Chapter Summaries

Lou Yun discovered that the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review had concealed the fate of the women accused of killing Lord Li, so she arranged to question the remaining prisoners. She left the capital with Pei Qing for Jiangnan, where she asked him to call her Fangyi.

• Lou Yun confronted the minister, who claimed that the women had killed themselves and that they had murdered Lord Li for revenge.
• Lou Yun found the cells empty and pressured the minister into sending the surviving prisoners to her residence for questioning.
• The minister secretly warned a subordinate that the crown prince had grown suspicious, while Lou Yun instructed Shutang to watch for a prisoner's reaction to a note.
• Lou Yun disguised herself and waited at the city gate for Pei Qing, then invited him to travel with her to Jiangnan.
• At an inn, Lou Yun told Pei Qing to call her Fangyi, and she felt pleased when he repeated the name.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing reached Jiangling, where they learned the prefect’s son had abducted women and devised a plan to expose him. Pei Qing disguised himself as a domineering young aristocrat and Lou Yun as a woman, then they staged a public confrontation to attract the son’s attention.

• Lou Yun teased Pei Qing over his sleepless night, and his sincere reply left her flustered before they raced each other on horseback.
• In Jiangling, Lou Yun and Pei Qing overheard people discuss Lin Shuo’s abduction of women and the prefect’s unchecked power, then Lou Yun proposed a plan requiring Pei Qing’s cooperation.
• Pei Qing dressed in red and adopted the manner of a wealthy young wastrel, while Lou Yun changed into women’s clothing and left him a note promising Dongpo pork hock if he played his part.
• Lou Yun and Pei Qing watched for Lin Shuo, then Pei Qing staged a forceful scene with Lou Yun at a tea shop to draw Lin Shuo’s attention.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing lured Lin Shuo into taking them to his residence, where they played along with his lecherous boasting and claims of authority in Jiangling. Pei Qing entered under the name Ye Yun, but that evening Lin Bian summoned him for questioning.

• Lou Yun prompted Pei Qing to act like he was abducting her, and Lin Shuo took the bait when he saw her and Pei Qing together.
• Lin Shuo ordered his attendants to seize Lou Yun, then brought Pei Qing to his residence while boasting that he ruled Jiangling.
• Lou Yun was led in through a side entrance after signaling Pei Qing, who followed Lin Shuo inside.
• Pei Qing introduced himself to Zhang Dequan as Ye Yun, a traveler from Chuanshu, and explained that he had accepted Lin Shuo's invitation.
• That evening, Lin Bian sent someone to summon Pei Qing for questioning.

Pei Qing met Lin Bian as Ye Yun and agreed to guide Lin Shuo, while Lou Yun overheard Lin Bian’s suspicions about his son’s attraction to Pei Qing. After comforting Lou Yun, Pei Qing agreed to let her kiss him, and her tender kiss on his hair left him overwhelmed and crying.

• Pei Qing introduced himself to Lin Bian as Ye Yun, impressed him with his scholarship, and agreed to guide Lin Shuo.
• Pei Qing claimed that he and his wife clashed over their intimate life, prompting Lin Bian to invite him to stay at the residence.
• Lin Bian told Zhang Dequan that Lin Shuo had taken a fancy to Ye Yun and allowed the young men to spend time together.
• Lou Yun overheard Lin Bian’s conversation, then held Pei Qing against his door before comforting herself against his shoulder.
• Lou Yun asked Pei Qing if she could kiss him, and he nervously asked where she would kiss him.
• Lou Yun kissed a strand of Pei Qing’s hair, and he began to cry before telling her that his strange feelings were all her fault.

Lou Yun stayed at the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard under the name Ling'er, where she learned that the women there were being trained to entertain honored guests. She avoided dancing and resisted the sexual lessons as Wan'er tried to protect her, while Pei Qing remained asleep at the Lin residence.

• Lou Yun asked Pei Qing to stay beside him until he fell asleep, then quietly returned to the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard.
• Lou Yun recalled how Cui Hao took her in after she pretended to accept life at the brothel, and how she knocked out her maid and followed Pei Qing the night before.
• Cuiying woke Lou Yun for morning lessons, and Wan'er welcomed her and learned that she could play the qin.
• Lou Yun played for the women’s performance practice, but Wan'er persuaded Cui Hao not to make her dance in the center.
• Lou Yun recoiled from the erotic picture book used for lessons, and Wan'er exchanged it for one with milder contents.

Lou Yun avoided Cui Hao’s punishment with Wan’er’s help, then secretly tripped Cui Hao as she left. Two days later, Pei Qing accompanied Lin Shuo to Pleasant Breeze Courtyard to receive the honored guest, only to discover that the guest was A Zi.

