Chapter Summaries

Jin Shanyao agreed to find Shi Chang'an and the missing jade Buddha in exchange for the Shi Household Escort Agency carrying her medicinal herbs at a steep discount for five years. She located the captives on Hat Mountain and sent Dahuang and Xiaoli ahead to protect them, where the animals confronted the robbers.

• Jin Shanyao refused Madam Shi's silver and instead negotiated a five-year escort contract at thirty percent below market rates, making the Shi Household Escort Agency collateral.
• After Madam Shi signed the contract, Jin Shanyao used her Spiritual Power to locate Shi Chang'an and the jade Buddha in a cave on Hat Mountain.
• Jin Shanyao sent Dahuang and Xiaoli to guard Shi Chang'an and the jade Buddha while Madam Shi went to report the location to the prefectural yamen.
• Dahuang's roar knocked a robber into the cave wall, and Xiaoli appeared before the bound Shi Chang'an as the robbers turned their bows on her.

Dahuang and Xiaoli rescued Shi Chang'an from robbers, then returned to Anzhi Hall, where Meng Anzhi exposed a seller's forged gastrodia and Jin Shanyao brought him to the yamen. The seller was caught and Meng Anzhi received the five-tael reward.

• Dahuang and Xiaoli held off the robbers guarding the jade Buddha until constables arrived and rescued Shi Chang'an.
• Madam Shi reunited with her husband, and Dahuang and Xiaoli returned to Anzhi Hall.
• Jin Shanyao explained that she had helped Madam Shi in exchange for a caravan connection.
• Meng Anzhi examined a batch of gastrodia and identified it as forged four o'clock flower root.
• Jin Shanyao caught the fleeing herb seller and dragged him to the yamen, where she received five taels of silver and gave the reward to Meng Anzhi.

Lu Chi tried to use his new imperial title to buy his freedom and order Jin Shanyao to sell Lush Mountain’s herbs, but she beat him into admitting the empress’s actual request. Jin Shanyao agreed to the herb deal and destroyed his deed of sale, leaving Lu Chi unexpectedly upset that she might not want him anymore.

• Jin Shanyao infused Xiaoqi and Xiaobai with Spiritual Power while Lu Chi prepared to confront her with his new title and silver notes.
• Lu Chi demanded his freedom, ordered Jin Shanyao to sell the herbs to the imperial court, and tried to make her obey him, so she whipped him and hung him from a beam.
• Lu Chi admitted that the empress wanted to buy Jin Shanyao’s medicinal herbs and requested ginkgo nuts, and Jin Shanyao agreed to provide two bottles.
• Jin Shanyao returned Lu Chi’s deed of sale and set it alight, but Lu Chi snatched it away and confessed that he had only been joking about buying his freedom.

Lu Chi prepared to leave the Marquis’s residence and gave Jin Shanyao a jade pendant, while Jin Shanyao gave him a ginkgo leaf. During Anzhi Hall’s autumn-harvest recruitment, Shiyan was kidnapped, and Jin Shanyao located him in a carriage where his captors revealed their grudge against Anzhi Hall and Lu Chi.

• Lu Chi told Jin Shanyao he planned to move out of the Marquis’s residence and offered her his jade pendant, but she returned it and gave him a ginkgo leaf instead.
• Lu Chi asked Jin Shanyao to divine where he could find a cheap courtyard in the capital, but left after she quoted three thousand taels.
• Meng Anci recruited workers for Anzhi Hall’s medicinal-herb harvest, and he persuaded Shiyan to bang the gong and announce the hiring.
• Shiyan was dragged into a carriage by kidnappers, and Meng Anci rushed to tell Jin Shanyao while Madam Shi panicked in the street.
• Jin Shanyao took Madam Shi to Anzhi Hall and used her Spiritual Power to locate Shiyan in the carriage.
• Shiyan’s kidnappers said they planned to punish Anzhi Hall for touching the Third Master’s pastries and to teach Lu Chi a lesson over the Wei Household’s purchasing rights.

Jin Shanyao rescued Shiyan from kidnappers and brought him back to Anzhi Hall, where his attempt to make her his mother startled Meng Anci and Jin Shanyao. Shiyan later received a scented pouch from Meng Anzhi, but that night mysterious bumps appeared all over his body.

• The kidnappers drove in circles around Willow and Poplar County until Jin Shanyao tore apart their carriage and defeated them with her whip.
• Magistrate Yang's constables arrested the kidnappers, but both men poisoned themselves before they could be questioned.
• Madam Shi embraced Shiyan when he returned, and Shiyan asked Jin Shanyao to teach him to use a whip before trying to call her his mother.
• Jin Shanyao threw Madam Shi and Shiyan out of Anzhi Hall, while Meng Anci grew anxious that his aunt might someday have children of her own.
• Meng Anzhi gave Shiyan a scented pouch, and he became infatuated with her as Madam Shi scolded him on the way home.
• That night, bumps appeared all over Shiyan's body, and Madam Shi summoned three sets of physicians, none of whom could identify the cause.

