Chapter Summaries

Zhou Wanwan uncovered the stewards’ corruption, dismissed nearly all of them, and reorganized Long Aotian’s manor. The expelled stewards returned with the Black and White Twin Fiends, and Long Aotian was left losing a fight against the two Earth Ranking experts.

• Zhou Wanwan exposed the stewards’ hidden wealth, promoted the honest junior steward, and ordered the corrupt stewards and their families thrown out.
• Zhou Wanwan dismissed most of the manor’s stewards, had five taken away by large trees for assaulting the girls, and promoted more than twenty replacements.
• Zhou Wanwan ordered sweet potatoes planted in the fields and said she needed people to protect the manor.
• The expelled stewards returned with the Black and White Twin Fiends, who challenged Long Aotian and claimed they would take his wealth and manor.
• Long Aotian quickly knocked down the stewards, but the Black and White Twin Fiends attacked together and steadily overwhelmed him.

Zhou Wanwan captured the Black and White Twin Fiends and followed clues from the plants to their lavish hidden estate. There, she discovered the couple had abused and murdered the maids they kept captive.

• The old locust tree and the old ancestor restrained the Black and White Twin Fiends and brought them to their thatched hut.
• Zhou Wanwan heard nearby plants reveal that the couple had hidden wealth in the mountains, then led them there.
• Zhou Wanwan found the couple’s concealed estate and saw its extravagant furnishings, while the old locust tree identified the valuable materials and treasures.
• Zhou Wanwan discovered that the maids at the estate had been poisoned deaf and mute.
• The plants told Zhou Wanwan that the man in black had assaulted women and that the woman in white had murdered them and buried their bodies in a dry well.

Zhou Wanwan settled the aftermath at Long Aotian’s estate, then returned home to find Zhou Fuyu pressuring her family to visit Zhou Family Village and taking their livestock. At the village, Zhou Fusheng learned the villagers had mistaken his arrival for part of the welcome for Zhou Qingzhou’s marriage to the prefect’s daughter, and Zhou Fuyu began asking him for a wedding contribution.

• Zhou Wanwan had the Black and White Twin Fiends dragged away, arranged proper burials for the unearthed bones, and invited the estate’s servants to join her; all agreed.
• Zhou Wanwan gave Long Aotian medicinal herbs and ginseng, then returned home and found Zhou Fuyu urging Zhou Fusheng to visit Zhou Family Village.
• Zhou Fuyu ordered the household servants to take Zhou Wanwan’s chickens, sheep, pigs, and cow, claiming the family’s possessions belonged to him too.
• In the carriage, Zhou Fusheng complained about Zhou Fuyu’s demands, and Zhou Wanwan said she would take the Zhou family’s belongings in return.
• At Zhou Family Village, Zhou Fusheng discovered the firecrackers and crowd were for Zhou Qingzhou’s wedding to the prefect’s daughter, and Zhou Fuyu asked him to contribute to the wedding.

Zhou Fusheng gave Zhou Fuyu a thousand taels of silver after villagers pressured him, while Zhou Wanwan watched and let events unfold. When Zhou Qingzhou’s bride arrived with an elaborate procession, her maid Xiaocui insulted the villagers, and Zhou Wanwan scattered gold beans in response.

• Zhou Wanwan predicted that Zhou Fusheng would pay to protect his pride, and Zhou Fusheng handed Zhou Fuyu two five-hundred-tael banknotes.
• Zhou Fuyu took the money and claimed Zhou Fusheng had contributed a thousand taels, while Old Madam Zhou and Old Man Zhou discussed how to coax money from his family.
• Zhou Qingzhou’s bride arrived in a red sedan chair accompanied by eighteen gift stands.
• Xiaocui insulted the villagers and tossed wedding coins onto the road, prompting them to scramble for the coins.
• Zhou Wanwan scattered little gold beans and asked Xiaocui whether she wanted them.

Zhou Wanwan arrived at the Zhou house after a wedding procession, where Old Madam Zhou demanded that her family work and villagers mocked Zhou Fusheng's xiucai success. Zhou Fusheng was urged to stay despite Zhou Fuyu's insults.