• Cui Hao demanded that Lou Yun demonstrate the skills she had been taught, but Wan’er stopped her and persuaded her to let Lou Yun skip the lessons.
• Lou Yun secretly sent qi beneath Cui Hao’s feet, causing her to fall and scrape her face; afterward, Lou Yun thanked Wan’er.
• When the girls were brought downstairs to meet the honored guest, Lin Shuo arrived with Pei Qing and threatened Cui Hao before leading them inside.
• Pei Qing recalled that Lin Shuo had invited him along after explaining that Lord Lin had tasked him with entertaining an honored guest and earning control of Pleasant Breeze Courtyard.
• A Zi arrived as the honored guest, recognized Pei Qing, and praised him, then focused his attention on Pei Qing while the others tried to curry favor with him.

Lin Shuo tried to recruit A Zi into a scheme to sell enslaved women abroad, while Pei Qing and Lou Yun investigated the prefect’s residence and shared personal secrets. The chapter ended when Wan'er and A Zi unexpectedly climbed through Pei Qing’s window and found him and Lou Yun together.

• Lin Shuo proposed that A Zi help transport enslaved women abroad, and A Zi agreed to sign a contract the following day.
• Lin Shuo gave Wan'er to A Zi and let Pei Qing take Lou Yun back to the prefect’s residence.
• Lou Yun told Pei Qing about a secret passage between the residence and Pleasant Breeze Courtyard, and Pei Qing shared what he had learned about the guarded rooms.
• Pei Qing told Lou Yun that his mother led the Beast Taming Pavilion and that his representative animal was a tiger.
• Wan'er climbed into Pei Qing’s room, and A Zi fell onto his back while trying to follow her through the window.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing investigated suspected trafficking at the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard, where Xie Wan told them how the Lin family had ruined her family. After assigning A Zi to investigate a hidden box and A Tu, Lou Yun and Pei Qing were left alone together, and Lou Yun persuaded the bashful Pei Qing to share the bed.

• A Zi explained that he had brought Xie Wan to the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard after learning she had disappeared following her father's arrest.
• Xie Wan recounted that Lin Bian had arranged her father's wrongful execution and that Lin Shuo had forced her and her mother into the courtyard; she asked Lou Yun to seek justice.
• Xie Wan told Lou Yun and Pei Qing that many women at the courtyard had been sold after sudden family troubles, and she mentioned Cui Hao's forbidden box.
• Pei Qing tasked A Zi with investigating Cui Hao's box and verifying Xie Wan's suspicions, while Lou Yun added that he should look into A Tu; Lou Yun and Pei Qing planned to investigate the Lin residence.
• Lou Yun teased the nervous Pei Qing as they prepared for bed, then discovered there was no spare bedding in the room.
• Lou Yun offered Pei Qing the choice of sharing her bed willingly or being tied up, then pulled him onto it; Pei Qing began to protest.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing spent the night together after Pei Qing coaxed her into granting his request, and the next morning they learned Lin Bian and Lin Shuo would be away signing a contract. They used the opportunity to sneak into the prefect’s late wife’s residence, where they found her belongings still carefully maintained.

• Pei Qing said he had begged Lou Yun to sleep beside him, then teased and enticed her until she agreed to stay the night.
• Lou Yun recalled an old encounter involving Lou Ze'an and a masked child who had come to retrieve a cat.
• The next morning, Pei Qing nearly fell from the bed while climbing off Lou Yun, and a maid misread their position when she entered.
• An attendant told Lou Yun and Pei Qing that Lin Shuo’s lessons were canceled because he would accompany Lin Bian to sign a contract.
• Lou Yun and Pei Qing slipped out through a window and entered the prefect’s late wife’s residence, finding her belongings clean and undisturbed.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing opened the mechanism hidden beneath Xu Ying’s memorial plaque and recovered a blue booklet, while A Zi stole the register of the girls’ sale contracts from the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard. Lin Bian realized they had been tricked and rushed home, where the three investigators reunited and Pei Qing prepared to write to His Majesty.

• Lou Yun and Pei Qing discovered that the plaque in Xu Ying’s room concealed a three-layer mechanism, and they survived its hidden weapons and poisonous smoke.
• Pei Qing and Lou Yun chose the correct rod on their final attempt and found a blue booklet inside the compartment.
• A Zi searched the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard for Cui Hao’s little box while Lin Bian and Lin Shuo waited for him.
• Cui Hao admitted that the register of the girls’ contracts of sale had disappeared, and Lin Bian realized they had fallen into a trap.
• A Zi, Lou Yun, and Pei Qing reunited at Pei Qing’s quarters, where Pei Qing asked A Zi to summon Xiao Jin and began preparing a letter to His Majesty.

Pei Qing summoned Su Ren to Jiangling while he and Lou Yun waited as Lin Bian tightened the search for A Zi. After Lin Bian ordered Pleasant Breeze Courtyard destroyed, Pei Qing warned A Zi with beetles, and A Zi led a rescue of the women trapped there.

