Recaps

Zhou Wanwan and the trees emptied a jade mine at Mount Beimang and returned home with its jade and plenty of game. She told her family they would take the preliminary scholar examination in Yunxi County, where their household was registered.

• Zhou Wanwan and the trees found Mount Beimang’s jade mine guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers, and Gu Sinian identified them as troops under Noble Consort Ning’s father.
• Lingbao led the trees through the soldiers, and the saxaul dug out most of the jade vein before the trees finished emptying it and agreed to carry it back.
• Zhou Wanwan returned to the stronghold and told Liu Su'e and Zhou Fusheng that the family would take the preliminary scholar examination in Yunxi County instead of Qingshui County.
• Zhou Wanwan arranged for the live animals brought back by the trees to go into the rear-courtyard zoo, where the tiger cubs rushed over to greet her and Gu Sinian.

Zhou Wanwan reunited with Feng Yueyao, discussed returning to Zhou Family Village, and prepared to take the preliminary scholar exam alongside her father and the others. The group reached Zhou Wanwan’s residence in Yunxi County, where the trees wondered about their new master.

• Zhou Wanwan gave the tigers pheasants and exchanged gifts with Feng Yueyao.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed to visit Zhou Family Village after the exam, while Liu Su'e worried about the family being mistreated there.
• Zhao Muyuan told Zhou Wanwan that the preliminary scholar exam was arranged, and she decided to take it.
• Zhou Wanwan set out for Yunxi County with more than thirty exam candidates, including Zhou Fusheng, who hoped to pass and show off at Zhou Family Village.
• The group arrived at Zhou Wanwan's five-courtyard residence, where the trees compared them unfavorably with the former owners.

Zhou Wanwan offered Shen Yu'an drought-resistant crops and a way to save Yunxi County's starving people in exchange for his allegiance. After Shen Yu'an signed her agreement, she gave him sweet potato vines and cassava stems and told him to begin planting and store water.

• Old Scholar Tree welcomed the walking trees to the courtyard, and Feng Yunting explained that he had bought the former official residence for Zhou Wanwan.
• Shen Yu'an arrived and recognized Zhao Muyuan as his former teacher before learning that Zhou Wanwan was Zhao Muyuan's master.
• Shen Yu'an told Zhou Wanwan that collecting taxes would starve Yunxi County's people, while refusing to pay would bring punishment upon him.
• Zhou Wanwan offered Shen Yu'an sweet potato and cassava seeds and warned him that worse disasters and water shortages were coming if he agreed to sign an agreement.
• Shen Yu'an signed the agreement, and Zhou Wanwan brought him sweet potato vines and cassava stems the next day.
• Zhou Wanwan told Shen Yu'an to plant a few dozen mu of the crops and store water, and he immediately ordered people to begin planting.

Shen Yu'an learned that refusing the taxes meant joining Black Wind Mountain Stronghold, and he agreed to send his family there for safety. At the Yunxi County market, Xie Cheng'en tried to seize Zhou Wanwan's spirit-creature friends, but Cheng Chao backed away from the conflict as Xie ordered his men to take them.

• Shen Yu'an asked Zhao Muyuan when they would rebel, and Zhao explained that Shen could send his family to Black Wind Mountain Stronghold for safety; Shen agreed to follow Zhou Wanwan.
• At the market, Lingbao wanted tanghulu, but Zhou Wanwan refused because it had made him sick before.
• Xie Cheng'en recognized Lingbao and demanded that Zhou Wanwan hand over her spirit creatures, claiming Noble Consort Ning wanted them and threatening her family.
• Cheng Chao tried to persuade Xie Cheng'en to negotiate, while the other young masters urged Xie to take the creatures by force.
• Xie Cheng'en ordered his men to seize the creatures, and Lingbao accused him of betraying the spirit creatures who had once saved him.
• Cheng Chao distanced himself from the young masters' threats, and they mocked him for being afraid of Zhou Wanwan.

Zhou Wanwan and the old man defeated Xie Cheng'en's guards, while Old Scholar Tree and the ancestor ate several of them and regained their strength. Zhou Wanwan dined with Cheng Chao as Xie Cheng'en surrounded the restaurant with reinforcements, leaving the confrontation about to begin.

