Chapter Summaries

Tong Aning’s inner voice exposed Wang Hongkuang’s obsession with Chen He and the novel High Mountains and Distant Waters, leading the emperor to transfer Wang away from the Palace Administration. The next day, Tong Yi'an brought Tong Aning and their companions to a jade rough shop, where Tong Aning worried that Yi'an was about to be swindled.

• Tong Aning recognized Chen He and Wang Hongkuang as the Palace Administration’s director and deputy director, then recalled gossip about them.
• At court, Xue Lin revealed that Zeng Xingchang’s supposed elixir recipe required the blood of seven people, and Tong Aning’s inner voice exposed Wang Hongkuang as the author of High Mountains and Distant Waters, a romantic fantasy about himself and Chen He.
• Chen He punched Wang Hongkuang, and the two fought until the emperor ordered them separated; Chen He later fainted from anger.
• The emperor granted Wang Hongkuang’s request to leave the Palace Administration, and Wang reluctantly thanked him for the transfer.
• Tong Aning discarded High Mountains and Distant Waters, agreed to accompany Tong Yi'an on an outing, and joined Tong Siyan and Mu Yao the next day.
• Tong Yi'an took the group to a jade rough shop and selected four stones; Tong Aning worried that Yi'an might be getting swindled.

Tong Aning and her sisters visited a jade shop, where Tong Yi'an chose several valuable stones, then encountered a soul-summoning trick that Xue Lin planned to expose. Tong Aning joined Xue Lin’s nighttime investigation, where they discovered the grieving Zhang Wansi speaking to the disguised fraud about his late wife and his son Zhang Hui.

• Tong Yi'an’s chosen stones all yielded jadeite, and she offered to have more pendants made for Tong Aning.
• The group watched a soul-summoning master take gold from Zhang Wansi and promise to summon his deceased wife that night; Xue Lin stopped Tong Aning from warning him so he could catch the swindler.
• Tong Aning brought pastries to Xue Lin at Jingzhao Prefecture, and he agreed to let her accompany him on the nighttime operation.
• Xue Lin, Tong Aning, and Sichen watched from a rooftop as the soul-summoning master claimed to share a body with Zhang Wansi’s wife, Yanjun.
• Zhang Wansi asked Yanjun not to believe their son Zhang Hui, revealing a strange conflict between father and son.

Tong Aning and Xue Lin helped Sichen arrest a fraudulent spirit-summoning master after Zhang Hui attacked him, and learned the master was connected to Xuanming. Later, Tong Aning warned Lord Lü that a black cat—not an orange one—had knocked over his inkstone, leaving him determined to catch both cats.

• Zhang Hui confronted Zhang Wansi over his dead wife Yanjun, then recognized the spirit-summoning master who had scammed both father and son.
• Zhang Hui tried to stab the master, but Sichen disarmed him and helped arrest him along with Zhang Wansi.
• Tong Aning learned the spirit-summoning master was Xuanming's junior, and Xue Lin ordered Sichen to interrogate them about their master.
• A grieving woman demanded that the spirit-summoning master contact her dead son so he could pass an examination in the underworld.
• Tong Aning told Lord Lü that a black cat had knocked over his inkstone, and Lü decided to catch both the black and orange cats.

Lü Er rejected his estranged birth parents after Tong Aning’s thoughts exposed their lies, and Sha Cheng had them taken to Jingzhao Prefecture. Later, Tong Aning learned that Sha Cheng’s cat had become a spirit, while Xue Lin and Sichen revealed that Xuanming’s spirit-summoning master was already in the capital and likely hiding in someone’s home.

• Lü Er washed the black cat’s paws and took two cats home, while Tong Aning learned about his adoptive parents and lonely past.
• A woman claimed Lü Er had promised to marry her, but Tong Aning’s thoughts revealed that his birth parents had sent her to exploit his position.
• Lü Er confronted the elderly couple who claimed to be his parents, and Tong Aning exposed their lies about abandoning him and his supposed child bride.
• Sha Cheng ordered the couple taken to Jingzhao Prefecture, and Lü Er gave him the orange cat he had planned to take home.
• Tong Aning heard that Sha Cheng’s pampered cat had become a spirit and mysteriously did household chores.
• Xue Lin and Sichen told Tong Aning they had found Xuanming’s spirit-summoning master in the capital, apparently hiding in someone’s home.