• Zhou Wanwan scattered gold beans for the villagers, and Niuniu collected more than a dozen while Xiaocui mocked Zhou Wanwan.
• Fang Ting gave Xiaocui fifty gold beans to scatter, but the beans vanished; Zhou Wanwan realized the Old Scholar Tree had taken them.
• The matchmaker hurried the procession onward, and Zhou Wanwan arrived at the Zhou house, where Old Madam Zhou ordered Zhou Fusheng and Liu Su'e to help with wedding preparations.
• Villagers accused Zhou Fusheng of buying his xiucai title, and he insisted he had passed through his own efforts.
• Zhou Fuyu bragged about his son marrying the prefect's daughter and insulted Zhou Fusheng, while Zhou Fukang and Old Man Zhou urged Fusheng to stay home.

Zhou Wanwan and Liu Su'e stayed in the main house after Zhou Qingzhou's wedding, while Zhou Wanwan made her relatives sign contracts to safeguard their valuable jewelry. As the Zhou family searched in vain for their missing livestock, Old Madam Zhou returned to find that her bed had vanished too.

• Zhou Wanwan argued with Old Man Zhou over the family's rooms and rejected Zhang Guilan's offer to keep her gold bangle without a contract.
• Zhou Wanwan had Zhang Guilan sign a contract accepting responsibility for the bangle, which was valued at over ten thousand taels.
• Zhou Wanwan persuaded Old Madam Zhou to sign a contract for Liu Su'e's jade jewelry, claiming the set was worth a hundred thousand taels.
• A family member reported that the Zhou family's chickens, pigs, cattle, and sheep had all disappeared.
• Old Madam Zhou led the family to search for the livestock, but they found no tracks or animals.
• Zhou Wanwan's maids arranged rooms in the main house, and Old Madam Zhou returned from searching to find her bed missing.

Zhou Wanwan and her family took beds from the Zhou household and recovered their jewelry, then joined the family as they waited for Zhou Qingzhou’s new bride to appear. The chapter leaves Zhou Wanwan eating and drinking while the household waits for the bride’s tea-serving ceremony.

• Zhou Wanwan moved beds from Old Madam Zhou’s household for her family and told Zhang Guilan to keep the gold bracelet she had taken.
• Old Scholar Tree brought the family’s beds down from the mountain, and Zhou Wanwan instructed him to replace the real jewelry with fake pieces before retrieving the originals.
• Old Scholar Tree told Zhou Wanwan that Zhou Qingzhou and Fang Ting had quarreled after their wedding night because Fang Ting had not bled.
• Zhou Wanwan came to the main hall the next morning and found the family waiting for Fang Ting to serve tea.
• Zhou Wanwan and her family ate their own breakfast while Old Madam Zhou complained that the new bride might think the household looked down on her family.
• Zhou Wanwan drank milk tea and refused Zhou Mei’s request to make her some.

Fang Ting demanded richer greeting gifts from the Zhou family and clashed with Zhou Wanwan after mocking the gifts prepared for the younger relatives. Zhou Qingzhou sided with Fang Ting, but visitors arrived asking for Gu Sinian, and one greeted him as a brother.

• Fang Ting served tea to Old Madam Zhou without kneeling and complained that the ten-tael silver greeting gift was too meager.
• Fang Ting collected gifts from the elders, while Zhou Wanwan pointed out that Zhou Fuyu's five-hundred-tael note came from money Zhou Wanwan's father had given him.
• Fang Ting handed out small gold beans to the younger relatives, then argued with Zhou Wanwan when Zhou Wanwan mocked the gift and defended her family's jade pendant.
• Fang Ting threw Liu Su'e's jade pendant onto the floor, Zhou Wanwan stepped on Fang Ting's gift pouch, and Zhou Qingzhou demanded that Zhou Wanwan apologize.
• A servant announced that visitors wanted to see Gu Sinian, and one visitor greeted him warmly as Brother Gu.

