Chapter Summaries

After Tong Aning’s fall lets her family hear her thoughts and glimpse the future, Tong Siyan returns with news that her husband Cui Heng has been deceiving her, and she decides to expose him herself. The family spends a cheerful day picking cherries, while Tong Fengye learns his sister expects him to rank last in the Imperial Academy exams and ends up fleeing their father’s anger.

• Su Zhouyue stops Tong Aning from climbing trees or flying a kite, while privately reflecting on how the family can hear Aning’s thoughts after her fall.
• Tong Siyan returns and tells Su Zhouyue that the Cui household knew Cui Heng was involved with his younger cousin, and she says she will ruin his reputation herself.
• Tong Aning gathers the family to pick cherries, and Tong Fengye offers to help his second sister punish Cui Heng.
• Tong Fengye asks Tong Aning about his upcoming exams, and her thoughts reveal that he will come last again.
• Tong Aobai hears Aning’s prediction, gets angry at Tong Fengye, and chases him with a cane before the family goes to dinner.

Tong Aning settled into her life with the Tong family and agreed to use the Gossip System, which revealed secrets aloud through her thoughts. The chapter ended with her family worrying about what her thoughts could expose, while she remarked on Tong Yibin’s weary life at the Ministry of Justice.

• Tong Aning rejected the idea of returning to her former world, agreed to keep the Gossip System company, and headed to the Imperial Academy with Tong Fengye.
• Tong Aning asked the system for gossip about Feng Chu, who then walked away from a confrontation with Tong Fengye.
• Tong Aning used her thoughts to reveal gossip during a shopping trip, and Tong Fengye told Su Zhouyue that people beyond the family might hear her thoughts.
• Su Zhouyue warned Tong Aobai to avoid offending the emperor, then welcomed Tong Yi'an home and joined the family for dinner.
• Tong Aning thought that Tong Yibin seemed alive but slightly dead inside because of his work at the Ministry of Justice.

Tong Aning warned Tong Aobai to be careful at court, then went to class while he attended court and later collected her results with Tong Fengye. The family gathered at the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, where Tong Siyan prepared to confront her husband, Cui Heng.

• Tong Aning asked Tong Aobai to be careful at court and gave him a list of things she wanted, while he teased her about her results.
• At court, Tong Aobai stayed unusually quiet, and Lin Yu hurried after him before Tong Yibin steered the conversation away.
• Tong Aning learned through her thoughts that Feng Chu’s stepmother had spread the story about his bed-wetting, and Feng Chu awkwardly tried to make up with Tong Fengye.
• Tong Aning and Tong Fengye received their results, then joined Tong Aobai and Su Zhouyue for a meal at the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion.
• Tong Aning recognized Cui Heng as her blind fool of a brother-in-law, and Tong Siyan prepared to face him at the family gathering.

Tong Siyan rejected staying with Cui Heng and hinted that she had a plan to expose trouble in his household. The Tong family received an imperial reward for Tong Aning, then gathered under the stars after she led her siblings outside to look for fireflies.

• Tong Siyan coldly dismissed Cui Heng and invited Cheng Wenmiao to join the meal, but Su Zhouyue let Cheng leave after Tong Aning revealed that Cheng's lover was nearby.
• Cui Heng went to confront Cheng Wenmiao, while Tong Siyan told her family she would not remain with him and Tong Yibin encouraged her to find fault with the Cui family.
• Tong Aobai's household returned home and received an imperial decree granting Tong Aning a jade ruyi as a reward from the emperor.
• Tong Siyan apologized for disrupting the siblings' celebration, and Tong Fengye fled when Tong Aobai threatened to punish him for coming last in his exams.
• Tong Aning led Tong Siyan and Tong Yi'an to look for fireflies, and Su Zhouyue and Tong Aobai found the three girls gazing at the starry sky.

Eunuch Wang realized the emperor had dismissed his report about Tong Aning, while the Tong family gathered peach blossoms and prepared for a duke’s Hundred Flowers Banquet. At the banquet, Tong Aning’s thoughts exposed the duke’s affair and his plan to pass off his mistress’s child as the duchess’s, and Wei Mingning attacked him.