• Xie Cheng'en's men attacked Zhou Wanwan, but the old man defeated them and used roots to drag them away.
• Old Scholar Tree fed hidden guards to the ancestor, who regained his speed and decided to eat more.
• Zhou Wanwan went to a restaurant with Cheng Chao and several young masters, and Cheng Chao offered to pay for her meal.
• Old Scholar Tree and the ancestor waited by the restaurant window to seize Xie Cheng'en's reinforcements.
• Xie Cheng'en surrounded the restaurant with more than fifty mid-level hidden guards while Cheng Chao served Zhou Wanwan specialty dishes.

Zhou Wanwan sold Xie Cheng'en a bundle of medicinal herbs for a huge pile of valuables, while Cheng Chao and Zhou Qingzhou defended their loyalty to her. After the deal, Zhou Wanwan mocked Xie Cheng'en about his future marriage, and he threatened to marry her when he grew up.

• Cheng Chao served Zhou Wanwan pear soup and declared that he was honored to be her dog, while Zhou Qingzhou said the young masters did not understand.
• Xie Cheng'en demanded Zhou Wanwan's medicinal herbs, and she agreed to sell them after bargaining over the price.
• Xie Cheng'en's companions piled up silver notes, jade, deeds, and other valuables until Zhou Wanwan accepted the payment and handed over a bundle of herbs.
• Zhou Wanwan teased Xie Cheng'en that he would be unable to perform in bed, and he angrily threatened to marry her when he grew up.

Zhou Wanwan humiliated Xie Cheng'en and his companions, then had Cheng Chao take her to a gold shop. When Wen Zhiyu and Lu Lan mocked her and challenged Cheng Chao's loyalty, he insisted on buying whatever Zhou Wanwan wanted, and Lu Lan threatened to end their families' proposed marriage.

• Zhou Wanwan taunted Xie Cheng'en about his illness, and when he tried to strike her, the old man threw him out a second-floor window.
• The old man drove the other young masters away, while Xie Cheng'en discovered his shadow guards and medicinal herbs were missing.
• Cheng Chao offered to pay for Zhou Wanwan's purchases, scolded Zhou Qingzhou for interfering, and accompanied her to a gold shop.
• Zhou Wanwan dismissed the shop's ordinary jewelry, and the shopkeeper brought out its finest pieces.
• Wen Zhiyu and Lu Lan mocked Zhou Wanwan, and the shopkeeper ordered her out, but Cheng Chao declared he would buy whatever she wanted.
• Lu Lan warned Cheng Chao that paying for Zhou Wanwan would end the marriage their families had been discussing.

Zhou Wanwan and Cheng Chao left the Lu Family's gold shop just before it collapsed, injuring Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu. At another shop, Zhou Wanwan chose expensive jewelry, and after Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu mocked her ability to pay, she challenged them to a bet.

• Cheng Chao broke off his proposed marriage to Lu Lan and followed Zhou Wanwan to the gold shop across the street.
• The Lu Family's gold shop collapsed after Zhou Wanwan and Cheng Chao left, leaving Lu Lan, Wen Zhiyu, and others injured and exposing their torn clothes to onlookers.
• Zhou Wanwan visited the more lavish gold shop, where the shopkeeper presented fine jewelry totaling twenty-six thousand taels of silver.
• Cheng Chao gave Zhou Wanwan the twenty thousand taels he had, while Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu returned and mocked her for being unable to afford the full bill.
• Zhou Wanwan challenged Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu to bet on whether she could pay for the jewelry.

Zhou Wanwan won a bet against Lu Lan by producing more than a million taels in silver notes, then went with Cheng Chao and his companions to the Cloud Creek Casino. At the casino, several young wastrels mocked Zhou Wanwan for being a country girl as she watched the dancers.