Tong Aning and Xue Lin uncovered Qingfengzi’s scheme to use Sha Cheng’s orange cat, then learned that Mo Leshan had imprisoned his first wife and daughter for over a year. Liu Hui and Mo Leshan both hurried to the home where Mo Leshan’s current wife lived.

• Xue Lin and Tong Aning helped Sha Cheng expose Qingfengzi, who had planned to use the orange cat to stage a miracle and free his disciples.
• Three days later, Qingfengzi confessed to his plan, and Xue Lin recounted the incident to Tong Aning.
• Tong Aning met Mo Leshan buying hawthorn cakes for his pregnant wife and later gave cakes to Xue Lin.
• At the palace gates, Xixi revealed that Mo Leshan’s first wife had fled with their daughter after he imprisoned them for over a year.
• Liu Hui requested leave and rushed to his daughter’s home, while Mo Leshan also hurried there, suspecting his father-in-law had discovered the truth.

Liu Roujie divorced Mo Leshan after learning he had imprisoned and abused his first wife and daughter, and the emperor ordered Mo Leshan taken away for justice. Later, Tong Aning and her companions discovered wealthy young men using a woman as a living target while hunting, and Tong Aning charged toward them on horseback.

• Liu Hui told Liu Roujie that Mo Leshan had abandoned and imprisoned Li Yuanling and her daughter, and Liu Roujie decided to divorce him.
• Li Yuanling accused Mo Leshan before the emperor, and Liu Roujie rejected Mo Leshan and declared that the Liu family would raise her unborn child.
• The emperor had Mo Leshan taken away, while Liu Roujie brought the exhausted Li Yuanling and her daughter to the Liu residence.
• Tong Aning went hunting with Xue Lin, Su Zhouyue, and Tong Yibin, and they learned that a nearby hunting party was targeting living people.
• Tong Aning and her companions found wealthy young men shooting warning arrows at a frightened woman, and Tong Aning charged at them on horseback.

Tong Aning rescued Lu Xu from a group of aristocrats who hunted enslaved people, and helped bring their crimes to light. After Lu Xu returned home and the Shi family was driven from the capital, the crown prince was released from confinement, while Tong Aning received unexpected gifts from the emperor.

• Tong Aning charged the hunters on horseback, knocked one down, and protected Lu Xu as Xue Lin ordered the group taken to Jingzhao Prefecture.
• Shi Wushuang tried to claim he had not participated, but Xue Lin refused to let him leave; Tong Aning and Sichen shot arrows at the fleeing hunters, and Tong Aning helped Lu Xu shoot one of her tormentors.
• The verdict revealed that Shi Wushuang had masterminded hunts in which enslaved people were chased by wild beasts, and the emperor expelled the Shi family from the capital while the other families involved lost standing.
• Tong Aning accompanied Lu Xu to bury the remains of the other enslaved people, and Lu Xu bid farewell before returning home.
• After the crown prince finished his three months of confinement, he returned to court, where the emperor quietly bestowed many gifts on Tong Aning.

Tong Aning learned that the third prince had rescued Tong Siyan during the Jiangnan floods and discovered his difficult rise from the cold palace before he was named Prince of Jin. A massacre of 120 people in a Jiangnan village then shocked Tong Aning, and Xixi confirmed her suspicion that the case involved the third prince.

• The third prince returned to court after quelling the Jiangnan floods, and the emperor praised him for his work.
• Tong Siyan told her family that the third prince had saved her from refugees while she distributed porridge in Jiangnan.
• Tong Aning asked Xixi for gossip and learned about the third prince’s childhood in the cold palace and his rise to the emperor’s favor.
• The emperor named the third prince Prince of Jin, and Tong Aning approved of the honor.
• Tong Yibin told Tong Aning that 120 people had been massacred in a Jiangnan village, and Xixi confirmed that the third prince was involved.