• The emperor offered Eunuch Wang a few days off and spoke about the marquis’s second daughter, leaving Eunuch Wang to realize that the emperor had not believed his report about the fourth young lady.
• Tong Aning, Tong Yi'an, and Tong Fengye gathered peach blossoms with Su Zhouyue and Tong Aobai, and the family decided to make both wine and cakes.
• Su Zhouyue brought Tong Aning to the duchess’s Hundred Flowers Banquet, where Tong Aning’s thoughts revealed that the duke kept a mistress.
• Wei Mingning heard Tong Aning’s thoughts that the duke planned to bring his mistress’s child into the household and register him under the duchess’s name.
• Gu Zhenye presented the child as one he wanted to adopt, and Wei Mingning kicked him down and ground her foot against his shin.

The emperor summoned Gu Zhenye and Wei Mingning after hearing about their garden dispute, then questioned Tong Siyan over her plans to reclaim her dowry from the Cui household. Tong Aning exposed a tangled affair involving Du Liu'er, but the chapter ended before anyone learned whose child she had borne.

• Eunuch Wang told the emperor that Tong Aning had described the duchess slaughtering the duke, so the emperor summoned Gu Zhenye and Wei Mingning.
• Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning encountered Luo Shuyun, who complained that Tong Siyan was taking back her dowry and emptying the Cui residence.
• The emperor questioned Tong Siyan, and she explained that the household goods had been bought with her dowry.
• Tong Aning and her system revealed that Du Liu'er had been involved with both Gu Zhenye and Cui Ming, while Luo Shuyun had also pursued her.
• Cui Ming claimed Du Liu'er's child was his after Gu Zhenye had claimed the child, and Tong Aning asked the system whose child it was.

Tong Aning’s family dealt with the Cui household’s scandals and helped Tong Siyan leave her marriage, while Aning’s system revealed another secret about the Cui family. The chapter ended with Xue Lin retrieving a grass-woven grasshopper and placing it beside a faded one in his room.

• The system told Tong Aning that Gu Xin, Gu Zhenye’s confidant, was the child’s father, and Wei Mingning mocked Gu Zhenye over the affair.
• Gu Zhenye and Cui Ming fought in court; the emperor handed Gu Zhenye, Du Liu’er, and the child to Wei Mingning, demoted Cui Ming, and ordered Cui Heng to divorce Tong Siyan and return her dowry.
• Su Zhouyue and her family went to the Cui residence, where Luo Shuyun struck Cui Heng and Tong Aning’s system revealed that Cui Ming’s elder brother loved Luo Shuyun and Cheng Wenmiao’s mother treated her husband as a substitute.
• Tong Aobai arrived to take Tong Siyan home, and Tong Aning’s system revealed that Prince Yong’s heir had tricked the emperor into visiting the duke’s residence.
• Xue Lin asked the emperor about the spectacle at the duke’s residence, then searched for a grass-woven grasshopper, apologized to Wei Mingning, and placed it beside a faded grasshopper at the prince’s residence.

Tong Aning and Tong Fengye visited the Eight Treasures Pavilion and met Lou Yingyu and Feng Chu at a teahouse. After the system revealed that Lou Yingyu’s second uncle was secretly meeting his lover, the group followed him and discovered the woman was his daughter-in-law.

• Tong Aning bought pastries at the Eight Treasures Pavilion, then she and Tong Fengye went to a teahouse, where they met Lou Yingyu.
• Lou Yingyu and Tong Aning teased each other about skipping lessons, while Tong Fengye tried to avoid Feng Chu before the two encountered each other.
• The system told Tong Aning that Lou Yingyu’s second uncle was meeting his lover in secret, so Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu followed him with Tong Fengye and Feng Chu.
• The group watched Lou Chang meet a woman in a courtyard and discovered that she was his daughter-in-law.
• The system explained that Lou Chang had fallen in love with his daughter-in-law after his son announced he wanted to marry her, and Lou Yingyu retched at the revelation.

