Chapter Summaries

Tong Aning helped reunite Qi'er with his mother and brought the fainted Mu Yao to the Marquis Yongning's Residence. The next morning, Mu Yao gave Su Zhouyue a letter, which Tong Aning recognized as being from Third Brother.

• Xue Lin and Sichen intervened when several men claimed Qi'er, and Mu Yao identified clues showing that the boy was the middle-aged man's son while the other child belonged to the man in black.
• Qi'er's mother returned and took him away, refusing the middle-aged man's pleas to give him another chance.
• Mu Yao fainted after Tong Aning said goodbye, so Tong Aning carried her to her carriage and brought her back to the residence for Xue Ruyun to examine.
• Mu Yao woke at Marquis Yongning's Residence the next morning and gave Su Zhouyue a letter from Third Brother.

Mu Yao was welcomed into the Tong family as Su Zhouyue’s goddaughter, while Lou Yingyu and Tong Aning later witnessed a brawl at Drunken Fragrance Pavilion. Xue Lin questioned the men involved, and their excuses left everyone wondering whether two sworn brothers were actually blood brothers.

• Mu Yao refused to impose on the Tong family, but Su Zhouyue embraced her and insisted on taking her as a goddaughter.
• Tong Aobai and Tong Yibin welcomed Mu Yao, who kowtowed with Danqing and joined the family for a meal.
• Mu Yao declined to attend the Imperial Academy, and Lou Yingyu brought her and Tong Aning to watch a commotion at Drunken Fragrance Pavilion.
• Xue Lin arrived and questioned Niu Er and Xiong San after they admitted to starting a fight over a waiter saying they looked alike.
• Tong Aning and the onlookers suspected Niu Er and Xiong San were blood brothers, but Niu Er asked whether sworn brotherhood could make them so.

Tong Aning exposed Xiong Wanxin’s deception, helping Ji Cuifang reject him and reunite with Niu Er, while Xue Lin dealt with the case. Later, Tong Aning caught the attention of Miss Qinxin, who invited her upstairs.

• Niu Er and Xiong San fought in jail, and Tong Aning learned how Xiong Wanxin had deceived Ji Cuifang and exploited her guilt.
• Tong Aning arranged for Ji Cuifang to witness Xiong Wanxin meeting several other lovers, and Ji Cuifang slapped him when she saw through his lies.
• Xue Lin identified himself as Jingzhao Prefecture’s deputy prefect and took charge as Xiong Wanxin and Xiong San were jailed; Ji Cuifang chose to return home with Niu Er.
• Niu Er began working at the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion alongside Xu Si and the waiter.
• Tong Aning went to investigate a crowd gathered over Miss Qinxin, and Miss Qinxin’s maid invited Tong Aning upstairs.

Tong Aning uncovered Qiu Lingsong’s plagiarism and helped Qinxin discover that Ye Lü was the man she had exchanged poems with. Qiu Lingsong tried to defend himself, but Tong Aning mocked his claim to be more handsome than Ye Lü.

• Tong Aning listened to Qinxin play the guqin at the Cold Mist Pavilion and promised to return the next day.
• Tong Aning and Yingtao overheard Qiu Lingsong urging Qinxin to use her performances to spread his poems, then learned he had hired a ghostwriter.
• Tong Aning sent Yingtao to find Xue Lin and brought Qinxin to confront Qiu Lingsong while the ghostwriter was present.
• Qinxin recognized the verses and asked Ye Lü whether he had written them; Ye Lü admitted the truth by raising his head, and Qinxin recognized him as her former poetic correspondent.
• Qiu Lingsong claimed Ye Lü had stayed away because he was less handsome and had a poorer background, and Tong Aning challenged his claim to be handsome.

Tong Aning exposed Qiu Lingsong’s deception, helped Qinxin and Ye Lü confront their past, and later accompanied Lou Yingyu as Lou Yiyuan met her prospective husband, Mu Yue. Lou Yiyuan and Mu Yue seemed to agree until they discovered they favored rival poets and began arguing.

