Recaps

Zhou Wanwan healed the Zhao Family, took control of its affairs, and drew Qin Yuan’s commanders and their families to her side at Yanmen Pass. In Great Qi, she then clashed with the Cui Family, befriended Cui Wenyuan, and began investigating the clan.

• Zhou Wanwan healed Zhao Kun’s legs and Old Madam Zhao’s gu poison, exposed Lin Shuang’s scheme, and helped Zhao Kun take charge of the Zhao Family.
• Zhou Wanwan made the Zhao elders sign deeds of servitude, impressed the winter banquet guests with her healing, and refused to treat the families who had mocked her.
• Jiang Yunyao rejected the Qin Clan’s attempts to bring her back as Qin Yuan’s debts and her letters authorizing army loans were exposed.
• Zhou Wanwan brought Jiang Yunyao and Zhao Kun to Yong’an City, where Zhang Yu and Feng Xiaoyao recognized her and learned their families had been rescued.
• Zhang Yu, Feng Xiaoyao, and the other commanders swore loyalty to Zhou Wanwan, while Qin Yuan led troops toward Yanmen Pass and became lost in the mountains.
• Zhou Wanwan showed the commanders her estate and farms as Qin Yuan’s army struggled, then went to Great Qi to investigate its aristocratic families.
• The Cui Family forced Zhou Wanwan to treat Second Master Cui, but she refused without payment and the Old Scholar Tree replaced her assigned courtyard while moving the family’s goods.
• Zhou Wanwan befriended Cui Wenyuan, gave him books, and planned to investigate the Cui Family with him at the clan school.
• The trees took the Cui Family’s books, stores, and birds, and Shen Tao returned the noisy birds to the family after they reached the county yamen.

Zhou Wanwan protected Cui Wenyuan from the Cui family’s schemes, then took him and new allies to Yanmen Pass, where her power and ambitions became clear. The stretch ended with Yan Mountain Academy ahead in its contests against Yunheng Academy, as Zhou Wanwan prepared to compete in archery.

• Zhou Wanwan helped Cui Wenyuan earn Old Master Cui’s recognition, then exposed Old Madam Cui’s plot to ruin him and guided him to win a fortune gambling against his cousins and Sun Tai.
• Zhou Wanwan exposed Zhao Peng’s and Wen Shichang’s infidelity and crimes, while Master Sun blamed her for Tongtai Bank’s losses and accepted her wager over their banks and escort agencies.
• Zhou Wanwan foiled attempts to poison Cui Wenyuan, robbed the Sun Family’s jade and gold mines with the trees, and prepared with Cui Wenyuan for the county examination.
• Zhou Wanwan secretly sat the examination, took Zhao Tiangui as her servant, and treated his father Old Master Zhao, then gained the Zhao Family’s help selling her estate’s goods.
• Zhou Wanwan arrived at prosperous Yanmen Pass with Shen Tao, Zhao Kun, Zhao Tiangui, and Cui Wenyuan, revealed herself seated on its dragon throne, and sent the trees to mine iron for the city.
• Zhou Wanwan refused to marry the Prince of Dai but accepted him as a dependent, helped him recover his memories, and received his deed of servitude and offer of his six-city fief.
• Zhou Wanwan brought Shen Tao and Zhao Kun to Huaishuo City and arranged for the Prince of Dai and others to study at Yan Mountain Academy, where she wagered a million taels and rare books against Yunheng Academy.
• Meng Yan won the poetry contest and Han Xiuyuan won the policy essay contest for Yan Mountain Academy, while Zhou Wanwan and Hu Qing began their archery contest over five hundred thousand taels.

Zhou Wanwan won property, treated illnesses, exposed betrayals, and brought strange misfortunes upon the Shen Clan. After Perfected Baoyi joined her, he presented Zhao Lili’s daughter Yinyin to the emperor of Great Qi, where Consort Li recognized her.

• Zhou Wanwan won the archery wager, donated her winnings to Yan Mountain Academy, and helped Xie Guangyuan’s wife recover enough for his family to join the academy.
• Zhao Lili maneuvered for power at court while Zhou Wanwan placed first in the tongsheng examination, exposed Wang Baochuan’s pregnancy, and treated the Cui brothers in exchange for family property.
• Old Master Sun tried to imprison Zhou Wanwan, but she and her tree companions stripped the Sun Family’s estate of its treasures before she secured its bank and escort agency.
• Zhou Wanwan exposed Qin Shuang’s affair and helped General Qin and Shen Tao divorce their wives, then took Qin Clan property and disrupted Shen Yumei and Duan Beishan’s wedding plans.
• Zhou Wanwan’s conflicts with the Shen Clan brought misfortune upon Shen Zhao and his family, while Perfected Baoyi warned them that they should stop cutting trees and sell their mountain estates.
• After Shen Zhao and Old Madam Shen were sent adrift and forced to sign contracts with pirates, Old Master Shen gave Zhou Wanwan an estate and the Shen family fled.
• Perfected Baoyi and his two disciples entered Zhou Wanwan’s service, and she sent him to present Yinyin to the emperor of Great Qi as the supposed spirit master.
• Consort Li ordered Yinyin beaten, then recognized her daughter when Yinyin collapsed and called out to her.