Jin Shanyao tried to reassure Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi that they could build independent lives, but they both argued over who would care for her when she was old. The next morning, Shiyan came to claim Jin Shanyao as his mother, but she rejected the title and allowed him to call her Aunt Yao instead.

• Jin Shanyao told Lu Chi that he had to eliminate the threat to Anzhi Hall and the children before returning to the capital, and Lu Chi said he had already sent people to handle it.
• Meng Anci asked Jin Shanyao not to let anyone else call her Little Aunt and promised to care for her in her old age; Meng Anzhi then proposed she live with her instead.
• Meng Anci and Meng Anzhi argued over who would keep Jin Shanyao with them, so she urged them to study hard and become self-reliant.
• Shiyan arrived at Anzhi Hall dressed up and tried to claim Jin Shanyao as his mother, while Meng Anci blocked him from entering.
• Jin Shanyao told Shiyan she was not his mother or his Little Aunt, then settled on letting him call her Aunt Yao.

Meng Anzhi confronted Wang Zhuzi for slacking off and damaging herbs on Lush Mountain, with Meng Anci protecting her from his threats. Jin Shanyao backed the children and made Wang Zhuzi pay for the ruined herbs before he fled.

• Shiyan visited Meng Anzhi at Anzhi Hall, but Meng Anci pushed him out and walked with him to the academy.
• During the academy’s mid-October break, Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci found the workers resting while herbs remained uncollected.
• Wang Zhuzi mocked Meng Anzhi when she challenged his work, so she dumped his basket and threatened to withhold his wages and charge him for the damaged herbs.
• When Wang Zhuzi threatened Meng Anzhi, Meng Anci jabbed him with a hoe and warned him off.
• Jin Shanyao backed Meng Anzhi, and Meng Anci recited the law on damaging an employer’s property.
• Wang Zhuzi paid Meng Anzhi sixty wen for the ruined herbs and hurried off the mountain.

Jin Shanyao helped Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci devise a pay system that rewarded workers for the quantity and quality of herbs they gathered. The siblings put the plan into action at Lush Mountain, where most workers chose to stay and work under the new rules.

• Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci told Jin Shanyao that workers were slacking off, and she advised them to tie pay to the desired results.
• Jin Shanyao proposed paying by the jin, with lower rates for herbs containing weeds and no payment for herbs with mud or dirt.
• After organizing the accounts, Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci stayed up late looking up words and began plotting how to apply the pay system.
• At Lush Mountain, Meng Anzhi announced payment by the jin, and Meng Anci explained the quality standards and rewards for the top three gatherers.
• Meng Anzhi offered half a day's wages to workers who wanted to leave, while most workers accepted the new terms and headed up the mountain.

The Shi Household came to Anzhi Hall to thank Jin Shanyao for saving Shi Chang'an, and Shi Chang'an agreed to deliver her herbs to the capital. At dinner, Lu Chi prepared to leave for the capital, and Jin Shanyao gave him a bottle of white fruit before he departed.

• Shi Chang'an brought Madam Shi and Shiyan to thank Jin Shanyao and offered the Shi Household Escort Agency to transport her herbs to the capital.
• Shiyan helped carry herb sacks at Anzhi Hall and tried to spend time with Meng Anzhi, prompting Shi Chang'an to scold and kick him.
• The Shi family left after Shi Chang'an promised to deliver the herbs safely and on time.
• Jin Shanyao and the others held a farewell dinner for Lu Chi before his departure for the capital.
• Jin Shanyao gave Lu Chi a bottle of white fruit to save his life in an emergency, then comforted him as he cried about leaving.

Jin Shanyao’s thriving medicinal herb business kept the Shi Household busy escorting shipments, much to Madam Shi’s frustration, and she teased Madam Shi throughout their journey to Qingzhou Prefecture. After they arrived, Jin Shanyao encouraged Meng Anci to rest and face his prefectural examination calmly.

• Jin Shanyao built First Manor at the foot of Lush Mountain and expanded Anzhi Hall’s medicinal herb business, leading the Shi Household to make three escort trips in half a year.
• Madam Shi complained that Jin Shanyao’s shipments were monopolizing the work, and Jin Shanyao teased her until she pulled out a dagger and dared Jin Shanyao to kill her.
• Madam Shi asked Shiyan to tend to her, but he stayed focused on rubbing Meng Anci’s bruised leg.
• Jin Shanyao, Meng Anci, and Shiyan arrived at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion in Qingzhou Prefecture, while Madam Shi and Shiyan went to find their own lodging.
• Meng Anci worried that he would fail the prefectural examination again, and Jin Shanyao urged him to rest and face the challenge calmly.