• Qiu Lingsong tried to slap Tong Aning, but she knocked him down with her martial arts and silver needles, and Xue Lin arrived with Yingtao.
• Tong Aning listed Qiu Lingsong’s offenses, and Xue Lin had Sichen seize him while Qinxin and Ye Lü agreed to come along.
• Tong Aning learned Ye Lü had helped Qiu Lingsong deceive Qinxin, and Qinxin left open the possibility of a future with Ye Lü.
• Tong Aning accompanied Lou Yingyu to support Lou Yiyuan during her meeting with Mu Yue, and Lou Yiyuan agreed to introduce him to her parents.
• Lou Yiyuan and Mu Yue discovered they favored rival poets, Bai Ziqi and Wen Shuyuan, and began arguing.

Lou Yiyuan and Mu Yue discovered that Bai Ziqi and Wen Shuyuan were friends, prompting Lou Yiyuan to decide she and Mu Yue should marry. Tong Aning then watched Su Zhouyue advise a relative to divorce her unfaithful husband, while the family’s tangled history and Cao Mengfan’s shocking defense of her father’s affair came to light.

• Lou Yiyuan and Mu Yue argued over their favorite poets until they found Bai Ziqi and Wen Shuyuan together and learned the poets were friends.
• Lou Yiyuan grabbed Mu Yue’s hand and declared she was taking him to get married, while Lou Yingyu mistakenly offered Bai Ziqi and Wen Shuyuan wedding wishes.
• Yingtao told Tong Aning that a distant relative had come to ask Su Zhouyue for help with her husband’s affair.
• The woman explained that frail Cao Lanruo had been sent away as a baby while Cao Mengfan was raised in her place, and Su Zhouyue urged her to divorce her husband.
• Cao Mengfan pleaded with her mother not to divorce, but Cao Lanruo supported the divorce and accused Mengfan of helping conceal their father’s affair.
• Cao Mengfan claimed her father’s affair was acceptable because his heart belonged to her mother, and Bai Yirou shoved her away.

Bai Yirou rejected Cao Mengfan and decided to divorce Cao Yunjie, while Cao Lanruo stood by her and helped expose Cao Yunjie's affair. At a palace banquet held to choose a crown princess, Tong Aning revealed that the crown prince already had a secret partner and a child.

• Bai Yirou told Cao Mengfan to leave and said she would seek an amicable divorce from Cao Yunjie.
• Bai Yirou reconciled with Cao Lanruo and asked her to stay close instead of hunting.
• Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning filled Cao Yunjie's room with smoke, prompting him to flee outside wrapped in a quilt.
• Cao Lanruo and Bai Yirou confronted Cao Yunjie, and Peng Wenhua's other lovers and Cao Yunjie's involvement with a man were exposed.
• Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning attended the empress's flower-viewing banquet, where Tong Aning revealed that the crown prince had already arranged a private relationship and had a child.

Ling Pingying disrupted the crown princess banquet by claiming she carried the crown prince’s child, and the empress confirmed her as his secondary consort. Later, Tong Aning and Xue Lin uncovered a secret about Prince Kangle’s youngest son while following his princess consort and second son.

• Ling Pingying claimed she was pregnant with the crown prince’s child, prompting the empress to slap the crown prince and name Ling Pingying his secondary consort.
• The emperor sent the crown prince back to the Eastern Palace after hearing what happened, while the crown prince blamed Xue Lin for his own failures.
• Tong Aning and Xue Lin walked together through the garden, and Xue Lin admitted he had followed her request to decorate Radiant Youth Garden with flowers.
• Tong Aobai and Tong Yibin told Su Zhouyue that Prince Kangle had proposed replacing his heir with his newborn son, and that he had fought and beaten his existing heir in court.
• Tong Aning went out to meet Xue Lin, and they followed Prince Kangle’s princess consort and second son while searching for a wandering swindler.
• Sichen realized that Prince Kangle’s youngest son was actually the child of the princess consort and Prince Kangle’s second son.

Tong Aning and Xue Lin witnessed a deadly confrontation within Prince Kangle’s family, which Tong Aning interrupted by saving Prince Kangle. Xue Lin then exposed the shopkeeper as the String Puller, and the chapter ended with Tong Aning encouraging Xue Lin to believe that good luck would come to him.