Tong Aning and her family exposed Lou Chang’s affair and attempt to silence Lou Yingyu, then Su Zhouyue disciplined the children for sneaking onto the roof. Later, Tong Aning accepted Wei Mingning’s offer to become her adopted daughter.

• Lou Yingyu and Tong Aning, Tong Fengye, and Feng Chu confronted Lou Chang and Bai Man after discovering their secret meeting.
• Su Zhouyue rescued the children from the roof, while Xu Dongying dragged Lou Chang and Bai Man away.
• Su Zhouyue scolded Tong Aning and Tong Fengye for sneaking onto the roof, and Tong Aobai ordered Tong Fengye to copy a book ten times.
• Tong Aning and Su Zhouyue visited Wei Mingning, who rejected Gu Zhenye and ordered him, Du Liu'er, and the child thrown out.
• Wei Mingning asked to adopt Tong Aning, and Tong Aning agreed.

Wei Mingning accepted Tong Aning as her goddaughter and received prayer beads meant to mark her new beginning. When Qu Huiyan’s baby daughter went missing, Wei Mingning and the Tong family confronted the minister’s household, and Lin Yu suddenly begged Tong Aning to rein in her divine powers.

• Wei Mingning gave Tong Aning trays of jewels, accepted her gift of Buddhist prayer beads, and invited her to visit often.
• Qu Huiyan arrived at the Wei residence saying her baby daughter, Qiaoqiao, had disappeared, and Tong Aning’s system revealed that her mother-in-law had arranged it.
• Wei Mingning took Qu Huiyan to the Lin residence with her spear, while Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning joined them and Tong Aobai and Tong Yibin arrived as well.
• The group found Qiaoqiao with a nanny serving He Qinfen, and Qu Huiyan confronted her mother-in-law as Wei Mingning demanded an explanation.
• Lin Yu dismissed the incident as a false alarm, then heard Tong Aning’s system-assisted gossip and dropped to his knees, begging her to rein in her divine powers.

Tong Aning and her family witnessed Zhuang Chi’s attempt to bring a male courtesan into his household and Shen Tang’s furious response. After Tong Aning’s thoughts exposed that Zhuang Chi and his parents were scheming to take a courtesan from Spring Breeze House while keeping Shen Tang’s money, Shen Tang realized her in-laws were plotting against her.

• Tong Aning’s carriage nearly collided with Zhuang Chi’s, and the families learned that he was a Ministry of Justice bureau director married to Shen Tang.
• Tong Aning persuaded Su Zhouyue to stop the carriage, and they saw Zhuang Chi meeting a male courtesan outside a male courtesan house.
• Shen Tang arrived, shot an arrow that grazed Zhuang Chi, and declared that she would enter the establishment herself.
• Zhuang Chi’s parents tried to calm Shen Tang while steering her toward letting him take a concubine from Spring Breeze House.
• Tong Aning’s system revealed that Zhuang Chi and his parents were scheming to get both the courtesan and Shen Tang’s wealth, and Shen Tang recognized their plan.

Tong Aning began learning to ride and went on a spring outing with Tong Fengye and Feng Chu, while Xue Lin watched them from a pavilion. In the apricot grove, they overheard a group plotting to kill the Heir of Prince Yong.

• Zhao Yan accused Zhuang Xin of keeping a lover and fought with him while Zhuang Chi still urged his parents to bring Taohong into the household.
• Tong Aning said she wanted to learn to ride, and her family decided to take turns teaching her.
• After more than a dozen days of lessons, Tong Aning rode Bright Pearl out with Tong Fengye and Feng Chu for a spring outing.
• Xue Lin spotted Tong Aning in the apricot grove but declined Sichen's suggestion that he greet her.
• Tong Fengye and Feng Chu hid Tong Aning and Bright Pearl after noticing suspicious figures in the grove, and the system told Tong Aning they were plotting to kill the Heir of Prince Yong.