• Lu Lan agreed to wager twenty-six thousand taels against Zhou Wanwan, while Cheng Chao defended Zhou Wanwan and rejected Lu Lan's insults.
• Zhou Wanwan showed Lu Lan stacks of silver notes and won the bet, leaving Lu Lan in tears as Cheng Chao carried Zhou Wanwan's purchases.
• Cheng Chao dismissed Zhou Qingzhou's criticism and said he valued Zhou Wanwan more than Young Master Xie.
• After hearing the young wastrels invite them to the casino, Zhou Wanwan agreed to go with Cheng Chao and the others.
• At the Cloud Creek Casino, Cheng Chao explained that Noble Consort Ning's maternal family, the Xie Family, backed it.
• Several young wastrels mocked Zhou Wanwan for watching the dancers and offered to have them teach her for free.

Zhou Wanwan faced off against Xie Cheng'en and a crowd of wealthy young masters at Cloud Creek Casino after they boasted about their families and accused her of hiding his missing secret guards. She accepted a high-stakes dice game, ending the chapter as she bet all her gold on big against everyone else's small.

• Several young masters bragged about their powerful families, and Zhou Wanwan asked which of them was the most impressive.
• Xie Cheng'en demanded that Zhou Wanwan return his missing secret guards, but she denied responsibility and said she could not help him.
• Xie Cheng'en invited Zhou Wanwan to gamble, and she followed him to a private room with more than thirty young masters.
• Zhou Wanwan exchanged ten thousand taels of gold for chips and agreed to play big or small despite Cheng Chao warning her that the others intended to cheat.
• Zhou Wanwan bet one thousand taels of gold on big while Xie Cheng'en and everyone else placed their bets on small.

Zhou Wanwan and Cheng Chao won repeated triple rolls at Yunxi Gambling House, taking enormous sums and property from the young masters. Furious and humiliated, Xie Cheng'en and the others decided to hire the Earth Ranking assassin Black Widow to kill Zhou Wanwan.

• Cheng Chao bet his silver while Zhou Wanwan wagered five thousand taels of gold, and the first roll came up small.
• Zhou Wanwan and Cheng Chao staked even more on small, and the dice showed three ones, earning them a ten-to-one payout.
• The young masters challenged them to bet again, and Zhou Wanwan and Cheng Chao wagered all their winnings; another triple appeared, this time three twos.
• Xie Cheng'en accused Zhou Wanwan of cheating, but she denied it and demanded the gambling house pay their winnings.
• Zhou Wanwan left with estates, shops, antiques, and jewelry loaded into five carriages, while the young masters lamented their losses.
• The young masters agreed to hire Black Widow, an Earth Ranking assassin in Yunxi City, to kill Zhou Wanwan.

Black Widow tried to abduct Zhou Wanwan for Xie Cheng'en, but the Old Ancestor killed her and took her valuables, leading Zhou Wanwan and the others to search her home. Meanwhile, Cheng Chao returned home to find his parents angry that he had broken off the match with Lu Lan and determined to pursue Zhou Wanwan instead.

• Xie Cheng'en hired Black Widow for ten thousand taels of gold to capture Zhou Wanwan, and Black Widow set out to intercept her carriage.
• The Old Ancestor trapped Black Widow with vines, absorbed her energy, and gave her belongings to Zhou Wanwan.
• Zhou Wanwan and the others found Black Widow's hidden cave, collected its treasures and medicinal herbs, and headed home.
• Cheng Chao's parents scolded him for neglecting Xie Cheng'en and ruining the arranged marriage with Lu Lan, then proposed that he take Zhou Wanwan as a concubine.
• Cheng Chao warned his parents that Zhou Wanwan was no one they could control, and told them he had won one million taels of silver by following her.

Cheng Chao defied his family and declared that he would serve Zhou Wanwan, while dismissing Zhou Qingzhou as his study companion for reporting to his father. After resting, Zhou Wanwan set out with Iron Crutch Li to visit a Jianghu Alliance and found its entrance inside an ancient tomb.

• Cheng Chao told Cheng Xiao and Feng Caigu that he had won a million taels, would cling to Zhou Wanwan's coattails, and would live independently rather than marry.
• Cheng Xiao berated Cheng Chao's choice, while Feng Caigu lamented their family troubles and learned that Cheng Xiao had another lady confidante despite having three concubines.
• Cheng Chao dismissed Zhou Qingzhou for secretly reporting on him and summoned Zhou Qingyuan to take his place.
• Zhou Qingzhou returned home upset and told Qian Huihui that Cheng Chao planned to serve Zhou Wanwan.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Iron Crutch Li to take her to a Jianghu Alliance, and Old Scholar Tree led them to its ancient-tomb entrance.