• Xue Lin, Tong Aning, and Sichen followed the Heir Apparent of Kangle into a teahouse, where they saw him confront Xue Pinghuan and the new princess consort.
• Sichen stopped Xue Pinghuan from slipping away, and Xue Pingnan ordered assassins to kill the princess consort and the child she carried.
• Xue Pinghuan protected the mother and child, but Xue Pingnan accused him of fathering the child and had them seized.
• Prince Kangle arrived, and Tong Aning saved him with a silver needle when he nearly died from shock over the child’s suspected parentage.
• Xue Lin identified the shopkeeper as the String Puller, and Sichen arrested him after Xue Lin pointed out his many flaws.
• On the way back to Jingzhao Prefecture, Tong Aning told Xue Lin that he was already lucky and that luck would eventually come to everyone.

Tong Aning, Mu Yao, and Tong Yi'an welcomed Tong Siyan back from Jiangnan, where they encountered Wu Dazhuang insulting her. Tong Aning intervened when Wu Dazhuang's sons beat a man, and the chapter ended with Wu Dazhuang and his father trading accusations about their family’s past.

• Tong Aning gave Mu Yao health medicines and a letter from Tong Fengye, then took her out to meet Tong Siyan at the docks.
• Tong Aning and Mu Yao encountered a shopkeeper grateful that Mu Yao had helped him with a difficult painting.
• Tong Aning, Mu Yao, and Tong Yi'an met Tong Siyan at the docks, where Wu Dazhuang insulted her and her family.
• Tong Aning ordered A Shu to stop Wu Dazhuang's sons from beating a middle-aged man, who turned out to be Wu Dazhuang's former sworn brother.
• Wu Dazhuang's father arrived and disowned him for stealing another man's wife, while Wu Dazhuang accused his father of having coveted his elder brother's wife.

Wu Dazhuang exposed his father Wu Hui’s scandalous past at the docks, while Tong Aning later learned that Mingyue had been afflicted by a love gu. Xue Shang spared the man accused of planting it after he claimed he had acted on someone’s orders, and asked Xue Ruyun if there was another way to save Mingyue.

• Wu Dazhuang publicly revealed that Wu Hui had tried to seduce his sick elder brother’s wife, and Wu Hui retaliated by exposing Wu Dazhuang’s gambling and theft.
• Tong Aning and Tong Siyan returned to the marquis’s residence, where Tong Yi'an eagerly questioned Siyan and Su Zhouyue worried about Aning’s spring examinations and Yi'an’s future.
• Xue Shang told Tong Aning and Xue Ruyun that Mingyue had gone mad, then led them to her room, where Mingyue attacked them while demanding that Xue Shang return Tong Lang.
• Xue Ruyun examined Mingyue and found blackish, thick blood that indicated someone had planted a love gu in her.
• Xue Shang prepared to kill Tong Caiwen, but he insisted he had acted on someone’s orders, prompting her to ask Xue Ruyun whether another cure was possible.

Tong Caiwen confessed that Hou Qingle had used a Love Gu scheme to make Mingyue fall for him, and Xue Shang punished Hou Qingle before Xue Ruyun reversed the gu on both men. After Mingyue recovered and resumed her garden party, Tong Aning rescued a young noblewoman who had been pushed into the water, while her private thoughts revealed that the incident had been deliberate.

• Tong Caiwen confessed that an unnamed conspirator had given him the Love Gu and ordered him to seduce Mingyue, but he had swallowed the mother gu himself when he could not get close to her.
• Xue Shang suspected someone inside her residence, and Tong Aning's Gossip System revealed that the culprit loved Xue Shang, resented her rejection, and had targeted Mingyue to hurt her.
• The elderly maid brought Hou Qingle and two male favorites to Xue Shang; Xue Shang identified Hou Qingle, had him beaten and whipped, and learned that he had wanted to use the Love Gu on her.
• After Xue Ruyun announced Mingyue had awakened, Xue Shang went to her; Mingyue asked Xue Ruyun to give Hou Qingle and Tong Caiwen the Love Gu, and Xue Shang had the men thrown out together.
• When Mingyue later held a garden party, Tong Aning jumped into the water to save a young noblewoman who had fallen from the garden bridge.
• As Mingyue and Lou Yingyu warmed and cared for Tong Aning and the rescued woman, Tong Aning's thoughts revealed that someone had deliberately pushed the woman into the water.