Jin Shanyao set up her Anzhi Hall stall near the examination compound, accidentally embarrassed Constable Wang with a diagnosis, and was later summoned to deliver Qiao Qingran’s twins. She delivered both babies safely and was left marveling at how easy the birth had been.

• Jin Shanyao and Meng Anzhi set up their stall after Constable Wang said Lord Su had allowed them to stay.
• Jin Shanyao diagnosed Constable Wang as unable to father children, then tried to comfort him so bluntly that Meng Anzhi had to stop her.
• Constable Wang paid Jin Shanyao five copper coins before rushing her and Meng Anzhi to help a woman in labor.
• Jin Shanyao recognized Qiao Qingran, agreed to deliver her twins for fifty taels, and had Meng Anzhi assist while Constable Wang cleared the crowd.
• Jin Shanyao delivered both babies with only one push each and wondered if Qiao Qingran was a military general.

Jin Shanyao helped Qiao Qingran deliver her child, then returned to the inn with Meng Anzhi and treated them to wontons and a restful evening. The next day, Meng Anci entered the examination compound and confidently began a policy essay based on his farming experience.

• Jin Shanyao accepted fifty taels from Qiao Qingran for helping with the birth and tried to sell her talismans before the carriage left.
• Jin Shanyao discovered that the wonton seller had given her meal to a beggar child, ordered two new bowls, and paid for them.
• After the examination ended, Meng Anci returned with Shiyan, and Jin Shanyao took the children back to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion for baths and dinner.
• Meng Anzhi prepared a skin treatment for herself and Jin Shanyao while Meng Anci bathed under Dahuang's watch.
• The next morning, Meng Anci read a policy-essay question about instructing farmers and drew on his experience at Lush Mountain as he wrote his answer.

Jin Shanyao renewed her friendship with Old Madam Su, who gave her valuable cloud brocade, and later returned to Willow and Poplar County. As spring planting began, Meng Anci rushed to tell her he had passed the prefectural examination and become a novice scholar.

• Madam Su hurried to stop Jin Shanyao from taking Old Madam Su’s money, but Old Madam Su welcomed her warmly and accepted talismans and mushrooms from her.
• Old Madam Su gave Jin Shanyao five banknotes and all seven bolts of cloud brocade, then sent Su Wenqian away when he accused Jin Shanyao of scheming.
• A falling roof tile nearly hit Su Wenqian, but the talismans turned to ash as they protected him.
• Jin Shanyao gave Qing He the cloud brocade and ordered her to make new clothes for everyone in the household.
• Jin Shanyao spread medicinal seeds and seedlings across Lush Mountain and checked the estate.
• Meng Anci rode up to Jin Shanyao and excitedly told her he had passed the examination and become a novice scholar.

Jin Shanyao arranged for Meng Anci to study at Green Mountain Academy in the prefectural city, then persuaded Qin Baitang to leave Benevolence Hall and join her expanding medicinal herb business. Qin Baitang agreed to take charge at Anzhi Hall after handing his shop to his son.

• Master Zhao told Jin Shanyao that Meng Anci had secured one of the county's places at Green Mountain Academy and praised his prospects as a student.
• Jin Shanyao took Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci to their parents' graves before preparing for Meng Anci's move to the prefectural city.
• Jin Shanyao tried to recruit Qin Baitang as a shopkeeper, promising him a yearly salary of three hundred taels and a chance to build a legacy for his descendants.
• Qin Baitang accepted Jin Shanyao's offer and said he would hand Benevolence Hall over to his son within three days before reporting to Anzhi Hall.

Jin Shanyao went to the prefectural offices to find a mountain to buy for growing medicinal herbs, while Madam Su panicked at the thought of Jin Shanyao and the children moving to the prefectural city. Jin Shanyao settled on the ominous Hat Mountain, and Madam Su woke to discover Meng Anzhi had charged her five taels for emergency acupuncture.

• Qin Baitang accepted that Anzhi Hall had become powerful in Willow and Poplar County and officially took up his post.
• Dahuang and Xiaoli gathered Lush Mountain's animals and assigned them to guard the mountain and report any misconduct to Yasheng.
• Jin Shanyao asked Su Wenqian to help her find an unclaimed mountain near the prefectural city, and Madam Su fainted at the news that Jin Shanyao and the children were coming.
• The registrar showed Jin Shanyao four unowned mountains and warned her that Hat Mountain was considered a forbidden place.
• Jin Shanyao chose Hat Mountain despite its reputation and argued with Su Wenqian over its price of six taels of silver per mu.
• Madam Su regained consciousness after Meng Anzhi treated her and learned that the emergency acupuncture cost five taels of silver.