Iron Crutch Li brought Zhou Wanwan into the Jianghu Alliance’s underground market, where she bargained for a stall’s medicinal herbs using Lingbao as proof of her own superior wild ginseng. The chapter left Zhou Wanwan eager to browse more stalls and unbothered by the possibility that someone might target her outside the Alliance.

• Iron Crutch Li explained the Jianghu Alliance’s origins, ranking system, branches, and reclusive alliance leader as he led Zhou Wanwan into its ancient-tomb headquarters.
• Zhou Wanwan entered the vast underground plaza and learned that Alliance members traded pills, weapons, herbs, and treasures at its bustling stalls.
• Zhou Wanwan offered five hundred taels for a vendor’s medicinal herbs, then used Lingbao as an example of ginseng far older than the vendor’s to hold him to his bargain.
• Iron Crutch Li warned Zhou Wanwan that showing off her wealth might attract pursuers outside the Alliance, but she welcomed the idea because Old Scholar Tree and the other tree people were waiting outside.

Zhou Wanwan explored the Jianghu Alliance’s market, bought fresh medicinal herbs to cultivate, and argued that its weapons and pills were inferior to her stronghold’s. Iron Crutch Li explained that the Alliance sheltered criminals, and Zhou Wanwan entered its eerie restaurant, where the menu’s prices shocked her.

• Zhou Wanwan bought up the fresh herbs at six stalls, gave them spiritual energy, and awakened them; she told the lingzhi she would nurture them to spread and have descendants.
• Zhou Wanwan criticized the market’s weapons and pills, then showed the pill seller a medicine she claimed was better than his wares.
• Iron Crutch Li told Zhou Wanwan that stalls and shops were costly but profitable, and explained that the Jianghu Alliance protected anyone who reached its refuge, even serious criminals.
• Zhou Wanwan visited the dim, ominous restaurant and was welcomed by a silent, ghostly-looking waiter.
• Zhou Wanwan read the menu and complained that the restaurant charged five taels for braised beef, three taels for plain vegetables, and five hundred copper coins for white rice.

Zhou Wanwan explored the Jianghu Alliance’s businesses and decided she could improve its restaurants, clothing, and weapon services. After entering the Earth Ranking Courtyard with waist tokens she had won, she was confronted by an expert demanding to know what she had done to Black Widow.

• Zhou Wanwan ordered three dishes for fifty taels, found the food nearly inedible, and decided to open a restaurant of her own.
• Iron Crutch Li explained that Earth Ranking experts controlled the restaurants, and Zhou Wanwan proposed displaying the tokens she had collected to protect her business.
• Zhou Wanwan criticized the clothing shop’s stiff, armor-lined garments and realized jianghu members regularly needed weapon maintenance.
• Zhou Wanwan presented Earth Ranking waist tokens to the guards and entered the Jianghu Alliance’s Earth Ranking Courtyard with Iron Crutch Li.
• Zhou Wanwan introduced herself to the Earth Ranking experts, and one demanded to know what she had done to Black Widow.

Zhou Wanwan clashed with Earth Ranking Courtyard manager Zhao Lili after Zhao refused to recognize her identity tokens or let her take a mission. After Zhao threw her and Iron Crutch Li out, Zhou offered to treat Yun Duo’s ill mother and followed her to the Alliance’s slum, where they found her curled up in a shack.

• A man accused Zhou Wanwan of killing his sister, Black Widow, and threatened her before she exchanged three Earth Ranking identity tokens for silver and medicinal herbs.
• Yun Duo offered to bring Zhou Wanwan the mission list, but manager Zhao Lili insulted Zhou and threatened Yun Duo with dismissal.
• Zhao Lili rejected Zhou’s identity tokens, ordered her out, and taunted Iron Crutch Li before having them expelled from the courtyard.
• Yun Duo cried over losing her job and her means of obtaining herbs for her sick mother, so Zhou Wanwan offered to examine her.
• Yun Duo led Zhou Wanwan and Iron Crutch Li through the Alliance’s poor district to her shack and introduced her mother, who lay curled up in a corner.