Tong Aning revealed that the third prince had been replaced by Yuan Ming, who had imprisoned the real prince and planned to claim Tong Siyan in marriage. The real third prince confronted Yuan Ming at court, and the imperial noble consort recognized her son as the impostor’s crimes came to light.

• Tong Aning’s family learned that the third prince sought Tong Siyan’s hand and that he was linked to a village massacre; they resolved to expose him before he could secure a marriage decree.
• Tong Aning revealed that Yuan Ming had taken the third prince’s identity, told her family where the real prince was held, and informed Xue Lin because she trusted him.
• Tong Aning noticed grass-woven grasshoppers in Xue Lin’s study, and Xue Lin realized she had made them.
• At court, the emperor revoked the third prince’s title and announced that he was not his son; the real third prince then appeared and confronted Yuan Ming.
• Yuan Ming admitted his hatred and jealousy, while the imperial noble consort recognized her son and learned that Yuan Ming had once tried to drown him.

Yuan Ming confessed to replacing the third prince and massacring Yonghe Village, and the emperor sentenced him to death. Meanwhile, Wen Chensi faced a clumsy attempt to draw her away from her marriage, while Kuang He urged her to take another husband, leaving their relationship strained.

• Yuan Ming admitted he had switched places with the third prince in Yonghe Village and killed its people to silence witnesses, then blamed his ambitions on his miserable life back home.
• The emperor ordered Yuan Ming to suffer death by a thousand cuts, and the third prince asked to return to Jiangnan and Yonghe Village before collapsing from exhaustion.
• The third prince visited Tong Siyan to apologize for Yuan Ming's words, and Tong Aning later joined Tong Siyan in making rose-scented powder.
• A man confessed his love to Wen Chensi, who rejected him, and Kuang He later suggested she take the man into their household because he believed she deserved better.
• The man pestered Wen Chensi again, and after Tong Aning suspected a honey trap, Wen Chensi slapped him and threatened to break his legs if he returned.

Wen Chensi reconciled with Kuang He and took him to the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, where she exposed Hu Heng’s scheme and disgraced him. Lou Yingyu was invited to help receive envoys, while Tong Aning learned that the Court of State Ceremonial’s vice minister had disappeared to offer himself at a brothel.

• Kuang He told Wen Chensi he feared losing her more than he valued being tolerant, and she invited him to watch a show the next day.
• At the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, Wen Chensi introduced Kuang He to Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu, then arranged for a storyteller to expose a powerful man’s betrayal of his beloved.
• Hu Heng tried to stop the story, but Lou Yingyu challenged him and insisted the storyteller continue; the tale revealed Hu Heng’s sordid dealings and ruined his reputation.
• Court Minister Qu Bufan praised Lou Yingyu’s bearing and asked her to help receive envoys before leaving after hearing urgent news.
• Tong Aning learned that the vice minister of the Court of State Ceremonial had disappeared to put himself on offer at a brothel.

Lou Yingyu and Tong Aning exposed the vice minister of the Court of State Ceremonial as Peony, a man disguised as a courtesan, and his scandal ended with his dismissal. Later, they welcomed envoys from the Yun Kingdom, whose supposed treasure left the court facing Tong Aning’s brutally simple solution to opening its box.

• Lou Yingyu took Tong Aning to the Spring Breeze House to find the vice minister, where Zhou He exposed Peony as a man and Lou Yingyu denounced him after Tong Aning revealed his affair with his brother-in-law.
• The vice minister’s wife sought a divorce, he lost his office, and Tong Aning’s brothers warned her not to return to the Spring Breeze House.
• Lou Yingyu and Tong Aning helped welcome the Yun Kingdom’s eldest princess and second prince, and Lou Yingyu rebuked the second prince for complaining about the reception.
• Three days later, the Yun Kingdom’s envoys presented the emperor with a locked box as their supreme treasure and challenged Great Xia to open it.
• Tong Aning thought the court should smash the box with a hammer, leaving the officials astonished.