Tong Aning tried to warn the Heir of Prince Yong that someone planned to kill him, sending notes into Prince Yong’s Residence with a slingshot. When she returned, she found Feng Chu clashing with his stepmother, Yang Rong, and learned that he was heading to meet his returning father.

• Tong Aning decided to warn the Heir of Prince Yong and asked Tong Fengye about his age and whereabouts before going to the Imperial Academy.
• Tong Aning bought a slingshot and supplies, then fired notes warning of the assassination plot into Prince Yong’s Residence; Xue Lin read them and said he believed the warning.
• Feng Chu avoided going home with Yang Rong and gave Tong Aning his purse, which she used to buy the slingshot and supplies.
• Yang Rong publicly portrayed herself as a loving stepmother while Feng Chu accused her of acting falsely, and Su Zhouyue challenged Yang Rong’s claims.
• Tong Aning learned that Yang Rong was provoking Feng Chu to make her own son look better when Marquis Zhongyong returned, then watched Feng Chu borrow a horse and ride toward the city gates.

Yang Rong left after Su Zhouyue praised Feng Chu, but her plan to turn the marquis against him failed when Feng Ying was found in a brothel. The Tong family discussed Tong Aning’s attempt to warn Prince Yong’s heir and the dangers surrounding her, while Feng Chu joined Aning and Tong Fengye on their way to the Imperial Academy, where Aning’s thoughts hinted that Third Brother would soon face bad luck.

• Yang Rong left Su Zhouyue’s residence planning to stir up trouble for Feng Chu, while Tong Fengye distracted Su Zhouyue to keep her from questioning Tong Aning about the pebble she had shot into Prince Yong’s residence.
• That night, Tong Fengye told the Tong family that Aning may have tried to warn Prince Yong’s heir that someone wanted to kill him, and the family worried about her safety and discussed Lin Yu’s ties to the Eastern Palace.
• Tong Yibin said Lin Yu was probably aligned with the crown prince, and the family agreed to work together to protect Aning, assigning Tong Fengye responsibility for the Imperial Academy and Tong Yi'an responsibility for treats.
• Tong Aning woke to pastries from Tong Yi'an and found Feng Chu accompanying her and Tong Fengye to the Imperial Academy.
• Feng Chu told them Feng Ying had been found in a brothel and that Feng Bo had praised him, while Tong Fengye congratulated him and joked that Aning would keep him safe.
• Tong Aning thought that Third Brother might have bad luck that day, and Tong Fengye silently begged her to help him.

Tong Aning learned through her inner voice that Fang Ji planned to cripple Tong Fengye during a cricket fight, and Tong Fengye avoided Fang Ji while his friends tried to protect him. The chapter ended with Fang Ji’s servant charging at Tong Fengye with a cudgel, exposed after the crowd moved aside.

• Tong Fengye hoped Tong Aning would help him, but she went into the Imperial Academy without addressing his worries, and he was called out in class more than ten times.
• Tong Fengye, Tong Aning, and Feng Chu went to the Clouds Gather Teahouse for cricket fighting, where Tong Fengye explained that Fang Ji had invited him.
• Tong Aning’s inner voice revealed that Fang Ji envied Tong Fengye and intended to have a servant cripple his leg during a disturbance.
• Tong Fengye recognized Fang Ji’s invitation as suspicious and stayed close to Tong Aning while Feng Chu advised him to conceal his suspicions.
• Tong Aning identified Fang Ji’s servant in the crowd, and when Fang Ji shouted that a cricket had escaped, the crowd stepped aside and left the servant exposed as he charged Tong Fengye with a cudgel.

Tong Fengye exposed Fang Ji’s plot to cripple him, and Fang Ji was arrested after confessing. Later, Fan Siyun’s secret affair came to light when Fang Wenrui collapsed, and the chapter ended with him abruptly sitting up as the man treating him was revealed to be Wulang.