Zhou Wanwan found Yun Duo and her gravely ill mother threatened by Yun Tianlong and several Earth Ranking men. She stopped the attackers and left Yun Duo to decide what to do with her father.

• Yun Duo returned to her mother, but Yun Tianlong arrived with Earth Ranking men and demanded money before offering Yun Duo to them.
• Zhou Wanwan confronted the men, who threatened her and Yun Duo while boasting that they could act freely outside the Jianghu Alliance.
• Zhou Wanwan immobilized the men and killed number 3,265, then had dozens of trees drag the attackers away.
• Yun Duo rejected Yun Tianlong's pleas and explained that his gambling had led him to let his friends abuse her mother.
• Zhou Wanwan asked Yun Duo how she wanted to deal with Yun Tianlong.

Zhou Wanwan healed Yun Duo’s mother and offered Yun Duo a job managing her future shops. She then entered the Earth Ranking Courtyard to learn about Zhao Lili, while Lingbao uprooted two plants and proposed absorbing plants fed with Earth Ranking experts.

• Yun Duo beat Yun Tianlong to death, then told her mother he was dead and promised to cure her illness.
• Zhou Wanwan treated Yun Duo’s mother with medicinal herbs, and the woman woke feeling nearly recovered.
• Zhou Wanwan offered Yun Duo a manager’s job for two taels of silver a month and gave her the silver from Yun Tianlong’s cloth bag.
• Zhou Wanwan and her companions entered the Earth Ranking Courtyard to ask its plants about Zhao Lili, but the plants refused to answer.
• Lingbao uprooted the green-calyx plum and ice-soul snow orchid, then suggested feeding Earth Ranking experts to plants so Lingbao could absorb them.

Zhou Wanwan found Zhao Lili's wealthy home and had Old Scholar Tree persuade its ancient trees to uproot the entire mansion and move it to Black Wind Stronghold. The stronghold gained Zhao Lili's treasures and supplies, while Zhao Lili returned home unaware that her house and possessions were gone.

• Zhou Wanwan followed directions from nearby plants and arrived at Zhao Lili's mansion in the Jianghu Alliance's wealthy district.
• After the male pets outside passed out, Zhou Wanwan entered the courtyard with Old Scholar Tree and admired its rare trees.
• Old Scholar Tree convinced the courtyard trees to move with him, and Zhou Wanwan gave them energy so they could uproot the house and its three storehouses.
• The trees carried the mansion back to Black Wind Stronghold and placed it halfway up the mountain.
• Zhou Wanwan explored Zhao Lili's storerooms, finding treasures, medicinal ingredients, weapons, and rare minerals for the stronghold.
• Zhao Lili returned home humming, unaware that her mansion and its contents had been taken.

Zhao Lili discovered that her entire house and belongings had vanished, while Zhou Wanwan prepared to take the preliminary scholar’s examination in disguise. At the examination venue, Lu Lan and Xie Cheng'en mocked her, and Gu Sinian defended her before villagers recognized and taunted him.

• Zhao Lili found her male favorites asleep outside and discovered that her house and valuables had disappeared, but the investigation could not explain how they had been taken.
• Zhou Wanwan accepted the men's clothes Liu Su'e had prepared and said someone would bring her food during the examination.
• Zhou Wanwan arrived at the examination venue with her family, Gu Sinian, and people from the Black Wind Stronghold, where Lu Lan and Xie Cheng'en ridiculed her for taking the examination as a woman.
• Zhou Qingyan defended women's right to take the examination by recounting Su Yanci's achievements, and Gu Sinian insulted Lu Lan in response to her mockery.
• People from Gu Family Village recognized Gu Sinian and taunted him about his childhood and his attempt to take the examination.

Gu Sinian injured Gu Erdan after Gu Erdan taunted him, while Zhou Wanwan faced hostility from Lu Lan and entered the preliminary scholar's examination. She settled into her cramped examination room, where the Old Scholar Tree secretly came in and lit incense to cover the foul smell.