Zhou Wanwan warned Cheng Chao to prepare for famine and protected Zheng Xing'an’s interests before joining Gu Sinian and Fang Zhiyuan on a mountain. After Fang Zhiyuan’s classmates mocked their lack of game, Zhou Wanwan challenged their boastful leader to put his promised hunting rewards in a written contract.

• Cheng Chao brought pastries to Zhou Wanwan and Zheng Xing'an, while Fang Zhiyuan rebuked Fang Ting for threatening Zhou Wanwan.
• The guests found a meal of vegetables because the household’s meat had mysteriously disappeared, so Gu Sinian suggested they go into the mountains.
• Zhou Wanwan told Cheng Chao to stock up for a possible famine and warned him to treat Zheng Xing'an well or she would bring her back.
• On the mountain, Fang Zhiyuan’s classmates complained that they had found no game, and Zhou Wanwan called them weaklings.
• A classmate offered escalating sums for different kinds of game, and Zhou Wanwan asked him to write a contract and include rewards for other animals.

Zhou Wanwan wagered ten thousand taels against Shen Wanjun that she could hunt game in the mountains, while he mocked her and Dongshan Prefecture's women. As Zhou Wanwan prepared to make the wager pay, Old Scholar Tree showed her a hidden cave full of supplies and weapons that suggested Old Madam Zhou had ties to mountain bandits.

• Zhou Wanwan and Shen Wanjun signed a contract requiring him to pay for any game she caught, with prices reaching one hundred thousand taels.
• Shen Wanjun bragged about his wealth and mocked women who studied, prompting Fang Zhiyuan to challenge his views and Gu Sinian to warn him to prepare more silver.
• Zhou Wanwan hurried through the mountains and told Old Scholar Tree that she planned to collect on the wager.
• Old Scholar Tree led Zhou Wanwan into a hidden cave containing vast stores of food, clothing, valuables, weapons, and armor.
• Zhou Wanwan and Old Scholar Tree suspected that Old Madam Zhou had stockpiled the goods with help from mountain bandits.

Zhou Wanwan returned from the mountains with a huge haul of live game, while Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars assumed she had been lost to the beasts. After she appeared unharmed, the group mocked her and argued over their wager, leaving Zhou Wanwan ready to show them what she had caught.

• Old Scholar Tree arranged for people to take the game to the mountain stronghold, and Zhou Wanwan found dozens of tigers, more than a hundred wolves, and many other animals waiting for her.
• The intelligent animals prostrated themselves before Zhou Wanwan, and Lingbao explained that they would eat even grass when hungry.
• Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars worried that Zhou Wanwan had been killed, then accused her brothers of abandoning her and suspected a scheme to extort Shen Wanjun.
• Zhou Wanwan startled the group by appearing alive and explained that she had gone to find game.
• The Jiangnan scholars mocked Zhou Wanwan and boasted about Young Master Liu's family status, while Zhou Wanwan told Shen Wanjun not to break his wager and proposed looking at the game.

Zhou Wanwan brought out an enormous menagerie of obedient wild beasts and valued them at 108.4 million taels of silver, leaving Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars facing the debt they had wagered. Shen Wanjun refused to honor the bet as the beasts surrounded the group.

• Zhou Wanwan summoned tigers, bears, cheetahs, boars, deer, and other animals in orderly formations before Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars.
• Zhou Wanwan calculated the animals' prices and announced a total of 108.4 million taels of silver, while Shen Wanjun nearly fainted.
• The Old Scholar Tree directed the bears, tigers, and wolves to surround the Jiangnan scholars.
• Zhou Wanwan demanded that Shen Wanjun honor the wager, but he refused and warned her not to go too far.

Zhou Wanwan trapped the Jiangnan scholars with wild beasts and demanded payment on their wager, including 108.4 million taels and an IOU. After she slept through the deadline, the beasts closed in, leaving Shen Wanjun and the others panicking over what to do.

