Chapter Summaries

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.

Madam Shen arrived at Black Wind Stronghold expecting danger, but she and her children found a well-equipped community with a cafeteria, spacious courtyards, and a free school. The family remained astonished by how different the stronghold was from the rumors they had heard.

• Madam Shen woke at Black Wind Stronghold, panicked about her children, and learned from Zhou Wanwan that the stronghold did not eat people.
• A guide took Madam Shen to the cafeteria, where she saw the food options and learned residents earned vouchers through work.
• Madam Shen ate duck blood vermicelli soup, and the three Shen children told her they had enjoyed their meals.
• Yinyue showed Madam Shen two spacious courtyards prepared for her family and explained that the rooms had new clothes and quilts.
• Yinyue told Madam Shen about the stronghold's free school and said she would show it to her the next day.
• The Shen children wondered whether their comfortable welcome was real and worried that the stronghold might be fattening them up to kill them.

Madam Shen discovered that Black Wind Stronghold was far more comfortable than she had expected, while Shen Yu'an worried about the prefect's grain demand. Zhou Wanwan arranged grain for Shen Yu'an to deliver, and the chapter ended with the prefect accusing him after learning that the yamen's grain had vanished.

• Madam Shen toured the well-furnished rooms and learned from Shen Yu'an that Zhou Wanwan was the six-year-old stronghold chief and their master.
• Shen Yu'an told Madam Shen that Zhou Wanwan had promised the grain matter would be settled, but he remained anxious about the deadline and his family.
• Zhou Wanwan instructed Old Scholar Tree to find the prefectural yamen's grain stores and exchange grain so Shen Yu'an could make his delivery.
• Zhou Wanwan presented Shen Yu'an with carriages of mid-grade grain, explaining that the prefectural yamen's top-grade grain had been stolen separately.
• Shen Yu'an delivered the grain, and the prefect accused him of stealing from the yamen warehouse before discovering that his sacks contained no top-grade rice.

As the prefect and Cheng Xiao plotted to capture the Black Wind Stronghold leaders by inviting them to the prefectural yamen after the exams, Zhou Wanwan and the others took the county examination and received meals from the Old Scholar Tree. Gu Sinian faced taunts from Gu Erdan about his mother, leaving him questioning whether he still had one.

• The prefect suspected Shen Yu'an was allied with the Black Wind Stronghold and ordered Cheng Xiao to keep the bandits off the xiucai list or lure them to the yamen after they passed.
• During the second examination session, Zhou Wanwan received a hot meal through the Old Scholar Tree, and Zhou Fusheng and the others were given identical food.
• Qian Jinbao drooled onto his exam paper while watching Zhou Fusheng eat, ruining it, and Gu Erdan complained when Gu Sinian ate in the examination hall.
• The next day, constables jabbed through Qian Jinbao's and Gu Erdan's elaborate food, ruining their meals.
• Gu Erdan threatened Gu Sinian and said his mother was looking for him, but Gu Sinian remembered her abandoning him and his father.

After finishing his exam, Gu Sinian was confronted by Chen Dongmei, who demanded that he acknowledge her and rescue her from Su Peng. Gu Sinian rejected her, and as Zhou Wanwan led him away, the people of Gu Family Village arrived and challenged Gu Chaoyang.

• Gu Sinian ignored Gu Erdan’s taunts, finished his meal, and continued working on his examination paper.
• After the exam, Chen Dongmei claimed Gu Sinian as her son, but he denied her and reminded her that she had left him and taken the family’s money.
• Gu Chaoyang and Zheng Chunhe arrived, and Zheng Chunhe invited Gu Sinian home while Chen Dongmei demanded help from Gu Chaoyang.
• Su Peng struck and kicked Chen Dongmei, while Gu Erdan mocked Gu Sinian and urged him to save her.
• Gu Sinian reminded Chen Dongmei that she had once watched others bully him, and Zhou Wanwan took his hand and led him away.
• The people of Gu Family Village arrived, and the village chief criticized Gu Chaoyang for leaving and asked whether the village had wronged him.

Gu Chaoyang confronted the Gu Family Village elders and his stepmother over their past cruelty and their demands for support. Zhou Wanwan turned their attempt to move into the family’s home against them, and Old Madam Gu was thrown outside after threatening Gu Sinian’s imperial examinations.

• Gu Chaoyang blamed the clan for trying to seize his earnings and for failing to protect Gu Sinian, who revealed that Gu Erdan had smashed his head with a brick.
• Zhou Wanwan arranged for Old Uncle Scholar Tree to follow Su Peng after he dragged the battered Chen Dongmei away.
• The village chief brought Gu Chaoyang’s stepmother, who demanded support and threatened to stop Gu Sinian from taking the imperial examinations.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed to support the old woman if Gu Chaoming signed a document, and Zheng Chunhe invited them to the family’s residence.
• At the courtyard house, Old Madam Gu picked the latrine as her room, then demanded Zheng Chunhe’s room and threatened Gu Sinian again.
• Something bound Old Madam Gu and sent her flying outside.

Gu Chaoyang and his companions trapped the Gu family visitors in a grove, while Zhou Wanwan also had Su Peng left stranded in a tree. After Zhou Fusheng and everyone from Black Wind Mountain Stronghold passed the county exam, Zhou Wanwan confronted Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu at a teahouse, where Lu Lan had accused her of cheating.