• Pei Qing sent a message to the capital requesting Su Ren’s help, while Lin Bian’s troops searched the estate and later sealed off Jiangling.
• Su Ren set out from the capital, but Lin Bian grew impatient and ordered Pleasant Breeze Courtyard destroyed.
• Pei Qing used trained beetles to warn A Zi that Lin Bian was attacking Pleasant Breeze Courtyard.
• A Zi gathered members of the Beast Taming Pavilion and took Xie Wan to rescue the women, evading soldiers on the way.
• A Zi and Xie Wan entered the courtyard, where they found Xiao Liu dead and the girls under attack; A Zi’s reinforcements helped them fight and evacuate the women.
• Xie Wan led A Zi to a room where a group of women were still safe, and urged them to leave with her.

Xie Wan rallied the captive women to escape the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard, while Pei Qing and Lou Yun helped Su Ren arrest Lin Bian and his associates in Jiangling. After Lin Bian killed himself and the others were taken into custody, the party began its journey back to the capital, where Pei Qing faced his first night camping with the army.

• Xie Wan tore up her indenture and persuaded the captive women to escape and testify against Lin Bian, and A Zi led the final group out of the Pleasant Breeze Courtyard.
• Lin Bian ordered Zhang Dequan to take Lin Shuo away from Jiangling, but Pei Qing and Lou Yun confronted them as troops arrived.
• A Zi guided Su Ren to Jiangling and gave Pei Qing the evidence, while Xie Wan led a squad to rescue the women.
• Lin Bian killed himself rather than be arrested, and Lou Yun stopped Lin Shuo from attacking Pei Qing as the remaining suspects were taken into custody.
• After two days, Pei Qing assigned local officials to oversee Jiangling and departed for the capital with Su Ren's army and Lou Yun.
• The army camped in the wilderness, where Pei Qing stood uncertainly as the soldiers prepared for the night.

Lou Yun supported Pei Qing as he faced the crowd’s admiration, while Su Ren reunited with her and a soldier thanked Pei Qing for helping his late wife. After returning to the capital, Lou Yun investigated the conspiracy and considered pursuing Zhang Dequan.

• Lou Yun taught Pei Qing to gather and stack firewood, then promised to teach him anything he did not know; he affectionately asked her to be his private teacher.
• Su Ren recognized Lou Yun as his cousin, pledged the Su family’s support, and left after an awkward reunion.
• Wu Lao’er gave Pei Qing malt candy in gratitude for saving his wife, and Pei Qing remembered her and offered him comfort.
• Pei Qing shared the candy with Lou Yun, who took a piece from his fingers and called it sweet.
• Lou Yun returned to her residence and learned from Ying Yi that the second prince had made no unusual moves while she was away.
• Lou Yun reviewed the shadow guards’ information, suspected Li An had not acted alone, and considered investigating Zhang Dequan.

Lou Yun helped Pei Qing with his workload and discussed the corruption weakening Great Yan, then arranged to target the minister of rites in Li An’s case. At court the next day, the Lin Bian case reached a temporary conclusion, and Lou Yun announced that she had uncovered the truth behind the attack on Lord Li.

• Lou Yun brought Pei Qing wontons, stopped him from working through his meal, and ordered him to have policy essays screened before they reached him.
• Pei Qing explained that noble families and Chancellor Xu had weakened Great Yan’s talent pool, so he tried to guide even poor students’ essays.
• Lou Yun decided to pursue the minister of rites in Li An’s case and said Great Yan needed new pillars of support.
• Pei Qing reported the Lin Bian case at court, leading Lou Qing to punish the minister of rites and more than twenty accomplices while A Tu’s escort team was imprisoned.
• Chancellor Xu challenged Lou Yun and Pei Qing over Lord Li’s case, and Lou Yun announced that she had uncovered the truth and ordered the suspects brought in.

Lou Yun revealed that Cui Rou and Li An’s male bedmate had killed Li An, and the censor-in-chief confessed after his role in harming witnesses was exposed. After Cui Rou was spared execution, Pei Qing and Lou Yun shared a meal, where Lou Yun asked about his relationship with Lou Ze’an and Pei Qing remembered the accident that had once made them appear to kiss.