• Zhou Wanwan refused to let Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars walk away from their wager, while Fang Zhiyuan declined to intervene.
• Liu Quan tried to leave and ordered his guards and shadow guards to attack the beasts, but the Old Scholar Tree and the other trees seized them.
• Zheng Xing'an served Zhou Wanwan and the scholars a feast of wild game, while the Jiangnan scholars went hungry.
• Shen Wanjun discovered that wild beasts had surrounded the group, and Zhou Wanwan demanded 108.4 million taels, starting with the interest, and an IOU.
• Zhou Wanwan gave the Jiangnan scholars an incense stick to decide how to settle the debt, then went to sleep in a treehouse.
• When Zhou Wanwan woke, the beasts had moved close to the Jiangnan scholars, who asked Shen Wanjun what to do.

Zhou Wanwan forced Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars to pay her after their hunting trip, then returned home and confronted Fang Ting’s servants for trying to take her belongings. Fang Ting openly demanded Zhou Wanwan’s bed and jewelry, leaving Zhou Wanwan facing her directly.

• Shen Wanjun and the Jiangnan scholars pooled their money and wrote Zhou Wanwan an IOU for their enormous debt.
• Zhou Wanwan let the scholars leave, while Shen Wanjun ran off crying and Fang Zhiyuan admitted he was afraid of her.
• Zhou Wanwan returned home and found Fang Ting’s servants threatening Liu Su'e and Zhou Fusheng as they tried to take her bed and valuables.
• Zhou Wanwan brought the servants to Fang Ting’s quarters and challenged her over their behavior.
• Fang Ting claimed her status as the prefect’s beloved daughter entitled her to Zhou Wanwan’s bed and jewelry.

Zhou Wanwan refused to give Fang Ting her bed, and supernatural destruction struck the Zhou household overnight, while Fang Ting’s dowry vanished. The next morning, Fang Ting accused Zhou Wanwan of theft and threatened her with yamen runners.

• Fang Ting asked Qian Huihui to make Zhou Wanwan give up her rosewood bed, but Zhou Wanwan refused and warned them to stay out of her room.
• Old Madam Zhou’s bed and Qian Huihui and Zhou Fuyu’s bed collapsed, while Fang Ting’s bed and part of her roof fell apart, injuring her leg.
• Fang Ting discovered that her dressing table and eighteen chests of dowry were missing, while Zhou Wanwan admired the remaining jewelry in her room.
• At breakfast, Old Madam Zhou criticized Liu Su’e for sleeping late, but Zhou Fusheng defended his wife.
• Fang Ting accused Zhou Wanwan of stealing her jewelry and threatened to have her beaten, saying her father had sent more than twenty yamen runners.

Zhou Wanwan ate an extravagant breakfast while Fang Ting tried to have her arrested for stealing her belongings. Zhou Wanwan agreed to a search after making Fang Ting sign a wager, and the yamen runners began searching her room with great caution.

• Zhou Wanwan insisted that her family eat breakfast before dealing with Fang Ting and the yamen runners, then served an elaborate meal that stunned the Zhou family.
• Old Madam Zhou and Zhou Fuyu accused Zhou Fusheng of selfishness, and he reminded them that they had treated his family poorly.
• Fang Ting ordered the yamen runners to arrest Zhou Wanwan, but their leader said they would only search if there was evidence.
• Zhou Wanwan demanded that Fang Ting state what she would do if the missing belongings were not found, and Fang Ting agreed to kneel and kowtow if the search came up empty.
• Fang Ting also demanded compensation and Zhou Wanwan's bed if her belongings were found, then signed the agreement and sent the runners to search.
• The yamen runners searched carefully, laying cloth on the floor and placing Zhou Wanwan's jewelry on it.

Zhou Wanwan exposed her valuable jewelry while Fang Ting accused her of stealing and tried to seize her belongings. After Fang Ting agreed to a new wager, one of Zhou Wanwan’s skilled maids defeated Chunhua, and Zhou Wanwan asked Fang Ting to choose Qiuyue’s opponent.