• Gu Chaoming, Old Madam Gu, and the village chief were caught by tree roots after confronting Gu Chaoyang and were released the next day with no memory of what happened.
• Zhou Wanwan sent trees to deal with Su Peng, who woke naked high in a tree outside the government office and later told the prefect that Zhou Wanwan was a demoness.
• The county exam results came out, and Zhou Fusheng and all thirty-eight candidates from Black Wind Mountain Stronghold passed.
• Zhou Wanwan learned that Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu were at a teahouse and took her brothers there to celebrate.
• Zhou Wanwan overheard Lu Lan and Wen Zhiyu accuse her of cheating, then mocked Lu Lan for failing the exam.
• Lu Lan confronted Zhou Wanwan but stopped when she saw Gu Sinian beside her, and Zhou Wanwan continued taunting her.

Zhou Wanwan accepted Lu Lan's invitation to a birthday banquet that was also a matchmaking gathering, while her maternal uncles returned with gifts for her and news of Liu Suyun's cold treatment of them. Liu Su'e and her brothers went to visit Liu Sufen, where they found her being abused by her mother-in-law for failing to bear a child.

• Lu Lan challenged Zhou Wanwan to attend her birthday banquet, and Zhou Wanwan agreed after learning it would be a gathering for prominent families and a chance for her brothers to meet potential matches.
• Liu Su'e's six brothers arrived with lavish gifts for Zhou Wanwan, while Zhou Qingchen, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingyan teased them for bringing nothing for the nephews.
• The uncles told Liu Su'e that Liu Suyun had rejected them, insulted them as poor, and given them ten copper coins to keep them away.
• Liu Su'e and her brothers set out with food and supplies to visit Liu Sufen in Falling Rosy Clouds Village.
• At Liu Sufen's home, her mother-in-law berated her for a poorly cooked meal and for not having children.

Zhou Wanwan and Liu Su'e rescued Liu Sufen from the abusive Wu family, but Liu Sufen lost her pregnancy and feared returning home. The chapter ended with Liu Sufen begging her sister to release the Wu family so they would not send An'an into the mountains.

• Liu Sufen begged Old Madam Wu not to abandon An'an, then Wu Dazhi struck and shoved her when she asked to rest.
• Zhou Wanwan warned Liu Su'e and her uncles that Liu Sufen was in danger, and they rushed into the Wu home to find her bleeding and unconscious.
• Zhou Wanwan treated Liu Sufen with precious herbs, and Liu Sufen woke after more than two hours.
• Liu Sufen recognized Liu Su'e and wept as she described how much she missed her family and feared the Wu family would kill her if she left.
• Old Madam Wu threatened Liu Sufen from outside, and Liu Sufen begged Liu Su'e to release the family so they would not send An'an into the mountains.

Liu Sufen left Wu Dazhi with Liu Su'e, and tree spirits terrorized Wu Dazhi and Old Madam Wu until he agreed to seek a mutual-consent divorce. At the county yamen, Liu Sufen asked Shen Yu'an for a divorce and justice for Wu Dazhi's abuse, while Wu Dazhi admitted he had beaten her.

• Liu Dalang carried Liu Sufen out of the Wu home, and Liu Su'e told Wu Dazhi to complete the divorce formalities the next day.
• Old Scholar Tree and the other trees tied up Wu Dazhi and whipped him all night, then the little pine tree stuffed manure into Old Madam Wu's mouth and forced Wu Dazhi to promise to seek a divorce.
• Wu Dazhi and Old Madam Wu went to the county yamen and accused Liu Sufen's family of assault and theft, prompting Shen Yu'an to summon Liu Su'e and Liu Sufen.
• Liu Sufen arrived at the yamen in new clothes and asked Shen Yu'an for a divorce, saying Wu Dazhi had beaten her until she miscarried and abused her regularly.
• Wu Dazhi threatened Liu Sufen and admitted to Shen Yu'an that he had beaten her because he believed disobedient women deserved it.

Liu Su'e helped Liu Sufen divorce Wu Dazhi and brought her to the Zhou Family's grand residence in Yunxi County, where she promised to help her seek revenge. Wu Dazhi was stunned by the family's wealth and Zhou Fusheng's transformation, then asked to see Sufen without realizing they had divorced.

• Shen Yu'an granted Liu Sufen's divorce from Wu Dazhi, who mocked her and boasted that he would find another wife.
• Liu Su'e and her family left in a luxurious carriage, and Zhou Wanwan taunted Wu Dazhi before a guard slapped him.
• Liu Su'e comforted Liu Sufen and promised to avenge her as the carriage carried them to their residence in Yunxi County.
• Wu Dazhi and Old Madam Wu followed the carriage and learned from neighbors that the mansion belonged to the wealthy Zhou Family.
• Wu Dazhi learned Zhou Fusheng had recovered his leg and was taking the xiucai exam, then gaped at his refined appearance.
• Zhou Fusheng initially ignored Wu Dazhi, who blocked his way and begged to visit Sufen; Zhou Fusheng allowed him in and urged him to make amends.