At court, Great Xia discovered that the Yun Kingdom’s tribute box was empty, and the emperor agreed to discreetly approach the eldest princess about bringing the kingdom to heel. Later, Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu exposed a man who had staged his wife’s death to seize her family’s estate, and Xue Lin began investigating as the chapter revealed that A Lü might still be alive.

• Sha Cheng broke open the Yun Kingdom’s tribute box and revealed that it was empty, prompting the eldest princess to blame her kingdom’s chancellor.
• Wen Chensi and Tong Aobai urged the emperor to support the eldest princess, and he ordered Wen Chensi to make discreet contact with her.
• Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu saw a man escorting his wife’s parents to report her supposed murder by bandits, while Tong Aning’s thoughts revealed that he had hired killers and planned to take her family’s estate.
• Lou Yingyu confronted the man and accompanied the couple to Jingzhao Prefecture, where Xue Lin promised to investigate the murder.
• Tong Aning’s thoughts revealed that A Lü might not be dead, leaving her parents shocked.

Wu Yanglü exposed Pu Fan’s scheme and took revenge on him, then reunited with her parents and offered Yaozhi and A Yuan a place in the Wu family. Meanwhile, the emperor sent Wen Chensi to help the eldest princess claim the Yun Kingdom’s throne, and Xue Lin arrived with news concerning the empress dowager.

• Xue Lin and Cen Yu had Pu Fan taken away, and Wu Yanglü frightened him with a staged ghostly prison before the mountain bandits beat him nearly to death.
• Wu Yanglü reunited with her parents, while Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu revealed their ghostly disguises.
• Xue Lin and Tong Aning told Yaozhi that Pu Fan was dead and relayed Wu Yanglü’s offer to raise A Yuan as the Wu family’s successor; Yaozhi later accepted.
• The emperor ordered Wen Chensi to return to the Yun Kingdom with the eldest princess and help her become its future ruler.
• Xue Lin visited the emperor and said his business concerned the empress dowager.

After summoning Tong Aning, the empress dowager discovered that she could hear Tong Aning’s thoughts and learned the truth about Zhang Chennian. Xue Lin arrived to take Tong Aning to his imperial uncle, but the empress dowager instead proposed a marriage between them, which Xue Lin accepted.

• The emperor learned that the empress dowager’s servant had bribed a kitchen eunuch to find her a handsome man, then heard she had summoned Tong Aning.
• Tong Aning visited the empress dowager, who realized she could hear Tong Aning’s thoughts about Zhang Chennian’s history of deceiving women.
• The empress dowager revealed that Zhang Chennian was bound and bleeding in a side room after she had punished him.
• Xue Lin arrived and told the empress dowager that his imperial uncle wanted to see Tong Aning.
• The empress dowager offered to bestow a marriage on Xue Lin and Tong Aning, and Xue Lin accepted.

Tong Aning and Xue Lin accepted their betrothal, while the crown prince grew furious about the political consequences. At Jingzhao Prefecture, Tong Aning learned Nan Huai’s husband had faked his death to abandon his failing business, and Nan Huai withdrew her complaint with plans to make his death real.

• Tong Aning told Xue Lin the marriage decree did not pair the wrong mandarin ducks, and Xue Lin accepted her offer to weave him grasshoppers.
• Su Zhouyue and Tong Aobai realized Tong Aning and Xue Lin were both willing to marry, and they accepted the engagement.
• The crown prince blamed his father for betrothing Tong Aning to Xue Lin, argued with the empress, and left after telling her to choose another crown prince.
• Xue Ruyun treated Nan Huai’s poisoning at Jingzhao Prefecture and taught Tong Aning a new acupuncture technique.
• Tong Aning learned Nan Huai’s husband had taken a feigned-death drug to escape his failing business, and Nan Huai withdrew her complaint so she could make his death real.