• Tong Fengye restrained the servant who had tried to attack him, and the servant confessed at Jingzhao Prefecture that Fang Ji had ordered the assault.
• Fang Ji admitted that he wanted Tong Fengye crippled, while Tong Aning and her family rebuffed his insults and rejected his parents’ perfunctory plea for leniency.
• Tong Siyan told Tong Aning that she had been put in charge of the household’s shops.
• Tong Aning’s system revealed that Fan Siyun had secretly continued an affair with Wulang and showed Tong Aning their letters.
• Fang Wenrui collapsed after the letters were revealed, and Tong Aning realized that the doctor summoned to treat him was Wulang.
• Fang Wenrui suddenly sat up just as Wulang was about to insert his needles, prompting Fan Siyun to call him a miracle doctor.

Fan Siyun’s deception was exposed at Su Zhouyue’s residence, and Fang Wenrui collapsed after learning that the medicine she had once obtained for him was poison. At court, the emperor questioned Tong Aobai about the scandal and Fang Wenrui’s future as minister of war, while Xue Lin took an interest in the story and the emperor remembered his late brother and sister-in-law.

• Fan Siyun pleaded with Fang Wenrui after he struck her, but Tong Aning learned through the system that Fan Siyun and Wulang had planned to poison him; Fang Wenrui spat blood and passed out.
• At court, Tong Aobai told the emperor that Fang Wenrui was recovering after an incident at his residence.
• The emperor questioned Tong Aobai about Fang Wenrui’s scandal and asked whether he should remain minister of war.
• The emperor asked Xue Lin about the captured assassins, and Sichen reported that none had survived.
• Xue Lin changed his mind and stayed to hear the emperor’s story about Tong Aning, while the emperor thought of his deceased younger brother and sister-in-law.

Xue Shang discovered that all four of her male favorites were spies and set out to purge her household, while Tong Aning befriended Commandery Princess Mingyue. The chapter ended with Mingyue accused of forcing a scholar to become her lover, as Tong Aning’s system revealed he had deliberately deceived her to ruin her.

• Xue Lin warned Xue Shang that her male favorites might be suspicious, and Xue Shang learned they were spies planted by the Third Prince.
• Tong Aning met Commandery Princess Mingyue, admired her peonies, and the two quickly became fond of each other.
• Xue Shang learned that someone was causing trouble at the gates and went to investigate with Mingyue, Tong Aning, and Su Zhouyue.
• Mingyue confronted a scholar who claimed he had a wife and accused her of pursuing him, prompting the watching crowd to suspect she had abused her status.
• Tong Aning asked her system about the scholar, and it revealed that he had researched Mingyue’s preferences and deceived her as part of a scheme to ruin her.

Xue Shang stopped the scholar from turning the crowd against her household and sent Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning to find his missing wife. At Spring Breeze House, Tong Aning found the woman being beaten and the nanny began treating her.

• The scholar accused Mingyue of forcing him to marry her, and the nanny exposed his ingratitude to the crowd.
• Xue Shang offered the crowd pastries and said she would punish Mingyue if the accusation proved true, then sent the nanny to fetch the scholar’s wife.
• The system told Tong Aning that the scholar had gambled away his wife, who was being held at Spring Breeze House.
• Xue Shang sent Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning with the nanny to find the woman.
• Tong Aning rushed into a woodshed at Spring Breeze House and found the scholar’s wife being beaten by three men.
• The guards subdued the men, and the nanny offered to treat the unconscious woman.

Qiuli exposed the scholar’s plot against Mingyue, and Tong Aning decided to study medicine while learning that the great general’s daughter had been replaced by a fake heiress. The chapter ended with Tong Aning hearing that someone was plotting against Eldest Brother.

• Qiuli returned safely and revealed that the scholar had used her to create the tokens of affection Mingyue believed came from him.
• Xue Shang dismissed the witnesses, had the guards take the scholar away, and let Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning bring Qiuli to the marquis’s residence.
• Tong Aning asked to study medicine, and Su Zhouyue agreed to find her a teacher.
• Tong Aobai and Su Zhouyue learned from Tong Aning’s conversation with the System that the great general’s missing daughter had been replaced by a fake heiress.
• Tong Aning heard that Eldest Brother was delayed at the Ministry of Justice, and the System warned that someone was plotting against him.