• Zhou Wanwan showed the Zhou Family more than sixty pieces of jewelry and told Fang Ting that the jade pendant she had discarded had been worth several thousand taels of silver.
• The yamen runners found none of Fang Ting’s missing belongings, and Fang Ting refused to honor their earlier agreement; the runners left and warned each other not to offend Zhou Wanwan.
• Fang Ting ordered Chunhua and Qiuyue to take Zhou Wanwan’s possessions, but Zheng Xing'an intervened and Zhou Wanwan brought forward more than a dozen trained young women.
• Fang Ting and Zhou Wanwan signed a wager requiring Fang Ting to kowtow a hundred times if her maids lost, while Chunhua and Qiuyue would be spared the earlier penalty if they won.
• Chunhua chose the frailest-looking girl to fight, but the girl defeated and pinned her in fewer than ten moves; Zhou Wanwan then asked Fang Ting to choose an opponent for Qiuyue.

Zhou Wanwan defeated Qiuyue in a spar after Qiuyue tried to stab her with a dagger, then demanded that Fang Ting honor their bet. As the Zhou family argued over the bet and their treatment of Zhou Fusheng’s family, Fang Ting refused to kowtow.

• Qiuyue chose Zhou Wanwan to fight, while Zhou Xiaoyan warned that Zhou Wanwan was only six; Old Madam Zhou slapped Zhou Xiaoyan for speaking up.
• Zhou Wanwan agreed to fight Qiuyue after warming up, and the two battled evenly until Qiuyue drew a dagger and attacked her.
• Zhou Wanwan broke Qiuyue’s arm and reminded Fang Ting to fulfill the bet by kowtowing a hundred times.
• Qian Huihui and Old Madam Zhou tried to dismiss the bet, while Liu Su'e and Zhou Fusheng challenged Old Madam Zhou over how she had treated their family and cited their agreement severing family ties.
• Fang Ting refused to kowtow, and Zhou Wanwan confronted her for refusing to accept the result of their bet.

Zhou Wanwan faced threats from Fang Ting and a planned invasion by Shangguan Wan'er, who led more than thirty thousand soldiers toward Black Wind Stronghold. The mountain trees trapped the army in winding paths and showered them with firecrackers, leaving Shangguan Wan'er demanding that Zhou Wanwan come out.

• Zhou Wanwan ordered Fang Ting dragged to a public stage to fulfill her wager, while Fang Ting threatened her with her father's authority.
• Shen Wanjun asked Prefect Fang to arrest Zhou Wanwan, but Prefect Fang refused because she had committed no crime.
• Shangguan Wan'er arrived in silver armor with more than thirty thousand troops and ordered them to loot Black Wind Stronghold, capture Zhou Wanwan, and imprison her people.
• Zhou Wanwan returned to Black Wind Stronghold with Gu Sinian, Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen, then waited as Shangguan Wan'er’s army wandered through the mountain paths.
• The trees altered their formations to keep the soldiers circling, then dropped tens of thousands of strings of firecrackers onto them.
• Shangguan Wan'er, disheveled and hurting from the blasts, shouted for Zhou Wanwan to come out.

Zhou Wanwan defeated Shen Wanjun and Shangguan Wan’er’s forces after they came to challenge her over his unpaid debt, then allowed Shangguan Wan’er to leave. Back at the stronghold, Grand Tutor Zhao urged Zhou Wanwan to prepare to take the throne, but she objected that no one would accept a six-year-old child as emperor.

• Zhou Wanwan refused Shen Wanjun’s request to reduce his debt, and an arrow shot at her turned around and killed Deputy General Li.
• When Shangguan Wan’er’s soldiers charged, vines restrained them and forced them to stab themselves; Zhou Wanwan then let Shangguan Wan’er and Shen Wanjun’s survivors leave.
• Zhou Wanwan explained that she spared Shangguan Wan’er because she was the cavalry general’s daughter and she wanted to avoid trouble.
• At the stronghold, Grand Tutor Zhao insisted that Zhou Wanwan was worthy of being emperor and said the court’s ruler was controlled by the noble consort and incapable of governing.
• Zhou Wanwan argued that people would not accept a six-year-old child as emperor, while Grand Tutor Zhao said their force of over a hundred thousand elite troops could make others submit.