan defended him.

• Old Woman Li helped Jin Shanyao knead dough and prepare dumplings, then accepted a bowl as thanks.
• Jin Shanyao told Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci that the poplar shared nutrients with nearby plants, explaining that their neighbors could watch over their home in return for kindness.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anci to the academy and left him with Master Zhao, while Meng Anzhi watched him go.
• Shiyan mocked Meng Anci for arriving in an ox cart and drew the other students' attention to him.
• Zhao Zhiyuan cited the Standards for Students to reprimand Shiyan for bullying Meng Anci, and Master Zhao seated Meng Anci beside his nephew.

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.