Jin Shanyao negotiated Hat Mountain’s purchase from Su Wenqian and then visited Wu Brokerage to look for shops. At the third property, she learned through her Spiritual Power why its owner was selling and discovered his condition for the sale.

• Jin Shanyao invoked the King of Hell and a judge while bargaining, persuading Su Wenqian to set Hat Mountain’s price at five taels of silver per mu.
• Jin Shanyao bought Hat Mountain for eight thousand taels without receiving a tax waiver, then asked Madam Su to recommend a reputable brokerage.
• At Wu Brokerage, Meng Anci imitated Jin Shanyao’s King of Hell question, prompting Broker Wu to show them three valuable shops recommended through Madam Su.
• Jin Shanyao investigated the first shop and found that a past rat plague had damaged its fortunes, then rejected the second because its surroundings felt unsuitable.
• At the third shop, Jin Shanyao used her Spiritual Power to learn that the ginkgo tree had witnessed generations of the owner’s family and that the owner would sell only if the tree remained.

Jin Shanyao bought a shop in the prefectural city and moved her household there from Willow and Poplar County. Meng Anci enrolled at Green Mountain Academy, where he struggled to keep up with Master Cen’s fast lessons and reunited with Shiyan.

• Jin Shanyao bought the shop from Broker Wu and completed the deed at the prefectural office.
• Jin Shanyao, Qing He, and Qing Yang packed their belongings and moved to the prefectural city after three days of preparations.
• Jin Shanyao brought Meng Anci to Green Mountain Academy, where Master Cen accepted him into the Licentiate Candidate Institute and warned him against fighting.
• Meng Anci began studying the Records of the Grand Historian and found the lesson difficult to follow.
• Shiyan greeted Meng Anci, showed him around the academy, and told him about the other students and Zhao Zhiyuan.

Meng Anci struggled to keep up with his classmates while Jin Shanyao tried to attract customers to Anzhi Hall by offering free consultations to the prefectural yamen. Su Wenqian's constables blocked the shop, sparking rumors that someone had died there, and Jin Shanyao realized he had sabotaged her business.

• Meng Anci returned from the academy and worked late on his studies after seeing how talented his classmates were.
• Jin Shanyao, Meng Anzhi, and Meng Anci planned developments for Hat Mountain and noted that they were short of money.
• Jin Shanyao offered free consultations to the prefectural yamen and asked Qing Yang to invite Old Madam Su to a gathering.
• Su Wenqian brought constables and yamen runners to Anzhi Hall, where they blocked the entrance while Jin Shanyao treated patients.
• Qing He told Jin Shanyao that rumors claimed someone had died at Anzhi Hall and that Jin Shanyao had been jailed.
• Jin Shanyao learned that Su Wenqian's constables had turned away a patient and vowed to deal with him.

Jin Shanyao confronted Su Wenqian over his scheme and lost her forbidden books, then got more from Old Madam Su. At Green Mountain Academy, Zhao Yushan provoked Zhao Zhiyuan, Shiyan, and Meng Anci into a cuju challenge, which drew a crowd.

• Jin Shanyao accused Su Wenqian of scheming against her, and he warned her not to use his name or read forbidden books.
• Su Wenqian confiscated Jin Shanyao's books but gave her other books to read, while the head constable later took away the volume she had kept.
• Jin Shanyao complained to Old Madam Su, who scolded Su Wenqian and gave her two stacks of books.
• Zhao Yushan and Zhao Yuwen insulted Zhao Zhiyuan, Shiyan, and Willow and Poplar County at Green Mountain Academy's cuju field.
• Shiyan accepted Zhao Yushan's challenge to play cuju, and Meng Anci joined as the students gathered to watch.

Meng Anci endured Zhao Yushan’s bullying during a cuju match, then found comfort in Jin Shanyao’s encouragement to pursue his studies without doubting himself. Later, furious that Su Wenqian had hidden forbidden books from her, Jin Shanyao sent ghosts to torment him into reciting women’s conduct texts.

• Meng Anci used the cuju match to make Zhao Yushan repeatedly fall, and Zhao Yushan was punished by Master Cen after trying to attack him.
• Meng Anci returned to Anzhi Hall and confided in Jin Shanyao about his pain and worries over studying in the prefectural city.
• Jin Shanyao reassured Meng Anci that he should focus on his goals rather than let others make him doubt himself.
• While reading women’s conduct books, Jin Shanyao grew angry at Su Wenqian for hiding forbidden books and summoned ghosts from the mass grave.
• Jin Shanyao ordered a male ghost and a water-soaked female ghost to make Su Wenqian recite Women’s Virtue and Admonitions for Women, threatening him with their grisly abilities.