Nan Huai exposed Gu Han’s supposed affairs while taking his body home, then resolved to send him to his death. At a princess’s banquet, Tong Aning overheard that Jiao Lin’s friends were trying to make him break his engagement to Wen Duanya, and Jiao Lin rejected their influence.

• Nan Huai arranged for a man to accuse the supposedly dead Gu Han of being his lover, and a second man unexpectedly joined in with the same claim.
• Tong Aning realized Nan Huai had arranged the spectacle to ruin Gu Han’s reputation and trusted her to deal with him.
• At the princess’s banquet, Mingyue and Lou Yingyu competed for Tong Aning’s attention, while Xue Lin admitted he had intercepted a handsome hidden guard meant for her.
• Jiao Lin’s friends mocked Wen Duanya and urged him to break their engagement, but Wen Duanya calmly invited him to do so.
• Tong Aning’s thoughts revealed that Jiao Lin’s friends hoped to pursue Wen Duanya themselves, so Jiao Lin shook off his friend’s hand and decided not to give up his fiancée.

Jiao Lin went to the Wen residence to discuss marrying Wen Duanya, but stumbled over his words when she asked whether he truly liked her. Later, he helped Tong Aning stop a man from selling a little girl and sent him to Jingzhao Prefecture, learning that the man had stolen his niece without her mother's consent.

• Jiao Lin left the banquet after overhearing his friends scheme over Wen Duanya, then told his parents he wanted to discuss marriage with her.
• Xue Ruyun treated Wen Duanya for a chill, and Wen Duanya offered Jiao Lin her birth-details card, thinking he had come to end their engagement.
• Jiao Lin refused the card and said he had come to discuss their marriage, but he faltered when Wen Duanya asked if he truly liked her.
• Tong Aning and Xue Ruyun saw a man dragging a little girl and heard her say that her uncle intended to sell her.
• Jiao Lin confronted the man, and Tong Aning challenged his claim that the girl’s mother had agreed to the sale.
• Jiao Lin ordered his servants to take the man to Jingzhao Prefecture, and the man admitted he had stolen the girl while his sister was not paying attention.

Tong Aning helped rescue Guo'er from her uncle’s attempt to sell her to the Kang family, while Cen Yu refused Kang Tai’s appeal to release the uncle. Tong Aning and Xue Lin shared a meal at the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, where she suddenly recognized the person arguing downstairs as her steady big brother.

• Jiao Lin stopped Xiao Caiming from taking Guo'er away, and Xiao Caiming admitted he planned to sell her to someone at the Kang residence.
• Xiao Caichun and her husband arrived, reclaimed Guo'er, and Xiao Caichun cut ties with her brother before Xiao Caiming was sent to Jingzhao Prefecture.
• Kang Tai asked Cen Yu to release Xiao Caiming, but Cen Yu rejected his appeal and told him to petition the emperor if he wanted special treatment.
• Tong Aning and Xue Lin went to the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, where Tong Aning learned that the sickly Kang family younger brother was there and enjoyed Xue Lin’s tea and the meal he shared with her.
• Tong Aning heard an argument downstairs, recognized her steady big brother among those arguing, and hurried down to see what was happening.

Tong Yibin explained that he had argued with scholars after they mocked the Tong family and questioned his abilities, and his family reassured him. Later, Tong Aning and Mu Yao encountered a woman trying to make Mu Yao her son-in-law’s concubine, prompting the woman’s daughter to decide to divorce her husband; the chapter ended with a commotion announcing a husband for sale.

• Tong Aning brought Tong Yibin home and told the family how he had argued with a group of scholars.
• Tong Yibin revealed that the scholars had mocked the marquis’s household and suggested he would be promoted through family influence, and Tong Aning’s family comforted him with grapes.
• Tong Aning went to meet Mu Yao outside the First Studio, where a woman tried to recruit Mu Yao as her son-in-law’s concubine.
• Tong Aning’s thoughts revealed that the woman was infatuated with her son-in-law, and the woman’s daughter decided to divorce him and ran away.
• Tong Aning, Mu Yao, and their companions left for home, where they heard a public announcement offering a husband for sale.