After Tong Aning and Mingyue exposed the plot against Yan Manrong, Yan Manrong confronted her fiancé Huo Zhixing and learned he had conspired with her sister Yan Manhe. Tong Aning later witnessed Huo Jiayin expel Guan Moshan and Huo Zhixing from the Huo Family after discovering Guan Moshan had fathered Huo Zhixing with her cousin.

• Mingyue found that Yan Manrong's younger sister Yan Manhe had pushed her into the water at Huo Zhixing's urging, hoping to hasten his wedding to Yan Manrong before he was disowned.
• Yan Manrong confronted Huo Zhixing, who denied the plot, while Yan Manhe admitted she had acted because Huo Zhixing promised to marry her; Yan Manrong rejected his excuses and questioned whether he would stay with her without official standing.
• Tong Aning learned that Huo Zhixing and his father would soon be removed from the Huo family rolls after Huo Jiayin discovered Guan Moshan was not her daughter's blood father.
• Tong Aning and Tong Yibin reached the Huo Family, where Huo Jiayin declared that Guan Moshan had fathered Huo Zhixing with her older cousin and ordered Guan Moshan and Huo Zhixing out.
• Guan Moshan claimed his cousin had drugged him and insisted he had always loved Huo Jiayin, while Tong Aning's thoughts exposed his lies and Huo Jing laughed at his excuses.

As Tong Aning prepared for and completed the spring examinations, her family and Xue Lin supported and encouraged her. Afterward, she went to the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion with Lou Yingyu, where Lou Yingyu stopped a scholarly argument and then confronted a man claiming to be Chancellor Lou’s protégé.

• Huo Jing refused to call Guan Moshan her father, and Huo Zhixing asked whether calling him Uncle would let him return home, leaving Guan Moshan collapsed in anger.
• Tong Yibin and Tong Aobai agreed to escort Tong Aning to and from the spring examinations, while Tong Siyan, Mu Yao, and Tong Yi'an gave her warm clothing they had made.
• Xue Lin watched Tong Aning arrive for the examinations, and she came over to tease him before he wished her success.
• Tong Aning finished the examinations, received a letter from Tong Fengye asking how they had gone, and wrote back asking about his army rank compared with Feng Chu's.
• At the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, Lou Yingyu calmed a quarrel among scholars, but another disturbance began when a man claimed to be Chancellor Lou's protégé.

Tong Aning’s inner voice exposed a scandal involving students stealing identities and exam essays, prompting Xue Lin to lead a thorough investigation. At the public hearing, a student withdrew his accusation against a former examination candidate, and Tong Aning suspected the man was protecting someone who had ghostwritten for him.

• Lou Yingyu worried that her father, Lou Ming, had helped his pupils unfairly, but learned he had only let them read books at home.
• Tong Aning told Su Zhouyue she planned to expose students whose identities had been stolen, and Su Zhouyue learned of her resolve through her inner voice.
• The emperor ordered Xue Lin to investigate the identity theft scandal thoroughly, with Tong Aobai, Lou Ming, and Deng Jiantong assisting him.
• Lou Ming questioned his pupil publicly, but the student refused to speak, so Xue Lin confronted a former examination candidate who now worked in the Ministry of Revenue.
• The candidate offered to reproduce his essay from memory, and the student withdrew his accusation, prompting Tong Aning to suspect he was protecting a ghostwriter.

Xue Lin exposed Xu Wenzhi and Zou Ran’s plagiarism with Duan Zhen’s help, then took Tong Aning to Radiant Youth Garden. On their way back, Tong Aning questioned how Xu Wenzhi had known the examination topic, just as Sichen warned they were under attack.

• Xue Lin had Xu Wenzhi, Zou Ran, and Duan Zhen reproduce the examination essay, revealing that all three versions matched.
• Duan Zhen confronted Xu Wenzhi over his affairs and explained that she had written the essays Zou Ran copied for him; she also drew the irrigation device described in the essay.
• Xu Wenzhi and Zou Ran were imprisoned, while Duan Zhen’s talent impressed the officials.
• Tong Aning and Xue Lin visited Radiant Youth Garden, where she encouraged him to care for himself and gave him sweets.
• Tong Aning wondered how Xu Wenzhi had learned the examination question in advance, and Sichen announced that they were likely facing an assassination attempt.