• Lou Yun explained that Cui Rou and Li An’s male bedmate had killed Li An and staged the fire, while Cui Rou had sought the imperial preceptor’s help to expose the trafficking network.
• Lou Yun accused the censor-in-chief of failing his duties and harming witnesses, and Xu Lin forced him to confess by threatening to expose his crimes to his family.
• Pei Qing and Lou Yun secured Cui Rou an exemption from execution, and she bowed to them as she was led away.
• Lou Yun took Pei Qing to Rain Ripple Pavilion for the pork hock he was owed and asked what relationship he had with Lou Ze’an.
• Pei Qing recalled how he and Lou Ze’an had collided at the training grounds four years earlier, then fought after Pei Qing punched him.
• Pei Qing realized Lou Yun had mistaken the collision for a kiss and resented her for thinking he and Lou Ze’an had shared a romantic interest.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing grew closer while preparing for New Year’s Eve, but their duties kept them apart until the night of the imperial sacrifice. After the ceremonies, Lou Yun hurried to the Stargazing Tower to keep Pei Qing from spending the new year alone.

• Pei Qing blamed Lou Ze'an for his past awkward encounters with Lou Yun, while Lou Yun unknowingly soothed him by sharing food.
• Pei Qing planned to lodge poorer examination candidates at an inn, and later gave his students the afternoon off so he could spend time with Lou Yun.
• Lou Yun stayed with Pei Qing as he rested, unaware it would be their last quiet time together before New Year’s Eve.
• Pei Qing led the sacrifice to Heaven in elaborate ceremonial robes, then secretly showed Lou Yun a playful glint as he handed her incense.
• After completing the palace banquets, Lou Yun rushed toward the Stargazing Tower to join Pei Qing before the new year began.

On New Year's Eve, Lou Yun joined Pei Qing at the Star-Picking Terrace, where they shared a kiss and agreed to stay up together. Later, they went in disguise to a scholars' inn to meet candidates before the palace examination, but a debate over the Imperial Preceptor and Master Jiang Wen began to divide the scholars.

• Pei Qing watched the New Year's fireworks alone until Lou Yun arrived and wished him a happy New Year.
• Lou Yun and Pei Qing kissed, and Pei Qing persuaded her to stay up with him.
• Pei Qing took Lou Yun in disguise to an inn for scholars and met Fan Buluo, who enthusiastically praised the Imperial Preceptor.
• Xie Wan served tea to Lou Yun and Pei Qing, then playfully encouraged Lou Yun.
• Fan Buluo repeatedly tried to hold Lou Yun's hand, so Pei Qing interrupted him with tea and earned his gratitude.
• A scholar praised Master Jiang Wen's literary talent as equal to the Imperial Preceptor's, and others proposed attending Jiang Wen's lecture at Purple Bamboo Garden.

Lou Yun and Pei Qing attended Jiang Wen’s lecture, and Pei Qing grew uneasy about the scholar’s suspiciously timely arrival. After noticing irregularities in the palace examination rankings, Pei Qing secretly inspected the candidates’ papers and discovered signs that several essays had been written by the same person, but Jin Yu heard him.

• Lou Yun and Pei Qing listened to Jiang Wen’s lecture, and Pei Qing felt that Jiang Wen’s manner was strangely familiar.
• Pei Qing learned that Luo Fengchen, Fan Buluo, and Bian Yi had taken the top three places and insisted on examining their papers before the results were posted.
• Pei Qing told Lou Yun they would raid the Ministry of Rites the following night, then slipped there alone that evening.
• Pei Qing found that Luo Fengchen’s and Bian Yi’s essays had unusually similar structures despite their different apparent styles.
• Pei Qing searched more candidates’ papers, found additional suspicious essays, and accidentally alerted Jin Yu with a slight movement.

Pei Qing was caught while sneaking into the palace and wounded by Jin Yu, but Lou Yun rescued him and brought him back to the imperial preceptor's residence. Overwhelmed by the sight of his injury, she left and suffered a bout of madness at the crown prince's residence, where her shadow guards restrained her until dawn.

• Jin Yu trapped Pei Qing and shot him with a three-feathered arrow carrying body-weakening powder.
• Lou Yun caught Pei Qing as he collapsed, split Jin Yu's incoming arrow, and fought her way out with him.
• Lou Yun treated Pei Qing's wound but ignored his pleas, then left when he fell asleep in tears.
• Lou Yun returned to the crown prince's residence and struck Ying Yi during a bout of madness, prompting him to summon the other shadow guards.
• After a night of destruction inside her room, Lou Yun emerged exhausted at dawn and asked Shutang to bring water.

After Lou Yun ignored Pei Qing following court, he broke down and fainted, then clung to her when he woke. Lou Yun comforted him and explained that her earlier disappearance had been caused by her recurring madness.

• At court, the officials argued over whether to repost the examination results, and Lou Qing ordered the Minister of Rites, Pei Qing, and the Chancellor to review the papers.
• Lou Yun walked away from Pei Qing after court, leaving him standing in the snow until Mo Chi found him and he fainted.
• Pei Qing woke to find Lou Yun beside him and begged her not to leave him again; she soothed him and said she was not tired of him.
• Lou Yun told Pei Qing that her madness had caused her earlier disappearance, and Pei Qing realized she had suffered another episode.