• Gu Sinian struck Gu Erdan and broke his hand after Gu Erdan challenged him to crawl between his legs, prompting Gu Family Village members to threaten retaliation.
• Bailiffs explained that women could be inspected privately, and after Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu protested, they registered the women from the prominent families on the spot.
• Lu Lan mocked Zhou Wanwan and Cheng Chao, and Cheng Chao rejected Lu Lan before Zhou Wanwan retorted that Lu Lan's freckles bothered her.
• Zhou Wanwan passed inspection and entered the examination hall, where she found a cramped, foul-smelling room assigned to her.
• The Old Scholar Tree secretly entered Zhou Wanwan's room and lit incense with a firestarter, clearing the smell.

Zhou Wanwan survived an assassination attempt during the county examination and learned that Lu Lan's brother, acting for Lu Xiao, had arranged it. After the exam, she confronted Qian Jinbao for mocking her father and learned details about his wealthy family, then returned home with her family confident about their papers.

• As Zhou Wanwan began her exam, an archer shot at her, but the Old Scholar Tree blocked the arrow and followed the attacker to the Lu Family residence.
• The archer reported to Lu Xiao that Zhou Wanwan was dead, but she continued taking the exam, and the Old Scholar Tree identified Lu Lan's brother as the shooter.
• Zhou Wanwan finished the day's exam and told the Old Scholar Tree not to kill Lu Lan's brother, saying she would deal with him herself.
• Zhou Fusheng met Zhou Wanwan at the examination grounds, where passersby mocked him and Qian Jinbao boasted about his family's wealth after Zhou Wanwan challenged him.
• Lu Xiao nervously encountered Zhou Wanwan, who questioned him about his guilty expression, then Zhou Wanwan went home to Liu Su'e's meal.
• Zhou Fusheng, Gu Sinian, Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qingchen, and Zhou Qinghe said the exam had seemed easy, while Zhou Fusheng lamented that others looked down on him.

Zhou Wanwan encouraged Zhou Fusheng to keep pursuing the scholar exams, then secretly dismantled the Lu and Qian families’ homes and moved their belongings to Black Wind Mountain Stronghold. The next morning, the families discovered their losses while Zhao Muyuan assigned the stolen courtyards to Shen Yu'an and praised Zhou Wanwan’s examination work.

• Zhou Wanwan reassured Zhou Fusheng that he could pass the scholar exams if he kept trying, and they promised not to cry if they failed.
• At the Lu residence, Lu Lan and Lu Xiao discussed their failed attempt to have Zhou Wanwan killed and Lu Lan’s interest in Gu Sinian.
• Zhou Wanwan and thousands of trees dismantled the Lu family’s five-courtyard residence, took its stored goods, and then emptied Qian Jinbao’s home.
• The next morning, Lu Lan and Qian Jinbao told others that their families’ homes had been stripped overnight.
• At Black Wind Mountain Stronghold, Zhao Muyuan admired the Lu and Qian residences and assigned two courtyards to Shen Yu'an’s family.
• Shen Yu'an thanked Zhao Muyuan and reported that Zhou Wanwan’s examination paper was well written.

Shen Yu'an was summoned by the prefect and threatened with execution if he failed to produce tax grain during the locust disaster. To protect his family, he arranged for them to flee to Black Wind Stronghold, though they feared the bandits would eat them.

• Zhao Muyuan praised his five-year-old mistress's learning, and Shen Yu'an questioned his claim that she could pass the juren examination.
• Prefect's yamen runners summoned Shen Yu'an, and he warned Madam Shen to prepare to take the family to Black Wind Stronghold.
• The prefect demanded Yunxi County's tax silver and ordered Shen Yu'an to raise grain by the day after tomorrow or lose his head.
• Shen Yu'an returned home and explained that the family had to escape to Black Wind Stronghold to survive, while Madam Shen and their children feared the bandits would eat them.
• Madam Shen packed nearly everything in the Shen residence, and a man arrived that evening to escort the family to the stronghold, assuring them it was hospitable.