Xue Lin protected Tong Aning during an assassination attempt, then asked the emperor to recall his Eagle Guards. As the imperial examination results were posted, Tong Aning learned that some candidates’ places had been taken and suspected the crown prince might be involved.

• Xue Lin deployed the Eagle Guard to defeat thirty-two attackers, then escorted Tong Aning home and kept her from seeing the bloodshed.
• Tong Aobai and Tong Siyan checked Tong Aning for injuries, while Tong Aobai and Tong Yibin considered whether the attack was connected to the imperial examinations.
• Xue Lin asked the emperor to recall his Eagle Guards, and Tong Aning sent calming soup to Prince Yong’s Residence, which Xue Lin drank at once.
• Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu saw their names on the examination results, while Xixi told Tong Aning that some candidates had lost their places to others.
• Tong Aning wondered whether the crown prince had arranged the stolen examination places when his arrival was announced.

After the crown prince’s interference in the imperial examinations sparked public outrage, the emperor punished him and restored the scholars’ rightful places. Tong Aning received a court appointment and a death-exemption gold medallion, then attended court for the first time, where the officials fell silent at her arrival.

• The crown prince visited the posted examination results, and the outraged crowd pelted him and the nearby Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu with vegetable leaves until Xue Lin escorted him away.
• The emperor condemned the crown prince for manipulating the examination results and threatening the people, then confined him for three months and confiscated the estate of the minister of rites behind the scheme.
• The empress refused to plead for the crown prince and urged the emperor to handle the matter impartially, while Tong Aobai and Lou Ming argued against deposing him.
• Lou Yingyu told Tong Aning she had been assigned to the Court of State Ceremonial, and Eunuch Wang delivered Tong Aning’s appointment as a principal sixth-rank Ministry of Rites secretary with orders to attend court daily.
• Su Zhouyue and Tong Aobai gave Tong Aning a death-exemption gold medallion bestowed by the emperor.
• Yingtao roused Tong Aning for her first morning at court, where she fell asleep in the carriage and the officials fell silent when she entered with Tong Aobai and Tong Yibin.

Tong Aning returned from court and learned about a supposed elixir of immortality, then attended court again and unknowingly exposed Lord Zeng as a suspected murderer. The emperor ended the chapter holding the alleged elixir, which Tong Aning identified as evidence from the murder case.

• Tong Aning returned home sleepy after a peaceful court session, and Tong Yibin went to check whether the chief minister of the Court of Judicial Review and the minister of justice had fought.
• Tong Siyan gave Tong Aning jasmine balm, and Tong Aning paid her three hundred coins after briefly believing it cost thirty thousand.
• Tong Siyan told Tong Aning that a masked old man had visited their shop asking for something to extend his life.
• At court the next day, Tong Aning mistook Lin Yu for a giant panda and revealed through her thoughts that he had tried to sneak into Zeng Xingchang's courtyard and been ambushed.
• The emperor ordered Cen Yu to catch the capital's murderer within three days, while Tong Aning's thoughts revealed that the culprit was among the imperial officials.
• Zeng Xingchang presented the emperor with a bottle he claimed contained an elixir of immortality, and Tong Aning identified it as evidence in the murder case.

Xue Lin exposed Zeng Xingchang as the murderer behind the human-blood immortality elixir, and Zeng Xingchang was taken away after defending his crimes as a service to Great Xia. Later, Tong Aning became absorbed in High Mountains and Distant Waters, and the chapter ended with her learning that one of two people arguing at the palace gates had written it.

• Xue Lin accused Zeng Xingchang of murder and presented evidence found in Zeng Xingchang's residence.
• Tong Aning challenged Zeng Xingchang for insulting Xue Lin, and Zeng Xingchang admitted that he had killed people to make an immortality elixir for the emperor.
• The emperor condemned Zeng Xingchang's crimes, and Zeng Xingchang was taken away as his certainty began to waver.
• Tong Aning explained piracy to her family, then became hooked on High Mountains and Distant Waters after Tong Siyan bought copies for her and Mu Yao.
• As Tong Aning arrived at court, she heard two people arguing at the palace gates and learned that one of them was the author of High Mountains and Distant Waters.